[0:00] Now this 8th chapter of Proverbs which we looked at is dealing with the subject of wisdom, which it personifies as though it were a woman of virtue crying out to all passers-by to learn wisdom of her.
[0:16] She standeth in the top of high places, verse 2, by the way and the places of the paths. She cried at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming and at the doors, unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man.
[0:33] And there is a contrast here between the loud, well not loud in the negative sense, but the clear and unashamed voice of wisdom that cries out in the open and in the public, contrast with the sort of surreptitious, kind of sneaky, shameful activities of sin that we see in the previous chapter.
[0:54] If you look at chapter 7, verses 8 and 9, the simple ones are a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner. This is to the way of wickedness and the way of lasciviousness that he's going, tempted by the things of the world.
[1:11] He went the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And behold, I met him a woman within a tide of a harlot and subtle of heart. And there's the contrast.
[1:23] Both evil and good are being personified here in the person of the wicked harlot and the one, and the clarity of virtue, the virtuous woman in the other.
[1:34] Doth not wisdom cry? She is presented as the one unashamed whose virtue can come out into the open. She cryeth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming and at the doors.
[1:47] Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. Now this is simply, of course, an illustration. It is a picture to personify wisdom in this way. Some in the ancient church took this chapter, actually, as referring to Christ.
[2:03] And sadly, it was in some ways taken by some as being a sort of source of heresy. Because the latter part of the chapter implied that there was a time, if you apply it to Christ, if you personify it as being purely of Christ, it implies that there was a time when he was brought forth, in a sense of coming after the Father.
[2:24] And some people took this as being an indication of what the heresy is called, Arianism, that treats Christ as though he is, yes, he's the Son of God, but he's less than God.
[2:37] He's not quite as good or strong or powerful as the Father. You see, look, he's brought forth here. And he comes into being, yes, he's the firstborn of all creation.
[2:48] I was brought up with him, yes, I was doing his delight, rejoicing always with him. But the implication that there was a time when he wasn't, and then he came into being.
[3:00] This has led to various heresies, most notably that one of Arianism, during the course of ancient church history. But I think we have to understand that this is intended as a description of wisdom.
[3:14] And while the Lord is all-wise and all-knowing in his being and glory and wisdom and life and power and so on, wisdom comes into being as God is in being.
[3:28] There was never a time, really, when wisdom didn't exist if God existed. Likewise, righteousness, purity, perfection, justice, all of these things.
[3:40] Wisdom is there when the Lord is there. The Lord possessed me, verse 22, in the beginning of his way before the works of old. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was.
[3:52] When there were no depths, I was brought forth. Now, of course, this is, again, if we turn back a couple of chapters, we find it in chapter 3, for example, verses 19 and 20.
[4:03] The Lord, by wisdom, hath founded the earth. By understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew.
[4:16] So there is a sense in which, yes, wisdom is, the Lord is the personification of wisdom, yes. But it's not about Christ in the sense of him coming into being at a time after the Father.
[4:30] It is about Christ and about the Lord in all the persons of the Trinity, in the sense that the Lord is all-wise, all-knowing, all-holy, all-powerful.
[4:41] And where the Lord exists, wisdom exists. But ultimately, we can say that if wisdom has a face, if wisdom has an identity, that identity is the Lord.
[4:55] He is the ultimate, all-wise, all-knowing, all-holy one. And again, throughout this chapter, there's the implication that there is something to be sought for.
[5:08] It won't just plop down into your lap wisdom or the knowledge of God. Rather, it says, you know, in verse 9, they are plain to him that understandeth and right to them that find knowledge.
[5:19] Now, if there's those that have find knowledge, it implies that they must seek for it. It is something to be searched for, something that a bit of effort has to go into, to find knowledge.
[5:30] He must have a desire to find knowledge. Again, verse 17, I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. Now, the word translated early can mean just diligently or with a sense of urgency.
[5:44] That we're, it's the most important thing. We're getting up early to diligently seek for this wisdom, for this grace, for the Lord. Verse 33, Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not.
[5:57] And the fact that says refuse it not implies that some will refuse it. Perhaps many do refuse wisdom. If wisdom is personified in the Lord himself, there are many who refuse, who will not have the Lord to reign over them, either because they think they do not need it, or because they do not like it.
[6:15] They do not like the Lord's challenge and claims upon their lives. But what I would like us to focus on particularly in this chapter is verse 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
[6:37] Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. Now, there is this sense here of both attentiveness, in the sense of waiting attentiveness, and also of repeated daily requirements.
[6:57] That it's not something, well, I wandered by the doorposts of the Lord's house, and yeah, I looked in, and I said, yeah, that was it. And then, you know, a couple of months later, I came back, and so on.
[7:07] There is, in this sense of waiting, this daily requirement, that whatever we have of the Lord, we must have it every day. You know, you wouldn't say, well, I'm going to breathe in and out normally on Tuesday, on Wednesday I'll hold my breath the whole day, and then, oh, let the breath out on Thursday, and I'll start breathing again.
[7:27] Or, or I'll breathe, I'll breathe in and out on Thursday, and then Friday I'll hold my breath, and then Saturday I'll breathe again. You can't hold your breath for a whole day. You have to breathe in and out.
[7:38] You have to draw in the oxygen. You have to breathe back out again. It's the same with the Lord. And it's with the Spirit. We have to breathe in. We have to drink in the Spirit of the Lord.
[7:49] We don't drink anything. We'll dehydrate and we'll die. If we don't breathe, and I've got the oxygen, we'll die. If we don't have the attention of the Lord, and we don't breathe in it, day by day, we will perish eternally.
[8:03] Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. The illustration here is, in the first instance, of a supplicant or somebody waiting outside a doorway, outside a house or a palace gate or whatever.
[8:23] And first of all, there is this sense of outside waiting. We'll look in a moment or two at inside waiting as well. But outside waiting, first of all, wisdom, as we say, is bound up with the Lord.
[8:35] Where will you find, hear, encounter, the things of the Lord, if not, at his house? Now, I have always, throughout all the years of my ministry, sought to avoid, almost at all costs, any sense of sort of, how I in a congregation would say, oh, you should be coming to church more.
[8:55] Because that's so counterproductive. Because the only people that will hear you are the people that are actually there in the first place. And also, there's a way in which it can be said, understood, say, oh, come and listen to me.
[9:07] That is not the sense in which it should ever be portrayed. And that is one reason I've always avoided doing so. But in this particular verse here, there is certainly the sense that if we are to obtain blessing from the Lord, if we are to benefit from, it's not a case of coming to hear a particular man speak, or going to a particular place, but if not at the Lord's house, if not at the hour appointed when the Lord covenants to meet with his people, where then would we expect to find or to receive the blessing, the wisdom, the grace that we anticipate receiving from the Lord?
[9:52] And it's purely in that sense that I would want to encourage us to recognize the necessity as taught in Scripture. Not the opinions of any man, not the sort of haranguing of souls, but rather what Scripture encourages us to recognize is that there is a need not only for daily waiting at the gates.
[10:15] In other words, we need to be meeting with the Lord privately, and on our families, in our own homes, day by day. But how much more, when there are the public occasions, when the Lord covenants to meet with his people, we should seek to make those a priority, because it is on those occasions that surely we anticipate receiving from the Lord.
[10:43] When and where will we hope to find, to hear, to encounter the things of the Lord, if not at his house?
[10:54] I remember myself in the days long before I was converted, and knowing that I wanted more of what I believed God had to offer, but I was reading my Bible and trying to pray and so on, I just wasn't finding it.
[11:08] As I say, I wasn't converted. And I thought, well, I'll have to keep going to church, because if he's not there, then where is he? If he's not there in his house, if he's not there with his people, then where am I going to find him?
[11:22] I'm not going to find him out in the world, or football matches, or all the other things that I like to do. It's got to be somewhere, somehow, within his church, he must be there. And this was a church which was, you know, to be charitable, it was a liberal church, where you didn't get necessarily, you know, the deep things of God, where you didn't get the necessity of repentance and salvation, and so on.
[11:44] But still, it was publicly the Lord's house. And I had to keep going. I thought, well, I've got to find whatever it is that the Lord is offering.
[11:56] Surely, it's got to be somewhere, and if it's not in his church, where is it? And in that sense, if in none else, we need to recognize the truth of this verse.
[12:06] Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. Now, I was saying to the children a few minutes ago, if you're in the doctor's waiting room, we've all been on occasions where you think, oh, my point was at 10 past, I look at 25 past now, come on, what's happening?
[12:24] And maybe you can see, there's a lot of people waiting, maybe you can see they're behind, maybe they're very busy in the surgery that day, but the fact that you haven't been called yet, doesn't mean that the doctor isn't going to see you.
[12:37] It just means that he hasn't called you in yet. The very fact that you're there means that the doctor has agreed to see you. You have an appointment. You are meant to be there.
[12:47] You're there on time. The doctor will see you. You will get what you need in the course of time, but it's just perhaps not happening yet, or as quickly as we would like.
[12:58] And it is likewise the case that we may have to be coming, you know, a few times, or we may need to, in the whole course of our service, there may be one little thing that speaks to us.
[13:10] It may be a line of a psalm. It may be a particular verse from a chapter, which is not the focus of the sermon that day, or it may be a word and a prayer, that if you were to come out and say, oh, I was really blessed by that service today.
[13:23] And so, oh, what, what blessed you? And they say, oh, it was this thing. I don't actually remember that at all in the service. I don't remember that happening. Because they focused on something completely different. Because the Lord is able to distribute his blessings to his people as he sees fit and as he recognizes their need.
[13:42] It is not one size fits all. This is not something which is mechanical, or simply like wooden blocks, or concrete blocks that is only one shape, one size.
[13:52] This is a living thing. The word of God, the wisdom of God, is a living thing because it is distributed by the living God. It is not the words of the mouth of an individual man that matters.
[14:05] It is what God does with that which is his. And of course, more than just attendance, that church is needed.
[14:16] You know, it's, as we said, it's a, that what, watching daily at my gates. You know, it can't be church every single day of week. We've got our work to do. We've got our business to attend to. We've got daily life.
[14:26] The Lord is not expected or required of us. In the worship of the Lord's house, yes, there's the Sabbath day, morning and evening. There's the midweeks. Once a month, we've got the monthly meetings. But these are the set times.
[14:38] But every day, we need to be meeting with the Lord privately and personally. But when it is these public gatherings, yes, we should be seeking all that the Lord has to offer.
[14:52] At the very least, it indicates that there is a benefit to be gained, and indeed to be expected, from waiting upon the Lord at the post of his house, in his house at the appointed times of worship.
[15:07] There's nothing magical in the building. But where the Lord has covenanted to meet with his people, if we wait upon the Lord, we should expect to receive benefit.
[15:21] Now, I don't have membership of a gym. Some people do. Some people go to gyms. Some people do things at gyms. Let's say that I did.
[15:32] Supposing I did have membership of a gym, and somebody else, a neighbour or whatever, they also had membership. And I went maybe, you know, every couple of months or whatever, and do a wee bit maybe on the revolving running track, or the treadmill, and maybe do a wee circuit, lift a couple of wee weights, or do a wee bit of cycling, or whatever it may be.
[15:53] And I thought, I feel really good now, but myself, I've been to the gym, that's fine. And I went every couple of months, but my neighbour went three times a week. Now, let's say, for the sake of argument, that then we were going swimming after that.
[16:07] And after we were going swimming, and you know, in your swing costume, everybody can see pretty much what shape you're in. Do you think they'd be able to tell the difference between somebody who maybe went to a gym a couple of times every month, or every other month, and the person who went three times a week?
[16:26] I think they would. They'd be able to tell who is going there diligently, week by week, because of the condition that he would be in, physically.
[16:37] So likewise, spiritually, if we are waiting upon the Lord, week by week by week, or midweek by midweek, it is bound to have a spiritual effect upon our souls.
[16:53] It is bound to make a difference. Of course, as I said, there's nothing magic in the building itself. And if I want to go to it yourself, I'll start going three times a week. So I'll go into it, right, here's me in the gym.
[17:04] Oh, yep, lovely equipment, that's great. I'll go to the coffee shop, get a quick cup of coffee, and I cross on, that's me now. Okay, I'm off home again. I attend three times a week, maybe. I go for a quick wander around the gym.
[17:16] Oh, really good equipment there. Looks really nice, right, have my cup of coffee, go home. It's not going to do me any good, because the whole purpose of going is to use what is on offer there, to use the equipment to benefit physically from doing the stuff that's available there.
[17:33] So likewise, if I come into church, there's nothing magical in the walls, or the pews, or the windows, or whatever. The benefit will be gained from using what's on offer, worshipping and engaging with the Lord, who covenants to meet his people there.
[17:51] Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. If somebody is using a gym regularly, you'll be able to see the difference in them, compared to somebody, you know, maybe goes once a quarter, or something like that, but yeah, you know, they still go, they still go, yeah, it's okay, of course I do, but you could tell the difference, by looking at them physically.
[18:15] Now maybe you can't tell the difference, looking at someone physically, what condition they're in spiritually, but you'll be able to tell pretty soon, with conversation, with the priorities they have, and with just what comes out of that.
[18:30] You'll be able to tell. Jesus says, by their fruits, you shall know that. If we are going to get to focus on what our priority is, we have to go where it's available.
[18:42] Now the world recognises this. A couple of months ago, as you know, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married, and the crowds lined the streets, and so on. Now where did the crowds line the streets?
[18:55] If they had lined the streets in Brighton, or in Manchester, or in Glasgow, or in Inverness, and they said, oh, I wonder if they have Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle, are they going to come down the street?
[19:06] No, they're not, because they're not in Brighton, or Glasgow, or Manchester, or Inverness, they're in Windsor. That's where they were getting married. If you line the streets in Windsor, or you wait outside, St George's Chapel, or whatever, then yes, you might get a dose of them, and you might see them coming out, and you might wave, and they might wave back, and you get a brief little glimpse, but you're in the right place, the right time, where they've said they're going to be, they're where you know they're meant to be, and you're there too, because that's what you want to see, if that's what you want to see.
[19:40] Likewise, when you have a special occasion, like the 100th anniversary for the Royal Air Force, and all the royal family there in the balcony, and so on, if that's what you want to see, you turn up at Buckingham Palace.
[19:51] At the appointed time, you can stand outside, oh, they're on the balcony, like, okay, now we've seen them, or they get a wee wave, as they go past in the cars, whatever, but you're going to be where, they are going to be, at the appointed time, the world understands this, fans of pop stars, or celebrities, they'll camp out outside their houses, or at the gates of their big estates, just waiting for a little sight of their heroes, as they drive past, maybe they'll get a quick wave, from behind sunglasses, and then they're ready to swoon, but how much time of their lives do they give, to just being there, waiting, waiting, waiting, in the hope they'll get a little glimpse, of some other person, you know, what the world understands, that you have to be, when it matters, for when it matters, if you're going to get a glimpse, of who it matters, the world understands this, but it receives, much less, for its trouble, than the Christian, or the seeker after God does, and they come to the Lord's house, prepared to engage, with the Lord, and his word, and his truth, they will receive, far more, than the poor, the imbued soul, who wait for hours, just to get a glimpse, of their hero, as they go past, or just to camp out, at the doors, or the gates, of their estate, or their house, or just for a brief glimpse, as they go past, and maybe wave, to all these anonymous faces, that to the Lord, you're not anonymous, to the Lord, you're not just a face, in the crowd, to the Lord, you're an individual, whom he desires, to engage with, we go back, to a scriptural example, if you, if you want something, in particular, you have to be, where it is, potentially available, it's a sad case, if we think, in terms of the end, of the parable, that Jesus told, the rich man, and Lazarus, and we read, you know, there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, which was laid, at his gate, that's at the rich man's gate, full of sores, and designed, to be fed, with the crumbs, which fell, from the rich man's table, moreover, the dogs came, and lifted his sores, now, as we've said in the past, you know, crumbs, doesn't mean, crumbs as we think, but we think, in terms of, eat a piece of toast, you know, the crumbs, are what's left, on the plate, that's, that's not crumbs, in that sense, in those days, when they didn't have, napkins, or things, that they wiped their hands, on their fingers, when they ate with their fingers, what they used, if they'd been dipping, food in sauces, and so on, was that you'd take, hunks of bread, and you'd wipe off, the sauce, onto the hunks of bread, and then you'd, throw them under the table, and if there was dogs, or family pets, that's what they would eat, eat, the dogs eating the crumbs, under the table, that's what they mean, by crumbs, the hunks of bread, the chunks, the crust, that are, are wiped on, with the sauce, and the other stuff, and then thrown under the table, if the dogs hadn't eaten up, then the servants might, gather it up, and throw it outside, the gate, and if somebody, is waiting outside, the gate, they'll get the crust, they'll get the crumbs, that are being thrown away, now that's all, poor Lazarus has, then that's what, he's waiting there for, but, he's where it might happen, he's waiting, where he might get, something to eat, where he might get, something, that will feed him, he's gone to the place, where there is plenty, hoping that something, will be cast away, the place, is simply, the means, the hoped for, access, whether it's Lazarus, at the rich man's gate, whether it's all the, the fans waiting to see,
[23:31] Harry and Meghan, as they come down, the street in Windsor, or whether it's the, the pop group fan, waiting at their hero's gate, or whatever it might be, the place is simply, the means, the hoped for, access, to the person, the fulfillment, the reality, so we find, at the end of Matthew's account, of the gospel, after Jesus has been crucified, and after he has died, and he's been laid in the tomb, those who want to anoint his body, the faithful women, that come, on the first Lord's day, where do they go?
[24:05] They go to the tomb, because that's where, they saw that his body, had been laid, and that's what they want to do, they want to serve him, they want to anoint his body, and we read, instead that, instead of finding Jesus, we find there was an angel there, and for fear of him, the keepers did shake, and became as dead men, and the angel answered, and said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified, he is not here, for he is risen, as he said, come and see the place, where the Lord lay, if you come to where, you hope to find Jesus, and you don't find him there, then you will at the very least, be directed, to where you can find him, he is not in the tomb anymore, because he is risen, and you will not find him, physically within the walls, of any church, but you can, and will meet with him, spiritually, through his spirit, he will come to those, who wait for him, and who come seeking him, just as wisdom cries out, those who seek me early, verse 17, shall find him, meaning diligently, faithfully, putting in the effort, putting in the time, because as we come to the Lord, we expect to receive, from him, where shall wisdom be found, that's what Job cries, remember of course, chapter 28, we've looked at that, in the past, verse 12, where shall wisdom be found, where is the place, of understanding, then did he see it, and declare it, he prepared it, yea, and searched it out, and unto man he said, behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, is understanding, the place, is simply the means, the hoped for access, to the person, to the fulfilment, to the reality, blessed is the man, that heareth me, watching daily, at my gates, waiting at the posts, of my doors, so much then, for the outside waiting, but let's say, that we do know Christ, let's say, we know him, as our saviour, do we then say, well that's fine, that's me saved,
[26:23] I never need to go back, I don't need to do anything now, I'm already as good, as in heaven now, that's me, no, because as well, as an outside waiting, there is an inside waiting, because as the focus, is upon the person, it doesn't really matter, in one sense, whether you're the beggar, waiting on the outside, or the servant, waiting on the inside, there is those, who serve at the doors, waiting at the doors, at the posts of his house, remember again, what Jesus says, in Luke 12, verse 35, well let your loins, be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves, like unto men, that wait for their Lord, when he will return, and the wedding, that when he cometh, and knocketh, they may open unto him, immediately, there on the inside, but they're still waiting, at the doors, because the focus, is not the doors, the focus is not the place, the focus is the person, they may open to him, immediately, blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching, verily I say unto you, he shall guard himself, and make them to sit down, to meet, and will come forth, and serve them, and if he shall come, in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so blessed, are those servants, they're on the inside, but they are still waiting, they are still waiting, on the person, because it's not about the place, the place is just, the means of access, to the person, if we think,
[27:50] I think also about, you know, the other day, we're looking at Esther, and Mordecai, and so on, now what do we find, about Mordecai, we find in chapter, chapter two, of the book of Esther, we find out, from verse 19, when the virgins, were gathered together, the second time, then Mordecai, sat, in the king's gate, and in those days, while Mordecai, sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those that kept the door, were wroth, and softly, hands on the king, Ahasuerus, and the thing, was known to Mordecai, and told it to Esther the queen, and Esther certified, the king thereof, in Mordecai's name, and when inquisition, was made of the matter, was found out, and so on, and this of course, changed everything, in the fullness of time, this little incident, why, because Mordecai, was faithfully sitting, waiting, upon the king, in the king's gate, he was inside, he was in the king's gate, that's where he was meant to be, and that's where he faithfully served, then the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, said to Mordecai, why transgressest out, of the king's command, why don't you stand, for Haman, with respect, when he comes past, but he wouldn't do it, yet here he is still, as one of the king's servants, in the king's gate, after, as we saw, after he had gone, through all the streets, and been proclaimed, thus should it be done, to the man, whom the king, be likely to honour, we read instead, then, after all that is done, that then he went back, and sat in the king's gate, and that's where he returned to, then the king had said, do all these glorious things, the Mordecai and the Jew, that sit in the king's gate, there he is in his faithfulness, there he is, doing as he ought to do, it's because he's there, that he is able to relay the plot, against the king's life, it's because he's there, that he is in the position, to confront Haman, it's because he's there, the king recognises, his quiet, ongoing faithfulness, there is this inside waiting, as well as the outside waiting, and of course,
[29:51] Psalm 84 puts it thus, verse 10, for a day in thy courts, is better than a thousand, I had rather be a doorkeeper, in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents, of wickedness, rather to be the one, that keeps the gate, the one, the porter at the door, a doorkeeper, in the house of the Lord, blessed is the man, that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts, of my doors, whether they be, on the outside, waiting to get in, or waiting for a glimpse, of the king, as he goes in or out, or waiting for the crusts, that fall from his table, or whether it is seeking entrance, to be in his presence, once you're in, you still must be, faithfully, diligently, waiting at the posts, of his doors, because ultimately, it's not about a place, a place, a place is simply, the means, the hope, or access, to the person, who is the fulfillment, who is the reality, better to be a doorkeeper, in the house of the Lord, than to dwell, in the tents, of wickedness, and who, and who, and what, is the door, again,
[31:04] Jesus tells us, John 10 verse 9, I am the door, by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in, and out, and find passion, I'll read it again, I am the door, says Jesus, by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in, and out, and find passion, and sometimes, we may be at the door, and we don't know, how to get in, we don't know, how to come through, and say, well, Jesus is the door, how do I get in, how do I come in, I don't know, how to make this door open, I don't know, what to do, well, sometimes, Jesus himself, is in that case, not that he doesn't know, what to do, but he puts himself, outside the door, what does he say, I behold, I stand at the door, and knock, if any man, who put unto me, I'll come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me, sometimes, it's not Jesus, who is shutting the door, on us, it's we who are shutting, the door on him, hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not, blessed is the man, that heareth me, watching daily, at my gates, waiting, at the posts, of my doors, this is something, which we need, to have, if we are to grow, in grace, just as the person, diligent at the gym, is going to grow, in the strength, of their physique, and athleticism, by diligent attendance, at their gym, so likewise, the more we come, seeking the Lord, the more we shall, undoubtedly, be found with him, and this is something, we must seek, yes, day by day, individually, and at home, but individually, and at home, is not an instead of, and likewise, the public worship, of God, is not an instead of, to the private relationship, it is both and, you don't just breathe, you don't just breathe, in and out, on special occasions, you need the oxygen, every day, you don't just eat, on special occasions, weddings, and banquets, and other things, you have to eat, something every day, you need the Lord, every day, you need the wisdom, the glory, the grace, which the Lord, freely offers, the fear of the Lord, is the beginning, of wisdom, and the knowledge, of the holy, is understanding, as we read the next chapter, in verse 10, blessed is the man, that he of me, watching daily, at my gates, waiting at the posts, of my doors, if you would know,
[33:31] Jesus, who is the door, of the sheepfold, you must come, where he is, to be found, and he will not be found, from the lips, of any mere man, he will not be found, merely in rubbing shoulders, with other individuals, who have come, but somehow, some way, the Lord, has covenanted, to meet, with his people, to be present, amongst them, come where he has said, and you will never, go away empty, unless that is your choice, nobody is going, to compel you, to eat the food, that is said before you, nobody is going, to run it down your throat, you may have the food, set before you, and still not touch it, that is your prerogative, but if you will eat, and be filled, you must come, with a provision, and it is, if you would know, wisdom, you must come, where wisdom, is to be found, where is wisdom, to be found, the feet of the Lord, that is wisdom, wisdom, is personified, in the person, of the Lord, himself, blessed, is the man, that heareth me, says the Lord, watching daily, at my gates, waiting, at the posts, of my doors, wait there, for the Lord, and you will not, be disappointed, wait there, and you will know, that you will not, have to wait forever, because he himself, is the door, of the sheep, so blessed, and goulture, blessed.
[35:02] Finci, reconciliation, bless you, all, until the aura, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[35:25] Amen. Amen. Amen.