Christ is Wisdom

INTRODUCTION

Imagine a woman standing in the food court of Patrick Henry Mall on Black Friday, crying out at the top of her voice.

Lifting her voice above the noise of stores and the shopping...

Pleading with people to fear the Lord.

She is calling out to all of the people who are eating their food and talking about a myriad of things...

She is inviting them to come to the Lord and to have the Spirit of wisdom poured out on them...

And she is also warning them that if they do not submit themselves to wisdom, they are in danger of eternal judgment.

We would say that this sounds like a pretty dramatic scene, wouldn’t we?

Well—this is the scene of Proverbs 1:20-33.

We have the woman of Wisdom crying aloud in the streets of the marketplace, lifting her voice above din.

She offers an invitation and she offers a warning.

And her message is one that will be heeded or rejected.

And everyone who hears her voice must deal with her message.

So far in Proverbs we have seen the seven verses, which are like an instruction manual for the entire book.

And we have seen Solomon addressing his son, exhorting him not to forsake his teaching and his mother’s instruction.

Not to go along with wicked sinners and fall into their self-made traps.

Tonight, we see Solomon wrapping up his first fatherly address to his son.

There are ten of them in the first seven chapters of Proverbs.

Let’s read the passage:

Proverbs 1:20–33 ESV

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

As we study this passage tonight, we can divide it up into four sections:

1. Christ is Wisdom crying out (v. 20-21).

2. Christ is Wisdom lamenting sinners (v. 22).

3. Christ is Wisdom calling for repentance (v. 23).

4. Christ is Wisdom warning of judgment (v. 24-33).

WISDOM IS CRYING OUT (v. 20-21)

Before we get to our first teaching point, let us ask--

WHO IS WISDOM?

So far in Proverbs, we have see Solomon speaking to his son.

The boy’s mother is mentioned.

We’ve heard of enticing evildoers.

We’ve been told of the Lord, who must be feared.

But here at the end of chapter 1, who is “Wisdom?”

Who is this woman called wisdom who cries out above the noise of the world (v. 20) and speaks at the entrance of the city? (v. 21)

Who is Wisdom—whom we will see crying out again in Proverbs 8?

Different commentators have taken different positions on this and we won’t spend time looking at all of them tonight.

Instead, I will simply make my case for the fact that I believe it is appropriate for us to view Wisdom at the Lord Jesus.

The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom. We have already seen that in our study.

So as you see Wisdom here in this passage, depicted as the woman who is warning and heralding in the marketplace, on one hand, we can say that she is wisdom personified.

And that is as far as some Bible commentators are willing to go. Lady Wisdom is just wisdom personified.

However, I am willing to go farther, and here is why.

As God has sent judges and prophets under the Old Covenant and Apostles and teachers under the New Covenant, have they not all been sent in the wisdom of God?

Of course they have. Listen to what Jesus says to the Pharisees and lawyers in Luke 11.

Luke 11:49 ESV

Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

Similarly, in Matthew 23, He says:

Matthew 23:34 ESV

Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,

Now who would be the pinnacle of the wise prophets that was sent by God?

We know that the answer is Jesus. He is even wiser than Solomon.

Luke 11:31 ESV

The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

As Gary Brady says, Christ is apex. He is the true wisdom of God.

Just as Paul plainly states in 1 Corinthians 1:24

1 Corinthians 1:23–24 ESV

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

As Solomon wrote, I believe his intention is to personify the wisdom of the book of Proverbs with this Woman of Wisdom.

She stands in contrast the Woman of Folly.

Proverbs 9:13 ESV

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.

But with our New Covenant glasses on, we can look backward on the book of Proverbs and see that Christ is not just wisdom personified in a literary sense.

He is not just representative of wisdom.

He is the Wisdom of God.

And since we know that, we should have no problem hearing our Savior’s voice as we hear the voice of Lady Wisdom—especially when we see Wisdom’s reaction to sin and promise to the repentant in this passage.

You may be uncomfortable about this because Jesus is the God-MAN and Wisdom is personified as a woman in the passage, but there’s no reason to.

We are not saying that Jesus is a woman. We are saying it is His voice that is speaking through the woman who is poetically depicted by Solomon here.

It would be similar to the poetic way Jesus spoke of Himself in Luke 13:34

Luke 13:34 ESV

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jesus was not saying He is literally a mother hen. He is using a poetic device in order to express his heart.

Likewise, in Proverbs 1, we are hearing the heart of Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, through the woman in the marketplace.

So with that stated, we can go ahead and jump into our first teaching point tonight:

1. Christ is Wisdom crying out (v. 20-21).

The voice of Christ is not like the voice of the enticing evildoers in verses 11-14.

They were trying to coral people to follow them in the shadows, where they lie in wait to ambush the innocent.

The cry of Wisdom is loud in the street and in the markets.

That which Wisdom will say in v. 22-33 is said out in the open. It is public.

The speech of the Wise Savior isn’t in dark back alleys.

It is right at the head of the streets.

It is front and center at the city gates where everyone comes in and goes out.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the voice of Wisdom would operate in this way, because this is how Christ operated when He was in the flesh.

Consider what he says to the High Priest in John 18.

John 18:20 ESV

Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.

Jesus’ voice calls out to the whole world indiscriminately.

Republicans. Democrats.

People of every ethnicity.

Poor people and rich people and everyone in between.

Commanders fans. Cowboys fans.

Southerners. Northerners.

Not everyone will respond. Not everyone will listen.

Not everyone will hear.

But His voice calls out.

His calls out amidst the noise of college campuses.

His voice calls out in the realm of politics.

His voice calls out in the economic sector.

OUR ROLE IN THE CALLING

But we must understand the role that we play in this in the age of the church’s witness.

The voice of Christ calls out through His body.

The voice of wisdom speaks through the Church.

Everywhere the church is proclaiming the Good News and scattering the seed of the Gospel on the soil of the world, the voice of Christ is calling out.

When you share the Gospel with your lost neighbor—Christ’s voice of wisdom is crying out through you.

When you warn your straying friend of the sin they are in and remind them of the Gospel they believe and what it requires of us—Christ’s voice of wisdom is crying out through you.

When we call on our children to forsake the offerings of the world and to trust in the wise Word of Jesus—Christ’s voice of wisdom is crying out through you.

Sometimes the noise of the streets and the tone of the marketplace can be intimidating to us.

We can feel like we are wasting our time by trying to speak over the loudness. We feel like we are shouting in a stadium full of other people who are shouting.

But if we are being faithful to proclaim Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, then we can be confident that His voice is more powerful and authoritative than the rest of those voices.

Our voices are as weak as we think they are.

They don’t possess power and authority in an of themselves.

But when the Voice of Wisdom is crying through His Church, we are bringing loud hope to the world.

WISDOM IS LAMENTING SINNERS (v. 22)

Let’s now look at v. 22, which shows us our next teaching point:

2. Christ is Wisdom lamenting sinners (v. 22).

His lament, which is found in v. 22, also reads like a rebuke.

It is aimed at three different crowds who all come from the same family of moral fallenness:

The simple who love being simple

The scoffers who delight in their scoffing

Fools who hate knowledge

And the voice of Wisdom laments, the level of immorality rises.

The simple would be those who lack a real moral resolve and are pretty naive.

Back at the beginning of the book, Solomon stated that one of the purposes of Proverbs is to give prudence to the simple (1:4).

Simple is what we are by nature.

We are not naturally bent toward loving God because of the fallen, sinful nature that we are born with.

And we are prone to being shaped and swayed by the empty morality of the world.

Simpleness is the lowest level here in the lament because in some ways it represents a naive dullness that inherent to the human condition.

But at the same time, no one should love being simple.

No one should love a lack of moral resolve and general naivety when it comes to right and wrong.

When someone does love being simple, it is going to escalate into scoffing and a delight in mocking Wisdom’s voice.

Who hasn’t seen this sort of attitude in action in our society?

People mock prayer.

People mock the Bible.

People scoff at the goodness of God.

People scoff at the significance of going to church.

Whether it is on television or in podcasts...

Whether it private conversation...

Whether it is verbally stated or internally whispered...

…The rejection of Christ’s wisdom and the mockery of the truth is all around.

It is the sign of a hardening heart.

And the simple one who scoffs and scoffs will end up playing the fool.

Throughout Proverbs, foolishness doesn’t refer to a lack of intellectual ability, but a lack of morality in belief and behavior.

Wisdom begins with fearing God. Foolishness is the refusal to fear God and hear the wisdom He offers.

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Psalm 14:1 describes the person who lives like an Atheist and claims there is no accountability with God is the fool.

Psalm 14:1 ESV

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

The lamentation from Christ, who is our Wisdom, serves as a warning.

If we love our simplicity, we must stop before we become the mocker.

If we are the mocker, we must stop, or we will end up pressing further into God-hating foolishness.

In lamenting, He is also calling sinners out of the foolishness.

The lamentation itself represents Wisdom’s desire to save people from the mire of their own mockery.

It is very similar to the words we already read tonight, where Jesus looks over Jerusalem and says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often I would have gathered your children together like a hen gathers her brood...”

But like Jerusalem, who would crucify the lamenting Savior just days later—many reject the voice of wisdom and continue on in the very sin that causes the lamenting.

This is tragic when we consider what is offered up in v. 23.

CALLING FOR REPENTANCE (v. 23)

Let’s look at our third teaching point:

3. Christ is Wisdom calling for repentance (v. 23).

Proverbs 1:23 ESV

If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

If you turn at my reproof…if you repent.

If you would listen and turn away from God-hating foolishness…I will pour out my spirit to you...

If there is any doubt that we can view Lady Wisdom as the voice of Christ, I believe this verse truly lays it to rest.

To illustrate this, let’s go to John 7, where we see a dramatic scene at the Feast of Tabernacles.

It is the final day of the festival. There are Jewish people from all over who have come to Jerusalem to keep the feast and recall how God sustained His people in the wilderness.

In the midst of this, Jesus stands up and cries out to the people:

John 7:37–39 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out. That would not happen until Jesus ascended to heaven, which is what John means by glorified.

But Jesus is telling people that if anyone trusts in Him, they will receive the Spirit when He is poured out.

This was a New Covenant promise from the Prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 36:25–27 ESV

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The flow of these verses are a clean parallel to what we are seeing in Proverbs 1:23.

The Spirit will be poured out and then the words of wisdom will be made known.

In Ezekiel, the Spirit will be sprinkled like water, causing the dead heart to come alive.

The new heart will have the Spirit dwelling within it and this will cause the child of God to walk in God’s statutes and be careful to obey His rules.

So then, the invitation of repentance, from the voice of Christ, is this:

Accept my lamenting rebuke and I will pour out my Spirit upon you.

You will not just KNOW God as a far off, external Being.

You will KNOW God because God will dwell in you—internally.

Gary Brady says:

Often it is the bitterest medicine that does the most good.

Gary Brady

That is completely true in the case of Christ’s reproof and promise.

Accept the bitter medicine that is admitting you have made a mess of yourself and your life.

Admit that you are wrong and God is right.

Admit that you are powerless to save yourself from simple, mocking foolishness.

And yet—if you would turn to Wisdom as the reproof is sounded out instead of turning away, that initial bitterness will be completely eclipsed by the joy of the indwelling Spirit and the implanted wisdom of God’s Word.

When we took the kids to summer camp in July, the camp pastor, Erik Reed, shared an illustration that stuck with me and hopefully our kids.

He said that when we consider repentance, we see that there is a little flame we are going to go through.

We are going to get burned by the initial misery of forsaking our sin.

Our flesh is not upset about our foolishness.

Our flesh is eager for us to remain foolish so we can keep indulging in the sin that satisfies the flesh.

In light of that, when we repent, there is this little burn of misery we experience due to the flesh.

However, on the other side of that little flame is Jesus.

On the other side, there is the fullness of joy.

There is the Spirit of wisdom and fellowship with the Father.

But Satan doesn’t want us to see that. So he blows on the little flame of misery and tries to make it into a giant firewall.

When we see that fanned flame as large, we don’t see the joy and wisdom of following Christ on the other side.

We only see the perceived pain of repentance.

We must see Satan’s ploy for what it is.

He has made the fanned the flame into a wall of fire, but that wall is still very thin.

We must walk through it—feel the sting of repenting and the bitterness of reproof—knowing that on the other side, we have Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, longing to pour out His Spirit upon us.

We must hear the call to repent and turn to Christ.

WARNING OF JUDGMENT (v. 24-33)

So have seen:

Christ is Wisdom crying out (v. 20-21).

Christ is Wisdom lamenting sinners (v. 22).

Christ is Wisdom calling for repentance (v. 23)

And now our final teaching point this morning:

4. Christ is Wisdom warning of judgment (v. 24-33).

As much as there is a great promise for those who do repent, there is also a great warning for those who do not.

If someone wants to carry on loving simplicity, delighting in mockery and being a fool, there will be consequences.

And there is more time given to the warning than the promise by Lady Wisdom.

Again—this is consistent with the teaching of Christ, who is the Wisdom of God speaking here.

Jesus spoke about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible.

And in His earthly teaching ministry, He was much more explicit about Hell than Heaven, in terms of giving details and vivid language.

Jesus was faithful to warn people of impending judgment, just like the voice of Wisdom in Proverbs 1.

REJECTION CONFIRMED (v. 24-25)

First of all, we have the rejection of Wisdom confirmed in v. 24-25.

Wisdom has called, but the people in the streets have not listened.

Wisdom has stretched out her hand in invitation, but the invitation has been rejected.

All of her counsel has been ignored and there is no tolerance for her reproof.

There will be divine ramifications for this sort of rejection.

SINNERS MOCKED (v. 26-27)

In v. 26-27, you see that there is laughing over calamity and a divine mocking that takes place when terror strikes.

God is good and He takes not delight in the death of the wicked.

He has a heart of compassion toward sinners.

However, He will also not be mocked.

And when the people of the nations rage against Him, He meets their mockery with mockery.

We see this in Psalm 2.

Psalm 2:2–4 ESV

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

We also see it in Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:13 ESV

but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

This sort of derisive laughter from the Lord shows how easily He is able to dismiss rebellion against Him.

He is like a big brother laughing at his toddler sibling trying to take swings at his ankles.

As the people of the earth reject God’s wisdom and reject His voice—His lamentation and His call for repentance—He sees the Day of their judgment coming and mocks their futility.

Their fist-shaking at Him will have zero ability to resist the calamity and terror of His judgment.

They will not be able to stop the distress and anguish of divine punishment.

It will come upon them like a hurricane—like a whirlwind (v. 27).

The words of verse 27 remind us of Jesus’ parable regarding the houses on the sand and the rock in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

This passage often gets preached as if the rain and floods and winds are the trials of life, but that doesn’t quite capture what Jesus is saying.

This is how He closes His most famous sermon.

This is Jesus saying, “Now that you have heard my teaching, you all have a choice. You can accept it or you can reject it.”

And the idea is this:

If you accept what He has said and by faith you follow Him, then when judgment comes, you will be like the house on the rock.

Your soul will withstand the judgment of God.

But if you reject Christ and His teaching, when the judgment comes—represented by the storm in the parable—you will be like the house built on stand.

Your soul will fall under the judgment of God.

It will be destruction.

The whirlwind of God’s judgment and distress and anguish it causes is what is being spoken of in v. 27.

WHEN IT IS TOO LATE (v. 28)

And these words must be heeded because at some point, the Day of Judgment will come and at that point—your life is your life and you will take account.

The time for choice will be over.

It will just be time for accountability.

This is what is depicted in v. 28, when the voice of Wisdom says this:

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

In this age, you can humbly pray for wisdom in faith, and God will give it.

But once our lives end and we stand before God—it will be too late for prayer.

Those who have spent their lives rejecting Christ will not be able to fall before the throne of the Wisdom of God and ask for a second chance.

They won’t be able to ask for wisdom to navigate the judgment they deserve and find a way out.

That time will be over.

Prayer, once omnipotent, will then be powerless.

Charles Bridges

Right now, we can pray according to the will of God and the sovereign God of the Universe will respond.

When people come to Him earnestly repenting and seeking Him in faith, they will be saved by His power.

But this will not be the case after death.

It is appointed for man to die once and face judgment.

Again, we can turn to the Sermon on the Mount and see this same reality playing out.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Those who reject wisdom in order to continue on in mockery and foolishness—those who work iniquity—will not have the Door of Paradise opened by the Lord of grace.

This makes the heeding of Wisdom’s voice urgent.

This means that today must be the day of repentance if we have been living foolishly and not fearing God.

Seek the Lord now.

Isaiah 55:6–7 ESV

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

THE FAIRNESS OF GOD’S JUDGMENT (v. 29-31)

Now, plenty of people respond to this doctrine of divine judgment by saying that it is not fair.

They will claim that a loving God would not allow people to suffer judgment.

And yet, they don’t use this same logic in their everyday lives.

They have no problem with judges in human courts upholding the law and administering justice.

In fact, they expect it.

But when it comes to God’s divine courts, they want different standards.

This is because people assume their innocence and assume God’s slackness.

They think, “Criminals get judged. I am not a criminal. Surely God sees this. I won’t be judged.”

But they judge themselves by their own standards of morality and by comparing themselves to people around them who are worse than they are.

If they compare their lives to God’s wise Law, they can no longer claim their innocence.

If they compare their lives with God’s standards, they will see that there have been many minutes and hours and days in which they have fallen well short of God’s standards.

How often do we choose to hate God’s knowledge and love the world’s? (v. 29)

How often do we choose not to fear the Lord as fallen human beings? (v. 29)

How often have we said, “We will have none of God’s counsel and correction—we will live how we want!” (v. 30)

This sort of rejection of God’s truth and wisdom is not just abstract. It is not just emotional.

It translates to actions in the lives of humanity.

The action of idolatry where we love created things over our Creator.

The action of taking God’s name in vain.

The action of dishonoring our parents.

The actions of murder and adultery and theft and lying.

The action of coveting.

And for these wisdom-rejecting, foolish sins, human beings will be judged by a perfect God according to His perfect Law.

So as God calls the guilty “guilty,” and pronounces judgment over sinful humanity, He is not being unfair.

Far from it.

He is simply giving them the fruit of their way—or their lives— to eat in judgment.

They have had their fill of their own devices and now they will have their fill of God’s judgment for eternity.

This is vividly depicted by John in Revelation 20:12-15

Revelation 20:12–15 ESV

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

THE FINAL CHOICE (v. 32-33)

And then the final words of the first fatherly address and chapter 1 come in verses 32-33.

It captures everything we have seen in Solomon’s first talk with his son.

If you press on in loving simplicity, and you are complacent in your foolishness—happy to continue not fearing God—the result will be death and destruction.

But if the voice of Wisdom is listened to—if we heed the words of Christ, then we will get the opposite of death and destruction.

Instead, we will receive the security of abundant, eternal life.

Even when the days of life are hard, there will be ease in the sense that there is no fear of the dread of disaster that judgment from God brings.

In the end, the voice of Christ coming through Lady Wisdom tells us that there are only two ways to live:

You can fear the Lord

Or you can live like a fool

Make your choice. But as you do—understand, there are eternal consequences.

He who has ears, let him hear Wisdom above the noise of the world.

And let him humble himself before Wisdom’s words.