In Peter Allison's sermon 'The Fruit of Wisdom,' he explores the protective and guiding nature of wisdom as described in Proverbs chapter 2. Wisdom is portrayed as an internal force that enters the heart, creating a genuine desire to follow God's commandments, rather than being imposed externally like a bit and bridle guiding a horse. The sermon warns against the dangers of perverse speech and the seductive influence of the immoral woman, who leads individuals away from righteousness. Allison emphasizes the importance of delighting in God's commandments, which are not burdensome but a source of joy for those who have internalized wisdom. This internalization is facilitated by the Holy Spirit, who transforms the heart and makes knowledge pleasant to the soul. The sermon concludes by urging believers to seek wisdom diligently, allowing it to preserve them from the ways of evil and guide them in the path of righteousness.

Our scripture reading from Proverbs chapter 2, I'd like to read beginning at verse 10. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you. To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perversity of the wicked, whose ways are crooked and who are devious in their paths. To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead.

None who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life. So you may walk in the way of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness, for the upright will dwell in the land and the blameless will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the earth and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it." Thus far the reading of God's holy word. Almighty Father in heaven, may you bring to us your word this morning in a vessel of clay that you might be glorified. May you sanctify these polluted lips to speak your truth. May you cause us to delight in you and in the words that come from your mouth.

Through Jesus Christ, we pray, amen. Where we continue this morning with the exposition of one sentence. What is one sentence in the Hebrew? One chapter, 22 verses long, one verse for every letter of the alphabet. But there's a very clear connection here in the text we're looking at this morning, this latter half, with the first half that we looked at last week.

Last week we looked at the pursuit of wisdom, this need to receive the Word of God, to lift up our voice, to cry out for it, to seek it Like a gold miner seeks that treasure hidden in the earth And in verse 10 we have the reason, the explanation for how it is that wisdom provides this protection. For how it is that wisdom guards us, preserves the way of the saints, gives to us understanding, righteousness and so forth. And what we are told, the reason that is connected to this is that wisdom enters our heart. We are preserved because wisdom enters our heart. In other words, wisdom produces a desire to follow God's commandments from within.

A desire from within. If you don't have a desire from within, then you don't have true wisdom. Because it is wisdom. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, then discretion will preserve you and understanding will keep you. See wisdom that is simply external to us, that is as it were an external form upon us, constricting us, that is not the picture that Proverbs gives of wisdom.

In fact, that's the opposite of wisdom. It's the fool that needs to have a rod brought to his back. Were not to be like the horse or the mule that have no understanding, and how does it describe the horse and the mule? They are led about externally. They are led by reins, by a bit and a bridle that is fixed on their head and stuck through their mouth.

So that when you pull on it, you literally pull on their mouth and you pull their head into the direction that you want it to go. That's not wisdom. And the Bible says, don't be like that horse and the mule. They have to be led about with a bit and a bridle. That's not wisdom.

The horse is not led. That kind of horse is not led about from within. That's a very different horse than the one that Knows the way to grandma's house The fool the unwise person is Is the one who has to be led about by government outside themselves? They are not self-governed But they need in order to do what's right they need to be forced to do it. That's not the kind of wisdom that protects.

That's not wisdom at all. The wisdom that this text speaks of, the wisdom that comes out of God's mouth, the wisdom that preserves His saints is the wisdom that enters the heart so that we are governed within. I ask the little ones here this morning, are you governed from within? Do you do what is right because that is the desire of your heart? Or do you do what is right because you'll get spanked if you don't?

The One is necessary to train us. We need the raw. We need to be corrected. But the purpose of that correction is to make us wise, so that wisdom enters our heart, so that we are led and guided from within, so that we want to do what is right. Now that isn't possible apart from God's Spirit and that is Why this language is used to describe regeneration You see in Ezekiel 36 We read about what God does in regeneration.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you will be clean I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols I will give you a new heart and put new spirit within you I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." It is when the Holy Spirit dwells with us, as we read about in Psalm 133. It is when He falls upon us like the dew. That's the sprinkling with clean water that is presented in baptism. Baptism represents the Holy Spirit falling upon us, His work in us.

It is that work within us that causes wisdom to enter our heart. And it is when wisdom enters our heart, it's when the Holy Spirit is walking with us, dwelling with us, that we are able then to walk in His statutes. We are caused, Ezekiel says, to walk in His statutes. Proverbs says, when wisdom enters your heart, discretion will preserve you and understanding will keep you. When the Holy Spirit is guiding us, then we are self-governed.

Then we are enabled to keep God's judgments. I want you to remember the next verse there if you've turned to Ezekiel. That verse 28 says, "'Then you will dwell in the land I gave to your fathers.'" Just hold that thought. Jeremiah speaks the same way in Jeremiah 31 and 32. Exact same language to refer to the Holy Spirit writing upon our heart.

I will put My law in their minds and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be My people. See, the law of God is not something that is external to us, that is like a bit and a bridle that forces us against our will. Wisdom that enters our heart guides us and leads us from within. Us from within. The Holy Spirit is called in Ephesians 1, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

This wisdom entering our heart and knowledge being pleasant to our soul, that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of wisdom entering into our heart, entering into and dwelling with us. It is then that we are preserved. But secondly, not only does wisdom enter our heart so that we are led from within, so that we desire to do what God commands us to do, but we also delight in it. When Wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul. You see, the knowledge of God, the law of God is something that is a delight to us.

David wrote a whole Psalm 119 to express this idea of how the how he delights in the law of God how the law of God is something that is pleasant that is beautiful that is precious is a treasure It is something that he kept within him. What a different picture that is than the law as some cruel, hard master that keeps us from doing what we want to do, that keeps us from truly enjoying life. Proverbs says wisdom is just the opposite. Wisdom gives us a delight. When we have wisdom, then we delight.

We love the law of God. We love to think and meditate upon the law of God because after all that law is but a transcript. It's but a reflection of the very character of God. It's who he is. And this is the God who is our Savior.

This is the God who dwells with us. And so we love then to think and to meditate and to do. We delight in that knowledge. It is something that is tasted, that is handled, that is enjoyed. In Psalm 1 talks about this same picture that we just saw, the Psalm we just sang.

Talks about that man is blessed who doesn't walk and sit and stand in the way of sinners, but how does it describe him in a positive sense? His delight is in the law of God, the law that which proceeds from the mouth of God. Wisdom is that which comes out of the mouth of God. The one who fears the Lord, which is the beginning of knowledge, is someone in whom that wisdom has entered his heart and who delights in the law of God, that which proceeds from the mouth of God. And that is where wisdom comes.

It comes from the mouth of God we saw last week. This is the very idea behind the Sabbath day. Do you get confused, maybe puzzled, maybe unsure? What can I do on the Lord's day and what can't I do? Do you ever think in those terms?

Well, maybe that's not quite the right question to be asking. Or do you think children of the Sabbath day is a confining day? A day that is constrictive and maybe we're not thinking about the Lord's Day in quite the right way. That's not the way Isaiah speaks about the Lord's Day. He says that if you call the Sabbath a delight, Call the Sabbath a delight and turn aside your foot from doing your own pleasure on God's day and and delight in it.

Call it the day of delight. That's the same idea that Proverbs is saying here, that knowledge is pleasant to our soul. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. God's commandments are a delight. This day that God has given to us to be a day in which we can set aside and worship Him, To be a day we can spend without worrying about our normal work of providing food, of shelter and clothing, without those concerns.

It's a day that we can put those things aside. A day that we don't have to be bothered with all the things that need to be done around the house. A day that we don't have to worry about, think about entertaining ourselves. And instead call this day a delight. The holy of the Lord honorable and honor Him not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words.

Then what's the response? Then you will delight yourself in the Lord. So instead of asking, what can I do on this day? Ask yourself, how can I delight myself in this day? How can I call this day a day of delight?

How can I delight myself in the Lord this day? Then I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and to feed with the heritage of Jacob your father, the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." That's what Proverbs is speaking of. Of a wisdom that protects and preserves and sustains and beautifies and exalts. It's a wisdom that delights in the Lord. Delights in the words that come out of his mouth.

Delights in the knowledge that he gives. It is pleasant. It is precious to us. You see when we delight in it, now you can see why we seek for it like hidden treasure, like silver. And it is this wisdom then that will preserve us.

It preserves us from two things according to our text. It preserves us from perverted people. Perverted people. The way of evil. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things." We tend to associate that word perversion with a certain form of sin, but it really is a broad word.

Perversion is anything that is not according to the path to God's precepts, to His ways, according to His commandments, is a perverted thing. And This wisdom keeps us from those men who would speak perverted things to us, who would lead us to doing perverted things. Because what a person speaks comes out of their heart. And so we have to also guard our thoughts. But notice this man who speaks perverse things, then progresses on to leave the path of the righteous, of uprightness.

See people don't jump into full perversion overnight. There is definitely a progression, a process that begins in the heart. It begins with those who do not delight in what proceeds from God's mouth, in his knowledge, in his ways, in his laws. It leads to thoughts that God's ways and laws are grievous. That leads to speaking perverse things.

And that progresses to leaving the path of uprightness into walking in the way of darkness. And even further it leads to rejoicing in evil so people don't start out rejoicing in evil they begin doing evil in the dark in secret they're ashamed of it they hide it But that progresses when that is allowed to continue without repentance, without confession. Without repentance, without confession, that leads eventually to a rejoicing, a rejoicing in doing evil and a delight in the perversity and wickedness of others. Augustine describes a particular time in his Confessions when in his youth he stole some fruit. And he stole it simply because he wanted to.

They had a joy in doing it. He had better fruit at home, but there was a joy in doing evil, a joy in stealing. And that is the state and the condition of many today, many criminals today do it simply out of the sheer joy of doing it. We see this kind of progression in culture itself as well. That which is tolerated in the shadows and the recesses, in secret and at night becomes celebrated in the daylight in the next generation.

That which is accepted in the closet becomes required in the marketplace, becomes sold and marketed in the public. And marketed in the public. Secondly, this knowledge preserves us from the Immoral woman from the seductress Now immoral woman there is is literally a strange woman Someone who has turned aside or removed or distanced herself. Someone who is alienated. Alienated from what?

From the family. From the covenant of marriage. And that's why this goes on to say, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. So the immoral woman and closely coupled with that is this seductress, which is literally a foreigner. Two different words that are speaking of the same thing.

The immoral woman or a strange woman, and a foreigner. Now it's not referring here to a foreigner in terms of ethnicity. It's not somebody who is coming from another land. But again, It's a foreigner to the covenant. It's a foreigner to the family.

Jacob spoke of his daughters, Laban spoke of his daughters in a similar way. Ephesians 2 uses this same language to refer to Gentiles in their unregenerate state. Paul says, You therefore remember that once you Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant." Aliens and strangers from the covenant. He contrasted Jews in Romans 9 as those who had these things. To them belonged the covenants, the service of God, the promises.

But to the Gentiles in their unregenerate days, they were aliens and strangers from the covenant. They were outside the family. And that's what this woman here is. This is a woman, this immoral woman, this seductress, she is a strange and foreign woman. She is outside of the covenant of marriage.

She speaks smooth words. She says she flatters with her words. But literally that's smooth words. The same root word is used to describe the stones that David picked out of the riverbed, smooth stones. But usually this word is used to describe words, smooth words, and It's not good.

Smooth words are not good in the Bible. Smooth words are used to refer to words that are deceitful, or to a heart that is deceitful. David speaks of this in Psalm 55. He speaks about words of his enemies, Those who are at war with him, who interestingly in verse 20 of Psalm 55 have broken God's covenant. Notice this connection here.

Strange alien women who break have departed the covenant. When we see these words elsewhere, alien, foreign, to the covenant, speaking smooth words. And look at these words. These words of this man who has broken the covenant are smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

This woman, this foreigner, foreign to the covenant of marriage, is speaking with smooth words, deceitful words. They are words that make something seem to be different from what it actually is. Smooth words, deceitful words, make something seem to be different from what it actually is. Now anybody can use smooth words in this way. It doesn't have to be a woman.

Salesmen can use words in the same way. What do we call those kind of people? Slick, smooth, smooth talking, snake oil, selling snake oil. Notice these same associations have come right into our language as well. The words of a salesman who can make something seem to be different from what it actually is.

He can paint this beautiful picture, very smooth picture of something. And he can give to, creates in us a desire to want to have that you can sell anything it doesn't have to be an object you can sell a way of living you can sell a culture You can sell debt the same way. Make it seem to be something different from what it actually is. Is. Wisdom will prevent and preserve you from smooth words of perverse people and of the foreign women.

It's not easy. It's not easy. I can remember in our early days of our marriage going to different sales presentations and how easy It is when you get under the spell of those smooth words They the this beautiful picture that they paint of something and making it Different from what it actually is seeming to be different how powerful that is and how easy it is to think, yeah, that's true. And then we go off and join whatever it is that they've done or that they're offering. And there's usually always a cost associated with it or debt associated with it.

Debt, They're very happy to bring you into debt. On more than one occasion, we've followed that idea and then learned later that it wasn't what it seemed to be. Yes, technically what they were saying was true, but somehow when you experience the reality of it, it's just different from what they made it seem to be. With their smooth words soft as butter made it seem to be We It reminds me of a advertisement I got a couple years ago. I guess this is our 29th year of marriage.

So probably in our first year of marriage, we got an advertisement to the same thing, same company, different packaging. And in our first year of marriage, we bought into this thing. And we got some benefit, but we had to work really hard to justify it to ourselves and thankfully Dropped it after a while, but 25 years later this thing comes in and I recognize it as the same thing. I thought, I'd just like to go and sit through this thing again and listen to their talk. So we did because they were offering a free Kindle for it.

I thought that was worth it. But I went not going to fall for it, but I was still amazed at how persuasive the smooth words seemed to be. Thankfully, we didn't fall for them by the grace of God. But smooth words are very powerful. They're very powerful.

Making things seem to be what they aren't. And The foreign woman, foreign to the marriage covenant, can flatter with smooth words and make what she has to offer very enticing, seem very good. But she is a woman, notice, who has forsaken the companion of her youth. This is somebody who at one time was in a covenant of marriage, but she has forsaken the one to whom she has vowed She is departed she has forgotten the covenant of her God Psalm 15 describes that man who is upright as somebody who keeps the vows that they have made, even to their own hurt. Even to their own hurt.

Now certainly, there are proper times when it is necessary or proper to forsake the companion of your youth and to break that covenant. But that's a very fearful thing to do. And it should only be done with the authority of a court to grant to you the permission to do it. Because we are not capable in ourselves, in these kind of situations, from discerning what is an improper forsaking of the covenant companion of our youth. And a wise person in that situation will follow and stay under the protection of a church court.

This strange, immoral foreign woman who flatters with her words, her smooth words. Her house leads down to death. It is a road that goes downhill. Her paths lead to the death and none who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life. This is like skiing down a mountain.

It's very easy to go down. It's very hard to go back up. This is like rowing a boat downstream. It's a lot of fun to go whizzing down a river with the current. It's a lot harder when you turn around and try to go back.

The way of this woman is a downhill path. It's very easy to follow it. But those who do, the Proverbs says, none who go to her return. So Solomon says, you may walk in the way of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness. For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it.

The wicked will be cut off from the earth and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it. We hear a lot of talk today about immigration and securing our borders and people want to build fences, big high fences, as if that could keep out the foreigners who want to come in. But I would submit to you this morning that what we are seeing when we look around and see our land being inundated with foreigners, yes we can say well they're here illegally and all that. The reality is we aren't dwelling. We are being cut off from our own land.

We drive down the road and we see signs in foreign language that we don't know. We see that our property is being bought by foreigners and that the roads we drive on are owned by foreign corporations. And the tolls that we're paying are enriching other nations. It's not even American companies that own our roads, our very infrastructure, our bridges are being sold by our leaders to raise money sold to foreigners and we are being disinherited from our own land. God's word says that the upright will dwell in the land and the blameless will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off.

Now we could say, well, how could God be using these wicked people to cut us off? Look around and See the rise of Sharia law being used in our courts, and the law of God being rejected from our courts. Muslim images being promoted, Christian images being hidden. We are being uprooted from our own land. The wicked are being cut off.

We have no farther to look than in our own county, our own city, with the innocent blood that is shed in our own land every day, with the government schools that in our own county, paid for by our own tax dollars have said God is dead. Don't mention his name here. You will be fired if you get kicked out, if you bring your Bible to school and start speaking from it. So you may walk in the way of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness for the upright will dwell in the land and the blameless will remain in it. The answer to foreign immigration and being overrun with foreigners is not a high wall.

It's to cry out to the Lord for mercy, that He would grant repentance, that wisdom may enter our heart, that we would delight in His law and His commandments, that His knowledge would be pleasant to us. Otherwise, we will be cut off from the earth and the unfaithful uprooted from it. It doesn't matter that God is using people that are even worse than us. Not saying that Islam and the people who practice it are more righteous than we are. In many cases they are.

They are just as bad. They kill maybe even more people. That was the same question Habakkuk asked God. God, how come you're using this Babylonian nation? They're more wicked than the Israelites, and they were.

But God was using them as the instrument, his instrument, in his hand, to bring his wrath and his judgment on the Israelites for their apostasy for their rejection of his commandments and his ways. And so yes, God can use Hitler and Stalin to do his bidding as his instrument in his hand, and he says that they are his servants. You see, our enemy is not the people that are invading our borders. It is our own forsaking of the wisdom of the Lord. Forsaking, not living by every word that proceeds out of his mouth.

That's the source of wisdom. We as a people have rejected God's word. And God is rejecting us from our land. Now What do we do when we find that God's commands are not pleasant? As this Proverbs describes, that knowledge is pleasant to us.

So what do we do when, why is it that knowledge would cease to be pleasant to us? Well, it might be that we haven't made any proficiency in the knowledge of God. Have you ever gone to a lecture about something you know nothing about? Have you ever tried to read a book on something that you know nothing about. It's kind of hard, isn't it?

It's laborious to work through that kind of a book or to sit and listen to a talk on something that is completely outside of your knowledge and experience. So it may be that you don't have proficiency in the Word of God. In which case, what do you do? Well, you need to read more of God's Word. Read more of God's Word.

Spend more time around the people of God and less time around the people who Don't fear God. Seek it as silver. There is an element there that we looked at last week of urgent, diligent, Seeking hard labor, hard work. Mining is hard work. Do you work like that?

At seeking the knowledge of the Lord, at studying of His Word, working to be around God's people. I know that's one of the, for me personally, one of the delights that I have at Presbyterie. Elders are sheep too, and they need to be shepherded as well. And it's good to be able to spend time around God's people. But maybe it's another reason.

And maybe it's because you are seeking to please men instead of Christ. Maybe knowledge has ceased to be pleasant and God's commandments have ceased to be a joy because you're seeking to please men instead of Christ. When our actions flow from a desire to present an image of holiness before men, then God's commandments are burdensome. They are grievous to us. They are not pleasant.

God's commandments in Scripture are a joy, a delight. His yoke is light. His burden is easy. You see, when our actions arise from our love of Jesus Christ and from our fellowship with Him because He is dwelling with us as Psalm 133 speaks of. The Holy Spirit dwelling with us, walking with us.

When there is a communion and a fellowship there, then the knowledge and the wise way are at delight. They are pleasant. Who are you serving this morning? Who are you serving? Let us pray.

Almighty Heavenly Father, We thank you for your word that is sharper than a two-edged sword that pierces into us to divide us under soul and spirit, joints and marrow. We thank you for the life that it brings, for the light to our path, for the lamp that it is, for the heat that it provides. We thank you that you have shown to us our Savior Jesus Christ, in whom is hid all wisdom and knowledge. We ask that he may enter our heart. For you stand at the door and knock.

And to those who open, you come in and you do eat and drink with us. You sup with us. May we be as Mary, who desired to sit at your feet To hear your wisdom to hear your word May we be those who do delight in this day to whom it is a great joy. May we be those who seek, who study. Seek your wisdom and study your word.

And we ask that you would forgive us, where we have forgotten our first love. We ask, Father, that you would restore us where your commands have been a burden to us. We ask, Father, that we may know more and more of the joy and delight of your service, of fellowship and communion with you. And may we have more and more of those times and less and less of the other. We ask this for Jesus' sake.

Amen. Thanks for watching!