Well, let's turn to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 8. Well, we come today to, or tonight, once again to what really is one of the most powerful chapters in all of Proverbs, really in many ways in the whole of Scripture. Romans 8 is one of the most powerful in the New Testament. Proverbs 8 is among probably in my, the top ten or so in the Old Testament. is the climactic chapter, at the very least, of the first nine chapters of the Book of Proverbs. And in many ways, what we have here is the climactic of the first 10 principles that Solomon covers here. It's the climactic principle. We've seen eight of them so far, and now we come to the ninth. And here in Proverbs 8, Lady Wisdom pulls out all of the stops in order to win our loyalty. She does this by telling us the bottom line reason of why we should go to all the bother of living wisely in the first place. Essentially she says this, just look at my work and you will see that my way is best. We looked at the second half of this chapter last time because the second half is the foundation for the first half and we saw in the second half, that wisdom is behind the entire creation. Really, it's Christ. And so she's saying, Christ is saying, look at my work, look at this creation, and you'd be wise to model your life and to order your life after the same wisdom that's behind this. The principle is that wisdom's work beckons us to follow wisdom's way. Wisdom's work beckons us to follow wisdom's way, because it's through her that the universe was created. That is, my work is proven, she's saying. This week, that's the second half. This week in the first half of the chapter, we'll see something about her words. Not just her work, but her words. We'll see that her words are pure and powerful and priceless, and it starts in chapter 8 in verse 1. Does not wisdom call and understanding lift up her voice? This is one of the last times she calls out in the book of Proverbs, and so this almost has kind of the ring of an eleventh hour appeal, a last ditch effort to win our loyalty. Does not wisdom call and understanding lift up her voice? On the top of the heights, beside the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand. Beside the gates, at the opening of the city, at the entrance of the door, she cries out, to you, O men I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O naive ones, understand prudence, and O fools, understand wisdom. She's saying, you're all sheep, and you don't even know it. But I've got the wisdom that will turn you into sons of God, into real men and women who are like Him. And then she tells us why we should listen to her. Listen, verse 6, for I will speak noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right things. For my mouth will utter truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. They are all straightforward to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. That is, what she's saying here is that when it comes to what she says, her words are pure. They're not deceptive or in any way would lead you astray. And she sets it up by telling us in verses 6 and 7 that her words are noble and right and truthful. They're noble. That is, they're elevated above all that is so base and mean and vile all around us in the culture, in the words that we read from the culture. They're elevated and they're elevating. That is, these words will ennoble you rather than cheapen you. Like all the other voices around us do, all the chatter that's on the internet and elsewhere, it just shallows us out. This is what ennobles us and gives us depth, now more than ever before. And she says, they produce right things in your life. That is, they'll change you for the better. And they're truthful. That is, they'll not mislead you for the worse. And then she says, this is all because they're so pure, verse 7b. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. And then the flip side of this, all the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverted about them. That is, her words are pure. They're crisp and clear and clean as they show us what is noble and right and true. which is just the opposite of what we'll see all around us. And then summing it up in verse 9, she says her words are straightforward, so refreshingly straightforward, like we've been seeing in the last seven chapters. She shoots straight with us. She tells it like it is, because in the purity of her heart, and ultimately, again, this is Christ, there are no ulterior motives or hidden agendas or mixed messages, just the straightforward unadulterated truth. Therefore, take my instruction, verse 10, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choicest gold. For wisdom is better than jewels, and all desirable things cannot compare with them. It's like the psalmist said, the law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver. It's kind of like the old MasterCard commercial. There are some things that money can't buy. And wisdom's advice is one of them. It's so noble, so ennobling, so pure, so purifying. The guidance that we get from God's worth where it is powerful and priceless. And because they're so powerful, verse 12, they're pure, they're powerful. Again, verse 12, I wisdom dwell with prudence, I find knowledge and discretion, prudence, knowledge, and discretion, we're going to see, give a kind of power, a purity-based power. For the fear of the Lord, verse 13, is to hate evil, pride and arrogance in the evil way, and the perverted mouth I hate. And then she tells us what this means about her words in terms of their power. And this gets to our main point for tonight. The heart of what this passage really means is in these verses, verses 14 to 16. Council is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. Power is mine. By me, kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me, princes rule and nobles, all who judge rightly. Now in the first 13 verses, under everything else, she highlights the purity of her words. And based on that, in the next verses, she highlights the power of her words. For by me kings reign, and princes decree justice, for power is mine." Now, once again, she's wooing us to follow her way by telling us something about her work. And the idea is this. If you want your life to be well-governed, you'll turn to me, because I'm the one that's behind all good government. In fact, I dwell in the highest corridors of power to make possible the reign of kings, whether they know it or not, and the administration of international and national justice, and the rule of law. All this good in government is from me. For by me, kings reign, and princes decree justice. And so your life will be well ordered if you found it on the rock of what I've revealed. Again, wisdom here, that's the passage for tonight. How do we apply it? How do we illustrate it? Wisdom here, as we've seen, is actually Christ. It's like it says in Colossians 2, 3, and Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. It's the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament. And so not surprisingly, He is the perfect example of what she is driving at here and of what these verses I've just gone through actually look like. And one of the most powerful examples that really each verse that we've gone through illustrates, one of the most powerful examples is in Matthew 22, if you'll turn there. Matthew 22. Last time we saw Christ's work in the creation. This time we'll look at his words in the incarnation, a story that incarnates what it means that counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. Power is mine. By me, kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me, princes rule and nobles, all who judge rightly. What does that look like? And what does it mean for us? Well, it goes really deep. Actually, we went through, some of you weren't here, some of you were, Mark's account of this story about half a year ago. This time we're going to look at Matthew's account of the same story, because it's a different way of looking at it that's really powerful. It's the perfect illustration of our verses in Proverbs for tonight. Plus, it's one of my favorite gospel stories. And so I'll take any excuse to go back to it. You can't let this one sink in enough. You can't exhaust the scripture. And Proverbs 8, looking at this story through the lenses of Proverbs 8, sheds a whole new light on it, one that will turn us from every other man and woman, pastor and preacher, to Christ alone. She's pulling out all the stops, again, to win our loyalty. And as we've seen, it's ultimately Christ doing this. And so it will be timely, because if Christ alone fills your heart with awe and wonder, you will be ready for the next pastor. Matthew 22. And we'll start in verse 15. Matthew 22. Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him and what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and you teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one, for you are not partial to any. Tell us then, what do you think? Is it lawful to give a poll tax to CSER or not? Now already this is quite different from the MARC account, but this is what you call a classic double bind. He'd be in trouble with the Romans if he said that you do pay taxes. He'd be in trouble with the people if he said that you don't pay taxes. With the people, he'd be in trouble if he said that you should pay taxes. These Pharisees weren't into win-win. They're all into lose-lose. And so they're trying to get Christ to lose. It was a power play designed to erode his power base, to alienate him from one special interest group or another. But he immediately saw that something deeper was going on. something that could cost him more than the loss of anyone's political support, because at a much deeper level, it was his spiritual power that was being called into question, his purity. He saw that this was a test, a test of his ability to maintain his purity in the storm. Proverbs 8 is all about purity. That's the foundation. He's not going to let that be compromised. Verse 18, but Jesus perceived their malice and he said, why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Instant righteous indignation. Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? This is right out of Proverbs 8. The utterances of my mouth are in righteousness, unlike the utterances of their mouth. There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. They are all straightforward. And you're testing me by your crooked questions. Straight as a sword was his reply. Why are you testing me? These words are alive and sharp and powerful and they slice to the heart of their crooked question. And he asked a question that flashed in the darkness to expose the real issue. Testing. Instant recognition of the real trap. which had nothing to do with alienating Caesar or the Jews or with what would happen to his popularity in a contest of political power. It was a test, rather, of what he would do with their praise in a contest of spiritual power, one that pitted his purity against their flattery. Listen, teacher, we know you are truthful. You defer to no one. You are not partial to any. Talk about dripping with flattery. He was being tested by their praise. Would you have seen that? I don't think I would have on the spur of the moment. I'd be wondering about a wise answer to this question or whatever. He knew Proverbs 27.20, the crucible is for silver, the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by the praise that is accorded to him. Proverbs 27, 20. And how was their praise testing him here? He was being tempted to compromise his purity by giving in to their flattery and denying the truth, to deny the God-given authority of the Roman Empire by saying, don't pay taxes. When God said we're to pay taxes to whom taxes is due, Romans 13, 7. It would have been immensely popular with the people to do this. It would have confirmed his reputation among the people as a man who deferred to no one, not even Caesar. That's what they were setting him up for. Yet he ended up deferring to Caesar. Because in the purity of his heart, he stayed loyal to the father. That's all he cared about. Kierkegaard said purity of heart is to will one thing. And the one thing that he cared about was to be true to him. In the purity of his heart, he saw right through the hypocrisy of the question that it was really a temptation from the pit of hell. just before he pronounced the seven woes upon the scribes and Pharisees in the very next chapter, Matthew chapter 23. And he's getting warmed up for it here. Or rather, they're heating him up. They're stoking him up with his righteous indignation for those seven woes. And it starts here. Because pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate, just like it says in Proverbs 8.13. He hates it. This is what it looks like. You are not partial to any. Why this flattery? You defer to no one. Why are you telling me to feed this reputation of mine? You speak the truth of God. Why are you seducing me to speak a lie? Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? I call that straightforward. My words are straightforward, right out of Proverbs 8. That's a straight answer to a crooked question. And then he went on to rule the day, the day this storm came into his life, through words that were so pure, purity of heart, therefore they were powerful. Just like it says in Proverbs 8, he took control of the whole situation just by opening his mouth. By a single command, He silenced his opponents and seized the initiative by saying, bring me a denarius to look at. That's what it says in Mark. Putting yourself in their shoes, it must have sounded like a rather silly command, you know, almost demeaning. He wants us to give him a denarius to look at? Hasn't he seen enough of them? He's insulting us. First he impugns our motives, you know, and then this. But still, they brought him one. What else could they do? Suddenly, they were at his beck and call, fulfilling his every whim. Because my words are powerful. He was now the master, and they were the servants. Because wisdom says, Proverbs 8, power is mine. This is what it looks like. This is who she is. It's he. And so they went away and looked around, rolling their eyes, and came back and gave him the denarius, which, of course, gave them the money, which, of course, is also what they paid taxes to Caesar with. They gave him the money. Isn't that interesting? It was an unwitting tribute to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They would not confess that he was king of kings and lord of lords with their lips, but without even knowing it, he had them acknowledge by their actions that speaking of taxes, he's the one that deserves it all. And he got it. Powerful, powerful words. Unbelievable. He sent it all into motion with a single command. And then instead of an answer, we hear a question. Whose likeness and inscription is this? And with that, he turned the tables once again with a single question. Now they were answering to him. Suddenly he was the teacher and they were the students. How does he do this? Because wisdom says, I am understanding. You don't have it. So you need to be asking me. You need to be answering to me. Whose likeness and inscription is this? It was rather a basic question, to put it mildly, one that put them in a rather humble position. Because this is the kind of thing you learn in kindergarten. Who's on the coins? And to answer this question, these prideful Pharisees and Herodians had to become like children. With a word, he had them acting like subjects at his beck and call to get a denarius and talking like children. And of course, we all are that compared to him. Whose likeness in inscription? It's like he's saying, you have a hard question. This is not rocket science. You call yourselves teachers in Israel? And they're thinking, first he impugns our motives, and then he insults our intelligence. But what could they do? Whose? He had them trapped. There was no way to eat weasel out of this one. They just had to say it, probably hissing through their teeth, Caesar's. They hated it when he did this. No wonder they crucified him. This happened all the time. With no planning, no preparation, he just came out with these things. It's like there's no room for debate here, not even for dialogue. There was only the shattering and disarming simplicity of the truth that he went on to decree, because just as wisdom says in Proverbs 8, by me rulers decree justice, and now I'm doing it. And so he pronounced the judgment and said, then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. It's right out of Proverbs 8, listen, for I will speak noble things. This is a noble judgment. I wish there were time to unpack this, but suffice it to say that in the purity of his heart, he sought simply to please God, thus practicing what he was preaching by rendering to God what was due to him in that decision. There's so much going on here, I can't even begin. He let the cards fall where they may and spoke truthfully. In everything, in all purity, he sought one thing to please God. And all you can say, and I'm skipping over a lot, is what Paul said, how unsearchable are his judgments, how unanswerable. He just speaks it, and that's all there is to it. It was so deep, this judgment, yet so simple and straightforward, so crisp and clean and clear that it left them speechless. These masters of deceit and manipulation. He didn't have a courtroom, or a gavel, or a bench, or a robe, or a degree, or a single credential like they did. No position, none of the trappings of power. But in the power of his purity, of his deity, and the majesty of his authority, he left them speechless. His words, someone said, were like thunder, because his life was like lightning. Through a purity that pierced the darkness and ruled the day. And it says in verse 22, hearing this, they marveled. And leaving him, they went away. They went away. Not to be overly critical of the Pharisees, but I think this is the one smart thing they did all day. They did have some intelligence. They went away. In fact, elsewhere it tells us just how smart they had become. It says, and I quote, they dared not ask him any more questions. Now they're brilliant. I don't know about you, but I marvel too. You almost feel like Thomas when he fell at his feet and said, my Lord and my God. Or Peter, depart from me for I'm a man of unclean lips. Not in a million years could I do that. And that's just one little story of myriads of stories. You feel like Napoleon as he looked at Christ. Here's what Napoleon, a leader of leaders, said about this lord of leaders, this king of kings, I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. This resemblance does not exist. Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. Just like he did the Pharisees. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself. His ideas and sentiments, the truth which he announces, his manner of convincing, are not explained either by human organization or by the nature of things. The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine, everything about him is above me. Everything remains grand, of a grandeur that overpowers. I don't know about you, but sometimes my heart burns inside me when I watch him at work in these gospel accounts. And more than anything else, I want to follow him alone. My heart burns with conviction, with passion, with resolution, with renewed consecration to him alone. Why? Well, in this case, it's the glory of his words, because wisdom's work and wisdom's word beckons us to follow wisdom's way. My words are pure, so power is mine. They're pure, they're powerful, and therefore they're priceless as we finish off these verses, verse 17. I love those who love me and those who diligently seek me will find me Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even than pure gold, and my yield and choice is silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice, to endow those who love me with wealth, that I may fill their treasuries. Can you imagine anything more priceless than the right words at the right time? Words like that. Like it says in Proverbs 25 11, like apples of gold and settings of silver is a word spoken in the right circumstances. And as he's in us and as we depend on him, he can be that way through us. But the bottom line here is that it happens as we behold his glory and are captivated by Christ alone. Then we're changed into the same glory. by doing what we did tonight. It stokes up his spirit in us. It's not us. That's what the Gospels do. Bottom line, well, looking at his work in the creation and looking at his words all through his incarnation, the bottom line is that we need to wait for no other man, woman, pastor, or preacher to lead us on. It's just like we say, Lead on, O King Eternal. That's what you say. He's all we need. And He's in us to do it through. Lead on, O King Eternal. The day of march has come. I'm ready to follow your command. Your word is my command. Henceforth, in fields of conquest, thy tent shall be our home. Through days of preparation, thy grace has made us strong. And now, O King Eternal, we lift our battles. That's the application. Looking at his work in the creation, and at his words in the incarnation, we look to no other man, woman, pastor, or preacher. We worship no other man, woman, pastor, preacher, leader. If Christ alone fills your heart, with awe and wonder if he fills the worship of your lips. And if he inspires the worship of your life, you will be ready for the next pastor.