WWUTT 1639 Do Not Add to His Word (Proverbs 30:1-33)

What we've been reading in the book of Proverbs, these are good words. This is the word of God. Do not add to these words. Do not take away from them, lest you twist the word of God and come into judgment when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

Well, being Thursday, we're doing our Old Testament study, and we have just two chapters to go in our study of the book of Proverbs. God willing, we will finish up our studies of 1 Corinthians and Proverbs in the same week.

We only have chapter 16 left to go in 1 Corinthians. I'll do that. That'll go rather quickly next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then we have one last chapter in Proverbs, perhaps the most famous chapter, which is chapter 31.

That'll be next week. Today, we're in chapter 30. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Now, we have finished the Proverbs of Solomon. That concluded at the end of chapter 29. We have these two appendices at the close of Proverbs with the words of Agur in chapter 30 and the words of Lemuel in chapter 31.

Agur's Humble Search for Wisdom and the Name of God

So out of the Legacy Standard Bible, I'm reading from Proverbs chapter 30, starting in verse one. We'll begin with these first six verses here. The words of Agur, the son of Jacob, the oracle, the man declares to Ithael, to Ithael and Ukal, surely I am more senseless than any man.

And I do not have the understanding of mankind. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I know the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists?

Who has wrapped the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name? And what is his son's name? Surely you know. Every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you. And you be proved a liar. Let's stop there for just a moment. So we have a very, very humble approach here from Agur, the son of Jacob, this oracle that has been written.

Surely I am more senseless than any man. And I do not have the understanding of mankind. Yet you hear in these words, a great fear of God. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists?

Who has wrapped the waters in his garment? What did we read at the beginning of Proverbs was the beginning of all wisdom and knowledge. Surely you know, surely you remember. Proverbs 1 .7, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge.

Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline. So Agur here has a very humble approach to gaining wisdom saying, I know nothing. I have nothing. I don't have knowledge of the Holy One. We cannot know God except by his grace that he has revealed himself to us.

And then Agur asked these questions, who has ascended into heaven and descended? Now that's verse four. As he's asking these questions about God, that's the first question. You may have heard that question before.

Didn't that sound familiar? Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Well, when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus in John 3 .13, he said the following, no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the son of man.

Jesus is quoting from Agur there when he is talking to Nicodemus. He has spoken to Nicodemus about some mysterious things, namely being born again. No one can see the kingdom of God except that he is born again.

Nicodemus doesn't understand that. He says, how can a man be born when he is old? Must I enter my mother's womb a second time in order to be born? And as Jesus explains these things to him and Nicodemus doesn't get it, Jesus says, are you not the teacher of Israel?

And yet you do not understand these things. Verse 10, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen and you do not accept our witness. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

That's the question Jesus asks. And then the next verse, verse 13 is, no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. So as Jesus is revealing to Nicodemus heavenly things, he can do that because he's from heaven.

He can answer the question that Agur asks in Proverbs 30 that Nicodemus would not have known the answer to. Jesus can answer it because he has ascended into heaven and descended from heaven. He is the son of man.

He's gathered the wind in his fists. He has wrapped the waters in his garments. He has established all the ends of the earth. Now, the question here at the close of verse four is, what is his name and what is his son's name?

So it seems that the inference would then be, what is God's name? What is his son's name? Nobody knows God's name except those to whom God has revealed himself. What is God's name? It's Yahweh. And we read about that at the beginning of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1 .7, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge. The name of God at the very start of this collection of wisdom that we've been studying over. How long have we been in this, the past year?

I don't even remember when we started our study of Proverbs on Thursday. Anyway, so God's name right at the start of Proverbs because that's the beginning of wisdom and knowledge to know Yahweh. This is the name that God has given to Israel, his covenant name that he shows his personal affection for them.

No one gets to know the name of God except those who are in that relationship with God. Nobody gets to use that name in a way that is pleasing to God, except those who are in fellowship with him through faith in his son, Jesus Christ.

Now we don't really have a lot of Trinitarian revelations in the Old Testament. Jesus is really the one who shows us the father. That's also in John. So in John 1, he who is at the father's side, he has made him known.

Jesus reveals the father to us. It's through Christ that we have knowledge of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. So here, this statement at the close of Proverbs 30, verse 4 is what is his name?

What is God's name? We only know God's name because he has given it to us. Yahweh. What is his son's name? We only know Jesus' name because it has been spoken to us through Christ's prophets and apostles.

Surely you know, Eger says. Verses 5 and 6, every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. How do we take refuge in God? We read his word. We believe it. We do what it says.

We're confident in it. As we've been talking through 1 Corinthians 15 over the last several weeks, this is a chapter where Paul is making an argument for the resurrection of the dead. We can have hope that we too will rise again and live with God forever because of the things that are spoken about there in God's word in that particular chapter.

We can take refuge in those words. We take refuge in God, in these words of God. And so, Eger says, if we truly value these words as pure, as being truly from God, even what we read here in Proverbs, do not add to his words, lest he reprove you and you be proved a liar.

You cannot speak the kind of truth that God gives. That word that is pure, that word that is tested, that word that is right and true, and we can take refuge in. That word is God's alone. Let's continue on here in Proverbs 30.

Contentment, Poverty, and the Danger of Prideful Self-Sufficiency

Two things I asked of you. Do not withhold from me before I die. Keep worthlessness and every false word far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny you and say, who is Yahweh?

Or lest I be impoverished and steal and profane the name of my God. This is Eger saying, just give me Jesus, right? That name's not used here, of course. We don't come into that name for another thousand years after what's been written here in the book of Proverbs.

But nevertheless, that's what he's longing for. He wants God, give me God. Give me only, as far as like my material needs are concerned, give me only those things that I need. Unless I lack and then I would fall into hopelessness or unless I abound in so much that I think I don't need God anymore.

That's a very humble beginning to this chapter and the humility continues even in these next Proverbs that we read. Verse 10, do not slander a slave to his master, lest he curse you and you be found guilty.

There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother. There is a generation that is clean in its own eyes yet is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how haughty are its eyes and its eyelids are lifted up.

There is a generation whose teeth are like swords and its fangs like knives to devour the afflicted from the earth and the needy from among men. Does that not describe our present generation? There's a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.

How many young people, especially in our present generation, have rebelled against parents or they may not have had good loving parents to guide them and discipline them and lead them in truth. And so this generation, their teeth have become like swords, their fangs like knives.

We're seeing young people especially restless and rowdy and rioting and devouring. That's happening even in our own country, even in the United States of America where we have so much plenty, so much abundance and there's not satisfaction in that.

There's just wanton rebellion and destruction. Consider the humility of Ager here when he said previously that, you know, don't give me too much, give me just what I need so that I will be fully satisfied in God.

And we're watching this generation, one of the most privileged generations in the history of the world, spoiled brats as they go around rioting and looting, thieving, taking that which does not belong to them, rebelling against authority.

Our culture is falling apart. Our godless culture is falling apart. Now, Peter said in Acts 2, save yourselves from this worthless generation. And the apostle Paul says in Philippians 2 that we are to shine as stars in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation.

So if we are holding fast to Christ and we are obedient to the word of God, then we are not of the generation that is behaving in the ways that were described here in verses 10 through 14. Instead, we desire godliness, growing in Christ likeness, sharing the gospel with others so they may repent from this crooked generation and know Christ and be saved.

We go on here. Let's continue on in Proverbs 30. The leech has two daughters.

Give, give.

There are three things that will not be satisfied, four that will not say enough. Sheol and the barren womb. Earth that is never satisfied with water and fire that never says enough. The eye that mocks a father and despises obedience to a mother.

The ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it. Essentially what's being said here in verses 15 to 17 is that generation that was talked about previously, the one that curses father and does not bless mother, that is clean in its own eyes and yet is filthy and is devouring, what is gonna be the result of that generation?

They will be destroyed. Sheol, the grave, won't be too full. There'll be plenty of space for the dead to fill up Sheol. The barren womb, that's also considered a form of death. When there is not, when there are not children to carry on the name to the next generation.

This is talked about in the Old Testament as being like death. Think of the words of Rachel to Jacob in Genesis 30 verse one she said, give me children or else I die. So we have Sheol, the grave, we have the barren womb.

The next one is earth that is never satisfied with water. This is earth that doesn't produce anything. It's just dead ground. You can water it and nothing ever comes up. And then the last one is fire that never says enough.

And that's the way Jesus described hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The eye that mocks a father and despises obedience to a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it.

Those who disobey God will perish. So we've seen these comparisons to hell here in verses 15 to 17, contrast that with something a little more wonderful that is reflected upon in verses 18 and 19. There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand.

The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea and the way of a man with a virgin. There's something that all four of those things have in common.

Do you know what they are? It's kind of a riddle, but all four of them do not leave any trail behind them. An eagle flying in the sky doesn't leave a path that you can follow, right? Even a serpent on a rock.

So if a serpent is crawling in the sand, it's gonna leave a trail. But on the rock, there's no imprint in the ground where you can see where the serpent was. The way of a ship in the heart of a sea. Yeah, there is kind of a wake behind a boat, but I mean, once the ship has been there and goes on, you can't find where the ship has been.

And so we get to this last one here and that one looks a little different, but the way of a man with a virgin. This is the way it's supposed to be that a man and a woman hold fast to one another, they become one flesh.

And if they are entering into marriage the way that God has created it, following the commands of God, then there's no sin, it's pure, it's good, all right? Look at the next verse, verse 20. This is the way of an adulterous woman.

She eats and wipes her mouth and says, I have done no wrong. The other four leave no path. There's no trail behind them. Even the man with the virgin that is pure and right and good. If this is a husband and a wife who have married one another and have kept their way pure according to the word of God, but an adulterous woman, she does leave a trail of sin behind her, bodies in her wake.

We've read about this in Proverbs before, the warnings that Solomon gave to his son in chapters five, six, and seven, stay away from the adulterous woman. She leaves bodies in her wake, but the one who obeys the word of God and does what he says, his way is pure.

Psalm 119, verse nine, how can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. Now we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the way that we have our way made pure.

Considering all the sins that we have committed, God makes our way pure by faith in his son, Jesus Christ. Now turn from your sin and don't walk in it anymore. Continue in the righteousness of God, according to his word.

Let's continue on and see if we can finish up here. Proverbs 30, beginning of verse 21, under three things the earth quakes and under four, it cannot bear up. Under a slave when he becomes king and a wicked fool when he is satisfied with food.

Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband and a servant girl when she supplants her mistress. This is talking about those who gain much but they don't gain wisdom with it. And so those from low estate who gain some sort of advantage or authority or influence, they misuse it.

And there are people that suffer as a result of it because they did not gain wisdom and humility at the same time. So we must grow in humility. If we are to gain advancement, please grow in humility and wisdom as well.

Lest it be to the suffering of people around you. Verse 24, four things are small on the earth but they are exceedingly wise. The ants are not a strong people but they prepare their food in the summer.

The Shefanim are not a mighty people yet they make their houses in the cliff. The locusts have no king yet all of them go out in rank. The lizard you may grasp with the hands yet it is in king's palaces.

So all of these things are small but exceedingly wise. And that last one there, the lizard, where do you find a lizard? Well, the lizards are out in the ground, they're out in the wilderness but you can even find a lizard in a king's palace.

That's a smart lizard to dwell in the place of the king's palace. So we must be as that way. We can be of low position. We are mortal. We're thinking about this with very humble minds, humble hearts, right?

That's the way we started Proverbs chapter 30. We understand that we are mortal. We, our lives are very limited. We are finite. We're fragile. Life is a fragile thing. So come to the palace, dwell in the place where the king dwells and then you will be saved.

Come into the presence of Christ, meditate on him, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. And as we've been reading about this week in 1 Corinthians 15, we who are in Christ are fellow heirs of his eternal kingdom.

Strength in the Church and Self-Control in Speech

Another number riddle here, starting in verse 29, there are three things which are stately in their march, even four, which are stately when they walk. The lion, which is mighty among the animals and does not turn back before any.

The strutting rooster, the male goat also and the king, when his army is with him. In case you didn't recognize what those animals had in common until you got to that fourth one, right? The king, when his army is with him.

These things are mighty and they are strong. And when we are together with the church, with the body of Christ, we are strengthened. We are an army, we're the army of God. And we do battle every single day, spiritual warfare, fighting against the principalities of this world, the spiritual forces in the heavenly places, fighting against the temptations of our own flesh.

There's all kinds of things that we are at war with every day and we are stronger when we are together. The church helps, we help each other, we build each other up, we encourage one another, we admonish each other, correcting with goodwill where those things need to take place.

And as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, which is the next book we're going to once we finish up Proverbs, a three cord strand is not easily broken. The more we are together, the more difficult it is for Satan to have his way with us, to divide us up, to break us or cause us to fall away.

Continue to hold fast to Christ through his church. And it is when we are with the brothers and sisters in the Lord that we are in safe and good, strong company. Verses 32 to 33, as we finish up Proverbs 30.

If you have been wickedly foolish in lifting yourself up, or if you have schemed evil, put your hand on your mouth for pressing milk brings forth butter and pressing the nose brings forth blood and pressing anger brings forth strife.

This is how the Proverbs of Ager conclude, I almost said anger, the Proverbs of Ager. So just as it takes just a little bit of pressure to turn milk into butter, to make the nose bleed. And so it is just with a few words that a person can stir up strife.

So once again, we begin with humility in this chapter, we close with humility. Watch your words, put your hand to your mouth. If you've been wickedly foolish in lifting yourself up, or you have schemed evil, put your hand to your mouth.

Don't praise yourself. Don't elevate yourself. Don't think too highly of yourself. Just takes a few words and that creates strife. But instead, may we humble ourselves before God. May we submit even our tongues to him, that the words that we say, the utterances that come from our mouths would even be pleasing to God.

And if what we say with our mouths is pleasing to God, it is gonna be a blessing to other people who are around us as well. Seek the wisdom of God while it may be found. Heavenly father, save us from this wicked and crooked generation.

May we not fall into the ways of this world, but walk in the ways of your word. And we hold out this word of life to those who are perishing so that they may hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, turn from their sin, know God according to your word.

And so be saved. Give us boldness and strength in these days to live godly lives and to call people to repentance. It's in Jesus name that we pray, amen.

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