Wisdom, personified as Christ, calls out to all humanity, offering salvation through an effectual call that transforms the heart. While the general call of God is extended to everyone, it is often refused, leading to negative consequences as described in Proverbs chapter one. However, those who diligently seek wisdom, by receiving God's words, hiding His commandments, and earnestly praying for understanding, will find true knowledge and security. This diligent seeking, akin to a miner searching for treasure, is essential for discerning God's truth and experiencing His transformative grace, as highlighted in Proverbs chapter two and exemplified by the Bereans' noble search of the scriptures.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.33 → restored 4.47
Proverbs chapter one. And we want to deal with the effectual and the general and the effectual call of God again from this passage. We started it last week at the close of our prayer meeting. And we want to again read this portion from the word of God. Proverbs one. Verse twenty. Wisdom cryeth without. she uttereth her voice in the streets. She cryeth in the chief place of concourse. In the openings of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but ye have senteth not all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my reproof, my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely. and shall be quiet from the fear of evil. In this passage here, beginning in verse twenty-five, especially we have what theologians have called the general call of God.
There are two calls of God. There is a general call of God that comes to all men, generally. and all men refuse the general call of God. All refuse it. You refused it, I refused it. Notice what the scripture says in verse twenty four. Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched forth my hand and no man regarded. Were it not for the effectual call of God, no one would be saved. We must keep this ever before us.
Effectual calling is a very definite teaching of the Word of God. If there is but one call, as I mentioned last week, then everybody would be saved. Then we would teach universalism. The Word of God does not teach universalism. The Word of God teaches that There are many who enter, who go on the broad road and remain on the broad road into the lake of fire, the road that leads to a lost eternity. On the other hand, it speaks of those who are on the narrow road.
And the reason that we are on the narrow road is God has worked in our hearts. He has given us a new heart through the revelation provided by the new birth. through the Holy Spirit. Now this is what he's taught in First Corinthians chapter two. We started this last Wednesday night. And I want to just follow this for just a bit. First Corinthians chapter two, beginning in verse nine. Now what are the things that you have here in First Corinthians two? To appreciate it, you must place the verses in context.
It's easy to take verse nine out of context. And I believe every one of us at one time or another have taken first Corinthians chapter two and verse nine out of context. Now look at what it says. But as it is written, I hath not seen, ear hath not heard. Neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. That's easy to take out of context. And you know when you take it out, you're still right? Because what God has prepared for them that love him. Who can imagine what it's like? I haven't seen it. Ear hasn't heard it. It could never enter the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.
Paul, who was caught up into the third heaven, according to Second Corinthians chapter twelve, he couldn't describe it. He never even talked about it for twelve years. No, fourteen years. A new man above fourteen years. Second Corinthians chapter twelve. He couldn't talk about it. So, if you take this out of context in trying to console someone who has lost a loved one, whom God has called home to be with himself, you see there's a measure of truth in what you say. But you see the context of this passage isn't really saying that.
The context of this passage is talking about the method of God's revelation of the gospel to the human heart. That's the context of the passage, how God reveals the gospel to the human heart. So when you look at the beginning of verse ten, he says, But, while certain things have not entered the heart of man, God has revealed it unto us by the His Spirit. Things that man cannot see looking through the telescope. Things that man can't see looking through a microscope. And things that man cannot understand sitting in a dark room.
Meditating. Or listening to long-haired music. Or something like that. Eye hasn't seen. Divine revelation doesn't come to the eye. Ear hasn't heard. Neither hath it entered into the heart of man. The things that God has prepared for them not of him, but God revealed them to us by his spirit. Now, how does the spirit work? How does the spirit work? Look down at verse thirteen. Well, look at verse twelve first. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.
This is why, if you examine this twelfth verse, this is why a person can be exceedingly intelligent in worldly things and totally miss the simple things of God. This is why a person can be a professor in a seminary and still be lost. You see, he hasn't the Spirit of God, he has the Spirit of the world. And you And concerning the Spirit of God, I want you to notice, hold your finger here and go come back, turn back to John chapter fourteen. John chapter fourteen. And we'll read concerning the Holy Spirit, verse sixteen.
And I'm interested in one word in particular, and I'll stop when I get to it. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter. that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world what's the next word cannot do you believe that this is the Lord Jesus speaking whom the world cannot receive my friend unless God effectually calls someone unless God effectually calls unless he effectually does a work on the inside.
No work is ever done, no matter how religious a person is. This is the truth of the effectual call. God calls by the Holy Spirit. The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit, but we have. That's what First Corinthians two, verse twelve says. Notice verse twelve. Now ye have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. Why? That we might know what you cannot know by looking through a telescope or through a microscope or by sitting in a dark room meditating.
That we might know what? The things that are freely given to us of God. God. Verse thirteen is a great verse. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. The next verse fourteen says, But the natural man, and by the term natural man, we're talking about the person who has never been born of God. the person who does not possess the Holy Spirit of God, the person who is still blind in nature's darkness.
It says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. In the book of Proverbs chapter one, he's talking about the general call of God, which all men by nature refuse. It is the truth of Romans chapter three and verse nine all over again. There is none that seeketh after God. It is God who seeks the sinner. The son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
It's like our brother prayed the night. Our salvation from start to finish is of God. Jonah learned that lesson in a strange seminary when out of the belly of the fish he cried salvation is of the Lord. It takes a natural man who wants to do something a long time to submit to the fact that it is God who does the saving. All of it from start to finish. The very faith wherewith we believe on Christ is the result of God's gracious workings on the inside.
God has to do it. Well, someone may say, I'm just going to sit back and wait till God does it. That's where the general call comes in. You see, God is continuously calling all men. And all men are responsible for their refusal of it. And God's general call comes in various ways. It may come through the songs that are sung in the Sunday school. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. It may come through the Bible verses that are learned in a vacation Bible school.
God is calling. He says, I have poured out my spirit unto you. in spite of all these sweet entreaties that may come from being born in a Christian home, reared by Christian parents, blessed in an abundant way. But man goes his own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. But man is responsible. Wisdom is crying without. God says, I've gone as far as to pour my spirit out unto you. In other words, the fact that other believers live about us.
And we live in the midst of sinful people, boys and girls, those boys and girls in your neighborhood. Ah, the call of God comes through a gracious witness to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the solemn part is this, man refuses God's general call. But there are consequences connected to it. While he calls and all refused, his calls have been refused. And here in Proverbs one, he thunders forth the results of refusing his call.
He says, I've stretched out my hand. and no man regarded. Can you imagine God stretching out his hand? When you think of it, we even sing and it's a song that groups that are well trained usually sing. He calls through the thunder. I'm trying to think of the name of the song. Maybe some of you can remember God calls and God speaks in many ways. I believe God speaks to earthquakes, to hurricanes, and in other ways.
God is continuously putting up billboards, as it were, calling to the sons of men and wisdom cryeth. Why was San Francisco hit with an earthquake and not Burlington? You see, are we better off? Are we better than they because we have escaped? No, that question was answered in the thirteenth of Luke. Our Lord said, Those upon whom the tar and Siloam fell, were they sinners above others? He said, No, unless you repent, you'll likewise perish. Take heed to the warnings. God's warnings come to the children of men.
And it should make us all the more grateful to God, not only for the general call which manifests His grace toward all mankind, but especially for that effectual call which has wrought in us a new heart, a heart that enabled us to believe unto righteousness and to cling to the grace of God. did you know that man of all the creatures of God is the only one who refuses his yoke the wisest counsel the most solemn reproof man sets it all at naught no wonder we read in Romans nine remember John Reesinger's message on the Sunday night from second Peter three and from first from Romans chapter nine on the goodness and the long the patience and the long suffering of God God endures with much long suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
God's gracious friends. Wisdom cries. Or we heard the cry. Have we paid attention to it? Those who pay attention to the general call will be blessed with an effectual call. The first chapter ends with the words, Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell and shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. May the Lord bless his word. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the privilege of prayer. We thank you for that abundant grace of God which sought us.
which drew us and which made us your own. Take the word now, blessed to each heart, for Jesus' sake. Amen. We want to turn to the book of Proverbs chapter two. Second chapter of the Proverbs. As our brother Ricky just prayed concerning wisdom, how to pray and we don't know many times how to pray.
I was talking with the niece and the nephew of Miss Sutton this afternoon. She can't go back to her apartment. She'll have to leave the hospital soon. They only keep them a short time. And they're talking about taking her to therapy over in Greensboro. And the therapy that she had a couple weeks, about a year ago, didn't really help much. And how can she get therapy with a one leg off? And there are multitudes of papers to fill out each time.
There's a move in and a move out of the hospital. And when you think of all the decisions that they have to make, the heart just cries out to the Lord, Lord, we need your wisdom. We just don't have it. And I'm certainly thankful for that passage in Romans eight. We don't know how to pray as we all But he who knows the mind of the Spirit searches the heart and makes intercession according to the will of God. He knows just what's in the heart. And he knows just what's needed.
And he's able to make a proper intercession. And the intercession is right. It is in accordance with the will of God. What a blessing. Proverbs chapter two. I'm going to read this whole chapter. I'm not going to cover too much of it, but I want to give you a brief outline of the chapter and then we'll start working on it. In chapter one of the Proverbs, we dealt with the general call of God, which all men refuse. And then in the final verse of the chapter, we see the effectual call of God that comes to his elect people.
enabling them to believe and to dwell safely. And he continues that theme in the opening verses of chapter two. The last verse of chapter one says, and it's in contrast to verses thirty one and thirty two. In verse thirty three we read, But whoso hearkeneth unto me. And the me here is wisdom. And the wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs. as a person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in First Corinthians one is made unto us wisdom, whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding, yet if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
He keepeth the paths of judgment. and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the way of evil men, from the man that speaketh throated things. who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do evil and delight in the froberedness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked, and they frobered in their paths, to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetth the covenant of her God, for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead, none that go in unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
In this wicked age in which you and I are living, in this age when sex and perverted sex is so magnified before the world, we need to keep before the people of God the truth that He's here None that go in unto the strange woman return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. And that's serious, friends. And here it is in the word of God, that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. Now, when we outline this chapter, you'll notice in verses one through six, we have the question, where is wisdom to be found? We have that question answered. And then in verses seven through nine, we find wisdom as a principle of practical godliness. For he says, He that layeth up sound wisdom, etc. Then when we come to verses ten through nineteen, we have wisdom as a preservation from besetting temptations.
The temptations that are all about humanity, individually, on the face of the earth. But wisdom, that wisdom that cometh from above, is a preservation from the temptations. And then we find in verse twenty, wisdom as a safe guide into a right and a safe path. In verse twenty one, we have wisdom as the security of its scholars. We are commanded in the opening words, where, or the question is answered, where is wisdom to be found? Here we find that they who search it, as we're commanded to in the opening verses, that scholar has security when he gets to verse twenty-one.
The upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect or the mature shall remain in it. Finally, wisdom becomes a certain ruin of its ungodly despisers. As you notice in verse twenty-two, they who brush wisdom aside, as though it is not worth the time that he's taken to obtain it. You see, it becomes their certain ruin. It almost is like John three thirty-six. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. But he that obeyeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
In other words, the very one who could deliver and bring life and life abundantly to a soul becomes a very person of their ruin because of their turning their back on the gracious provision that he has provided in giving himself for us. Now the question is asked in verse or really answered, Where shall wisdom be found? For he cries out, Receive my words in verse one. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and where shall wisdom be found? And you'll notice that the question that he's asked here or answered was asked long before Solomon wrote the Proverbs.
It is a question that he's asked three times in one way or another in Job chapter twenty-eight. I'd like you to turn back to Job chapter twenty-eight for a moment and look in the twenty-eighth of Job. That's one of those great discourses of Job. It's part of his final discourse before Elihu speaks with him and before God speaks with him. In verse twelve of Job chapter twenty-eight we read, But where shall wisdom be found? And where is a place of understanding? There you have the question. And the question is answered for us.
In Proverbs chapter two that we read tonight, look down at verse twenty. Once then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding? It is asked the second time. In verse twenty one, it is asked the third time. Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living and kept close from the fowls of the air. But when we come to Proverbs chapter two, we have the answer. receive my words wisdom is crying out in other words that expression receive my words could be translated in the parable of the sower where he speaks of the good seed the words of God are a seed cast into the ground into an honest and a good heart and they bring forth an abundant harvest this is where wisdom is found if he found in the good soil prepared by the Lord and really that good soil of the parable in Matthew thirteen the parable in the same parable that Luke uses in Luke chapter eight is a heart that has been prepared by God and that heart prepared
by God is the heart that has been effectually changed by regenerating grace and it is a heart that has been called effectually by God. Oh, he cries out, if thou wilt receive my words, where is wisdom to be found? What does it mean to receive the word? It is to be like Mary, who sat at his feet and heard his words, which we read in Luke chapter ten and verse thirty nine. She sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words. It's like being like the Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter two, verse thirteen.
Paul says, For this cause also, thankfully, God without ceasing, that when you heard, when you received the word which you heard of us, you received it not as a word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. It's like being a Berean. who we read about in Acts seventeen the Bereans were more noble than they of Thessalonica for they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so my son he says if thou wilt receive my words if thou wilt receive my words then he and he adds and hide my commandments with thee in other words carry the commandments of God as a choice treasure and then What do you do with treasures?
The choice treasures you put in a place that we could call a hiding place. And the choice treasure for the word of God is the heart of man. Thy word have I hidden where? In my heart. That which we hide are treasures. The treasures aren't open to the gaze of everybody. We show our treasures to those that are near and dear to us. My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee. And when we take those two together, now God has the ear, if thou wilt receive my words, and the heart, hide my treasures with thee.
Now we come to the cry. And the cry here is prayer. Notice verse three, yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding. This is a desire for an increased knowledge of God. There's nothing wrong with praying this way. Nothing at all. Turn with me to Ephesians one and then hold your finger there in Ephesians one, because we'll turn to Ephesians three in a moment. In Ephesians one in verse seventeen we have the first grand prayer in the Ephesian epistle. There are a number of them. But here is one special.
Verse seventeen Paul is praying and he says, and this is a content of his prayers. By the way, this is an inspired prayer. If you pray for me, pray this every day. Here's a prayer that'll teach you to pray. and to pray this for each other in the family that meets here from week to week. Oh, what a blessing. Notice what it says, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
If thou liftest up thy voice for knowledge, there's nothing wrong with that, friends. That's genuine prayer. Tonight I heard the organ begin to play. More about Jesus would I know? More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for me. That's what this prayer is about. An increase in knowledge if thou cryest after knowledge. Now, prayer should not stand in the way of diligence. There are two things go together. You may pray this prayer all day.
But if you don't open the Bible and search, it won't be answered. You have to be the answer to a lot of your own prayers, friends. You know, a lot of us ask for a blessing, but to be a blessing, to be an answer to your own prayer. You see, this is what James in a very practical way says in his epistle. If you come to a brother who's poor and in need, and you have the money in your pocket to help him. There's no need for you to pray and ask God to bless him. Ask God to warm him and fill him. James says, give him what he needs.
Give him what he needs. So you see, prayer should not stand in the way of diligence. Oh, no. Prayer should be the energy that gives us diligence. That's what it should be. No minor, you see, he talks in Proverbs two about searching for hidden treasures. No minor that digs into the balls of the earth is ever satisfied with a first door. He wants to dig deeper and he wants to get the real gems that are there. And you see, the Word of God is like that to a person. The more you get, the more you want.
I told the class on Tuesday mornings as we were studying the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I was a teenager when I heard George Mundell from Darby, Pennsylvania speaking the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And I got an insight into the Spirit of God's ministry in me and to me and through me, for He is a person. And I learned that day that He is a genuine person. to whom and with whom I can fellowship. And I made up my mind that day. If that is so, I'm going to know it.
And I'm going to take my Bible and I'm going to get alone with the Lord. And I'm going to ask him to give me something from the Word. that I can say I didn't get this from Dr. Barnhouse or Dr. DeHon or some other Bible teacher but from the Lord. And guess what happened? I got something from the Lord. And what you get from the Lord is worth more than you ever get from me. It's worth more than you get on the Bible Broadcasting Network, friends. For it's from the Lord.
It is like a miner digging into the heart of the earth and bringing forth treasures. Now, when I went to Bermuda the first time, Mrs. Patterson's father was still alive, and we stayed at their home. And he had an orange grove. He had all kinds of citrus fruit, and the best I've ever eaten in my life. I'd come down to breakfast and he'd be sitting there grinning. He said, Philip, I brought those in for you this morning. Now those oranges were big. Boy, they were big. And I tell you, they didn't look like the best oranges.
But I'll tell you this, they were the best I've ever eaten in my life. I'd peel them. I'd put some in my mouth. I'd bite into it. It was so full of juice. I just about strangle on it. It was so good. You know, that's what the Word of God is like. When God gives you something from His Word, it's like taking an orange and just squeezing it and getting the contents of it. We won't have time to go any further, but I want you to see one thing quickly, and I'll be through in Proverbs chapter two. In verse one I have that word if circled.
If thou wilt receive my words. Verse three I have if circled. If thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding. Verse four. If thou seekest for her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures. Then I have the next word circled. Then. Then shall thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. What did Job say? Where is wisdom to be found? Verse five tells you. Here we have the answer to the old question that Job asked.
The first book of the Bible, the oldest book. Where is wisdom to be found? Here it is. Here's your answer. May God enable us to find it. For his name's sake. Father, take the word now and bless it to every heart. We thank you for the prayers that have ascended to you tonight on behalf of one another, on behalf of the sick, the missionary family, and our desire that this assembly grow and multiply and be a blessing to others. Hear us. Motivate us in righteousness for Jesus' sake.