We turn now to continue our study in the book of Proverbs. We have taken up Proverbs chapter two, and remember here we have a beautiful poem set out in this chapter where Solomon returns to the voice of a father caring for a son, and he sets out conditions that when pursued, will result in certain consequences that are abundantly blessed in the pursuit of wisdom. And we've considered those conditions, those if statements in verses 1 through 4, and we've taken up the conditions being met, and now the consequences following. And that's in verse 5 and verse 9, especially you see the word then. There are certain things that follow. Last week we looked at the first set of consequences with inward transformation, starting in verse five. This week we'll zero in, especially starting at verse nine. Let's stand to hear this portion read in your hearing. Proverbs chapter two, and I'll begin at verse one to give us the context. This is God's very word, let us hear and heed. Proverbs chapter 2 at verse 1, my son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice, and He preserves the way of His saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you. Understanding will keep you. Now says the reading of God's holy word, let us ask his blessing. Great God and merciful Father, feed us on the riches of your wisdom. Nourish us on that which comes from our Savior for our good. We pray this for His glory. Amen. Solomon's poem here in chapter two sets out those conditions we mentioned and the consequences related to the pursuit of wisdom. Verses one through four set out those conditions. We seek wisdom in this way. If we pursue according to those conditions, then we'll be richly blessed with the consequences that follow. If we receive the words and treasure the commands, incline the ear and apply the heart, as we saw in the intensity increase, cry out and lift up the voice. Seek as for silver and search for hidden treasure. Then in verses five through 11, we see these wonderful consequences. Mark that in verse five, verse nine, inward transformation, starting at verse five, and that included a foundation being laid. Remember, for wisdom to transform the life, there had to be a foundation in the fear of the Lord. Well, seeking in the ways stipulated here by God, in this beautiful poem, then the Lord himself will work. in laying the foundation of the fear of the Lord. We'll understand what that is. It'll be formed in our life. The soul will be made ready by God himself for wisdom to be wrought within. And that's described as finding the knowledge of God. We learn here that this benefit arises as Solomon explains it. He gives explanations, reasons for the benefit. It's because God is the sole source of this wisdom. And so he's the one who will lay the foundation in us when we're seeking on his terms. He will form the soul to receive it. And he brings about not only what he alone can give, but in abundance and generously in every way protecting us as we are being formed by him in the receipt of wisdom. wonderful consequences that describe this inward transformation. Now, we turn to the second set of consequences in verse nine. Again, we see, then you will, and these describe how that inward transformation moves to an outward transformation. Wisdom shaping the soul brings ethical clarity. an understanding of how God has ordered his world in terms of what is right, rightly ordered, in terms of what is good, and in terms of what is ethically, morally, upright, just, and fair. Here, how it's described, then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. The understanding we have wrought within the soul inwardly, moving to our outward observation and behavior, is an understanding of God's appointed ways for us and for all His human beings in His world. He has an ethical, a moral, and a well-ordered purpose. He's going to increase in us our understanding. of righteousness, justice, equity. We begin to see, these are all laden with moral weight. We begin to see, in other words, the truth of God's design, where before there was nothing but confusion. We're reminded of what sin does to wreck human beings and human civilization. Consider what we've seen in the book of Judges, and the conclusion that the author begins to unfold in the closing chapters. There was no one rightly ordering them, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And we see the wretchedness of that life. The soul shaped inwardly by wisdom doesn't live that way. The soul, shaped inwardly by wisdom, begins to see outwardly God's design in righteousness, justice, and equity. We begin to see the truth of God's design where before there was confusion. We begin to have ethical clarity in our decision making. How important that is, how the world is faced with a multitude of options that are considered all equivalent, and indeed, labor is put into place to flatten out every decision. Nothing is better than another. Everything is all morally the same. This is a lie. What we want, what we need, what we lack is wisdom to look out upon the array of choices before us and to see them in terms of God's right ordering. of his world. The promise here is that he'll work inwardly the wisdom that gives us that view outwardly of righteousness, justice, and equity. Solomon gives a summary statement there in the passage As he describes that righteousness, justice, and equity, he sums it. That's what that last phrase, and every good path, that which has excellence, that which is desirable. The path, the word for path there, describes a wagon trail. And that's kind of important, because it's describing the importance of making the decision about which path to take. The wagon trail would form ruts, as wagons would ride in it, and the soil might be moist, ruts would form in those wheel paths. And when a choice is made to go on that path, you're going to be constrained by the ruts. And so it's extremely important that you choose wisely, because it's going to be very hard to get out. One wants to have a proper view of where this goes. What are the constraints? that follow when I choose this path. Wisdom will give us an inward work by God so that outwardly we say, those are the constraints that are good. That's the path I'll take. What a wonderful promise. The paths we choose that come with those constraints will be enlightened to us by wisdom. Wisdom gives us the tools to choose the path that best comports with God's moral design. We want that. In a day when everything's flattened out and you have no way if the world around you can help it, to make a wise choice. What we want is wisdom's inward work so that we see with the eyes that are enlightened. Now, that's the choice. Not that. Not that. Those constraints are destructive. This is the path. I see God's blessing can be bestowed in these constraints. We want that capacity. We need that moral clarity. that God alone can give in relationship with Him as He works in us to provide the wisdom that gives that clarity. Imagine always understanding the choices that make the most of God's well-ordered design and moral purposes. Now, none of us get there completely in this life, right? We're limited in our understanding, limited in knowledge, but wisdom bestows upon us as the work of God in us an ever-increasing capacity to see and understand those choices. What a marvelous promise, what a marvelous hope of wisdom's work within us being put into outward use. And so we have the promise of this understanding ethically as it's put into practice. Also, we have wisdom shaping the soul to understand God's protection. There's that ethical insight so we can make a right choice But Solomon moves on in his beautiful poetry to say, there's more. Remember that God, for those who have come to him on his terms, hungry for wisdom, eager, crying out, leaning in, he says, I will bestow that. In fact, I'll work in you the foundation, I'll shape your soul for it, and I'll pour it into you. And remember, last week we saw, and while you are simple, while you lack that wisdom, I'll protect you. Remember, he's described in that protecting work. What's told to us here is one of the consequences is he'll help us understand how he's protecting us. We'll see with discernment the things to be avoided. It won't just be that God sovereignly and providentially intervenes. He'll continue to do so. But he begins to work in us an insight to recognize that way lies destruction. and I'll avoid it. Discernment begins to preserve us. Hear how he describes it. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you. Understanding will keep you. That protective work of God is brought within us with a greater understanding of how to avoid destruction. The transformation is not instantaneous, right? Solomon tells us in this poetry, this will take time. He says, when this happens, that means it's not instantaneous. It's going to take time. This is a long-term training, long-term vocational training, how to live life. It's not an instantaneous thing. This transformation involves a change, as Solomon says, in our inner Appetites, now that's very important. Hear how he introduced that. Protective work being wrought in the soul. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, that increase looks like this and results in internalizing the discernment that protects. We need to consider what's being described here. The transformation involves a change in our inner appetites, the desire and attention of the heart and soul are changed in relationship with God, in an increasing knowledge and intimacy with Him. Solomon says, knowledge is pleasant. to the soul. It becomes the thing that keeps on rising in the priority list. This is speaking of what God imparts to the soul in His saving relationship with us. Nurtured communion with Him brings an ever-increasing desire for that pleasantness that nothing else can replace. There's nothing else like this. And we can recognize when God's work is being done because that will be continually rising in the desires of our soul, that I have deeper communion with Him. This is more and more pleasant to my soul. We have to ask then, in light of this, what is pleasant to our soul? What is the most pleasant thing to our soul? Is it ever increasingly intimacy with Christ and is the world around us ever increasingly seen on those terms? Are we just living in cruise control, or is everything in life getting transformed by the reality of my intimacy with Christ Jesus? I see him as creator. I see him as sustainer. I see him as ruler. I see him as savior. And everything in life is getting drenched in a pleasantness of increased intimacy. with the one who embodies all wisdom? Do we find most pleasant an ever-increasing priority on the deepening of our relationship with the source of wisdom, our Savior? Do we desire the knowledge He imparts because it is ever more pleasant to the soul? There's an exercise in the soul that God works that we'll see as the Holy Spirit makes this the nature of our appetite. Things start getting reordered, priorities fall into place, and I want more of what only Christ can give. And it transforms my delight. in his world around me. It's ordered around the one who alone can impart that which is truly pleasing to the soul, wisdom. Charles Bridges reminds us of an implication here that's very important. He says, it is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord who is preserved from walking in the counsel of the ungodly. Without that delight in wisdom, we're prone to fall into the ways of the ungodly and suffer the consequences. There's a work in the soul that's described, and he points out that's touched on in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. All those things lead to destruction. But what's the difference? His delight is in the law of the Lord, the Lord's revelation, the mind of God revealed, And in His law, He meditates day and night. You see the change of priority, the increase of delight in the revelation of God to the soul of the saved. So first, there's a reordering of the soul as to what is pleasant, a transformation of those, as it were, inward appetites. Second, verse 11 describes then the outcome that we mentioned. That protection of God that is outward is brought inward, and discretion and understanding begin to work in us, in our perspective, doing that very work of God in keeping us, in preserving us. Wisdom internalizes an understanding of God's ways of protecting and preserving so that we live these out intentionally and in principle. Yes, we depend always. on God's sovereign and intervening providence to protect us, to preserve us, to be our shield, and so on, as he describes earlier in verses seven through eight, God is said to be the shield, the guard, the preserver of his saints. Yes, we will always depend on that. Here, we're encouraged with that result of the inward work, the results from that training in that protective work of God being put into our understanding so that we live out the principles that lead to our protection from sin and destruction. We see the end of that path. We don't choose it. That protection of God in providence is given to us by way of insight. And so we avoid those things that lead us in the walk of sin and destruction. We are preserved and kept by the Lord's wisdom wrought within us, giving us proper and clear insight from God. We are not able to avoid trials and temptations entirely, right? God appoints them for us. But wisdom will preserve us and keep us through them. Remember, it is a preserving and keeping being described, right? There is an avoidance in some respects, but most importantly, there's a sustaining even when trial comes. The words are preserving and keeping. We're reminded of Paul's words to us about being preserved from harm in the walk of life, where trials and torments, where bad decisions are offered to us, and so on. In 1 Corinthians 10, we're assured that those trials, those tests are appointed by God. He's still sovereignly and providentially intervening, and we will be sustained through them. when we're held by him. No temptation is overtaking you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, the trial, the testing, will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. And even more profoundly, in Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. You see the need for spiritual insight, what only God can give. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, to be preserved, to be kept in the evil day. And having done all to stand, where will that strength come from? How will we be preserved and kept? Solomon tells us. Paul echoes it with gospel content. Paul is echoing Solomon's encouragements, that as wisdom is formed within us, as we have the mind of God, we are armored by God's preserving work. It's wrought within us so that we may stand, we'll be preserved in the day of trouble. Yes, he guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints, but when Knowledge is pleasant to the soul. That intimacy with Christ, discretion, what He works within us, will preserve us, and understanding will keep us. We want that inward work to give us proper insight where confusion reigns, where no one knows right from wrong. We want the insight to make wise decisions. wisdom on God's terms in relationship with Him will be brought within us to give us that ethical insight and to teach us how to avoid wickedness and be preserved and kept in the day of trial. What great assurances we have Let us then pursue wisdom on God's terms, and look to His hand to give us what Solomon so beautifully describes for us here as the consequences of wisdom. Let us pray. Great God and merciful Father, how we long for this wisdom. Indeed, not as we should, we know we need to grow, but we are encouraged that You are working on us. Help us to seek wisdom on your terms. Help us to desire rightly, to long for what you alone can give. And then may we see the measure of your work within us. Give us that ethical insight. Give us that preserving wisdom. And keep us as you grow us in the grace of your wisdom. We are grateful for your mercy to us in these things. We ask for them for the glory and honor of the one who holds all wisdom, even our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.