[0:00] Proverbs 9. Walk in the way of understanding.
[0:32] Whoever cracks a mocker invites insult. Whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you.
[0:43] Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still. Teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
[0:56] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through me your days will be many and years will be added to your life.
[1:10] If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you. If you are a mocker, you alone will suffer. The woman folly is loud.
[1:21] She is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house on a seat at the highest point of the city. Calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way.
[1:32] Let all who are simple come in here, she says to those who lack judgment. Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is delicious.
[1:43] But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave. Amen. Amen.
[1:53] Amen. My introduction hardly seems like the Lord booming from Mount Sinai. Because I want to talk about my cat Walter and how he loves Christmas.
[2:12] My cat loves Christmas. We have a stocking for him and inside that stocking he has treats and toys. But that's not why he loves Christmas.
[2:25] He loves Christmas because he loves trash. He loves garbage. Wrapping paper and boxes. And when we're opening all of those and paper and Amazon boxes and everything else.
[2:41] Going in the middle of the living room floor and everywhere. He loves to be in the middle of that. And so he spent Christmas Day, most of Christmas Day, in a cocoon of Christmas garbage that we built around him.
[2:58] And he loves that. C.S. Lewis said that that's man's basic problem. He says this, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum.
[3:14] Because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday, a vacation at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
[3:25] Lady Wisdom in chapter 9 of Proverbs comes to us and invites us to a feast. To a feast of wisdom.
[3:37] We're invited. But where does she find us? Where does she find us? We are going to look at Proverbs chapter 9.
[3:48] But let's go over to Ephesians chapter 4. The New Testament book of Ephesians chapter 4. Where does God find man when he invites us to wisdom?
[4:01] Where does the Lord find us? Where does God find us when he saves us? And even presently, to some extent, even Christians.
[4:14] Look at chapter 4, verse 17. And he's talking to people who are believers. He's talking to people like us. And notice what he says is still, in some way, our condition that we need to leave.
[4:30] Chapter 4, verse 17. So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.
[4:42] In what way? In the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God.
[4:53] Because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity. You notice their insensitive hearts gives them blindness and darkness and ignorance.
[5:09] Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality. So as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. That's where God finds us when he invites us.
[5:25] When Lady Wisdom invites us to her feast. Paul says our thinking is futile. It's meaningless. It's empty.
[5:36] It's purposeless. It's a dead end. We have a thinking problem. And when we are born again, God comes to us and our minds are darkened.
[5:51] We can't see. We can't understand the truth. We can't comprehend the way forward. We're ignorant. Dull. But he comes to us and he puts in us the Holy Spirit.
[6:05] The Holy Spirit comes to us and he gives us birth. And the light breaks out. The dawn comes. New life is there. Sensitivity instead of insensitivity. All of that begins to happen.
[6:18] But is that the end of the darkness? Is that the end of futility and ignorance and just wrong thinking? No. Paul says he's speaking to believers. He's speaking to people like us and Paul says you can't live that way anymore.
[6:33] Now why would he give that command unless it was something that needed to be said? Romans chapter 12. You have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[6:43] And so all of us as believers are coming out of darkness. And none of us are perfectly in the light. And we're coming out of. We're leaving our futility and our ignorance of our thinking.
[6:56] So we still have old ways of relating to God, of understanding the world that are from our past, that are fashioned by our parents, fashioned by our world, fashioned by our own sinful hearts.
[7:12] That the Lord comes and says, now I'm going to teach you the proper, the right way to think. But we all still have this pull to the mud pie that we just heard about.
[7:25] We still all have a bit of that dog in us that likes to return to its vomit, return to its old way of doing things. Or the pig that tramples the pearls because it doesn't care about pearls.
[7:36] It wants mud. That's where the Lord finds us. I do and you do. We're all coming out of that. We're all still getting over our folly.
[7:48] And that's why Proverbs chapter nine is such great news. We're not what we used to be, but we're still not what we need to be. We still say we need wisdom.
[8:00] We need it. We need understanding. And that's why Proverbs chapter nine is good news. So turn back there to Proverbs chapter nine. And God is inviting us to the feast of wisdom.
[8:11] And so the to do tonight, the action point, the thing that you should leave here with is to say, well, I am going to come to the feast of wisdom with great hunger.
[8:24] I'm going to come hungry, come eager, eat and drink. And yes, be merry in the house of wisdom. So God is inviting us to grow.
[8:34] He's he's he's he's inviting you to experience more light, to experience more meaningful thoughts. More solid instead of futile thinking to embrace the satisfying feast of wisdom that is found in the word of God and in Jesus Christ.
[8:54] And it's it's all you can eat. The the the the quantity of the food on the table is God sized proportions.
[9:06] The limit is your appetite. The limit is not what is on the table. So back to to Proverbs chapter nine. We have three points in the first point is this lady wisdom invites me.
[9:18] Lady wisdom invites me. And I put it that way so that you can remember it and say that to yourself. You can say to yourself, Lady wisdom invites me to this feast.
[9:32] She invites me to her perfect house. It's perfect. You can see that in a couple of ways. Wisdom house. Wisdom's house has been carefully carved out.
[9:43] The pillars of her house have not just been thrown together like the first little pig and the second little pig who just throw together houses. Wisdom has carefully carved out her pillars and it's seven of them.
[9:56] In the Bible, again, seven is the number of perfection. It's the number of completion. Her house is perfect. And that is where she's inviting us. To her perfect, spacious house of wisdom.
[10:11] And what does all that mean? It it means the teaching of the Bible, the wisdom teaching of the Bible, all of the truth. The word of God is flawless. It has been tried seven times in the fire.
[10:24] It's purer than pure gold. Christ, who is the wisdom of God in him, is all wisdom. He's perfect for all of your wisdom needs.
[10:36] And the feast. The feast that he has prepared for us. The feast that lady wisdom herself has prepared for us. It's sumptuous. It's satisfying.
[10:48] It says she's prepared her meat. Again, meat was a delicacy back in ancient Israel. Most people did not eat meat except for on holy days, on festival days.
[11:00] But what she is saying is every day is a festival, is a feast day when you come to my house. And so you didn't get it all the time, but she's prepared you meat.
[11:12] Satisfying, delicious. She's mixed her wine. She says that two times. It's not talking about mixing it with water. It's talking about mixing it with spices or honey to make it taste delicious.
[11:24] It's spicy. It's potent. It's enjoyable. That's what she's prepared for us. That's what she is tempting us to.
[11:35] The Message Bible puts it like this. The banquet meal is ready to be served. Lamb roasted. Wine poured out. Table set with silver and flowers.
[11:48] Now what does all that mean? It's obviously poetic language. What does it mean? It's this, that there is everything in Jesus Christ. There is everything in the Word of God to satisfy us.
[12:03] To enrich us. To give us pleasure and joy. There's no lack. There's no lack. There's no lack for wisdom in the Word of God.
[12:17] The limit isn't, again, what's on the table. It's our appetite. If you were in on our Wednesday evening prayer time and report and how he talked about how hospitable the people he lives with.
[12:32] He talked about how they lavish food on their guests. They waste food on their guests. Lady Wisdom is doing that.
[12:44] She's inviting us to this beautiful, lavish feast. There's more than enough here to provide for all of us. To provide for you.
[12:55] And so, come hungry. That's really what the point is. Come hungry. Come hungry. Her table is prepared. And now she sends out her maidens with her message, with her invitation.
[13:07] Now who are these maidens? Well, tonight I'm one of them. Tonight I am a teenage girl in the employ of Lady Wisdom saying, Come to the feast. That's who these maidens are.
[13:19] They're pastors. They're teachers. They're Solomon. It's sages. The apostles. The prophets. All maidens. All working for Christ to say, come to the table. Come to the table and be saved.
[13:30] Come to the table and get wisdom. And who are we talking to? Who am I talking to? This is the invitation. You who are simple come here.
[13:42] You who lack judgment. Again, that's who lack heart. You're the simple or the untutored. The naive. They're not ready to face life because they don't understand.
[13:53] They're ignorant. And so to them, come. If that's who you are, then you come. Well, if you lack conviction, you lack heart, you lack a palate for tasting goodness and wisdom and verse folly and wickedness.
[14:12] You don't have a trained palate. You don't have a filter to filter out things that will destroy you. Well, that's who's invited.
[14:26] So what does she say? What do her maidens say? They're saying, come on. Get up. Turn. Leave your simple ways and you will live.
[14:38] Walk in the way of understanding. That word simple there, simple ways, it's simply the word for simple. Everywhere else in the Proverbs, just as it's in verse 4, it's talking about simple ones.
[14:52] I think what this is saying is leave your simple companions. You're hanging out with people. Just as Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4, you're hanging out with these people. Their thinking is futile.
[15:03] And Lady Wisdom is saying, leave your simple companions. Come to my house. Live with me. Walk with me. Walk in the way of understanding. And so she's inviting you to walk with her, to live with her in her house.
[15:15] So what do you have to do? If you want to be wise, you have to get up. You have to turn. You have to leave your old way of thinking.
[15:26] And so are you ready to get wisdom? Then turn. Turn from your simplicity. Turn from your lack of conviction. Get up and decide for wisdom.
[15:38] And you say, I'm done with folly. I'm done living this futile, pointless, silly, meaningless kind of thought life.
[15:49] I'm done with my way. If wisdom is the fear of the Lord, I have to say, I haven't been doing that. If wisdom is fearing the Lord, then that means respecting him and honoring him and worshiping him and serving him.
[16:04] If wisdom is having him at the very top of my mind and in my heart, I haven't been doing that. I haven't been acknowledging him in all my ways.
[16:16] The thought of God, the presence of God has not yet percolated down to all my thoughts and all my ways. And so that's what I'm going to do. I haven't been trusting in him.
[16:27] I haven't been living a life with under his word. Well, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put myself under God. I'm going to put myself under the word of God. I'm leaving this poor mud pie.
[16:40] There's rich food up there. And so that's where I'm going. So wisdom is inviting. Wisdom is inviting me. I'm coming hungry.
[16:51] I'm coming hungry. And I want to eat. Now, point number two is this. We see that I'm going to go one of two ways here. I'm going to go one of two ways.
[17:03] Wisdom is inviting me. And I'm going to do one of two things with this invitation. And with my life in regard to wisdom. I'm going to go the way of the mocker.
[17:17] Become a mocker. Or I'm going to become a wise person. So what does the mocker do with wisdom's invitation? Here's this mocker.
[17:27] They hear, hey, you need to be wise. I'll make you wise. There's more for you to learn. You need to change your ways. And I'll teach you. And what does the mocker do? He insults wisdom. He insults her maidens.
[17:38] Verse 7. Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult. Whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Again, listen to how Eugene Peterson in the Message Bible puts this.
[17:52] It's not an accurate translation. But it's memorable. If you reason with an arrogant critic, you'll be slapped in the face. Confront bad behavior and get a kick in the shins.
[18:04] Slapped in the face. Kicked in the shins. That's what wisdom gets from the mocker. That's what the mocker does with this invitation. So you get scorn, abuse, hatred.
[18:16] Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you. Wisdom's invitation isn't welcomed.
[18:27] It isn't welcomed. And so wisdom doesn't spend any time on him. They hate her. And Proverbs chapter 8 ends with all who hate me love death.
[18:40] There is a category of people that hate wisdom. They hate thinking correctly about God's world and about themselves.
[18:54] And they hate living in line with it. If they know it, they hate it and will not do it. Now that's one way this can go. That is one way that you can handle wisdom's invitation to you.
[19:09] You can choose death. You can choose greater and greater levels of stupidity and folly.
[19:22] You can choose to stand above lady wisdom. And above her feast. And you can look at her at your mud pie. You can look at your pile of Christmas trash.
[19:34] And say this is good enough. What I have. It's enough. What I think. It's good. This is the real treasure. That's one way this can go.
[19:44] But there is another way that it can go. Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. What do you do with rebuke? How do you handle it? It's a litmus test.
[19:57] Every rebuke is an invitation. It's a surprising invitation to wisdom's feast. So what do you do with it? Well, rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still.
[20:12] I find great encouragement and great help and hope here. Because look at the life. Look at the glory of the wise man. No matter how much wisdom he has.
[20:24] He's getting more. He's getting richer in wisdom. He's a growing person. Lady Wisdom invites me and says, Hey, you fool.
[20:34] That mud pie that you're working with is nothing. You're sleeping in trash. That's not food. That's vomit. And I look at that. And I look at my mud pie.
[20:45] And I say, what a fool I've been. What have I been doing? Why did I think that? Why did I say that? You're right. And you know what I do? I go off to the feast.
[20:56] And I leave my slum alleyway, mud pie. And I go off to the feast. I'm not too proud to be corrected. And the reward is I'm enriched.
[21:08] And I grow. And the light gets brighter and brighter to me. And what happens? I live. I thrive. And then we have verse 10 here. We have the theme of Proverbs.
[21:21] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. When I say live. And when I say I thrive. And I live. What am I talking about?
[21:34] It's this. What is growing in wisdom? It's growing in my relationship with God. It's personal. It's upward in closeness to him.
[21:47] It's more faith. It's more reliance. It's more respect. It's more worship and obedience and service to God. Growing in wisdom is growing in my fellowship.
[21:58] In my friendship. In my relationship with the Lord. So I either kick him in the shins when he comes around. And that's what people do. And maybe some of you are doing that.
[22:10] Kicking him in the shins. And what do you do? You go further into the darkness. You hate him. Or I know him. I know him.
[22:20] I begin to understand him. And I begin to relate to him. And have faith in him. And then through knowing him. My life is enriched. Isn't that true?
[22:32] People of God. If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time. You would say. Knowing the Lord has been a deeply enriching experience.
[22:43] It's been a deeply thought provoking experience. My life is enriched. So this is going to go one of two ways for me.
[22:54] I humbly accept the word. And I grow. And my wisdom rewards me. We're going to see all the different. And we have seen.
[23:05] All the different ways that wisdom rewards us. Or I suffer. Or I suffer. There's no neutrality. There's no third way.
[23:16] There's no cutting the middle here. It's going to go one of two ways. I suffer. If you're a mocker. It says you alone will suffer. You know. Sin is its own punishment. In a certain way.
[23:29] I'm not saying that. Sin is the only punishment for sin. But sin is its own punishment. Your mockery. Your spirit. Your attitude of. I'm a mocking person.
[23:40] I'm a cynic. I stand above all this wisdom stuff. It becomes your own punisher. We're going to see. Sometime that.
[23:52] The mocker. Tries to find wisdom. He's in a pickle. He's in a predicament. He needs wisdom. He tries to find it. And he can't find it. What a mocker does.
[24:02] Is they paint themselves. Into extremely difficult corners. And the ultimate. Most difficult corner of all. Is when you're standing. Before the Lord. And he's judging you.
[24:12] And you have nothing. To say for yourself. But that's what a mocker does. And you get yourself. Into this position. And you'll bear it.
[24:24] And everyone will see. And say what a fool. What a fool. What a fool. You've been. This could have been different.
[24:37] Life and death is in the tongue. And you. You've killed yourself. You killed yourself with your own tongue. Folly and mockery.
[24:47] Becomes its own punishment. Because I want you to think about something. For a second. Would you ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Give yourself a real spanking.
[25:00] Would you ever. Get out the paddle. And pull down your own pants. And spank yourself. As hard as mom and dad spank you. Where you're. You're in pain. And you're in tears. Would you ever do that to yourself.
[25:14] And you say. Pastor Jason. That is the craziest. Most insane thing. I've ever heard. No I wouldn't. Well. If you don't get wisdom. That's what fools do. They do that to themselves.
[25:26] They. Their. Their own folly. Punishes them. And they bear it. And they have to bear it alone. No one will take it for them. No one will experience it with them.
[25:37] And for them. And so you end up getting the spanking. The punishment. The pain. And it will be all on.
[25:48] You. So wisdom's inviting me to the sumptuous feast. And you too. And it's. It's glorious.
[25:58] And it's filled with wonderful things. Delightful things. Enjoyable things. Satisfying things. I can sit down at Christ's table. And drink deep. Of goodness. And life.
[26:10] And wisdom. And strength. I can live life. The way it was meant to live. Or I can suffer.
[26:22] That's what we're talking about. In the book of Proverbs. So you have to decide. But. Before you make your decision. There is another meal spread.
[26:34] There's a late comer to the party. And. It's this woman. Folly. And she's. An adulteress.
[26:46] She's clearly connected to the adulteress. That we see. In chapters six and seven. Just like. Lady wisdom. That we. That we. Read about. In chapter eight. And.
[26:56] And now in chapter nine. She has her. Sort of real life. Incarnation. In the Proverbs 31 woman. You see. Wisdom in action. In Proverbs chapter 31.
[27:07] Well. This woman. This woman. Folly. Finds her real life. Incarnation. In the adulteress. And so there are definite. Overtones. Of. Adultery.
[27:20] In. Her. Invitations. So. I'm invited. To her feast. Now her food. Is something totally different. You can't imagine.
[27:33] That her food. Is actually. Very substantial. She's. Shoplifted. Her food. Food. From. Some cheap. Dingy. Gas station. Uptown. I have a.
[27:44] A. Particular. Gas station. In mind. In the city of Plymouth. In the town of Plymouth. And I'm thinking of. This dingy. Run down gas station. Maybe you can think of one like that. That's where she got her food.
[27:54] And she didn't even bother to buy it. She stole it. And she's undisciplined. She's unruly. That's the same word. As in Psalm 46. When it says.
[28:05] The nations are in an uproar. That's her. She's loud. She's out of control. She's at war with God. She's a rebel at heart. She's unruly.
[28:16] And so this woman. She's sloppy. She has no knowledge. She doesn't know about life. She doesn't know about. Really living the good life. To her. A feast. Is stolen.
[28:27] Twinkies. And stealing. Gas station. Hot dogs. And that's her life. And she's based. She's low. Proverbs 8 says.
[28:40] Wisdom has noble things to say. Things that are high. And good. And exalted. And when we take those things on board. It makes us noble.
[28:54] But this woman. Is the exact opposite. Of that. What she says. Is debasing. So wisdom. In Proverbs 9. Is tempting us.
[29:05] Is seducing us. Is encouraging us. Is inviting us. To elevate us. She's asking us. To come and live with her. To elevate us. To elevate our thinking.
[29:16] To elevate our spirits. To move us closer. To God himself. To be. But this woman. And this woman. And this woman. She seduces you. With what?
[29:27] Isn't it nice to. Isn't it tasty. To sin. Isn't sin sweet. She appeals. Not to. Good things.
[29:38] And noble things. She appeals. To everything that has fallen about us. Everything that is crooked. And perverted. So her food is sweet. And what's so sweet about it?
[29:50] That it's stolen. It's not that it's even good food. It's just that it's stolen food. Again.
[30:03] You go. And you shoplifted. Some nasty piece of meat. Out of the gas station. Roller thing. You know. Maybe you love those. I don't know. I haven't had it. But that's what I'm talking about.
[30:13] You've stolen it. And the thing that is so delicious about it. Is not that it's good food. But you just stole it. That's what she's appealing to. She wants you to go down.
[30:25] Down. Down. Further. And further. The very fact that you have to debase yourself. To eat it. To get it. The very fact that you have to pervert. And twist yourself. To get it.
[30:36] That's what's sweet about it. One of the most enduring. And insightful. Explorations.
[30:47] Of. Of art. Of man's inclination. To choose evil. Just for evil's sake. Is found in. Augustine's confessions.
[30:59] And he wrote that book. When he was older. He's looking back at his life. And Augustine had lived. A sinful life. A very.
[31:09] Sexually. Sinful. Life. But in the confessions. When he's looking back. And really putting his finger. On. The thing that.
[31:21] He just still can't get over. It wasn't any of those. Sexual sins. That he had committed. That there was something else. That still haunted him. That stood out.
[31:32] For it's wicked. Wickedness. That was wicked. In a way. That all those. The sexual sin. Wasn't even wicked. And this is. This is humanity. And this is what.
[31:45] This adulterous. This whore. Folly. Is appealing to. And tells the story. Of that one night. This teenage. Augustine. Was in his gang.
[31:57] They were. Playing sports. In the streets. And. They. They got done. And their attention. Turned to a pear tree. Filled with fruit. And. The.
[32:07] The tree. Did not belong. To any of their families. But it was. Adjacent to. It was the neighbor's tree. It was Augustine's. Neighbor's. Tree. Tree. And he said. That the pears.
[32:18] Weren't tempting. Because of their color. Or their flavor. They weren't even. Particularly. Good pears. But nevertheless. They wanted to steal them.
[32:29] And so they. Snuck into the garden. Or whatever. And they shook that tree. And a whole bunch of pears. Fell down. And they hauled them off. Augustine. We carried off.
[32:40] A huge load. Of pears. Not to eat ourselves. But to dump out. To the hogs. After barely tasting. Some of them ourselves.
[32:51] Doing this. Pleased us. All the more. Because it was forbidden. Such was my heart. Oh God. Such was my heart. Which you had pity.
[33:01] Even in that. Bottomless pit. Behold. Now let my heart. Confess to you. What it was seeking there. When I was being. Gratuitously.
[33:11] Wanton. The only temptation. To evil. Was the evil. Itself. It was foul. And I loved it.
[33:23] I love my own. Undoing. I love my error. Not that. For which I erred. Saying. I don't. Love the peach.
[33:34] The pears. But the error. Itself. A depraved soul. Seeking nothing. From the shameful. The shameful deed. But the shame. The shame. The shame. The shame. That's folly's temptation.
[33:51] That's what's put. In front of us. Sin is sweet. Folly is sweet. Lady wisdom.
[34:01] Lady wisdom is inviting me to her feast. But this woman folly. She's also inviting me. This. This. She's inviting me to evil.
[34:13] To foolishness. To pointlessness. It's delicious. And so. As I said. This is going to go one of two ways. Lady wisdom's house.
[34:23] Is life. Life. And this folly's house. Is filled with dead bodies. Two houses. Two inns.
[34:36] Two houses. Two inns. Does that. Sound familiar? The wise man built his. House upon the rock.
[34:47] He heard Jesus words. He took the men. And he did them. And Jesus says.
[34:58] That's the wise man. And when the storm comes. His house stands. So this wise man. He learns wisdom. He learns wisdom. From listening to Jesus. And believing what he says.
[35:10] And trusting him. And then doing what he says. And so this wise man. Builds his own. House of wisdom. He hews out of. The marble.
[35:21] Seven pillared. House of his own. And it's strong. And it's enduring. And when storms. Happen. And they do. His house. His life. Stands.
[35:33] Well the foolish man. Here's the word. He's there in the audience. And he just doesn't do it. He doesn't do what it says.
[35:45] And his foolish house. Falls. So what's the application? I already. I already told you. What the application is. But if lady wisdom.
[35:56] Is inviting me to her house. Then I want to come. I want to go. And I want to come hungry. She said. I have this feast for you. And it's delicious. It's perfect. It's satisfying.
[36:06] It's enjoyable. Then I'm going to come hungry. So brothers and sisters. Here's the application. Hungrily seek wisdom. Hunger. And thirst for it. If she has meat.
[36:18] Then I'm hungry for meat. If she has wine. I'm thirsty for wine. I have what. I'm hungry for whatever. She's offering. So. Where do we find this feast?
[36:29] What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to go? Where am I supposed to go to get it? What does it mean to hungrily. Hungrily. Seek. Wisdom. Well. Proverbs 10 through 31.
[36:39] Chapters 10 through 31. In. Is. Very much. The feast. Of. Wisdom. It's lady wisdom's feast.
[36:50] And she has. What do we have? 21 chapters. It's like 21 courses. Of. Wisdom. For us. And some of the food. Is. This.
[37:02] Is something that you're going to hear. Other times. Just as. You know. You come to a feast. And some dishes are. Are. Very similar to. Other dishes you've had. But the point is. Is here's the feast.
[37:12] And that's where we're going next. And so you want to sit down. To lady wisdom's feast. Well. Get into the proverbs. Get into this heart of. The proverbs. That's.
[37:22] That's next. But. In a broader way. The feast. Is the. The whole word of God. It's flawless. And so we want to read it.
[37:36] And we want to think about it. We want to learn it. Again. Referencing what we heard. On Wednesday night. You know. He talked about. These folks. These Muslims. Who read the Quran. And they just read it.
[37:47] And they just read it. But they never ever think about. What they're reading. I want us to be the exact opposite of that. You read it. That's good. But think about it.
[37:58] Think. About it. And then. You pray. You pray. Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Is. Is. Is. Is.
[38:08] Perfect for this. It's a prayer. It's talking to God. It. It. It. Would be a wonderful thing. If. You know. Psalm 119. Is broken down. Into. 22.
[38:18] 22. Sections. Eight. Verses. Each. I think. And. Before you read your other. Scriptures. Take.
[38:29] Take. Take. A little section. And. Make. Psalm 119. Your. Introductory. Prayer. Say. I'm going to pray. Lord. You. You. Answer. This.
[38:39] Prayer. As I read. Your. Word. But. What does. Psalm 119. Say. About. Wisdom. Look. Listen. To these. Prayer. Requests. These. Offerings. Of. Prayer. He.
[38:49] Says. Give me. Understanding. And. I will. Keep. Your. Law. Give. Me. Understanding. Teach. Me. Knowledge. And. Good. Judgment. The. Unfolding. Of. Your.
[38:59] Words. Gives. Light. It. Gives. Understanding. To. The. Simple. I. Open. My. Mouth. And. I. Pant. Longing. For. Your. Commands. Turn. To. Me. And. Have. Mercy.
[39:10] On. Me. You know. If. God. Gives. Us. Wisdom. It's. A. Mercy. It's. A. Grace. We. Don't. Deserve. It. We. Can't.
[39:20] Earn. It. But. That's. What. We. Want. Mercy. I. Need. Understanding. I. Don't. Know. What. I. Supposed. To. Do. I. Don't. Know. What. I. Supposed. To. Say. I. Don't. Know. The. Way. Forward.
[39:31] I. Can. Get. Myself. Into. Such. Trouble. And. I. Have. That. Heart. I. That. St. August. August. Heart. That. Will. Sometimes. Really. Just. Love. Evil. For. Evil. Sick. That's. My. Heart.
[39:41] Lord. Give. Me. Understanding. Give. Me. Wisdom. I. Lack. Understanding. But. The. Good. News. Is. Jesus. Christ. Is. Inviting. Us.
[39:52] Inviting. Me. To. The. Feast. And. That's. Mercy. And. That's. Grace. Stored. Up. For. Us. Ready. For. Us. And. So. I.
[40:03] Hope. You'll. Say. With. Me. Well. Then. I'm. Going. I'm. Coming. I'm. Going. To. That. Feast. And. I'm. Going. To. Eat. Well. Pray. With. Me. Heavenly.
[40:15] Father. We. Do. Thank. You. That. As. Your. Children. You. Teach. Us. And. So. I. Do. Pray. That. You. Would. Teach. Us. All. To.
[40:25] Desire. Wisdom. More. You. Would. Teach. Us. All. To. Hunger. And. Thirst. For. It. To. Long. After. It.
[40:35] And. To. Seek. It. And. We. Do. Thank. You. That. In. The. Word. Of. God. There. Is. All. That. We. Need. And. There. Are.
[40:46] 21. Courses. Of. Delicious. Feast. And. Many. More. Than. That. To. Satisfy. Us. To. Steer. Us. In. The. Right. Direction. There's.
[40:59] Everything. We. Need. For. Life. And. Godliness. And. We. Need. Words. For. Life. And. We. Need. Words. For. Godliness. Please. Teach. Us. To. Seek. Them.
[41:10] In. Your. Word. And. To. Teach. Teach. Us. To. Seek. Them. In. Prayer. I. Pray. This. In. Jesus. Name. Amen.