By Simon ManchesterSunday 15 Sep 2024Christian Growth with Simon ManchesterFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
Good morning, everybody. We gather to listen to the word of God. Uh, we’re not here to listen to the tiny brains of the preachers. And today, and for the next two Sundays, we’re going to be listening to the Old Testament Book of Proverbs and today, if possible, to consider what Proverbs says about God himself. And my hope is that by looking at God in the Book of Proverbs, it will bring to us great wisdom about Him and great comfort from Him.
Uh, about 100 years ago, a girl, a lady called Helen Lemmel, wrote a famous little chorus ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.’ And that’s our hope and plan.
Now Proverbs is one of the wisdom books in Scripture. You probably know that there are history books. There are poetry, books, books of law, books of prophecy. There are gospels. There are letters or epistles, and there are five wisdom books in the Old Testament. We need wisdom, of course, because we need to know what to say sometimes what to do and we need to know what not to say and what not to do.
And wisdom is more than being clever. Uh, there are many clever fools around as we know, uh, I was reading this week that one of the greatest libraries in America, which is in Pennsylvania, was unknowingly built above a uranium deposit. And the uranium deposit was causing through a sort of a rift in the earth’s crust this, uh, gas, poisonous gas, to seep into the very library where people were sitting to learn and to be very brilliant.
And in our world, of course, there are thousands of clever and witty gurus. But, uh, you have to ask yourself every now and again, which of them are helping me, actually helping me to live well and wisely and safely.
To live well, wisely and safely
Well, God has given us his wisdom. He’s given it for our well-being. The difficulty in reading the Book of Proverbs is that there’s about 900 Proverbs. Providentially, they’ve been arranged, um, artificially but helpfully into 31 chapters. And therefore you can read one chapter a day for the month, but they’re not in a neat arrangement. Uh, they’re not arranged topically or even alphabetically. And so you can either read the Book of Proverbs a little bit like listening to the radio, where you’re just getting whatever songs they decide to play. In other words, you get what you get, or you can read the book of proverbs like You’re collecting a compilation, a collection under a particular theme or topic.
And the aim this morning is the second it’s to collect some of the proverbs under the heading or the theme of God himself. I’ve given you a little outline, which you can follow or take home, and I want to say, by way of introduction before we jump into the text. I think it’s very reasonable to assume that proverbs were written or edited by King Solomon. King Solomon was the son of King David.
Chapter one, Verse one of Proverbs says that he is responsible. It also says in Chapter 10 verse one that he is behind the proverbs and we’re told in the Book of Kings one. Kings, Chapter four, Verse 32 that, um, Solomon actually created 3000 Proverbs, and so perhaps a third of them have found their way into this book. Well, it will help you to know also that, uh, wisdom books are written for God’s people, that is, people who are saved by God loved by God in covenant with God, part of his kingdom. But they do concentrate on daily life. That is, there’s not such a lot of emphasis on getting saved or how to be saved or being in the kingdom or even being in covenant. The wisdom book, especially here in Proverbs, are looking at how to live in the world, avoiding certain pitfalls and enjoying what God has for us.
In other words, as you live this week and you’ve got some opportunities in front of you and you’ve got some dangers in front of you, how are you gonna walk The best path to the best goal that, I think, is one of the best definitions of wisdom that I have ever heard to walk the best path to the best goal. Well, the beauty of proverbs is that the verses come flying at you and they do keep you from error because even though they might be coming randomly at you from all different directions, they will keep you from error. And in the Providence of God from evil and they’ll steer you into the truth.
So if you like brief sentences, if you like bumper sticker, uh, truths. If you would like something good to be on a sign outside the front of a church and not something that’s cheesy or terrible, the Book of Proverbs is your book, and we’re gonna think about the subject of God in the Book of Proverbs under two headings this morning. The first is the greatness of God and the second is the goodness of God. First of all, the greatness of God and Proverbs tells us that God is great because he is our maker. Proverbs, Chapter three, Verse 19. The Lord Put the Earth and the heavens in place. In other words, the Book of Proverbs echoes what we’re told in Genesis, which is that God is our creator or our maker.
You’ll notice in the verse, which I’ve just mentioned 319, that the word lord is actually in capital letters LORD. And this is because the word in the original is the word Yahweh or Jehovah. In other words, the God of Covenant, the god of relationship. So the writer is saying our covenant God, our God made everything. The God of love who loves us is the god of power.
Uh, there are about 100 references to God in the Book of Proverbs, and about 87 of them use this word, Yahweh or Jehovah. And so when you’re sitting next time and you’re having your time of prayer, you might bow your head and you might say something to God like this. Oh, God, I owe you everything. Without you, there would be no heavens, there would be no earth. And there would be no me and you, being the great maker, have put all this together the great details and the small.
And so, um, proverbs reminds us that God is our maker. And therefore, I hope you have completely rejected the irrational idea that we’re here by chance. Proverbs tells us that God is our maker.
No wonder. Then, in chapter 10, verse three, we’re told that God provides for the hungry. He makes his world and he provides for his world. And I understand if you’re interested that the provision of food for the world is approximately one and a third of what is needed by the people who live in the world. And so the problem of starvation and hunger is not a contribution question from God. It’s a distribution question from us.
So that’s the first mark of God. That’s his greatness. He’s our maker. Second mark of his greatness is that he’s sovereign, which means that he rules over everything, whether it’s the cosmic events or whether it’s the small details we read in Proverbs. Chapter 16, Verse 33. We toss the coin. God decides the outcome. What an amazing thought. Flip a coin into the air. God decides whether it will come down, heads or tails. Chapter 16, Verse nine. We plan our course. He decides the outcome.
And Bruce Waltke, who’s written two large volumes on the subject of the Proverbs and studied the Book of Proverbs for 30 years, says a man may plan his road, but he is deluded if he supposes that he has unfettered control and can impose his will on every situation. And those of you who have planned a trip or holiday will know exactly what he’s talking about. We’re not always in the control that we think we’re in well, Chapter 19, Verse 21 puts it like this. Many are our plans, but the Lord’s purpose prevails. Or in an amazing verse, Proverbs 21 Verse 30 says there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.
The greatest example of this, I guess, would be the plotting to kill Jesus and behind everything, this complete sovereignty of God causing the death of Jesus to bring about the payment for sin and the giving of new life to the believer.
So the sovereignty of God is a very great mark of God’s greatness. Now you won’t love the doctrine of the sovereignty of God if you don’t balance that with the goodness of God, because there’s no comfort in the sovereignty of God if he is heartless and ruthless.
But actually the Scripture tells us that he is the opposite of heartless and ruthless but loving and compassionate. And if you want to know what God is like, says Jesus, look at Jesus in the New Testament and you’ll know exactly what God is like. The third mark of God’s greatness is that he is the judge. Justice, we know deeply concerns God right through the Bible and in Chapter 11 verse one of Proverbs. We read that the Lord detests dishonest scales that accurate weights find his favour. So it’s interesting, isn’t it, that the sovereign great creator maker God looks down and sees what is happening in the marketplace?
He sees what’s happening at the butcher shop. He sees what the garage mechanic is doing and charging you and every transaction and every legislation is noted by God. We may be tempted, of course, to think that God doesn’t see or doesn’t care, and we may even be further tempted to think that if he does see he doesn’t care or do anything.
The Proverbs Chapter five, Verse 21 says that for the Christian and the Non-christian, our ways are in full view of the Lord and Chapter 15, Verse three, The Eyes of the Lord everywhere. And if you’re a believer, you need to remind yourself that he’s looking at you as a father, looks at a child with incredible compassion and appreciation, and therefore, if things are not sorted out quickly for you and they’re sometimes not sorted out quickly, we need to remember Proverbs 20 Verse 22 wait for the Lord.
Wait for the Lord. He will avenge in Chapter 15, Verse 25. The Lord tears down the proud, but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place. So there is a great sovereign judge maker. Three marks of God’s greatness. He’s our maker, He’s the sovereign God and he’s the judge. These things cover the past, the present and the future. He is a very great God, and Proverbs tells us now. Secondly, the Book of Proverbs tells us that he is good. It’s easy to lose confidence in God’s goodness, especially when things go wrong. And it takes a special kind of faith when things do go wrong to turn to him and say, This is not the time, Heavenly Father, for me to turn away from you.
This is the time where I need you more than ever, and therefore save me from being foolish and turning my back on you as if your job is to make sure that everything goes well for me all the time. But now that there is a test or a trial, help me to trust you in the present.
And Jesus, you remember, took special care to teach us that, uh, God as a father is a better father than any earthly father. And we see this in the Book of Proverbs. The Goodness of God. First mark of his goodness. He is a father. Proverbs, Chapter three, Verse 12. The Lord disciplines those he loves as a father. The son he delights in. So how does God discipline or test or try his people? How does he make them strong? Mature? How does he help them? To make progress as a father loves a sun.
And we see this, um, fatherly concern of God in the Old Testament as his fatherly to the nation that when you get to the New Testament, Jesus teaches that God is a father to each individual believer that every Christian can call God. Father.
So we read in Proverbs, Chapter 15, Verse eight. The prayers of his people. Please. Him. We read in chapter 15, Verse 29. He hears the prayers of his people. I’ve been reading a book which, uh, is a strange book, but I found it, um, in a charity shop. And it’s, uh, the letters, the life and the letters of a man called Noel Coward. Uh, he was a very witty and clever 20th century playwright, very gifted man but very hostile to Christianity. And in one of his letters, he writes to his mother because she’s going through a certain amount of trouble looking after somebody who’s quite sick. And he says in the letter these words, I’m saying prayers to a fat, contented God in a dirty nightgown who hates you and me and every living creature in the world. That is a very bitter sentence, and you can only talk like that if you turn right away from the truth of God in the Scriptures. In fact, what he said is the exact opposite of what the Bible says.
That the loving God, the Good God is attentive to the cries of his people. So I found that comment of Noel Coward very distressing, really, because it’s so slanderous. But if you and I find the best earthly father and multiply his qualities by a billion, we’re just slowly approaching the greatness and the goodness of God. Second mark of God’s goodness is that his merciful proverbs. Chapter 28 Verse 13 says to conceal sin has no future but to confess and renounce finds mercy. In other words, it pleases God to be merciful. When a person turns back to him for mercy, he is pleased to be merciful. And you remember the words of the prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament. Who said I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. So turn and live, we need the mercy of God. Proverbs, Chapter 20 Verse nine says. Who is pure? Who is clean? Well, none of us.
We need the mercy of God, and God is not merciful by sweeping our sins under the carpet and saying, Well, that don’t matter. No, God is merciful by making a way for them to be forgiven. And he does this at his own expense. Romans Chapter eight, Verse 31. He who did not spare his own son that gave him up for us all. Will he not along with him, graciously give us all things so if he’s merciful in creating our salvation? If he’s merciful in forgiving our sins, you can be pretty sure that he is merciful in wanting the best for us. And this mercy, which we receive from God in oceans of mercy, needs to be passed on in buckets to other people.
So proverbs, Chapter 19, verse 11. It’s to one’s glory to overlook an offence. We’re like that, uh, person in the parable in Matthew, Chapter 18, who has been forgiven billions of dollars and therefore is willing to forgive hundreds of dollars.
And the third mark of God’s goodness is that he is the Saviour. Proverbs, Chapter 18, Verse 10. The Lord is a fortified tower. His people run to him and are safe. And of course, our greatest danger is our sin. And so we run to him for mercy. But we’ll run to him on many occasions and find him to be faithful. Chapter 14, Verse 27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snare of death. Well, fear of God is a healthy fear, like fearing the ocean is a healthy fear. And God, who is the Saviour, welcomes with mercy and life the person who turns to him. That is a very small selection from the Book of Proverbs on the Greatness and Goodness of God.
And when we read the Book of Proverbs, you see it guides us to the truth. It guides us to the path, and it guides us into the very arms of God. I want to finish this morning with a little bit of application, because the danger is that we’ll say, Well, I hope this is good for somebody else. It’s got nothing to say to me. Somebody has very whistly defined a Christian as a person who believes the New Testament is divinely inspired and admirably suited to somebody else.
Now why are these truths about God that I’ve just mentioned the greatness of God and the goodness of God? Why are they more than moderately interesting? And the answer is you and I need them for life. Otherwise we’ll fall into great ditches of doubt or pride or foolishness or despair. We need these truths without the information that God gives us about himself. We will fall for 1000 doubts and 1000 mistakes.
And I would suspect that before the day is over, you and I will probably find ourselves saying God is in charge. God is in charge. God is in charge. God is my hope. God is my hope. God is my hope. Unless we live by the truth, we will just be people with info, but not with wisdom. You see, Solomon was so brilliant, but he became such a fool, Such an idiot. He turned from the path he turned to the gold. He turned to the power he turned to the women. He stopped living the truth that, uh, famous little parable that Jesus tells him at the end of the sermon on the Mount is about two men who both listen.
But one does the word and finds his house on rock. The other one listens but doesn’t do the work and finds his house on sand. Now, my friend, since we do fail, since we do turn foolishly away again and again, we must thank God deep in our hearts for the one person who lived the truth perfectly. Jesus Christ.
And this one person who lived the truth perfectly died for people who’ve not lived the truth perfectly.
And he gives us his forgiveness and he gives us his spirit, and he gives us his wisdom. You remember Jesus described himself as one greater than Solomon, and that’s why God’s people are to be marked very much by humility. Because we know what we’re like and gratitude because we know what he’s like. You’ll notice that the nations of the world and this is very relevant in Australia at the moment trace their roots to either conquest.
We’re great or to injustice. We’ve been badly treated. But Christians, we trace our roots to rescue the love of God, the power of God, the greatness of God, the goodness of God. And I trust these truths will help you that through this day and this week and perhaps into the weeks to come you look back and you’ll say, the god of the Bible, who I belong to is very great and very good.
Let’s pray,
Father, thank you for revealing yourself without which we would be in the dark. Thank you for supremely revealing yourself in the Lord Jesus helping us to see so clearly who you are and what you have done. And thank you for these two great truths that we focused on this morning – your greatness and your goodness. We pray that you would help us to appreciate them, to receive them, to not abuse them and to rejoice in them. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.