Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 8:1-5; 9:1-6 (Wisdom's Invitations) (Part 20)

The Book of Proverbs. As we look at the invitations of wisdom to us, and we'd like to take as our reading Proverbs chapter 8, verses 1 to 5, and then Proverbs chapter 9, verses 1 to 6. So two portions of the book of Proverbs, the beginning of the eighth chapter as well as the beginning of the ninth chapter. Hear now, God's word doth not Wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice on the top of high places. By the way where the paths meet. She standeth beside the gates at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, she crieth, unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O ye simple, understand prudence. And ye fools, be of an understanding heart. And then chapter nine, at the first verse, Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars, she hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table, she hath sent forth her maidens, she crieth upon the highest places of the city. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, come eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Leave off ye simple ones, and live and walk in the way of understanding. And thus far, the reading of God's word. Invitations tell us an awful lot about the people who receive them. Well, I guess they tell us a lot about the people who send them too, but they tell us about the people who receive them just as much. When a person turns down an invitation, that indicates something about that person's attitude toward the one who made the invitation. In fact, it's a standing social custom, one of the mores of the Hollywood and jet set communities here in Southern California, I suppose around the nation as well, that if someone puts on a party and invites a number of people and no one shows up, that's quite a commentary about their attitude toward the one putting on the party. You might say. Oh, but perhaps it just so happened that everyone had previous engagements. That's happened to you. You've been invited places and it turned out you had a commitment previously. Yes, well, the very fact that you don't think this new invitation is important enough or pressing enough to cancel your previous invitation also says something about you and your attitude toward the one making the invitation. We read in God's word this morning that Wisdom herself, which I take as a personification of God, one of the leading attributes of God, one of the characteristics of the Creator. Wisdom herself calls out to men and makes an invitation that they should gain understanding and stop being fools. And I want us this morning to consider the invitations of wisdom and also to consider what it says about us when we respond favorably or unfavorably to those invitations. The eighth chapter of Proverbs contains a sustained appeal to the marvel of divine wisdom and the blessedness of possessing it. This is one of the unique chapters of Proverbs. The whole thing is is tied together, rather than having a little paragraph here and a paragraph there that go together, or just a verse or two that run together, all mixed in with other topics. Chapter eight is very thematic. It starts out with the call of Wisdom, proceeds to the blessedness of wisdom, talks about the qualities of wisdom, and ends with an appeal to action and a promise of reward. Look at verse 32. You get the idea. Now therefore my sons hearken unto me, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Wisdom says, heed what I say, do what I tell you, follow after me, and blessing will follow. Well, all of chapter eight is sustained in that way, giving an appeal to us to hear wisdom, to act properly, to stop being fools. And then chapter nine begins with wisdom in another way, making an appeal to men. And I'd like to look at the first few verses of chapter 8 and the first few verses of chapter 9 as they are parallel to one another, showing us wisdom's invitations. First of all, chapter eight. Here we find Wisdom, the would be guide for everyone. Wisdom, that would be a guide for every individual, every man, woman and child. We read. Doth not wisdom cry. As I said in my opening remarks, wisdom is here personified. We don't have a real individual, as it were called wisdom. We rather have one of the attributes of God taken as the whole of God's personality. After all, we read in the Bible elsewhere that God is love. We aren't to misunderstand that. That isn't to say that just everywhere we find love, or what is called love, God is present. I mean, how many times have we heard just putrid sermons to that effect, that anytime people are loving, then that is divine? Well, that isn't what the verse God is love means. Moreover, the fact that God is love does not take away from the fact that God is also a judge, that God is a consuming fire, that God is light, that God is pure. All of the attributes of God must be taken into account when we see any one of them singled out. Well, here we have one of the attributes of God singled out. Wisdom God is wise indeed. God is the only one that is truly wise. The Bible tells us God made the world in wisdom and God governs the world in wisdom. And God is working in his people to grant them wisdom as well. And so we read here of God, the all wise wisdom itself being personified, the part standing for the whole wisdom calling out to us. God calling out to us through the characteristic of his personality of wisdom. Wisdom offers us to stop being fools. Understanding puts forth her voice. And where does she put forth her voice? On the top of the high places, by the way, and where the paths meet. She stands beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in, at the doors, she cries aloud. This is an amazing thing. When God calls to us by means of wisdom, his calls are not hush hush. His calls are not secretive. God doesn't say, come join some secret society. I've got some insights to share with you. No one else is to have these. This is kind of surreptitious. This is kind of secretive. We don't want others to know about it. No, God doesn't operate that way. You know, there are people in this world who must operate that way. They keep their affairs pretty low key. They want low visibility for what they do and for what they say. They don't want to bring their activities or their beliefs or their words to the light lest they be exposed. But that isn't the way God operates. God goes out into the broad daylight, he comes to the crossroads, he sees you in the marketplace and he says, he, here's what I have to say. Examine it, accept it. There's no secrets here. This is for all and it's for all to consider. God makes his appeal openly. In fact, the Bible stresses that wisdom does this with a raised voice, in contrast to the street walker, in contrast to the prostitute who goes and whispers in the ear of her client and gives little secretive invitations to men to follow after her. God through wisdom operates by just the opposite principle. He raises his voice, he calls out in the open square. He wants men to know what they are getting into. I think it's interesting as well. We read in verses 2 and 3 that what wisdom has to say is relevant to the marketplace, is relevant to the courts, is relevant to the everyday affairs of men. On the top of high places, by the way, where the paths meet. She standeth beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in, at the door, she crieth aloud. What are we reading about here? Well, we read of the crossroads, obviously, where commercial Traffic is going to stop and there's going to be transactions taking place where everything's coming together. We have commercial centers here. She calls by the side of the gate. The gates in ancient cities were where the courts were held, where a great deal of social commerce took place. She calls it the opening of the doors. And so in all these public places, Wisdom is calling out. Now, that in itself contains a message worthy to be heard today. Because so often, what God has to teach us in his word, a divine point of view on things, is thought of as being restricted to church buildings, restricted to religious settings, set only for religious creeds and stained glass windows. But here we see that God doesn't restrict his word. God doesn't restrict the relevance of his message. God's wisdom is for all the affairs of life. He stops men in the midst of their social commerce, in the midst of their business transactions, in the midst of their courts and the affairs of law. He stops men out in the open, in the secular affairs of life. And he says, hear me, stop being fools. The invitation of God is not to stop engaging in these affairs of life and go to church. It is to take what you have learned in church into all the affairs of life. The wisdom offered by God touches on every area of human activity, every area of interest to man. Another thing we see here in verse four, Wisdom's call is universal. It's a call made to all men. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men, all who belong to the human race. Wisdom calls out to this isn't a special message for one race of mankind. This isn't a special message for just males or females. This isn't a special message for people over a certain age or in one walk of life. It's to all who are sons of men, to all who have been born into this world. Wisdom calls out, says, I have something for you that will touch on the foolishness that is in your heart, that will have a bearing on every walk of life, every area of your endeavor. Indeed, not only is Wisdom's call universal, Wisdom's call is to everyone, even spiritual dunces. You notice the irony of this verse four unto all the sons of men. And then verse five. O ye simple, understand prudence, ye fools, be of an understanding heart. Wisdom makes herself available not just to those who are spiritually prepared for her. Wisdom makes herself available not simply to those who are intelligent, those who are already prudent, those who are doing something for themselves. Wisdom makes herself available to those who have failed completely. We sometimes hear a proverb in our modern world which is very much contrary to Scripture that says God helps those who help themselves. See, Wisdom comes along and says, now look, if you have advanced so far, then I'll meet you halfway, or maybe I'll go more than halfway. But you've got to do something for yourself. But prepare yourself for me. Make yourself qualified, and then I'll come and offer what I have for you. The Bible says wisdom calls out to the fools, to those lacking prudence and says, I have understanding for you. This is a universal call. One can't help but think of Jesus words in John the sixth chapter, verse 37, where Jesus himself says, him who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. When Jesus makes an invitation to men, he does not cast them out because of the color of their skin or because of their walk of life, or because of their economic standing in society, or because of their iq. Jesus says, anyone who comes to me, I will receive, none will be rejected. And so whatever you think of yourself, whatever your station in life, whatever your accomplishment or lack thereof, you, Jesus says, I will receive you. Likewise, Wisdom says, listen, even fools are welcome to come. I call out to all the sons of men, receive me. One other observation about chapter eight that I think should be made and that's that you notice that Wisdom goes looking for men. Wisdom goes out and seeks men where they are to be found, at the crossroads, in the courts, in the marketplace. Wisdom goes out in the public affairs of men, seeking those who want to change, those who will stop being fools. Wisdom doesn't go hide somewhere where you have to take a seven or eight day journey through the jungles and up the mountains and have to have some secret insight before you can get there and gain the treasures. Wisdom comes out in the open. Wisdom goes looking for fools that they might be changed. That's an important attribute of God's character. God's grace takes the initiative with sinners. Or as one poet put it so well, he is the hound of Heaven. God goes searching for men and he brings the goods that they need to them. In First John 4:19, we read these beautiful words. We love him because he first loved us. We shouldn't get it into our heads that we can prepare ourselves for God's grace, that we can do anything to make ourselves worthy of the wisdom he offers. God says, no, I come looking for you. You need only respond to the call. And you know when we do respond, the Bible would have us to understand it's because he has first done a work in us, God came looking. God made it possible for fools to stop being foolish and to submit to the invitations of Wisdom. Well, here we have then, Wisdom calling out in chapter eight. In chapter nine, we see another way in which Wisdom invites men to receive what she has for them. In verse one of chapter nine, we read, wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars, she hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table. The last six verses of chapter nine, which we did not read. But if you want to look at them, the last six verses of chapter nine speak of a feast that is prepared by a foolish and a loose woman. A feast prepared by a prostitute as she invites her customers in. The chapter begins by contrast, however, with a feast that is prepared by Dame Wisdom herself. Here you have Wisdom personified as a woman at the beginning of the chapter, preparing a feast and inviting men in. And then the loose foolish woman at the end of the chapter, preparing a feast and inviting men in. There's clearly a rivalry between them, a competition between the two. Just compare verses 4 and 16. They're virtually identical in Hebrew. In verse 4 we read, Whoso is simple, let him turn in. Hitherto as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him. And then you have what Wisdom says. But at verse 16, this is now the foolish and the loose woman speaking. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him. And then we get what her approach is. I mean, this is not accidental. The author or editor of this chapter wants us to draw the contrast. We have two women beckoning to us. We have the woman called Wisdom, actually a personification of God himself. And we have that woman who is loose and foolish, who represents not just sexual immorality, but all the ways of foolishness. We have two lifestyles that call out to us all. You who are out there come into the feast, and if you're void of understanding, I say to you. Perfectly identical. However, the substance of what is offered, the way of life that is pursued, completely different. What is it that Wisdom offers? Well, verse one says, wisdom offers something that's spacious and strong. A large and a well built house. Wisdom has builded her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars. This is a big house. Seven major pillars hold up this house. One can't help but remember Jesus words in Matthew, the seventh chapter, how the wise man builds a house upon the rock. He builds a house that is sturdy and enduring. And this probably comes from the Old Testament, the allusion to Wisdom having a well built seven pillared house. Moreover, Wisdom offers a sumptuous banquet, verse two. She's killed her beast, mingled her wine and furnished her table. She's lavishly arrayed this banquet with meat and wine and every provision. And then the next verse tells us, she sends her maidens out to invite in the guest she hath sent forth her maiden, she crieth upon the highest places of the city. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Leave off ye simple ones, and live and walk in the way of understanding. The amazing thing is that we have here a picture of Wisdom preparing a banquet and then sending her messengers out to draw men in. In Matthew the 22nd chapter, Jesus tells us that the king who is his father God the king, has prepared a marriage banquet and sends out his servants to invite in guests as well. The parallel is conspicuous between what we read of in the New Testament and we read of in the Old. And you know, perhaps the most surprising thing about Chapter 9, the most arresting feature of this particular banquet that Wisdom puts on is those who are invited in. Because those who are invited into Wisdom's banquet are deficient of any qualification for being invited. You would think if Wisdom is going to invite people, well, stop and think about it. If the head of some department at the University, with his PhD and many publications to his credit, is going to put on a banquet, who do you expect him to invite in? He doesn't invite in high school dropouts. He probably doesn't even invite in the students at the university. He may not even invite in all of the rest of the faculty, but just selected ones. He invites in those who are like him, those who have the same interests and same accomplishments, who can talk on the same wavelength, if you will. But Wisdom doesn't. When Wisdom sets out this banquet, who does she invite in? She invites in those void of understanding. This is Wisdom asking fools to a banquet. This is the one who has all understanding, asking those void of understanding. Here is Dame Prudence asking all the imprudent of the world to come in. The banquet is offered to those who have no qualification, no reason for them to be invited at all. If we think in earthly terms, what are we supposed to learn from these invitations of wisdom in Proverbs 8 and 9? Well, very simply, I want us to learn this morning that God is an inviting God. It's also true that God is a king who demands allegiance, that God calls upon us and orders us to follow after Him. And and yet, though he is in a position to make demands of us, the Bible nevertheless portrays him as inviting us sweetly, gently and urgently inviting us to follow after him. Indeed, the Bible repeatedly portrays God as an inviting God. Isaiah 55:1 Ho, everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. God says, I'll offer it at no cost to you. I lay the banquet before you if you're thirsty, I'll take care of your need, and it will cost you Nothing. In Matthew 11:28, the well known words of Jesus, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus invites men who are weary to throw themselves on his strength. Revelation 3, verse 20. Jesus speaks, speaks to the church and says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will have supper with him, and he with me. And so in the Old Testament, in the Gospels, in the later epistles, repeatedly in the Bible, we see God as an inviting God standing before men and saying, come, I offer you what you need. Are you thirsty? Here's wine, Are you weary? Here's rest, do you need supper? Open the door and I will provide it. God is constantly inviting men to accept what they need most, what they should be clawing and scratching and scrambling to get. God says, I come and I offer it to you free, it's yours, take it. And yet the Bible also teaches us that men refuse God's gracious invitation. And this is what I was getting at at the opening of this morning's message. The way we respond to an invitation tells us something about ourselves, tells us something about our view of ourselves relative to the one making the invitation. Psalm 81:11 says, but my people would not hearken unto my voice, and Israel would have nothing of me. Imagine that the people that God called out of slavery in Egypt, the people who murmured and rebelled against him at the Red Sea, and he delivered through the Red Sea the people who squawked and complained because they didn't have food and water, and he provided it for them day by day. Miraculously, the people who were a hard necked, stiff necked, rebellious lot of people that God nevertheless stayed with and said, o sons of Jacob, because I am unchangeable you are not consumed. The people who had no right to see the continuation of his promises, and yet day by day understood his grace, experienced his mercy toward them. God says, they won't hearken to my voice. They'll have nothing to do with me. What does that tell you about Israel of old? See, that doesn't tell you nearly so much about God. It tells you something about them. It tells you about the people, people who will not receive his invitations, who will not respond to his grace. In John 5:40, Jesus said, and you will not come unto me that you might have life? Of course, the heartrending words of Matthew the 23rd chapter as Jesus is coming for the final time to Jerusalem now to be crucified and die for the sins of men, Jesus weeps over the sins city, saying, jerusalem, Jerusalem that kills the prophets and stones them that are sent to you. How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under his wings. But you would not. All those stabbing words, but you will have nothing to do with me. I have offered, I have pled, I would gather you to myself, but you refuse the invitation. And so Paul tells us in Romans 10:21. But to Israel he says, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gainsaying people. And so we have this picture of the Almighty God, the God who could accomplish everything by compulsion and force if he wished to do so. A God who stretches forth his hand to his people, but all day long they refuse him. All. All day long they gainsay his promises. All day long they are disobedient to his call. This brings us then to a consideration of one final parable of invitation that we need to consider in the bible. Luke the 14th chapter at verse 16. Please turn with me to the New Testament. Luke 14:16 and we read these words by Jesus. He said unto him, a certain man made a great sign supper and he bade many. And he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuses. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and have needs go out and see it. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And the servant came and told his Lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame. And the servant said, lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and constrain them to come in that my house may be filled. For I say unto you that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper. God has prepared a wonderful meal, a meal that is going to bring everlasting life to men. God has prepared this meal for those who don't deserve it, who have no ability to provide it on their own. And God has sent forth his messengers to bid men to come in. And the Bible tells us everyone has his own excuse. What's yours? What's your excuse? I don't want you to think that people have to go searching about for some kind of lame brained idea. You read of three fairly good excuses here. God says they mean nothing to me. I want you to look at what is being offered, look at your previous commitment and ask whether you shouldn't break that to come to this banquet. What does it say about you if you refuse this invitation? You say, well, I'm busy, I have previous commitments, I've got things to do, I've got a family to look after, I've got property to tend to. And God is going to be very angry at those who refuse his invitation. And the Bible tells us in the meantime, those who are thoroughly unworthy will see their opportunity and will come. That's the amazing thing. Those who were the friends of the person who put on the banquet refused to come even though everything was ready. They had only to accept the invitation. And when they wouldn't come, then the master sent servants out to receive people who were strangers to the banquet, who had no right to be there, who had no connection. Indeed they had nothing to commend themselves whatsoever. They were sick, they were lame, they were blind. In fact, these are people who live out on the sides of roads. These are bums. And he says, but my feast will be full. Go bid them. They'll see their need. You see the difference between those who made excuses and those who came. So those who came realized they had nothing going for them. They were desperately in need of the help of another. And here the best of feast is offered to the worst of men. And knowing their place, knowing their foolishness, will listen to wisdom and will reply. Those who will not are too proud, are really not convinced that they are foolish. And they need the grave grace of God to correct their lives. In Matthew 22:1 14, a variation of that parable is told, directed specifically at the Jews, where Jesus says, those who were bid and did not receive the invitation began to beat up the messengers and killed some of them. And so the king sent his armies and burned their city. God is not going to respond well when his invitations are spurned. And then someone came to the banquet, according to Matthew 22, and refused to take the provided wedding gown. And when the king came and found there was one there at the banquet not properly attired, he said, why didn't you put on your wedding gown? It was provided for you. And the man had no answer. And the king replied, cast him into the outer darkness, where there is the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. See, those who don't see their need for God's provision, those who will not humble themselves to receive his invitation and to come on his terms will be finally rejected. Those who reject the invitation of God and receive his provisions for unworthy men are going to suffer punishment from him. And as Jesus ends in Matthew 22, he says, because not all who are outwardly called are chosen. Now this morning God is calling to you. Outwardly. I don't know what God's doing in your heart. I can't control that. I can't change your minds. The Holy Spirit alone can do that. But I can tell you that I am standing here openly calling in the name of God to receive his wisdom, to heed his grace, to take his invitation to heart, to respond to Him. But if you will not, it tells you something about yourself, about your conception of your own worthiness, your conception of your own need. It tells us also whether perhaps you're chosen or not. We must learn, friends, not to refuse the invitations of God, because He owes us Nothing. In Proverbs 1 we read, Because I have called and you have refused. I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded. But you have set at naught all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof. I will then laugh in the day of your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes, when distress and anguish come upon you. And then the Bible says, it will be too late. Then the God who need not invite anyone, who has been inviting all men, will finally close the door, and it will be too late. Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me. And so I need to ask you two Things this morning as we close. First, are you hesitating over God's gracious invitation to know him as your savior? Are you insistent on continuing as an unbelieving fool? Wisdom is calling out. Wisdom invites you to the banquet. Will you not hear? Will you not heed? Will you not turn in and make and take the provisions God makes for you? Perhaps you're a covenant child. Perhaps you've had all the benefits of being raised under the church, under the preaching of the gospel. Perhaps you've heard these things many times before, but you've never seriously considered whether you need to make a decision. The invitations of God are open, but they are not going to continue forever. And so those of you who are being raised here in the church, those of you who've heard the gospel call but have not responded today, respond today. Say, God, of course I'll listen. You don't need to go out into the highways and byways and bring in the lame and the blind. I know that that's me. I want your banquet. I want the life you offer. I want the wisdom that can be mine free of charge. Perhaps you're one who's attending church and has done so over a continuing period. Perhaps you've heard these things, but you've made no commitment to Jesus Christ. I have to tell you in the name of God, his invitations are not forever. God has invited you. Do not spurn his invitation. But then there are others that this message applies to. Those who call upon Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, those who call themselves Christians. You know, we've been preaching in the Book of Proverbs for quite a while now in this congregation. And every week, virtually every week, I think we've all heard something from Proverbs that stings us, that sets us back, that shows us how far we are from being wise and godly and good people. And every week Wisdom calls out and says, won't you turn in? Won't you accept the prudence and the understanding the that I can give you? Won't you stop being a fool? Follow after my ways. Every week we've had this invitation. We had this invitation. We talked about whether we control our mouths. We had this invitation. We talked about whether we are teachable, whether we are lazy, whether we are sexually chaste, whether we are heedful of our parents direction or whether we are good parents. Over and over and over again in various areas of life, Wisdom has been calling out since saying stop being foolish. Stop being foolish. Are you heeding those invitations. Are you listening to Wisdom this morning? Are you putting that on the back shelf? Your mind saying, oh, there's one more thing I need to get to someday. There's one more thing I need to get worked out in my life. You know, maybe down the road when it's convenient. I'm going to After I get my property in order, after I get my family in order, after I take care of all the those things that are really important to me, I'm going to listen to Wisdom. I'm going to stop being lazy and stop being lustful and stop being a big mouth and stop being a troublemaker and stop being a bad neighbor and all those things we've been learning about. But I have to tell you before we go any further, in the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom says, I've given an invitation. Don't spurn it. Turn in now. Don't hold back from accepting the Lord's invitation to live in a wise fashion. Don't continue to be a disobedient fool. There are two kinds of fools here that need to hear this message today, and my guess is that covers us all. There are unbelieving fools and there are disobedient fools. Remember the nature of God. He's an inviting God, but His invitations are not forever. And those who spurn his invitations learn something about their own own character and heart. Those who spurn his invitations will eventually be spurned by Him. On the Day of Judgment, God will say to those who have refused him, since you would not say thy will be done, then I say to you, your will be done. You wish to live apart from me. You wish to be indifferent to me. You wish to be separate from me in the life that that I could give you and the wisdom I could show you, then so be it. Be separate from me. Be separate from my life. Be separate from my light and wisdom. Be separate forever. Let's pray. God, thank you for your gracious invitations. We don't deserve them. We don't deserve your attention. We don't deserve your love and concern. And yet you invite us. You open your arms and bid us to come. You call to us and offer us life and light and eternal blessedness. God help us not to be so foolish as to turn you down, for we pray in Jesus name, Amen.