Wisdom's Feast

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0:11Let us go to the Lord in prayer and ask him for help. Lord, would you please open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things in your law and lead us to wisdom? Lead us to yourself and to your son who is wisdom incarnate? In Jesus' name, amen. My wife Johanna and I in our five children were privileged to live in Scotland for two and a half years. And one of the things I appreciated about Scottish culture and British culture in general is its acute attention to details regarding the environment around you, the warnings and the cautioning of the environment around you. I'm speaking specifically of the signs, the yellow signs that were everywhere in the town that we lived in St.

1:12Andrews cautioning or warning pedestrians like myself with these three words, mind your head. And they were everywhere across St. Andrews because the town buildings were 15th century buildings, uh, and sometimes, uh, earlier than that. And in the building that I researched in for two and a half years in a place called St. John's House, which was from the 14th century, every hall quarter and door had posted yellow signs of mind your head because of the low clearances. To give you an idea how low some of these doorways and hallways are, uh, there's a bed and breakfast right on near uh, the Bay of St. Andrews.

1:58And I went one time just to see how low it was compared to my height. And the top of the door reached my shoulder and I thought, surely this place was built in the times of the hobbits. Uh, and you would have to actually literally bend down to enter his bed and breakfast. And the same thing with St. John's house. I had to bend down literally in just one place from the 11th century, which was a home from monks. I had to bend down every time into the un undercroft, the name of that place to get clearance. So I went bonk my head against entrance and yet the the sign was there, mind your head. I'm grateful those signs were there because even though it was inconvenient at first, my first weeks there in St.

2:36Andrews to constantly bend down to avoid hitting my head because of those reminders, I never once as far as I know hit my head. But I had, if I had, I ignored those signs to not mine my head, I would've surely hit my head. In our text this morning in Proverbs chapter nine, God graciously gives us a warning, actually several warnings, a very serious warning. In fact, mind your spiritual head and heart beware of Lady Foley's feast. The warning is crystal clear in his chapter. There's no mistake here so to speak, there are yellow signs everywhere in this chapter. Mind your head, failure to heed this warning and this chapter will not merely give you a goose egg on your head, but it can damage, injure and destroy your life, even your very soul.

3:34Paying attention to the warning signs in this chapter therefore is crucial for our spiritual life and flourishing. The question is this, will you and I heed the warnings in this chapter? This is the final sermon in our series in the book of Proverbs that's gone from chapter one. Now to this final chapter, chapter nine, this first section of Proverbs, this closing chapter of this first section concludes with a striking image, a metaphor of two women, personifying wisdom on one hand and folly on the other, both offering their respective feast for all people to attend. This chapter is the culmination of all the various themes that we've encountered in the Book of Proverbs. Themes such as pursuing wisdom, obtaining the fear of the Lord, the virtue of listening to council and to wisdom and to rep proof.

4:31And this chapter is a continuation and e recapitulation of all those themes in one package in this chapter. And it is also a continuation of the previous chapter from last week's sermon, a personification of lady wisdom herself now with the contradiction of Lady Foley and her feast. Chapter nine then is a final and urgent appeal to listen to wisdom and to avoid foolishness at all costs and that's the main point of sermon. Listen to wisdom and avoid folly at all costs. This chapter makes it really clear, but there are only two options, either life or death. The warning signs are so clear that the reader of this chapter will mind his spiritual head and see that lady wisdom's feast is the obvious and right choice. Here's the reality.

5:26Only one of these feasts is authentic and the real deal while the other is a counterfeit feast, it's a fake, it's a sham. Lady Foley is a master con artist and she's masquerading her feast as a viable option. But the author here to divine and human author say, no beware. Mind your head, this is counterfeit, this is sham and worse, it will devastate and destroy the life of whoever per protects of this feast to folly. The decision is so obvious in this chapter that to choose folly and sin instead of wisdom is utter nonsense and madness.

6:09So let's look at this chapter in two sections. This section, this chapter is divided into two sections verses one through 12 is the Feast of Lady Wisdom followed by verses 13 through 18. The second section which is the Feast of Lady Foley. As we look at the feast of Lady wisdom and verses one through three, keep in mind that this is personification, this is an inanimate object, wisdom being personified as a human being as a lady in this case. And there's gonna be several metaphors at play which we'll uh, have some time to to point out and tease out a little bit in a moment. Look at verses one through two with me verses one through through.

6:50Describe Lady wisdom's diligent preparation for her fees. As you look at your text, look at verse one and verse two. Do you notice the six actions of lady wisdom? What are they wisdom has built? She has hu, she has slaughtered, she has mixed, she has also set and she has sent Lady wisdom is illustrating how wise people live just by her industry and her diligence there wise. People take initiative and are diligent and the theme of diligence permeates the book of Proverbs. As you may know, for example of Proverbs 1224, the hand of the diligence will rule while the slothful will be put to forest labor. Also notice that her activities are ethically done.

7:37There's no violation of God's laws and her activities in setting up this table. We'll come back to this ethical piece a little bit later when we encounter later Lady Foley who does not follow ethical guidelines here. First verse one describes her house. Look at verse one, wisdom has built her house and she has hued her seven pillars. So what is the significance of seven pillars here? The number, the text doesn't explicitly indicate the significance of the number seven, but even but in the scriptures, seven typically stresses the idea of completeness or wholeness. So I believe that Solomon here is reiterating the completeness of God's wisdom. God's wisdom has no flaws to it.

8:21There's no faults, there's no crack lines in these foundations or in the pillars. Here. The wisdom of the Lord is absolutely perfect and this is the draw and the peel to wisdom. Verse two describes the menu of the feast, the menu. Look at verse two. She has slaughtered her beasts. There's meat and she has mixture wine. So imagine a table full in a 21st century way. Of course, imagine a table full of your favorite meat syrup, grilled chicken, prime rib juicy ribeye steak, roasted lamb, grilled salmon and more. These metaphors represent the wealth and the health that wisdom provides and the benefits it bestows on those who feast on this rich, luxurious menu.

9:10And verse three is the giving of the invitation to lady wisdom's feast. Listen to the invitation and follow along. As I read verse three, she has sent out her young women to call from the highest places into town. It's a public invitation. All are invited to come. Notice that the word highest places in a town corresponds to something that we saw in a sermon last week from Proverbs eight verse two where she places herself on the heights. In other words, there's a public visibility here of wisdom's invitation. All of us in this room are invited to partake at wisdom's table. No one excluded As we move on to the next section, verses four through six, verse four makes it clear that the feast is specifically for those who lack wisdom. This invitation is for those who are simple.

9:57This is a key phrase in in the proverbs, the invitation to eat and drink in verse five is one of full participation in entering into the world. Look at verse four and five, as I read, whoever is simple, let him turn in here to him who lacks sense, she says, come eat my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Do you notice the threefold exhortation there in verse five to forsake to live? This is verse six actually to forsake, to live and to walk. Leave your simple ways live and a walk in the way of insight. Now, leaving one simple's ways is a recurring motif in the book of Proverbs. We already saw this theme throughout our series, but particularly lemme draw your attention to chapter one verse four and invite you to turn there if you like or just simply listen to this from chapter one verse four, where Solomon identifies one of the purposes of the proverbs as giving prudence to the simple. It's a key theme in the proverbs.

10:57Then notice back to our checks in chapter nine verse six. Then note the two words here after, leave your simple ways, where are those two words and live? Don't overlook those two words. The feast of wisdom results in a life of flourishing. This is in a stark contrast to what we're gonna see in a moment where it's the exact opposite of life. It's death. So that those two words, Anne Live is really critical to the message of lady wisdom's feast. We'll also see this in a moment in verse 11, where lady wisdom again is gonna say, long days and length of life I will give to you, which is another thing we've seen in RB thus far.

11:38The final part of our extrication is to walk in the way of insight. You see that in verse six, the last phrase walk in the way of insight. And again, this is another motif in the book of Proverbs introduced again in chapter one, chapter one verse two, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight. Insight refers to good judgment. I think actually that's a good translation here. In fact, the new living translation, uh, renders this phrase, uh, this phrase that we're looking at walking away insight as this learn to use good judgment. Isn't that wisdom? Learning to use good judgment in life?

12:14This is the ethos of will 80 wisdom's feast In 1850, my great-great-great grandfather Hira Ma Hansen was faced with a momentous decision. Would he remain in his poor condition, he was very poor or would he discover gold in California? He was only 26 years old and he and his parents had just immigrated to Rochester, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, uh, from Yorkshire, England, very poor family and he was ruggedly determined to change the course of his life from poverty to not poverty. So he says, my aunt's goal, and he embarked on the quest to for Golden California. This is a year after the 49ers rush, 1849 and 1850 goes out. He uh, with the hope that he would obtain enough gold to buy a land and farm and start a family. So he went out in 1850, was there for three years, diligently mined for gold every day for three years until he came back.

13:20He was successful and did find gold. He found $2,000 worth of gold. Um, that's the value back in 1853. The value today of that gold is $77,000 and he took part of that gold and he bought a farm, uh, or bought 160 acres of land in north uh, east Iowa called Owin, Iowa built dairy farm, had a family and was you know, successful the rest of his life. And that farm remained in Old wine, Iowa all the way to eight to 1965, the Hansen Farm. What Hiram Hansen discovered was a feast of gold and he was singularly focused on achieving his goal and then enjoying the benefits of that gold, which he did This morning, this text is inviting each of us to a quest, not for gold like Hira Hansen, but for something infinitely more valuable than physical gold.

14:11The perfect wisdom of our God. God himself invites us to receive his wisdom in this chapter and to feast on it and to partake of its benefits. Wisdom's feast is like finding gold. God's wisdom brings true spiritual wealth, joy, and satisfaction in his life. God's wisdom is the real deal. It's not counterfeit, it's not fake. So the question for you is this, are you feasting on true wisdom that comes from God? Do you habitually feast on the word of God, which is the wisdom of God? Does your life resonate with the ambiance of wisdom in every facet of your life? Brothers and sisters feast voraciously upon the word of God en gorge and satiate yourself with the wisdom, the rich feast of the word of God.

15:05Drink deeply from the word and be filled with God. Take and eat it and be enamored with God as you feast upon wisdom. I encourage you to regularly and intentionally read through your Bible so that you are being filled with a feast of wisdom and with a knowledge of his will In all spiritual wisdom and knowledge you'll find only in feasting on wisdom, complete joy and deep satisfaction only in God. Well there's more. And verses seven 12, we have a section that is a break in the narrative sea but still connected to the ethos of lady wisdom's feast. This is a section of practical guidance answering the question, how do you eat a wisdom's feast? That's a good question. Okay, what's the big deal? Lady's feast, lady wisdom's feast.

15:57The question is how do we eat it? How do we enter the door and embrace lady wisdom in her feast. Wisdom is not merely intellectual, academic or theoretical. True wisdom is always applied to practical living and so it is in verses seven through 12. So then how does wisdom apply practically in verse seven through 12? Two answers here. Number one, to be humble and teachable. That's verses seven through nine and in verse 10, to fear God. And then these two components are what it means to be wise and verses 11 and 12, then it will explain the benefit that wisdom's feast brings. So now let us look one, add time at these components.

16:42Follow along as I read verses seven through nine, whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse and he who approves a wicked man incurs injury do not reprieve a scoffer or he will hate you. Reprieve 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. Verses seven through nine offer a start contrast between the scoffer on one hand, the one who hates wisdom and mocks at it and the wise person in order to clearly mark the difference between lady wisdom in Lady Foley. The key difference between these two, the scoff and wise person is humility and the ability to be taught.

17:27The section begins in verse verses seventh eight with exhortation not to invest time in correcting scoffers but re invest time in. In speaking into wise people who are going to be wiser scoffers are arrogant and think they are beyond instruction. They resist correction, scoffers and wisdom don't go together. That type of person is not wise and does not belong at wisdom's table instead of investing time, she says in correcting scoffers we are counseled to correct wise people instead because they will listen to instruction and they will become even wiser as a result of that. But there is another message I believe in verses seven through nine by marking a difference between scoffers and wise people.

18:12The Texas communicating to us that if we want wisdom then we must welcome reproof and instruction. As hard as that may be, that is a quality of wisdom. So how should you feast on wisdom by being teachable in your growth and sanctification so that you can grow even more In wisdom, we are not to reject corruption or rebuke like the scoffer does, but instead the way of wisdom always goes through reproof and corruption. This theme is constantly being taught in the proverbs, one of the most prominent themes. In fact, listen to these brief selections from the proverbs regarding listening to and receiving correction. For example, in chapter three verse 11, my son do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his rep proof Chapter six verse 23, the rep proofs of discipline are the way of life.

19:11Chapter 12 verse one, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who rejects rep proof is stupid. Wow, that's blunt and politically incorrect but it's true. Listen to this chapter 15 verses 31 and 32, the ear that listens to life giving rep proof. Did you catch that? Life giving rep proof will dwell among the wises, whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. Why does Proverbs stress being teachable as one's essential marks of wisdom? You might ask because it is a key difference between wisdom and foolishness wise people are teachable, fools are not. How do we know if one is wise or not?

19:57According to Proverbs, one litmus test is if he or she is willing to receive correction and instruction. For me one of the greatest examples from church history that illustrates verse nine, which again, look at verse nine, give instruction to a wise man and be he will be still wiser. One of the greatest examples of that verse is that of the mentorship of a pastor in England named John Ryland in the late 18th century being mentored by John Newton. John Newton, the famous hymn writer of amazing Grace Ryland was a young Baptist pastor in a church called Broadmead Baptist Church in Bristol, England and he was 28 years younger than Newton.

20:38Newton could have been his dad and he writes John Newton as a young man all the way until his forties, multiple times, several hundred of times in his, in his lifetime for 31 years Newton wrote Counsel to Ryland. Ryland asked of that in one of those letters, Newton wrote some very sharp things to Ryland in rebuke in one letter Newton Reapproved, 18 year old Ryland for being prideful. Specifically Ryland boasting in one of his letters that he didn't receive any help in composing his own hymns. Ryland was a hymn composer as long as well as a pastor. Ryland responded humbly, he could have got angry, but what he did is he took the initiative to rewrite the letter again and this time he omitted all the statements of arrogance, pride and self dependence to show that he received Newton's wise counsel to be humble, Ryland embodies verse nine.

21:35Ryland didn't view himself as bettered or smarter than Newton because of his humility and willingness to be reproved by his mentor. Ryland became one of the most important Baptists in 18th and 19th century England. During his day he became wiser through council and correction. So let me ask you, how teachable are you? Do you have a teachable spirit? Are you willing and humble enough to receive reproof and correction even when it's smarts, even when it doesn't feel good? Are you willing to be corrected spiritually like Rylan was? Even when it's sharp? Wisdom is having a teachable spirit. Children, how are you doing with this?

22:24How do you respond when your parents give you an instruction or command to do something? Do you immediately refuse to listen or turn the other way or run off? That's not the path of wisdom. Wisdom listens to instruction and correction with humility. God has providentially given you children, given parents to you to love you and teach you and lead you in the path of lady wisdom and sometimes that involves reproof and correction, teenagers and adults. What about you do you think? Do we think we're beyond the wisdom of others, whether it's parents or grandparents, golly, counselors that the Lord has placed in your life or do you have the spirit of wanting to receive for proof even when it stings?

23:15Do you respond with a humble, teachable disposition? Whatever stage of life you are in, true wisdom responds with, I need more wisdom. Please show me how I can grow in this area. If you struggle in the area of being teachable and humble, confess the sin to the Lord, the sin of pride, the sin of lack of teachability. And may the Lord give you repentance from resisting correction because that's the way of the fool. The fool resists correction and he pays the price for doing that. Don't be like that. Oh, that God would raise up some of you in a north church to be John Newtons who would be willing to invest in our children or to counsel men and women or to mentor young moms or to engage in men's or women's Bible studies and oh that God would raise many of you to be John Rylands in this assembly who are eager to listen and to learn and to be humbled, to receive wise counsel in your Christian sanctification from the Newtons among us. But whether we are a mentor or a mentee, all of us in this room are in regular need of wisdom. Are we not?

24:24We need wisdom and our progressive sanctification in how to live in this Christian life. We are never done learning in our Christian growth. That's why you and I need the church. We must lean into the discipleship that takes place in this community. Don't run away, lean in. Well close this middle section or this lady wisdom's feast. In verses 10 through 12 we see a call to wisdom and the one major benefit it brings. Look with me at verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy one is insight. This verse is the only direct reference to the Lord's covenant name Yahweh in this chapter, in addition to being teachable to dine at wisdom's fee.

25:10Secondly is to obtain the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the holy one. Now this verse consists of two parallel statements, which means that they both have the same meaning. Fear of the Lord and knowledge of the holy one are synonyms for the same idea. The meaning I believe is this wisdom must begin with a holy reverential awe and respect for the Lord resulting in worship of and obedience to him. That's the fear of the Lord. This verse is the thesis statement of the book of Proverbs. This sounds familiar because we've, we've seen it recently. Uh, Proverbs chapter one, verse seven, listen to this, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

25:51So wisdom must always connect to God's holy character and those who are wives will conduct their lives on the basis of God's holy name Yahweh and God's holy character that he's holy. The holy one. Wisdom then is seeing and knowing God as who he is, the covenant keeping holy God and living in conformity to his character and his words. That's not a mere intellectual academic knowledge of God, but it's a heart connectedness to God. Do you have a heart connectedness to God or is it merely academic and theoretical? This heart connectedness to God is obtained only by trusting, obeying and worshiping God. Do you know God in this way?

26:36And in verses 11 and 12, identify the benefit of wisdom here, lady wisdom speaks here and echoes the personification given in Proverbs three verse two in verse 16 in regards to the blessing of fearing the Lord and obeying his law. As we've very heard from a another sermon on Proverbs three, this is not a categorical promise that everyone pursues wisdom will live to a hundred years old. Listen to his promise here for by me Lady wisdom says your days will be multiplied and your years will be added to your life. This is not a categorical promise that all of us will live to a rip old age of a 100. The point here is that the normal expectation, remember this is a proverb.

27:17The normal expectation is that pursuing the path of wisdom will lead to a full and prosperous life. That's the main point of verse 11. In verse 12, fittingly concludes this section with a statement of personal responsibility to listen to lady wisdom and to receive the benefits of doing so or to bear the consequences of one rejects her invitation. I actually like the new living translation of this here. So verse 12, if you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you scoff, you alone will bear. That's the Bible, uh, that most of us have in front of as a translation to E S V. Listen to the NLT here, which I think is very helpful. If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you score wisdom, you'll be the one to suffer.

28:05There's a personal responsibility there. And again, the mind your head is all over this. Watch out. Mind your heart, mind your soul. And this is a great transition into the final section. Section number two verses 13 through 18 is the Feast of Lady Foley. And remember this is a so-called feast. It's a sham, it's a fake, it's not really a feast, it's a counterfeit. This section is gonna show us the start contrast between Lady wisdom and the Feast of Lady Foley and highlights the need to listen to wisdom and to avoid Foley. Now it begins in verses 13, the 14 with this description of Lady Foley herself, her character.

28:47Listen to this in verse 13 or follow along. Look at your look at your Bible. The woman Foley is loud, she is seductive, literally full of simpleness and she knows nothing. This sounds familiar, doesn't it? If you remember Proverbs chapter seven, she's portrayed as the forbidden woman with similar traits described in chapters five and seven. Like Lady Wisdom's, invitation ladies, Foleys is also very public. Look at verse 14. She sits at a door of her house and she takes a seat under highest places of town. She's also visible. She has a visibility element that wisdom also has. But also notice the inactivity of Lady Foley.

29:28Here it's striking in contrast with the diligence of Lady wisdom. Remember the six actions of Lady Wisdom? Notice the actions that are taking here by Lady Foley. Two things, she sits and she takes a seat. There's no reference to her preparation in these verses because of a very specific reason. We'll cover in just a moment. Lady Foley displays laziness in in inaction, which is what fools do. And you see this all throughout. Proverbs. Moving on to verse 15, 16, and 17. Do you notice the strikingly parallel language between the two opening invitations of Lady wisdom? Look at verse 15. She calls the those who passed by who are going straight on their way.

30:07And notice this is the first speech of Lady Foley, whoever is simple, let him turn in here. And to him who lacks sense, she says, and we'll pause right there. Look at verse 16 and now look back up at verse four. Do you see that same exact words in your translation in the Hebrew is exactly the same message word for word in Hebrew. In other words, she appears to be an angel of light. She appears to be the real deal, she appears to be valid and yet she is not. As we look at verse 17, the core of Lady Foley's message shows us that she is not the real deal. First, notice what is glaringly absent in her message. Look at verse 17.

30:53Do you notice anything missing in verse 17 that gives us a hint? There's no mention of what the fear of the Lord. No mention of the fear of the Lord. No mention of the knowledge of the holy one. What she is offering is a feast without God, a life without God. And we know from the Proverbs that tempting to live a life without God is futile and even dangerous. Secondly, notice what is present in her message. So what is absent is the fear of the Lord. What is present in her message is her unethical obtained feast. Look at verse 17. Stolen water is sweet and bread eating in secret is pleasant. Whereas lady wisdom ethically and diligently prepared her feast, lady Foley resorts to theft to stealing.

31:47That is why there's no reference to her preparation. She steals for the meal. The menu of this feast is stolen goods she takes away as a good gift of God, food and water in this case. And she perverts it through stealing. What specifically is a stolen water here? It's most likely a specific reference to adultery. Do you remember, uh, chapter five verse 15, drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own. Well that's a reference to sexual union with your with in marriage. But here she's perverting the gift of sex and perverting it in an evil ungodly violation of this seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery. In fact, two commandments of the 10 commandments are being broken. In verse 17, I mentioned, you shall not command adultery is being broken.

32:39But so as commandment number eight, you shall not steal. She's perverting and stealing what is the good gifts of God and perverting it for her own purposes. That's what Satan does. Satan takes the good gifts of gods and per corrupts them and perverts them and says, Hey, take it. It's the real deal. And it's not. Lady follows invitations to have this unethically obtained bread and water without consequences. She calls this direct violation of God's law. What sweet and pleasant Isaiah five 20 has something to say about this. Whoa, to those who call evil good and good evil. In other words she says, sin tastes delicious so therefore it's good.

33:20Enjoy the pleasures of sin. It makes you feel good. This meshes message sounds so compelling to the fool, but it's a trap, it's a counterfeit. It's a sham. Lady Foley perverts with truly sweet and pleasant in the narrator's somber warning in verse 18, to avoid the feast is evident. Follow along as I read verse 18. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of [unknown]. How do we know that Lady Foleys feast is a sham. Verse 18 that we just read. The fool is clueless. That Lady Foley is a con artist and that her feast is a counterfeit. This counterfeit feast leads to one's death, spiritual death and judgment from God is ultimate end of those who choose to feast on Folley.

34:13I wanna go back to verse 17 for a moment as we apply this. What Lady Folley is offering in verse 17 is an ancient tactic of the old enemy, the devil. Lady Folley is the mouthpiece I believe of the devil himself. This tactic goes all the way back to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. The tactic to deceive people to see sin as pleasurable. It's attempt to get people to see themselves as gods and to de throne the one God and play self on that throne. Sin as core is just that it's rebellion against God's reign. And that is what Lady offer Lady Foley is offering here in verse 17 to de throne God.

34:57What Lady Foley offers here is what the Puritan Thomas Brooks calls quote to present the bait and hide the hook to present the golden cup and to hide the poison, to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the prophet that may flow in upon the soul by yielding the sin and by hiding from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin. That's what Satan is up to. He's not gonna show you the poison or the hook, but Brooks has a remedy for this tactic of the devil. Keep at the greatest distance from sin. That's the application I wanna draw from. Verse 17, keep at the greatest distance from Sinny says and from playing with a golden bait that Satan holds forth to catch you.

35:45The best course to prevent falling into the pit, he says is to keep at the greatest distance. He that will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit may find by woeful experience that is a righteous thing with God, that he should fall into the pit. Assess your life for a moment. Are you playing with the golden bait that Satan's dangling before your eyes? Are you dancing on the brink of the pit, the pit of less sexual sins, pride, evil company, dishonesty, covetousness, anger, bitterness? Are you dancing on the brink of that pit? Christian stay far away from that golden cup that tempts you.

36:34There is a perverseness in human nature that causes it to revel and was explicitly forbidden by God and human nature that has been ruined by the fall has this infatuation with getting to the brink of the pit. I'm strong enough to handle that. I'm strong enough to approach the brink. Nothing is going to hurt me. And yet often as Brook says, the fall is egregious because the brink of the pit is being tampered and played with. A good illustration of this is how toddlers and babies are born. Have you ever noticed some of you who have toddlers or had toddlers in the past that when you say no to a toddler, just jar of cookies on the table, there's this immediate response of, oh, I'm interested now in the jar of cookies and there's a laser beam radar for that jar of cookies because why? No, don't touch.

37:25And now the alert is up in our human depravity. Ooh, I want to investigate further. I want to maybe touch it and smell it and I wanna maybe taste it. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? This is exactly what happens in the Garden of Eden. Some of you here right now are in danger of choosing Lady Foley's counterfeit feast. And I wanna say this to you. And some of you are ready on the path of feasting from ladies Foley's TAs table. You taste Foley's stolen bread and you like its flavor. You think your sin is sweet, you are drawn to that dangling golden bait. That reason why you are drawn to the golden bait is because your affections are misplaced. Your affections are misplaced. Friend, if your affections are misplaced this morning and your affections are on that golden bait and not on God, I plead with you on authority of the word of God to repent, to turn to Jesus and to have him rekindle your affections. And you for him, don't enter the house of Foley.

38:28Don't believe the lie that Satan told Adam and Eve that they would be Gods. Stay away. Don't be duped by Satan for the sake of your own soul. Stay far away from Folley. Don't listen to the cause and invitations of this culture to enjoy the pleasures of sin. And they are everywhere around us. Brothers and sisters. We live in a culture that feasts incessantly upon folley, does it not? It's vial, it's evil. Our culture flaunts evil and deliberately contradicts God's ways regarding human sexuality, marriage and abortion, and cause evil, good and good evil. Don't take your cues from this vial culture.

39:09Don't be duped by its foolish thinking. May God awaken us out of our stupor and are being desensitized by the folly and the culture around us. May God arouse us from our complacency with sin and implant deep within us a holy hatred for our own sin. In the folly of our own culture, we condemn the sin of our culture. But may you and I also rigorously detest our own sin. Pray against it. Kill it. See us our sin as heinous and evil in God's eyes. Turn our eyes to Jesus who is wisdom incarnate. So how does this chapter point us to the gospel of Jesus Christ? I believe it does. In Genesis three, which I referenced earlier, Adam and Eve in the garden were offered this feast of folley.

40:01They ain't Foley's feast through the forbidden fruit. The feast of Folley took them to death and separation from God forever. And Matthew four, do you remember Matthew four? The temptation of Jesus Christ, the better and perfect Adam was also offered. Lady Foley's feas. Remember that specifically Satan says to Jesus, turn these stones into what bread inhabit rather than succumbing to Lady Foley's feast like Adam and Eve did. Jesus says, no, I will live on every word that comes out of the mouth of God, the better and perfect Adam said no to ladies of Foley's feast. And you and I as believers need Christ and his righteousness to save us from folly.

40:47We need the Holy Spirit to continue to sanctify us and to enable us to kill our besetting sins. Friend, if you're here this morning or watching in a live stream and have not believed in Jesus, the Bible teaches that all of us are actually born choosing the path of Lady Foley. We're all sinners. Paul says in Romans three, all of us have sin come short of God's glory. Yet Jesus Christ is perfect wisdom incarnate. He died on the cross that's gonna celebrate at the table in just a moment. So confess your sins. If you are an believer, he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins if you confess and repent Jesus as perfect wisdom is the way to God. The way to life.

41:24Eternal and spiritual wisdom. And there is one more way in which this chapter, I believe points us to Jesus Christ as Lady Wisdom was the host of our feast, Jesus is the host of the marriage supper of the lamb. In Revelation 19, he is the living bread himself. In just a moment when we observe, the Lord's table will remember that he sacrificed his own body and blood as the bread of life. Wisdom's feast here points us to the ultimate glorious feast that all of us as believers will celebrate one day in heaven and it'll be a glorious what? A glorious feast it will be in heaven. Amen. Amen. It'll be glorious, not merely because there'll be good food and good fellowship, there will be that. But it's primarily be glorious because of the host himself, the Lamb of God.

42:13So brothers and sisters, this text us calling us to true wisdom. To whom are you turning for wisdom this morning? Are you going to the world for what it offers and calls wisdom? Or are you going to God and his word for wisdom? Let us feast on the wisdom from God that reveals, that's reveals through His word. Let us humbly receive wisdom from God and from others. He has sovereignly placed in our lives. And let us keep at the greatest distance from sin and from playing with the golden bait that's dangled in front of us. Sin in the world are counterfeits that can never satisfy. Only Jesus wisdom incarnate satisfies your appetites.

42:56So walk in wisdom. Follow Jesus every day by hating your sin and loving him as we follow Christ, he's gonna enable us to walk in wisdom, to know his will in all spiritual wisdom and knowledge. Colossians one, and to teach and admonish one another in our congregation. In all what wisdom may the Lord enable us this morning to daily, persevere and to feast on wisdom and to avoid folly. Let us pray. My Father, we are in desperate need of wisdom. So we humbly ask in faith for you to fill us with spiritual wisdom. Lord, may we see your ways as perfect, wise and satisfying. Help us to taste and see that you only are good.

43:43Increase our affections for you, awaken us, our St. And are being desensitized by the folly around us. Lord aroused us from our complacency with sin and implant deep within us. A holy hatred for folly cause us to persevere in spiritual wisdom until the day we are ushered into the very hall of your heaven, banquet and feast with you forever. Amen.

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Christ Has Come, He Will Come Again

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Christ Has Come, He Will Come Again

The End Is Not Yet

Woe To Hypocrites!

Wisdom's Feast

Surpassing Worth Of Christ

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