Latest / HBCWestminster / Proverbs 2:1-22 Proverb's Promise of Protection Part One 7.7.19

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Proverbs 2:1-22 Proverb's Promise of Protection Part One 7.7.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:01
  We're going to stop for just a moment too. We're going to get to Proverbs chapter 2, I promise. But we got a text from Vicki Nelson this morning. And our beloved sister here at the church who was our treasurer for many, many years. We've been praying for almost every Sunday. I bring her name up because we've been asking the Lord, pleading with the Lord on her behalf. She needs a lung transplant. She moved down to Arizona a couple of weeks ago.
• 0:26
  because no hospitals here in Denver would perform the transplant. And so she's been now for the last couple of weeks in Arizona. The thought was that she was going to go into some hospitals and rehab centers and try to gain strength and hopefully eventually get onto a list to get a transplant. That was our hope and eventual goal. She sent a text message this morning that said, Transplant today at 3 p.m. Would you rejoice over?
• 1:01
  It is an answer to prayer. On one hand, honestly, I'm rejoicing. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to hear how it goes. Be praying if you would. And if you know Vicki, if you have her number in your phone, would you take out your phone real quick, send her a text message, let her know her church loves her, that we are praying for her. I would love for her to get 150 text messages this morning from our church, letting her know how much we love her and are praying for her.
• 1:29
  On one hand, I am rejoicing, you guys. I am rejoicing, but I also know what that means. It means that there is some family somewhere devastated because they've lost a loved one who was in good health and who had decided at some point to become...
• 1:46
  a lung donor. And so I'm going to pray. We're going to pray for Vicki. We are rejoicing. This was an answer to our prayer. We're going to pray for her continued health. She still has, you guys know, a very long road to recovery, probably into the months and maybe even years of recovery from this transplant. But we hope that this means that at some point she will be able to rejoin us here in Denver and at Highland. And we'll pray for that other family as well. Would you pray with me? Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you for answering our prayer. We have been praying for months.
• 2:16
  and months for our sister, Vicki Nelson, and today you have said yes. And Lord, I pray a blessing and healing and power and strength for her to endure a brutal surgery in just a few hours. God, I pray for strength and skill and wisdom for her doctors and nurses. God, steady their hands. God, make this go well. We rejoice that we live in a country where doctors have figured out
• 2:46
  how to do this stuff. God, thank you for that. Thank you for providing the means for her to have this transplant done. And now Lord, you have led us this far. I pray that you would lead us the rest of the way. I pray that her recovery would be good and that she would recover quickly and that she could rejoin us here, her family and God worship with us and sing. God, it has been months and months and months since she has had the air even to sing praise to your name.
• 3:14
  And so, Lord, we look forward to that. God, I pray for whatever family it is that got wrecked today. God, lift them up. Encourage them and strengthen them. God, give them what they need. God, we are so grateful for your love for us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that this life does not end with this life. Thank you that we have eternal life through Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Amen. Excuse me.
• 3:56
  Man, I thought I was dead inside. That doesn't happen very often. I just like Vicki. If you guys have your Bibles, you can open to Proverbs 2. I thought, I really honestly thought, and I was ambitious in thinking so, but the Lord proved me wrong. I thought I would preach all of Proverbs 2 today, 22 verses. I was going to call it the wisdom, the promise that wisdom offers, the promise of protection that wisdom offers.
• 4:27
  And as I studied longer and longer and longer, I just couldn't get out of the first four verses. And so I'm going to change it. I'm going to do part one this week and then part two next week of chapter two. Part one, we're just going to look at the first four verses in Proverbs. And if you have your Bibles open, I'll read them now. We'll study God's word together. It says in verse one, my son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you.
• 4:57
  making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure. Our series through the Proverbs was inspired by quite possibly the wisest man I've ever met, one of my closest and longest standing friends.
• 5:25
  His prayer for our church. And it's crazy to me that he prays for our church because he's never even met us. But he prays for us. And his prayer is that we would attain wisdom through the knowledge of the one who himself is wisdom. Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 7, the theme for the book of Proverbs, says that knowledge, wisdom, and instruction begin with the fear of the Lord. And we've already said that wisdom and skill are synonyms in biblical Hebrew. The man or woman who is wise.
• 5:54
  has committed their life path to the Lord, and therefore is good at living. Like I said, I have divided chapter 2 into two portions, what I'm going to call the ifs and the thens of biblical wisdom. The ifs, verses 1 through 4, and then the thens, next week, verses 5 through 22. What we have this morning is basically a covenant offered to us by God.
• 6:25
  A conditional promise given that if we will meet certain conditions, if we will meet certain requirements, that God will shower upon us blessings. And so this morning, we're going to look at the ifs. Next week, the thens. As was said last Sunday, the word if begins a conditional clause. And you'll notice in verses 1 through 4 that the word if is used three times.
• 6:51
  It means that whatever blessing follows will only be granted if certain conditions are met. It also implies that humanity actually has a choice in the matter that will follow. Wisdom is about to be laid at our feet, but it is up to us to decide if we will pick it up. And if it is a choice, then logically, then the acquisition of wisdom is an active pursuit and not a passive endeavor. It is up to us.
• 7:21
  To pursue wisdom, it will not just be granted upon us. In other words, wisdom will not just happen to you. It won't. We don't automatically become wise as we get older. If that were the case, then the oldest people would automatically be the wisest. And that is sometimes the case. But unfortunately, it's not always true. Some of the most mature, wise...
• 7:52
  and discerning people I've ever known have been young, and some of the biggest complainers, self-absorbed babies I've ever known have been full-grown men. This is why 1 Timothy 4, verse 12 says to young Pastor Timothy not to let anyone despise him for his youth. He was probably in his 30s at the time. But instead, for Timothy to set an example in speech and conduct, love, faith, and purity. The Apostle Paul was saying that numeric age...
• 8:26
  has little to do with maturity or wisdom. Wisdom and maturity can be found by anyone, young or old, who will actively pursue them. And so the question this morning that we will answer is, how do we actively pursue wisdom? And we find three answers in our text this morning. The first, in verse 1, is that we must be receptive. We must be willing to receive it. Look at verse 1.
• 8:57
  If you receive my words, we must receive. How many times have you heard something and thought, why didn't anyone tell me this earlier? Why didn't anybody tell me this when I was younger? Well, that would have been good to know, only to realize that they did. They did. Much of the advice that we absorb now as we are adults, we had actually been offered multiple times when we were young.
• 9:30
  How many times have you read in God's Word something that is totally revolutionary, something you swear is new that was not there the last time you read it, something that is incredible? You read some verse and, man, it just rocked you. Then you said, God, where did this verse come from? Only to realize that it's actually underlined in your Bible from last year's reading. What happened last year that caused me not to apply the same passage?
• 10:03
  Dogs bark at the fence. Dogs howl at the moon and smell the perimeter of their yards because they're dogs. That's what dogs do. Rabbits hide in the grass and are skittish and they twitch their nose because they're rabbits. Cats claw up furniture, use their neighbor's lawn as a toilet, and are a nuisance to humanity because they're cats. There's always one guy. There's always one guy. Wait, was that Philip?
• 10:36
  Wait a minute. Wait a minute. How many cats do you have? Oh, that is so funny. Animals act according to their instincts. Animals are instinctual creatures. But unlike animals, humans have been gifted by God with the ability to change their behavior according to whatever governing principles they choose.
• 11:11
  Does that make sense? Animals will never change their behavior. They are instinctual creatures. But we have the ability to choose whatever governing principles are going to dictate our lives. John Phillips worded it this way simply by saying, God made people. He didn't make puppets. Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve could walk with and respond in perfect oneness to the Spirit of God. But we know that sin marred humanity.
• 11:41
  bent our minds and hearts toward evil. And in this fallen state, which we all find ourselves, we have to admit that we have very little spiritual success. I have the uncanny ability to be both weak against temptation and yet stubborn against righteousness. How can I be weak and stubborn at the same time? The answer is the fall. The spirit of wisdom.
• 12:13
  we find, has been offered again through the blood of Christ. And we looked at that last week. He says, if you will heed my word, if you will listen to my voice, I will, this was chapter 1 and verse 23, I will pour out my spirit to you. The spirit of wisdom has been offered again through the blood of Christ. What we lost in the garden, we can now have back, that governing force that has been missing since sin.
• 12:39
  And that kept the communion of God and man has been regifted now as the spirit of wisdom through the work of Christ on the cross. You say, well, what does that mean? I like how John Phillips worded it. He says, wisdom is now available to us. But not only is it just available to us, it is by virtue of our regeneration now a predilection toward the word of God. Predilection just means like a bias.
• 13:10
  So sin bent our hearts and minds toward evil. But now in Christ, and because of the work of the cross, and because of the spirit of wisdom being poured out on us, not only do we have wisdom available to us, now through the regenerative work of Jesus Christ, our hearts, instead of being bent toward sin, are now bent toward the word. We want it. We desire it, despite how far behind we are in our daily reading schedule. It's what we want. But...
• 13:41
  It still must be received. It's there. We've still got to go pick it up. We must be receptive. Psalm 40, verse 6. The Lord says this, In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted. So the Lord doesn't delight in our sacrifice and offering. We remember that obedience is better than sacrifice. Right? The words from Samuel.
• 14:12
  To obey is better than sacrifice. You haven't delighted in offering and sacrifice, but rather you have given me an open ear. Literally in the Hebrew, it means you have dug out ears for me. It's kind of a gross picture.
• 14:28
  But it's like our ears have gotten clogged. We can't hear the word of God anymore. We can't hear his voice. And Psalm 40, David just rejoices because he says, I can offer and offer and offer and offer sacrifices all day long, but that's not your delight. What you delight in, Lord, is when I hear the word of God. You've dug out my ears so that I can hear. This is why Jesus so many times said, if anybody has an ear,
• 15:00
  let him hear. If you can hear, I mean, all of the parables, all of the teaching, even into the book of Revelation, same words used, all of the teaching, all of the truth being laid down. Jesus knew not everybody would pick it up. They had to have ears to hear. We must be receptive. Would you allow me to pray for us for just a moment? Lord, dig out our ears. For those of us, Lord, who know you,
• 15:31
  And have a regenerated heart. We have a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. God, give us the ability to hear your voice. If our ears are clogged, then dig them out. God, make our natural bent now toward your word and toward the Savior instead of toward temptation and sin. That is our heart's desire. In Jesus' name, amen. First, verse 1, we must be receptive. But second, notice, we must be responsive. We must be responsive. He continues in verse 2.
• 16:03
  It says, if you receive my words, in verse 1, sorry, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, what we find is that not only must we have open ears, we must also have open hearts. It is up to us to respond when we hear the word of God.
• 16:30
  It's been said that there is no greater distance than the 18 inches that separate a man's head from his heart. We must allow the word not only to enter our ears, but to penetrate our very hearts. And notice what he says in verse 1. How do we respond? First, by considering the commandments of God our treasure. He uses the same word again in verse 4. As for hidden treasure, we should treasure.
• 17:03
  The word of God. And can I ask honestly, are the commandments of God your treasure? Are they honestly your most prized possession? Is the Bible you're holding the most valuable thing in your life? I don't use the word expert very often. I do think you can be really, really good at something and still not be an expert.
• 17:38
  I've found that there are many self-proclaimed experts, perhaps wise in their own eyes, parading their novice ability or novice knowledge, flaunting it, trying to build themselves up in the eyes of others. But it's said that it takes 10,000 hours for a person to become an expert in any field. Can you imagine that? 10,000 hours. That's one hour a day, every day for 30 years. 30 years.
• 18:10
  By this definition, I think there are actually very few experts in anything. When I measure myself against that, I don't think I'm an actual expert in anything. A mechanic who works full-time and has 10 years of experience has probably become an expert. Software engineers and financial advisors, accountants, tractor operators, and florists can all become experts. Carla is an expert pianist. She would never call herself that.
• 18:45
  But she's an expert. We have an actual expert in our midst. She has been playing the piano almost every day for 30 years. Is that fair? Yeah, not every day. But I'll bet some days were more than one hour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm going to say something that stings, but it stings me, I think, more than it stings anybody else. Many of us have been saved far longer than 30 years. How come we don't have more Bible experts? It's kind of embarrassing, I think, to admit.
• 19:24
  How much time I've wasted. I've been saved for 29 years. 29 years. February 1st, 1990 is the day I finally caved. 29 years. I should be way farther down the road in my ability to discern, in my ability to preach in season and out of season. Why do I still need Bible helps? Why don't I have this thing memorized, right? 29 years.
• 19:58
  I should be prepared to give an answer for the reason, for the hope that I have in any circumstance. I'm not asking for more know-it-alls. I think the church has enough of those. But I'll tell you what we could use more of is actual, humble, God-loving, Christ-preaching experts. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 11 says this. Hebrews 5.11, about this we have much to say.
• 20:33
  But it's hard to explain since you've become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God? You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of God since he's a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Do you guys catch that? Constant practice.
• 21:05
  How do we become experts in the word of God? Constant practice. And the Lord has given us hours and days and weeks and months and years and many of us decades. And the church in the United States, the American church, he's given centuries to get to know him through his word. Can we all now just agree? Can we all agree, commit to stop?
• 21:35
  using the lamest excuse in the book, and that is that we don't have time. That is the number one excuse. Why aren't you in God's Word? I just don't have time. You guys, it's not true. It's not true. We all have time. Yes, we do. Months and weeks and years and decades. I don't think the problem is lack of time. I think the problem is lack of treasure. That's what it is.
• 22:06
  I have a picture to show you guys. This is William Tyndale. William Tyndale. He was an English professor who lived in the early part of the 16th century. There he is. Most well known for his translation of the Bible into English. He was the first guy to ever do it. The first one. He translated the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into English. In fact, many of the modern translations that continue to be circulated, including the King James Version, are revisions of his original work.
• 22:36
  In the year 1535, William Tyndale was arrested for his translation. He was imprisoned. He was eventually executed by strangulation and then burned at the stake. His final prayer was a plea to the Lord to open the King of England's eyes to see the truth. I have another picture. This is Isaiah. Currently, one of Highland's own sons has been sent to Peru.
• 23:11
  It's being supported by this church to continue the great work of taking the gospel to all nations. Isaiah DiLorenzo is part of the team that is translating God's word into the Ashenic language. A language which until only in the last decades was completely unknown to the outside world and had no written alphabet. At this point, an alphabet has been developed. Missionaries, including Isaiah, have learned the language.
• 23:38
  And now the scriptures are being translated so that the Ashenic people can read God's word for themselves. That's what he's doing. Can you guys fast forward with me five years, 10 years from now when the work is done? Can you imagine when the last...
• 23:58
  Word has been finished and the first copy of the Ashenic Bible is finished and it goes into production and they begin to produce hundreds of them. You better believe we as a church will be standing there, right? We may not be standing there, but we'll be supporting them. We'll be saying, you better believe we will pay for those things to go into production. Amen. What else are we doing? Right? Absolutely.
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  What a treasure that will be when every home, every Ashinika home has a copy of that Bible inside of it. And now imagine for a moment that that people never pick it up. All of that work, all of the sacrifice and all of the money spent and the lives laid down and they never open it. I think if we discovered this to be the case, we would be angry, right?
• 24:57
  I mean, we'd call Isaiah home. We would rebuke as best we could the people to whom he was sent. Not that it would matter, but they'd probably get a letter from the senior pastor of Highland Baptist Church on our letter saying, shame on you, to the chief of whatever, right? We sacrificed our son for you. Can I ask you, what's the difference between that scenario and then we?
• 25:23
  who have the Bible in our language, William Tyndale, the first one, martyred for it, the translation and the whole thing. What is the difference between the Ashenic people who wouldn't pick it up and we who wouldn't pick it up? Psalm 19, verse 7 says, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
• 25:58
  The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings from the honeycomb. He says the law of the Lord is to be desired above even gold. I was sitting this week with a bunch of baseball coaches and baseball parents at dinner up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A whole bunch of us were sitting around a table.
• 26:31
  And they all said something funny because they realized all of them were raised Catholic. In fact, they all called themselves recovering Catholics. They've all heard the gospel and believed. And they were recounting stories of their childhood, saying that they weren't even allowed to read the Bible without a priest present. They were actually told as children not to bring their Bibles to church. Can you imagine?
• 26:59
  What a privilege we have to be part of a church shepherded by a body of men who encourage us to be in the scriptures and to consider the scriptures our treasure. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I got eight words in. I'm going to close in prayer. We're going to take communion. God, we are so thankful, so thankful for giving us your word. And God, may we...
• 27:31
  Believe them to be what they actually are. May we hold them to be the most valuable thing in our lives. God, we will continue to lay down our lives to see that your word is brought to the furthest ends of the earth. God, we love you and are so thankful for sharing your word with us. Thank you for the men and women who have gone before us centuries ago, who were even killed so that we could have the Bible in our language. God, thank you.
• 28:01
  the joy that it is to know your son because of this book in front of us. God, thank you for our youth group again and for the work that you've done in their lives. We look forward, Lord, now to Thursday night, the combining of the senior adults and the young adults. May that be a sweet time of fellowship as well. God, rejoice over this church. Be blessed by it. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.