Turn with me in your scriptures to Proverbs chapter 2. We are in the closing verses of chapter 2, where Solomon brings a beautiful summary to the lovely poem that has set out the pursuit of wisdom in the voice of a father caring for his son. As we consider these closing verses, let's stand together to hear them Read, as we honor the Lord in standing, let us pay careful attention to his holy word. This is that infallible, inerrant word of almighty God. Let us hear and heed. Proverbs chapter two at verse 20 through verse 22. So you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness. For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it." Let's ask God's blessing on this, his word. Let us pray. Most Holy Father, we pray that we may have ears to hear, that we may have eyes to see. Grant such grace by the Holy Spirit that we may feed on Christ in his word. We ask this for his glory. Amen. You may be seated. Solomon has taken us through the great benefits of wisdom expressed in a father's loving voice instructing his son. Wisdom sought in God's way from God's sources will be blessed with inward and outward transformation. Inwardly, the Lord will prepare us for growing in wisdom. He will nurture us in a saving relationship and bring out wisdom to us from his storehouses as he reveals himself to us. And that will result in an outward transformation. The Lord will give us ethical clarity. As we grow in the training of God's wisdom, we internalize an understanding of God's ways as he protects us. We begin to discern and understand how to avoid evil and destruction. Discretion preserves us. Understanding keeps us. This inward and outward transformation brings deliverance from destruction. The work of wisdom in the soul delivers from the path of evil. We are not lured away by the world's enticements. Our soul is preserved from the misshaping corruption of the world. The work of wisdom in the soul delivers from another powerful enemy, from sexual immorality. Solomon personifies this enticement by holding forth the adulterous woman, her promises of pleasure, instead of bringing what is held forth. Instead, bring every kind of death. Being taken in by her enticements, ordinarily leaves no return to the path of life. Now, having drawn us through this walk of wisdom, Solomon concludes with the encouraging triumph of wisdom. He brings all of the things he's described the voice of the father, guiding the son, the benefits of transformation, the benefits of protection, avoidance of deliverance from destruction. He brings all these together in a conclusion triumphant in the provisions of wisdom. And in the language here, in this concluding portion of this beautiful poem of chapter two, as we hear What we hear is comfort. As we hear Solomon's assuring words, wrapping this together in a word of triumph, it's a word promising a secure, stable, safe position for those who have followed through, that have traced the line as he has drawn it. So, he says, You may walk in the ways of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness. The upright, he says, will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it. There is a security being described, a comfort being described here. It is a security and assurance that is only found in this traced line of wisdom. It's an altogether desirable thing. It's not found, particularly we must note, it's not found where it's promised in those things by which we're delivered, from those enticing to the evil way, those promising pleasures and comforts in sexual immorality. These are lying promises. All that is held out in those previous deliverances These things cannot be found there. It's a lying claim of provision that's avoided by wisdom. And not only is the destruction avoided, but all that which was hoped for in the enticements of the evil way, in the enticements of the adulterous woman, all that one's hungry soul may have desired is actually only found here in the line he has traced. of wisdom. And so let's look at the the lovely and comforting couplets described here. So you may walk in the way of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness. Walking and keeping in verse 20. He is wrapping things up here by echoing themes from earlier in the poem of chapter two. Remember, he had said in verses eight and following, he guards the path of justice and preserves the way of his saints. He's been pressing the metaphor of a path, of the way, and of where you walk. Here, he assures as he wraps it up, that walking will be in a way that is full of goodness. The path that those seeking good walk, that will be the path. Where the good is found, that's the path wisdom will provide. If you trace that line, if you've been under wisdom's protection and have been delivered, there's a result here that's a triumphant, comforting, and provisioned triumph. There are things hoped for, desired, longed for, that were held out in lies to entice away. Stay to the path, Solomon says, the Father's voice being expressed here. And in fact, you will have the goodness you long for. That's what wisdom will provide. That's the conclusion. You'll walk in the way of goodness. You'll not just be walking there. You won't stumble off that path. You won't be dragged away. You'll keep to the paths of righteousness. So he draws together those things. Indeed, remember the contrast with this peaceful, lovely, secure provision in the triumph of wisdom. It's quite the opposite elsewhere. The one who's been enticed away by the adulterous woman, her paths lead to death here. The path is kept in the right way, in God's righteousness. And so the idea here is that of walking in the way of those who pursue good. You want that company, you want that path. This is the path of God's design, the goodness held out here. The thing that counterfeits we're marketing Those things can't be found elsewhere. The real thing, the goodness of God, the longed-for goodness, that's found here and only here. This is a goodness found living according to God's design. There's a harmonizing of the life in keeping with God's good order that the Hebrew poetry is holding out. That peacefulness, that provision of goodness that was longed for, it's found there precisely because it's the place that is where God's good order is realized. Those longings that the evil man entices and grabs hold of, that the adulterous woman entices and grabs hold of, those things are corrupted, broken, and destroyed when they're pursued in those wrong paths. Here, they peacefully come to fruition. They come to their full expression. The longing of the heart is realized. and the goodness of the path of wisdom. Wisdom's triumph is that the soul finds the sweetness that it longed for because it wasn't taken over by the counterfeits. There's a harmony in the life because it's kept in God's good order here. keeping to the path of those who do what is right, those who walk in righteousness. There we find that ethical clarity described earlier. As wisdom provides that ethical understanding, here it comes to its fruition in the experience of God's good order. There's a contrast here in the language of the Hebrew with one who is not yielding himself as the father calls for the son to hear and heed, the one who has tried to satisfy the soul by breaking away, casting off, and pursuing the enticements. That one has acted selfishly and has so abandoned the very thing that would have given him all the goodness he longed for. So there's a necessary yieldedness that is a part of the victory, the triumph of what wisdom provides in that path traced in this poem. The emphasis in verse 20 here is the fullness of harmony with God's design being lived out in God-honoring integrity. Not in selfishness, but in yieldedness that makes one whole in the path of goodness. That's the picture being painted by the poetry here. Oh, how blind are the eyes that are so easily enticed away from the thing the heart longs for. That's what the Father is pointing out. The triumph of wisdom is this fruitfulness of harmony in God's good order. And you are preserved from the things that destroy by staying to that path and experiencing that triumph of wisdom. Verse 21, there is a dwelling and remaining. Again, this peacefulness, this security that's being described. in the land and the blameless will remain in it. Again, the poetry builds just as in verse 20. One walks and is able to stay walking, isn't taken off the path of goodness. Here, the one who has been kept by wisdom in whom wisdom has grown and who's been delivered from destruction, that one is upright and dwells in the land and remains in it. He's preserved. There is a peace and prosperity in God's goodness that's held out here in verse 21. The upright dwelling in the land hints of the language of the promised land, right? That's what we normally think of when we think of the Old Testament speaking of dwelling in the land. And surely, that's to be in the background of our mind, but the writer of Proverbs, Solomon, And in his preparatory work here, going into the aphorisms, he has a broader perspective that he's presented. This is not wisdom that only has in view the religious. Yes, that's there. Remember that wisdom is had in a saving relationship with God. But it's that and far more. And the word for land there is the same word that's translated earth. And so you get both concepts. That's a nice way that the translation has been put before us. The word for land is the same word for the earth. And indeed, not only will those pursuing wisdom in this yieldedness to God's goodness, not only will they be preserved in that religious aspect, of staying in the land, dwelling and remaining in the land. But Solomon is presenting something even wider. You'll be preserved in God's good order in his creation. The picture is using the language of the agrarian context. You're established on the earth in keeping with God's design. Again, in the language used here, The idea of being in harmony with the good design of God is what keeps getting, like a bell, rung, keep hearing the tone. The victory, the triumph of wisdom, is that the soul of those shaped by it, brought this far, preserved from destruction, they're actually able to be planted, as it were, in God's good earth, not to be uprooted, as he goes on to say, rather, abiding fruitfully in what God has designed. You see part of that in the next verse, as we look at it, it's talking about being cut off from the earth. That's what's avoided here. The security of those who've been carried forward in this path of wisdom is that they aren't cut off or ripped up. able to dwell with peacefulness and security. The blameless remain. Now, again, in the poetry, think of the progression. There is that dwelling in the land that results in an ongoing abiding there. There's a looking forward. There's not just right now I dwell here. But there's a remaining that has in view a fruitful future. There's a growing rootedness. As we see contrasts coming in the next verse, what God, through Solomon, is describing here with the voice of a father, is a rootedness in the land that abides and bears fruit, that remains. There's a flourishing, a well-ordered blessing in God's design. to hold that out in more Hebrew poetry. I think an ideal way to think about this is the language used in Psalm 128. What's being held out there is a flourishing that results from a yieldedness to God's good work. And I think it's a particularly helpful psalm in this context, because the very things that are used to entice away from God's good design by promising, lying promises, of peace and prosperity. You want to have it all? Come on down this path, says the one enticing to evil. You want to know true satisfaction and pleasure in your life? Then follow me to my house, the adulterous woman says. Lies! Do you really want abundance of joy and fruitfulness. There's a goodness of God that grants it. And here's what it looks like. Note the language of wisdom. Psalm 128, blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy. and it shall be well with you. These are true promises, no lying here. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. Your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Do you see all that's hoped for, all that's desirable, all that the lying enticements promised, found in the path of wisdom, lived, Climb unto God as described here. Here is true happiness. Here is fruitfulness. Here is peace and every desirable thing. Who designed this? God did. It's his path of goodness, and it's to be enjoyed by means of submissive wisdom, submission to the path of wisdom. And in all that assurance, in all that peace and security promised in the path of wisdom as wisdom triumphs, there's one last contrast held forth, cutting off and uprooting. That belongs to the wicked. Here, verse 22, but the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it. The wicked are described here as being cut off. Again, the language of cutting off takes up religious language familiar to the life of Israel, but applies it in a broader context. To be cut off in relation to uncleanness was to be put out from the religious community. In order to preserve the good order, the cleanness of the community. That language is being taken up to describe God's good order in his earth. The implication is that those who pursue the paths of destruction, the end of that is that they're cut off, and that's the natural outcome of being at war with the peace of God's design. in his earth. You see the parallel as Solomon takes up the language, the religiously burdened, weighted language, freighted language of the cut off. One who's excommunicated from the religious community preserves, that cutting off preserves the purity of God's design in the community of faith. That same language is being used here to describe the wider context of living in God's created order. The one at war with God's created order. will bring a cutting off. And that naturally comes precisely because the earth cannot abide it. It's God's created order. To be at war with it is to bring about a cutting off for oneself. The examples in our day are not hard to imagine, right? It's not the modern world at violent war with God's good order. And what is the outcome? Well, if you can hear the voices not getting stifled by those at war, you'll hear the destruction brought on themselves when they are at war with God's good order. The obvious example is the whole lie of transgenderism. and all the things that go with it. To be at war with God's created order is to cut oneself off, to bring death on oneself. But even more than ultimate death, there's the idea here, as one commentator says, of destroying the harmony of God's design. There is an inner disharmony and unrest that one intensifies in oneself. Remember, all those lying promises supposedly bring about that peace and rest one wants. All it does in pursuing the lies of the world is intensify the disharmony of the soul and its deep unrest. And so the language of excommunication gets applied to this disordered existence. You excommunicate yourself, as it were, or are put out from God's created order by being at war with it. And this is true at every level, not just the extremes that we recognize in our day of transgenderism, but in every order. Lust, pornography, sexual immorality, theft, ungodliness of every form. Solomon is instructing us in the voice of the Father, if you pursue those things in hope of any good, you will excommunicate yourself from the good. Because God has established an ethical order in his world. Walking in harmony with it brings all those blessings. of rest and security, but only in wisdom's way, in that path of submission. The unfaithful are said to be uprooted. The unfaithful, the word here is one who abandons, again, is reaching back, describing the one who was enticed. Away, he was on the path of godliness, being brought up in it by his father. And if he hears and heeds the enticements of the ones marketing evil, he's said to abandon. He's said to leave the path which was his calling, forsaking covenant obligations. That's the word for the unfaithful here. And there's a powerful word describing the outcome of their treachery. in abandoning their calling. They are uprooted. Literally, the word is violent. It's torn from the land, from the earth. Again, understand the language, the poetry unfolding here is a recognizable malady. These are rootless, is what's being said. They're torn from the earth, everything that they needed Everything that would bring harmony, peace, and security in their lives was in the path of wisdom, submission, walking in the good. But they have instead been at war with the good, and everything they longed for is lost to them. They're torn from the only way of having it, ripped from the earth. They are such as are deeply troubled and terribly rootless. They have no stability in their lives. Isaiah describes such when he was bringing condemnation against the ways of Israel in Isaiah 57, verse 20, and its surrounding context, those verses. Here, what Isaiah says. Speaking the word of the Lord, I create the fruit of the lips, peace. Peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. Hear this, verse 20. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God. for the wicked. And yet, that's exactly what he, in wandering from the path of wisdom, was looking for. Satisfy my soul, said the wicked, as he wandered from the only place that could give satisfaction to the soul. All that is promised by the lying substitutes can only actually be found in humble submission to learning wisdom and wisdom's path on God's terms. It's wisdom that satisfies the restless soul. All the longings of the soul are wonderfully, triumphantly provided by wisdom. And so, Solomon has carried us through, tracing the path of wisdom and all of its benefits, and concluded with this word of triumph for wisdom. Do we find a longing in the soul? Satan will try to grab hold of us by that longing and assure us that we will have satisfaction in it, peace, rootedness, harmony, all the things that the soul desperately needs by God's design. The world, the flesh and the devil, will assure us over here, off that path, that path only leads to despair, to bondage, to frustration. We have the ways of peace, prosperity, happiness. Come with us in what turns out to be the paths of destruction. Here we've been fully warned. Here we've been trained how to hear those enticements and let wisdom preserve us from it, save us from destruction. Wisdom, wisdom in all its satisfying peacefulness, in all of its harmonious rootedness. Wisdom provides all that the soul created by God longs to have. Let us ask God to work that wisdom in us, preserve us from destruction and triumph in us by wisdom, avoiding the perishing destruction of the wicked and the unfaithful, who are cut off from the earth and uprooted from it. May we be preserved in wisdom. Let's pray. Oh, Father, how beautiful are the inspired poetic words of your servant Solomon here in Chapter 2 of Proverbs. We are warned. We beg of the Holy Spirit, that powerful working in the soul. Those things held out to us here beautifully in the poetry of Proverbs 2. Preserve us in the path of wisdom. Cause us to hear and heed with submission, glad submission. to that work of wisdom in the soul, so preserve us, so deliver us from destruction, and so bring about the marvelous victory, the triumph of wisdom, satisfying the soul in harmony with your created order, your good design. And may we prosper in such a way that it glorifies our savior, who is indeed the creator, and the Redeemer, who brings every good thing by wisdom. We pray these things in His holy name. Amen.