(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, Proverbs chapter 8, we kind of have a real focused subject matter in this chapter, kind of like we did last week in chapter 7. It was all about the strange woman in the harlot in chapter 7, chapter 8. It's all about wisdom. And we see here, look at verse number 1, it says, Doth not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice? And what's happening here, it's a personification of wisdom or knowledge. And it's using very poetic language to liken wisdom to a person here. It says, She standeth in the top of high places by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. There's no delight in the fool. God does not want anybody to just walk around in ignorance. It's God's desire that people would gain knowledge and gain wisdom and not just be walking around and just committing sins ignorantly and just ruining their lives because of a lack of wisdom. And that's what the Bible is calling out here when wisdom is saying, look, unto you, O men, I call. I'm here. My voice is here. Listen. Please harken to what I'm saying. Don't just keep on doing the things that you've been doing. We need to listen to God's call and heed that call to wisdom. There's a desire here for people just to get in right with God. He's saying it's all over the place. That's why I believe like in Romans chapter one, it talks about people who, um, they're without excuse. You know, there's the evidence of God is all over the place. It's through his creation. All you have no excuse to say that you have no way of knowing who God is. And especially these days with the word of God is at our fingertips. I mean, in the age of the printing press, in the age of, of being able to get, to get God's word and you're in your hands. I mean, you could be homeless and have almost nothing and still go to a dollar store or walk into a church that will give you the, I mean, we'll, we give these Bibles out all the time for free for nothing. We're happy to give them out. We'll, we'll give them out all day long so that God's word is out there. It's so readily available and this wisdom is just crying out and I thank God for everyone that's here tonight. You know, we're studying this book of Proverbs as a group of people that want to gain this wisdom. We don't want to be the simple ones. We don't want to be fools. We want to be able to, to heed the wisdom from the Bible and, and make the changes necessary in life and be able to make the right decisions so that we don't fall into traps and fall into youthful and hurtful lusts, which, which devour many. Let's keep reading here. Look at verse number six. Here, for I will speak of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall be right things for my mouth shall speak truth and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing forward or perverse in them. Now we know that God's word is pure and true and God's word has wisdom and when we're reading through this chapter, there's going to be a lot of, of, um, association that you can make between just wisdom itself, which is what we're reading about, this personification of wisdom and wisdom crying out, being tied in with the word of God and with Jesus Christ and with our Lord. And when the Bible is saying here, look, my mouth, the mouth of wisdom speaks truth. The mouth of knowledge, the words of the Bible speak truth and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness, all in good things. Everything found in the Bible is in the way of righteousness. There's nothing forward or perverse in them. In Proverbs 30, we're going to get there in a few months, but the Bible reads in verse five, every word of God is pure. He has a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. See the Bible is saying when you add to God's word, God's words are pure. God's words are right. Every single thing in this book, in this Bible is correct. It's true. It's right. It's the word of God. We have, we don't have to have any doubt in that, but as soon as people come along and try changing things and twisting things and messing them up, you know, the Bible gives a stern warning here and much worse warnings, more severe warnings in Deuteronomy and also in Revelation about adding to or removing from God's word. He says, you do that, you know, for one, you're going to be found a liar because when you change the truth, you change it into a lie. When you take something and say, this is God's word, and then you change it a little bit, all of a sudden that's no longer God's word. I mean, you've, you've messed with it. You've tampered with it. Even if it's not, you know, a big deal. You say, oh, it's not a big deal. It's not some major change. Look, either God said that or He didn't. And if He didn't say it, it's, it's, it's a lie to say that God did say that. And God's words are pure. I thank God that we have an every word Bible today in 2016. That we have a, we have a word that we can trust that this is God's pure word. That, that, that, you know, as silver purified in a furnace of earth, you know, purified seven times that this, this word is pure. In James chapter 3 verse 17, the Bible reads, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, treated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. The wisdom that comes from God, the wisdom that we could find in God's word is pure. Pure means there's no, there's, there's no impurities. There's nothing false in it. It's, it's completely 100%. It's like, you know, pure gold has no impurities in it. It's, it's not mixed with any other metals. It's completely all by itself. And God's word is like that. It's pure with, with no imperfection. In order to be God's word, it has to be perfect. It has to be pure. And it also says it's without partiality. And, you know, as someone who wants to have wisdom, we shouldn't be partial to different parts of God's word. We shouldn't only just, just kind of care about or cling to one aspect and not the whole thing and not all of it. See, all the word of God is pure. Everything, the stuff that's, that's pleasant and, and, and great to hear and all of the mercy and the long suffering, that is very pure. And amen for all of the good news, the good news of the gospel, the good news found in the Bible. Praise the Lord for that. But don't ever get distracted also from the other purity that's found in God's law and God's righteousness and God's wrath and everything else that goes along with that. Let's take it all as a whole. Every word of God is pure. Everything is to be desired and to look upon and, you know, we shouldn't be partial in God's word and we also shouldn't be hypocrites. He says, without hypocrisy. God's word is without hypocrisy. God's not a respecter of persons. God lays things out. He says, this is the truth and this is the way it is. And there's no partiality there. We have, but we have an every word Bible. Deuteronomy 8, 3, this is also quoted in the, in the New Testament by Jesus Christ himself. But in Deuteronomy 8, verse 3, the Bible reads, and he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. And what he's explaining here is that when the children of Israel were going through the wilderness in Egypt and God fed them with manna from heaven, because they said, well, how are we going to eat? There's this huge multitude and they're just out in the wilderness. You know, they don't have, they're not, you know, have farmland, you know, all being plowed and they're not gaining their food source these ways because they're nomads. They're kind of traveling around. And God says, well, I'll take care of you. And he miraculously created this manna that was forming. It said, like the dew on the plant leaves. So they'd go out and gather it in the morning. And it said he that gathered little had no lack. It was enough to suffice them. And he that gathered much had nothing over. So God provided them exactly what they needed just to get through day by day. And what he's explaining here is he's saying, well, look, he humbled you, he suffered you to hunger, but he fed you with manna. He said, you didn't know anything about this manna. You've never seen it before. You've never heard of it before, but God took care of you. And the reason why he did it is that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only. See, God's able to take care of your hunger. He knows that you have need of things. And what he was doing with the children of Israel is putting them through that time period where they're going through the wilderness and they're going through hard times and it's real difficult for them. And they're worried about what are we going to eat? What are we going to do? How are we going to get new clothing? How are we going to live and survive? And you notice when they got out of the wilderness after those 40 years, the Bible is clear to say that, like, the shoes on their feet, they didn't break. They didn't go bad. You know, their clothing after 40 years, it didn't, it didn't, you know, just, just ran and get real warm. You know, I can't even, I don't have any clothing that's 40 years old. I mean, I'm not even 40 years old. I'm 39. So think about that. Like 40 years. That's a long time. And to be wearing, and it's not like they had a whole wardrobe, you know, coming with them as they're walking around in the wilderness. They pretty much had what they had. They may have had another change of garments, but it wasn't very much. And God was demonstrating to them. He's like, you don't have to worry about the food. You don't have to worry about the clothing. You don't have to worry about what you're going to put on, what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat. He said, I could take care of all that for you. What you need to worry about is what I tell you. What you need to worry about is listening and obeying and hearing my word. That's what I want you to do. He said, this other stuff, forget about it. You know, take no thought for the things of the moral. Things of the moral take thought for itself. You just have to worry about what God has for you to do. And that's why He says, the reason why He had the manna in the wilderness and He fed them with that, He says, you need to understand that man doesn't live by bread alone. That it's not just physical nourishment that you need in order to survive in this world. He says, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. We need all of God's words. If you want to live and thrive in this world, you need to be hearing every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. Now, I do not believe for one second that God would tell us you need every word and then, but it's not available to you. But you need every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You need them all. But actually, you know, we're in 2016 and all we have now is just translations and copies of copies and, you know, we really don't have all the words of God. That's ridiculous. I don't believe that for one second to be the truth. I believe that God has preserved and kept every word because it's necessary for us the same way that He taught the children of Israel that they needed that, you know, that manna sustain them physically. They need every word of God to be living by them. There's nothing forward or perverse. Also, the Bible says, in God's word. The wisdom that comes from above is pure. We saw in Proverbs chapter 8, it says, all the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing forward or perverse in them. It's man that perverts God's word. Man's the one that goes in and changes it and corrupts it and are found liars. But God's word is pure. Now, the other point I want to make about this with the purity of God's word is that, you know, some people take offense even with the King James Bible because of some of the words found in it because they think they're bad words. I'm here to tell you tonight, look, the word hell is not a bad word. It's a bad place. It's a place that we don't ever want to be. But it's not a, you know, a cuss word. It's not a swear word. I don't, you know, if my children are using the word hell, I'm not going to rebuke them for using the word hell. It's not a bad word. I mean, a lot of people in the world today would say, oh, you know, I had one person when I was, you know, preaching the gospel and just saying hell's a real place, you know, and like, oh, she's like, don't say that my children are right here. It's like, your children need to hear about hell. Look, every word of God is pure. Don't go saying that God's word is something that's not suitable. God, the Bible is suitable for all ages. God's word is suitable for everything. You know, there's areas of the Bible that have some pretty horrible stories of things that happened that were really wicked or really bad, but it never goes into a level of detail that would be like perverted or that would be something that you shouldn't even be able to hear. And the Bible is a good standard for the things that, you know, how far you should even be going in any of your conversations as far as details go. When you could read some of these stories, like we see in the book of Judges, about what the, you know, the sons of Belial did unto the concubine woman that was thrown, you know, the story was transmitted and gotten across, but that's, you know, the detail, the level of detail there is a level of detail that you need. There's nothing more that you need to get graphic on that, and the Bible is not too graphic. You know, it's as graphic as it needs to be, but it's always pure. It's always right. There's nothing forward. There's nothing perverse or perverted about the Bible. It's suitable for every age child. So don't tell me hell is a bad word. Don't tell me bastard is a swear word. Don't, you know, don't tell me piss is a bad word. These are all words that are found in the Bible. These are words that people take exception with today. And we ought not to. We ought to be able to say, look, these words are in the Bible. They're pure, and they're pure for use. Now, obviously, all of our words, I believe, ought to be used appropriately. I mean, you shouldn't be just throwing around any words just because, well, the words in the Bible, you know, you shouldn't just be making up, you know, using phrases and kind of going, taking too much liberty with just using the words, especially in a context where it doesn't even make any sense. But there's nothing wrong with talking about hell. There's nothing wrong with talking about bastards. There's nothing wrong about talking about any of these things that are found in the Bible because these words are pure, especially in a context that it's given. Let's keep reading here. Proverbs 8, verse number 9. In the, no, good night, I'm on chapter 7. Verse 9, they're all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. And, you know, after you get saved, you realize this, you know, prior to your salvation, when you try to read the Bible, it's like you literally have blinders on, and you can't understand anything. You look at it, it's just everything's confusing. You don't know what is this talking about. You might start to think you have some level of understanding, but it's really just your brain is clouded. But after you get saved, it's so clear. It's so simple. Now, obviously, again, I'm not going to say that every single little aspect of every part of the Bible is just, you know, easily understood by everybody. No. But God's Word is plain. God, it's, you know, anybody that's making the Bible difficult, it's man. Again, his words are plain, and they're easy to be understood. He says they're plain to him that understand it and write to them that find knowledge. God doesn't want us to be confused. He's not up there saying, oh, I'm going to trick these guys. We'll try to let them try to figure that out. You know, I don't believe that he's making some huge puzzle out of the Bible that, you know, you just have to spend decades trying to read this thing and trying to solve it and try to figure it out. God wants us to know the right path. He wants us to know about it. He wants us to have the instruction, and he's laid it out for us. And that's why my approach to understanding and reading the Bible is taking it for what it says, taking it very literally. I don't think, you know, obviously there's some symbolism and there's some extra truths that you can gain, and they're wonderful and magnificent. It's infinitely deep. But never am I going to reject the top, the primary teachings of what the words actually say. I'm never going to take the Bible and say, well, it doesn't actually, I know it says that, but that's not actually what it means. Because you see, you got to understand that in this culture, and it's not, you know, no. The Bible means what it says, and it says what it means right at its face value. And it's very simple and plain. God made it plain and easy to be understood. Verse number 10, receive my instruction and not silver in knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. We've seen this come up in previous chapters, the same concept of the value of God's Word and the value of having this wisdom. It's so much better. Don't be deceived, don't be distracted by the rubies and the gold and the silver and the physical things that you could accumulate in this life. God's wisdom is way better than all of that. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 9, very, very famous passage in scripture, but they that will be rich, so people that want to be rich, people who are going after the goods and the riches of this world. The Bible says, fall into temptation and a snare. It doesn't say they might fall, doesn't say that some of them fall. It says, they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Don't think that just because you're saved that you're immune to going after the things of this world, because you're not. And if you decide that making money is so important to you and you just start to gain this love of money, you're going to pierce yourself through with many sorrows. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Getting the riches, getting the fame, getting the glory, that's why you see the mega stars, the movie stars, the people in this world that have tons of money, they may look and put on this show or appearance of happiness, but they don't have true joy. According to the Bible, they're pierced through with many sorrows. They have way more things that you probably don't even realize that are going on in their life. It's obvious when you step back and look and you can see how many marriages and divorces and drugs and all of this other stuff that's going on with the people that have all this wealth and power because they're not happy, because there's a big void, because they're piercing themselves through as they try to gain more and more and more. And when you get greedy, when you start to love money, you're never satisfied. You could never have enough. You're always looking at something more and more and more and more. And not even having contentment is not having joy. When you're not content with where you're at in life and you just always want more, you're not going to have any joy. We ought to be content with the things that God has given us and not be seeking after the wealth and the riches of this world. We ought to be seeking after wisdom. Wisdom is way better, far better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared. You can't even compare unto wisdom. What wisdom will provide for you. Wisdom provides the way of life for you. Money can only buy you some things. You can buy all kinds of stupid things with money, but having the wisdom is going to teach you the right way to go and will keep you from all kinds of problems and snares. Now, look at verse number 13. The Bible says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance see in the evil way in the froward mouth do I hate. And it's real interesting in a future study, I'm not exactly sure which chapter I'm going to hit up, probably in a couple weeks. The fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord comes up quite a few times in the book of Proverbs. And when you get time later on this week, go ahead and look it up. It's going to be a good Bible study for you. Looking up all the times the fear of the Lord comes up, because we already saw in chapter 1, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And that's real common in the Bible, but there's a lot more times that the fear of the Lord applies itself in the book of Proverbs and in a few other places in the Bible. But here it's saying that the fear of the Lord, not only is it the beginning of knowledge, but it's to hate evil. When you fear, when you have a proper healthy fear of God, number one, that's the beginning of knowledge. You're on the right path. Fear God. Hey, God is powerful. God is almighty. God deserves reverence and respect. And we ought to humble ourselves and just say, God, you know way more than I do. And I fear what you're capable of. That's the beginning of knowledge. But having that proper fear of the Lord, then you also need to be hating evil. I mean, not just disliking it, not dissing, you know, hating it. It will have nothing to do with evil. And the Bible says that pride and arrogance and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. God hates all of those things. We need to stay humble because when you don't stay humble, you're going to become a fool and you're going to have God as your enemy. There are a lot of proud fools that spout off their mouths these days. And I think the worst proud fools, because normally people are proud for a couple of reasons. One, maybe they have a lot of wealth. Right? And that gets them proud. They get lifted up in themselves because they think they're so great. Why? Because of how much they've accumulated, this wealth that they've amassed. The other reason is because they have a high intellect. Right? Maybe they're real wise in this worldly wisdom. They're real educated, real smart. So that lifts them up thinking that they're better than everyone else because they're so smart. Either one, and sometimes a combination of both. Whether you have a good intellect or not, you need to make sure that you're not proud and become like these proud fools that actually know nothing. I think the worst are the type, the intellectual types that want to show everyone how smart they are. Especially the ones that, you know, they're going to be referencing all the Greek and the Hebrew and how much ancient culture they know and how, you know, ho ho ho, you think you know what this says but you don't really know anything about the Bible. Because, you know, you're reading it in English, which is the language that you speak and you possibly might think that you understand what it says. The scholar type that want to throw around a bunch of questions about the Bible and don't really even have an answer. They want to, they want to, they bring, ultimately they usually end up bringing more doubt than anything else into the situation. And these are the ones I've found out by experience and I know this, the ones, anyone that I've ever come into contact with that is like this, that have this great intellect and they know so much and they're big Bible scholars, they never go out and win souls. They never are the ones going out and reaching the lost. The proud scholar, they think they're getting really deep in their understanding but they're really just a babe in Christ according to the very Bible that they think they know so much about. Hebrews 5 verse 13 says, For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. What's that saying there? You don't get the full meat of the Bible and really get that full understanding. When you're a babe, you just get the milk. You can understand all the basics. If you want to be a full grown, full age and really dig in and get the meat from God's word, He says the only way you're going to get that is by reason of use. You don't progress from the milk until you start putting into action and you start living and doing and making decisions and changing your life based on what you've already learned. God will continue then to give you more and more and more and that's where the growth comes. Just like in working out, you can't just talk about going to the gym and lifting weights and not actually go and do it. The growth comes by every day or every other day or where you're regularly going and then what do you do? You keep adding to that and adding to that and adding to that and by reason of use, you're going to grow and get stronger. By reason of use through God's word, when you learn more and the more God enlightens you and the Holy Spirit opens up your understanding as you're reading the scripture, you don't want to be like the natural man that beholded his face in the glass and then go with his way and he forgets what manner of man he was. There's a Bible that talks about the forgetful hearer, but you need to be a doer of the work. If you're not a doer of the work, you're going to be a forgetful hearer. For example, a good example of this, you know, even mentally as far as just things that you learn, acquire, not even just not even talk about the Bible. I learned Spanish in high school. Four years I took. So four years I was going and learning and every day and I got pretty decent with the language. But the longer you go and you don't use it, the more you forget, the more you just don't even have that knowledge anymore. The knowledge is not retained. You need to keep it fresh. You need to use it and then add thereon, right? I mean, if you're continually using it, you don't need to go back and relearn all the stuff you already learned. You keep growing and adding on that. But when you don't use it at all, it goes out of your mind. It goes out. And it's the same way with God's word. You know, God wants you to have wisdom. He wants you to have knowledge and he'll teach you things. And he says, look, you know, if you come to me, you just ask for this stuff. He's like, I'll give it to you liberally. I'll give you wisdom. You know, have as much as you want, but you have to be using it. You have to keep it fresh. You have to apply it daily and not just pontificate, but go out and have the charity. We saw this in our Bible study in 1 Corinthians 13, the charity chapter, right? 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. These people get swelled up with pride because they spend however many hours in their home reading and reading books from other men and reading the James White and reading all these other guys and reading other false prophets and reading and reading and reading and reading and reading and reading and never going out and doing and never putting into practice. And when they think they're, you know, people get so puffed up, they're really just a tinkling cymbal. It's like, you're a babe. You're not putting this stuff to use. You're not actually going out and doing anything. And that word charity, it's a love where you care. Charity is like a root word of care. We're caring for someone else. And you read through that, you know, read the whole chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. He goes into detail about it, how it's a deep love for others, for other people, what you do for them. And just gaining some knowledge, you're completely imbalanced. It's just, again, to use the analogy of working out, right? You can't just spend all of your time in the gym and not replenishing and getting food and getting some sleep. You know, your body, all of these things have to work together in order to produce the best result, in order to produce the desired result. You need to be eating healthy. You need to be getting rest and you need to be working out. You need all of those things in order to get stronger and to build your strength. Well, it's the same thing in the Christian life. Yes, study of God's word is important. I'm not downplaying the study. But if that's all you ever do is just read and reread and you don't do anything else, you are imbalanced and you're going to be, you know, spiritually obese instead of spiritually fit. And regardless of what that area is, if all you're doing, let's put it this way on the other end, if all you're doing is just going out and talking to people, talking to people, talking to people, but you're never reading your Bible and you're never spending time in prayer and you're never doing these other things, you're also going to be imbalanced. You're going to be lacking in the knowledge and wisdom that you need to have. You need to put it all together and it needs to be imbalanced. But it definitely needs to be by reason of use to get your senses exercised or by to discern both the good and the evil. It's one thing to learn about this in the Scripture, it's another thing to put it into practice and to put it into use and not to be a forgetful hearer. So we read there in 13, right, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way in the froward mouth do I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. I have strength. By me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles. And all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me. In God's law, the Bible says that when they desired a king, that the king was supposed to make his own copy of the law and read therein every day of his life. And that was to give the king the wisdom in order to lead, in order to rule over the people. And that's why the Bible is saying here that by me kings reign. And that's the wisdom that Solomon had and that's what you need if you're going to lead a great people especially and to be in that position you need to have that type of wisdom. Why is this no longer even considered or looked at these days when we're trying to pick out a leader for our country? No one seems to care anymore how much wisdom they actually have from God's word. I don't care. I'll put it this way. I could care less. Excuse me. Wow. I hate that. That phrase has been used so many times it's rubbing off on me. I couldn't care less is the way that statement even makes any sense. Don't say I could care less because that means you could. I actually could care less. I couldn't care less what foreign policy experience a presidential candidate might have if they don't know anything from God's word. Because they have no wisdom then. None. And if it's going to be a leader, if they're going to reign, if they're going to be someone that you know they need to have a lot of wisdom. You can know how to deal with all of the situations that this world can bring at you if you know God's word. If you are extremely wise when it comes to scripture and the Bible and God's light is lighting your path, look, you won't do wrong. And I would much rather trust somebody that has the knowledge and the wisdom of God in their heart to help to lead them and guide them in making the right decisions, especially when it affects a whole bunch of people than someone whose light is darkness. How great is that darkness? And you have these guys and it's funny because politicians are all about pandering to the vote. And I don't care. Trump's a politician too. He's not a politician. Whatever. He panders just like all the rest of them do. They're trying to get votes. And when they pick up their Bible and it's funny, it's been a while now. I follow politics a little bit and they're bringing up something to Trump about, you know, he said somehow he has a favorite Bible verse. He had no idea what the Bible says anywhere. He was just kind of throwing that out there, trying to throw a bone to the evangelicals to help get that vote or whatever. But none of them do. I mean, it's not just Trump, believe me. It's all of them. I mean, you just run through the gamut. Anybody who's got their name in the ring at this point, and I don't even care if they're third party, none of them have any respect for God's word and the light. They definitely do not have the light of God's wisdom inside of them. It's just a big joke. But I like this statement here in verse 17, I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me. We ought to be seeking out wisdom. He said, look, do you love me? I love you if you love me. You seek me early, you're going to find me. God's word, God's wisdom is readily available, but you have to be looking for it. You have to be loving it. And in Matthew 5, 6, the Bible says, Jesus was saying in the Beatitudes, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. When you have that desire, when you have that want, when you have that love for wisdom, when you, when you, it says here, seek me early, right? Don't be lazy about it. I know we've all got a lot of things going on. You're saying, look, you want to get up a little bit extra early and start reading the Bible? I'll give you some wisdom. I'll open up your understanding. Hey, you're willing to do that. You're willing to get up early. You're willing to love me and seek after me diligently. God says, I'm all for that because God doesn't want, especially his people to be fools. That this is one area where I believe that God will not withhold at all. I think it's always God's will for you to have more knowledge and wisdom. Verse number 18, riches and honor are with me. Yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold. Yea, then fine gold in my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures. Now you say, wait a minute. I thought, riches and honor are with me. But I thought we're not supposed to care about that stuff. I actually think there's twofold meaning here. The primary meaning is, the Bible is talking about durable riches. Riches that are going to endure. Not the riches of this world. You're going to receive durable riches. You're going to receive fruit better than gold. You're going to receive the stuff that really matters. I mean, this is what you're striving for through the wisdom. And when I say dual meaning, I'm going to get into that a little bit more. Flip if you want to Proverbs chapter 11 real quick. I think there is a minor teaching here though that when you have a lot of wisdom, getting even just the physical riches and stuff of this world is just going to be a lot easier. A lot of times that will just kind of come along in the way. Not that you're guaranteed. I'm not saying that you're going to just automatically have wealth. But people who have a lot of wisdom and knowledge, especially just from the scripture and you have a good work ethic, naturally what can come along with that is some of the physical goods also. Because you have a good understanding. You're a hard worker and you focus on what's important. Many times that can just, the other stuff can come along with it. Just like Solomon was blessed with having the extra financial blessings and stuff because he sought after wisdom first. He went after the thing that was most important. He sought the wisdom from God. And God told him, hey, you could have asked for anything. You could have asked for the life of your enemies. You could have asked for long life. You could have asked for riches. But you didn't. You sought after wisdom. And God blessed him. He said, okay, since you did that, I'm going to add all these other things unto you because I'm happy that you did the right thing. But see, that's not the goal. I mean, that's not our focus isn't on the worldly pleasures. I think that these things can be added unto you. But what this is mainly talking about primarily is the durable riches, the fruit that's better than gold. So it's something higher than any of the physical wealth that you could get better than gold. I mean, gold is extremely precious, right? And the fruit that you get by having wisdom is better than gold. Look at Proverbs 11, verse number 30. The Bible reads, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. The soul winner, the person that goes out and uses the wisdom that they have from the Bible to lead other people to Christ, to win souls unto God, to get them converted unto Christ. That person is wise. And we see that parallel in Proverbs 8, because this is wisdom that's speaking. Hey, riches and honor are with me. Yea, durable riches and righteousness. And the Bible teaches us that we are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day and all of the things, all the works that we've done in this world are going to be tried. Everything that we did, whether it be good or bad, the Bible says, it's all going to be tried by fire. And whatever is remaining is going to be a reward that we receive. So whatever endures the flame, whatever is durable, because the Bible talks about gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble. Obviously the wood, hay and stubble aren't going to abide the flame. They're going to burn right up. But the gold, silver and precious stones, spiritually speaking now, they're going to abide the fire. They're going to make it all the way through. The Bible says that the man that wins souls is wise. By going out and winning souls to Christ and producing fruit that lasts. See, when another soul, when you can lead someone else to Christ, what you're doing is you're pointing them to Christ. If they get saved, that is fruit that has been produced. It's eternal. They have, you know, just as much as you have everlasting life, when someone else gets saved as a result of you preaching the gospel to them, now they have everlasting life. Hey, everlasting is forever. That fruit's never going to perish. That fruit never goes away. No one can take that away from you. That person is saved and going to heaven and nothing can stop them. No man can pluck them out of the Father's hand. That is the fruit that remains and that is everlasting and never perishes and never fades away. And if you are wise, you will go out and start to learn how to give the gospel to people and win souls and you can heap up to yourself treasures in heaven. John chapter 4 verse 35, Jesus said, Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. Again, talking about winning souls going out because look, fields are white unto harvest. There's plenty of people out there that are just waiting to hear the word of God. Go out and preach the word and reap those souls, reap them to Christ, gather them together. And when you do that, when you reap, you receive wages. God pays you for the work that you do. He doesn't have to. Of course he doesn't have to. He doesn't owe us anything. We owe him. I mean, he's the one that bought and paid for our lives and for our souls. But praise God that not only has he saved us completely, but he says, you know what? And I think this further emphasizes the freeness and the grace of God. He says, yeah, your salvation was already bought and paid for. So no matter, well, anything you do above and beyond, just putting your faith in Christ, I'm going to pay you for that. Just to show you that there's nothing to do with the gift. The gift is there and it was free the whole time. So any work that you do, that is not going one little bit towards the free salvation that you received. You could say, yeah, but God, you've given me this whole thing. You know, I want to live my whole life and serve you because of what you did for me. Great. Amen. That's a good, a good attitude to have. But he makes sure that no matter what you do, that there's no way that's going to get applied to your salvation in any way, shape or form, because he pays you for what you do. He says, you're receiving wages for that. And he wants you to do it. But it's another motivation even for us. You say, hey, you know, you ought to just love the lost and try to get them saved to let them avoid hell. That's, that's a great, you know, motivation to go out and preach the gospel. But maybe you're not that spiritual yet. Hey, you know what another motivation is? Why don't you earn yourself some rewards? We're on this earth for a very short period of time, decades, right? How long is eternal? How long is eternity? I mean, you're, when we're, when we're done here, it's going to be like nothing. You're going to be spending a long time in eternity, you're going to want to have those wages that you've earned with you forever, as opposed to just the wages that you could earn here, that's all gonna be burned up anyways, when God destroys the heavens and the earth. Matthew 619 says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust are corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break forth, break through nor steal. For where your treasure is there, will your heart be also. If your, if your treasure is on this earth, that's where your heart's going to be. You're going to be concerned about the money, concerned about all the things that you get, concerned about all that stuff, you know, waste your life. But if your treasure is in heaven and you're focused on, on getting those rewards, that's where your heart's going to be also. It's gonna be on heaven. Hey, what can I do to help others out? What can I do to even gain more rewards? Let's go back to Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8 verse number, let's see, where do we leave off? I'll start reading verse 21, that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill the treasures. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there was no, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him. And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the inhabitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. A lot of references to the creation. Now this is again the personification of wisdom saying, look, I've been around forever, is what he's saying, from everlasting. I've been around from the beginning of the earth, because by God's wisdom and by God's own words he created this earth. He didn't even have to lift a finger. He spake this world and all creation into existence through his wisdom, through his knowledge, and through his might. And wisdom was from everlasting. And what I want to tie together here, and what I think this is pretty amazing, is understanding and looking at this personification of wisdom, I believe that the wisdom, first of all, we know comes from God's Word. God's Word provides the wisdom. God's Word is from everlasting. And we know that Jesus Christ is the Word also. You see, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus Christ is the Word manifest in the flesh. And I've mentioned this before, just as much as you need Jesus Christ to be saved and go to heaven, you need God's Word to go to heaven. You know, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You can't even have faith in Jesus Christ until you have the Word of God, which is Jesus. You need to receive God's Word. You need to receive Jesus. They're inseparable. And the wisdom that you get from God's Word is inseparable. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of wisdom. He's the embodiment of the Word. Wisdom is from everlasting. And I love looking at all these various verses. Like in verse 23 there, we just read, I was set up from everlasting, going all the way back from the beginning. Verse 30 says, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him. Think about the only begotten Son of God, right? As one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. Jesus Christ Himself said, I do always those things which please the Father. Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. And then verse 35 says, for whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. Jesus is the one that brings life, and that this wisdom that we get from God's Word also, when you find that wisdom of God's Word, you find life. Now, turn if you would to Micah chapter 5, because I want you to see that. Micah chapter 5, we're almost done. I'll read this for you from 1st Corinthians chapter 1, in verse number 30, the Bible reads, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So Jesus Christ in that verse is saying, is of God. Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom. In 1st Corinthians 1 30, it's telling us there that Jesus Christ is wisdom to us, just because He's the embodiment of the Word. Look at Micah chapter 5 verse number 2, talking about a prophecy of Jesus Christ. But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathim, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, again, there's that reference to from everlasting, there's no beginning. If it's from everlasting, it's infinity of the past. That's where He came from. Jesus Christ always has been. He didn't have an origin or a creation. And as I mentioned earlier, thank God that we have an every word Bible, and every word of God is pure. Just to give you one example, since you're in Micah chapter 5, verse number 2, that same verse that we just read in the NIV, it reads, but you, Bethlehem Ephrathim, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. It says, it doesn't say everlasting, but you know what also says is origins. Now, what is an origin? It's a beginning, right? It's a start. It's a birth, right? It's the origin. There's something, we all have our origins, right? When you were born or prior to that, when you're conceived in the womb, right, as your origin. Jesus Christ is from everlasting. He has no origin. He's eternal. He's beyond a starting point. Beyond age, that's right. In the NIV, it just says of old from ancient times. Okay, ancient times or old just means a long time ago. That's not quite back as far as everlasting. Key critical difference there. These verses say different things depending on which book you're looking at. These words in the NIV have been changed. Those are not the words of God. Jesus Christ, that would be a contradiction just in who Jesus Christ is in that prophecy. It's just false. It's important that we use the Word of God, but I thank God that we do have a reliable source that we can know, hey, every word of God is pure and it's found for us today in the English speaking world in the King James Bible. Praise God for that, for His retention of His words for us. Turn if you want to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. It's the last place we're going to turn. We're closing out the chapter. Almost done. I just want to close on this last point here in 1 Corinthians 2. While you're turning, I'm going to read the rest of the chapter. I don't think I finished chapter 8. Verse 32 reads, Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. And we see there again this great language of seeking out God and just waiting and wanting to gain the knowledge and seeking after it with all of your desire. But let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. It's the last place I want to point out here. Verse number 6. The Bible reads, Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. God's wisdom, God's word, has always existed. And God ordained it before the world even started unto our glory, it says, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit of which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And we see here again a testimony to the wisdom of God that's in a mystery. It says God ordained before the world even began, and explaining that, you know, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. When you love God, when you love his wisdom, God's got something special prepared for you. And right now it's beyond even our own comprehension and understanding. And what great news to just to keep that in your heart and to understand that, hey, if you love God, remember Jesus said, if you love me keep my commandments. He says it all ties in together, you know, trying to be righteous, trying to do what's right, having taken heed to God's Word. It's not just a gushy feeling of loving God and just say, oh, I just love God so much. Well, if you do, then you ought to prove that you ought to be respectful of God's Word. You ought to fear the Lord. You ought to, you know, heed his commandments. And if you do all these things, you know, you can't even imagine how great and how wonderful God has a place prepared for you. So we ought to continually be striving to get this wisdom, to get this knowledge, get his instructions, get his understanding, get these, get these laws down. Hey, some people think that the Old Testament is boring. Look, let's read it all. Let's love it all and try to glean as much wisdom and knowledge as we possibly can because we love God. We believe his promises. We believe that when he says, look, it hasn't even entered in the heart of man the things that I have prepared unto you. I believe that. And I can think of a lot of great things that heaven might be like. And for him to say, you don't even know. You think you don't even realize to them that love him. He says, but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. You ought to love God's Word and seek out the deep things and take it. Don't be partial in the Word. Don't be a hypocrite. Take the whole thing for what it is. And in all the study and all the reading, apply it. Apply it where necessary. When you come across the laws and you say, you know what, God said this is wrong and you're doing it, stop doing it. You know, change that part of your life. When God's saying, look, I want you to go out and preach the gospel to every creature and you see that part, you're not doing it, go out and do it. Everywhere, everything that we see, no matter what it is, because we all have our own failures and our own faults, everything you come across when you identify it, when you see it, when God opens up your understanding and you say, hey, wait a minute, I don't think what I'm doing is lining up with what God's Word says. Let's change it. Let's love God to that extent. And you know what? God will bless you for it. And not necessarily with the riches of this world, but with the durable riches and the treasures that are laid up in heaven. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for this great instruction that you have. Lord, I pray that you would please just stir up all of our spirits to want to learn more and study more from your Word and to really gain this knowledge that truly brings life. God, we need to treat it as such and not just as any other old book, but that we reverence your words and will meditate on your words and try to get your words into our hearts, dear Lords. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.