eBible Fellowship

Can we please turn to Proverbs 4? I am going to read the entire chapter, but I would like to focus in on verse 18 today, if we are able to get through the verse. In Proverbs 4:1-27, we read:

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

As I was reading this, it struck me because, I had not really worked on this before, but it reminded me of Psalm 119 because, we have all these similar synonyms that God uses.

For example: instruction, understanding, doctrine, My Words, My commandments, Wisdom, My sayings and right paths.

As I was thinking about this because as a tremendous emphasis on life, but eternal life especially and I thought about two passages which I have always appreciated a lot, but they have to do with life.

One is in Deuteronomy 32:46-47 and here it speaks about the words that are the believers life.

The other one is in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 and in Deuteronomy 30:20, we read:

… for he (JEHOVAH) is thy life, …

So, we have the words that are our life. We also have JEHOVAH Christ, who is our life as well and of course, how can we separate the two? He is the “logos”. He is the Word made flesh. Let me read Deuteronomy 32:46-47. In Deuteronomy 32:46-47, we read:

And he said unto them (this is Moses, actually in both of these passages), Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

In Proverbs 4:13 (b) we just read about instruction, as a woman, just as sometimes, Wisdom, even though Wisdom points to Christ. He is the wisdom of God. It is referred to as “a woman” and in Proverbs 4:13 (b), we read:

… she is thy life.

Now, in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, we read:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love JEHOVAH thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which JEHOVAH sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Some people might look at Deuteronomy 30:19-20 and may think that the Bible says that we can choose life or death. But, if we go to Psalm 47:4, we get a different picture all together, a true picture because man by nature is dead in his/ her sins, in his/ her trespasses. Dead people do not do anything, so they cannot choose anything. Let us go to Psalm 47:1. In Psalm 47:1-4, we read:

To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For JEHOVAH most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

God is the One that chooses His people to salvation. He is the One that gives His people the inheritance of eternal life and that is typified by what we read in Deuteronomy 30:20, where it says:

… that thou mayest dwell in the land which JEHOVAH sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

In Deuteronomy 30:19, we read:

… therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

We see this at different time throughout scripture that, it is not only for us, but it is also for our children and our grand children, as God might place His salvation upon them as well and Deuteronomy 11 is a beautiful passage and for those of us who are parents, it is a fearful passage because we are under great obligation to teach our children, but we also know that ultimately, we cannot take the credit for their salvation, neither can we take the blame if they are not saved because it is God who decides.

But we have a responsibility to be faithful and to be a faithful witness to our children and that is what this passage is speaking about. Let us go to Deuteronomy 11:18-21 please. In Deuteronomy 11:18-21, we read:

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which JEHOVAH sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

It is really talking about eternal life. It is days leading right into eternity because this is what God has blessed His people with. He has blessed them with eternal life. It is an eternal inheritance and I know that Robert alluded to this earlier. But, they do not deserve this. This is completely given to His people as a gift by God’s mercy because they absolutely do not deserve it whatsoever.

In the end of Deuteronomy 30:20, it speaks about the promise being given to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob and if we go to Hebrews 11:9 through 16, God amplifies this a bit. In Hebrews 11:9-16, we read:

By faith he (this is Abraham) sojourned in the land of promise (the land of Canaan), as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one (Abraham), and him as good as dead (from a physical standpoint, that he could not bear a child), so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

We read about tabernacles here. “… he (Abraham) sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles (or tents) with Isaac and Jacob, …”. Why did they live in tents? They were very very wealthy. They could have built a city. A city with “walls”, to protect them.

But, did they do that? No, they did not. They were shepherds and they were tending flocks and they lived in tents to symbolise the brevity of our life here on earth. We are in a “tent”, not only in a tent like a body but also in a sense that we are here temporarily. Our life on earth is very limited. Any of us could die at any moment.

Many of you may be knowing Tom Holt. He had a neighbour right across the street from there. It was an elderly couple who were about 84-85 years old. The wife was crossing a 5 lane highway, street road, up in South Hampton and she was hit by a car yesterday or the day before yesterday. The driver literally ran this dear lady over and she just died yesterday or last night and so, none of us have any guarantee that we are going to be here and so, truly, our life is in God’s hands and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they were aware of this as every true believer is aware that this like a motel stay for us.

We are not to put any “stock” in this life and on this earth because it is not our home. We are looking for something far better and far greater. In fact, we are looking for God to be our inheritance. Just like it says in Genesis 15:1, where He tells Abraham:

… I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

He is the reward. He is everything for the believer and more than everything. More than what we could possibly want or imagine or need. More than anything. In fact, we do not even have a clue because God is so great and so infinite in all of His characteristics and love, justice and beauty. Let us go back to Deuteronomy 30:19-20. There is a progression of the verbs. In Deuteronomy 30:20, we read:

That thou mayest love JEHOVAH thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: …

And this is the same progression that God works into the lives of His people and ultimately they are going to be in His very presence and they will abide there forever and this is the great hope that believers have always had throughout the ages that, no matter how difficult life on earth may be and we may know that we have been made living in the 21st century and all the amenities that we may have as compared to people that just try to eke out an existence day by day, just to put food on the table and so, we are tremendously blessed.

But all of those people, regardless of what kind of situation and the time that they were living in, they all had that hope and the Bible says in Romans 8:24 that “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”. If we see it, then there is no point in waiting and hoping because we see it. But if we do not see it, then we hope and we patiently wait for it and that is where we are at right now. We are patiently waiting and this is what God has ordained and so we are to rejoice in that.

Let us go to Romans 8:17-25. I think this really expresses this far better than anything that I could say for sure. We are living in a time of suffering, a time of testing, a time of waiting, a time of groaning, a time of hoping and a time of patiently waiting. In Romans 8:17-25, we read:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature (or creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature (or creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Now, not only are we waiting, but God is waiting and we have to keep that in mind. In James 5:7-11, he makes a clear point of this. Let us go to James 5:7-11. In James 5:7-11, we read:

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman (or the farmer, who is God) waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy (or blessed) which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

And so, we can certainly identify with Job to a certain extent. None of us, and I can only speak personally because I do not know what everyone else is going through but I believe no one has gone through what Job had to go through which is unbelievable.

Do you remember his three friends, when they first come to him. They do not say a word for one week. They just sit with the man because the grief was so over whelming, so over bearing. What can you say in that situation? How could you console someone else? How could you comfort them? Our words just do not have the power to do that.

God’s word though, does have the power and that is why ultimately, when someone goes through tremendous tragedy, it is only the Word of God that can sustain that individual, that can lift that individual up, that can give that individual hope and psychologists say that when people lose hope, then they commit suicide, even if they have a false hope and unfortunately the world has a false hope because they think that they are going to get to heaven by their good deeds or by living a clean life or whatever it might be and the Bible says in Proverbs 11:7 that, “When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.” It is because it is built upon a foundation of sand. It is not built upon the Rock. It is not built upon the solid foundation of the work of the LORD Jesus Christ.

There is no other foundation, the Bible tells us. Everything else is going to be straw, hay and stubble and it is going to be burnt up by the fire, on the last day. The only thing that is going to remain are the true believers because they are the gold, silver and precious stones.

Yes, they do go through the fire and we are going through the fire, we are being purified and we are being melted down, which is good. I am not saying that it is not painful. But it is good, because everything that God does is good.

Just like in Hebrews 12:5, we read that, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:”. It is because it is always for our spiritual benefit and our spiritual growth.

As parents, we might have the best interest of our children in mind but we do not always fulfil that in their lives. But we know that, whatever God does to us in terms of chastisement or in terms of putting us through trials is for our good and that is a wonderful assurance that God knows completely what is best for us.

We do not know what is best. If you ask a child, “what would you like?” What do you think? The child may say, “well, a milk shake and a piece of cake”. In other words, in terms of food, they are not thinking correctly and many times, we do not think correctly. Or what we think is not what God has in mind.

God always has the best plan in mind, we know that, we have learned that and sometimes we have to learn that the hard way. But, wonderfully, He is so kind and so patient with us and of course, we have to turn around and be likewise with others.

Just like it says in James 5:9, “Grudge not one against another, brethren, …”. It is easy to do that. It is easy to just fall right back into the flesh. But God says, at this particular time and at any time in history that, we are to humble ourselves before God that God might truly, not only keep us humble but that he might work in us to be a blessing to others.

Coming back to Proverbs 4, I have made a list of a number of positive commands that we find here in this chapter. We do not have time to develop these and it is not that I have that much to talk about but we could truly go into a lot of detail.

1. To hear instruction.
   We know from Romans 10:17 that, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
2. Attend to know understanding.
3. God gives good doctrine.
   (Some of these are repeated.)
4. Retain my words.

5. Let thy heart retain my words.

   The heart is mentioned actually three times in here. In some of the other verses that we have looked at, notice very frequently that the heart comes up. Why is God talking about the heart so much? It is because it says in Proverbs 4:23 that, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Our heart has to do with our soul and that is where we need to focus in on.

   The world focuses in on the body. Everything has to do with the body. How good you look. The nutrition you might get. But, very little emphasis is put on the soul and yet God places a tremendous amount of emphasis on the soul because it says in 2 Corinthians 4:16 that, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” That renewal will go right on into eternity when the true believers are going to be with Christ, married to Him forever.

6. Keep my commandments and live
7. Get wisdom.
8. Get understanding.
9. Love her.
10. Exalt her.
    (This is wisdom and understanding.)
11. Embrace her.
    (Again, wisdom and understanding)
    [Ed: Assumed to be the 11th positive command]

12. Hear and receive my sayings.
    [Ed: Assumed to be the 12th positive command]

    Just as you read in John 1:12-13. It says that “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

    Those that advocate a free will gospel, may stop at verse 12 and they may say that, “all you have to do is receive Christ as your personal saviour and you have a ticket into the Kingdom of Heaven”. They do not go on to verse 13. In John 1:12, we read, “… to them gave he power to become the sons of God, …” We are passive in the receiving. God does all the work. He gives His elect the gift of salvation.

    They are not even looking for it. They are in a totally different world. Man, by nature is spiritually dead in his or her sins. God’s elect have no spiritual life before they are saved and God comes just like when Peter was in prison.

    All of a sudden, the doors opened up, the light shone in. Peter was poked (I’m not sure how the word is exactly), he was struck^*, he got up being chained and his chains fell off of him. God tells him to leave the prison. All of a sudden–all the doors are wide open and he walks right out of this prison.

    ^* [Ed: In Acts 12:7 the Greek word used for “smote” (G3960) is more often used to indicate striking fatally with fewer verses such as this one indicating being struck in a non-fatal manner. Quoting Acts 12:6-10 for clarity:]

    … the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

    That is exactly what happens when God saves an individual–when He gives an individual new life. That is what happened on May 21, 2011 spiritually, when God opened the prison doors and the prisoners (i.e. God’s elect) got out and that is such a wonderful illustration of that.

13. [Ed: the 13th positive command was not explicitly mentioned]
14. Incline thine ear unto may sayings.
15. Keep them in the midst of thine heart.
16. Keep thy heart with all diligence.
17. Let thine eyes look right on.
18. Let thine eye lids look straight before thee.

19. Ponder the path of thy feet.

    We read about “the feet”, which can be used for evil. You can “walk”, which is a synonym for “live” and your feet can carry you toward evil or they can carry you toward good, as it is in the case of a believer.

20. Let all thy ways be established.

I mentioned that the inner man versus the outward man and we see that in 2 Corinthians 4:6-11 and 16-18.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness (remember Peter in that prison, the light shone, in that prison), hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure (which is the gospel - salvation) in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Now, let us go to 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, we read:

For which cause we faint not; …

Remember Luke chapter 18? Let us go to Luke 18:1-6. In Luke 18:1-6, we read:

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

And so, we are not to faint. Let us also go to Proverbs 24:10. In Proverbs 24:10, we read:

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

Let us go back and continue with 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, it continues:

… but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen (remember that, in Romans 8:24-25 we read, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Also remember that in 2 Corinthians 5:7, we read, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” and so, hope and faith are right there, they are synonymous, in that sense) but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

And so we can go back and think about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that they were living in tents. They were multi millionaires or may be worse and they were living in tents. They were not trusting in the walls of a city to protect them. They were trusting in JEHOVAH who said that He would build a hedge around them, that He would be their protection, that He would be their sustainer, that He would be their very life. He is our very life.

Now it is interesting that Paul was also a tent maker by trait and I believe that it was also Aquila (with his wife Priscilla) who was also a tent maker and so here we have another interesting physical situation. They had to make a living some how and so their living was to make tents.

But it is interesting because, we see that “the tent” just refers to our temporary stay here on earth. We are looking for that city, that heavenly country and every single believer that has ever lived has looked for that and wonderfully, we are living in a time when who knows? If other believers might have been jealous in their lifetime to have known that we could be so close and even though it is a strain for us, but think about all those millions and millions of other believers that have never had and never will have the opportunity to possibly, (if we are still alive) as I said earlier, to witness that.

Now it does not matter really because we are all going to the same place and they are already there and so some of us may be jealous of them and we are accompanying what they are already experiencing, but we are to be patient and it is a time of extreme hopefulness and should be of extreme gratitude for what God has allowed.

After all, look how He (God) has been so kind to use the believers to get out the message of May 21 2011. At no other time in history has God raised up a group of people, if by His mercy and directed them to be like a laser beam on this world to say that “this is what is going to happen” and to promote the Judgment of God and God gets all the glory.

We are the only ones that have been able to do that then. It is true that God used Paul, in a tremendous way and others throughout history but we could be very grateful that we have had a little part and some of us may have played a little part, even if we just gave out a few tracts or we sent money to Family Radio, or we prayed earnestly. All of that, God used.

Let us go to Ephesians 4:16. In Ephesians 4:16, we read:

From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The head cannot say to the hand that, “I have no need of you”, or the foot to the ear that, “I have no need of you”. No, every single part of the body is working together for the glory of God and for His purposes and we can only say that it is all to God’s glory from “A to Z” and we are just “unprofitable servants”, like Robert said.

Who are we that God should use us in any capacity much less save us. We do not deserve it at all. It is all to His glory and honour. Let us go back to Proverbs 4. We have some negative commands that God is reenforcing here as well.

1. Forsake ye not my law.
2. Forget not wisdom and understanding.
3. Neither decline from the words of my mouth.
4. (Having to do with wisdom and understanding) Forsake her not.
5. Let her not go. (Having to do with instruction)
6. Enter not into the path of the wicked.
7. Go not in the way of evil men.
8. Avoid it.
9. Pass not by it.
10. Turn from it.
11. Pass away.
12. Let them not depart from thine eyes. (These are the words or the sayings of God)
13. Put away from thee a froward mouth.
14. Perverse lips, put far from thee.
15. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.
16. Remove thy foot from evil.

We know that there are blessings associated with obedience and it is only by God’s grace that any one of us are obedient because God has to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Nonetheless, we cannot take any credit at all. We find Jacob stating this in Genesis 32:10. He says that:

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; (this is right before he is getting ready to meet up with Esau, I believe) for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

He (i.e Jacob) was legitimately frightened. He did not know what Esau was going to do. The last time he saw Esau, Esau wanted to kill him. But God directed him and gave him wisdom and in the end, God blessed their reunion and God as He does, (even in the valleys that we might go through, or the times of trouble or the times of not knowing what to do in a given situation) leads us and remember that in Romans 8:28, we read: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

When we think about that in each of our lives, it is uncanny. How does that develop? But yet, we know that, we see that and we experience that and so, what that does is, it gives us great assurance because we realise that God is totally in control and this is the wonderful hope that we have that regardless of what the outward circumstances might appear to seem or how difficult they might be, God is the one that is going to make that way and it is going to work out for good and He brings a blessing out of that.

I am always reminded of that, when I think about Joseph, because of everything that he went through. How would you like to be disowned by your own half brothers? And then sold into Egypt, and then he gets accused by Potiphar and then he ends up in prison for a long time and he knows that he has not done anything wrong.

Just like Job. He was being accused by his three friends. They accused him that he must have done all kinds of things wrong because of what God did to him then. They did not understand and I am sure that Joseph had his doubts at times.

But yet, he maintained, because he was a believer and also a picture of Christ, he maintained that he knew that God was in control and it was a really remarkable story. Also, in one day, he (i.e. Joseph) goes from prison all the way to being the prime minister, to being the second in command in Egypt and how wonderful is that?

It is a wonderful wonderful story but beyond the story, because it says in Psalms 105:17-19 that, “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: the word of JEHOVAH tried him.”

He was in affliction for a long long time and he may have got a ray of hope, when he interpreted the dreams for the butler and the baker and he thought that maybe, that would be the time, but yet, God had him in there for a longer period of time.

The butler forgot all about him until Pharaoh had the dream and so you see that even with Joseph, he had to wait, in a situation that was a very very trying situation and hope differed at one point but then God came back and he got out of prison and he became prime minister and God fulfilled everything that He wanted to do for Israel way back then with Joseph.

He set the whole thing up in motion, so that when it became time for Moses to leave the children of Israel, everything was in place and so, God’s mercy is just remarkable and the same thing applies to us today.

I think we need to keep this in mind, that God has not forgotten His people, His sheep, His beloved and He is completely in control. We know that up here (points to his head). But we have to continually, in our hearts realise that God is sovereign and that He will work it out and we have to trust His timing, but not our timing.

We have got to trust His timing because His timing as Chris has said numerous times is perfect. He is on the right track and we just have to follow Him. One other verse with regards to the fact that, “God has to do everything through us” is in Ephesians 2:10. It really highlights where the good works, the obedience, that a believer might do comes from. And this is right on the heels of Ephesians 2:8 and 9. Let us go to Ephesians 2:8-19. In Ephesians 2:8-10, we read:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (It says) For we are his workmanship (We have the treasure in earthern vessels. The earthern vessels are the workmanship), created in Christ Jesus unto good works (when did this happen?), which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

When did He ordain that? The same time He ordained salvation, before the foundation of the world. That is why we cannot take any credit. It was all established in eternity past. It was all a done deal, and God is just working it out, over the centuries, over the millennia. He is working it out in the lives of His people. A blessing for them but it is also a blessing for whoever they come in contact with because that is how He works. The main principal to keep in mind I think, is encapsulated in John 3:27:

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

A couple of points that I want to mention having to do with Proverbs 4:18 but we have not even got into this yet. But we will, in the next segment I think. First of all and I mentioned this earlier that Christ is the wisdom of God according to 1 Corinthians 1:24:

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

The two go hand in hand because it is His power that He exerts in saving His people throughout history and then using His people to be those vessels that house that glorious gospel of grace, that glorious gospel of eternal life, that He wants us to be the channel of. Also, if we go to Job 28:28, there we read:

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

If we go to Isaiah 11:1-3, we find a verse (or a passage) that is connected to Job 28:28, having to do with “wisdom” which is being defined in Job 28:28 as “the fear of the Lord” and “understanding” is being defined as “to depart from evil” (departing from evil) which we see frequently in Proverbs 4.

In Proverbs 4:14-15, we read, “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” In other words, there is a lot of emphasis on “stay away from that” plus there is also a lot of emphasis on obeying the Word and staying in the Word and keeping our focus on the Word of God from a positive standpoint. But here in Isaiah 11:1-3, of course, this is talking about Christ. In Isaiah 11:1-4, we read:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of JEHOVAH shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of JEHOVAH; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of JEHOVAH: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Verse 3 I think is a little easier to understand in J.P. Green’s Interlinear Bible.

In Isaiah 11:3, in the King James Version of the Bible, we read:

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of JEHOVAH: …

But in Isaiah 11:3, in the J.P. Green’s Interlinear Bible, we read:

And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. …

Because “… quick understanding …” is really the word “breathe” or “breath” and if you think about that for a minute, every thought or word or action, every breath that the LORD Jesus Christ took, was all to the glory of God.

He was breathing in and out the fear of the LORD. He lived perpetually, moment by moment, in the fear of the LORD and in obeying His Father moment by moment. From the moment He was conceived in Mary’s womb till He said, “…, It is finished: …” ”… and gave up the ghost.”, moment by moment, it was the fear of the LORD.

It was obeying the LORD, moment by moment, that never stopped, that was never altered ever, in His physical lifetime and so, that is such an example for us and how far we fall short of that. There are benefits to obedience,

1. By wisdom and understanding which comes from God’s Word, that will preserve us.

2. She (again, wisdom and understanding) shall keep thee.

3. She shall promote thee.

   Remember that in Psalm 75:6, we read: “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.” Also remember that in Psalm 75:7, we read: “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

   We have a great example with Pharaoh, where God says in Romans 9:17, “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.” Though it meant the death of Pharaoh and the death of all the men that were presumably the greatest army in the world at that time.

   They all perished in the Red sea. They saw their bodies washed up on the sand. The greatest army in the world was defeated, just like that, by the hand of God because who can resist God? Nobody can. His will, will be done, just like when Robert read, from Exodus 15 and that whole chapter is extolling, magnifying, worshipping God for this tremendous victory and we can do the same with regards to May 21, 2011 where God had this tremendous victory and all praise and glory goes to Him for sure.

4. [Ed: not explicitly mentioned by the speaker]

5. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace.

6. A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

   Remember that in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, we read: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

7. The years of thy life shall be many.

   It is not talking about physical life. It is talking about eternal life.

8. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straightened or constricted.

9. When thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

   Let us go to Isaiah 40:31. In Isaiah 40:31, we read:

   But they that wait upon JEHOVAH shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

10. She is thy life (as we talked about earlier).

    And this is the verse hopefully we can get to.

11. But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

12. The words of the Bible are life unto those that find them.

    How do we find them? God brings them to us. He brings those words to us and by those words, He saves us and not only does He save us but He equips us for whatever His purpose is, for us and as I said earlier, “each believer is part of this wonderful body, at any given time on earth”. Just think about all these believers that you and I cannot see.

    Now may be we know somebody, in another country and there is a bond there because we know this individual who is a believer in another country. But think about all the believers throughout the entire world and what they are doing today - worshipping God, spending time in His word, and God is utilizing this massive army and right now, the army is at rest.

    We are not really fighting as we were prior to May 21, 2011. But, nonetheless, God is working through His people as He has promised to do and as He is doing and of course He has the plan. He is the general and we are just the foot soldiers and we are listening and we need to be listening to His word because that is where the commands are coming down from and of course, it is not easy because we are in a time that is as we have read earlier, in 2 Corinthians 4, it is perplexing and yet, we are not despaired, we have a hope and little by little, God is showing through the clouds and through the midst, that there is the path and there is where you have got to go and He is directing His people.

13. The words of the Bible are health to all their flesh.

    Let us go to Proverbs 3:7-8. In Proverbs 3:7-8, we read:

    Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear JEHOVAH, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Let us stop here.

Father in Heaven, we thank you again for this opportunity to look at your Word and O Father, we thank you for the precious promises in Your Word that we are in a situation where we are totally dependent upon You for truth and we thank You that You are at work in the lives of Your people. Cause us, to cleave to You, in every possible way and to love You by loving others, as You have commanded us to do and we thank You for all of Your wonderful gifts that You have given to us and continue to give us and we recognize that we do not deserve anything from Your hand of mercy, from Your hand of grace. We pray for Your continued blessing for this conference, for each person and family that is here and for travelling mercies as they go back to their homes and that You might truly bless Your word today to each of our hearts, that we might be encouraged and lifted up and that our focus might be all together upon the LORD Jesus Christ. We ask these things, with grateful hearts, in Jesus name. Amen