WWUTT 1379 Wisdom Raises Her Voice (Proverbs 8:1-3)

We've heard from the adulterous woman who stands at her corner and says come and get your fill of your fleshly desires, but the woman wisdom stands at the crossroads and says come and get your fill of God when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, in our Old Testament study, we've been in the book of Proverbs, and today we're up to chapter 8.

If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, we hear the voice of wisdom calling in this particular chapter, and I'm going to begin by reading the whole thing.

Proverbs chapter 8, verses 1 through 36. Does not wisdom call?

Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand.

Beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud.

To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.

O simple ones, learn prudence. O fools, learn sense.

Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.

For 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. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight.

I have strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just.

By me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.

Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths,

I was brought forth. When there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills

I was brought forth. Before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.

When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep.

When he made firm the skies above. When he established the fountains of the deep. When he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command.

When he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was beside him, like a master workman.

And I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

And now, O sons, listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways.

Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.

For whoever finds me, finds life, and obtains favor from the

Lord. But he who fails to find me, injures himself. All who hate me, love death.

So we've been hearing about the danger of adultery over the last three chapters.

It's been mentioned in chapters five, half of chapter six, and then chapter seven. Now we get to hearing the voice of wisdom, and this is in chapter eight and nine.

And then all the wonderful proverbs that will come following this from 10 on through Proverbs 31.

So it's like we're making a shift here. We're gaining wisdom and knowledge. We're staying away from those things that are the passions and the desires of our flesh.

The foolish man goes after those things, chasing after his subjective feelings guided by his fleshly appetites.

Instead, what are we to be? We're supposed to look for wisdom. Something that is outside ourself, not chasing after our own whims and desires, because our self is wasting away.

It's going to die. It's going to perish. It's coming into judgment with the rest of this world. Rather, we're supposed to reach for something that is outside of ourselves and even outside of the world.

Something that is not limited or transient, but that which is eternal, that which is

Christ, the wisdom of God that's being talked about here in Proverbs chapter eight.

And this is something eternal for it was with God in the very beginning, and it will sustain us to the very end.

Consider these words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter five, starting in verse 15. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And how do we know what the will of the

Lord is? It's right here in the Bible. He goes on in verse 18. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit.

What's the contrast there? Don't don't go after those things that fill up your flesh and give you some pleasure for just a few moments, and eventually it's going to destroy your flesh.

It leads to debauchery. It leads to worse sin is what it says there in verse 18. But Paul says, be filled with the spirit.

What's the difference between wine and the spirit? Well, wine, of course, is something physical, something that affects your body and it affects your mind.

The spirit is eternal. It's something that is outside the body. It's that which lasts forever, that we cling to Christ, that we trust in God.

We seek his wisdom and not the appeasement of our flesh for these few moments that we live here on this earth.

So that is what we're encouraged to seek after even here in Proverbs 8. We've talked about the adulterous woman, and she's being contrasted against the woman wisdom who is now speaking here in Proverbs 8.

Not chasing after that woman that wants to appease our flesh, but we're chasing after that beautiful wisdom of God, which leads to eternal life.

Proverbs 8 1 does not wisdom call. Remember, what did the adulterous do? She was calling to she was calling from her house.

She was calling out and saying, hey, my husband's gone away. He's gone on a long journey. Come with me and let us take our fill of love until morning.

So she had her own call. Wisdom is calling. Does not understanding raise her voice?

You've heard the adulterous. Don't you know that wisdom is calling out to you? Don't you know that there is a call to have understanding on the heights beside the way at the crossroads?

She takes her stand. Where was the adulterous woman standing? She was standing on the corner.

That's what it said in Proverbs 7 8. I know that's kind of a euphemism for prostitution, but that's what it said here about the prostitute in Proverbs 5.

And then about the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight in the evening at the time of night and darkness.

You have this shady thing that's going on here with the young man that goes after the adulterous woman. But the woman wisdom stands at the crossroads.

She stands at the heights. She is out there to be seen. There is no shame in her.

She stands at the crossroads. There's certainly a metaphor there for how we live life, that we are walking a certain way.

And the choices and decisions that we have to make in life are like a crossroads. Well, wisdom is there helping us to make that right decision that we should walk in the way that we should go.

That's been the instruction that the father has given to the son here in the book of Proverbs.

I will tell you the way that you should go. So as you walk on that way, when you come to that crossroads to make this decision or that decision, wisdom is there to help you make the right one at the crossroads.

She takes her stand. She's not standing there, scratching her head, looking that way or the other and wondering which way is the right way and which is the wrong way where it says that she takes her stand.

She is confident in the place where she's at. She knows exactly the right way to go and where she's going to tell you to go.

Beside the gates in the front of the town, it says in verse three at the entrance of the portals, she cries aloud.

What's the reference there to the gates in front of the town? Well, that was where judgments were held in a town.

The elders of a city would go to the gates and they would hold court there in the gates.

Why would they do it there? Well, because if somebody was truly guilty of a sin that was worthy of death, he would be taken outside of town and stoned to death.

So it would happen there right at the gates. Plus, you would have foreigners that would come in. So the elders would be there and they would judge whether this person means good or whether he means harm against the city.

So that's why you would have the wisest men there in the gates issuing these judgments and these decrees, deciding the laws, penalties, upholding justice, things like that in the gate of the town.

So wisdom is there. She is there where these judgments and where justice is being issued beside the gates in front of the town at the entrance of the portals.

She cries aloud. What are the portals? Well, it's just doors. It's another word for doors, an opening or a doorway or an entrance.

So this could be in reference to other ways that you get into the city other than just the city gates, although there's really not another way into the city.

It could be a reference to other doors of other places of prominence that are within the town.

So first, you're coming in through the gates and then you've got doors into those other places. And wisdom is even there calling to the men, telling them to walk in a right way.

As you go into this place, you're going to make judgments. You're going to make decisions. You're going to conduct business, things of that nature.

Do so with wisdom. Her voice speaks that we may follow in a right way.

And here is what she says, crying aloud, starting in verse four to you. Oh, men,

I call and my cry is to the children of man.

Now, the wisdom of God has been from before the foundation of the world.

And this is talked about here in Proverbs chapter eight. I was with God when he laid the foundations.

In Romans chapter one, verse 18, the apostle Paul says this for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them.

Because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. Now, what this is saying to us is that there is a natural knowledge that we can attain.

There is a natural order that God has established. And you can look into nature and see evidences of his truth.

Even if you don't hear the truth proclaimed to you. And what do I mean by that? Well, I mean, the preaching of his word,

Genesis to Revelation. If you don't hear the word of God said, there is still evidence of what he has established in what has been made.

Often that verse Romans one 20 is used to say this is the evidence of God. We know that God exists because we can look around and we can see that there's creation.

So therefore, it must have a creator. All of this has to have come from somewhere. Okay, that's often the way that Romans one 20 is used.

But it's saying more than that. It's saying that God's invisible attributes. So not just the evidence of God, not just the evidence of his existence, but even his attributes, namely his eternal power and his divine nature are clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world.

So you can even know things about his divine nature in that which has been made, including an evidence of there being a right and being a wrong.

Now, there are certain things that we should know by common sense are right and wrong. Why do we call those things common sense?

Because it's natural revelation. It's things that you can know just in the general natural order of things.

We know that there are consequences for actions. The reason why a person who does not know

God may think of a certain act as wrong is because they recognize that there's going to be consequences for this.

If I were to do this, like, for example, murder, most people are probably going to come to an understanding that murder is wrong, even if nobody tells them that murder is wrong.

There's this natural understanding that taking the life of another person is unjust.

And what would you get for doing such a thing? Well, if that same act were paid back against you, you would lose your life.

There's a common sense understanding of that. But of course, mankind is sinful by our nature.

We rebel against God. You don't even have to know God's law for you in your nature to want to go against that law.

And so even when a godless culture passes a law like do not murder, which they do because it's just common sense, there's going to be people within that godless culture who are going to disobey it, though it may also be in line with the law of God, whether that that grouping of people is aware of that or not.

There are going to be people that will go against it because they're rebellious against God and rebellious against that which he has established.

When you see the LGBTQ movement that exists within our culture right now and particularly an emphasis on the

T, that a man can become a woman, that if he feels like he is female, then he can become female and there is a change in his sexuality or in his gender or his orientation that goes against nature.

And we know that by common sense understanding, you know that a man cannot become a woman by common sense understanding.

You know that men and men are not sexually compatible with one another, that we're going against nature.

Whenever a man burns with lust for another man or a woman burns with lust for another woman, sex was created for procreation between a man and his wife.

And again, doesn't take a biology major to recognize that you put a man, you put a woman together, and then nine months later, something is even confirmed.

They're like, oh, see, this is how this is supposed to work. That's how that's supposed to happen. But since we are sinful by our nature and you see the depravity of mankind falling deeper and deeper into more contemptuous sins, then they are rejecting that which

God has created, hating God himself and burning in lust with one another.

That's where Romans one goes on, because they refuse to acknowledge God or give thanks to him.

He turned them over to a depraved mind that they would do with one another that which they should not do.

And men change their or they exchange the natural relation they're supposed to have with women.

And they burn with lust for one another. The point that I'm making here is that there is a wisdom.

We can look at creation and recognize that there is a wisdom that sits over everything.

We may not acknowledge that that wisdom comes from God, because in our sinful heart, we are rebellious against God.

Part of the curse when God separated himself from man after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, part of the curse is that God would be harder to see.

Adam and Eve had fellowship with God, but because they sinned against God, our sin made us unholy and unworthy to stand in the presence of a most holy

God. And so in casting man out of paradise and God separating himself from man, then

God became harder to see. And that's why there are people that wander around in unbelief.

There's evidence of God's existence there. But in their rebellious heart, they turn from God.

And that makes God more difficult to see. Consider in the Beatitudes, Jesus says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

God. How do we attain purity of heart? It's by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he washes us and cleanses us and gives us a new heart that we should seek after God and find him.

We would not in our nature long for God and desire to obey him if it was not for the new heart that he gives us.

And that transformation happens when we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and we turn from our sin and we follow him.

But even before that, mankind is going to have no excuse, as it says in Romans 1 20. No one's going to stand before God on that day of judgment and say, we didn't see you.

We didn't know. Because even his eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived in all that has been made.

And part of God's divine nature is a wisdom that supersedes all that is over even man's wisdom.

And that wisdom calls the cry to the children of man and says, oh, simple ones, learn prudence.

Oh, fools, learn sense here, for I will speak noble things and from my lips will come what is right for my mouth will utter truth.

Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. And we'll pick up there here in Proverbs 8 next week.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the wisdom that you have revealed to us in your word.

We should be able to look around in the world and we see evidence of your wisdom, evidence of a natural order and God's design.

But it is by our sinfulness and our wickedness that we rebelled against that which you had created your good sense and your good wisdom.

And we followed in our own ways and our own lustful passions and desires. It would have been to our own destruction if you had not had mercy on us and turned us from this way to the

Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to believe on his name, he who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the grave.

And we as followers of Jesus are in pursuit of Christ, growing more in your knowledge and your wisdom, which you reveal to us in the scriptures.

Help us to live by these things, chasing not after the passions of our flesh, but by the wisdom that comes from the spirit of God.

And it's in Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen. This has been When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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