If you would please open your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 30, we will read verses one through nine of Proverbs 30. Continuing to look at the words of Augur, really a very important passage. Of course, I say that at just about every passage I preach from. Listen again to the Lord's words, Proverbs 30, one through nine. The words of Augur, the son of Jaka, the oracle. The man declares to Ithael and Ukal. Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped the waters in his garment? who has established all the ends of the earth. What is his name or his son's name? Surely you know. Every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. Two things I asked of you. Do not refuse me before I die. Keep deception and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion that I not be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or that I not be in want and steal and profane the name of my God. This is the Lord's word. Would you please be seated? Again, our Father, we thank you for this evening. And we thank you, Father, for these sweet hymns, the truth in them. and the prayer contained in them. And we would come to you now, Lord, and ask that you would please open our eyes and give us understanding of this word that is before us. That with fear and trepidation and also with joy and delight, we would listen to you, your words, and that we would respond accordingly. Bless these, your people. We pray, Lord, that you would advance your kingdom and your glory. Again, that your Blessing be upon this servant and upon these, your people, for the sake and the glory of Christ and for the advance of your kingdom. We do ask all of this now in Jesus' name, amen. Tonight, we're picking up where we left off two weeks ago. We began, you remember, starting here in Proverbs chapter 30, we're looking at the words of Augur. And you say, who in the world is Augur? Well, many scholars don't know. We really don't know a whole lot. Chapters 30 and chapter 31, verses 1 through 9, are viewed as appendices to the book of Proverbs, written by Augur and Lemuel, respectively. Neither being an Israelite, it is suggested by scholars that they were Arabians from the Masa region. This selection that we're looking at tonight deals with a broad topic, unlike many of the proverbs with which we've already dealt. It deals with the attitude, our attitude, or what our attitude ought to be concerning wisdom, that is, where it's found. Where is the way of wisdom? How is it that a person grabs a hold of the successful life, success that is as defined by the scriptures and not by the modern day evangelical church? And I want to encourage you that when the Lord speaks about success, he's not defining it like an American would define success. And I think we have to be very careful when we look at these things so as not to ruin everything. We want to think biblically, and we want to have biblical names. And so the Proverbs show us the way to the successful life, a life that is happy, a life that is holy, a life that is is blessed because we are walking with the Lord. How does one get hold of this? As noted a couple weeks back, many people, even among the Lord's people, are full of themselves. We pointed this out that we come to ourselves or we think of ourselves as being experts. We are pretty much know-it-alls. I remember a test that was done where they examined college students from the United States overseas. And what they found out, even though we had the lowest test scores of anyone they tested, they said it was remarkable how great our confidence was in ourselves. So it bolsters the point I'm trying to make, that we live in a world right now where everyone thinks of themselves as an expert. They draw deep from the recesses of their being. Mystically, mysteriously, intuitively, they know the truth. And then they proceed to blog it, to podcast it, to tweet it. And sadly, we are prone to gulp these things down, not even knowing where these people are coming from. And there's danger in this, right? We live in an information age. And so, right, have you ever gone to self-diagnose yourself? Oh, I've got a lump right here behind my ear. Let me Google it and see what somebody says and hear what you don't know. It's a 13-year-old who says, yeah, I got a lump behind my ear because my brother hit me with a Frisbee. And you're going, oh, I wonder if I was hit with. And you're not even thinking. You're just becoming an expert. You're looking on the internet, and you're finding all sorts of things, failing to recognize What the writer of Ecclesiastes noted, and we pointed this out a couple of weeks back, and I should say that this first part of the sermon is just a recap, trying to bring us back, get us back on track with where we left off. Remember what the writer of Ecclesiastes says in chapter nine, he says, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. So while Walt Disney is urging everyone to believe in themselves, the writer of Ecclesiastes is saying, no, wait, don't. Don't believe in yourself. Don't look within for the answers. Those who do, their end will come bitterly. Their wisdom will come to a bitter end. Even as the writer says in Proverbs 14, there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. So here in chapter 30, Augur, the son of Jekah, delivers an oracle. This is a burden. It means to lift up, to carry, lifting up one's voice or carrying a burden. And here, the man, if you notice in verse 1, he says, the man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ukal. And this can also be translated as, I have wearied myself, O God. I have wearied myself, O God, and come to an end. And some think that this is what is actually being said rather than proper names. And I think they make a good case for it, because the very next verse, Auger says, surely I am more stupid than any man. Here's a picture of a man who has come to an end of himself. And we're talking about wisdom, but here's a man who's saying, I'm stupid. And so he speaks this oracle, and he starts in a most peculiar way, a way which one might think is a sure way not to inspire an audience, his students, to listen. And he begins by saying, surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. He wisely refers to himself as stupid. It's hyperbole. He's exaggerating. in the way he's speaking about himself to make a point. His self-abasement expresses a great reverence. Before a person can come to a wise understanding, before a person can come to a place where they can grasp wisdom, what must they first be? Emptied of themselves. They must be emptied. A person must come to the end of themselves. Jesus said this. Luke read it tonight in John chapter 9, for judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Augur is unlike so many then, or even now, who seem to know everything about life. They are so confident and cocksure of themselves, rather he does not know, and he says it. I don't know in myself. I don't have the answers in myself. I don't know what is right. And he's not looking deep within, sitting like a person does in a lotus position, emptying his mind and becoming one with the trees. And this is the place of hope, is when you realize I don't have what it takes. Again, Proverbs 26, 12 says, do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. And so the long and short of what we had covered was that Augur does not obtain wisdom from himself, nor does he find it in the writings and teachings of men, of created beings. So where then, if not from these, does he get wisdom? And the answer comes in verse 4, where he says, who has ascended into heaven and descended, who has gathered the wind in his fist, who has wrapped the waters in his garment, who has established all the ends of the earth. What is his name or his son's name? Surely you know. Where does he get the wisdom? He gets it from the Lord. He's the one. These are rhetorical questions that Augur puts forward. The reader would answer naturally. And the things that Augur now speaks are not self-generated, but are revealed to him from the Lord. Bruce Waltke, his commentary on Proverbs, very helpful. In this regard, he says, God has made himself known to his children, to Israel, through his prophets and inspired sages. And most particularly, he has revealed himself through his son, Jesus Christ. And we see this exact thing. If you look over to Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, and listen to what the writer of Hebrews says, he makes this statement. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days, has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. He has spoken to us in his Son. Wisdom, said Waltke, as defined in the Proverbs, is dependent on a personal relationship with God who stands apart from the restrictions of finitude, that is finiteness, and depravity. That means God doesn't have any limitations, and there is no sin. And so God reveals to us the things that we need to know. Proverbs 9, 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. So Waltke says, earthbound mortals cannot find transcendent wisdom apart from the transcendent Lord. Let me read that to you again. Because again, this is the age we're living in, where everyone believes and does what's right in their own eyes, where everyone has their individual truth. Walkie, addressing this text, says, earthbound mortals cannot find transcendent wisdom apart from the transcendent Lord. Real wisdom must find its starting point in God's revelation. And then he quotes Psalm 36.9, stating this, for with you is the fountain of life. In your light, we see light. So Augur makes it very plain to us. Where can a person go? Where does a person go if he wants to find wisdom for life? He goes to the Lord. He must go to the Lord. So you can go to Walden Books. I don't know if they're still around. Barnes and Nobles, right? You can go to any of these bookstores. And you can go to the self-help sections. You can go to the religious section. And you can find any number of books. But how does a person find wisdom? He finds wisdom by the Lord himself revealing it to the individual. By coming to God the Father through Christ the Son, we come upon wisdom. That's the beginning of it. That's where we start. Where then do we turn to know the Lord? And so where would we go? We would go to the scriptures. We'd go to the Bible. So tonight, we're giving a shameless plug for reading your Bibles, for being buried in them. We don't turn to the created realm. We don't turn to men, not to nature. While they reveal that there is a God, a creator, they are insufficient, as our standards say, to tell us who this God is. For to know who the Lord is, we must come to the scriptures. Again, how often we hear people speak without knowledge about the Lord. Peter would say this in 2 Peter 1, so we have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. The scriptures. That's where we learn of the Lord. It's the Lord who's the one who reveals life. It's the Lord who's the one who reveals wisdom. The scriptures say that it is God who has breathed them in 2 Timothy 3.16. They speak to us of God, of who he is, what he has done for us in our fallen condition. They make us wise, as Paul would say to Timothy, able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. And here, Augur in verses 5 and 6 speaks of the word that has come to us from the Lord. Again, listen to verses five and six. He says, Every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words or he will reprove you and you will be proved a liar. You see, he's just finished saying, I have no wisdom in myself. I can't generate it myself. You dare not look deep within. I'm stupid, I don't have what it takes. to come to a proper understanding of life, of wisdom, of salvation. I can't come up with it, nor can any man. So where would you look? And you see, after he says it's from the Lord, in verse 4, what does he say then in verse 5? Where does he point us? Naturally, he points us to the scriptures, to the word of God. This is where we find wisdom. And isn't it funny that this is the very thing that gets pushed away from us? This is the thing that we put on the back burner. This is the last thing we pick up to read rather than the first thing we pick up to read. This is the thing that is removed. It was the first act of Congress, I understand, to produce the Bible for public education. And where is the Bible today in regard to public education? It's not. But this is the way of life. This is the way we find life. So here he gives an exhortation and a warning regarding this word. And he stresses, really, its reliability and its sufficiency. The scriptures are reliable, and they are sufficient for us. Again, every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. This is meant to affect our attitude towards the word that God gives. This is a problem with many, isn't it? How often have you heard people say, it's the Bible. It was written by men. So it has mistakes. So you can't trust it. Have you ever heard anyone say that or infer that? Oh, I've heard it often. Oh, it's just a book compiled by men. Therefore, you can't trust it. Or we say, but science says. Or, but philosophy say. We've really come into a greater knowledge these days. Or there are other holy books. The Mormons have the Book of Mormon, and the Muslims, they have the Koran. They're all holy books. So which holy book are we supposed to listen to? Or we say it's antiquated, it's limited, it's bound by times and culture, and therefore, It's lacking in what we truly need. It's irrelevant to us. And all of those things, based upon what Augur is saying here about the word of God, all of those arguments really fall away. They fall by the wayside. The wise man wisely says that every word of God is tested. It's reliable. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Augur, some think, and it's a very reasonable argument here, they say that Augur harkens back to David's words in Psalm 18, verse 30. And if you would turn with me back there, it's no stretch of the imagination. We're going back to Psalm 18, verse 30. Listen to what David wrote. As for God, his way is blameless. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him. That sounds just about like the proverb, doesn't it? But listen to what else he says. For who is God but the Lord, and who is a rock except our God? The God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless. He makes my feet like hinds feet and sets me upon my high places. He trains my hands for battle so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand upholds me, and your gentleness makes me great. You enlarge my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped. Here, the scholars believe that he's hearkening back to that psalm, to this psalm of David. Did you ever have the experience of going to your grandmother's house and she baked something really nice, a cake or a bunch of cookies? And so you have this powerful association so that every time you smell this particular cake, this particular dessert, the cookies, grandma pops to your mind. Do you ever have that happen? My grandma, I don't remember baking cookies, but I do remember tacos. I remember making tacos. And so there's these associations, things that you experienced when you grow up, and they bring back a familiar memory. But it's more than just a memory. There's an emotional tie, an emotional experience that goes on. Scholars believe that as Auger is quoting from Psalm 18 here, verse 30, As for God, his way is blameless. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him. He's using a metalepsis, I guess that's how you pronounce it, a metalepsis, which is a poetical device. And it's meant to evoke or suggest certain images, memories, and emotions. So as David is writing this, the Israelites are reading this. And the Israelites, as they read here Augur's words in verse 5, their minds are taken back to what David has said. And they're filled with this emotion and this memory. And it resonates with them in a very deep and emotional way. And so the text goes beyond the explicit citation. Here, what Augur is getting at, he wants the Lord's people to place their confidence in the Lord's word and in what it says. The word, he says, is tested, or it is tried. This word is a word from metallurgy. It means it is smelted. They are without dross. The word of God is without impurity, without mixture. Psalm 12, 6 says this, the words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace on the earth refined seven times. The word is proved. The scriptures are proved, friends. It's not lacking. It can be relied upon. All of your weight, all of your confidence may be placed in what it says, and it will not disappoint. Now, I know that you know that. But when I think it comes down to practice, I think maybe we begin to question whether the scriptures actually mean what they say. The implication of what Augur is saying is we should recognize truly what a treasure we have in the scriptures. You understand how many churches are jettisoning the scriptures in worship services? I mean, really, we're out visiting people or churches during our vacation. And we do. We go to worship. We worship at different churches. And it was surprising to me how little scripture is read, how little prayer is offered up. And I go, what are we doing? What do we have to offer? If we don't have the scriptures to give, what are we bringing to people that is blessing them? Um, we should recognize what a treasure we have in having our Bibles. And I would encourage you because you can read your Bibles, read your Bibles every day, read them, love the word of God, read it to your children, read it to my grandchildren, lengthy portions, explain it to them, read it and talk about it and remind them again and again and again of our God and what he has done. meditate on the scriptures, think about it, read a verse, stick it on a note card, put it on a wall, stick it on a refrigerator, and as you walk past the refrigerator, look at that verse and think about it. What does this mean? How does this apply to my life? Bring your Bibles to church. Follow along as the scriptures are read. Paul would say, all scripture is God-breathed. It's inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. And understand, again, drawn from the text, if you look at this, the word of God and God himself are inseparable. Look what he says. Every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. The Word of God and God Himself are inseparable, so that when you trust His Word, you are coming to God as a shield. a protection, a refuge. What are these but ways in which we are preserved from danger? You will not be disappointed. What it says will come to pass concerning life in Christ and salvation. Think what you will be like if you will trust what the scripture says and not lean on your own understanding in regard to these things. On the day that your time is coming and your last breath is upon you, what will happen to you when you die? The person who has believed this word and looked to the Lord as a shield and as a refuge, when he closes his eyes in death, he will awaken and be in the arms of the Lord Jesus himself. You will not be disappointed. You will not be disappointed. You can know about the origins of the universe. You can know about the origins of the earth. Our culture, we had a man sit in my office and he came in and he was clearly a man and he's sitting with his wife and he goes, I just am struggling. I think I'm a woman. And I looked at him and I said, did you shave? He said, Oh yeah. I said, you're a man. Does that seem cold? But you know why I say these things is because The scriptures make a distinction between men and women. Now, it seems like a silly thing, but you understand, look at the chaos ensuing in our land, and that nobody can know anything. What does the scriptures do for us? He says that the Word of God is tested, it's tried, it's proven. It's not spurious, it's not full of mixtures, it's not shaky, it's not a flim-flam. It can be known. You read it and it says what it says. And because it's the Word of God and because God does not lie, the things that God says are true and you can bank on them. You can know with certainty. You don't have to wonder, is this right or is this wrong? You go, what does the scripture say? What does the Lord say in the word of God? Am I a man or am I a woman? Well, what does the scripture say about men and about women? And what does it say about the roles of men and women? And what does it say about my thoughts versus the thoughts of God? And what does it say about all of these things that seem to create so much chaos in our culture today? Do you know how much peace there can be If we would stop leaning on our own understanding and stop going after the wisdom, quote unquote, wisdom of our age. And hearken to the wisdom and the word of God. It's a shield to us. It's a protection to us. It prepares us for the end of times. It has warned us, you know, Many people, I was thinking about this in light of this week's events, and many people are wondering, what in the world is going on? And the Christian goes, oh, I know exactly what's going on. Because the Apostle Paul said, in later times, men will be lovers of pleasure, and they will hate God, and they will be disobedient to parents. They'll be lovers of money, and on and on. Right? We see these things as Christians. We go, well, we're not surprised. And we see what's happening. And the Lord has told us in advance, these are the things you can expect so that our faith is not shaken, so that we're not cold cocked, caught out of the blue by these things that are taking place. We are not knowing the scriptures. We are not knowing the scriptures. And so we hear people, again, say things such as, well, it was written by men. I want to say this. There is no reason for us not to trust what the Bible says. I'm not going into a lengthy spiel on this point. The worst thing I could ever do for this congregation is to undermine your confidence in the word of God. And I can gladly say with a clear conscience, I have no reason to present to you why you shouldn't trust wholeheartedly the word of God. The God who spoke all into existence, who knits babies together in their mother's wombs so fearfully and wonderfully, he has no problem using fallible men to create a record that is infallible. Those who think that it's impossible for him to do that have way too small a view of the Almighty. So the word is reliable. Every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. But he goes on to say in verse six, do not add to his words or he will reprove you and you will be proved a liar. Here he gives a warning regarding this word. Do not add to his word. or he will reprove you and you will be proved a liar. This is a variation on what Moses has said in Deuteronomy 4, 2, who says this, you shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. And if we were to go to that passage in Deuteronomy 4, you find out that those who disobeyed, those who were given to the Baal worship, God destroyed them. And so They didn't stay with the word of the Lord, the word that he had commanded, which they were supposed to obey. They strayed from it and God brought destruction to them. We see the same warning given in Revelation chapter 22, 18 and 19. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him. the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book." My friends, Augur is claiming for his words that they are part of the canon of scripture, right? He's just finished saying, don't add to the word of God while he's adding to the word of God. What's his point? These words are the word of God. This is the oracle of God. This is why you should be listening to this. This is the Lord's word that he is recording and that it should be considered as such by the people of God. And therefore, everything that he is about to say through chapter 30 is what should be considered and should be obeyed. Walkie again had this. Do not add to his words the formula. Do not add to his words. The formula emphasizes the authority of Augur's sayings, reinforces their purity, and safeguards them against any apostate form of human authority by tampering with them. Now, I want you to notice something really important here. And it's really simple. Either we will listen to the Lord, or we will listen to men. And that's what's before us. Augur is saying. Listen to the Lord's word. Don't listen to the words of men, the philosophies, the doctrines of men. We don't go to the world to determine how to find wisdom. We don't go to the world to find life. We don't Google, where do I find life? We go to the scriptures. We come to the word of God, which reveals to us what we need. Listen to what he says. He says, do not add to his words. The formula emphasizes the authority of augur sayings, reinforces their purity, and safeguards them against any apostate form of human authority by tampering with them. Anyone who alters them by adding to them is not seeking refuge in the Lord, but arrogantly conforming the Lord to his own inspiration." I thought that was a very powerful statement. And I'm going to read it again. Anyone who alters them By adding to them is not seeking refuge in the Lord, but arrogantly conforming the Lord to his own inspiration. Those who add, those who take away, the Lord will reprove. And this is our motivation for not adding to his word, recognizing that Augur's words, they are being considered canonical. They are to be heeded. He would go on to say this, since a human being by nature cannot know wisdom, anyone who adds to them will falsify them in contrast to an empirical epistemology. Don't get tripped up over those words. In contrast to an empirical epistemology that is accustomed to proving everything else by human experience argues it is our word, not God's, that finally must be proven. Let God be true and every man a liar. Right? Remember what Job, God said to Job, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Apart from the Lord, we have no wisdom. Is it any wonder then that Paul would say to the elders in Ephesus, I have not, I've given you the whole purpose of God. I've come and I've preached the scriptures in public and in private, and he would instruct Timothy, saying, until I come give public, give attention to the public reading of scriptures. My friends, we mustn't toy with the word of God. To add to it, to alter it, its message, its meaning. To do so is to add mixture, is to bring worldliness and darkness, and will invite the wrath of God, leading many people down a path to destruction. I was thinking about this, and again, In the church, we come up with or we imbibe, we take upon ourselves many worldly ways of counseling, many worldly ways of evangelizing, many worldly ways of doing things, thinking that this is the way we will advance the kingdom of God. We have many people who would detract from the word and not have the word read in the scriptures on a Sunday morning or in a church because this is offensive to people. And really, what are we doing when we detract from the word of God? What we're actually doing is we're putting a bushel over the light, where we're covering, where we're promoting darkness, and we're promoting the wisdom and the deeds of men. over and against the Word of God. Augur's point, again, being this, I don't have it. The Lord is the source of wisdom, and we have the Word of God given to us, which is able to make us wise unto salvation and to equip us for all that we need in life. So, friends, we give ourselves to the Word of God. We must give ourselves continually as a congregation, as individuals, as a ministry. We must constantly be saturated and given over to the word of God and of holding of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. We thank you, Father, again for this evening and pray that your blessing be upon us as we continue to read and study your word, that you would grant us more and more light, more wisdom, that we might know you better and know all that you have required of us, that you would show us the Lord Jesus on the pages of scripture, our only way of life, our only way of peace with you. We thank you again for these ancient words, which have so much relevance to the days in which we find ourselves. We ask, Father, that we would not be intimidated and that we would not compromise this word, but that we would cling to it, adhere to it, and promote it wherever we can. Again, thank you for this evening and this, your word. We do pray all of this now in Jesus' name, amen.