Blessed Is He Who Reads & Hears

Proverbs 8:32-36....

Friday night I went to the Stagecoach Cafe in Stockton, to see a dear friend of mine that I haven’t seen in a long while. This friend was playing in a band that was performing at the cafe. The last song they sung was written by a man named Curtis Mayfield. It is called People Get Ready, it was sung by Mayfield’s group the Impressions. I believe the song was meant more for social and political issues, Mayfield said that he had got all of this from hearing sermons over the years at church.

Here is some of the lyrics from this song.........

People get ready, there’s a train comin' You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin' You don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord So people get ready there’s a train to Jordan Pickin' up passengers from coast to coast Faith is the key, open up the doors and board 'em There’s hope for all among those loved the most There ain’t no room for the hopeless sinner Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner For there’s no hiding place against the kingdom’s throne People get ready there’s a train comin' You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is some faith to hear the diesels hummin' And you don’t need a ticket, you just thank the Lord.

That got me to thinking, especially since we have been studying in Daniel, Scripture tells us this to be ready. A few times in Scripture we hear the words “For the Time is at Hand”

Jesus tells us that in Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

This led me to this passage of Scripture, which is a starting place and then we will move elsewhere in God’s Word!

The writer of the Proverbs, most likely this was written by Solomon, has been and continues to speak about wisdom.

The definition of wisdom is this: “the capacity to understand and so have skill in living,”

Understanding something and believing it to the point of living it!

I read it this way last week: “Your behavior matches your confession”

That means you really know and believe what you have read and it plays out in your life!

In this chapter that is the topic, wisdom is better than rubies, and then God speaks in these last few verses.

Hearken unto God........ “believe information and respond on the basis of having heard”

This is wisdom to believe the information and living it out........we believe God’s Word to be the TRUTH, I believe it as reality and everything else is not reality, because God’s Word is eternal and everything else is temporary!

Those that read and hear are blessed because they are blessed with eternal life, they will live!

God calls on us not to refuse, but to hear IT and live IT out!

Happiness and Joy belongs to those hears the Lord and is watching for the Lord.

Adam Clarke spoke about this verse this way: “Wisdom is represented as having a school for the instruction of men; and seems to point out some of the most forward of her scholars coming, through their intense desire to learn, even before the gates were opened, and waiting there for admission, that they might hear every word that was uttered, and not lose one accent of the heavenly teaching. Blessed are such.”

Anxiously waiting for more, desiring to be fed with the Words of Life! Understanding there is no other living that can be done but unto God!

Jesus tells us that He is that Door: John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

He is the place that we find the Whole Counsel of God, He is the Word of God, spoken to mankind by His life, death, and resurrection!

There is no other way to enter, no other place to find this instruction! In Jesus Christ is all the Scripture fulfilled!

In this wisdom you will find life, eternal life granted only by undeserved favor of God!

You don’t need a ticket, you just need faith!

Favor to be able to stand before God, free of guilt, free from penalty, free from the wrath of God!

The song says there is no room for the sinners, let me rephrase for the gentleman.....there is no room for those that are happy in their sinful flesh, because they are sinning against God.

They love death, that is their reward.....Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now, turn with me to Revelation 1:1-3...............John is introducing this powerful prophecy that he received from Jesus........John talks of it’s importance in these first few verses.........there is also an urgency.........

I firmly believe that the same could be said for the entirety of God’s Word and it all points to the testimony of Jesus Christ!

John tells is here that the time is at hand, meaning near and truly it is for all of us.......We say without any thought that we are not promised tomorrow.......I look around and think on those that have come through this church, that one service they are here and the next one they are standing before God Himself!

Time is at hand fro everyone of us and there are no do-overs when your time has ended.

We hear a lot of about making the best of this life, I wonder how much value that has.....?

By the testimony of the apostles, it has none. Their lives was a great example of following Jesus, hearkening unto everything about Jesus.

The gathered around Him everyday, as God tells us in Proverbs 8, waiting and watching for His Words!

When our desire for His Way supersedes the desire for our own fleshly way and worldly way, it is truly then that we are blessed!

I made an awful mistake this week to someone I dearly love and deeply desire the best for!

I made a judgement on situation based on the looks. A judgement based on my desire for them in this world and not on what is to come!

It was a judgement based on what I believe and how I live, that situation didn’t match ours!

I am not giving justification to that situation here.........

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

No one is free from this judgement!

However, I challenged myself and my thinking on this! My approach!

I acted like that somehow, that I am the determining factor of these things or maybe the qualifier.....

There is none but Jesus...........This got me to thinking about our approach to things....

I thought about a scenario........Just that there was this man that stole, he loved being a thief......

His family got together and had an intervention, and he quit stealing......all is good right?

What about Jesus, what about God the Father?

If he died, all he would have is that he stopped stealing! That is not enough!

I can try and make it look good and dress it up all day long but our flesh is still ugly and it needs redemption, it needs to be born again through Jesus Christ!

I sometimes get more worried about the outward than I do the inward! If looks bad then it probably is bad that is for sure, but looks can be deceiving!

No matter what it looks like, Jesus is the only determining factor

I am not sure if this has made sense to you but it has to me........My flesh is so ugly and that goes for EVERYONE, those that look the part and even those that do not........Going back to Proverbs 8......It is so ugly that I wait at the Gate, The Door of Heaven (Jesus) to hear more, I desire to hear the Words from Heaven! I need to be made new and there is only One Way, The Gospel of Jesus Christ!

John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:9-21...................

Jesus is the only way,

Jesus is the Light of the World, exposing the ugliness of the flesh

Those living for the world, hate when they are exposed, so they stay where they are!

Most humans want to be validated.........but we are all disqualified and Jesus is the only qualifier!

If all our deeds are evil, then Jesus is the only One that is qualified to stand before God and in turn the only One that can save us!

Truly, the time is at hand.......whether the Lord comes today or 1000 years from now.......the time is at hand.......how can I come close to predicting a time that no man is supposed to know......but I do know that day will come and death will also come.........Get Ready for the train is a coming!

Are you ready?