Please stand if you're able for the reading of God's holy word from the book of Proverbs, chapter eight, verses 32 through 36. Hear now the reading of God's holy word. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the life-giving words of wisdom. We pray that you would help us to hear with faith that we might believe in your promises and tremble at your threats, that we might be ready always to do all things whatsoever is commanded us of God, and that we would diligently pursue the means of grace, especially your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. The title of our consideration this evening is Diligence, Preparation, and Prayer. Here in Proverbs chapter eight, we have God's wisdom, verse 12 of this chapter. Who is possessed by God at the beginning of his way, verse 22. Wisdom which was set up from everlasting, verse 23. Wisdom which was begotten from eternity in verse 24. The wisdom of God here speaking is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ pre-incarnate. And he says, hearken unto me in verse 32. Now therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways, the wisdom of God says. Now this word blessed, of course, means that good is done unto you as opposed to cursed, where evil is done unto you. And this word keeping his ways means to carefully watch after something. What is it that wisdom has detailed to us in the scriptures that we are to carefully keep, that we are to hear very cautiously and keep, why? So that we might be blessed with the blessings of salvation. Verse 33 tells us, hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. This is a reiteration of the point of verse 32. The word hearken, well, that's very similar to the idea of hearing instruction. And then he says, not just positively hear, but negatively don't refuse it. That's a double emphasis. Hear it, don't refuse it. And then notice, and be wise. What kind of wisdom? What is the blessing of wisdom? For he said in verse 32, blessed are all they that keep my ways. Now he tells us we are to be wise. That is the blessing of wisdom unto salvation. This is the wisdom of God speaking to us and commanding us to become like him, to have Christ's wisdom given to us. I know this doctrine. For the word of God to bring about the blessing of salvation, we must attend unto it. That's the idea. Listen carefully. Keep my ways, hear instruction, refuse it not. All this means attend unto my words. And note, Christ's spirit, the wisdom of God, that's what spoke by the prophets. That's what spoke through Moses, through Joshua, through David, all of the Old Testament and the apostles of the new, all of them, that was Christ's spirit, the wisdom of God speaking through them. Now, as opposed to hearkening, there can be a casual listening to the word of God. And if we hear God's word casually, does it bring blessings? Does it bring wisdom? No, it brings destruction. If you do not hear carefully, you cannot process, you cannot wait upon, you cannot put all the pieces together, it slips through your mind. Let us then hearken. Let us hear with care. Let us not refuse the word of God or treat it casually. Thomas Watson says the following. Let us have a reverend esteem of every part of canonical scripture. More to be desired are they than gold. Psalm 19 verse 10. Value the book of God above all other books. It is a golden epistle indicted by the Holy Ghost and sent us from heaven. That is the Bible. It's God's golden epistle written a letter in gold. Do you think people use gold to write letters? No, it have to be very important message, wouldn't it? That's what God's word is. A very important message. It's indicted that is spoken forth and written down by the Holy Ghost himself. given to us from heaven. It's not the product of man's thoughts. It's indicted by the Holy Ghost. Therefore, when we receive it, we must have reverence. We must listen carefully. We must esteem it very highly in every single part. More to be desired are they than gold, the psalmist said. How much do covetous men desire gold? They'll give their life for it. They give their family for it. They sacrifice their children for it. Why? Because it means the most to them. That's what David said about the word of God. It's to mean the most, more to be desired are they than gold. Now verse 34, blessed is the man that heareth me. This is a reiteration of both 32 and 33, the two verses together, the blessing of hearing carefully. And then he describes this blessed man. What are the things that he does? What are the participles that describe the hearing? Notice first participle, watching. Watching, he says, daily at my gates. John Diodati says, a figurative term taken from prince's guards or the Levites, which watched the temple. You ever seen a guard look after a king or a prince? They're very careful. They look after all the details. They see all the people who surround the king. They make sure and watch their every move in case they need to strike at any time. They are very diligent. They're very careful. They're very circumspect. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates. circumspectly, looking at all the parts, carefully and diligently pouring over, ensuring no stone is left unturned. All avenues are kept. Every way is known to you." That's what he says. And then he says this. Here's the other participle, not just watching, but also waiting. waiting at the posts of my doors. Matthew Poole as servants and clients and others wait at the doors of princes or persons of eminency for place or power or wisdom that they may be admitted to speak or converse with them. We have in our day what are called salesmen. You think a salesman's gonna sit around and wait until the client calls him? No, he goes out and he waits for them and he makes appointments and he calls them and he emails them until he gets to talk to them, why? Because his money means something to him. He wants to earn his pay and he gets paid for selling. So he pushes and pushes and pushes till he gets what he wants. That's what he says. Wisdom says that you are blessed in hearing if you push and push and push so that you may know what the word of God says. Wait at the posts of my doors as if your life depended upon it because it does. I note then this doctrine. For the blessing of God's word, we must attend to it with diligence. That's the idea here. Watching daily. waiting at the posts of my doors. That is a delight in the thing that you do, an alacrity, a willingness of mine to do it. Attend with diligence. Can you imagine a lazy watchman? What would happen to the prince or the king? What would happen if the president had people who sat there looking at their phones instead of looking after the president? No commendation needed in this case. But let's say there was an actual president, and he had somebody who was supposed to keep his body, and there were people with guns surrounding the president, and what were they doing? Looking at their phone. What does that mean? That means they don't care to do their job. They leave the king exposed to most certain death, or the president in that case. What about a salesman who never meets with his clients? Never calls them. Never goes to see them. Total failures. Let us then diligently converse with our King, our God, our wisdom by His Holy Word. Let us be in His Word each day. Let us wait for His Word, come with expectation, desiring it more than gold. Verse 35. For whoso findeth me, findeth what? What do we have in the blessing of wisdom? What is it that God gives? Life, he says, whoso findeth me, findeth life and shall obtain favor, that is grace or acceptance of the Lord. Life is eternal life because this grace that God gives, this favor that he gives, this wisdom that he gives is an eternal person of the Godhead. And so his life that he promises is eternal life. the grace of God that bringeth salvation, acceptance, favor, and goodwill from the Lord. This comes by a diligent, a serious, and a careful search, attending to God's word with diligence. Please turn over to James 1, page 1218 of your Pew Bibles. James 1, we'll read verses 19 through 22. starting at verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Note there verse 19, let every man be swift to hear, ready to hear, kill the desire to speak. Do you remember what the wise man said? When you come to the house of God, he said, don't be ready to blabber your mouth off. Be ready to hear what God says to you, for God is in heaven and you're upon the earth, therefore let your words be few. That's what James is saying. Lay apart, verse 21, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. Now this word lay apart is actually an aorist participle. That just means it describes how we're supposed to receive. How is it that I am to receive the engrafted word? By laying apart. You have to do it. You can't receive the word of God and have this filthiness, these vile thoughts and behaviors, all this wicked naughtiness, by the way, If you want to know kind of an illustration of what it means for something to be knotty, then just try to split wood that has large knots in it sometime and see how that goes. The large knots in a piece of wood make it impossible to split. Other pieces of wood are so easy. Boom, boom, done. Boom, boom, done. Come to a knotty piece. Boom, nothing. Boom, nothing. Half hour later, you're still trying to split the piece of wood. Why? Because it's so knotty. You can't do anything with it. It is not able to be used for anything. It's so bad. That's the idea. Lay this apart. Be ready for the master's use. Don't be so filled with your own wickedness that when the word of God comes to you, you can't even hear it. You're so naughty and wicked. These acts go before, it's an aorist participle, having laid these things aside, receive the word of God. Prepare yourself, in other words, by suitable repentance to receive with meekness, not with naughtiness, but with meekness, the engrafted word. And this word to receive is in the aorist imperative. An imperative is a command. The aorist means to do it at once, urgently, immediately, with all determination, with meekness, receive the implanted word. Thayer's lexicon states concerning this word implanted, he says, implanted by others' instruction. Thus James 1.21, the doctrine implanted by your teachers. Receive that word planted by others in your mind, planted, we might say, by God himself, Jesus Christ, the sower that went forth to sow. Receive that word, for that word, he says, is able to save your souls. The word preached and taught has a power to affect the soul's salvation. But notice, it's not automatic, is it? He says, in order for you to receive this word, you must lay aside before you come to hear the word, you must repent of your filthiness, of your overflowing naughtiness, put them aside, and then receive the meekness, with meekness, the engrafted word, because that word can save your soul. But should you not be prepared to receive that word, don't expect such an effect. I note then this doctrine. For the word to be effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with preparation. For the word to be effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with preparation. Let us then prepare by repentance by removal of the distractions, the cares and the concerns of this world, by preparing our minds to receive the word of God. And then note verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. Constantly be doers, producers, makers of that doctrine you have received. Apply what is heard. Don't merely hear the word. And then he says, if you are hearers only, you're deceiving your own selves. Now this word literally means to use bad logic, to reckon falsely, To deceive or delude by false reasoning, Freyberg says in his lexicon. It can also mean to defraud someone or to distort something. a fatal miscalculation, a false reckoning, a deluded logic that said, I've received the word and that's all I need to do. That's it. I'm done. I'm a hearer only. He says, if you do that, you lie to yourself with false reasonings. Oh, just hearing. That's good enough, right? I mean, how many people don't even show up to church? I'm here. I heard what you said. Good. I'm done. That's deceiving your own self, lying by false reasoning, deluding yourself, falsely reckoning the case. No, you must be doers of the word. I note then this doctrine. For the word to be effectual to salvation, we must practice it in our lives. We must practice it in our lives. In exhortation then, be ye doers of the word. Be ye doers of the word. You can hear the best preaching and it will only increase the torments of your conscience and the torments of hell. Do the word, long for it, prepare for it, trust its promises, rest in hope of God's salvation and be ready as Cornelius said. Remember when Peter came to preach to Cornelius, what did he say? Here we are all gathered before the presence of God to hear all things whatsoever is commanded you of God. That's what he said. He's a military man, right? What do you wait for from your commanding officer? Orders. You tell me what to do. I go do it. That's a military man. So now, God, you are my commanding officer. Here's your page boy, Peter. He tells me what to do. I'm ready to do it. That's how we should see the word of God. Show me what to do. What is the duty that you require of me? And when you read the Bible and your private worship, Ask yourself this question. What duty does God require of me? What should I be doing that I'm not? What are the sins that I should avoid that I'm currently doing? What are the things that I can do better? What are the things that I'm doing right that I should continue doing? Ask yourself that question. What does this passage say about my duty to God or to my neighbor or even to myself? When you hear preaching, ask the same question. I'll try to help you with that, but I can't answer all the questions. You must ask yourself, what does this mean in my life? How can I apply this to my specific circumstances? In the reading of God's word, in the preaching of God's word, in your family worship, heads of households, seek to apply what is read. Is there a doctrine to believe? Point it out. Is there a duty to be done? Point it out. Encourage others to do it. Show it yourself by your own life. What is the duty God requires? Be doers of the word and not hearers only, making that false reckoning and deluding yourself, distorting the truth, defrauding yourself. Please open to Psalm 119. We'll look at verses 11 and 18. Psalm 119 is a treasure chest of scripture truth. Verse 11. Psalm 119, verse 11, page 653. Verse 11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Now first is hiding of the word. This word hid means to treasure something up. Do you know the old story of the pirate's chest hidden somewhere because it's very valuable? Well, that's why they hide it. They don't want somebody to take it, right? They hide it away. So if God's word is so valuable, it must be hidden or treasured up, stored as hid treasure, where? In the inner man, in the mind, in the heart. This is the word of God hid there, his oracles, his laws, his promises, as valued treasures or goods we do not want to use. Lay them up in your hearts, he says, or he has hid them. Why? What's the goal? that I might not, that is the purpose clause we call that. I have hid thy word in my heart with my purpose being that I might not sin against thee. There is a practical end, a purpose for treasuring up such of God's oracles as we have read or heard. It is so that we may apply the truth in our fight against temptation and sin. I have laid this treasure aside. I have carefully guarded and protected it so that I might not sin against the Lord. I note then that God's word is to be hidden in our hearts and treasured up unto salvation. God's word is to be hidden in our hearts, treasured up unto salvation. Let us then lay up the word. Let us treasure it. Let us practice it in our lives. And then notice down in verse 18, again, concerning the word of God. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. First then this word, open thou mine eyes, Now, some people call the book of Revelation the apocalypse. The word apocalypse is a Greek word. The word revelation is a Latin word, but they mean the same thing. Revelato is to take the veil off of your eyes. Apocalypto is to take the veil off of your eyes. They both mean the same thing. When he asks here, open thou mine eyes, the Septuagint translates this, apocalupson, apocalypse my eyes, take the veil off of my eyes. And in fact, it is urgent, immediate, aorist imperative language in the Septuagint, Lord at once remove this veil that covers my blinded eyes. And this is the same meaning as the Hebrew word, which means to reveal something or uncover it. Why uncover my eyes? That I may, notice again the purpose clause, that I may behold wondrous things. Here's the goal, for the opening of the eyes, for the taking away of the blindness, so that I may see, pay attention to, regard, and consider these marvelous things, these extraordinary truths revealed. Did you know we call the Bible a revelation, an apocalypse? Okay, so the Bible objectively outside of us is a revelation, but you know what else we need? We need a subjective revelation of our own blinded eyes. We need an apocalypse personally, both externally in the word and internally in the mind's eye, we need revelation. There are glorious and wondrous truths in scripture veiled by our blindness and hardness of heart. So the same spirit that inspired the scriptures must also illuminate our minds. That's the idea here. Open thou mine eyes, give me a personal apocalypse, a revelation so that my eyes are no longer blinded so that I may see what's actually there. He's not saying so that I can have new revelations, no. It's the opening of the eyes to see the same old revelations God inspired back in Moses' day, back in Joshua's day, back in Ruth's day. God inspired these truths and they are wondrous, but I can't see them because my eyes are blinded. that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." That's the source, the Torah, the instruction, the direction, the law of God, the holy scriptures. This is the objective source that our subjective blindness conceals. Paul talks about this concerning the Jews in 2 Corinthians. He says a veil lies on their heart in the reading of the law of Moses. That's what he's praying. Take that veil away, Lord. I note then this doctrine. God performs a twofold revelation or apocalypse, both a scripture and a saving revelation. God performs a twofold revelation or apocalypse, a scripture and a saving. Scripture is what he has already had written down, indicted by the Holy Ghost from heaven. And the saving is when the sinner comes to have his eyes unblinded. A personal apocalypse, the eyes are opened. so that the law is no longer a closed book. An explanation of this, the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Old Testament, uses the word revela, which means to reveal, again, to take the veil away. The Septuagint uses the word apocalypse, the veil must be lifted from our eyes or we are blind and cannot see. Let us then in exhortation pray for God to remove the veil. Ask his mercy to enlighten your eyes. Recognize that though there are objective oracles of God in scripture, we must have the subjective revelation of the spirit in our minds to understand them. Pray for God to open your eyes, to give you a revelation of the wondrous things in his law. Another doctrine, we must pray for God to unveil our eyes if we would see those wondrous truths. Not only does God perform it, but we must pray that he does. That's what the psalmist is doing. He's showing us how to pray. Urgently, immediately, with all determination, Lord, open thou mine eyes, he says, so that I may see what's already there. But I can't see it right now. I can't see it because of the hardness of my heart. And when in exhortation, when you prepare for worship, whether in private, as a family or in public, pray that God takes away the veil, take away the blinders off of my eyes. Give me a personal apocalypse to what's already there. The same spirit that breathed out the words you will read, those truths you hold in your hand, that same spirit can take away the blinders off of your eyes and mine too. He can make our consideration to be profitable unto our salvation. Please open to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, page 1195 of your Pew Bibles. We'll read verses 10 and 13. The context of this is the man of sin, the wicked one, who works through the mystery of iniquity. We looked at this when we did our readings in Thessalonians and Timothy, but notice there verse 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Notice, how is it that the reprobate are damned? Because they don't love the truth. The truth is not desirable to them. It's not worth pursuing. It's not something they really want. They would rather have the sweet little lies that the devil whispers in their ears. The loving receiving of God's truth, on the other hand, is unto what? That they might be saved. Should they receive the love of the truth, the result is, in God's economy, that they will be saved. Reprobates reject the love of truth. The elect receive a love for, a longing for, a desire for the truth, and that's what leads them to salvation. Notice there, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Notice, election is unto salvation. God chose us from the beginning to salvation. And also God chose the means conducting to that glorious end. What means lead to the end of salvation? Well, note here, through, these are the means, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Sanctification is holiness. God, by his spirit, sets a people apart. Those people are chosen by the Father, redeemed by Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit. These are the causes of salvation, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But notice, belief of the truth is the instrument by which Christ is laid hold upon. So when the word of God comes, when the truth comes, the reprobate says, I don't love it. The elect say, I do, and then they are saved. Then in verse 13, he gives thanks because God elected them to salvation through sanctification by the spirit working in them and through the belief or faith in the truth. This doctrine then, For the word of God to be effectual to salvation, we must receive it with both love and faith. For the word of God to be effectual to salvation, we must receive it with love and faith. We must have the love of the truth. We must have the belief of the truth. This is how we are to receive the word of God. To love the truth means that you want to know it. You desire and long to hear it. It's a priority. It's important to you. This is what guides all the other primary considerations we looked at before you hear the word, preparing for it, praying toward that end, because you love it. You want to know the truth. Faith means that you believe what it says. When God tells you history, you believe that it actually occurred because it's history. When God records moral duties, you say, yes, those are righteous, those are good, and I should do them. And so should all men. When God records promises concerning the gospel, you say, amen, I believe that. When God says you'll be judged if you do wickedly, you say, oh, I don't wanna do wickedly. You avoid or tremble at the threats. Those who despise God's word will never receive it. Those who do not have an appetite or a love for the things of God will not be as the miser who loves his gold, or as the baby who longs for his milk, or the heathen who worships his belly God. They'll never have that hunger, that love, or that desire, but that's what we must have, that love for the word of truth. In exhortation, then, let us love the Word. Let us desire it. Let us believe the promises that God has made graciously in His Word. Let us rest upon them as a sure and steadfast hope. Let us tremble at the threats of God's Word as most certainly to be executed. Let us obey the precepts of the most righteous, holy, and good God, and His precepts being holy and righteous and good as He is. Let us rely upon its histories as most true in every part, and especially the history of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who died upon the cross for our sins, who was buried, who rose again on the third day and ascended up into heaven. Question 90 of our shorter catechism. How is the word to be read and heard? That it may become effectual to salvation. That the word may become effectual to salvation. We must attend there unto with diligence, preparation and prayer. Receive it with faith and love. Lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives. Thus far the consideration of God's holy word. Let's pray.