Proverbs 8:7-9
All the Words of My Mouth
Introduction:
1. This chapter personifies wisdom. Wisdom is spoken of as a woman crying out to be heard. (vs.1)
2. She cries to the simple and to the fools—but also to ALL the sons of men. (vs. 4-5)
3. Her last exhortation was for men to HEAR her when she speaks, for she speaks of excellent things. (vs. 6)
4. Next, Solomon describes the words of Lady Wisdom: they are characterized by truth; righteousness; and plainness.
1. When Lady Wisdom speaks, you KNOW it is truth.
a. How does Lady Wisdom speak to us? Through the Word!
b. Thy Word is truth. (John 17:17)
c. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. John 14:17
d. The Holy Spirit guides into all truth. John 16:13 (He guides and illuminates us into the truth too.)
2. We don’t have to WONDER about truth. We HAVE it! (We don’t appreciate this fact as we should.)
a. Consider the parent in the world… and the struggles they face because they don’t know the Lord and don’t have the truth.
• They love their kids just like we do…
• They want to be good parents… and want their kids to turn out well.
• BUT—they have been fed all kinds of contradictory information… they have heard countless voices on HOW to raise children.
• Some spank their kids and feel guilty because they are afraid they are harming them… teaching them to be violent.
• Some don’t spank their kids because they have been told spanking is harmful… and yet they see a lack of good results and wonder if they are doing the right thing…
• They don’t know the truth. Knowing the truth will set you free from such needless worries!
b. Consider the religious man. (I am corresponding with one right now!)
• He may want to go to heaven. He may fear going to hell.
• His priest has told him to keep the sacraments, so he does.
• Yet, he doesn’t have peace… and he sees his Jehovah’s Witness neighbor who is just a nice family man—and he wonders if perhaps he is missing out… so he goes to a Jehovah’s Witness Bible study… and he is being witnessed to at work…
• There are a lot of religious men who are genuinely searching for truth… but don’t know where to look.
c. Consider the psychologist.
• The so-called “science” of modern psychology is in disarray today.
• The practicing psychologist KNOWS that there are several very different and contradictory schools of psychology today. They can’t all be right.
• They are entrusted with the fragile lives of people every day.
• Some of them MUST wonder if what they are prescribing is right… if what they are saying is true…
• I’m sure some of them have a hard time sleeping at night… on occasion.
• No matter how well versed they are in their particular school of psychology, they must be troubled by the concept of TRUTH…
d. Consider Pilate and his famous question to the Lord Jesus, “What is truth?”
• No doubt kings, judges, lawyers, and other officials have battled over this subject.
e. BUT—we don’t have to worry about truth. We don’t have to wonder. We just have to READ God’s Word and we KNOW we have truth!
• We don’t have to wonder and worry about whether we are doing right by our kids when we spank them. We know God’s Word on the subject is truth!
• We don’t have to worry or wonder whether we are going to heaven or not. God’s Word is truth and settles all those worries. It gives rest.
• We are not seeking for truth any more. We have found it! Men in the world may be seeking, but don’t know where to look or how to recognize it when they see it.
• We only seek truth in the sense of examining all the jewels in God’s treasure chest—the Bible.
• Men in the world are looking for the treasure chest…
• We have found the truth in God’s Word… and we can TRUST and believe everything it says… rightly divided.
• God said it; I believe it; that settles it! That’s rest!
• When the Bible speaks on history, creation, salvation, doctrine, man’s nature, man’s purpose in life, our eternal destiny—it is all TRUE!
• Since I became a Christian, I have never once wondered, “Where did I come from? What is the purpose in life? Why am I here? Is there an afterlife?”
• Those issues plague many people. Not the believer! Praise God for Lady Wisdom.
3. We should value the truth.
a. Prov. 23:23 – Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
• Whatever Lady Wisdom says, it’s worth buying… and keeping.
• ANY truth from God’s word is valuable and useful—even if it doesn’t seem to apply to your life today… or meet your needs today — hold on to it. It may be just what you need later! So buy it and put it on layaway if need be.
4. We should speak the truth like Lady Wisdom!
a. Eph. 4:25 – Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
b. Phil. 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true…. THINK on these things.
c. Prov. 3:3 – We should be thinking truth and speaking truth because truth should be engraved on our heart… it should be part of us. It IS part of our new nature!
d. Prov. 12:22 – God delights in those who deal truly. (deal = work; spend one’s time; act)… if it characterizes our life, God is delighted!
e. Everything that comes out of Lady Wisdom is truth. That should be the case in our lives too.
5. Wickedness is an abomination to her lips.
a. In this context, wickedness refers to anything less then truth… pure truth…
b. Truth that is mixed with error is an abomination.
c. A misleading ½ truth is abomination.
d. A true statement taken out of context and presented deceptively is abomination.
e. Deep down in our heart, we know when we are speaking pure truth. We know if we are changing it; twisting it; bending it; taking it out of context; diluting it; and God knows too.
f. Anything less than pure truth is an abomination—something utterly disgusting to God.
1. All the words coming out of Lady Wisdom’s mouth are in righteousness.
2. Psalm 11:7 – The Lord LOVES righteousness.
a. Righteousness is His character. It characterizes all He is and all HE does.
b. Whatever God does or says is RIGHT.
3. Psalm 119:128 – Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
a. Can you say Amen to that?
b. Do we really esteem ALL of His precepts concerning ALL things to be right?
c. When God destroyed the world in the days of Noah—do you esteem Him to be right?
d. When the sweet little old lady down the street dies and goes to hell, do you esteem that God’s judgment is right? What if she was your grandmother? Or do we rebel against some of His precepts and judgments…
e. Some of God’s precepts have been quite harsh. When God sent the Israelis into the land to kill all the Canaanites and take their land—do you esteem those precepts to be right?
f. Sometimes—with our limited perspective—it is difficult to understand HOW some of God’s precepts can be “right.”
g. How do we settle this in our mind and heart? By knowing and trusting God Himself. If we trust Him, we can leave all those hard to understand issues in His hands.
h.) We need to learn to esteem ALL His precepts in ALL things to be RIGHT!
4. Psalm 119:75 – I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
a. When we are afflicted and suffering it is hard to see how that suffering is an example of God’s righteous judgment—especially if we have been walking with the Lord. Job struggled with this issue.
b. But, God wants our hearts to be tender toward Him. Faith and trust answers all those unanswerable questions for us. If we know God and trust Him… then we can be comfortable leaving the affliction with Him.
c. Faith enables us to say, “He doeth all things well” “Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.” “All thy judgments are right.”
5. Hosea 14:9 – Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
a. Israel often had a hard time accepting that the ways of the Lord were right.
b. They sometimes accused God’s ways of being crooked—uneven—unfair!
c. Ezek.18:29 – Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
d. This is a common cry even among believers today. “That wasn’t fair!”
e. Lady Wisdom wants us to know that whatever she says (all God says or does) is RIGHT!
f. We don’t have to understand it all, but he does expect us to trust Him.
6. Psalm 19:8 – The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart.
a. Once this truth is established in our hearts, it will cause us great joy!
b. At first glance, some of God’s words or actions might cause us grief. But as we get to know Him, we discover that he is GOOD, kind, gracious, loving, holy, and always does that which is best and right. We can bank on that.
c. Thus, we can trust Him… leave difficult issues in His care… knowing that all He does is right!
d. When this truth finally sinks in what peace and joy it will bring to our heart.
7. His wisdom and His Word is FULL of righteousness.
a. Whatever God says, is RIGHT. No debates. No arguments. No amendments.
b. The world is beginning to have some strange ideas about children and child rearing—“children are little adults.” They are NOT little adults, they are children.
c. Children are NOT to rule in the home. They are to obey their parents. Why? Because it is RIGHT. Why is it right? Because God said so. He knows best.
d. I Tim. 2:11 – women are not to be teachers in the assembly. The world says that is wrong—but God says it is right.
e. Eph. 5:23 – the husband is to be the head of the wife. The world says that is wrong—but God says it is right.
f. God’s wisdom says that homosexuality is sin. The world says it is acceptable. What God says is right—no matter how unpopular it might become.
g. I Cor. 5:5 – this might seem harsh, but it is RIGHT! God means it for good—for the individual who sinned and for the assembly.
h. If we did not have God’s Word—Lady Wisdom shouting out to us—we would be just as blind as those in the world… wandering in darkness… having to GUESS as to what is right and wrong.
i. That Lady Wisdom is crying out in the streets… and thank God what she says is always right.
j. There is nothing froward (twisted) or perverse in them! You can trust what God says.
1. All these difficulties—things hard to be understood—are PLAIN to the one who understands God… who knows who God is!
2. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him.
3. There are many things in the Bible that cause men much consternation… anguish… distress… (election; virgin birth; feeding 5000, creation from nothing; resurrection of the body)
a. But these things are PLAIN… straightforward to the one who understands… to the one who knows God and fears Him.
• The Bible really is plain. It is not much that it is hard to understand—but it is hard to believe!
• But the one who has a heart of faith—God’s word is plain.
• It is PLAIN when it speaks of—virgin birth; feeding 5000, creation from nothing; resurrection, etc…
• I don’t know HOW God created the world from nothing. BUT, through faith we can understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God—and the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
• That’s plain.
b. These things are all RIGHT to the one who has found knowledge!
4. Whatever we don’t understand or perhaps there are some things that don’t SEEM right to us… remember the following:
a. There is a way that SEEMETH right, but the ends thereof are the ways of death!
b. Ps. 147:5 – Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
c. God’s understanding is infinite. That should settle everything for us. Trust Him.