Proverbs 22 verse 17. Hear now the reading of the word of almighty God. Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee. They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord I have made known unto thee this day even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things and counsels and knowledge, that I might make known thee or make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee? Thus far, the reading of God's inspired, inerrant, and infallible word. May the Lord bless us in the reading and now the consideration of it. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we pray that you might visit us from on high, that you might show us the truth as it is in Jesus, that you might guide and direct us to know you, the one true God, through that means that you have appointed even your holy word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. The certainty of the words of truth. We continue in our series on foundations of faith. Doing a biblical study of our confession of faith. Starting with chapter one, paragraph one. Last week we looked at Romans one, verses 18 through 25. Looking at the natural light and revelation concerning God's eternal power and Godhead. How this is a real revelation. It is universally known and it's part of the image of God in all men, but it is insufficient for salvation. We saw the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. This light is not sufficient for salvation, but rather is abused and turned to the damnation of all men as inexcusable due to sinful neglect and misuse. Now then let's consider the certainty of the words of truth. Look there at verse 17 please. Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. Listen very carefully. That's what it means to bow down thine ear. If you couldn't quite hear what someone is saying or some kind of noise, you'd have to get closer, wouldn't you? You'd have to bow down your ear. Listen carefully, he says. Hear all the words of the wise. Now if you've read the book of Proverbs, your main impression should be that it's little pithy sayings that are opposites. One after another after another. Sometimes they're connected with the verse before, but usually they're not. They're just single statements. This is no such thing. Here he changes his tone. He's summing up. He's giving his son a lift up from the forest, and you can see now the big picture. What have I done for you, son? I've given you the words of truth. Listen carefully to what I've said, these wise words. Apply thine heart unto my knowledge. This means to settle, to fix, to put your station of your heart or thinking upon this one thing. What have I proposed to you? What have I written to you? What have I said to you? Carefully lay up these words, meditate upon them, apply thine heart unto my knowledge. Verse 18, for it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, they shall with all be fitted in thy lips. Here, notice, it is a pleasant thing. It shall be sweet, lovely, and delightful. Don't let them slip. That will be bitter. That will be miserable. Don't let them slip away. Retain them in the mind, in the heart, and they shall be fitted in thy lips. Now, this word fitted means to be united together. Your mind, that is what you think in your heart, And your lips, what you speak, will be united together, fitted together, the one to the other. If you listen carefully, if you speak and think the truth, then, verse 19, thy trust may be in the Lord. That's the purpose. Here's the purpose of listening carefully to the words of the wise. holding them as pleasant, applying your mind unto them, fitting your lips to speak of them, your confidence, your faith, your hope will be upon God himself. That is a bedrock of omnipotence. You build on sand, you got nothing. You build on bedrock of omnipotence, you have everything. Thy trust may be in the Lord. Now notice, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. The word was given directly to you. You heard it. It has been made known to you, published. It is entered into your ears. Now then, believe it. Receive it, delight in it, talk of his word in union with your thoughts, your speech together. Then you will have your confidence upon the Lord. I know then this doctrine, the word written or read or preached is the means of engendering faith in the Lord. How is faith begotten? How does it come to pass the word written And read or preached, that's how God produces faith. He uses those means. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's what Solomon's saying. Bow down thine ear, listen carefully, hear the words of the wise. Then once you've heard it, apply or fix your heart upon it. Then speak of it, take delight in it, and your confidence will be where? On the bedrock of omnipotence, on the Lord himself. Faith must have an object. There must be some thing that you put your faith in. And that thing is a set of propositions in the Bible. It's written down, it's spoken forth. It's not some mystic trance you have, or some experience that you've had, or the science. No, it's things that God has said. That's where you base your faith. The Holy Ghost has designed that the scripture be the object of your faith so that your confidence may be built upon God. God is the ultimate object of our confidence, but he has a means by which you know who and what he is. That is the word of God. So directly, we believe in God, but we believe in him indirectly through his word, because that's the only way we can know him with certainty. And that's why he wrote this, so that his son would have the certainty of the words of truth. So then, read it, hear it, believe it, Speak it, love it, delight in it, lay it up in your hearts, practice it in your lives. Then your confidence will be built upon the Lord himself. Verse 20. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsel and knowledge? Well, the obvious answer is yes, you have. You have written unto me excellent things. Now this is literally the threefold things. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and art and is to come. You see that three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three God has spoken in his word these excellent things in counsels and knowledge. Why? That I might make thee know, verse 21, the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee. Now, here is the purpose for the threefold God-breathed counsels and knowledge it is that you might know. To cause knowledge. To cause certainty of belief, in other words. Now, Many people study philosophy, and there's a part of philosophy that is called epistemology, and it means literally to take your stand upon something. Epi is upon, and stemi is standing. Epistemi means I stand on a foundation that is solid. Are there any philosophies out there that have an epistemology? Well, they claim to, but do they actually have a place to stand? Well, if you don't have omnipotence as your bedrock, you don't have a place to stand. It's all sand. It's all seas, actually. It's actually water. It's like trying to stand on water. You sink, but you say, but I'm standing on water. No, you're not. You're sinking to the bottom. You're doomed. God says, I want you to know that you know the certainty of the truth. It's not by the light of nature. It's not by your heathen gods. It's not by your private experience. It's not by the science. It has nothing to do with creatures. It is God, his threefold excellent knowledge being spoken forth and written down. Have not I written to thee these threefold counsels and knowledge? Why, that I might make thee know. What, what have you made us know, Solomon? The certainty of the words of truth. They are infallible. They are reliable. They are a solid foundation in these utterances, these oracles, these scriptures. That's what he's talking about. I note then this doctrine. The purpose of God for having secretaries of his spirit is that we might have the certainty of the words of truth. The purpose of God, why did he have these secretaries write down his words, is so that we might have the certainty of the words of truth. That is actual epistemology, not just a claim where you stand on water and you sink, but an actual place to stand with omniscience revealing truth to you, God himself, omnipotence upholding your house of faith, God is your confidence. God has not left us with the fallible conjectures of the elders and the fathers, the mystic trances of fanatics, The dry and empty injections and speculations of the science. God has given us a sure word. Know this truth in exhortation and believe the truth. Be certain of the truth of it and walk in its wisdom. Please turn to Isaiah chapter eight. Page 714. Isaiah chapter 8. Verses 19 and 20. And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter. Should not a people seek unto their God for the living, to the dead, to the law, and to the testimony? If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Notice here a couple of things. Verse 19. People will come and tell you that you ought to do something. They give you an order. They shall say unto you, he says, and what shall they command you to do? Seek unto them that have familiar spirits. You want to know something for sure? Go talk to somebody who has an inside tack to the departed, the spirits. They've left. They're not in their bodies any longer. Maybe they're angels. Maybe they're departed saints. Go seek someone who has the ability to communicate with them. Go talk to them. Now they're also called wizards, not just people who commune with departed spirits and maybe talk to them or receive information from them. These demons disguised under the names of saints and angels, go talk to them or go talk to the wise guys, the Gnostics, the wizards, that's what it means, the knowing ones. And these little wizards, what do they do? It's actually quite humorous. The word means to chirp like a bird. Beep, beep. Ever heard a little bird chirping? They make their little noises, their little mystic noises that they make. Go on to them, they tell you. Oh, and they mutter too. They growl like a lion or a cow. Bird and cow noises, mystic noises. Possibly the sort that Saul made when he prophesied in his house. Irrational, fantastical gestures and sounds, as if they had some kind of wisdom. That's where the word wizard comes from. One who knows, who has wisdom, where? From below. Not wisdom from above, that God has revealed. He has wisdom from below. He's a prognosticator. He's a Gnostic. He has secret knowledge that God never told anybody about. He mutters and peeps. He's the knower. He's the wizard. God asks, should not a people seek unto their God? Well, of course, that's the answer to that question. Of course, people should seek to their God. They should seek unto their God, but how will they do so, Isaiah? How will the people seek unto their God? How are they gonna know if this man with a familiar spirit, this secret knowledge, this peeping and muttering, doesn't it sound so amazing? Doesn't he look so cool? Doesn't he have these grunts and these peepings that he makes and these secret knowledges that he's given? Ooh, we should listen to him. He's the great power of God. No, you should seek unto your God, not the dead people, not to necromancers or secret wisdom. How exactly will we know? To the law and to the testimony. Now Jesus calls it this, the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms, Luke 24, 44. The law is one thing. The testimony is where God confirms what was said in the law. Where does he do that? Well, the rest of the Bible, doesn't he? He confirms it in the words of the prophets. He confirms that in the words of the apostles. God has given us his law and he's given us the testimony. The Geneva Bible notes say, seek remedy in the word of God, where his will is declared to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, if their peeping, if their muttering, if their wise guy gnosis antics, if their pretense at knowing things is not according to the word of God revealed in scripture, It's because they're really smart and they figured out something new, right? And you really should listen to them and be afraid of them when they peep and they mutter, right? Wrong. If they don't utter a faithful echo of God's voice, what is it? It is because there is no light in them. And if they profess to give you light, and all they have is darkness, will you be able to see where you ought to go? You know what Jesus called this? Blind leaders of the blind. What happens when a blind man leads a blind man? He falls into a ditch. He can't even see it's there, and then the person following him goes in the same ditch. No peeps, no mutters, no wizards, no saints and angels in communication with men upon the earth. Hear the word of God, seek unto God. Oh, I don't wanna seek God through his word. I wanna seek him by a mountaintop experience or in some other book besides his word. I'd like that other book is so important. If they speak not according to the law and the testimony, what do they have? Darkness. Death. Destruction. Deceit. Please turn to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. We'll read the first four verses. Page 1002. Wait. 963. That's Mark chapter 4 I was looking at. Pardon me. 963. starting at verse one. Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Here notice a couple of things the tempter came to tempt him, he who tempts, he who both as a devil accuses and who seduces you to actions by which he can accuse you. Sound pretty bad? Sound like a raw deal? That's because it is. First, he's the tempter to draw you aside to sin. Then once he gets you to sin, he's there to accuse you, which is what Diabolos means. He's the devil, he's the tempter. We need to know his strategy. Tempt you to sin, cast you down, accuse you. That's what he wants. He came to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ came to overcome the temptation both in our place, because we could not, and as an example to us of how we ought to resist temptation. Verse two. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. This is an unimaginable temptation. Can you imagine going without food for a day? Try two, then three, four, five, seven, 10, 12. Most of us would be dead by this point. A couple of days ago, we would have been dead 40 days in. Can you imagine what sort of force it would take to overcome a temptation to make bread out of a stone? You have the power to do it. The tempter came to him so that he might accuse him as a devil. If thou be the son of God, or literally, this could be translated, since you are the son of God, Seeing this is the case, why don't you take that power you have and demonstrate it for me? Do what I say. Command that these stones be made bread. You've got the power. You're the son of God. You've got the need. You've been fasting 40 days. Power plus need equals miracle. Here comes the bread. You're hunger satisfied, you see. Necessity, after all, knows no law. Go ahead and command it. But he answered and said. Now the word in Greek for answer is a very interesting word. It means to speak from reason. Apokrinomai literally means to speak from judgment. So when someone answers, we usually think there's a question that goes before. But often that's not the case in the Bible. Jesus answered the thoughts that people had inside of their hearts. He knew their thoughts, so he spoke from judgment about their thoughts and would tell them specific things or ask them questions in answer to their thoughts. But here, notice, Jesus answers from a place of rationality, thinking and making judgments about what's been presented to him. This is the way out of temptation, by the way. is to think, wait a second, what has God said about this? And to answer and speak from that position of judgment and knowledge and truth and to say this, it is written. Now this is a very interesting type of verb. It is a perfect verb. It is also a passive verb. Somebody wrote it and it was written in time past and that writing continues on to this present day and will continue on into the future. That's the perfect tense. A completed action in time past with continuing impact and power to this very moment on into the future. In fact, when the Bible says, by grace are ye saved, it's the same, perfect passive. It's been accomplished once and for all, and it continues on. When Jesus said, it is finished, same thing, passive, or excuse me, perfect tense. It has been completed once for all, and the effects continue on forevermore. That's the perfect tense. Now, think of that. It is written. Can the Bible be altered from the time that it was written? No, it is written. It was written down at one time and it continues on to this very moment. fully authoritative, as it was written, preserved by God, going on forevermore. And what's ironic about this is he's going to quote the Bible about the Bible. It is written about the writings. And he's going to call them words that proceed out of the mouth of God. Man shall not live by bread alone. Does man need bread? Of course he does. He has two components to his being, a physical and a spiritual. But is the physical component of man's life the principal point of his being? No, the principal point of a beast is his body. The principal point of a man is his reason, his thinking, his capacity for rational thought. That's what forms his ability to make decisions in his will. You see, without those things, what do you have? Desire, that's it. You have desire and feeling, that's all you've got. That's what animals are, bodies with desires and feeling, that's it. Man is not just that. Man shall not live by bread alone. He's not an animal. He's not a hog. He's not an ox. He's not a dog. Some may act like it, and the Bible will insult them by calling them animals, but that is not what they are as God made them, but as they corrupt themselves. Man's material existence is not the highest point. It's not the sole point about him. there is a greater and higher form of life, the inner man, the spirit. So man has been told by a written revelation that continues in its authority from its first revelation until now, that he is not to live merely by bread, but what should he live upon? Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, The God breathed scriptures. That's what he's talking about. He's not talking about some pretended new revelations that somebody came up with. He's talking about the law and the testimony. He's talking about the law and the prophets and the Psalms. When God speaks, those are his oracles. The Bible is the oracles of God. These are the words that proceed out of the mouth of God and notice, He doesn't say that they proceeded out of the mouth of God, although he does say it is written, and it continues as written, but he speaks of it as if God were standing here talking to you right now from his Bible, proceeding right now, all of them, every single one of them proceeding to you as we stand here. That's what man is to live upon, the law, the prophets, the Psalms, the apostles, the law and the testimony, the holy scriptures, thus saith the Lord, it is written, God said, it's all the same thing. It's talking about this book, these writings, the holy scriptures themselves. I note then this doctrine from our confession of faith, chapter one, paragraph one, For the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, God has been pleased to declare His will unto His church, and to commit the same wholly, completely, and only unto writing. God has given us the certainty of the words of truth, those threefold excellencies, those divine things inspired by God himself, God who was and is and is to come. God has said that we should inquire of him not by peeps and mutters and mystic trances and divining into the dead and departed saints or angels. God says, inquire of me here in the law, in the testimony. That's where you'll hear my voice. Shun them that peep and mutter. that seek wisdom from below, from departed saints or angels, which are actually just demons." You know, the saints won't hear you. Actual saints will say, what are you doing, you idol-worshiping dog? Worship God! Get off your knees! Don't worship me! That's what real saints say. You know what demons say? Keep on doing this. This is great. I've got you in bondage. You now worship images. You can't worship God if you worship images. You can't have an image in religion. They don't go together. You get one, you push out the other. You push in the one, you push out the other. Demons are happy to have people peeping and muttering with secret knowledge and inquiries into the dead. He has said that such are blind leaders of the blind. He has commanded us with it is written, the full divine authority to live upon every word that constantly proceedeth out of his mouth. This is a rebuke to a light esteem for the oracles of God, a seeking to be Gnostics, peeping, muttering, knowers of some specialized truth who put man's thoughts in place of God's, They would have God to peep and mutter and to be unclear, and they would have men to be so clear and so abundantly truthful. Oh, the word of God, you know, as long as it agrees with the word of man, it's fine. But it's really hard to understand the Bible. Well, how do you know you understand the fathers? Are they clear? Are they crystal clear? Is everything more clear than the Bible? That's what they're saying. God's word, it's obscure. The words of men, very clear. We understand them perfectly. I guess they think God can't communicate, but He can. And He has. And He expects that we will believe what He has said, and that we will obey what He has commanded. Receive then God's holy oracles, know his will, hear with diligence. Lay up in your heart what you hear in your ears. Keep your thoughts fixed upon these truths. Speak of them to others. Live upon them. Walk in their light, lest there be no light in you. And thus far, the consideration of God's holy word from both the Proverbs, Isaiah, and Matthew. Let's pray.