The End Of Wisdom (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.440 As we turn now to God's word in Jeremiah thirty one. Let's do so. 2 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:09.550 I'm trusting, trusting in his word. I'm to work in US, 3 00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:15.910 but to teach us, to help us to grow and to find life. 4 00:00:15.949 --> 00:00:28.379 Jeremiah thirty one verses thirty one through thirty four. This is continuing our a 5 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:34.899 series on Christian wisdom, and I think this is going to be the last 6 00:00:34.939 --> 00:00:39.170 one, for now anyway. So Jeremiah thirty one, thirty one through thirty 7 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:44.130 four. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I 8 00:00:44.170 --> 00:00:48.009 will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, 9 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.320 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when 10 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:55.320 I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, 11 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.920 by covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the 12 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:03.640 Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the House of 13 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.269 Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within 14 00:01:07.349 --> 00:01:11.909 them and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their 15 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:17.909 God and they will be my people. In the longer shall each one teach 16 00:01:17.989 --> 00:01:21.459 his neighbor and his brother, saying know the Lord, for they shall all 17 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:23.780 know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, 18 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:30.939 for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. 19 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:42.530 The God blesses word. You may be seated in the Bible, you 20 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:53.920 will occasionally find passages that are very important. That's not exactly what I want 21 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.200 to say it. I'm struggling a little bit here. I guess there are. 22 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.989 There are paradigmatic. They are they have a way of structuring other things 23 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:07.909 that we read, and they do that because they tie together so many things. 24 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:10.909 They they speak, in a way, you might say, at an 25 00:02:10.949 --> 00:02:16.939 architectural level right there. They're sort of beams and framing in which the House 26 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:23.300 of the knowledge of the Lord is built. They are major things and help 27 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:29.780 us to understand major things. There are the roads by which we travel to 28 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:35.289 other places in terms of of our doctrine, and Jeremiah th one, thirty 29 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:38.849 one through thirty four, is one of those one of those places, a 30 00:02:39.009 --> 00:02:44.960 place in scripture that helps us in a loomin so much of the rest of 31 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:51.240 scripture so clearly from this one place. Of course, it's not that all 32 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:54.400 of scripture hangs on Jeremiah thirty one, thirty one through thirty four. We 33 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:59.509 can find the truths that are taught here all throughout the Bible. In fact, 34 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:04.389 we find other passages very similar to this passage in other places in the 35 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:08.710 scripture, in the prophets in particular, but this one is for on our 36 00:03:08.990 --> 00:03:15.259 is. I want to turn our attention to today as we think about wisdom. 37 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:20.219 I've titled This sermon the end of wisdom, and I don't mean the 38 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:24.900 ceasing of wisdom or the stopping of wisdom, but I want but in another 39 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:31.770 way, like the goal of wisdom or the tell us of wisdom. Where 40 00:03:31.849 --> 00:03:37.409 does wisdom get us? Right, we've been talking a lot about a different 41 00:03:37.449 --> 00:03:40.289 aspects of wisdom. In this last sermon I want to focus on sort of 42 00:03:40.370 --> 00:03:46.960 what's the goal? What is it ultimately bring us into? And this passage 43 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:52.240 Jeremiah thirty one, thirty one through thirty four is interest. Is An interesting 44 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:57.229 passage to consider in this regard because at first it seems to talk about the 45 00:03:57.310 --> 00:04:02.469 end of wisdom in the sense of ceasing of Wisdom, the stopping of wisdom, 46 00:04:03.550 --> 00:04:08.550 in the way that Jeremiah says and in verse thirty four and no longer 47 00:04:08.629 --> 00:04:12.219 shall each one teach his neighbor and each one his brother, saying no Lord, 48 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:15.259 for they shall, they shall all know me. It might first it 49 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:18.540 seemed to talk, seem to talk about the end of wisdom, is ceasing 50 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:24.139 to exist, or at least ceasing to be saught, but what it really 51 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:28.769 teaches us is the end of wisdom in terms of the goal of wisdom. 52 00:04:30.170 --> 00:04:35.290 The passage is not about wisdom stopping, but about what the new covenant brings 53 00:04:35.329 --> 00:04:40.879 us into in terms of wisdom, and I want to help you understand that. 54 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:46.600 This passage tells us about what our lives in the new covenant is like, 55 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:56.949 and something about it relates to knowledge, to wisdom. The way that 56 00:04:57.029 --> 00:05:01.149 jet the this passage addresses this issue, just to give you a little bit 57 00:05:01.149 --> 00:05:08.699 of context, is it's Jeremiah's talking during the old covenant about something that is 58 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:13.579 coming. Now. The Old Covenant is that Covenant that God made with Moses, 59 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:17.220 and we see that it's defined in that way here in verse thirty two. 60 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:21.529 He says this new covenant that's coming, it's not like the covenant that 61 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:26.370 I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand 62 00:05:26.490 --> 00:05:30.329 to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke. 63 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:33.970 So here is a reference to that great moment in history when Israel, 64 00:05:34.009 --> 00:05:39.319 who was enslaved by Egypt, was brought out by the mighty hand of God, 65 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:45.000 brought out for a particular purpose, not just to rescue them out of 66 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.040 slavery, but to bring them into something, to bring them into life. 67 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:53.269 You remember what Moses said when he went to Egypt and he went to Pharaoh 68 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:57.269 and he told Pharaoh, in the name of the Lord, let my people 69 00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:01.750 go. Why? So that they may go and worship Yahweh. The purpose 70 00:06:01.910 --> 00:06:06.259 was to leave in order to worship, in order to gather, in order 71 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:12.779 to belong to him. That's why they were brought out and they're after the 72 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:15.819 exodus. God brought them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. He 73 00:06:15.939 --> 00:06:21.009 brought them out of Egypt to Mount Sinai and there he established his covenant with 74 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:27.089 them. He established a covenant in which he promised them long life in the 75 00:06:27.170 --> 00:06:32.279 land of Canaan, blessings of all kinds, fertility and in the wombs of 76 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.360 their women, on the in the vines and the fields and the cattle. 77 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:42.720 The land would be a blessed place, flowing with milk and honey. It 78 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:46.350 would be a place that would be free of of plagues, it would be 79 00:06:46.509 --> 00:06:51.750 free of of UNHOLINESS, it would be free of enemies, it would be 80 00:06:51.790 --> 00:06:55.910 safe and it would be comfortable and it would be wonderful. It would be 81 00:06:55.910 --> 00:07:04.139 heaven on earth, pointing forward towards an eternal heaven if they would only obey. 82 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:10.660 That's all they had to do, and God would not make this unclear. 83 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:15.610 He would spell out his law very, very, very clearly, giving 84 00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:19.610 command after or command after command. And not only would he give all of 85 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:25.129 his laws very clearly, he would make the promises of blessing, but also 86 00:07:25.170 --> 00:07:32.000 the threats of curse very clear. They would know and hear what would happen 87 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:39.720 for obedience, but also what would happen if they disobeyed the even as the 88 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:45.509 law was given, we read that it was a terrifying thing. Perhaps you've 89 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:50.470 been in your house with your parents when they were really, really angry at 90 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:58.470 you and laying down the law. Right, they are yelling, maybe they're 91 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:05.139 screaming, they're taking you will not do this anymore. Okay, right, 92 00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:09.660 this is what happened on Mount Sinai. We read that as God gave the 93 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:16.170 law to his people the mountain was shaking, that it was on fire, 94 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:20.689 that a cloud enveloped it, that the voice of God was booming and in 95 00:08:20.850 --> 00:08:28.160 fact the holiness of the Lord and of the law was so clearly a proclaimed 96 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:35.240 that they were told if anyone even touches the mountain, they would die. 97 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:43.070 Moses was terrified, we read, and as he was the one person who 98 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:46.990 was called up onto the mountain to receive this law, the holiness of the 99 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:52.110 law, the goodness of the law, the threats for disobedience to the law, 100 00:08:52.470 --> 00:09:00.980 these were all very visually auditorily. It was all very, very compelling. 101 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:05.139 Not only was the giving of the law in this way, but the 102 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:09.779 number of lessons that they learned along the way. Even before they reached the 103 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:13.889 land of Canaan, even before they left the foot of Mount Sinai, they 104 00:09:13.009 --> 00:09:18.929 created a golden calf idolatry and things like this already started setting in, and 105 00:09:20.129 --> 00:09:24.360 God's threats and curses came upon them. And not only do they have all 106 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:31.600 of this, but they also had the book of proverbs. Eventually, the 107 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:35.399 proverbs were given as a way to teach them that obedience to the law was 108 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.429 not just about doing this thing and this thing and this thing and this thing, 109 00:09:39.549 --> 00:09:43.190 piling them up one on top of another, but about living all of 110 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:48.149 life, recognizing its patterns, patterns of holiness, patterns of obedience, patterns 111 00:09:48.190 --> 00:09:54.379 of Righteous Living, and then the proverbs continually promising if you live in this 112 00:09:54.580 --> 00:10:01.139 way, you will really live, you will enjoy life, you will be 113 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:09.409 successful and all of these wonderful things. This was the old covenant that they 114 00:10:09.889 --> 00:10:16.250 broke, that they broke Jeremiah is talking to them after all of these things 115 00:10:16.289 --> 00:10:22.000 had been had had happened, after Solomon was a distant memory, at least 116 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:28.960 a moral in terms of morally. What will be done? How will God 117 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:37.789 have how will his people dwell with God, be with God? This promise 118 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:39.629 I will be their God and they will be my people. That's not just 119 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:43.669 a promise of the old covenant. That's a promise of the even older covenant 120 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:48.990 with Abraham. How would that promise be fulfilled? How would the promise to 121 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:54.299 David be fulfilled, that God would establish his a son on that throne that 122 00:10:54.379 --> 00:11:03.570 would last forever? What would require? A new covenant that wouldn't depend on 123 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:09.889 the People's obedience, wouldn't be tied to the land for a temporary time in 124 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:16.929 a temporary way, but it would depend on God's obedience and it would establish 125 00:11:18.490 --> 00:11:22.879 eternal things. A kingdom is, Hebrews says, unlike the mountain on Sinai, 126 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:31.759 a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Zion, not Sinai. So that's 127 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.950 what Jeremiah is talking about here. He's he's addressing the people after everything went 128 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:41.389 wrong, after all his sort of fallen part and been bad, after the 129 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:46.509 great promises of blessings, the threats of disobedience, it's all fallen on deaf 130 00:11:46.669 --> 00:11:52.460 ears. They fallen into all kinds of idolatry. They broken the Covenant and 131 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:56.460 they're about to pay and they are paying the penalties. And it's at this 132 00:11:56.620 --> 00:12:00.980 moment when God says, behold, the days are coming when I will make 133 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:05.049 a new covenant with the House of Israel. This is Gospel, right, 134 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:11.730 this is good news. While we were yet sinners, God did something great. 135 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:18.559 God establish something new. He gave a new promise. This wouldn't be 136 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:20.799 like the old covenant that I made with the fathers, their fathers, on 137 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:24.840 the day when he took them out of Egypt, the one that they broke, 138 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:28.519 but this covenant, he says in Verse Thirty Three that I will make 139 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.909 with the House of Israel. He's going to put the law within them, 140 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:39.509 he will write it on their very hearts. He's not going to just put 141 00:12:39.549 --> 00:12:43.299 it on tablets of stone and placard it in front of them, both literally 142 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:46.419 and that way and in all kinds of other ways that it's embedded in the 143 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:52.700 old testament economy, but he is going to put it on their very hearts. 144 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:56.779 He's going to change them. He's going to make his people not just 145 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:03.169 ones who are called to obedience, but ones who are enabled to obey, 146 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:09.730 not because of something that's strung wrong within them, but because of something that 147 00:13:09.809 --> 00:13:16.279 he has, something that he is done. Well. It's in this context 148 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:22.039 that I that Jeremiah says I will be their God and they will be my 149 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:26.720 people. There will be closeness, there will be communion, as the old 150 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:31.110 law is obeyed, as there is a true obedience. And he goes on 151 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:35.590 to say, and no one shall eat and and no longer shall each one 152 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:39.149 teach his neighbor and his brother and each his brother, saying know the Lord, 153 00:13:39.549 --> 00:13:41.860 for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest, 154 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:48.460 declares the Lord. This is going to be the focus of the rest of 155 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:52.379 our time. What does he mean by this? And in Verse Thirty Four. 156 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:56.889 Now, this obviously relates to wisdom because, as we see in proverbs 157 00:13:56.970 --> 00:14:01.850 and in so many places, wisdom is something that is learned. You learn 158 00:14:01.970 --> 00:14:07.529 by paying attention, by being wise. You don't learn by despising those who 159 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:13.440 teach you. We are told to get instruction. These are the kinds of 160 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.480 things that are prescribed to us in proverbs. These are the kinds of things 161 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:22.639 that wisdom calls us to. So the question and is is wisdom is teaching? 162 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:26.629 Are these things excluded from the new covenant? What are we supposed to 163 00:14:26.669 --> 00:14:31.190 understand? Is the thing that we are entering into? Well, we know 164 00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:37.899 that from scripture that wisdom doesn't happen automatically. Teaching is required. Luke to 165 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:41.379 fifty two tells us that even Jesus, when he was a child, quote, 166 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:48.100 increased in wisdom as he grew in according to his human nature. So 167 00:14:48.220 --> 00:14:54.450 what happens when Jesus comes? Does teaching and wisdom disappear? Does instruction and 168 00:14:54.649 --> 00:14:58.570 Knowledge Go Away? Well, the answer, I'm would guess you can guess, 169 00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:05.129 is no. But I want to give some a brief defense of that. 170 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:11.679 We have to begin by saying that no, teaching itself does not disappear 171 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:15.360 after Christ, nor does it need. Its need disappear, nor does it 172 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:18.919 need to disappear. The goal of teaching is to lead us into wisdom, 173 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:26.029 and the Bible is clear that the goal does remain the same even after the 174 00:15:26.149 --> 00:15:30.350 new covenant is stain. The has come. We are called to still grow 175 00:15:30.669 --> 00:15:33.149 right. Wisdom is a part of obedience, as we have been learning about 176 00:15:33.269 --> 00:15:37.179 service, it is connected with the law. When Jesus comes in, the 177 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:41.220 new covenant comes, do we throw out the law? Do we say obedience 178 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:45.220 no longer matters, I have nothing more to learn, no more way to 179 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:50.289 grow? This is really important to mention because throughout the history of the Church 180 00:15:50.370 --> 00:15:54.529 and continuing today, there have been people who have denied this and, if 181 00:15:54.610 --> 00:16:00.850 used passages like this to build themselves up, then a baptist from the reformation, 182 00:16:02.129 --> 00:16:07.720 some pentecostals and evangelicals. Today there are people who will insist that anything 183 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:12.679 related to teaching, anything related to doctrine, anything that smacks of you have 184 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:18.990 something to learn, is not of Christ. They'll point to a passage like 185 00:16:18.110 --> 00:16:22.429 this and say that learning, that knowledge, that those who instruct are not 186 00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:27.070 biblical. They do not have Christ and that if you hear, if you 187 00:16:27.190 --> 00:16:30.789 belong to a church that is teaching you things, belonging to a church that 188 00:16:30.909 --> 00:16:34.059 says there are doctrines, that you need to learn, things that you need 189 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:40.340 to grow in, that you should run away. That's a faith rooted in 190 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:47.450 learning, in growing, in discipleship, is unbiblical. Well, I think 191 00:16:47.690 --> 00:16:53.450 this is laughable and I hope you'll laugh too. And here's why. Because 192 00:16:53.610 --> 00:16:59.690 of course they themselves are teaching a doctrine. Even as they argue against teaching 193 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:04.240 by saying here is the teaching, that there is no teaching, they're teaching 194 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:10.960 and undermining themselves. And of course, our Lord specifically told us to be 195 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:17.069 disciples, to make disciples in his commission to the church. Teaching is clearly 196 00:17:17.109 --> 00:17:19.230 a part of the new covenant and could be argued in a hundred different ways. 197 00:17:21.029 --> 00:17:25.750 Jesus tells us that he gives us teachers as gifts to his church after 198 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:30.500 his ascension. Paul says in Second Timothy Three hundred and sixteen, that teach, 199 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:37.099 that scripture itself is profitable for correction and Instruction, training in righteousness. 200 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:41.940 We are explicitly told in Colossians to teach one another that the word of Christ 201 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:45.529 may dwell richly in us. We could go on and on and on with 202 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:51.130 both explicit commands, ways in which it's wrapped up in the history of the 203 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:55.369 church, in the offices of the church, in the nature of scripture. 204 00:17:55.930 --> 00:18:00.680 You could come at the almost any angle and prove this to be true. 205 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:07.359 So those who teach against doctrine, who teach against denying the basic commands of 206 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:15.710 scripture, who deny even common sense, should be mocked and and pitied as 207 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:21.150 well. The command against teaching is that. Let me say that more clearly. 208 00:18:21.190 --> 00:18:27.099 The command against teaching, to command against doctrine is at best ignorance and 209 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:33.140 it worst, and is often used as a pretense for fooling others. You 210 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:37.619 don't need any teacher, just listen to me. is usually how it goes. 211 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:41.890 Is usually what's happening in the background. So all this to say, 212 00:18:42.089 --> 00:18:47.210 we're of course not saying that Jeremiah is wrong, that God is wrong, 213 00:18:47.250 --> 00:18:51.329 when he says in the new covenant, no longer shall each one teach his 214 00:18:51.410 --> 00:18:53.730 neighbor and each his brother, saying know the Lord. What we're saying that 215 00:18:53.849 --> 00:18:59.920 those who interpret Jeremiah in this way, that I've been describing are wrong, 216 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:06.680 and this should be obvious enough. So then, what does Jeremiah mean? 217 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:12.029 If teaching is clearly an important part of life under the new covenant, how 218 00:19:12.069 --> 00:19:18.470 are we to understand this? Well, the way to understand this is this 219 00:19:18.670 --> 00:19:25.259 way. What Jeremiah means is that when Christ comes and when we come to 220 00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:29.900 him, our knowledge with God, our intimacy with God, our closeness with 221 00:19:30.019 --> 00:19:34.940 him, will be different than that under the old covenant, different in some 222 00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:44.289 significant ways. For example, in Isaiah two three, we read this another 223 00:19:44.490 --> 00:19:48.930 new covenant promise. And many people shall come and say, come, let 224 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:51.890 us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the 225 00:19:52.009 --> 00:19:56.119 God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, that we may 226 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:00.279 walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and 227 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:06.839 the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. You see the picture there. The 228 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:10.789 picture is very different than that of Sina and Sinai it was don't touch the 229 00:20:10.829 --> 00:20:17.990 Mountain on Zion. It is come, let us go hand in hand up 230 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:22.980 the hill of the Lord that he himself may teach us. There are these 231 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:30.619 important psalms. I call them catechism songs because they ask this question, like 232 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:33.859 Psalm Fifteen, for example. They ask this question. Who shall ascend the 233 00:20:33.940 --> 00:20:37.529 Holy Hill of the Lord? WHO shall ascend and go up to it's like 234 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:41.730 this question Isaiah two three, and then the rest of the Psalm is an 235 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:48.009 answer, and the answer is everyone who does all of these things. That's 236 00:20:48.049 --> 00:20:52.799 who gets to ascend, that's who gets to have connection and closeness, that's 237 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:57.079 who comes into obedience and communion with God, the one who is righteous. 238 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.400 So this is an amazing thing that Isaiah says here. Before there was this 239 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:06.990 great separation between the people and God. Do not touch the mountain, you 240 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:11.470 are not righteous. The law will come to you and even at you and 241 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:15.509 against you. But Isaiah two three, when the promises of the New Covenant 242 00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:19.579 and Mount Zion are mentioned, it's let's go hand in hand up the hill 243 00:21:19.619 --> 00:21:29.259 of the Lord. How, how is that possible? On the basis of 244 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:33.650 what righteousness? On the basis of what law keeping, on what wisdom? 245 00:21:37.289 --> 00:21:40.609 How can we have that kind of communion with God? How is it that 246 00:21:40.730 --> 00:21:47.319 we can be taught his ways directly by him and not through an a whole 247 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:53.559 system of priests and sacrifices and the temple system them and the various ceremonies and 248 00:21:53.720 --> 00:22:00.950 feasts and all the rest. You remember, in Israel there was always separation 249 00:22:02.069 --> 00:22:06.670 from God, even as he was close to them. There were various courts 250 00:22:06.710 --> 00:22:10.869 around the temple in which it got more and more holy the closer you got 251 00:22:10.950 --> 00:22:17.819 inside, and many people could never come in. Only one person in all 252 00:22:17.940 --> 00:22:21.420 of Israel, the high the appointed high priest for that year, could go 253 00:22:21.579 --> 00:22:25.220 into the most holy place, and that only once a year, and that 254 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:29.980 only after multiple sacrifices and all kinds of things that had to go on in 255 00:22:30.089 --> 00:22:33.730 order for him to go into that place and just him and just one time. 256 00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:42.049 There's always a even in the Old Testament or even under the old covenant, 257 00:22:42.089 --> 00:22:45.440 in which God had brought his people out of Egypt and wasn't so many 258 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:52.000 ways with them, he still remained separate to a great degree, to such 259 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:57.279 a degree that the prophets will say the new covenants going to be different. 260 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:07.630 God is going to write the law on your hearts. If you go to 261 00:23:07.910 --> 00:23:12.259 a luke chapter a ten, there are some important verses here. I'd like 262 00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:21.740 to read to you a luke ten versus twenty three and twenty four. Here 263 00:23:21.819 --> 00:23:26.579 there, our Lord confirms us some of these things that we've been discussing here 264 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:30.650 now is the new covenant is short of breaking forth like the dawn in the 265 00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:34.769 morning, he says, turning to his disciples privately, he says, blessed 266 00:23:34.849 --> 00:23:40.450 are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many 267 00:23:40.650 --> 00:23:47.079 prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, and kings like Solomon, desired to see 268 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:51.559 what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear 269 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:56.470 and did not hear it. There have been ages passed when God has been 270 00:23:56.509 --> 00:24:00.190 speaking, and yet he has been speaking in ways that even those who were 271 00:24:00.309 --> 00:24:06.309 speaking his word wanted to hear more. And now that Jesus has come, 272 00:24:07.150 --> 00:24:11.339 people are hearing that Jesus is saying to his disciples, the things that Isaiah, 273 00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:15.460 the Prophet of the Lord, the things that Jeremiah, the Prophet of 274 00:24:15.539 --> 00:24:18.660 the Lord, the things that Solomon, who spoke these proverbs, and others 275 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:23.329 who spoke the word of the Lord, they were wanting to hear and to 276 00:24:23.410 --> 00:24:30.450 see what you are seeing. Now they are being taught in a new way. 277 00:24:30.569 --> 00:24:37.250 And who are they being taught by? By God. They are coming 278 00:24:37.410 --> 00:24:44.599 to know the Lord in this amazing, amazing new way. I remember reading 279 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:48.599 one commentator commenting on the book of soul alms. I can't remember who it 280 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:53.829 was anymore, but he said that we who belong to the new covenant and 281 00:24:53.910 --> 00:24:56.910 when we read the Psalms, he said, we breathe. I think her 282 00:24:57.029 --> 00:25:02.910 phrasing probably. He says we breathe a pure error than even David breathed. 283 00:25:03.150 --> 00:25:07.740 What he means by that is, in a way, even David who wrote 284 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:12.059 the psalms, there's a way in which we understand them, know them a 285 00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:18.140 way that even he didn't because of the ways that they are fulfilled in Christ, 286 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:23.650 the way that we are taught them by the spirit of God who's come 287 00:25:23.769 --> 00:25:33.650 to us after the ascension of Christ. So, getting back to wisdom, 288 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:44.759 to know God is to obey God right it's to be close to him, 289 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:49.430 it's to love him. Love is about obedience, it's about service, it's 290 00:25:49.430 --> 00:25:55.750 about connection, about communion. To Love God is to obey Him. To 291 00:25:55.829 --> 00:25:59.509 obey him is to love him. To have fellowship with him is to serve 292 00:25:59.509 --> 00:26:03.900 him, to be with him. The Ten commandments teach us this, the 293 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:08.539 law teaches us this, the proverbs teach us this, and yet we know 294 00:26:08.779 --> 00:26:18.220 how far we fall short of that love of that obedients. This has been 295 00:26:18.259 --> 00:26:22.849 the promise ever since the Garden of Eden, that if we are righteous, 296 00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:26.450 we will be close to God. That's what the tree of life represented. 297 00:26:26.490 --> 00:26:30.809 It was kind of a sacrament of that, all of that first covenant that 298 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:36.759 God made with Man, a guard and sacrament in which the promise of life 299 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:41.480 was held forth to Adam and Eve if they were to be righteous. And 300 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.599 that promise of the tree of life, even eternal life, continues to be 301 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:52.349 held out throughout the Old Testament. Consider some of the proverbs, consider the 302 00:26:52.509 --> 00:26:59.269 direction, the goal that tell us of wisdom. Listen to proverbs three thirteen 303 00:26:59.349 --> 00:27:04.019 through eighteen. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets 304 00:27:04.059 --> 00:27:10.980 understanding. Right thumbs up. That's a good thing. Blessed for the gain 305 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:15.700 from her. That's wisdom. The gain from her is better than gain from 306 00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:19.490 silver, and her prophet better than gold. She is more precious than jewels 307 00:27:19.529 --> 00:27:26.529 and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her hand, 308 00:27:26.569 --> 00:27:32.680 and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways 309 00:27:32.759 --> 00:27:38.039 of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life 310 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.599 to those who lay hold of her, those who who hold her fast and 311 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:48.630 are called blessed. That's a pretty good description of heaven, isn't it? 312 00:27:48.990 --> 00:27:56.990 The tree of life, pleasantness more a valuable than gold and silver and jewels. 313 00:27:57.660 --> 00:28:06.220 Honor, wealth riches, wisdom, understanding, peace. This is a 314 00:28:06.339 --> 00:28:11.700 description of heaven and that's what you get when you get wisdom. So no 315 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:15.089 wonder he begins by saying blessed is the one who finds wisdom, in the 316 00:28:15.130 --> 00:28:19.049 one who gets understanding, for all of these things are the goal of wisdom, 317 00:28:19.369 --> 00:28:25.410 the end of wisdom. You See, if wisdom is reading and living 318 00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:30.160 the patterns of life, well, you see how that perfectly fits with the 319 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:34.799 end of wisdom. The the tell us of wisdom, because it is living 320 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:45.710 well. It's living well honor and wealth and and pleasantness and hope and peace 321 00:28:45.750 --> 00:28:52.150 and all the rest. Proverbs thirty, the fruit of righteousness is a tree 322 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:57.099 of life, and whoever captures souls is wise. Proverbs one thousand, three 323 00:28:57.099 --> 00:29:02.099 hundred and twelve. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is 324 00:29:02.140 --> 00:29:07.180 a tree of life. Proverbs fifteen, for a gentle tongue is a tree 325 00:29:07.339 --> 00:29:11.730 of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. So wherever you have 326 00:29:11.970 --> 00:29:18.210 unrighteousness, where you ever you have going against the grain of God's moral order, 327 00:29:18.410 --> 00:29:25.160 wherever you have a foolishness and ignorance, you have pain, suffering, 328 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.119 death, perverseness. But wherever you have going with the grain, wherever you 329 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:37.640 have working within God's moral order, whereever you have righteousness, you have abundance 330 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:45.670 and peace and joy and and hope and more. That's where wisdom leads and 331 00:29:45.910 --> 00:29:53.579 that's what the new covenant gives in this kind of intimacy and closeness and connection 332 00:29:55.500 --> 00:30:02.539 the Israel, the Israel didn't have, at least in this corporate sense. 333 00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:07.930 In a new way, God comes to us as his people, Israel, 334 00:30:07.769 --> 00:30:14.650 and he blesses us. Sin Stood in the way. It blocked the path 335 00:30:15.329 --> 00:30:21.009 to wisdom. It allowed us, maybe a God's grace allows us, to 336 00:30:21.250 --> 00:30:22.759 see in a glimpse, say Oh, that's a good thing, I should 337 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.480 do that, but then sin in our hearts always goes the other direction. 338 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:33.240 It perverts us. We're crooked people. To remedy that, in the old 339 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.190 covenant, God put in place all kinds of things, a priest plee system, 340 00:30:37.670 --> 00:30:42.029 sacrifices, a temple and all of these things various ways in which we 341 00:30:42.150 --> 00:30:48.069 could have some kind of access to God, peace in the land, communion 342 00:30:48.190 --> 00:30:53.900 with him. Where are those things now? Where is your priest? Where 343 00:30:55.019 --> 00:31:00.700 is the sacrifice? Where's the Great Temple System? It's not here, is 344 00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:07.170 it? Where is it? How can we have communion with God? How 345 00:31:07.369 --> 00:31:11.210 is it that we can come into worship this morning and pray directly to him 346 00:31:11.490 --> 00:31:17.849 to come into the heavenly places with boldness, into that most holy places with 347 00:31:18.009 --> 00:31:21.319 God? How can we know him in that way? How can we serve 348 00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:27.279 him in that way? It's because the new covenant has donned. We have 349 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:33.910 no priest standing before you today, no one. And I am not mediating 350 00:31:33.109 --> 00:31:38.950 for you on behalf of Christ, because Christ is your mediator. He is 351 00:31:40.430 --> 00:31:45.470 in heaven, where he has and and by his spirit he has united him 352 00:31:45.470 --> 00:31:48.579 to you so that you are, said Colossians a three, to be in 353 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:53.500 the heavenly places with him. You remember, when he died, that great 354 00:31:53.900 --> 00:31:57.660 curtain that was in the temple, that separated the holies from the most holy 355 00:31:57.819 --> 00:32:06.569 place, ripped into the dividing wall that separate did the Jews and the gentiles. 356 00:32:06.650 --> 00:32:13.529 The scripture says, was toppled down and God said come on in and 357 00:32:13.769 --> 00:32:17.480 here we are, these promises of Isaiah and Jeremiah and many other places, 358 00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:23.079 the gentiles coming into Israel. This law that was made known, and especially 359 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:30.509 made in Israel, disseminated throughout the nation's disobedience written on our hearts. We 360 00:32:30.589 --> 00:32:42.630 could go on and on and on. The thing is that to know God, 361 00:32:44.029 --> 00:32:52.259 this essential thing, is now known so easily, so freely. You 362 00:32:52.339 --> 00:32:59.849 don't have to move to Israel and get circumcised and and and and learn a 363 00:33:00.410 --> 00:33:05.410 whole set of sacrificial systems and various things and find a certain allotment of land 364 00:33:05.410 --> 00:33:09.650 and all of the rest to become part of God's people, from the littlest 365 00:33:10.289 --> 00:33:16.920 to the greatest, can know the Lord. How? How? Simply through 366 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:22.880 the word of the Lord speaking. That's my job, not to be a 367 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:28.509 priest mediating between you and Christ, but just to say this is the Gospel, 368 00:33:29.589 --> 00:33:31.109 this is the word of the Lord, this is the new covenant, 369 00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:36.349 this is Jesus Christ, who is offered freely to you. And whether you're 370 00:33:36.390 --> 00:33:40.660 really young or whether you're really old, from the least to the greatest, 371 00:33:40.740 --> 00:33:47.019 whether you are very dishonorable in Scia society or whether you are a great person, 372 00:33:49.660 --> 00:33:58.329 the promises for you want to look at my watch? There we go. 373 00:33:58.410 --> 00:34:05.369 Okay, then I want to read you a quote from Augustine. He 374 00:34:05.490 --> 00:34:09.840 says, isn't the finger of God to be understood as being the Holy Spirit? 375 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.360 Read The Gospel and see that we're one evangelist has said the Lord saying 376 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:22.400 if with the spirit of God cast out demons, another says if with the 377 00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:28.309 finger of God cast out demons. So if that law to was written by 378 00:34:28.389 --> 00:34:30.829 the finger of God, that is, by the spirit of God. So 379 00:34:30.909 --> 00:34:35.309 you see what he's saying. He's saying that in the Gospels of the finger 380 00:34:35.429 --> 00:34:39.860 of God is described as casting out demons and he's making a connection with the 381 00:34:40.139 --> 00:34:45.739 Old Testament accounts of the law of the Ten Commandments being written, is said 382 00:34:45.739 --> 00:34:51.340 to be, of written by the finger of God. He then he also 383 00:34:51.420 --> 00:34:55.650 connects that with the spirit. When we read the spirit of God, when 384 00:34:55.650 --> 00:35:00.969 we read he continuing the quote, the spirit by which fair rose magicians were 385 00:35:00.289 --> 00:35:04.650 defeated. So they said, quote, this is the finger of God. 386 00:35:05.849 --> 00:35:09.679 So if that law to indeed, because that law too was composed by the 387 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:15.199 spirit of God, that is, by the finger of God, why can 388 00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:17.719 it not be said of it, for the law of the spirit of life 389 00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:23.150 in Jesus Christ has delivered you from the law of sin and death. So 390 00:35:23.389 --> 00:35:27.389 the law of the spirit of life, written on the heart, not the 391 00:35:27.510 --> 00:35:31.710 stone, in Christ, Jesus, in whose person was celebrated the ultimately the 392 00:35:32.030 --> 00:35:37.699 ultimate real, ultimately real and genuine Passover, has delivered you from the law 393 00:35:38.260 --> 00:35:45.219 of sin and death. These points is that these two covenants are not at 394 00:35:45.340 --> 00:35:50.210 odds against one another. In their author the spirit of God was at work 395 00:35:50.250 --> 00:35:53.849 at both but the spirit of God has worked differently and in a new way 396 00:35:54.010 --> 00:36:02.250 in the new covenant, writing this Law on our hearts. So do you 397 00:36:02.730 --> 00:36:10.480 want wisdom? Do you want to be able to live life in a way 398 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:17.199 that go that lives in accordance with God's law, that goes with the grain 399 00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:22.230 of the order he is set in the world, that pleases him, that 400 00:36:22.389 --> 00:36:27.230 brings joy to yourself and to your neighbors, that gains riches and honor and 401 00:36:27.550 --> 00:36:31.710 wealth and and and and peace and hope and all the rest? If you 402 00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:38.980 want those things, the Bible says you will never ever find them by striving 403 00:36:39.019 --> 00:36:45.139 in your own obedience. If you need to see why that is, just 404 00:36:45.380 --> 00:36:52.849 go read about the old covenant. Go see how Israel strove failed, broke 405 00:36:53.010 --> 00:37:00.090 the Covenant and did not achieve even the temporal blessings that God had promised them. 406 00:37:00.130 --> 00:37:05.719 or how Adam had failed. How Adam failed, I'm not because of 407 00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:09.320 well, I won't get into that, but Adam also failed in achieving, 408 00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:16.789 in gaining of righteousness. How can we have the righteousness of God? Through 409 00:37:16.869 --> 00:37:24.230 the wisdom of God himself, who is Jesus Christ. That's why, early 410 00:37:24.389 --> 00:37:29.670 on in these series of sermons, I've been talking about Jesus as our wisdom. 411 00:37:30.219 --> 00:37:34.860 He is the one through whom we come to know the promises of the 412 00:37:34.980 --> 00:37:39.179 new covenant, through whom the New Covenant is made. We do have a 413 00:37:39.340 --> 00:37:45.130 priest and his name is Jesus. He is in heaven, but he continues 414 00:37:45.289 --> 00:37:51.369 to work in our lives and he continues to establish us by his by means 415 00:37:51.409 --> 00:37:59.000 of his spirit working in our hearts. The end of wisdom, the goal 416 00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:04.360 of wisdom, the reason of wisdom, the purpose for wisdom is life, 417 00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:10.000 even eternal life. You can't get it on your own, but you can 418 00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:19.630 receive it as a gift. Through Christ. We experience the blessings that wisdom 419 00:38:19.710 --> 00:38:23.510 live to. The wisdom leads to a little bit in this world, but 420 00:38:23.630 --> 00:38:29.500 it's only a small taste, the small foretaste, of the eternal life to 421 00:38:29.659 --> 00:38:37.380 come that is given to us in Christ in revelation. I'll conclude with this. 422 00:38:38.019 --> 00:38:44.570 We have at least four places where the tree of life appears again. 423 00:38:45.170 --> 00:38:50.329 It happens at the beginning, happens in the middle, happens at the end. 424 00:38:51.690 --> 00:38:53.610 The beginning, the tree of life was there and promise to Adam and 425 00:38:53.809 --> 00:39:00.400 Eve a life for their obedience. But in the end we who are gathered 426 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:05.440 up into the heavenly places, who know God and are with God, who 427 00:39:05.559 --> 00:39:09.030 shine under the brightness of God and his son, who live with him in 428 00:39:09.150 --> 00:39:15.510 eternal peace and happiness forever, enjoying all wisdom, living and knowledge, acting 429 00:39:15.710 --> 00:39:22.070 perfectly according to his will for all time they're the tree of life is not 430 00:39:22.190 --> 00:39:25.980 held out for us as a promise of something that might be achieved, but 431 00:39:27.179 --> 00:39:31.539 something that has been achieved and even belongs to you now, who are seated 432 00:39:31.579 --> 00:39:42.690 with Christ in the heavenly places. God gives to us his wisdom. In 433 00:39:42.849 --> 00:39:49.010 Christ God gives to US himself, not just a depositive knowledge so that we 434 00:39:49.090 --> 00:39:52.239 mean it might obey him, but he gives to us the very life that 435 00:39:52.360 --> 00:40:00.079 wisdom promises through the spirit in the sun. So if you want wisdom, 436 00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:05.280 you need to do what God says to do in James Five, and that's 437 00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:09.869 ask God for it. Go to him in the power of the spirit, 438 00:40:10.429 --> 00:40:15.909 in the name of Jesus, and receive the gift that is freely offered to 439 00:40:15.030 --> 00:40:20.869 you. And as you receive it, he will not only save you and 440 00:40:21.070 --> 00:40:24.699 regenerating your heart, but he will begin to cause you to walk in his 441 00:40:24.980 --> 00:40:30.019 ways from a heart of true obedience, one that will continue on and on 442 00:40:30.139 --> 00:40:37.929 and on until one day God glorifies you and you will walk perfectly and wisely, 443 00:40:37.969 --> 00:40:43.170 enjoying all the benefits of that forever. Let's look forward to that day 444 00:40:43.210 --> 00:40:46.570 together, my brothers and sisters. Let's receive those things in Christ and in 445 00:40:46.610 --> 00:40:49.570 him alone. Let us pray