How is Purpose Accomplished?

Review of Wisdom's Path, Substance, and Purpose (Proverbs 2:1-9)

0:02 Proverbs chapter 2, as we continue our studies in this chapter, which addresses itself to such matters as the substance, the worth, and the workings of true wisdom, Solomon having urged upon his son, either his son after the flesh or the man to whom he was a tutor, the danger of rejecting true wisdom, chapter 1, now lays before him the path into that wisdom, the benefits and blessings which that wisdom brings. Thus far we have studied together verses 1 through 9, verses in which the path to true wisdom is set before us, verses 1 through 4, the path of exposure to the words of God, prayer for illumination of our minds, diligence in our seeking after wisdom. We've considered the substance of that wisdom which God imparts to all who enter that way, verses 5 and 9, the substance of divine wisdom is a right knowledge of and relationship to God, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, and verse 9.

1:29 It is an understanding. It is an understanding of the will of God, then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice and equity and every good path. That is though he anticipates the question, but where does this wisdom come from? And he answers that in verse 6, for the Lord giveth wisdom, the author of wisdom is God himself.

1:49 And then again, as though a question is anticipated, but who can receive that wisdom? And he gives us a description of the recipients of true wisdom in verse 7. Verse 7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright, he is a shield to them that walk in integrity.

2:05 And then last week we directed your attention to verse 8, in which the whole purpose for which wisdom is given is stated in these words, that he may guard the paths of justice and preserve the way of his saints. Why does God give wisdom? Why does this wisdom come out of his mouth? Why does this wisdom, the substance of which is the knowledge and fear of God and the knowledge of his will, come to those who expose themselves to his words, who cry out for wisdom and for understanding, who seek for it diligently?

2:44 And we saw that the whole goal for which wisdom is imparted is to keep the saints in the way of holiness. To state it another way, the purpose for which divine wisdom is given is nothing but the preservation of the saints in the way of holiness. That way of holiness is under constant attack from within and without. But God is committed to the preservation of that way, and this God has ordained as the means for the preservation of that way the influence of this true wisdom.

The Central Question: How is Wisdom's Purpose Accomplished? (Proverbs 2:10-20)

3:23 Now having looked at the purpose for which wisdom is given, now we move in our study, to consider this matter, how is that purpose accomplished? And that takes us into the remainder of the chapter. Verses 10 through verse 20 are an answer to the question, how is the purpose of verse 8 actually realized in the life of the young man to whom Solomon is talking? It's alright for Solomon to say, alright, God gives this wisdom to the end that he may guard the paths of justice.

3:59 And preserve the way of his saints, but how does that purpose actually work out in the nitty gritty? You've given me the overall purpose, Solomon, but tell me, I'm a young man, beset by the enticements of sin all around me, feeling the pressure of sin within me, feeling the influence of a world that would draw me out of the path of righteousness, how does that divine wisdom given to guard the paths of justice? Given to preserve the way of the saints, how does it actually work? That's my question, Solomon.

4:35 Solomon says, well, read the rest of my chapter and you'll see my answer to your question. And so then, we have in verses 10 to 20 the answer to that question. And the answer can be summarized under two basic heads. The purpose of verse 8 is accomplished when wisdom gains an effectual entrance, verse 10.

4:58 For wisdom gains an effectual entrance. Wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul. And secondly, when wisdom exerts a powerful influence, verse 11, discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee. And having made the general statement of how wisdom exerts this powerful influence, then he descends to particulars, and he says in verse 12, it will deliver you from the way of evil men, that is, from sinful patterns in general.

5:36 Then, beginning with verse 16, he says it will deliver you from the strange woman, that is, sexual sins in particular. And then verse 20, that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, it will guide you into the way of righteous men, or it will teach you the path of holiness. And so, Solomon. Solomon answers our question, how is the purpose of verse 8 accomplished, how is divine wisdom operative to preserve the saints in the way of holiness, and I hope you go out with the answer ringing in your ears, when this wisdom gains an effectual entrance, and when it exerts a powerful influence, that purpose is accomplished. Now, since the Bible teaches that we as the saints are the ones who are going to be the saints of God must persevere in a way of holiness, just as much as it teaches that God shall preserve us in a way of holiness, and since the wisdom of God is the means of this persevering, and since the means is not operative, or are not operative automatically, this question that we're addressing ourselves to tonight should be of utmost importance. How does the word of God work in me as a Christian? To preserve me in a way of holiness.

The Necessity of Perseverance and Effectual Calling

7:01 This is not an academic question. If you don't persevere, you've had it. All the true saints will persevere, but all the true saints must persevere. Certainty and necessity are twins in Biblical revelation.

7:17 Now men scratch their heads and say, now wait a minute, I don't understand that. If it's certain that I must persevere, then I'll persevere and do what I may. No, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, You shall persevere, says you must persevere.

7:31 And the Bible says, You must, says you shall. You say, Well, I don't understand that. Well, I'm sorry. That's what the Bible says.

7:37 That's what it says. So then, since we must persevere, the way of the saints is preserved by means of the impartation of divine wisdom, this should be an issue of deepest concern to us tonight. How will God's eternal wisdom embodied in the words of Scripture be effective? The Bible says, And it is effective to my preservation and perseveres.

8:02 And Solomon's first part of the answer is, it must gain an effectual entrance. For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul. Now first of all let me define what I mean by an effectual entrance, and I'm using the word effectual in the same way that it is used in the theological text. in the theological term, effectual calling.

8:32 There are two callings of God. There is the general call of God that goes out through the gospel, that goes out in this place tonight, to all men indiscriminately to repent and to believe the gospel. But then there is that effectual call of God, that call that effects a change in a sinner, by which he actually turns from his sins and embraces the Lord Jesus Christ. So anything that is effectual is that which produces a change.

9:03 It effects something. So when I use the term, wisdom's effectual entrance, I'm speaking of an entrance of wisdom that has powerful and pervasive effects upon the hearts of men. Now how is this effectual entrance described? Well, it's described under two concepts.

Wisdom's Effectual Entrance: Taking Dominion Over the Heart

9:24 The first one, Wisdom shall enter into thy heart. The second, knowledge pleasant to thy soul. And to give you some pegs to hang it on, I'm going to entitle it this way. Wisdom's effectual entrance involves, first of all, its taking dominion over us, and secondly, our taking delight in it.

9:49 Wisdom has had its effectual entrance to you and to me when, first of all, it takes dominion over us, and then when we take delight in it. You say, takes dominion? Where do you get that? Well, look at the words.

10:04 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and whatever enters your heart takes hold of you.

10:16 For the concept of the heart in scripture is that concept of the seat of the whole man. What peaking is to the government of China, see how relevant I am, and what Washington is to the government of the United States, the heart is to the government of your life. As peaking and Washington are the seats of those respective governments, so the heart is the seat of the government of your life. And what or who has the heart has the whole man.

10:53 Proverbs 4.23 Guard thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Now in the unregenerate man it is the heart, the seat of his being, that is the source of his sin. Jesus said in Mark 7, For from within, out of the heart, proceed adultery, fornication, thefts, murders, pride, blasphemies.

11:22 All these things proceed from within. And at this point, modern psychology and psychiatry are absolutely all wet in one of their most fundamental principles, that human behavior can be understood apart from the biblical doctrine of man's innate depravity, his built-in artesian well of sin and pollution. Likewise, in the people of God, the source of all true holiness is what the Bible calls a new heart. Ezekiel 36 I will take out the heart of stone, and I will give them a heart of flesh.

11:58 And Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10 make clear that that promise is fulfilled now in the new covenant blessings applied by Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, so that holiness flows out of a renewed heart. In other words, God changes us at the very seat of our being. So then, Solomon is saying that the preserving, keeping power of divine wisdom is known only when the word of wisdom invades the center of a man's life and from there exerts its influence in the totality of life. For wisdom shall enter into thy heart.

12:42 When is the purpose of verse 8 realized in the life of a believer? When is his path guarded and preserved by God's word of wisdom? Only when that word gains an effectual entrance and by that, Solomon, means it comes in to take dominion over us. Now let me say several things by way of application in the light of this principle.

13:14 The first thing should be very obvious. It is absolutely impossible for this to occur in a man until he's been given a new heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a description of how wisdom preserves the path of the saint. And until a man is a saint, this is not operative in him.

13:38 And a man is not a saint until he's vitally joined to Jesus Christ who has made unto us wisdom. So, in 1 Corinthians 1-2 we have the saints described as those who are in Christ Jesus. That's why some of you can sit in this building week after week and you can hear the word of wisdom with its declaration of Christ as the sum and substance of the wisdom of God. You can hear the voice of wisdom that is the Son of God speaking through the world about you, speaking through conscience, but speaking essentially and primarily through the word expounded and applied.

14:20 And there's no difference in the hamlets of your life. Why? Because the capital is still untouched. There's never been an invasion of that word into the heart.

14:34 It has had no entrance into the heart. You're not dominated by that word, hence you're not sanctified by it. Oh, you're picking up information, you're picking up facts, all well and good in themselves. But you see, this is never possible until something such as Paul describes in Romans 6-17 happens to us, where Paul speaks of the word, the Romans in their pre-converted state, and he says, But God be thanked that ye who were the servants of sin have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine whereunto ye were delivered.

15:10 King James says, which was delivered you. It's a poor translation. The original verb has the sense of the passive whereunto ye were delivered. And he says, being made free from sin, ye became servants to righteousness.

15:24 What happened? Paul looks upon the Romans as those who by the mighty operation of God upon their hearts were cast into the mold of the Gospel. The Gospel is God's wisdom focusing in Christ who is the wisdom and the power of God. And it's only when we've been cast into the mold of that Gospel, when we have been so wrought upon by the Spirit that we have given ourselves up, as it were, to its power and to its influence, that we will ever know its preserving work day by day as described here in Proverbs chapter 2.

16:02 So for some of you who wonder, look, I read the Bible and I appreciate the Bible, but it doesn't make much difference where I live. I don't see it governing and directing. My friend, could this be the basic problem? That you've never been given a new heart.

16:19 All your dealings with the Bible and God in Christ have been external surface intellectual dealings. But of a change so pervasive as to be described in no lesser terms than these biblical terms, I will take out the heart of stone, I will give them a heart of flesh. Of that, you know absolutely nothing. The first thing you ought to learn then from this text is that until that occurs, there's no hope that you will experience this effectual entrance of the word of wisdom.

Application: Heartwork for Believers

16:57 But now second application and this is directed to those of us who are the Lord's people. How necessary that you and I experience and I'm going to use an old antiquated term but I like it. Heartwork when receiving the word of God. How does the word of God operate to our preservation?

17:22 When it gains an effectual entrance. And what is that effectual entrance? Wisdom shall enter thy heart. When the word we hear so enters as to seize upon us and take the reigns of life.

17:37 And my friend, you can't have heartwork like that and not know it. All the tragedy of private, family and public exposure to the word in which there's only eyework following the page of scripture or looking at the preacher. Earwork receiving the vibrations of the preacher's mouth. Headwork absorbing ideas.

18:05 Getting the outline. Following the structure. But of heartwork so many are such frequent strangers. That receiving the word into the citadel of our being so that even as the word is preached we're having at times agonizing dealings with God.

18:25 God's word is coming to us. We hear beyond and see beyond the preacher and a black book with white pages and black print and we realize God is speaking through His word and we're having heart dealings with Him. May I say that this should be our great and primary concern in all of our dealings with the word. For the word was not given simply to pack our heads full of religious information.

18:53 It was given for this very religious purpose to guard the paths of justice. Preserve the way of His saints and to accomplish it it must enter and take dominion. I was interested in my preparation and just going through very briefly the first part of the 119th Psalm and I was struck with how clearly David captured this principle. Listen to his prayer.

19:18 Psalm 119 verse 2 Blessed are they that keep His testimonies that seek Him with the whole world. With the whole world. Verse 7 I will give thanks unto thee with uprightness of heart when I learn thy righteous judgments. Verse 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee.

19:42 O let me not wander from thy commandments. Verse 11 Thy word have I laid up in my where? In my heart. Not out there in the shelf of the memory to be used when convenient but I've laid it up in my heart in the citadel of my being.

20:00 It has the place of dominion over me. Verse 24 Thy testimonies are my delight and the men of my counsel. I'm subject. It has dominion.

20:11 The Scriptures stand like a Sanhedrin to advise me and to counsel and direct me. They stand like my cabinet members to give me direction. I sit and listen. They give the direction.

20:24 Verse 32 I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Verse 34 Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law. I shall observe it with my whole heart. Verse 36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies.

20:41 Fifteen times in the 119th Psalm the word heart is explicitly used and many more times the concept of the heart is found. Here's the greatest section in all of Scripture concerning the relationship of a saint to the word and one of the dominant strands of emphasis is to deal with the word as a saint is to deal with the word in the heart. Verse 11 of course that we've already read is the key text. It is as the word is laid up in the heart that we are kept from sin.

21:19 The way of the saints is preserved when the word gains effectual entrance and the first part of that effectual entrance is nothing less than coming and taking the place of dominion. Now let me be very practical. That's what gets me in trouble but also seems to help a number of people so I have to run the risk of getting in trouble in order to be of some help. Those of you who sat here this morning did that word which you heard on the love of the brethren in its relationship to the visible temporal needs of the saints did that word enter your heart?

21:56 What have you done this day to implement what you heard? Did you sit here moved by the concepts and your mind said yes that's an accurate exposition of the word I can feel the force of that I can feel the logic of it I can feel the pressure of it I can see the reasonableness of it but my question is this did that enter your heart? Have some activities already been different today because of that word? And as you formulate the plans for the week are they different as to how you're going to invest those evenings that we talked about this morning?

22:33 My friend if not no matter how much you seem to be moved that word did not gain an effectual entrance and you will go on in some of those same sins of selfishness those same patterns of self centered investment of your time and money while the saints of God out there to whom or in whom Christ himself comes to you have their needs unmet. You see it's just that practical did that word which you heard this morning gain an effectual entrance? Is it already giving you orders and telling you what to do? Oh thank God that it is that's how it's operating to your preservation to your sanctification when it enters and takes the place of dominion well then there's a second part to this effectual entrance and he describes it in these words For wisdom shall enter into thy heart and knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul The counterpart of this effectual entrance taking the place of dominion over us is we take delight in it knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul Now let me spend a few minutes expounding the concept of pleasant When is something pleasant to you? Is it not when that particular thing

Wisdom's Effectual Entrance: Taking Delight in the Soul

23:59 is agreeable to your sense of goodness and beauty? When is something pleasant to you? Pleasant to your eyes a particular picture a scenery a piece of scenery a sight When is it pleasant to your eyes? When what comes through the eye gate and registers there on the screen at the back of the eyeball and goes through the right nerve and registers in the brain when that strikes a note of agreeableness to your sense of beauty it is pleasant to your eye Now if what you see registers there as ugly it's not pleasant What about your ear?

24:34 When what you hear with the ear meets your sense of harmony it's pleasant to you Now what's pleasant to some people is not pleasant to others Some can somehow feel that that cacophony of jungle music that fills the airwaves is pleasant I for one find it most unpleasant to state it very mildly And the only thing that is pleasant in the ear is that which suits and is agreeable to our own sense of harmony Now what is pleasant to our taste buds? Well that which suits our sense of what is delicious You say alright fine that's very obvious So why make such a big to-do about it? Because I want to make a point I want to plant my guns before I fire them That's all Now what Solomon is saying is that the soul will receive the words of wisdom that teaching of the knowledge and the fear of God as a pleasant thing as a most lovely and a suitable thing as something pure and beautiful in itself Then and only then will it exert its powerful influence His own commentary upon this is found in chapter 24 verses 13 and 14 Please look at those verses My son, eat thou honey, for it is good the droppings of the honeycomb which are sweet to thy taste

26:02 so shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul if thou hast found it then shall there be a reward and thy hope shall not be cut off He says it's when wisdom is as sweet to your soul as the droppings of a honeycomb that your hope will not perish You will persevere for it shows that a saving work has been wrought upon the soul when a man receives with pleasantness truths which by nature are as distasteful to him as spinach to the average kid So then the preserving influence of the word is not known unless the word becomes pleasant to us not simply acknowledged as true and as necessary but received with delight and with relish Jeremiah 15, 16 Thy words were found Jeremiah says and I did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart Now that's the meaning of his words now to application and the first application I would make is parallel to the first I made under the former heading This part of the text declares as forcibly as the former that only a true Christian can know this effectual entrance of the word

27:29 for by nature the dictates of divine wisdom are foolishness to us 1 Corinthians 2, 14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God that is he does not receive them with pleasantness they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them by nature there is no fear of God the sum and substance of this wisdom is the fear and the knowledge of God but by nature the scripture says Romans 3, 18 there is no fear of God before their eyes the substance of this wisdom is the knowledge of the will of God well that's not pleasant to an unredeemed man for Romans 8, 7 says the carnal mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the will of God neither indeed can it be so the more he knows of the divine will the more he hates it the more light you give the more his antipathy and his hatred of that light for this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light so the more light the more the hatred comes to the surface worst of all Christ who is the sum and substance of God he is despised he is foolishness to some a stumbling block to others the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness so again I say there has got to be a change so deep and pervasive as to radically overhaul a natural man's sense of beauty

28:58 his sense of harmony his sense of taste before such words as are found in the book of Proverbs will be received with pleasantness by the church members at meal time and you see a little kid sitting at the table and he is the picture of misery oh he is misery incarnate and all his misery focuses on a pile of green stuff sitting in the corner of his plate he has got spinach and he has got some parents who have got enough sense to know that they are going to try to cultivate taste for things in the child they don't feed him on the idea that well he knows what he needs and all the rest they have got some principles governing how they feed their children as well as how they discipline them and train them in other areas so little Johnny is going to have to eat his spinach so there he is a picture of perfect misery you would think he was eating green poison and he takes a in fact we call that Heidi is not here tonight so I can pick on her she despises peas and we call them poison pills when she is putting them down because the way she goes at them they are just like little poison pills well here is a little fellow going at his pile of green poison and it is obvious that he is not receiving it with pleasantness he is receiving it because he knows if he doesn't there are some other unpleasant things awaiting him so he would rather bear the agony of the unpleasantness on his taste buds than on his nerve endings and other parts of his anatomy so he is getting his spinach down and you happen to come just at a time

30:26 and you watch him and finally the last agonizing bite and the spinach is down and that is finished and he is so delighted and all of a sudden his countenance changes and off he goes and there he is sitting in front of the same pile of green stuff and lo and behold he is the picture of delight in fact he gobbles down that pile and he says mommy more spinach please and so he has got more and you say what in the world has happened to that kid you say something has happened on that fellow's taste buds to change his whole attitude to that same commodity from one of repulsion and distance and disgust to one of receiving it with pleasantness you would say somebody has been monkeying with his taste buds absolutely and you would be right to think so and my friend when you see a sinner receiving with pleasantness those words of divine wisdom which naturally were so offensive to him somebody has been monkeying with his taste buds and that is the work of God in regeneration God has been monkeying with the taste buds giving us new taste of what is beautiful and then the word begins to be to us that means of our preservation that is why in this building right this night during this very sermon

31:54 some of you have experienced great pleasantness the word has been opened and you have been receiving that into the very citadel of your being with great delight and pleasantness wisdom has been entering into your soul others of you it has been like a minute you can't wait till the meal is over and you can get out of here you know what your problem is it is in your spiritual taste buds reflect the disposition of your unregenerate soul that is your problem no no problem with you you preach too long problem with you no problem is not with me I have got lots of problems I have got lots of sins and failures but why is it that others are sitting here receiving that word with pleasantness with a spinach I will tell you why dear friend and I will tell you in love and in honesty it is because your spiritual taste buds reflect the state of your unregenerate soul that is your problem that is your problem and it is the true child of God who delights in truth which naturally offends his carnal reasoning he delights in the truth that God is on his throne to show mercy to whom he will show mercy and he delights in that he doesn't say oh well the Bible teaches he delights in a God who is on his throne he delights in truth that shatters carnal pride

33:22 he delights to acknowledge all my hopes for eternity are pinned upon the work of another nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling God forbid that I should glory save in the cross he delights to make that confession shattering to human pride he receives that truth with pleasantness he receives with pleasantness truth that opposes carnal delights he welcomes those words of wisdom that talk about cutting off right hands and plucking out right eyes he delights and receives with pleasantness truths that check his carnal ambitions that call him to the way of greatness by the way of service he who would be first among you servant of all ah dear friend who is outside of Christ tonight won't you face the facts for what they are why you don't have any delight in the word that's why you don't receive the word with pleasantness it's because your spiritual taste buds reflect the state of your soul but thank God he's able to change that I don't know who changed Johnny's taste buds but I know who changed my spiritual taste buds you hath he made alive who were dead if any man be in Christ he is a new creation

Application: Contentment with the Pleasantness of the Word

34:48 call upon that God to do this mighty work in you then I move in the second application to you who have had your spiritual taste buds changed this text is a call to true believers to be content with nothing less than the pleasantness of the word just as the first part of the text is a call to heart work during the preaching and reading of the word this part of the text is a call to be content with nothing less than the pleasantness of the word as I was meditating upon this my mind went to the history of Israel you remember that when Israel came out of Egypt God began to provide for them with this thing called manna and what a delight it was at first this thing that was sweet tasted as oil and as honey to them but then they began to regard it lightly the very means of their sustenance until as we read in Numbers 21 5 they said our soul loveth this light bread and so often it is with us as the people of God when in the flush of the sense of our deliverance from Egyptian bondage God begins to sustain us with manna

36:18 those words of wisdom of which Christ is the sum and the substance and the center oh they were sweet as oil and honey to our taste that manna that old book despised by the world was heavenly food for us then what happens we begin to go weary with God's provision we begin to get hankering for those things that were part of the past life for novelty for cleverness for fleshly entertainment and all over this country this very night in so called Christian churches people are hankering not with the manna of solid substantial exposition of the word but musical packages and gospel movies and all this other kind of folder all that's an abomination in the sight of God some of it has come to pass through the irresponsibility of ministers yes but much of it through the hankering for Egypt in the hearts of the professed people of God who said our soul loveth this light thing this means that God is ordained for our sustenance is no longer pleasant to us give us something else that's pleasant may God grant that if this building still stands in 25 years

37:45 and if my bones and flesh are in a grave somewhere if it means some man's got to stand in this pulpit and preach to empty benches and to the birds that he'll never go to Egyptian leeks and garlics but continue to hold forth manna until God honors the faithful declaration and brings some people to find that pleasant to their souls oh what a call to us as God's people to be content with nothing less than the pleasantness of the word the minute the word ceases to be pleasant to you that's when you're going to begin to hanker for something else as long as it's pleasant you want nothing else you're satisfied and so the first step in spiritual declension is not turning from the word but finding less relish and delight in the word and does not your experience and mine confirm this fact that the measure of the sanctifying power of the word is in direct proportion to its pleasantness to the soul haven't you found that true that the word was most effectual to preserve your way of holiness when it was most pleasant to your soul some of us can think back in the time when we had far less knowledge but we were making far greater strides in sanctification

39:13 and the only thing that was characteristic of that time was the word was pleasant to our soul isn't it true I think almost every believer is a living monument of this principle now I'm not talking about what happens at any given day there's some sensitive soul here who's going to feel because the word was not pleasant today you're hopelessly backslidden no no no no my friend that could be because you've been sick your physical frame is out of sorts and there's such an interaction I'm not talking about any particular limited period but I'm talking about your life in the long perspective the overall drift and perspective of your life if you're satisfied with anything less than the pleasantness of the word then you will not be experiencing the sanctifying power of that word so as you come to family devotions and God has spoken to my own heart here and by his grace I'm determined to add a new meaning to our own family worship instead of coming directly to the reading of the word or to our catechizing I purpose by God's grace to begin our family worship with the prayer Lord make these exercises pleasant to our soul you see unless they're pleasant they're not going to be sanctifying it's when understanding is pleasant to the soul

40:41 that then it preserves us and keeps us as we'll see in verse 11 if we get to verse 9 in our family worship in our own devotions what should our prayer be not only Lord open the word to me but make it what make it pleasant to me Lord may it enter into my heart and be pleasant to my soul Lord help me to be able to say before I'm done sweeter than the honeycomb to my mouth and as you come to public preaching what should your prayer be? give the pastor unction and power I hope you pray that please pray, pray more for that but oh Lord give me a disposition to find the word pleasant to my soul may it be pleasant to my soul for then Lord it's gaining an effectual entrance when it is pleasant unto my soul then we do hurry on to verse 11 the second aspect there must be this effectual entrance and then that gives birth a powerful influence that's how verse 8 is accomplished the word gains entrance takes dominion over us we find delight in it verse 11 discretion shall watch over thee understanding shall keep thee that's wisdom's powerful influence

Wisdom's Powerful Influence: Watching and Keeping

42:09 gaining an entrance now it exerts its influence briefly now what do the words watch and keep mean the word watch is rendered preserved in the King James version to fence in and to protect the word keep simply means to guard probably a military connotation so Solomon says that the paths of justice are kept and the way of the saints is guarded when truth which has gained an effectual entrance now exerts a powerful and a protective influence and as we'll see in our further studies it does this in this way temptation comes because wisdom has instructed us gained its entrance taken dominion over us and we delight in it we can recognize temptation for what it is wisdom has taught us to recognize it when there is the allurement of sin we are enabled to say no for we are conscious of the end of sin and the grief it brings to us and the reproach to God in short we are able to recognize the affections and the judgment as to preserve us from sin and from evil may I give you that again those words that have entered into the heart they've taken dominion they have become pleasant to the soul

43:37 they now regulate the affections and the judgment so as to preserve us from sin and evil so that when temptation comes clamoring for our commitment the word of wisdom comes with greater power and we render our commitment to it there is a beautiful example of this of course in the life of our Lord himself I've often been grieved at the simplistic approach to the temptation of our Lord and how he used scripture and the general approach is if you want to ward off the devil quote scripture well that's a very simplistic approach Jesus was not scaring the devil away by quoting scripture at him no no the devil is good at quoting scripture himself he quoted it to Jesus but what our Lord is doing in each of those instances is precisely this here is an enticement to evil that has a semblance of virtue on the surface if thou art the son of God or sins could be rendered either way turn these stones into bread if you're God's son he loves you and if he loves you he's concerned about your hunger and in obedience to him you've been fasting for forty days and nights why of course it would be right for you to eat bread it's a semblance of virtue now how is our Lord to meet that temptation how is our Lord to be preserved in the way of justice and obedience by the word of divine wisdom that had entered his heart and was pleasant to his soul

45:05 it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God Satan that word has entered my heart your word cannot enter your word is prove that you're the son of God or take advantage of your peculiar relationship to the Father his word is man shall not live by bread alone and his word regulates the judgment and regulates the affections and even my physical appetites that's what our Lord is saying I'm committed to that word of heavenly wisdom then the temptations go on and our Lord does essentially the same thing in each of those instances and says this is the word that has entered has taken hold of me and hence he was kept and that's exactly how the word works in us it's not the mere memorizing of scripture it's not the mere surface acquaintance with scripture but it's the laying up of the scripture in the heart and finding it pleasant unto the soul now then Solomon goes on to say this powerful influence of wisdom to preserve us and to keep us is not in the abstract but it is with reference to the concrete realities of a young man's temptation so he goes on to say it will keep you from the way of evil

46:34 men it will keep you from the way of the evil woman it will guide you into the way of good men and God willing that will be the focus of our study next Lord's day evening as we see the powerful influence of wisdom in this threefold direction one is general keeping from the way of evil men and if you read the passage over you'll notice that it's speaking of the way of sinners in general it is the way of evil men but then it's from a particular kind of evil that he deals in verse 16 to deliver thee from the strange woman and we'll see by way of application that that applies to all forms of sexual impurity not just the enticements of a young man by a woman this would be most germane since he's speaking to the son but it applies to the enticements of a young man towards a young woman and every form of deviant sexual behavior and then most blessed of all for a saint is not just a man who does not pursue evil men in graveyards don't do evil they don't do anything good either but the mark of a true man of God is in verse 20 he walks in the way of good men and the powerful influence of wisdom thus effectually received and now

48:02 exerting that influence is nothing less than preservation from evil and direction into the way of righteousness may God be thus pleased to teach us of his wisdom in such a way that it will have this influence upon us as well as we close tonight may I close by asking you one very simple question have you found this word pleasant to your soul have you been conscious that this word of wisdom has entered your heart two very simple questions but upon the answer to those questions hinge the whole matter of whether or not you are being preserved as one of those who's in the way of the saint oh dear children of God let us be content with nothing less than heart work when we hear the word and content with nothing less than wisdom being pleasant to our souls let's get on a little secret one of the greatest burdens to a preacher is when he can't be blessed by the very truth in which he attempts to bless others that's

49:28 bitterness when the very word he's conveying to others doesn't bring pleasantness to his own soul but when it does he can almost tolerate half the congregation going to sleep but when they're pleasant to him and he senses they're being pleasant to the people that's a little bit of heaven and I think God's given us a little bit of it tonight and let's thank him let's pray