Tonight we are looking at a number of Proverbs, as we continue looking at Proverbs. If you remember a few weeks ago, when we started this series, I ran through what I called a couple of hermeneutical principles for how we read Proverbs. And we talked about things such as, are these universally true? So if you, act justly, will good things happen? And there's that sort of provisional, well, in a fully ordered world, yes, but in a sinful world, no. And tonight what I want to do is really kind of expand on one of the things I talked about of how we as Christians can still read the book of Proverbs faithfully and take everything for it at face value that we can, right? So in other words, you in the pews tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, whenever, can read the Proverbs for all they're worth and not have to make these, jump through these hoops to make it work for you, right? That this was, or another way to say it, it's not like the Proverbs at one time were for the Jews, but now in Christ, they sort of transform into something else. And another way of phrasing it, if you can, if there's enough ways to nuance this, is to think about Proverbs as Christian scripture. And when we think about Christian scripture, another way of framing that is the Christian canon, is kind of the words. And as we get started, and I'm gonna read for us from Proverbs chapter eight, verses 22 through 31, which will be kind of the locus of our talk tonight, but we'll jump around a few other places. But here in Proverbs 8, 22 through 31, we really see sort of the, the theological thrust of the entire book. So let's give our attention to the reading of God's word. Proverbs 8 verse 22 through 31. This is wisdom sort of personified in talking here. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of old. Ages ago I was set up at the first before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills I was brought forth. Before He made the earth with its fields or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep. when he assigned to the sea its limits so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. Amen, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. I thank you that even this collection of Proverbs written some 3,000 years ago, Lord still holds true for your people today. Pray that you would guide my words tonight as I seek to... Examine the depths of your word here found in Proverbs, and I pray for the people in the pews tonight, that you would open their hearts, Lord, keep us safe. Lord, we pray for those currently experiencing this inclement weather, this storm rushing across the Southeast, pray for their protection. Lord, we continue to pray for those in Los Angeles with these fires, ask that you would be with them as well. And we ask all of your mercy upon us in Christ's name, amen. All right, so again, as we're thinking about Proverbs as Christian scripture, how can we read this without making all these, you know, adjustments and changes to the text? I use that phrase, right? Proverbs is part of the Christian canon. And when we say the word Christian canon, just very briefly, I wanna make two remarks about that. First, what makes something Christian? What makes something Christian? Is it just slapping Christian on it like a moniker, just like an adjective to make it that way? Is it sort of like the word gospel has been used, gospel-centered daycare, gospel-centered whatever, right? Is it just an adjective that you slap on things? Well, for almost since the New Testament, really, theologians have talked about what it means to be Christian is that it focuses on, it shows, it highlights God's redemption in Christ. And that is sort of twofold, right? God's plan of redemption in Christ highlights the mercy of God. So even in Old Testament text where we see God's salvation, it's not always saying, you know, it's not always a messianic prophecy, but it is highlighting God's grace, God's mercy to his people. But then on the other side, something is Christian that highlights the unique nature of the Son of God. For something to be Christian, it has to also uphold the divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. So that's the other one side, Christian, of the Christian canon. But then there's that second word, canon, right? Now this is not the, you know, kind of canon, right? That's two N's, C-A-N-N-O-N. This is C-A-N-O-N. And does anyone know what is the, the Greek word is canon, that is, it's based on it. Does anyone know what that word means? So it literally means a measure or a rule, right? So this is the rule that guides what you're doing. And the Christian canon, right, it's not, don't listen to Dan Brown, it wasn't decided by Constantine in this power move to have this one book so he could control everything. But it came together over the first and second centuries as Christians, people who had experienced and come to faith in the risen Christ, read through the Old Testament and then these epistles that started appearing, and guided by the Spirit, recognized this is God speaking to us. And as the Christian canon, we want to make sure to highlight that every word in this book is pointing to God's redemption in Christ. We have to be very careful that we don't make this sort of what's called a canon within a canon, where Romans, Isaiah, those are the really important books, but the rest we can do away with. So Martin Luther had that unfortunate phrase calling the epistle of James that epistle of straw. Well, it's a dangerous move, right? Saying that one book in the canon is somehow not worthy of study. And so when we approach the book of Proverbs, we wanna keep that in mind, right? That is part of the Christian canon. It too, the entire book of Proverbs is pointing us to the redemption of God's mercy found in Christ. Even though it may not be highlighted like a gospel or one of the Pauline epistles, it's still there for those with eyes to see. And that's what I want to look at tonight. I want to look at three things really, although they're all related. The first is the grace of God in the book of Proverbs. Second, and this will be where we look at Proverbs chapter eight, the begotten wisdom of God. And then lastly, the reformation of man through and into the begotten wisdom of God. I won't repeat that, but we'll talk about that. That's a longer one. But first, let's think about the grace of God in Proverbs. If you want to, you take your Bible and turn to Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs chapter three. Let's look at the first four verses here. My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good success in the sight of man. Now we could stop there, but we could go on into verses five through 10, where we mentioned last week, this explicit call to trust in the Lord, this very blatant call to faith, even as we read these Proverbs. But notice there, verses three and four, let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Now, a couple of things to note. First off, we see that pairing of steadfast love and faithfulness. The Hebrew words chesed and emet. And they often go together. In fact, there's that beautiful Psalm, Psalm 85, where it talks about steadfast love and righteousness meeting each other in this glorious vision of the new heavens and the new earth. But here it's really talking about our steadfast love and faithfulness to each other. But in the background, and here's what we're gonna talk about, is God's own steadfast faithfulness, steadfast love and faithfulness to his people. Because you might have heard some words, kind of pricking up your ears there, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Where else do we see that language of binding something around your neck and writing it on your hearts and your hands? Deuteronomy, yeah, kudos to you, Lee, gold star. Deuteronomy chapter six, right, where he's, first off, he gives, God gives this grand announcement to the people, I am the Lord your God, or I, the Lord your God, am one, I love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." And then he goes on to say, hey, teach these to your kids. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the banisters of your house, right? Write them on your foreheads. And that's why they've got, you know, if you see an Orthodox Jew, they've got the phylacteries they put on their foreheads. But this proverb almost seems to be intentionally echoing what was given at Deuteronomy, right, of talking about reminding, teaching, not just wisdom, right, but the covenant mercies of God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage and slavery. Again, as we noted a few weeks ago, that the salvific work of God is never supposed to be out of our field of vision when we're reading the Proverbs. And I think this is one of those verses that highlights that. But then there's also, even in Proverbs, and we think about grace in Proverbs, is this recognition that, hey, none of this book is supposed to help you carve your way to heaven. So turn to Proverbs 20, verse nine, Proverbs 20 verse nine, who can say I have made my heart pure? I am unclean from, I am clean from my sin. And so right smack dab in the middle of Proverbs, here Solomon is recognizing, hey, who in the world, much like we see in the Psalms too, right, no one is righteous, no not one, and here Solomon, the compiler and author of Proverbs is saying, hey, no one can say they are pure. No one is clean from sin. And that tells us two things. First, that Proverbs were written for sinful people, not perfect people. But it also tells us, as I said earlier, that Proverbs was not given to make yourself right with God. The author of Proverbs is not saying, hey, I'm sinful and I'm unclean, but thank goodness I've got this book to show me how to make it all right. This is just a recognition, I am unclean, I have sin, and none of this is gonna do anything about that. That sin still remains. And then last one, as we think about the grace of God in Proverbs, turn back a couple pages to Proverbs 16.6. Proverbs 16 maybe has some of the most well-known but also just powerful, we looked at Proverbs 16 a lot last week, some of those powerful Proverbs in the entire book. But look at Proverbs 16.6 there. Again, we see this pairing of steadfast love and faithfulness. By steadfast love and faithfulness, iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil. I really wanna just, for a moment, pull apart that first clause there. By steadfast love and faithfulness, iniquity is atoned for. And most commentators note that, hey, this is really talking about the, well, first, it's laying a standard, right? There's only one way that sin can be dealt with. All right, that's at least when we're talking about a posture, a heart, and that is through steadfast love and faithfulness. You've got to love the person, but you've got to also uphold your commitment to truth and righteousness as well. And really, it's at the most base level. It's talking about our relationships with one another, right? Think of a marriage, right? If you are walking in steadfast love and faithfulness with your spouse, then you are going to overlook sins that they commit against you, right? You are going to pay the price for their sins, even if they rightly do recompense for it. And same thing with friends, right? Neighbors, just living a life amongst people. But it also points back to the divine and human relationship, right? God's own steadfast love and faithfulness and the atonement of sins. And here's where the tension though lies, right? So steadfast love, it's that word has said, that's mentioned all the time, and this covenant love that God has for his people. But faithfulness is much, the word faithfulness is not so much like my fidelity to my wife, or my fidelity as a pastor. The word faithfulness there, emet, could also mean truth, truthful, righteous, right? And generally, especially when it's talking about God, it's talking about God's own commitment to His holy righteous standard, right? So the author of Proverbs is pairing these two ideas, God's steadfast love for us, and yet also God's total commitment to His own righteousness. And if you know the narrative of the Old Testament, that sin is totally against God's commitment to his own righteousness. Something has to be done about that. And yet, God's steadfast love means that he's not going to let us pay the price for that. So even as the author is talking about this steadfast love and faithfulness atoning for sin, Right, there's only one thing that can happen if sin is gonna be atoned for and me, a member of the house of God is not going to be destroyed. Someone else has to take the fall for that. Someone else has to pay the price. And so again, even all throughout the Proverbs, and it's not gonna, you know, it's not every verse, but throughout the seams of Proverbs is this underlying message of God's grace to his people. either God's grace in the sacrificial system or God's coming grace in a savior who would one day take away all sins. And that's where I want to turn now and spend most of our time tonight, thinking about this coming Messiah who is also God himself. And what Proverbs shows us is that the wisdom that it is trying to impart to us isn't just vague rules for life, right? It's not just these, it's not simply people contemplating the universe and thinking, ah, that fits there, this fits here. But the wisdom that God is seeking to give us is actually part of who he is, right? It's his own begotten wisdom that he's had for all eternity. And again, let's turn back to Proverbs chapter eight. And we looked at, we read those opening, that middle passage there, 22 through 31. And let me just say, so Andre asked me about this earlier. I believe and I think of most of Christian history, if you go back and read the Reformers, if you go back and read Church Fathers, many really up until the modern period, so around 1700, really read these verses as talking about Christ. These nine verses, these 10 verses, is Christ shadowed in the book of Proverbs? And ironically, if you know church history, it was actually these verses, Proverbs 8, 22 through 31, that started the Arian controversy. that started all those years ago in 320, 318, something like that. Arius read these passages and said, well, see, Jesus can't be God because of what it says. And let's take a look at some of the difficulties, right? And the first thing that commentators note is that first verse, 822. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work. Does anyone have a translation other than possessed? Anyone have like begat or purchased? You got begat? You have create? Okay, so created, fathered, anything else, anything different? Brought you forth, there you have, okay, so paralleling something later on. And the question is, what that first verb there in 822, what exactly does it mean? Because the word, the Hebrew word used is kanah, and kanah can mean, all sorts of different things. It's used in economic transactions, so I purchase something. It's used in, you know, finding things, so I find something, I acquire it. Eve uses it in Genesis chapter Four, when she says, I have acquired a man by the help of the Lord, and you even see the word Cain in there, right? And sometimes it can be used for create. And so the question is, hey, this opening verse with wisdom talking to the Lord, is he saying that, is wisdom saying that God created wisdom? Is it saying that God has always had wisdom? And really, I mean, just look at some of the other ways, right? It says, ages ago I was set up, verse 23. Verse 24, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. Verse 25, I was brought forth. And all those other words used there is this birthing imagery, right? Brought forth, begetting. And so the question is, right, for commentators, is wisdom something that God... not created as in he'd never had wisdom before, but when God was creating this world, did he set something up that wasn't there, or is this something that's always been there with him? And we're parsing some fine lines here, so I'm not expecting you to follow everything that I'm saying. But let me ask you this, right? If we're thinking about God and his wisdom, can God ever be without his wisdom? I mean, what does 1 Timothy 1.17 say? That he is the only wise God. And it's not like that there was a time where he wasn't wise and then suddenly he's like, eh, I need wisdom. That's what I need. Boom, I'm the wise God. But he's always had this wisdom. And we even get a hint of that, right? When it says, the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. And the Hebrew there is the word olam, which can mean, long time ago, but it generally means forever ago, eternity ago. And verse 23, ages ago I was set up. Before the beginning of the earth, when there were no depths, I was brought forth. And so the first thing we see is that whatever this wisdom is that God is seeking to impart to his people is something that he's always had. that he's always had with him. And we even see, jumping down to verse 30, we see two things. One, that this wisdom is both like God and yet also distinct from God. He's like God in that he was the, look at him, then I was beside him like a master workman. So wisdom is both creating with God and yet separate from God. And again, remember, there's only one person who creates. God, nothing else creates. And so we have this simultaneous distinction from God. He's not, he was beside him, and yet he's doing the exact same things as God as a master workman. But then look at this, that there was this eternal delight between wisdom and God. And I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always. And we see Jesus himself saying something very similar when he says, I have loved the Father and the Father has loved me. Really a lot of theologians think that this is the author of Proverbs through the Spirit giving just a glimpse of what's happening in God for all eternity. That God is delighting in his own Son for all time. Delighting in the one who is God and is God's son. And really, we could spend forever just walking through these 10 verses, but Tremper Longman, an Old Testament commentator, says that this passage is intended to invoke a sense of mystery. We're supposed to read this passage and be like, I don't really understand what's going on. This is wild stuff. Is wisdom God? Is it not God? Is he with God? Did God acquire him? And here's why this is important, okay? You might be wondering why in the world we're talking about some obscure interpretations of Proverbs chapter eight. Turn now into your Old Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter one. New Testament. The Old Testament version of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 30. Notice what Paul calls Jesus there. That Jesus is the wisdom of God. Not only wisdom, but righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. But it seems very clear that Paul is at least reaching back to what was said in Proverbs 8 about wisdom daily being his delight and showing us, hey, this is Jesus Christ. The one speaking then is the one revealed to us now. And then, and you don't have to turn here, but Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one, verse 16 through 18, and here's where this comes forth even more. All right, for by him, that is Christ, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. And notice, right, remember in Proverbs chapter eight, Wisdom was there with God from all eternity, but he also set up creation with him. Not only that, he said that he was the instrument of creation. And then here what Paul said, if you didn't pick it up, right, that for by him all things were created. Jesus Christ. And not only that, all things were created through him and for him. And remember that language of he brought me out before the deeps, before the mountains were laid forth. Look at verse 17, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So read in light of the New Testament, it seems very clear that Proverbs 8, 22 through 31 isn't just this picture of what wisdom in general is. But it's actually this shadow of Christ, this wisdom. And just thinking about a moment for why that's so important for us as Christians, is that everything that is said about wisdom here is said about Christ. So again, he is daily God's delight. He is the one who is brought forth from of old. but also the one through whom he made the world, right? When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned the sea to its limits so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman. And another way to think about it, right? When God created the world, It bore the imprint of the Son of God. It bore the imprint of the very wisdom of God. And if creation happened through the wisdom of God, then it's only fitting that salvation should happen through the wisdom of God. The thing that was created was created through the wisdom of God, so it's only fitting that salvation then came through the wisdom of God. And just think about, there are many models or ways the Bible talks about salvation. We talk about penal substitution, propitiation, all good and right things, but there's one that Jesus himself says, when he says, I have come to make the Father known to you. And if you know me, what? You know the Father, right? And again, let's think about this for a second, right? When the wisdom of God, the one through whom all things were created, but the one who knows God intimately and fully, when he comes to us, he is restoring that knowledge that we have of God. The reason we come to know the Father through Christ is because Christ, as the wisdom of God, has all the knowledge of God. That's who he is, right? And so when we think about Christ as the wisdom of God, here's something that I don't want to be taken the wrong way, but something we have to recognize. that wisdom, whether it's non-believers holding this type of wisdom, being wise in some form, or it's God's people walking in wisdom, all of it is a gift from the Son of God. The only way anybody is wise in anything is if the Son of God gives it to them. Right? But we want to distinguish that there's a difference between fallen participation in wisdom and union with Christ. Sinful people can still have wisdom, but it's like I said earlier, this common grace where the son, because of his full delight for his creation, gives it to them freely. But then us in union with Christ, beholding the wisdom of God, are being remade into his image. being remade into the image of the one who created all things. I think I used this example a few weeks ago, but I'll use it again, because I can't remember exactly. But I love that scene in Les Mis, when, not Javert, Jean Valjean, he steals the candlesticks from the priest. And man, it always gets me in the movie, in the play, when it happens. Steals the candlesticks, he hits the priest over the head, and he runs out. The police catch him, and they're like, hey, that looks like Father so-and-so's stuff. They take him back, and what does the father do? The little left father, the Catholic priest. He says, hey, you forgot these candlesticks. Now here's what I think, kind of using that as an example, When sinful men have wisdom, it is Christ freely giving the light of wisdom to those who ask. Freely giving, hey, have this, you forgot this. But when we, in union with Christ, are given this wisdom, we come to know the one who's giving us that light as well. We come to know the giver of wisdom, not just wisdom itself. And so, all that to say, as we wind this to a close, in light of the grace of God to sinful men, through this begotten wisdom of God, That means that the Proverbs are really about and for our total reformation into the wisdom of God. Right, it's God, the Father, giving us his begotten wisdom so that we might look like the begotten wisdom of God. So that we might become more like the begotten wisdom of God, and even for the original reader, all right, let me underscore this again, even for the original reader, you know, you're a 10th century Jew in, you know, nine whatever BC, you're not reading this as, oh man, I'm so glad God gave me this so I know how to be right with him. Right, but it's rather the entire book is a picture of restored life with God. The entire book is God showing us here's what it means to be my people. So we can say that this entire book is not a hard club over our head, why aren't you being wise? But it's rather a free gift of grace of God to us of hey, here's how to be wise. Here's how to look more like my son. Here's what it means to be a part of my flock. And this is what reform particularly have always called the third use of the law. It's not the law as this sort of legal thing that we have to follow in order to be made right, but it's a law given by their Savior to show them how to live. To show them what it means to be a follower, to be part of Yahweh's people. So as we continue to press on, I know we've talked about most of this these last few weeks, but I really wanna just take tonight to really contemplate that, right? That this wisdom that God is giving us, again, is not just 10 tricks to a good life. It is not how to retire happy, healthy, and wealthy. This whole book is God giving us himself. showing us his own character so that we might walk in his steps. The word cannot, probably couldn't, because I think what it's trying to get at is that it's something that God had always had with him. But the rest of those verses is about revelation, right? That when you look at creation, because God in his wisdom created the world, it reveals. who God is, right, and that's Proverbs 8 and Proverbs 19 right there. So I wouldn't want to say it's precisely reveals, but it's not far removed from reveals, yeah. But yeah, let me just say, that's just what he said, not the question, but part of it, that's a beautiful phrase in John 1, 18, that Jesus exegetes the Father, right? Jesus, he draws forth, he exposes who the Father is. I love that image. And really, read the Proverbs as if it was Jesus himself speaking them to you, right? A loving, faithful Savior. This isn't, you know, I'm sure everyone has an experience with some sort of hard relationship with a parent or someone in their lives, right? This is not that overbearing, loveless parent telling you to, hey, be wise, but this is the loving shepherd of his sheep trying to bring his pasture into wisdom.