On Sunday 21 September I had the privilege to teach to our flock.

The sermon was titled “Christ, Our Perfect Wisdom”, the text from Proverbs 8.

You can hear it here. 

Sermon notes below.

Blessings.

Prov 8

Proverbs 8 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Excellence of Wisdom

²²  “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,
²³  I have been established from everlasting,
²⁴  When there were no depths I was brought forth,
²⁵  Before the mountains were settled,
²⁶  While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,
²⁷  When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
²⁸  When He established the clouds above,
²⁹  When He assigned to the sea its limit,
³⁰  Then I was beside Him asa master craftsman;
³¹  Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
Let’s go the Lord in prayer…
¹  Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding lift up her voice?
²  She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
³  She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
⁴  “To you, O men, I call,
⁵  O you simple ones, understand prudence,
⁶  Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
⁷  For my mouth will speak truth;
⁸  All the words of my mouth arewith righteousness;
⁹  They are all plain to him who understands,
¹⁰  Receive my instruction, and not silver,
¹¹  For wisdom isbetter than rubies,
¹²  “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
¹³  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
¹⁴  Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
¹⁵  By me kings reign,
¹⁶  By me princes rule, and nobles,
¹⁷  I love those who love me,
¹⁸  Riches and honor arewith me,
¹⁹  My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
²¹  That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,
³²  “Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³  Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it.
³⁴  Blessed is the man who listens to me,
³⁵  For whoever finds me finds life,
³⁶  But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
¹  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
²  He was in the beginning with God.
³  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
¹  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life–
²  the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us–
³  that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
³¹  Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
³⁰  Then I was beside Him asa master craftsman;
³¹  Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
¹  Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORDGod had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
²  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
³  but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
⁴  Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
⁵  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
⁶  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.  
⁷  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
⁸  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
⁹  Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
¹⁰  So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
¹¹  And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
¹²  Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
¹³  And the LORD God said to the woman, “What isthis you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
¹⁴  So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this,
¹⁵  And I will put enmity
⁸  “For My thoughts arenot your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
⁹  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
⁵  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
⁶  who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
⁷  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
⁸  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point ofdeath, even the death of the cross.
⁹  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
¹⁰  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
¹¹  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
³²  “Now therefore, listen to me, my children,
³³  Hear instruction and be wise,
³⁴  Blessed is the man who listens to me,
³⁵  For whoever finds me finds life,
³⁶  But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;