Proverbs 9:1-6 ESV
Wisdom has built her
house;
she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered
her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
She has sent out her
young women to call
from the highest places in the town,
“Whoever is simple, let
him turn in here!”
To him who lacks sense she says,
“Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple
ways, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”
Oh, don’t we need this so much today, especially here in
America? The naïve seem to abound, trusting in just about everything they hear,
without even knowing if what they are believing is really the truth or not.
For, there is so much deception going on in our nation, and in the church, too.
And, too many people are just buying in to whatever sounds good, or whatever
they have been programmed to believe.
So, wisdom is calling out to the church here in America, and
across the globe, too. And, she is calling out to those who are naïve and
gullible, and who fall for the lies, and who are easily persuaded and easily
tossed here and there by every wind of teaching of men in their deceitful
scheming. And, she is encouraging the naïve and the gullible to eat and to drink
of wisdom, the wisdom of God, as taught us in God’s Holy Word.
But, the “simple” are not just the naïve and the gullible
who fall for every trick and lie coming from the mouths of master manipulators
and deceivers. The “simple” are those who lack good sense and judgment, not
necessarily because they don’t know any better, but because they choose to be
stupid. They choose to ignore the wisdom they do know, and to pretend
ignorance, and to act as if they didn’t know, when they did know.
They choose to go the way of foolishness rather than the way
of insight and good sense. They choose to deny that they must leave their
senselessness behind them and their idols and their sinful practices. And, they
choose to buy into a cheap grace gospel which promises them heaven but still
leaves them in their stupidity and in their sinful practices. So, wisdom is
calling them to leave their willful ignorance behind them to follow the right
way.
Proverbs 9:7-9 ESV
Whoever corrects a
scoffer gets himself abuse,
and he who reproves a wicked man incurs
injury.
Do not reprove a
scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
Give instruction to a
wise man, and he will be still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will increase
in learning.
As a general rule, this is wise instruction. But, it doesn’t
always fit with God’s instructions to his servants and messengers.
"But you shall
speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious”
(Ezekiel 2:7).
“They will fight
against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,”
declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:19).
“O Lord, You have
deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have
become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me” (Jeremiah 20:7).
“I have become a
laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day” (Lamentations
3:14).
Also, look at the example of Jesus who corrected the
Pharisees, the Scribes and the religious rulers within the temple of God. And,
they definitely returned his counsel to them with rebuke, hate, mockery, abuse,
injury, and rejection and persecution. The same happened to Paul, Peter, John
and Stephen. They all received abuse in exchange for them correcting wrong
beliefs and wrong behaviors. And, some of them were killed for it, too.
And, Jesus told us that we would be hated and persecuted as
he was hated and persecuted for righteousness’ sake. And, he said that the
world would hate us, not love us as its own, because Jesus called us out of the
world. And, if we are truly living separate (unlike, different) from the world,
because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ, we are not going to
be well liked. And, the “world” includes the worldly church, too.
For, we have to remember here that Jesus’ greatest
persecutors, and the ones who had him put to death, were not the people out in
the world, but they were rulers in the temple of God, and they were teachers of
the scriptures, who knew what the scriptures taught regarding the coming
Messiah, the Christ. They knew God’s moral laws, and yet, while following
ceremonial laws often to the “nth degree,” they willfully engaged themselves in
much wickedness behind closed doors. And, they killed the author of life.
Proverbs 9:10 ESV
The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is
insight.
So, if you want to be wise, and you want to act with wisdom,
and to do what is right, and if you want to do God’s will, then it begins with
the fear of the Lord. And, what this means is that we need to give God the
honor, the value, the esteem, the respect and the obedience which he so
deserves.
So, we aren’t going to be wise if we buy into the cheap
grace gospel which says we can just acknowledge who Jesus is, or that we can
just make an outward profession of faith in him, or that we can just repeat
some words after someone in a prayer, and we are now congratulated that we are
part of the family of God, and that heaven is guaranteed us no matter how we
live our lives from that moment forward.
If we want wisdom, then we need to respect God, and we need
to obey our Lord and do what he says, not in our own flesh and willpower and in
our own strength, but in the power of the Spirit of God living within us and in
the strength of the Lord. We need to submit to his purposes for our lives, and
surrender our wills to him, and truly make him our Lord (owner-master).
So, what this means for us is that we understand that faith
in Jesus Christ is God-given and divinely persuaded, and thus it submits to God
and it surrenders to his will. So, if we have genuine believing faith in Jesus
Christ, it means we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we
have been resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, created to be like
God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).
It means we have left our old lives of living for sin and
self behind us, too, in order to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his will
and to his ways. But, it also means that this is something continuous in our
lives as day by day we die with Christ to sin and we live with Christ to his
righteousness. By the Spirit daily we must be putting to death the deeds of our
sinful flesh and we must be walking (in practice, in lifestyle) in agreement
with the Spirit of God (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; 2 Co. 5:15; 1
Pet. 2:24).
For, God’s grace to us is not just forgiveness of sins,
freedom from punishment, and the promise of heaven when we die. God’s grace,
which brings salvation, instructs us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly
passions (fleshly lusts) and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives
while we wait for Christ’s soon return (Tit. 2:11-14).
So, if you are not following after the wisdom of God, but
you are following after the wisdom and counsel of men, then you need to come
and partake of God’s wisdom and walk in the fear of the Lord if you want to
have eternal life with him. For, scripture teaches that if we walk (in
practice) in agreement with the flesh, then we are going to die in our sins,
not have eternal life with God. So, please know this, for your eternity depends
on it (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8).
To
Be Like Him
An
Original Work / March 16, 2014
Based
off Scripture
Crucified you are with Jesus.
To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,
Because He died at Calv’ry,
So from sin you’d be free.
Oh, what joy He brings into your life,
Giving life with Him endlessly.
Oh, what plans He has for your life.
Share the gospel faithfully.
Show the people He loves them.
Now His witness you’ll be.
Tell the world of sin about Jesus,
How He died for them on a tree.
Purifying hearts, He saves them,
Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.
Turning now from their idols,
New lives they have begun.
Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.
Over sin, the vict’ry He won!
When He comes again to take us
To be with Him evermore,
There will be no more crying.
Gladness will be in store.
Heavens joys will now overtake us:
We’ll be with our Lord evermore.
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