Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
Okay, so if you have your Bibles, turn to the eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 8. We're going to finish the whole chapter tonight, so I want you to know that again, we'll take a more general look at it, make some comments along the way, but not to dive in too far, because again, it would not allow us to finish the chapter in one night.
I will say this before we read the chapter, we'll read it in its entirety, there's quite a contrast from chapter 7. If you remember last week, Brother Keith brought out the issues of pornography and the things that are just terrible, and now we come to this eighth chapter, and it seems as if the rainbow has come out and the sun is shining again, but with that thought, let us just read the entire chapter and then some parts.
Proverbs chapter 8. Does not wisdom cry out and understanding lift up her voice? And she takes her stand at the top of a high hill beside the way where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors, to you, O men, I call.
My voice is to the sons of men, O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart, listen, for I will speak of excellent things. From the opening of my lips will come right things, from my mouth will speak truth.
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips, all the words of my mouth are with righteousness, nothing crooked or perverse is in them. They are all plain to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.
Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice, gold for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her. I, wisdom, dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion, and the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Counsel is mine, sound wisdom, I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign and rulers decree justice, by me princes rule and nobles and all the judges of the earth, and I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me.
Riches in honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness, my fruit is better than gold, yes than fine gold, my revenue than choice silver. I traverse the way of righteousness in the midst of the path of justice, that I might cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I might fill their treasuries.
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old, I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there was no depths, I was brought forth.
When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth or the fields of the primeval dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there.
When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman.
I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his inhabited world. My delight is with the sons of men. Now therefore listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise, do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors, who whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.
But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul, and all those that hate me love death.". Certainly much to consider, much to meditate on, much to seek to put into practice in our life. But as I said, we'll consider the whole chapter.
So we will look at it in two sections, basically from verse 1 through verse 21, and then verses 22 to 36. I want to suggest this to you at the beginning, that this is one of, to me and to many others, this is one of the most delightful passages in all of Proverbs, and actually is one of the most delightful passages in all of the Bible.
It's one in which there are so many glorious things spoken of, and there's so much treasure to be found here that many, many of God's people down through history have found this a most delightful passage to read.
Again, in contrast to what we read in chapter 7 and in other places. But I would also say, suggest this and say this, that as this is one of the most delightful, enjoyable, refreshing, uplifting passages, it is also one of the more difficult passages to understand, in the sense of trying to determine exactly who the speaker is, or if you will, who it's speaking of.
And I want to try to take a few minutes to give you some different thoughts that some of the brothers have had down through church history to try to determine that, because again, as you read this, there's many times where we'll see a personal pronoun.
I, me, mine. And so many have tried to understand who exactly is the speaker. Is the speaker just a voice, or is the speaker a person? And if so, who is that person? And so again, I'm going to give you four different ways in which it's been understood, and then I'm going to give you my understanding, and then you can consider it for yourself.
But again, most delightful, and yet very interesting. So, first of all, there are many who believe that as we read this chapter, that it is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, speaking under the title of wisdom.
And we will see this a little further as we go on, that he speaks of himself, and that you can see some of the divine attributes of him as we begin to look at the chapter. And so many will say that, and they'll support it in a number of ways.
So, sometimes they'll support it by the fact of what it says in 1 Corinthians. And let me remind you what it says in 1 Corinthians, where Paul says, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the gentle Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
And so, some have looked at this and said that the speaker here is none other than the Son of God, as he speaks before his incarnation, even as we hear the voice of God before that time. As you read it, many of the attributes, as I said, could very well be applied to the Son of God, especially as we look at some of them, where it talks about just a thought in verse 23, where it says, I have been established from everlasting.
And you begin to think in your mind, well, certainly that that is an attribute of the Lord Jesus Christ, right, of the Son of God, that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are a co-eternal, co-equal.
And so, again, some of the reasons why many have sought to understand this as the person of Christ speaking under the, if you will, the title of wisdom. There are also a number of those that believe that the speaker here is wisdom itself, that wisdom takes up, if you will, the personification of a person.
And again, you can look into it, and as we read it, I hope you have seen it, that, again, wisdom speaks in the voice of I and me, and listen to me. And so, again, the thought being that wisdom takes under the thought of a being to demonstrate its power and its strength and its preeminence above everything else.
And so certainly that is, I think, something that we need to consider. And again, you might say, well, what's the difference? Who says it? Well, it's God's Word, and I think we all should realize that.
I do think, hopefully, we all do realize that. But at the same time, if we're going to truly seek to understand it, we ought to have some thoughts about who is not only the writer, as we know Solomon is at this point, but also who is the one who's behind what he's writing about.
So again, some believe it is none other than Christ, and solely Christ. Others believe that it is wisdom, and that, again, it speaks of its excellency and its power and strength under that thought of being a person.
And again, I, wisdom, dwell prudence and find out knowledge, and so on. So that's another way to consider it. There are still others, as I said, this is the most delightful chapter, but there are a number of different opinions, and not just opinions, but thoughts, and I would say well-thought-out thoughts, of who it is speaking of.
There are still others who believe that the speaker truly is the Spirit of God. And again, being the third person of the Trinity, and that he, of course, is eternal, everlasting, and that if you think about it, some of the reasons that they would give for that is that the Spirit himself is the one who's inspired the Word of God.
The Spirit himself, and we could even consider from the fact that that is the Spirit who gifts men in wisdom, even in simplest ways. Remember in Exodus, when God had called out certain people to help in crafting the curtains for the temple, and all the artwork, and they had the Spirit of God to lead them in that.
Even as we read in the New Testament, it says that men of old spoke how, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So in that sense, some believe that it is the Spirit of God, because he really is the executive of the Word of God, and the communicator of it also.
So again, something else to think about. That one is probably not the majority thought, but it is a thought. And again, it's of value for us to consider, because the more we understand of a passage, any passage, the better we will be able to digest it, and then the better we will be able to emulate it, and imitate it.
So again, God's Word is, and that's another thing. Before I, there's one final one, but here's another thought. You think about it. God's Word is so wonderful in that, even as Jesus said, even a babe can understand it, right?
And even the most simple can understand the pure Word of God. And yet, at other points, and anyone who's spent any amount of time in the Word of God would have to agree, there are many places in the Bible where you probably wind up scratching your head after you read a passage with less understanding than before you read it, because it's very expansive, is it not?
The Word of God is, and that's the beauty of it all, the Word of God is truly simple, and yet it's truly complex. And so again, these things are things that we ought to, I would suggest to you, and I think it's a valid thought, that we should not only just try to ascertain facts when we read God's Word, that we should try to allow God's Word to work in us, and to, if you will, and not in any kind of mystical way, but expand our minds to think about and consider the whole of God's Word, and how this relates to that, and how this fits into that, so that we're well-rounded.
Or as Peter says, so we are rooted in what? Grounded, right? Established. And that's really what the Word of God, in many ways, does for us. It grounds us. Even as I thought about it, even as we read in the beginning of chapter six, if you remember, we spent time on surety, and putting yourself in place, and intertwining yourself, and taking on, in that sense, a pledge for another person.
And maybe that's something you will never do, but it could very well be. It's something that you will have an experience with with someone else. So we're grounded, we're founded, and we're able to give good counsel, right, by the Word of God, even if it doesn't particularly, or specifically, pertain to us.
Okay, back to what is a fourth group, and there is another opinion of who the speaker is, or who it's speaking of, and that is a group which is quite large. And they are those who consider that the chapter, in that sense, is a combination of both wisdom in its, in that sense, in just wisdom, and the, under the personification of how wisdom is of great worth, and great strength, and great power, and more to be desired, even as it says, than gold.
And at the same time, in other portions of the chapter, it speaks directly of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why I say to you, particularly as we work through this, as you come down to verse 22 through verse 36, it seems to be more pointed in that direction of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, than just wisdom itself.
Now, so I've given you four different thoughts. I will say to you that at this point, in my understanding, I would probably fall into that group, that I believe that there is an application to be made, that wisdom speaks, in that sense, of itself, and yet, at other times, it speaks of the Son of God.
And one of the reasons why they will say that, and I think this is interesting, is they will defend it by saying it really can't solely be the Son of God because of the use of the, if you will, the feminine pronouns.
Where, if you look at it, and you consider it, many times it says that in the feminine. In other words, I'll just read to you what Proverbs chapter one says. It says, wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square.
In the main concourse, she cries out at the city gates, she makes her speech. And again, in Proverbs chapter four, it says, wisdom is supreme, so acquire wisdom in whatever you may acquire. Gain understanding, prize her, and she will exalt you.
If you embrace her, she will honor you, she will set a garland of grace on your head, she will present you with a crown of beauty. So, one of the things that some will say is that it can't be, completely speaking, in the person of the Son of God because of that very fact, because God is never spoken of in that way, right?
It's in the masculine. So, something to consider. And again, as I say to you, whether or not, we should always seek to understand it in its truth, right? But, there will be times when there's different understandings.
And again, that's where we need to be considerate. We need to be, we need to remember that we are all but dust, and that if we think that, in other words, how would you feel if someone said, my understanding of the Word of God is always right.
Would you not be a little bit hesitant? If they, I'm not saying you shouldn't speak with conviction and speak it with authority as you understand it, but at the same time, would you not be a little hesitant if someone said, I never have spoken in error?
I would. So, just something to think about. Okay, having said that, and again, just to take a few minutes and walk through the verses and maybe these thoughts of this consideration, is it nearly the thought of wisdom speaking out?
Or is it, is there more behind that? Is this, is the Son of God, the speaker himself? But I think some of the ways to determine that will be as we go through these verses. And again, just general thoughts as we go through.
And so, I kind of outlined it in my own mind in four different ways. That there's, first of all, verses one to three, the clearness of wisdom. And then there's verses four through seven, the call of wisdom.
And then from verse eight through verse 21 is the character of wisdom. And then finally, from verse 22 to verse 36, the author of wisdom. So again, just a different way to consider it, but let's just follow that in that mind of thinking and trust the Lord to lead us.
So, with that in mind, and first, the clearness of wisdom in verses one through three. Does not wisdom cry out? And understanding lift up her voice, and she takes a stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way where the path meets, and she cries, she cries out by the gates at the entrance of the city, at the entrance of the doors.
And just, let's think about that. How, regardless of how we understand this, whether it just be wisdom, or is really the voice of Son of God himself? Isn't it something that there is such a clearness, if you will, to the wisdom of God?
There's such a purity to it. There's such a clarity and a clearness to it, and that if you think about it, even as the psalmist said that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth his handiwork, and day unto day it utters speech, and night unto night it shows, reveals knowledge, and there is no speech and no language where its voice is not heard, and its voice has gone out to the end of the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
And so, when you think about it, it's not, as we read these verses, is this not also to be thought of as wisdom? Is not the wisdom of God displayed before all who will look at it, and look to it, and look for it?
In other words, if you think about it, we live in a day when, again, so many people are searching for wisdom, especially in the days in which we find ourselves in, where even as we were speaking before, with a couple of us talking about, it just seems so, we're getting to a point where it's almost bizarre to hear what people will say, and what people will think, and if you will, the stuff that comes out of people's heads, and then it comes out of their mouths, and it's like, what in the world?
And yet, we have such clarity of the wisdom of God, and so few will do what? Avail themselves to it. They'd rather pontificate, bloviate, and any other kind of aid, because we all think that we are the clear voice, and then the reality is, even as it says, look at her, just the way it says, wisdom cries out, and where is she crying from?
At the top of the hill, where the paths meet, she cries out at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance, there's not a place that you can go where the word of God, and the wisdom of God, is not to be looked to, and taken in, and trusted, and again, even as the sun shines, in that sense, to the ends of the earth, and again, I was at Seth Pree last week, or the week before, anyway, and I mentioned that thought about the sun, how the sun rises and sets, and one of the guys at Seth Pree was sitting over on the side, and he interrupted me, he said, that's not true, and I said, okay, and he said, the earth revolves around the sun, the sun doesn't revolve around the earth, and he's right, and he's right, and so I had to stop, and I said, thank you, scientist, and we went on, but the reality still is that wisdom, in that sense, it's just, it stands above it all, even as the son of God does what?
He's above it all, his voice is the voice that is to be heard at the entry of the gates, his voice, his words, his will is to be heard above every other voice, only if we were a people who heard God's voice above all the other voices, and that God makes it crystal clear, even as I said, even to the point that even the most simplest can understand it if their heart is right, and the most wise are confounded by it because their hearts are not right, and that, again, a glory to it, so there's this, if you will, this clearness of wisdom, and then if you look at it in verses four through seven, it's interesting to me, it's almost like the call of wisdom, is it hot in here?
I see it, it's okay, all right, there's the call of wisdom in verses four through seven, so we got the thought of how wisdom just permeates everything by God's grace, right, and how it takes its place at the highest of pinnacles so that all could see it, all could behold it, it's available, and it continually cries out, and look who it calls to, look at verse four, to you, O men, I call, my voice is to the sons of men, O you simple ones, understand crueness, and you fools, be of an understanding heart, listen, for I will speak of excellent things, from the opening of my lips will come right things, my mouth will speak truth, wickedness is an abomination to my lips, this glorious wisdom, in all its power, in all its ability to release prisoners from a thousand times a thousand things, and the call goes out to men, is that not glorious to us, that God has spoken to us, and God has, if you will, given us the ability to take in this wisdom, wisdom of him, wisdom of his world, wisdom of how we ought to live, wisdom of how we ought not to live, and it's certainly not been given to the beasts of the earth to do that, has it, in other words, I'm not going to go home and find my dog reading the King James Bible, why, because there's not that, if you will, that call hasn't gone out that way, I would suggest to you to even consider it, how the angels themselves look down from heaven to what, to behold the work of salvation in the in the hearts of the redeemed, so in that sense, that this glorious wisdom that God has in and of himself and has manifested clearly through all that we could gather in, that it's been given to us to men, and how, if you will, and I say this because I've seen it in others, I've seen it in myself, how often it is that God calls out to men and men never listen to God, and there's a portion in Isaiah, I believe it's Isaiah 64, I believe it's 64, where God says, because I called out to you and you refused my call, God says, I will choose your delusions, you know which passage, because I can see you're not insisting, God says, I've called out to you, I've manifested myself to you, I've given you all that pertains to life and godliness, all that that wisdom could be had for, certainly in the person of the Son of God, again, see, I have a hard time separating just wisdom and the Son of God, because again, all these attributes, all these things could be applied in that way, because He is what?
He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life, He is the wisdom, and for all that, how many still refuse the work that He did on behalf of sinners, and so they say, I will do it my way, and God will say in that day, I will choose your delusions on you, so again, it is, there's a clearness to wisdom, there's a call of wisdom, and it's just so glorious that you and I, brothers and sisters, at any age, at any station in our life, in every situation of our life, whether we're on the top of the mountain, in the valley, or walking the plain, that God is always, if any man lack wisdom, what?
Let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally, right? Isn't that glorious, friends, that we serve not only the only wise God, but a God who is called out to us, to have fellowship with us, and communion with us, and us with Him, again, even as we sing, hallelujah, how great is our God, so when you think about that, again, and you work through who the speaker is, and who it's not, and all those different things, again, I've always found, and in my mind, that whenever I can find Christ, I'm in a good place, right?
I want to see Jesus, right? And if I see Jesus, I've seen it all, right? He, even as Jesus said that to Philip, right? He that has seen me has what? Seen the Father, so if I could find Christ, I would rather err trying to find more of Christ than less of Christ, right?
Same way, I'd rather err making more of God than less of God, right? Because the tendency is to make more of self and less of God, so again, just something to think about. Okay, let's just take a few minutes to walk through some of the characteristics, or the character of wisdom, as it's it's just laid out, and again, just the thought here, and the thought there, as we read through it, starting at verse eight, it says, all the words of my mouth are with righteousness, and nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
Again, is it just the wisdom, or is this the words of the Son of God? But it's righteous, there's nothing crooked or perverse, isn't that great? The character of wisdom, true wisdom, is it will never lead astray, it never is crooked, it's always plain, it always profits, and you'll see that as we go on.
Verse nine, they are all plain to him to understand, to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge. Look at verse 10 again, it's calling out, receive my instruction and not silver, knowledge rather than choice, gold, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that one may desire cannot be compared with us.
How this world would be drastically changed, if men believed that, that the answer is not rubies, and riches, and wealth, and power, and esteem, but that wisdom again, because it takes its place at the highest hill, even as the Lord Jesus sits on his throne, that men would choose things that are here today, gone tomorrow, riches and wealth, even as that one, if you remember in the gospels, who said, I'll just build more barns, I got too much, I'll just, and then I'll take my ease, and sit back, and say, all is well, and what does it say, you fool, tonight your soul is required of you.
So again, as you think about this character, or the characteristics of this, it is just so high, and it's of such great value, and it's something that you and I should desire, even as it says, the wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things, and I thought that's interesting, it says all the things, there's not to be anything that comes in between our desire to understand and know God, right, the true wisdom of God, again, even as Jesus said, you can't have, you can't have anything in between, right, even to the point where Jesus said, if you're not going to leave your father and mother, and you, and they're not worthy to be my disciples, verse 12, I wisdom, I dwell with prudence, I find out knowledge and discretion, no, but you've got a good company, that's good company, which one of us would be upset if we were thought of as being wise, prudent, full of knowledge, and having good discretion, we all would, we all would think that that's good, at least I hope so, but that's the very character of it, the fear of the Lord, verse 13, is to hate evil, and pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, I hate, again, there's that pronoun, I, and I could say, what does God say, God hates iniquity, God is angry with the wicked every day, right, that you and I would begin to, to consider how beautiful it is, and how glorious it is, that God has given us wisdom, and I might add, not just wisdom this way, right, because we, we always need to, I think we always need to remember that, that the relationships that God wants us to be concerned with are both vertical, right, our relationship with Him, and horizontal, our relationship with one another, right, and that you and I, even in that sense, how God gives wisdom, even for these kinds of relationships, and you'll see it as we get just a little bit further on, but that you and I are not, we, we have our minds set above, but we don't lose sight of how we are to walk in wisdom now, and how we are to maintain, how we are to seek for it now, and seek for understanding, pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, I hate, verse 14, counsel is mine, sound wisdom, I am understanding, I have strength, look at verse 15, and this is what I was just saying, by me kings reign, and rulers decree justice, by me princes rule, and nobles, and all the judges of the earth, again, how God in His, in His graciousness, in His mercy, in His compassion, in His love, how He grants, even in that sense, governments, and, and rulers, and, and unfortunately, we have so many evil rulers, but there are good rulers, and, and, and how God equips, even in that sense, even through common grace, brothers and sisters, how God equips men with wisdom to, to do things, could you imagine if we were all carpenters?
I mean, that would be great, right, as far as housing, but if I needed to go and have surgery, I really don't want to carpenter at that point, right, nor do I want to pump, I want the surgeon, and God has, isn't it glorious that you and I, and this one will pursue this, and this one will pursue that, and this one has this thought to do this, and on, and on, and on, and inventions, and, and, and all the things that, that bless our lives, and God has, in that sense, and that's what wisdom brings, right, even, again, in governments and authorities, verse 17, I love those who love me, I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me, again, I see Jesus, I see him as he cried out, come unto me, all you that are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest, and that he loves those that loves him, I believe it's 1 Samuel 2, where God says, those that honor me, I will honor, and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed, that God loves those that love him, that doesn't mean that God's love is not spread out throughout all the earth, and even in ways of common grace, and it is manifold gifts to man, but in that sense, I love those that love me, those that diligently seek me shall find me, verse 18, riches in honor are with me, enduring riches in righteousness, and again, the character of this is righteousness and purity, it's of great worth, my fruit, verse 19, is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, my revenue, than choice, silver, I traverse the way of righteousness, and this is the path of justice, that I might cause those who love me to inherit wealth, and that I might fill their treasuries, again, we have to first understand what true treasures are, right, what true wealth is, is it not that better to dwell, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness, right, little is much, when little is right with God, godliness with contentment is what, great gain, again, we live, we see it, and God's wisdom speaks to us, how people are chasing, chasing, clawing, devouring everybody else in their path, to get to something that vanishes in no time, that's here today, and gone tomorrow, or they die, and they leave it to someone who could care less, how hard they worked to get that, the person before them, that gave it to them, worked, and even in Ecclesiastes, it talks about that, some people, they work all their life, to leave it to someone who could care less, and spends it in a night, again, just as you read this chapter, there's so much to meditate on, there's so much to enjoy, and so much to consider, okay, we just have a few minutes left, I just want to walk through the remaining verses, and here, I would say, is, to me, evidence of that, the Son of God is speaking, because if you look at the characteristics, and the attributes, verse 22, the Lord possessed me at the beginning of the way, before his works of old, I have been established from everlasting, well, certainly, you could apply it to God, in the sense of wisdom, because God is wise, always wise, God didn't become wise, just the same way God didn't become God, God is, right, and so, when you think about that, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth, 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, I was brought forth, while as yet he had not made the earth, or the field, or the primeval dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there, what do we read in Colossians chapter one, by him all things are consistent, again, I struggle with separating wisdom from the Son of God, unless I break it out in many different ways, when he prepared the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he, verse 28, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of deep, when he assigned to the sea its limits, so that the waters could not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman, I was daily his delight, do we not believe that in, as much as we can understand it, in eternity past, although God has no beginning and no end, the fellowship of God himself, was altogether glorious, I always remember that passage in Job, where Job says, you think if you sin, you make God less, and then he says, do you think if you're righteous that you make God more, God is altogether glorious, God was always content, God was always glorified in himself, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his inhabited world, and my delight is with the sons of men, let me just say this, I believe that that kind of is a very deep thought for us to think about, that God's purpose was to have fellowship with us, and that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came, he came willingly, and he came with desire to fellowship with us, to raise us up, God created us to what, to have dominion over all his creation and subdue it, and God desires for us to have fellowship, and he desires that fellowship with us, and it's not because of need, it's because God's so determined it to be, again my friends, these are just such pleasant words, and then verse 32, now therefore, listen to me my children, the blessed are those who keep my ways, again I see in that the warning of the Lord Jesus Christ, warning of the word of God, warning of the spirit of God, blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors, and then if you will, just to close it out, what he says in verse 30, whoever finds me, finds life, again that cannot just be worldly wisdom, it cannot even just be wisdom that is granted by common grace, that will not do, he who has the son has life, he who has not the son does not have life, he who finds me finds life, whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, isn't that a glorious thought to end, that God not only has desired to give us eternal life, God has desired that we would enjoy our life now, that he walks with us now, that we on the other side of the veil, and then that those last words in verse 36, he who sins against me, wrongs his own soul, and all those who hate me, love death, all men love darkness rather than light, because the deeds of evil, blessed, they come to the light, and how does that light come, by the grace of God, through faith, by Christ, by the power of the Spirit, through the word of God, to the glory of God, right, so I hope that this has given you some things to think about in chapter eight, and then starting next week, brother Keith will come back and deal with chapter nine, so let's just close with a word of prayer and end our service.
Father, thank you for your word, Lord, Lord, thank you for it, for your great grace, for your mercy that is from everlasting, Lord, that your compassions and your mercies are new every day, that your wisdom has gone out throughout all the earth, across space and time, that you take your place rightfully on the throne, with the utmost of authority, Lord, help us to bring our lives in subjection to you, and that we might, Lord, truly grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us, keep us safe, until we meet again, in Christ's name, amen.