Amen, you may be seated. All right, thank you, Dad, for playing the piano. All right, if you'll take your Bibles, please, open up to Book of Proverbs, Chapter 8. We're going to pick up where we left off last week, and I'll give a brief review to get us on speed with where we're at here as we talk about wisdom. And we started with last week speaking about personification. I spoke about my car, the little red car that we got. It's been christened now. It actually has a name. It is the Little Tomato officially. It's got a sticker even on the back of it that says LT, Little Tomato. So if I personify something, I'm taking an inanimate object and I'm giving it human characteristics, is what we're doing when we speak of personification. So what the Word of God does in Proverbs chapter 8, when it's speaking about wisdom, it's speaking about wisdom personified. And so it's giving human characteristics to wisdom. And again, as we spoke about, we spoke about how wisdom personified in Proverbs chapter 8 is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this wisdom, let me just review. Some of the things about this wisdom. It's more valuable than rubies. It gives good counsel and strength. It establishes earthly rulers and nobilities. And we talked about how the Lord sets up one, takes down another. The king's heart's in the hand of the Lord. He turns it withers to whoever he will. Riches and honor are the fruit of this wisdom. The word of God other places clearly says it's God that gives riches. And those are from Him. It's more valuable than gold. This wisdom has incredible, immense value. And there's an inheritance associated with possessing this wisdom. Obviously, if you're a child of God and you're saved, you've entered into the inheritance of Christ. And so certainly that has to do with Christ. But we also spoke about more specific things that have to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. This wisdom is eternal. As it says in verse 23 about wisdom, I was set up from everlasting. All right, we know Jesus Christ is from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. This wisdom was present in creation. Verse 27, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth. And of course, we know Jesus Christ was active in creation, not just present in creation, but certainly Christ and wisdom were present in that sense, even if you're speaking about with him. This wisdom was with God. Verse 30, Then I was by him as one brought up with him. I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. And so there's an intermingling, and you find that with the Trinity as well, as we talked about John 15, as it speaks about the Father. So, Philip, if you've seen me, Jesus said, you've seen the Father, I am the Father of one, and speaking about the coming person of the Holy Spirit, I will be with you, I will not leave you, Jesus said, and we know that we possess the Spirit of God, but that we possess Christ, he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. So, you throw wisdom into kind of the mix there of the Trinity as far as the being with God. But then to possess this wisdom is to possess life. Verse 35, for whoso findeth me findeth life. And we know, I've been struck by, in our study of John and our study of Revelation, the fact that Jesus Christ doesn't just give us the gift of everlasting life, that He is the everlasting life. To possess Christ is to possess life. And it's really stood out to me, the life that we have is Christ. And so it's not just giving a gift of everlasting life, it's receiving Christ as the person of everlasting life. Whoso findeth me, findeth life. All right? So last week, in particular, we just got through really the first point as we spoke about walking with Christ, or walking with wisdom, and preaching a message, keeping company with Christ. And so Proverbs 13 verse 20 says, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Think about that statement in context of Christ is wisdom. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the companion of fools shall be destroyed. The vast majority of people in our society are the companion of fools. I mean, look at who their associates are. They're people that despise God, people that hate God, people that rebel against God. The Bible says it's destruction. But he that walketh with wise men shall be wise. And so we talked about last week, there's nobody wiser that we could walk with than Jesus Christ. And certainly it's our desire to walk with Him. So Jesus says, or wisdom says in verse 32, Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, And so what's coming is a. Turn down a little bit here. What's coming? I can close it as well, please. That's all right. No, I'm just thinking about where I was. So we looked at last week, walking with me in my wisdom, okay? For blessed are they that keep my ways. And so we're talking about where Christ walks and where we need to walk with Christ. And so the Word of God, I was thinking about the Word of God this week, and it says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and what? He delighteth in his way. Talk about how often the Word of God speaks about paths, or speaks about ways. Isaiah 55, I recently preached a message on, and Isaiah 55 is saying, repent of your way and follow God's way. And then it says, for my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts than your thoughts, my ways than your ways." It's not speaking about that we can't ever think like God or understand God's mind, because Paul said in the New Testament we have the mind of Christ. But that in our rebellion against God, we're not there. We're not thinking like God thinks. So we're not in the righteousness of God in our thoughts or in our ways, like God's way is. And so last week we talked about How the way of God is the way of peace. And it's peace with God. And that mankind knows nothing of that. The wicked, the Bible says, are under the wrath of God. The anger of God is against them. And so, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And so, Christ is walking the way of peace. He's also walking the way of righteousness. It's a perfect way, as the Bible says, as for God, His way is perfect. And so to get, we talked about again last week, how do we get on that path of righteousness or the path of peace? We get there on the path of repentance. We talked about John the Baptist came preaching, make your path straight, just like the way that Christ is on. And his message was repent to get there. And that means turning our back on what was our life before. but that it's also the way of salvation by grace through faith as God putting us on the path of righteousness as we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and as our Savior. And so the way of repentance and the way of salvation to get to the way of peace and of righteousness so that you're walking with God in His way. And we'll pick it up there this morning as we continue on. So let's just pray and ask God to bless His word to our hearts this morning. Father, I pray now as we come to the Word of God that the Holy Spirit would give us grace and wisdom. Lord, this is your Word, and I pray that our hearts would be tender to you. And Father, we're thankful that your Word is able to do an exceeding great and gracious work. And I just pray that the Spirit of God would have his way. Lord, you're faithful, and you're able to use the Word of God this morning. And we just pray that you'd be glorified. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so walk with Jesus and His wisdom. But the second thing is work with Jesus and His wisdom. If you want to work with Jesus and His wisdom, then you need a tender heart. As we come to the Word of God, where Christ is walking, and we want to work with Him, then it has to be with us willing to yield to Him and say, you know, it doesn't matter what I think, it doesn't matter what I feel, it doesn't matter what the world says, what matters is God, what you say. You know, it's very hard to work with somebody that disagrees with you. You may ever try to, you know, in a situation where you're yoked up with somebody, whatever work related or society, try to work with them when you don't see eye to eye. It's very difficult. It's like Dr. Doolittle's character. They had, if you know that story, that unusual place that Dr. Doolittle had, whatever. But he had a push me, pull you. It was a two-headed animal. It was always having a hard time because it was pulling away. You know, the Word of God says, in the context of God and, I think, Israel, God says to them, can two walk together except they be agreed? No. It has application to us and anybody, but it's in the context of God and I. Can two walk together except they be aggrieved? Back when I was growing up, we were staying at Grandma and Grandpa's, I think, probably. We were there for about six months at one point. Grandma and Grandpa Roth, my mom's parents. But, Grandma Roth had something she'd always say. She'd say, as kids we'd start fighting, and Grandma Roth would be saying, Negotiate! Negotiate! You know, sit down, have a powwow, you know, work it out, because you're not going to get anywhere until you agree. And so we can see this morning, we think as we come to this idea of working with Jesus and His wisdom, that there has to be in our heart a willingness to negotiate and to let Him have His way as we do that. And so wisdom says to us this morning, the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive His instruction. As we work with Jesus in His wisdom, receive His instruction. Verse 33 says, hear instruction. You know, Jesus often, as He got done preaching, He'd say, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Obviously, He's speaking to hearing people, He's speaking to people that have ears on their head and the ability to take in audible sound, but He's saying to actually listen. to receive instruction. And so if you look back at Proverbs chapter 8, wisdom is crying out. And in verse 4, it says, unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. Always simple, understand wisdom. And ye fools be of an understanding heart. Herefore I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness, and there is nothing forward or perverse in them. They are plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. But if I could go back and bring out the statements of what wisdom said, it says, I call, my voice, it says, I will speak, opening of my lips, my mouth, my lips, words of my mouth, in them. So what's it saying? It's saying the source of what is being said is who? It's Christ. It's wisdom that is speaking and setting out the instruction of what is to be said. You know, the thing is this morning, as you think about God, if you want the right answer, Jesus has it. I mean, that's a very simple statement, but the right answer is God's answer this morning. The problem is, a lot of times, It's not that people are uncertain as to what the Word of God says. They just want to hear what the Word of God says. They don't want to listen to it. My son Nelson was always really good at asking questions. And when he would come to us, he'd always say, can we go to McDonald's? Yes. Can we go on a bike ride? Yes. He's anticipating what? The answer he wants. A lot of people go to the Bible, and the way they read the Bible is God created evolution. Yes. God created marriage to be enjoyed by whatever sex. It doesn't matter. Yes. God created, you know, The that good people are made it so that good people could go to heaven. Yes And it's not it's not that The Word of God doesn't have the right answer It's that they desire their answer When they come to the Word of God and say they call it interpretation I get so frustrated when I speak to people and they say well, that's your interpretation and And they, and I wrote an article about it, it was in the advertiser, on interpretation or misrepresentation. And I'll say to people, you know, if I read Darwin's Origin of the Species and said Darwin believed in a literal six-day creation, you'd say you're a liar. But people can go to the Bible and say, God says homosexuality is fine. God says evolution is fine. God says good people go to heaven. All religions are fine. But the answer is what? That's not what God says. See, it goes back to this verse right here. Hear instruction. It's listening to what God says. And so this morning, if we want to work with God, then we take the Bible and say, God, what do you say about this? God, what's your view about this? And certainly anybody could do that. So hear instruction, receive his instruction, and then respond to his instruction. It says, and be wise, and be wise. You know, we ought to be simple enough to take the word of God, read it, and believe it. That would be a great way for mankind to live. Just to take what God says, accept it, and believe it. I witnessed to a man this past week, and he said, I just believe, he said, if you follow your heart, and if two people love each other, whatever, that's just great. And I said to him, I said, have you ever been wrong? He said, all the time. And I said, well, I wouldn't follow your heart then. Isn't that true? A man says, I just want to trust myself, but the problem is, that's not wise, is it? Wisdom is going to the Word of God and seeing what God says and responding to His instruction. I spoke with a couple of kids at the viaduct over here, and as I was witnessing to them, very good divine appointment that God had given to me. There were just these two boys walking along, and I prayed and asked the Lord to give me wisdom to speak to them. And they both stopped and they listened. But I said to them, you know, God created all this. We're standing at the viaduct, so we're looking out, you've got the valley on either side of you and the trees and everything. I said, someday when you stand to give an account, it's not going to be before your peers. It's not going to be before your friends that reject what the Word of God says. You're going to stand and give an account before the God that spoke all this into existence. So wisdom, what is wisdom? Wisdom is saying, I'm not going to listen to my friends. I'm not going to listen to the world. I'm not going to listen to politicians that stand up and say the Bible is no longer true and you can't believe what it says and obey it anymore. that I'm gonna obey and believe God. And so be wise, be wise. Are you wise enough to just believe God? And so, respond to his instruction and then refuse not his instruction. It says, in verse 33, and refuse it not. Do you know how it's gonna be full of people who didn't want God's help? It's not that they didn't know what the Word of God said, it's that they rejected it, they refused it, that they resisted it. And yet the Word of God says in verse 10 and 11 of Proverbs chapter 8, Receive my instruction in not silver, in knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. And so, if today, I mean the decision was the wisdom of Christ, or in reality, that right here I had rubies, right here I had gold, and I said, you know, you've got a choice today, receive what God says, or receive this. That the wise person goes over here and says, this is what I need. I need this. You think about it like this, if you're trapped on an island, and you had Two caves, one cave, and you can only have one of the caves, all right? You can't have many options, right? You're on an island. So this or this, on this side, you got blueprints in a boat, OK, to make a boat. And on this side, you've got earthly pleasures. Which one would you choose? See, death is on the line. Death is imminent. So you got this choice. You can either get yourself off the island to safety, or you can have something that's temporal. You know what mankind has done? They've gone over here, and God's got eternal blessing. And over here, there's temporal pleasures that Satan says, these are great, these will satisfy, these will make you happy. And mankind has made the foolish decision to take this. Because they've refused God. And my heart still goes out to unbelievers. But I realize more and more, it's not that they're ignorant. It's not that they don't know the gospel many times. It's not that nobody has stood with a convincing argument before them, but it's men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil, that they have said to God, God, I don't want that. And so, this morning, are we wise enough to walk with Christ, to work with Christ? That as He speaks to us and says, you know, you might have believed this all your life, but it's wrong. You might have done this all your life, but it's wrong. That we have the humility to say, God, I'm sorry, you're right, I'm wrong, and I will follow you. So to walk with Christ, we've got to be willing to do that. And it doesn't matter where you're at in your Christian life. I mean, that opportunity comes frequently, doesn't it? For us to say, OK, God, you're right, I'm wrong, and I yield to you. So we want to walk with Him. We've got to work with Him. But then also, watch for me in my wisdom. Watch for me in my wisdom. Verse 34 says, blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates. This person is just wanting Christ so bad and wanting to have to do with Christ so bad that there is a anticipation of receiving something from Him and a real desire to see Him. You know, I have heard and I've seen pictures, I think, of people queuing to see the Pope. I mean, you've seen that picture, you know, the mass of people just hoping that, you know, this door is going to open and out onto the balcony is going to walk the Pope. A man who supposedly is a representative of God. But I wonder if those same people there just enamored with the Pope and want to see the Pope. I wonder, that morning, did they open their Bible because they wanted to see Christ? Did they have a desire to actually see God and meet with God? I believe that's the idea of what it's speaking about is that I'm watching daily at its gates that there is a desire to see God in the Word of God. George Mueller which from Bristol, England, the man that started orphanages by faith, that had a tremendous prayer life. But George Mueller also had a tremendous prayer life because he knew his Bible tremendously. He was a very godly man as he spoke about the ways that he'd see God answer prayer. He'd always try to find a promise that he would claim before God as he would pray. It's interesting as you read about his life that says about George Mueller that he had read his Bible in his lifetime nearly 200 times. See, I don't know at what point he started that, but I would imagine it wasn't there early, I think if I remember his biography right, it wasn't until later that God got a hold of his heart, you know, and so it's later in his life, so for those maybe 50 years, he read his Bible four times a year. He's a man that loved the Bible. He's a man that was, you could say, watching daily at the gates of God. Verse 17, about this wisdom in Christ, it says, I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. And when's the last time that you just were hungry for God? And you got in the Bible say, you know, I just I just want to see something of God today. I just want to I want Christ or where's that unbeliever even that gets so thirsty that they're they're getting in the Word of God to find Christ. You know, that person is going to be satisfied. They're going to find him. Back when Katie and I were dating. Over 17 years ago, she'd write me letters, and I think most quite often. And I'd get them in the post at Bob Jones, got the girls on one side of campus, guys on the other side. And at night, they have these runners that will take all the letters that people mailed to their people on the other side of campus, and they'll run them across. And so we exchanged letters and things. You know what I did with those letters? First of all, I read them, and read them, I'm sure I read them more than once. And I kept them. She didn't keep mine, I don't think, all right? But I kept hers. In fact, I think in our attic, I think I still have a box. Probably should burn it. I could take kids find it or something. And all her letters to me. Why? Because I love my wife. Because I wanted to know her. You know, it's kind of a silly illustration, but how's your devotion for God? Are you watching daily at His gates? Is there a desire? You know, somebody's not going to just wake up some day and walk with God. There needs to be a person that gets the Bible out and says, you know what, this is where God is and I want to meet with God today. So blessed, happy, is the man that cureth me, watching daily at my gate. So watch for me in my wisdom. And then wait on him in his wisdom. Wait on him in his wisdom. It says, waiting at the post of my doors. And as I think about that, I think about, you know, you could wait at the post of his doors today in prayer. And we've just sung a song, My Quiet Time Alone. Before I start each day, I find that special place where I can meet with God. You know why? Because I want to be one of those that is finding wisdom, watching daily at my gates, but then waiting at the posts of my doors. Verse 18 and 19 again say, Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. Now today, as you think about your life, what do you have today because of your prayer life? What riches have enlarged your house because of the time that you spent with God in prayer? waited at the post of God's door for many years for a child, but I noticed as I was reading through Genesis that Abraham was promised by God that he would receive a child. But if you know the story, Abraham and Sarah didn't have a child until they were close to 100 years old. They were waiting their whole life in faith just for God to supply the child. But there's a story where Abimelech, another man, thinks that Sarah, Abraham's wife, is his sister, because she was his half-sister, and he had been misled in that way. And Abimelech and his people, I think, if I got the story right, there's two stories like this, that Abimelech had taken Sarah into his home, and God came and said, wait a second, that's another man's wife. And what he did, God stopped the fertility of the house. They weren't bearing any children because of that transgression. And the Bible says in Genesis 20 verse 17, And so Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservant, and they bear children. And what stood out to me is this, Abraham had a powerful prayer line. But for years he'd been praying and asking God, God provide a son, provide a son, provide a son. But he prays in this case just apparently once for the fertility of Abimelech's family because God's curse had come. And God restored immediately the fertility of that group. even though Abraham, at this point, is still praying, and still praying, and still praying in faith for God to provide a child for him. It's interesting. And so, then he goes on to say in the very next chapter, in Genesis 21, 1 and 2, The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And so it was a very specific time that that prayer was coming, but it's a process of years, Abraham praying and saying, God, please fulfill your promise of providing this child. God, please provide your promise. And he's just there waiting for that door to open. How many stories are like that in the Word of God? You have Job, as Job loses his family, loses his possessions, gets stricken with boils, and his friends come, and Job is there waiting on God. But when Job prayed for his friends, the Bible says in Job 42.10, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends, and also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. And so, again, this process of time waiting on God to restore, waiting on God to provide. Daniel is in prayer in Daniel chapter 10, verse 12 and 13. Then said he unto me, fear not Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before God, the first day he started praying, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and 20 days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. And there again, Daniel's praying, and he might feel like, you know, Lord, it's been a week. I've been praying about this for a week. Lord, it's been two weeks. God, why don't you hear me? God, why don't you answer? God, it's been three weeks. And then the angel comes and said, Daniel, at your first prayer, I came. But there was a battle that was taking place. You know, you're a person that receives from God because you're waiting at the post of God's doors, waiting for Him in prayer. Let me just recap what we've looked at, because the message is going to change just a little bit as we finish up here this morning. But we keep company with Christ by walking in His way. We work with Him in His wisdom, have a tender heart. We watch for Him in His wisdom, in God's Word. We wait upon Him in His wisdom in prayer. And then the last two points this morning, we win with Him in His wisdom. We win with Him in His wisdom. Verse 35 says, For whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. Again, we've talked about the contrast between what God offers and what Satan offers. Whoso findeth me, findeth life. This past week, Kaylee's been ill, and we were at the GP last Saturday night. As she got ill, we're thankful that we were there because they gave her amoxicillin, which is a type of penicillin, I guess, because she asked, are you allergic to penicillin? But as they said, penicillin, I prepared this message the week before I went on holiday. So it was in my mind because penicillin was. not invented, discovered by Alexander Fleming. And it says about that, that it arose simply from a fortunate occurrence which happened when I was working on a purely academic bacteriological problem which had nothing to do, and I'm not sure about these terms, with antagonism or molds or antiseptics or antibiotics. Penicillin started as a chance observation. My only merit is that I did not neglect the observation and that I pursued the subject as a bacteriologist. My publication in 1929 was a starting point of the work of others who developed penicillin, especially in the chemical field. It's estimated that about penicillin that saved between 80 million to 200 million people and continues to save millions of lives around the globe. You know, for that he got a Nobel Peace Prize, and I believe you can see it at the National Museum, down just six miles from here. There's an award that's there for the man that discovered penicillin. But think about penicillin. It wasn't something that he was looking for, but there was a chance occurrence that took place that he didn't neglect, but that he studied and he sought it out. Why? Because of life and the importance of physical life. A lot of times when people get saved, they look at a chance occurrence in their life. They say, I wasn't looking for it, all of a sudden the Spirit of God confronted me and I understood the Gospel, I understood about Jesus Christ and what He did for me when He died on the cross. And there's a lot of people that, when that point comes, they neglect it, and they ignore it, and they reject it. But a wise person studies it. Why? Because life is on the line. See, physical life is what? 70 to 100 years. Do you know eternal life is forever? Think about it. This morning, as the Spirit of God would speak to somebody's heart, eternity is in line. What foolish person, praise God, Alexander Fleming, didn't go, oh, this is no big deal? This past week, Cayley benefited from it. You know there's a lot of people that would benefit from your life if you get saved? If somebody accepts Christ, that their life would impact other people's lives for eternity? Think about it. And so, you win with me and my wisdom. And the Word of God says in 2 Thessalonians 7, to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." And it's that last verse, everlasting destruction. from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power." You know, the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power has to do with this. Somebody in hell is in hell separated from God for all eternity. I mean, today, it doesn't matter who somebody is, God is present on earth. But in hell, the only person in hell is Satan and other unbelievers. They're separated from the presence of God for all eternity, and the glory of His power. The glory of His power is this, that in life, at any moment of any time, somebody can repent and they can accept Jesus Christ. But that for all eternity, those in hell, it's too late. It's too late. That for all eternity, they've missed the opportunity to ever change, ever repent, ever get right with God. And so we're talking about this, we're looking at this, when with me and my wisdom, could we present it any more clearly than that? Whoso findeth me, findeth life. But, if you resist, the last point is this, you wrong your soul without me and my wisdom. Verse 36 says, He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. What a sad verse. Somebody that hates Christ, by the way, hating Christ is not, oh I hate Christ. Hating Christ is I reject you. I will not obey the gospel. I will not accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. That is defying God, is hatred against God. All they that hate me love death. There was a guy, Matthew Bryce, in Glasgow that in March was surfing. And he must have got caught in a rip current of some sort because he got pulled out to sea. And actually, I think on the side he was, the Atlantic. Do you know they found him 36 hours later, 13 miles out into the open water? It was incredible that they found him. They found him at 7 o'clock at night. And so, each hour that's passing, it's getting more dangerous, more dangerous, more dangerous, more dangerous, to the point where he's despairing of life and thinking, this is it, I can't, I mean, I've lasted far longer than it's possible to last, there's no hope. But then he sees the helicopter. Can you imagine if, as the winchman lowers the man down to rescue him, as he comes down, what if Matthew Brice had gone, forget it, forget it, I don't want you. I mean, you go, if you're up in the helicopter, you go, you hate death. I mean, you hate life. You love death. And isn't that just like somebody, they're getting closer and closer to eternity, they're getting further and further out to sea, God in His mercy is reaching out, reaching out, saying, I'll rescue you, I'll rescue you, I'll rescue you. And they're going, forget it. And God goes, all they that hate me, love death. But understand this, it's eternal damnation separate from God in a fire for all eternity. Is it no wonder that the Bible says there's wisdom in finding Christ? I mean, it's completely, foolish is too gentle a term to speak of somebody that rejects the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior because of who He is and what He's done. So, if you think about it today, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Are you walking with Christ? See, we can't walk with Christ today and say, well, I'm just going to keep on my path of unrighteousness that's absolutely contrary to Christ, and I'm going to walk with Christ. It's not possible, because He's not going to walk here, and you can't walk there until you get rid of it. It's only salvation by grace through faith in Christ that gives us righteousness. God, here's a verse, Romans 10, 9, 10, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Yeah, to get to heaven, we have to be righteous like God is righteous, but that is possible through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if somebody will put their faith in Christ, then they're on that path of righteousness. And then we're beginning that journey of walking with Christ. So are you walking with Him this morning? Are you working with Him? As the Spirit of God speaks to your heart, is there an argument taking place where you're resisting God and saying, OK, I can understand that, I see that in the Bible, but I don't accept that? Or is there the meekness to say, God, you said in your word, I accept it, I receive it, I believe it because you said it. And God, I'm sorry, you're not wrong, I'm wrong. Please forgive me. I want to work with you. Are you agreeing with him? Are you watching for him daily? You know, that person that, those that seek me early shall find me. Get in the word of God and say, God, I want to find you today. Are you waiting at the post of his door saying, God, I'm not going to leave until I get this answer to prayer because, God, you have promised in your word. Because He answers. And then lastly, are you finding life? Have you found life? Or do you love death? Because that's it, isn't it? Whoso findeth me, findeth life. Those that hate me, love death. And so, which is it this morning? You know, it's appointed unto man once to die, but after that the judgment. You and I are guaranteed an hour beyond now. It could be in a service at some point, we could have somebody die. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just speaking the truth from the Word of God. It's appointed to man once to die, after that the judgment. We're not guaranteed tomorrow. So, I mean, to think, well, I'll be foolish today, tomorrow I'll be wise. It's a loss, isn't it? What wisdom says, God, now is the appointed time. And so may God just speak to our hearts about making that decision to walk with Christ and to yield to Him, even today. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would bless the Word of God. Father, it is able to open our hearts and our minds. And Father, we need it. And so I pray, God, would you be glorified to do good work today? It may be that somebody's sitting here and thinking, you know what? I've never accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've never gone on the path that He's on, the path of righteousness, the path of peace, because I've refused to repent. But Father, I pray today would be the day that they bow the knee before God and say, God, I yield. I'm not going to fight anymore. And God, that they get saved. Those of us that are saved, Lord, help us to work with you. Help us not to stiffen our neck against you. He that being often reproved hardened at his neck shall suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy. And so, God, give us grace to yield to you. Father, help us to look for you in the Word of God and to to let this book be our close companion. And Father, I pray that you'd give us faithfulness to pray and to be a person that's there waiting as long as it takes to get the blessing from God. And certainly, Father, we want to win. And so I pray, God, help us to win and help us to win souls as well to the wisdom of Christ and who Christ is. Bless your word to our hearts this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.