In the Old Testament, we can read the words of many prophets like Malachi, like Hegai, or Isaiah. The list goes on. And these prophets, they function like the mouthpiece of God to the people of God. They operate like these covenant watchdogs or covenant lawyers and they would call out and they would tell the people of their guilt. They would warn them about what God has commanded and how they have not followed. Even they would share God's rendered judgment if they failed to turn, as well as they would present God's promise if they did. Think of the prophet Jonah, maybe the most familiar to us, just giving children's stories or children's Bibles. Jonah has a five word sermon to the people of Nineveh. In 40 days, you'll be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh quickly turn. They quickly turn and put sackcloth and repent, believing that God may relent from such judgment. This morning we read the personified voice of wisdom, which is like a prophet to the people of Israel and to us today. To heed wisdom's call. To be a people of repentance instead of obstinance. In this prophetic speech from wisdom, we hear wisdom's call. We hear wisdom's warning and we hear wisdom's promise. This is written for you in your bulletin if you'd like to follow along and take notes on the back panel. And from this we understand wisdom is teaching us that it promises life. But if we refuse her, it would lead to death. And so this will function as our outline this morning. You can follow along in your Bibles and as we look at our first point, wisdom's call. Because look at me at verses 20 to 23. Wisdom here is personified. Personification is, what we mean by personification is that an attribute or object is being given human qualities like gender or the ability to speak. Similar to how you might say, your alarm clock this morning was screaming at you. Or you might say the last piece of dessert was calling your name. We see that wisdom, which we've learned already, is moral, practical and theological truth for life, is calling out to people. It is personified. Here the wisdom of God speaks so that all can hear. We are told that she cries out in the street. She is in the market. She's even in the gates. Wisdom is walking around the city of Jerusalem so that all people in all places would know wisdom. Before we look at the substance of wisdom's call, let us see the characteristics of the call. In these verses we see that wisdom's call is public and persistent. Wisdom's call is public. Wisdom is not hidden. It is clearly very prevalent. There is a belief throughout the ages that wisdom is something that has been hidden. It's something that must be sought after by secret rights or maybe it was only just to be discovered by the elites as a status symbol. Here we see instead wisdom cries out. She raises her voice. She speaks in the street, in the market, in the city gates. These are the places or the most public places in Jewish society. She goes to these places where daily life is lived. She goes to the street as people are going and coming, likely even where homes are located. She goes to the market where people are buying and selling. She goes to the gates where the cases and courts are located and the officials sit so they too can hear. Wisdom is everywhere in all places calling out to all people, showing us that wisdom is to be known in all parts of life. Wisdom is not only for the elites at the gate, it's for all people in the street. It is not just for the young, it is also for the old. It is for the influential and the inconsequential. It is given to inform your buying, your selling, your working, your relaxing, your education, your leadership. It is for everyday life. But this call for wisdom or this call by wisdom is not only public in all places and for all people but it also is persistent. Wisdom's call is persistent to all people including those who ignore her or who are naturally lacking her like the simple, the scoffer and the fool. We see the call is persistent in the fact that the repeated phrase of how long. You see this in verse 22. She asks how long will the simple, the scoffer and the fool ignore her? She calls the simple or the naive individual to herself. These are people who don't know better. The text tells us though that the love being naive, this is the posture of believing that ignorance is bliss and it allows them to use their ignorance as an excuse. It's as though naivety is licensed to sin. It is being able to plead ignorant and justify walking contrary to God. Then she calls to the scoffer. This is a group of people who think that they are wise, who you might think as know-it-alls. They might be smart but they use their intellect to mock God, his word, his teaching and those who submit to him. They delight in doing this with the text says. They seek out to prove themselves superior to God. I can think of this posture even in my own life before coming to faith. Openly mocking God, his people and proving that God was somehow wrong. But this was all a method to try and validate sinful thoughts, desires and actions instead of truly submitting to God. She persistently calls out to the fool. This is the person who is morally callous, being insensitive to evil, thus making themselves fools. She persistently calls all of these people, not just the person that goes by, but she's even persistent with the obstinate. This text is both for the religious and the irreligious. There are ways in which we as religious individuals can still fall into patterns of ignorance, mockery and callousness, ignoring God's call to wisdom. This is not just a concern for people who are not here. Something that should concern each of us. But as I say this, you are probably wondering as you should, what is wisdom's call? The substance and the actual message of wisdom's call is repentance. It is hearing her words of correction and reproof. Think back even to earlier in this speech that Solomon gives. He tells us the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, is a right view of God and a right view of self. And if you have that correct, we would be a people who would hear reproof. To hear the correction and reproof of wisdom. To turn from simplicity, scoffing and foolishness. It is a call to turn from sin and turn to God. Repentance is the reorientation of our lives. It is the act of turning from one direction and going another. It is from turning from going our own way and turning to God. Turning from ignorance to a knowledge of God. Turning from mocking God to honoring God. From being callous towards God to being tender towards God. We can think that wisdom is knowing what to do at all times. That we are to somehow trust our instincts and our intellect. But what we see here is that wisdom, in many instances, begins with the recognition of error. Seeing that we are out of step with God and turning towards Him. Some of you, like myself, can be in a posture of thinking that we're always right. But we must see that it's likely not the case that we're more likely wrong. We can so easily, in that time, have a posture of naivety, of superiority, and even foolishness towards God. And God calls us away from this. Calls us away from this. God calls out to us today and He says, turn to me. God is like this good friend or parent. And He says, turn this way. Don't go there. Look where you're going. It's dangerous. You should turn around. As you hear that call. Will you continue to walk into danger? Or will you heed God's call today? Or another way to say this is, think of where you might be denying the call of wisdom. Both for the believer and the unbeliever who continue to ignore correction. You are in a posture of naivety, scoffing, and foolishness. And this is most evident in your refusal to repent. If you have heard correction or if you know God's ways should be followed and you are ignoring them for your own preferences, comforts, or even argumentation in your minds, you're in grave danger. Wisdom calls out to you in all places, at work, at home, with your spouse, at school, with your friends, at church. And the question is, are we listening and turning? The text goes on to say, if we turn from our simplicity, scoffing, and foolishness, wisdom says she will provide for us. She will pour herself out over us her thoughts and her words and her instructions. The spirit of wisdom will be given to us, making us wise, like this wellspring gushing forth over us. The question is, will we turn? Will we know the call of wisdom and know her provision of the spirit? Because if we don't, she serves a warning which leads us to our second point, wisdom's warning. Look at me at verses 24 to 32. If you refuse to listen to wisdom's call, there are serious warnings that we should know. Wisdom says that she has her hands extended in grace towards the obstinate, but she says she will not cry out forever. If you refuse her long enough, she will give you up to retributive justice. These eight verses from 24 to 32, we see what looks like multiple punishments, but they all fall under the category of retributive justice. This is the concept that punishment is fitting the crime. It is proportional punishment. Wisdom we say, you reap what you sow, or you get what you give. Or in verse 31, wisdom says, she says, for the simple, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way. This retributive justice is what we see in these verses. We see here, if you mock God, God will mock you. If you reject God, God will reject you. It's a grave warning for us. And as I say this, many of you are thinking maybe of a loved one, a friend, a family member, a coworker, who have rejected the way of wisdom. And as I say this, you're wondering, how does this work? Is wisdom really calling out to them? Are they really liable to judgment? Is this even fair? And the answer to all three of those questions is yes. God is crying out to all people in all places, calling them to live wisely. We know the scriptures teach us elsewhere that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that He has put eternity in their hearts. There's a longing for God that people have, and there is general revelation that has been given to them. But instead of seeking out this God of creation, or where eternity can be found, they neither look or care. Romans 1 tells us that they darken their minds, that they reject God, and God gives them up to their own desires. They are liable because God has spoken by the birds of the air, by the breath in their lungs and the stars in the sky, and instead of listening, looking, and living, they deny, deceive themselves, and die. For these individuals, where we must begin is prayer. That their callous hearts will be softened. And as we pray, we ask for that open invitation. Whether it is inviting them to church, or sharing the gospel with them then and there. Our God is mighty to save. He can save the most rebellious and rejecting individual. And may He do it. But church, even if He doesn't, may we not charge our God with injustice or sin. May we grieve. But this is not a matter of fate. It is false. They lived in unrepentant rejection of God. And this cannot be absolved by any other means. It is a just consequence for their sin. In these situations, there's a belief that these obstinate, rebellious individuals need to be brought to the end of their rope to trust in Christ. That somehow Christ is found in crisis. And that might be the story for some of you in this room. And that might be the story of some. That's not the majority. That is not the majority. The text goes on to say that they will cry out in their calamity and they will not be hurt because of their refusal to listen. They are led to destruction. It's hard to say whether this destruction is literal or figurative. But what we do know is that it is spiritual and eternal. The scriptures tell us time and time again that there are consequences for rejecting God. And it is death. It is eternal death. And wisdom tells us here, if you reject God's wisdom, this will be your reality. Instead of turning to God and living in the fear of the Lord, you've gone your own way. This will not lead to life. It will lead to death. For those of you, maybe in this room, who've never turned to God and who continue to live in your own way, hear these consequences today. Don't wait. You may think that you have time to turn. Maybe when you're older, when you've lived your life apart from God. And then maybe at that point I'll turn. The text warns us. You might not have later. If you're here today and you're putting off repentance, thinking that you can wait, don't believe that lie. Don't believe the lie. Turn to God today. This is a call for you little children in this room. You adults, young adults. Turn to God. Do not pursue the folly of fools. There is real retribution for rejecting our God. And we don't want this to be true. For ourselves or our loved ones. But it is. And although it being true doesn't make it any easier to digest, these words of judgment should make us grieve. And they should drive us to our knees. There really is no other place that we can go than to the Lord. Whether it's your own rebellion and rejection of God. Or for you to plead that God would save the loved one from their sin. Our only hope is the Lord. And I circle back to this. Because I feel this pain. I know this truth. I preach these texts. But I so often do not pray as I ought. So would we be people who call out to our God asking Him to save? For Him to make people attentive and responsive to His voice. The Scriptures tell us. That it is God who makes remellious people His own. That He is the one who changes hearts. For those who are once enemies of God to be children of God. So may we pray that God would save abundantly in our families, in our friendship, in our workplaces, in our community, in our city, in our country, in our province. It's as though wisdom calls out to the fool. And we in prayer call out to God for the fool. That God would save. If you hear these words of judgment. And don't pray more fervently. We must ask, have we really heard this call of wisdom? Have we really heard this warning? So we have seen the call of wisdom. The warning of wisdom. Let us close and look at the promise of wisdom. Look at me at verse 33. Whoever hears wisdom will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster. The one who hears wisdom knows the promise of life and security. There is no dread in their heart, but there is peace. If you want life, if you want peace, the Scriptures tell us here, get wisdom. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 24, Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. Wisdom is an attribute of God, and here Solomon personifies it. But truly, wisdom is a person, and his name is Jesus. Christ is the wisdom of God that Lady Wisdom points towards. And he calls out to us today so that we would repent, that we would turn to him in faith. That we would know wisdom and ultimately know Christ. He is the one who exacts this judgment. The one who will judge the living and the dead. But he is also the one who promises peace by the blood of his cross. Being the shelter for sinners. For all who believe in him. And he calls out to you today from this pulpit. That you would know him. That you would look to him and that you would turn to him. And even if you already have, turn to him in ways that maybe you are obstinate today. That you would walk in the way of wisdom by his spirit. If you have yet to believe and you are still holding out, thinking that you can wait. Don't. Hear the call of wisdom. Hear Jesus Christ today. Turn from your sin and turn to your Savior. Thus knowing the promise of life instead of death.