In our expository scripture reading, we're working our way through the book of Proverbs, so if you will turn with me to Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter eight, our focus this morning is gonna be verses 22 to 36, and I was very excited when I realized I would be leading the exposition of this particular text. In recent days, I have been filled with a renewed longing to grow deeper in my own apprehension of the Old Testament, that is to grow deeper in my own Old Testament literacy. I'm currently reading Michael Barrett's newly published volume, Old Testament Introduction, which I would commend to all of you. It is superb and very accessible. But the reason I'm interested and renewed in all this is that the 39 books of the Old Testament are a Christ-centered body of literature. You don't wait until the New Testament to discover who Christ is because he's right there in the Old Testament. And you don't have to force him into the Old Testament. He's already there waiting to be expounded. And so focusing upon the Old Testament in that way is important. Proverbs 8 is a case in point. In this chapter, Solomon speaks of wisdom personified, and actually wisdom personified actually speaks in the first person to us. Well, when you think of wisdom personified, does not your mind immediately fly to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, where the Apostle Paul says this, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. Jesus is God's wisdom personified, and that's exactly what Proverbs 8 is telling us about. Jesus Christ is wisdom incarnate, and the church has historically understood this text in Proverbs 8 as describing the second person of the Godhead. So much so, in fact, that if you've ever read the Belgic Confession of Faith, which actually predates our Confession of Faith and even the Westminster Confession, their eighth article is on the Trinity. And two different times they cite this very proverb as proofs for the triune nature of God, because it's talking about Jesus being the second person of the Godhead. And so when we read wisdom personified speaking to us in Proverbs 8, what we are actually hearing is Christ himself speaking to us from Proverbs 8 in the first person. So that we might appreciate what is going on here in Proverbs 8, let me review for you a few truths about the triune nature of God. My favorite of the old creeds, hands down, is the Athanasian Creed. When I read the Athanasian Creed, I don't come away going, wow, I'm intellectually stimulated. I come away with my heart full of holy affections. I want to bow prostrate before this great triune God, who is my God, and worship Him in spirit and in truth. Well, the Conferee doesn't make any illusions that we can comprehend the triune nature of God. We can't understand it with our human reason. That's impossible. What we can do is apprehend it by faith because it's what the Bible teaches. And so what the creed does for us is it gives us two guardrails to fence that mystery, to protect us from heresy on the one hand, but also from idolatry. Because if you're worshiping God as something other than he is, then you're worshiping a different God than the one revealed in the Bible. So listen to what the creed says. We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity, listen carefully, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. There's the two guardrails. You don't confuse the persons of the Godhead with one another. That's the first thing. The second thing is you don't divide the essence. And then it goes on to explain that. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. So the first thing is, you must not confuse the persons with one another. The Father is not the Son, and He's not the Holy Spirit. And the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, and the Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. But the second thing is you must not divide the substance or the essence or the nature. You see, the Father and the Son and the Spirit do not have three distinct natures from one another. Nor is it that they have three distinct natures that are perfectly identical with one another. Nor is it the idea that the essence of God is divided into three equal parts and each of the persons of the Godhead has one of those parts. No, each of the three persons has one and the same nature. Otherwise, they would be three gods, but they're one God. And God has only one will. There are not three wills in the Godhead. There's one will in the Godhead because there's one nature in the Godhead. Now, this language is probably more familiar to you than you know. Paul said of Jesus that in him, that is in Jesus, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The entire nature of God is in Jesus Christ. The entire nature of God is in God the Father. The entire nature of God is in God the Holy Spirit. That is, there's only one God. So the question then is, what distinguishes the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit from one another since they all have one indivisible essence? Well, there's two things, and if this all sounds technical, listen carefully, because you're going to be worshiping before it's over, all right? Two things, the divine processions and the divine missions. The divine processions are what makes distinctions between the Father, Son, and Spirit within God. The divine missions are outside of God, and they reflect the processions. In other words, you're more familiar with this than you know. Let's talk about the divine processions. Is God the Father created? No, He's uncreated. Neither is He begotten, right? And He doesn't proceed from anyone. God the Son, is He also uncreated? Yes, He's self-existent, but unlike the Father, He is begotten. He's begotten of the Father. In other words, listen to me carefully. The son finds his origin in the father because he's begotten of the father. But when you hear the word origin, if we think about creatures, we have a time when we came into existence. But when we speak of the origin of the son, there was not a time that he came into existence. He is eternally begotten of the father. What that means is there was never a time in all eternity when God the father was not God the father. And you can't be a father if you don't have a son. And so there was never a time in all eternity when Jesus was not God the son. And so he is begotten of the Father, but not created by the Father. And then God the Holy Spirit is also uncreated and self-existent, but he's not begotten, but he proceeds from both the Father and the Son. These are called by theologians, the eternal relations of origin, and the divine missions reflect that. Now, again, language you're more familiar with than you know. The father begot the son, that's procession, right? But the father who begot the son also sent the son, and that's the mission. It reflects the fact that the son is begotten of the father, but he's sent by the father. The son who is begotten was sent by the father. And think about this distinction. Did the father die for you? No. Did God the Holy Spirit die for you? No. But did God the Son die for you as a man? Yes. Only He became incarnate. Only He lived a sinless life. Only He died and was raised from the dead. The distinction is found in their person and in their missions. And then the Spirit, who eternally proceeds from both Father and Son, was poured out upon the church at Pentecost. The Father sent Him, but He sent Him in the name of the Son, because the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Now, here's the thing I want to get to now, and this is where we connect with Proverbs 8. Though the persons of the Godhead have distinct missions, no person of the Godhead ever does anything independently of the other two. Never does any act in isolation from the rest because they share the same essence. So, the Bible attributes the creation of the world to God the Father. It also attributes it to God the Son, and it also attributes it to God the Holy Spirit. Think about it, John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were created through Him. And apart from Him, nothing was made that was made. The Father created the world, but He created it through His Son. Was the Spirit there as well? Genesis 1, verse 2, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. Colossians 1, 15-16, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and there on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him." Paul saying exactly what John has said. And then the writer of Hebrews says the same thing. Hebrews 1, 1-3, God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past but to the fathers by the prophets. has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he is appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the worlds. Through whom did he make the worlds? Christ, who being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, the father upholds all things by the word of his power, but so does the son and so does the spirit. The conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary was Trinitarian. The father fashioned a body for whom? For the son. But how did he do so? The Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she conceived a child. The act of obedience of Jesus is the work of the Trinity. Jesus as the son depended upon the father for fresh supplies of the Holy Spirit so he could walk in perfect obedience to God's law. What about the passive obedience of Jesus? It too was Trinitarian. Only the son died upon the cross, but who did he offer himself up to? He offered himself up to the father and the Bible says he offered himself through the eternal spirit, Trinitarian. What about the resurrection? Was the resurrection just one person that God had acting, or was it all three persons? The Father raised the Son, this Jesus whom you crucified, God has raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit raised the Son, Romans chapter one, verse four. Paul says that the Spirit declares Jesus to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. But here's the glorious thing. What about God the Son? Did the Son raise himself? What did he say in John two? Destroy this temple, which was my body. And who will raise it up? I will raise it up, John 10. In John 10, the scriptures tell us that Jesus said, I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it up again. I have the power to raise myself from the dead. So the point being, all of these things are the inseparable operations of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You're probably sitting here thinking, okay, pastor, this is all great, but what's it have to do with Proverbs chapter eight? Well, it has everything to do with chapter eight. The divine processions are spoken of here. Look at verses 22 to 25. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way before his works of old. I have been established from everlasting. You could translate that. I have been begotten from eternity, right? From the beginning, before there was ever an earth, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. I was begotten before the creation of the world, right? When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth. But then look down at verses 27 into 30. Here's the divine missions because here is the Father creating all things through his Son. When he, that is God the Father, prepared the heavens, I was there. Sounds a lot like John 1, doesn't it? He was with God, he was God. When he drew the circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the foundations of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters would not trust his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was daily his delight. The father delighted in the son while he created the world, is what it's saying. Rejoicing always before him. Now let me drive two specific applications home to you, and then we're going to read this chapter. First, do not be like the unbelieving Jews who read their Old Testaments with a blindfold on. Remember how Paul says in 2 Corinthians that when the Jews read today the Old Testament scriptures, they read it with a veil over their hearts. They can't see Jesus there because they don't believe in Jesus, and so they're blind when they look at it. They miss him. He's right there in front of them, staring them eye to eye from the Old Testament, but they can't see him. Don't you be like that when you are reading the Old Testament. Open your eyes and say to the Lord, help me to see, oh Lord, Christ in the Old Testament because he's here. So grant me faith that I may apprehend and discern him there. Second, Jesus is speaking to you from the pages of the Old Testament. Therefore, listen to him, believe him, and obey him. After telling us about the person and work of Jesus, this is exactly where Solomon goes. Verses 32 to 36, listen to it. Now, therefore, listen to me, my children. Who is this speaking to you? It's Jesus speaking to you. Listen to me. For blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors, for whoever finds me finds life. When you understand that's Jesus, it makes sense, doesn't it? Because he is the way, the truth, and the life. He obtains favor from the Lord, but he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death. Well, these things in view, let's stand together if you're able to. and hear the words of the Lord Jesus speaking to you from Proverbs 8, beginning verse 22. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the hills were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth. while as yet he had not made the earth or the fields or the primal dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his inhabited world. And my delight was with the sons of men. Now therefore, listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of the doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death. May the Lord add his richest blessing to the reading and the hearing of his word. Please remain standing for the singing of the psalm.