Sermon: Fear God, Hate Evil

This is the word of the Lord does not wisdom call

Does not understanding raise her voice on the heights beside the way at the crossroads

She takes her stand Besides the gates in front of the town at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud to you, oh men,

I call and My cry is to the children of man O simple ones learn prudence.

Oh fools learn sense Here for I will speak noble things and from my lips will come what is right

From my mouth will utter truth Wickedness is an abomination to my lips

All the words of my mouth are righteous There is nothing twisted or crooked in them

They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge

Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold

For wisdom is better than jewels and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

I Wisdom dwell with prudence and I find knowledge and discretion

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech.

I hate Thus far as the reading of God's Word. Will you join me in prayer, please?

Our God and Holy Father Your word tells us about the one to whom you will look.

He is of a contrite spirit and trembles before your word Lord today

Open my lips And my mouth will declare forth your praise and now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing and Acceptable in your sight

Oh Lord our rock and our Redeemer and it's in the name of Jesus Christ.

We pray Amen so far in the book of Proverbs We see that Wisdom comes to us in the context of a covenant community

Wisdom speaks as a sagely king father to a child to a son to a youth and So the context is quite clear

But this chapter Proverbs chapter 8 is unique In this we meet one of the central characters and that is

Lady Wisdom in The next chapter we're introduced to Madame Folly and they're meant to provide for us these two startling contrasts but we have

Lady Wisdom who is the Personification of the attribute of God wisdom, so this is

God speaking as Divine wisdom it is God as wisdom and here

Lady Wisdom who is the personification of all that is right and that which will bring us to life calls out

We saw this in chapter 1 already after that section in which the father

Appeals he's pleading with his son Don't join a band of robbers that lies and wait to ambush the innocent

Bearing quite a striking similarity to the forbidden woman that we've seen the adulteress

She lies and wait to ambush the unsuspecting the gullible

She's whispering in quiet places She's saying turn in here.

She's offering seductive speech. She's saying come in here and Find a place for yourself.

She's doing so quietly discreetly and Lady Wisdom is

Calling out loudly God is calling out loudly boldly

Proclaiming the way that leads unto life and Lady Wisdom calling out with her invitations

Signals to us a very key attribute of God himself. God is an inviting

God and it's Incredible because he's under no compulsion or obligation to do so to invite his creatures the children of mankind

To come and feast on the bountiful provision that he has spread before them in divine wisdom

Which is most climatically seen in the person of his son Jesus Christ He has no obligation to offer that and yet he beckons us to come

He pleads with us and Lady Wisdom in this passage is pleading She is calling out.

I've said before in one of the prior messages that I preached on this book Lady Wisdom is a street preacher

Lifting up the voice crying out to the children of mankind rendering warnings

This is the way of life. There's a confrontation there and There's a call by God to come and make

Wisdom our closest companion our most trusted friend Because there is security to be found in her and so the first thing we notice in this passage is that Wisdom is out in the open

God Confronts us boldly and publicly everywhere that we go

If you look at the confrontation here, where does wisdom meet us? Where does God's? Instruction for living meet us.

Where does it come to us? Very public places on the heights verse 2

The crossroads right where commercial activity comes together Where business is carried out where there's commerce where there is

Political activity Talking about of course the Gates beside the gates in front of the town at the entrance of the portals

She cries aloud Places where people hold intellectual debates and exchanges with one another places where art happens

Places where disputes are decided. These are all awfully public settings and the point of this

Wisdom confronting us there out in the open is this God's instruction comes to us in The places of business in the places of commerce and civil affairs and cultural activity

And there is much to learn here. You could do a whole message on this just by itself God's Word comes to us

Not in just the four walls of the church Just in the religious affairs just in the places where there are

Stained -glass windows and pews and hymnals and crosses hanging up behind us

God's wisdom his instruction for living speaks to every single affair of our lives in Every context nothing is off -limits

Right this revelation from God is not a church book It is a book with a

God that speaks with instruction that is relevant everywhere in every facet of our existence

Wisdom's application comes to us broadly In all the affairs of life and you might find it repetitive here

That lady wisdom is calling out white wisdom is calling out again You remember in chapter 1 when she says turn in here take advantage, right?

I'm presenting it to you I'm not hiding anything here. I am here's God speaking to the children of mankind

Here I am hear what I have to say, I'll make it very plain respond take advantage avail yourself of this wise instruction for living and Here we are again confronted and we might be tempted to ask ourselves

Why that is we might be tempted to become jaded to it. I thought that we just encountered something like this

But the tendency of sinful creatures like us like me and like you is to be forgetful

Worldly influences cause us to become insensitive To wisdom's call the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh and the pride of life always threaten us

We are constantly receiving All of this input from our world and our culture live this way.

This is the good life This is what's valuable. This is what you should highly praise and esteem. This is how you should look

This is how you should act. These are the decisions that you should make. This is what you should live for This is where you should place your stock.

This is where you should bow down and worship We're constantly confronted with that and here's lady wisdom coming into the marketplace in the public setting and lifting up her voice competing for the affections of men and their hearts

God comes to us in that very public setting Because he knows that we can become dull of hearing

The Bible speaks about this and this is normally where the rebukes are issued in Scripture Where the people have become dull of hearing

You know in Hebrews chapter 5 Isn't this what the author of Hebrews wants to get across to his audience?

He says I have much to say to you There's this glorious theological feast that I want to lay down before you.

I've got a 32 ounce salt and pepper crusted cast -iron seared butter glazed ribeye

To put on the plate in front of you. I'm getting hungry now I've got this steak this fat theological steak to put down in front of you, and I'm afraid that you can't even stomach it

Right you still need milk You're unskilled in the word of righteousness

You're unskilled to discern between good and evil which is critical component of wisdom as we'll see here

We just saw in verse 13 that I read the fear of the Lord is Hatred of evil in order to be able to hate evil.

We have to be able to discern good from evil We have to be able to know and so we have to be practiced in this takes effort, right?

That's a central theme. I hope we're getting that over and over again as we go through this book. Is that discipline?

self -discipline consistency diligence Engagement applying ourself to understanding seeking it like buried treasure buried gold precious jewels

All of this takes effort. It's not something that just comes to us because We can become dull of hearing he says in Hebrews chapter 5

I have much to say and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of Hearing and here's wisdom again calling out to us because God knows that our hearts can grow cold

We can become distracted Remember I told you this and here's wisdom again

Confronting us bringing us back to the voice of wisdom and wisdom notice

God He doesn't wait for his audience to come to him he takes the initiative and goes to them

This is God's wisdom Confronting us meeting us and who's it for? Right, who's it for?

It's for those who of course grow dull in heart Right, and what does that mean by the way to be dull of heart to be dull of hearing?

It means that our affections our attitudes our behaviors are not trained By God and his affections and his judgments and his desires right, it's kind of like when

I was growing up there was a large freezer in my bedroom And I remember when my parents first got it and they put it in there.

It was so loud. I couldn't sleep for a week. I Could not sleep because that motor would come and it would just hum incessantly and I couldn't sleep

But what happened after a week And after two weeks and after a month,

I couldn't hear it anymore because it was just playing in the background That's how we get with God's truth especially if you grow up in a

Christian home if you're under the hearing of the gospel all the time if you're constantly surrounded by Christians and Christian activity you can become dull of hearing

God's Word just becomes background music Right. We understand what that means, right?

We're Taken on by various tasks and we're wanting to get them done So we just put something on to listen to just something to pass the time just something to keep our minds

But it's just background music, right? We're not actively engaged with it We just put it on and the point of wisdom is this don't fall asleep

Don't become dull of hearing consider ponder ingest

Internalize make it a part of you just like the father telling his son my teaching take that and make it your own

My God take him and make him your God make it your own

Wisdom's invitations Who are they for? Good Verse 5, of course the dull of heart, but the simple ones right the spiritually gullible learn prudence

Oh fools learn sense and so The inclusive nature of the call of wisdom wisdoms voice calls out as that street preacher

Calling out to the masses that are headed for death And those are the ones whom the simple ones are lumped together with and in their own eyes

And their own way of doing things there is a way that seems right unto them. But in the end thereof it is death and so wisdom calls out to the masses and She calls out

With instruction for royalty for kings and queens She calls out verse 6 speaking noble things kingly stuff

Stuff of royalty as we're told later on in the section that we'll get to wisdom is that which by which?

Kings rule and so this is the stuff of royalty

Wisdom's words are truth They're straight

They can be trusted Her speech is plain Not like those whose speech is crooked those who have ulterior motives

Those who are looking to deceive for the sake of self gain and self indulgence

Her speech is straight. It accords with the way that God made the world

If you remember we're talking about wisdom in that God made the world a certain way

He made it to run and function according to the parameters that he established and the duty of the children of mankind

Whether great or small whether rich or poor whether tall or short whether male or female everyone who is created by God is to Bring their lives into conformity with the way that God made the world

Someone once said that we don't break God's rules. We only break ourselves trying

Right, you can try to defy gravity, but it will come back and hit you in the face quite literally

Which is how God's word is as well and so this straight speech

That wisdom is giving this Attribute of God that is speaking in a personified way.

This is the same Attribute of God that carved order out of chaos in the cosmos that brought unity out of disunity

And so this speech operates the same way it cuts with the grain It goes with the way that God made the world.

It doesn't seek to undermine and overturn God's created order

That's what crooked speech does if you look at the way that the world operates now in the way that they've weaponized language

Right taking words Emptying them of their meaning injecting an entirely different meaning into it and why?

Because those who are alienated from God will seek to even use Language to further alienate

God's creation from him That is what fallen creatures that is what those who are rebellious those who operate against God's design seek to do

And so wisdom and her invitations. What else are we told about her?

Verse nine This is the Declarative statement about her value

It's better than silver It's better than gold It's better than jewels.

As a matter of fact, it's priceless All that you may desire cannot compare

With her And so wisdom, of course has this hard sell right this practice polished thing that she wants to call us into Saying that the payoff is at the end

It's hard up front. It's trying But the payoff and the glory comes later Whereas the contrast is the way that the world works the way that lady folly works

Is that there's a payoff up front or so we think? But it doesn't end well

It ends in destruction It ends in devastation. It ends in ruin as we give our honor away in our years to the merciless

God offers himself in wisdom freely to whomever will come and We're told here

In verse 12. I wisdom dwell with prudence And I find knowledge

And discretion Just to help us here with some of these words prudence or shrewdness

Has to do it. It most literally means a foresight being able to get out of the way of oncoming danger of understanding the way that the world works

And being able to adeptly navigate it Right knowing the way that god made the world

Understanding the way it works and making the appropriate plans and executing the appropriate action in response

To the way god made the world It also carries with it the connotation of good judgment temperance

It's not given to extremes or impulses Right. It's it's moderated.

It's tempered and then discretion Discretion has to do with the ability to keep one's own counsel the ability to Separate from the thinking of the herd

Which carries a lot of meaning with us over the past two years, right? you hear the word herd and you have ptsd in some sense, but But this idea of discretion carries with it the idea of not thinking independently of god

But thinking our thoughts after him and being able to keep our own counsel in regards to his instruction and his law

It is based on a mind that can perceive And has insight and therefore an ability to discern good and bad right and wrong evil and righteous so Tying these all together here

God made the world in a certain way It has order Wisdom works in terms of that God made the world to operate under a certain rhythm

My wife she loves uh organized choreography Right where the dancers get up and they have a routine and it's you know, they're keeping with a count

It's one and two and three and four and it's she's she's trying to tell me, you know There's a story being told here. You got to watch closely.

It's not just about the music playing the background They're they're telling a story when they do these things, but there's order there's symmetry and furthermore

There is a response on the part of the dancers The music instructs them on how to move

Right, it wouldn't make any sense for them to get up to this Fast rhythm song and do ballroom dancing, right?

It just wouldn't make sense Likewise, it does not make sense For creatures to dance to the beat of their own drum

When god has set his song in creation And it is to inform how we live his blueprint his blueprint his design it is what tells us how to move

What attitudes we are to have what behavior we are to cultivate? And in order to do that, we have to be able to adeptly navigate the beat

We have to be able to keep the count one and two and three and four and we have to move appropriately and respond to the way god made the world rather than What we are told about the wicked those who are rebellious those who are prideful those who are arrogant those who have perverted speech

Think about what that word means Christians are those who live according to god's version

We live according to god's thesis The way that god intended things to function and that's all by grace by the way that only happens because of who christ is

And what he's done for us and that god is redeeming us and he's disciplining us and he's sanctifying us

And he's actually making us fit for the work that he has for us But christians live

According to the version of life that god has prescribed Whereas the unbelieving world those at war with god those rebelling against his established order

Those prideful those arrogant those saying I will operate independently

Of god and his revelation. I do not need god's counsel I Dance to the beat of my own drum

I am the captain of my own soul. I am the master of my salvation I don't need anyone

Those doing that live according to per version There's christians that live according to the version and then there are unbelievers

And that's literally the meaning of the word per version they live in defilement of god's version of his order they live

Antithetically to the truth whereas christians live according to the thesis unbelievers live according to the antithesis

And those are the ones to whom We are called to distinguish and recognize this antithesis that god has put in creation between light and darkness and here we're given one of the principal components of divine wisdom

And the text literally reads like this in verse 13. The fear of the lord is hating evil

The fear of the lord is hating Evil now much has been made of course about this already in terms of the over emphasis in modern

Evangelicalism today on the love of god, right? We try to boil down god's attributes into one nice And neat little package and we just wrap a bow around it and that bow is love right?

God is love But we have to understand that there's a corollary to that there's a contrast god is love and therefore god hates

God is love therefore god hates and those who fear god

Are commanded to come into agreement with him about that the fear of the lord is hatred of evil

There's a Succinct definition of the fear of the lord by one commentator. It says this

The fear of the lord is that affectionate reverence by which the child of god

Bends himself humbly and carefully to his father's law The fear of the lord is that affectionate reverence

By which the child of god bends himself humbly and carefully to his father's law

And isn't that how wisdom has come to us so far in the book of proverbs the teaching of a father? And it is those that fear god those who have affectionately

Humbled themselves who have said I do not want to operate under my own principles

I Do not want to be a law unto myself I want to defer to the one who made me and who made the cosmos and who orders it according to his purposes and for his glory that is the god who says

I hate god loves marriage

Therefore he hates adultery God loves truth. Therefore.

He hates lying speech God loves marital intimacy.

Therefore. He hates fornication and pornography God loves personal liberty.

Therefore. He hates coercion God loves children. Therefore.

He hates abortion God loves ordered sexuality. Therefore. He hates gender confusion

God loves private property. Therefore. He hates theft and covetousness

God loves generosity. Therefore. He hates greed God loves humility.

Therefore. He hates pride god loves justice. Therefore. He hates partiality

God loves unity in his church. Therefore. He hates gossip and slander God loves the nations every tribe therefore he hates tribalism and the division of one people group and another by artificial and subjective categories

God loves his own glory. Therefore. He hates idolatry By way of some examples our hatred of evil

Must be rooted in our reverential awe of god and his perfect hatred.

We're human beings We're fallen sons and daughters of adam We are redeemed by god and in the process of being sanctified and made to look more like jesus

But only god possesses that perfect quality of hatred because there is the

Standard of perfect holiness in his very character and being but we are called to hate what god hates to bring ourselves into agreement with his judgments on Everything that he has revealed in regards to his attitude about those things

And don't get me wrong here. Okay. I want to Define this clearly this hatred of evil

That christians the people of god covenant community are commanded to have is not merely

It's it's not a hatred of personal vengeance. It's not a vengeful spite towards our neighbors

It's not merely the conjuring up of negative emotions against people biblical hatred of evil

Is settled opposition against what displeases god Hatred of evil is settled opposition against what displeases god

And to do this we must be able to recognize and identify evil for what it is

Which means our thinking must not be patterned according to a carnal lawless world this is what we are called to oppose to stand in the way of To count as our enemy you see this in psalm 139 right the famous passage about being fearfully and wonderfully made

Right the all of us are formed within the wombs of our mothers and then the psalmist breaks out into this aside where he says

I Hate those who hate you god I loathe them And in the sense here what we're referring to is

I count them as my enemy I'm able to discern where I stand

Because I know your word I know your revelation Therefore I know where they stand if I see where they stand and that it is in opposition to you then

I oppose that That is biblical hatred standing in the way

And this is what we need to do with the messages And the prescribed manner of life that we see and hear everywhere in our world today.

I just saw something online in the last couple days Sierra uh r &b singer if you

Were in high school at the time. I was you knew that she was very popular at the time But she has a new song and it's called for the girls.

I just want you to listen to some of the lyrics This is for the girls getting money

This is for the girls that don't need no man This is for the girls who's in love with they self

This for all the girls who done did it by they self That's evil

That's evil because of the destruction that it leaves in its wake That's evil because it opposes the design of god.

Is it true? Is it good? Is it beautiful? No In no sense of any category can we say that It brings destruction on families

That kind of mentality produces a rebellious spirit and forget the fact that sierra is married to a multi -millionaire quarterback with a handful of children

So forget the hypocrisy of not being able to live according to the type of instruction that she's putting out for life

But that is an example of the kind of spirit of the age that christians must oppose

We must hate it We must stand in the way of it

We are called to hate evil In any form that it takes

Now, wait a minute here We're told in the scriptures that god hates the evildoers

And we're told That the community of believers you and I christians

Are supposed to bring ourselves into agreement with that. We are supposed to hate evil

But doesn't jesus command us to love our enemies? He says that right?

He says pray pray for those Who persecute you? He says forgive them when they wrong you

He says to show them love But Harmonizing these together.

The importance is understanding once again This is not about personal vendetta. This is not about vengeful spite

This is not about conjuring up negative emotions towards our neighbors merely

Although emotions certainly play a role god made us to be this way. He made us emotional creatures And indeed we are commanded

To bless our enemies and not curse them if you go with me to romans chapter 12 romans chapter 12

Starting in verse 14 Give you a moment to get there bless those

Who persecute you bless and do not curse them Rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be haughty

But associate with the lowly never be wise in your own sight Repay, no one evil for evil but give thought to do

What is honorable in the sight of all? if possible So far as it depends on you live peaceably with all

Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of god for it is written Vengeance is mine.

I will repay says the lord To the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him

If he is thirsty give him something to drink for by doing so you will heat burning coals on his head

Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good god commands us to bless our enemies.

Amen Which is hard to do he commands us to forgive our enemies which is sometimes even harder.

Amen There is a command of god to oppose our enemies and yet god gives us

Jesus himself gives us the directive to pray for those who persecute us to forgive them when they wrong us

And to love them to love them with practical action And that is because while god has commanded us to bless our enemies

He is the one that promises to curse them If you're a child of abraham today who who in here is a child of abraham by faith?

Everybody should be raising their hands. What does god tell abraham in genesis chapter 12? He says

I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you

Because you may be tempted to ask yourself here. Well now This is The way that jesus loves this is the way that god loves doesn't god send rain on the just and the unjust and his common grace

And amen, he does god is even long suffering with his adversaries with his enemies.

You and I are utter proof of that Because he eventually drew us By his grace to repentance and yet we are told to love our enemies

To pray for them and to entrust them to the vengeance of god Because we know that all things work together

Not for the good of the common good But for those that love god and are the called according to his purpose and so even god's cursing of our enemies works together for our good

We're called to love them. We're called to bless them. God is the one Who has promised to curse the unrepentant?

Those who will not respond to wisdom's invitation those who hear it

Those who even hear it day after day and reject it Who will have none of it who grow hard of heart?

God's judgments on the earth are for the good of his people And so the best way to love our enemies

Is to oppose what they stand for Amen That's how we love them And that informs how we pray for them as well

We pray for them that god would bring them to repentance that he would be merciful And gracious towards them in the same way that he was merciful and gracious towards you and towards I When we did absolutely nothing to merit such a thing

We're called to pray that way But we are also called to pray that god if you do not do that If it is not within your will and this is very important.

We don't pray According to the secret counsel of god. We pray according to the revealed will of god

We don't know we can't look in people's hearts. We can't see what god is doing there at any given time

But we are to pray that if god does not convert our enemies That he will remove them

That he will stand in their way that they would make no further progress that he would judge them That god would arrest their progress and remove them

The best way to love them the best way to love those standing in opposition to god is to oppose

What they stand for but we must be sure of something before we do

We must be sure of one thing in your bulletins the

Quote from pastor james Rings very very true here and that is

Our commitment to opposing evil out there in the public square Will only be as real as our commitment to personal holiness here amongst ourselves

In our lives in our families in our reach group in our communities in our in our in our church we

Must make sure That we are committed to personal holiness. We can't oppose evil out there

If we do not oppose it first in ourselves I remember I was heading out the door yesterday to take the kids somewhere

And I was saying out loud. I don't know why I was voicing this. I think it's because I had this message on the mind Right here.

I was saying hate evil hate evil And my wife looks over at me from the couch and she says and that includes the evil in your heart

It starts here. We have to oppose the evil of indwelling sin

And we have to ask ourselves the question we should feel the weight of this as the people of god Are we?

Holy Are we? Holy Are you holy

Am I holy not Do we come to church regularly?

Not do we take the lord's supper together? Not do we talk of holy things? Not do we call ourselves christians are we holy right now

Are you holy right now the bible says without holiness no one will see the lord

We need to feel the weight of that. I don't just want to rush to answer the question and fill in the the void there

Are you holy? Are you committed to personal holiness? In living the christian life

How do we examine that without getting and veering towards depression

Because that can become quite an endeavor Am I Do I have enough fervor?

We've kind of grown up in the in a culture of christianity That has taught us to measure our position with god by the amount of spiritual fervor that we have that day

And then when we don't have that day we wonder whether or not we're one of god's children Right do

I am I fervent today am I zealous for good works today? Do I have a heart that's on fire for god today?

and we can Look inward which is what the world is telling us to do all the time The answers are inside of you

What's inside of you just needs to be unlocked and let out and then you'll reach your full potential The answers are there in your heart.

You need to uncover that We can become morbidly introspective Right looking within so much

That we forget the one thing That will actually do us good And that's looking outward to the throne of grace

The hope is not in here the hope is There where christ is seated It's not to look within and constantly question ourselves as we consider the answer to this question are we holy turn to hebrews 4 please hebrews 4 verse 14

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens jesus the son of god

Let us hold fast our confession For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses

But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin

Let us then with confidence Draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace

To help in time of need. Are you doing that? If that's how you're living

If we're constantly drawing near to the throne of grace Seeking to find help for our every weakness to take our sin to the throne and give it to the lord.

Jesus We are not falling short of the command pursue holiness without which no one will see the lord so be encouraged

It's if you are Covering sin. It's if you are hiding iniquity in your heart

That is when the danger comes That is when we stand in a precarious position If we sin in the dark

If we have that we need to deal with it now, we need to come forward now and confess second corinthians 7 1

Since we have these promises beloved Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit

Bringing holiness to completion in the fear of god see the connection there fear of the lord fear of god and holiness

If we're not holy We have no business telling the world how to live we have no business issuing calls to repentance

We will sound forth empty If we are not committed To being set apart.

This is what holiness is to be set apart to be of course morally pure And all of this good news isn't dependent upon you that's not how we came to christ

We didn't marvel at the kindness of god and his grace coming to us in the person of christ

And then on the side here have a homemade righteousness to present to him and say i'll add this to supplement

It was all of grace from beginning to end it was christ saving us

That's where holiness comes from From our union with the lord jesus only then

Are we able to lift up our voice with lady wisdom? And invite from the highways and hedges all who will come to the master's banquet

The master has thoroughly furnished and adorned a wonderful banquet with everything sufficient for the needs of mankind has he not

Adorned Everything that is needed everything that you hunger for He has supplied abundantly

And he calls his people To go out into the highways and into the hedges and invite whoever will come

Because that is the nature of our god. He's an inviting god when he has no obligation to invite

So what's the call today The call is this god is

A god who gives invitation Come If you don't know christ come

Come all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest for your soul Come and drink of the waters of eternal life

God is calling. How will you respond? Will you ignore will you put it off will you say later i'll get to that Or do you see your need today

Do you see your need before a holy god God is calling

How will you respond? Will you project will you reject the provision that he has made for you because there will come a day when he shuts the door

Will you take advantage of it now? And then for those of us, you know, if you look at this series and the proverbs that we've been going through There's been so much practical instruction on various areas of our life

How much of it have we actually put into practice? How much divine wisdom have we actually embodied?

in our lives How much have we actually put effort and done our diligence to become practiced and polished?

In the various areas that we've been presented with Are we putting it off? Are we saying i'll get to that I have things to do first Right.

This is for the covenant community When god has put out his hands When lady wisdom is raising her voice

Longing to instruct longing to teach us Will we heed that call and actually put these things into practice?

And actually be obedient actually grow actually cultivate wisdom That's the call that we're given by Lady wisdom who by the way prefigures the lord jesus himself in many ways so come

And be cleansed if you don't know christ come and be cleansed come and be washed Come and be sanctified

And made holy by his grace come and learn wisdom. Don't be a fool Don't be a fool

And if you need wisdom if you are the simple -minded This is I speak of myself if you are the simple -minded if you are not prudent if you do not have discretion

If you are not learned In the ways of god's world in his ways then come and learn wisdom

Come and learn Amen All right. Let's pray Heavenly father.

I pray that what went out today is for your glory I pray that you would be pleased

It is about your spirit god doing a work in our hearts and I pray that you would do that work today help us to heed wisdom's call

To heed your voice lord god To respond to your gracious invitation

Not to pass it up not to put it off But to actually step into it lord god

God Allow us god to hate evil To oppose that which is opposed to you in a way that honors you in a way that is not hypocritical lord by working personal holiness into our lives

Help us to confess sin quickly To keep short accounts with one another to maintain fellowship in our families in our homes and amongst one another in the gathered congregation

And help us to commit ourselves To opposing evil in the fear of the lord and bringing holiness to completion