Great Texts of The Bible | Proverbs 3 | Pastor William Hixson

Well, we welcome you this morning, it's

good to have you with us

to to see you today.

Those that are new with us and even

those who've been with us for a while,

we are taking a break from our book

studies that that really,

I would say, identify us as a church.

We're very much into taking the Bible

verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book

by book. But sometimes you need a break

from that. And that's what we've been

doing these last months uh in uh to just

refresh us and get us to hear God's word

maybe a little different way. We're

taking great texts, great texts of the

Bible and and making sure we know those.

There, of course, all the Bible's

inspired and all the texts are great,

but there are some that are especially

useful and especially needful for us to

have. And so that's what we're

emphasizing in this particular series.

And we will get back to book studies,

but we're doing this for a while to rest

our minds and maybe have a little

different approach. And then we're also

studying with that a series on the

resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And uh we've been doing messages on that

as well. So uh we are in that break

period. I hope you love book studies

because we will get back to that. uh but

uh we are in that break period as a

local assembly.

And uh so in in light of all of that,

I'd like to turn with you to the book of

Proverbs. The book of Proverbs, chapter

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

3.

I don't know about you, but I absolutely

love the book of Proverbs. I love

teaching Proverbs. I think we've taught

through the book of Proverbs three times

in this church and have used different

ways to teach it and I'm always happy to

be in this book. I need all the wisdom I

can get and I trust you do too. And so

we we this is a great book. It's a great

book for young people, right? I mean,

the whole point of the book is older

people teaching young people about God's

wisdom and how much we need it. And

these wonderful proverbs uh are just

absolutely fascinating. And the one that

almost everybody knows if you've been a

churchgoer at all is Proverbs 3, chapter

3, verse 5 and 6. This is a very popular

and well-known proverb.

And uh before I read this, I want you to

remind you of this. A proverb is not a

promise.

Many people misinterpret proverbs

and they don't then they don't

understand. Well, why did this happen?

Train up a child on the way he go and

he'll not depart. Well, that's a

proverb, not a promise. In other words,

some think if I do everything right with

my kids, everybody's going to get saved.

They're going to get saved early and

they're going to go on with the Lord

right away. What happened? God promised

something and no, it's not a promise.

It's a proverb. Well, what's the

difference?

The promises of God are inspired by God.

Those are inspired promises. A proverb

is an inspired proverb. But a proverb

comes through the wisdom teachers of

Israel. Remember they had priests,

prophets, kings, but they all also had

wise people. Wise people. And these

people uh were giving proverbs. It was a

me pneumonic device. It was a short

pathy statement that stick in your

memory. And a proverb is a is an

inspired

uh proverb about the way life usually

works.

Not the not and it's always going to

work that way. These are observations

about life from God's uh people about

the way life usually

works in God's world. So we have to

remember that whenever we're looking at

a proverb. And so some of them are

absolutely dogmatic all the way. And

some of them you better get some elastic

to them because we know there's

exceptions to the rule all the time.

And so there's an awful lot about

raising kids in this book. It's you it's

parents teaching their children, but

it's also uh there's there's proverbs

all kinds of sides about what's going on

in our world. Uh but it is an inspired

observation

about how life usually works and how

life should work. And so we need these

we need these statements and they're

certainly given in the Bible for a

reason. Now the one we're looking at

this morning is probably one of the best

known proverbs.

It's in Proverbs 3 5 and six.

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and

lean not to your own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him and he

shall direct your paths.

Probably everybody here has heard this

before, read this before, quoted this

before,

utilized this before.

Uh uh and uh that's good. But we're

going to dig at it a little more and

we're going to look at a little more and

hopefully it will be helpful for us.

Uh Allan Ross is a Old Testament

scholar, modern Old Testament scholar

and he said this on this proverb to

trust in the Lord and not yourself

because he grants success.

We trust in the Lord and not ourselves

because he grants excess. And then he

quotes the Hebrew word batal which means

trust. It carries the force of relying

on someone for security. The confidence

is to be in the Lord and not in human

understanding. The call is for trust

with total commitment with all your

heart in all your ways. Absolute

obedience and surrender in every realm

of life.

So it's we trust in the Lord with all

our heart, all our ways, all the time.

It's it's this is how you want life to

work. This is how it works. Trust in the

Lord with all your heart, all your ways

all the time. Now, none of us do that.

But all of us should be doing that. And

when we don't do it, we find ourselves

in problems. We start blaming God. Why

did this happen? When why didn't this

work out? Trust in the Lord with all

your heart, in all your ways all the

time. That's what this is about. And

when we trust him, it's not always that

he gives us what we ask for. I have

lived long enough to thank God for

unanswered prayers.

Really, seriously unanswered in the

sense that God didn't say yes. He did

answer it. He said no.

If you think back at your prayers and

oh, I'm glad God didn't answer that

prayer with a yes.

All of us because we know not how we

should pray. That's what Romans says.

So, our prayers are not inspired prayers

in the sense that they're infallible and

God's got to uh answer our prayers just

the way we pray them. Thank God the Holy

Spirit edits our prayers before they

even get to heaven and then answers them

in the way they should be answered, even

if we didn't pray them the way we should

have prayed it.

But this is a fascinating thing. And uh

what is going on here? Ross again says

we should consciously bring God into

every area of our lives all the time.

We should consciously bring God into our

lives

all the time.

And by the way, that's Psalm 23, right?

What's Psalm 23? But David bragging

about his shepherd.

Now, the shepherd was getting him

through every day in his life.

providing for him, protecting him and so

forth.

So when we come to this proverb, trust

in the Lord with all your heart, lean

not to your own understanding. In all

your ways acknowledge him and he will

direct your paths, it assumes we need

direction.

We're not, we don't always know

what to do. We don't always know what we

should be doing and we need direction.

Well, God gives that direction and he

gives help and he gives in a blessing.

Now, this is one of the best known

proverbs in the whole book of Proverbs

and I I'm teaching it because it is and

I want you to get You say, "I know this

one."

But you know better. [laughter]

There's so many things in the Bible. Oh,

I know that. I know that. And then I

find out I don't know that as well as I

should know that. God's going to teach

me some things I think I know. And

that's what we're going to do. Now,

behind all of this is older people are

supposed to be teaching younger people.

I see some younger people here and I see

some

older people here and I see some in

between.

And the the difference between us

younger people and older people is we

used to be young, but now we're old.

And so we've got an we got a little bit

of advantage because life has taught us

something. Some of the things we learned

the hard way.

Uh and we took enough stupid pills and

we had to learn some things the hard

way. Some things we learn the easy way.

And in in everything, God does teach us

something.

Now, that doesn't mean younger people

always older people always know best.

Sometimes younger people know better

than old people. Life is strange, isn't

it? But God has designed life so that

the older can help the younger. Parents

are to raise their children and nurture

admonition of the Lord. Uh those that

are older are to teach those that are

younger. Read the book of Titus.

And so older women are teach the younger

women and all the rest of that. And so

God's got a purpose for the age gap.

Now I remember I was at a certain age. I

kind of like to be around the younger

people all time when I was young. And

that was all right. There were always

some older people I knew I could get

something from. And I they took it I

availed myself of them.

And I'm glad I should have done more of

it.

Now, older people uh and younger people,

most young people can do a lot of things

older people can no longer do.

I'm finding that out. There's some

things I used to do that get more

difficult for me at my age.

And but older people have a voice of

experience to those with less

experience. Isn't that what a coach is?

What's a coach?

He's teaching younger people how to play

football, basketball, baseball, whatever

it is. And he has experience that the

younger person has. It's not the younger

person. There's something wrong with

them. They're just younger. And this

this other person has learned some

things about how to play a sport. The

same thing if you're shadowing a doctor,

if you're a nurse or a or a a young

intern trying to learn how to be a

doctor or any other area of knowledge.

Uh so may God help us to realize in

every area of life, those who are older

than us, if we're smart, we're going to

get as much out of that person as we

can. might be, you know, a math teacher,

music teacher, a Marine Corps drill

instructor, art instructor, whatever it

is. They know some things I don't know,

and I need to get it from them. Not that

I can't get it by myself with the Lord,

but I can also gain.

Now,

I think probably

95% of people know this because you've

heard me teach some of this before or

you've learned it on your own.

The book of Proverbs are pathy sayings,

observations about how life should work

or usually works,

but the proverbs don't even begin until

tap chapter 10

technically.

And so the proverbs begin around chapter

10. Those little one verse or two verse

proverbs. Now, we got one here. But

actually, the first nine chapters are

introduction to the book.

You may have noticed that, you may have

not noticed it. But the first nine

chapters of the book of Proverbs are

different than the rest of Proverbs.

When you start chapter 10, you get into

the Proverbs itself in a big way. So the

first nine chapters are basically

introducing the book. And if you don't

know this, this will help you

marvelously.

I I just have to mention this. In the

prologue of the book,

in the prologue of the book, there's an

older person teaching a younger person.

And the older person is talking about

there's two parties.

Which one you going to go to?

You're going to be invited to both.

There's lady wisdom

and there's lady folly.

Lady folly is sin.

Lady wisdom is Jesus Christ. That might

shock you, but that's what that is.

Christ is the wisdom of God.

And so you've got Lady Folly. And Lady

Fley's got a party. And Lady Fley is

going to invite you to her party.

Lady Wisdom has a party.

And Lady Wisdom is inviting you

to her party.

And you've got to choose where am I

going to go.

That's the introduction of this book.

You got to read those first nine

chapters together.

And Lady Wisdom is inviting. Lady Folly

is inviting. And all young people are

getting pulled by Lady Wisdom and Lady

Folly. And they're going to decide which

way do I go? Where do I go for

fulfillment? Where do I go with life?

Both have a party and both are inviting

young people to the party.

That's it.

And all of us know that that are older.

How many invitations did Lady Folly give

you and me when we were young?

Options in life.

And sometimes we went to the party and

we found out that didn't turn out too

good.

Lady Wisdom is also giving her

invitations.

and just read the book and you'll see

that's the that's the that's the

introduction.

And if you've never read Proverbs with

that introduction, that's a helpful

thing because everything else comes out

what the rest of the book is saying.

Listen to lady wisdom. Listen to Jesus

Christ. He's going to tell you how to

live.

So with that idea, we can even come back

with our verse in 35 and 6 and we can

let the Lord Jesus teach us a little bit

even though we're still in the

introduction.

And so let's do that. Verse five, trust

in the Lord with all your heart. Lean

not to your own understanding. In all

your ways acknowledge him and he will

direct your paths.

Uh

that trust

that trust is what he's talking about

here.

And that's what our text is talking

about. And we are to trust him. We're to

trust his word. We're to trust his ways.

We're to trust his will.

Uh we are to trust him.

Very very important as we just look at

this.

So number one, we are to trust God's

word. Verse five, trust in the Lord with

all your heart. Lean not to your own

understanding. In all your ways

acknowledge him and he'll direct your

paths. There's other words. There's

other messages. There's other people

getting our attention. Remember Adam and

Eve? Remember God said to Adam and Eve,

"You can eat of all the trees of the

garden, but of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil, you'll not eat."

If if even Adam had been trusting God's

word, we wouldn't have been in trouble,

right?

God said it. Their Bible was very small.

Just a few verses.

Uh take dominion over all the earth and

uh you can eat of all the trees of the

garden, but of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil you shall eat. Very

small Bible.

And what did the serpent do? He tempted

them away from God's word.

They began to trust the serpent's word

instead of God's word.

They began to question what God had

said. And they began to listen what the

serpent had said.

And by the way, that was the fall of all

mankind. But it also says something

about every life. There's the choices.

Choices haven't stayed any differently.

Different

So when it comes to life, what God says

concerning our situations, God says it.

God that settles it. I believe it. I

embrace it.

God has verbally spoken his revealed

will.

As one Christian philosopher said, "He

is there and he's not silent."

He is there and he's not silent.

And that's Francis Schaefer who was very

influential in me and getting me my mind

untangled with because I was listening

to wrong people when I was at the

university.

He is there and he's not silent. God has

spoken. He's verbally spoken his wheel,

his revealed will. And we're to trust in

the Lord. How does it say? With all our

heart. And we're to what? Lean not to

our own understanding.

That's it. Well, how can I trust in the

Lord with all my heart? By trusting his

word. By trusting what he says.

That's one way.

And that's a good way. The Bible says

it. That settles it. I believe it. Trust

his word

with all our heart.

Now later we'll go beyond that but look

in second Peter chapter 1. Hold your

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

place in Proverbs

2 Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

I hope you wet your thumb today because

we're going to do some flipping.

Second Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

I have a debate in my mind. I I have a

hard time at which book I enjoy the

most. First Peter or second Peter, but

we're in second Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

And um

Peter's talking about his experience of

the transfiguration of Christ and he

actually saw our Lord transfigured on

the mount of transfiguration.

And he says in verse 15, Peter was

writing this as a man getting ready to

be crucified,

getting ready to be martyed.

this. And he says in verse 15,

"Moreover, I will endeavor." 11:15,

"That you may be able after my deceased

to have these things always in

remembrance." For we have not followed

cunningly devised fables when we made

known to you the power and coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ. We are eyewitnesses

of his majesty. For he received from God

the Father honor and glory when there

came such a voice to him from the

excellent glory. This is my beloved son

in whom I well pleased. Remember Peter

made the big faux paw there. Uh let's

build

let's build three huts. One for you, one

for Elijah, one for Moses. And God said,

"Nope, that's not it. This is this is my

beloved son. Hear him." Moses is good.

Elijah's good, but Jesus above them

both. They're not in the same category.

And this voice which came to him from

heaven, we heard when we were with him

in the holy mount.

In other words, I heard God speak

verbally to from heaven to me.

But you've got something more than if

God spoke to you verbally, vocally.

You got the Bible.

That's what he's saying here.

We have also a more sure word of

prophecy. It's talking about the

scriptures

under which you do well to take heed as

to a light that shines in a dark place

until the day dawn and the day star

arise in your hearts.

You've got a light in a dark place. Use

it.

And it shines in a dark place. And you

do you use it till the Lord comes.

Knowing this first that no prophecy of

scriptures is of any private

interpretation, for prophecy came not at

any time by the will of man, but holy

men of God spoke as they were moved by

the Holy Spirit.

And so it's not just what I said or Paul

said or Peter or John said. It's it's

what God is saying through these

different writers including us.

So that's a pretty powerful verse on the

inspiration of the Bible and on the

authority of the Bible.

And he wants us to give heed to it. It's

like a light in a dark place.

You're in a dark place, it helps to have

a flashlight with you, right?

You don't have a light, you can get in

trouble real fast.

When I was young, I we camped out on a

sandbar. A bunch of us 18 year olds and

sandbar in the middle of a river and

nobody brought a flashlight

and uh we're out there on the sandbar

and all of a sudden it gets dark and

we're having fun. We're eating and we're

enjoying ourselves and all of a sudden

it gets dark and we can't find our way

back where the cars are. We can't even

get up the bank.

We're just stuck to total blackness

until morning. I'm just glad there

wasn't a flood or something because we'd

[snorts] been we were just in trouble.

And so we didn't bring a light so we

were in danger. We couldn't even find

our way because we had to come down the

bank out the river, cross the river, up

the bank to the bridge where our cars

were.

I know about being in a dark place with

no light.

And everybody that's not saved

is in a dark place.

They have no light.

And the whole kingdom of Satan is a dark

place according to Colossians.

And so we got a light. It's this

precious Bible. We need to use our

light.

Turn to Second Timothy. Second Timothy

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

Second Timothy chapter 3,

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

as some of you have heard this outlined

from me, the first part of this chapter

talks about the arrival of apostasy.

Apostasy is a falling away from the

truth.

the arrival of apostasy and the perilous

times will come and and it goes on and

talks about what people boy we are

there.

But then he talks about the antidote for

apostasy

in the last part of the chapter. The

arrival is verses 1 to 13

and 13 ends it with evil men and

seducers will become worse and worse

deceiving and being deceived.

What's the antidote? But continue thou

verse 14 in the things you've learned

and have been assured of, knowing of

whom you've learned them. And from a

child you've known the holy scriptures

which are able to make you wise to

salvation through faith which is in

Christ.

You see, we're all foolish. The only way

to make foolish people wise is to get

them saved. They have to be wise to

salvation

and see life. the way it really is. And

then he says, "All scripture is given by

inspiration of God. It's God breathed.

It's created by God." Even though he

used right, he he revealed the uh

revealed the uh words and chose the

writers and inspired the writing and is

and is profitable for doctrine, for

reprove, for correction, for instruction

and righteousness, that the man of God

may be perfect, thoroughly furnished all

good works.

The same Bible that helps a child in

verse 15 furnishes the man with all he

needs in verse 16.

Same Bible that was good for you when

you were young helps you when you're

old.

Thank God for that.

So that's the picture here. And so what

is Proverbs doing? It's saying back,

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not to your own understanding. In

all your ways acknowledge him. He'll

direct your paths." How does God do

that? How do we do that? When we trust

in the Lord, we're we look into his

word.

I've got a big decision to make, Lord.

We go to God in prayer. I've got a life

change. I need to have direction from

you. Lead me. Direct me. Uh and uh trust

him with all our heart. Lean not to own

understanding.

I not I don't want to just go by my

feelings or my thoughts or my desires or

my dreams or my wishes. I want to go

with your word. I need guidance.

So the Bible is meant to be read. The

Bible's meant to be embraced. And

sometimes God asked us to do something

that we really don't want to do.

How about Abraham when God said, "Offer

up Isaac

on the mountain. I'll show you. No way

he wanted to do that.

But he did it. You think Joseph wanted

to go to Egypt and be a slave for a

while, be in prison for a while, be

falsely accused of rape for a while, be

separated from his family for a while?

That was the providence of God. But God

spoke before it ever happened that he

was going to be the ruler over all his

brothers. And it happened. It just

didn't happen

right away. God took him down first so

he could take him up and he might take

you down before you. He takes you up. So

Lord, just give me grace

to trust in you and your providence and

notelves or even my own situation.

Uh

you know the default

The default alternative to trusting

God's word

is found in Psalm 1. Turn there if you

will with me. Psalm 1.

You know, the book of Psalms begins with

knowing the word of God, knowing the son

of God. Knowing the word of God is Psalm

1, knowing the son of God is Psalm 2. A

good introduction to the whole 150

Psalms

because you can't worship properly if

you don't know the word of God. You

can't worship properly if you don't know

the son of God.

But I'm interested in Psalm 1. Blessed

is the man who walks not in the counsel

of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of

sinners, nor sits in the seat of

scornful.

He refuses all three of those.

He's not going to let that

direct his life.

But his delight is in the law of the

Lord. And in his law,

what happens in his He delights in the

law of the Lord. And in his law does he

meditate day and night.

Uh thank God for the Bible.

Thank God for his written word.

He'll be like the tr tree planted by

rivers of water that brings forth its

fruit in season. Its leaf will not

wither and whatever he does will

prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are

like the chaff which the wind drives

away.

So this is a very precious verse, isn't

it?

So what's the point? When I trust in the

Lord with all my heart and I lean not to

my own understanding, I am what? I'm

going I'm going to bring God's word to

bear on this. Lord, show me from your

word

what guidance I need in making these

decisions and having these priorities.

We should all be Bible readers. We

should all be Bible memorizers. Should

all be Bible students. We should be

biblically literate, not illiterate.

I I I grew up in a church.

I professed salvation at 13. I got

baptized after that. Parents were both

Sunday school teachers in that church.

Many of you know these stories I'm about

to tell. I knew Bible stories from

Sunday school. I remember my Sunday

school teachers from kindergarten.

And I I I I had a kindergarten

understanding of the Bible even as a

teenager. And I did listen to sermons. I

enjoyed them. I I I was blessed by them.

But I there was another side to Bill

Hixon.

And those of you that heard this,

forgive me, but I'm going to tell it. We

we we were in a fairly large Baptist

church. Several hundred people there.

The choir loft was in the back of the

church and excuse me, in the front of

the church behind the pastor up up. My

mom sang in the choir. My parents were

both Sunday school teachers, so I was in

Sunday school

with my brothers, my sister and

brothers. And uh then the other the

other loft was in the back of the

church.

And guess where the teens sit at?

If we ever have a church with a balcony,

the teens aren't going to be sitting

there.

I'm telling you.

And the stories I could tell.

And I love the Lord. I I wanted to know

the Bible, but other things

temptation just as a feather in the wind

attempted. It started when a friend of

mine said, "Let's go get a donut during

the sermon and let's sneak out of the

balcony and go down and get a donut."

So, we went down and got some donuts.

It didn't start. That's how it started.

The next one was, "Let's get in my dad's

Mercury." This was a four barrel

carbureted Mercury big car. And let's

see if we can drive to Circleville and

back before the sermon's over.

You know, Circleville is 20 miles from

Chelsea.

You do the math on that. See how fast we

were going?

I won't even tell you.

We did that three or four times. Four of

us.

Now, I wanted to hear the word of God.

I wanted to grow. But that sounded

interesting. Let's do it. We just did

it. Dumb, dumb teenagers.

My parents thought I'm in the balcony

listening to the Bible and I'm going 120

mph up the 23 north to Circleville and

back

in a car with my buddies. And we made it

there and back three or four times. Got

back in before the sermon was over. And

I was okay.

I didn't mean to miss the sermon. I just

was a feather in the wind of temptation.

And I'm thankful God was gracious to me.

So thankful God was gracious to me.

That's why Proverbs says there's two two

two women. And it's an odd thing. You

might say that Jesus pictured as a

woman. This is a personification of

wisdom and a personification of

foolishness.

There's two parties. You're getting

invited to both.

And that goes all the way through life.

It never stops in this world.

So may God help us to refuse the

invitation to the Lady Fley's party

and accept the invitation to Lady

Wisdom's party. And if you want to go to

Jesus's party, you're going to be in the

word.

That's what he's offering. hearing God's

voice,

following the shepherd, enjoying God's

wisdom,

bringing it into your life. And I want

to tell you, that's more exciting than

anything Lady Folly can ever,

ever offer.

I listened to Lady Folly for too long.

I was 22 before I got out of that and

started listening to Lady Wisdom. And

so, may God help us to do that this

morning.

And so, let's go back to Proverbs 3

because

my sermon is going to get too long if I

don't move forward in a little bit.

So, God wants us to have an appetite for

his word. God wants us to trust in the

Lord with all our heart, lean not our

own understanding. How do I do that? If

I don't know the Bible, I will be

leaning to my own understanding. That's

all I got. [clears throat]

or worse, I'll be listening to what

Satan's got to say

or the world's got to say.

Do we have an appetite for God's word?

If we don't, there's something wrong

with us. You lose your appetite. You

say, "I'm doctor. I've lost my

appetite." Well, there might be a

problem. Do we have an appetite for

God's words? Speak, Lord. Your servant

hears.

Let me ask you this. How many chapters

are in the Bible?

a lot. There's 1,189

chapters in the Old Testament, New

Testament.

1,189

chapters in the Old Testament, New

Testament. I know it because I looked it

up online.

How many chapters are in the New

Testament? 260.

260 chapters in the New Testament. 929

chapters in the Old Testament. Now, if

you're going to trust in the Lord with

all your heart and lean not to your

understanding, one thing is you need to

know the book he's written. That's how

one of the ways you trust in the Lord.

It's not the only way, but it's

certainly a good start, right?

There's other ways. You'll never trust

God with hard providences in your life

when you didn't get the job you wanted

or you didn't get the girl you wanted or

you didn't get uh the health you wanted.

You'll never trust God with the hard

providences of your life if you don't

trust his word and get used to it by

just embracing his word.

Embracing it this way. As one dear lady

who got cancer said when she found out

she had cancer, an older lady, "God's

will is my will."

Well, that's how we ought to read the

Bible. God's will is my will. I didn't

think this was wrong. I didn't know I

shouldn't be doing this. Well, okay. God

says it. I believe it. That settles it.

That's it.

And so,

trust in the Lord with all your heart.

So, we trust God's ways. Second, we

trust we trust God's word. Second, we

trust his ways. God's ways aren't our

ways. We're we're talking about Isaiah

there. All flesh corrupted God's way in

Genesis 6:12.

Genesis 6:12

And God's ways aren't our always our

ways.

Remember the servant of uh Abraham that

went to get a bride for Isaac?

I being in the way the Lord led me.

I would have never known who was the who

God wanted Isaac to marry. Who how many

here would like to pick out a bride for

somebody?

I would not want to do that.

Who wants to that assignment? That's a

hard assignment.

That's a lot of responsibility.

But he said, "I be the way the Lord led

me." Now, he was going by God's word.

Abraham told him where to go and what

family to pick out. And he gave him some

parameters, right? It wasn't just go

find somebody and bring her back. He had

parameters.

And so he followed the parameters of

God's word and he found he he went on a

long journey and he found a bride

and I being the way the Lord led me. God

reveals his ways in his word and in his

providence.

Uh we don't want to lie to ourselves

like King Saul who said, "I've kept the

word of the Lord." No, you haven't.

What means these sheep bleeding in my

ears?

You haven't kept them. Just because you

said you have, you haven't.

Uh

so God's ways are past finding out.

Romans 11:33. But God's ways are learned

Romans 11:33

from God's word. When we study the word,

it's not just back there. I want to know

what happened back then. It is that, but

it's how does this apply to me now?

Is is there a promise for me to claim?

Is there a sin for me to confess? Is

there something God wants me to do in

light of what he's just said? So, we

trust his word and we trust his ways.

Show me thy way, O Lord. Teach me.

Proverbs 25:4.

Proverbs 25:4

Number three, we should trust his word.

We should trust his ways. God's ways

aren't our ways. And God's thoughts

aren't our thoughts.

And we should trust his will.

We should trust his will.

One of the classic people who did that

was Saul's, King Saul's son, Jonathan.

I'd love I'm I'm looking forward to

meeting Jonathan in heaven someday. is

one of my heroes.

Remember, he was heir apparent to King

Saul's throne. And God took the throne

away from from Saul and and Jonathan

knew it. Instead of fighting what God

was doing like his dad was doing, he

embraced it and he became the best

friend of David.

He said, "You're going to reign and I'll

be next second to you." What a

statement.

He embraced that being. Who wants some

of you music people who wants to be

second fiddle?

I mean, who who everybody wants the

first place, right? But God God

sometimes you could serve him best in a

second place or a third place.

God chooses our place in life. And any

place in life that God puts you, he can

use you.

And we trust his will.

Do you remember um

do you remember in Acts 21:14

Acts 21:14

they tried to talk Paul out of going to

Jerusalem? They're going to kill you

there, Paul. Don't go.

Paul says, "I'm ready to die there."

They they kept trying to talk him out of

it. And finally, they said in Acts

Acts 21:14

21:14, "The will of the Lord be done."

Sometimes people we know are led of the

Lord in a way we don't think is best,

but maybe they know more for what's best

for them than we do. And some might be

our children. It might be somebody in

the church. Uh, some pastors think it's

always the will of God for everybody to

be in this church forever till the

rapture.

No, God may move them somewhere else.

We We We're not in control of that.

And we have to look bigger than

ourselves. And so, may God help us, the

will of the Lord be done should be

written over everything.

Now, I think they were saying it

reluctantly in Acts 21:14,

Acts 21:14

but Paul wasn't.

He was willing to suffer in Jerusalem,

and he did,

but he did get to Rome like he always

wanted to. Just a little different. God

paid the fair, but you know, he went as

a prisoner rather than as a missionary.

So, we trust God's word. We trust God's

will. We trust God's ways. And we trust

God's wisdom.

That's what Proverbs is all about.

Trusting God's wisdom.

There's a wise way to live and there's a

foolish way to live. That's the context

of our section.

So may God help us.

Um Charles Bridges is a wonderful writer

on the book of Proverbs. He wrote in

1846 a 600page commentary on Proverbs.

It's a devotional commentary. It's a

good commentary.

He said in Proverbs 3:5, "This is the

Proverbs 3:5

polar star of the ch child of God. Faith

in his father's providence, promises,

and grace.

Our trust might not not only be our

trust must not only be entire, it must

be exclusive. I'm going to trust God

through this. This is my opportunity to

trust God. It's our plain duty not to

neglect our understanding, but to

cultivate it diligently in all its

faculties. We're not to neglect our

understanding, but we're certainly not

to trust in our understanding. We're not

to lean to our own understanding.

So, may the Lord help us. Thank God for

counselors. Thank God for people that

help us. Derek Kitner's a modern writer

on Proverbs, Old Testament scholar. The

promise that clo that closes um

I can't read my writing. I'm sorry.

Anyway, oh the promises to close these

verses offers more than guidance though

it includes it. Uh so we trust in the

Lord with our all our heart. We lean not

to our own understanding. We let God be

God and we remind ourselves

who we are.

Here's what happens in hard times.

Sometimes we get upset at God. That just

happened to me. We want to run from God.

Probably all done it in some ways. We

get upset.

We get away from the Bible. We get away

from church. We get away from

Christians. We fly from God.

Uh but that's the very time we should

fly to God.

We should fly to God, not from him.

And so may God help us to do that.

God's acquainted with all your affairs.

He knows your affairs and my affairs

better than we know them. He knows your

life and mine. You know, we know what we

know, but we don't even know everything

about our own affairs. God knows

everything about our affairs.

Kylin Dage said, "He knows the right way

to the right ends. He knows what

benefits us and he is about to free us

from that which does us harm."

Therefore, it's our duty and our safety

to place our confidence wholly in him

and to trust not our own judgment. Does

that mean we don't use our minds? No. We

do use our minds. to use our minds

praying and studying God's.

You know, someday life's going to be

over.

Someday we're going to meet the Lord

Jesus Christ individually according to

Romans 14. Everyone's going to give

account to him.

Going to have a one-on-one interview

with our risen ascended returning

savior.

And according to second Corinthians,

there's going to be a

there's going to be a review of our

life.

Um, that'll be interesting. I'm sure the

Lord will edit it.

We're going to know that he knows.

And uh, this is important. We don't get

to uh we don't get to edit

our life. Oh, I don't want to talk about

those years. I don't want to talk about

that part.

We're all going to give account of

ourselves to the Lord. Now, it's under

the blood if we're saved.

I read something just recently. Winston

Churchill once said that he was sure

that history would treat him kindly

because he intended to write it.

You know, sometimes we think we can

write our own biography. It's called

autobiography. And there's nothing wrong

with that. But there be

our autobiography that we're writing in

our mind may not be the biography that

Lord Jesus has in mind. Thank God it's

under the blood, right? Thank God he

died for it. And all of the the things

we do there aren't all that they should

be.

And the fact is, God's the great history

writer. God keeps books

for the unsaved and the saved. God keeps

books.

God is the great history writer. Not

Winston Churchill, not me. He keeps the

books. We do not get to go to be the

writer of our own autobiography,

even though we might think it's a good

thing to do.

I I really enjoy Teddy Roosevelt, the

president Teddy Roosevelt, and his

exploits before he was president.

There's some things about him that I

really admire. He was a man's man in

every way. Um,

but he wrote some of the some of the

fighting that was done when he was

involved down there in the

in the Cuban battles. And one of the he

kept saying he kept referencing the word

I. I I I. He got criticized for that.

You think you're the only one down there

fighting?

And I don't think he meant to do it.

People just did it.

And sometimes we think it's all about

us.

And we want ourselves to look well

and but we are not the writers of our

own biography. As Winston Churchill

said, the Lord is. My time is up, but I

could go to Hebrews 11,

the great faith chapter.

That's the kind of things God marked

out. Did you notice the things he left

out? He didn't talk about all their

sins. He talked about their success in

trusting God

instead of themselves.

That's Hebrews 11.

In trusting God the way Jesus trusted

God.

King Josiah is one of the most

interesting people in the Old Testament.

He was a good king who did some bad

things.

Kept holding hands with Ahab. I don't

know why you'd ever think that was okay,

but he did. And he got in a lot of

trouble because of it. God kept rebuking

him. He didn't do everything wrong. He

was a good king. He got rid of a lot of

idolatry himself. And he

uh did a lot of good things, but one of

his best things are going to battle. And

they're they have to go to battle.

They're being attacked. And he's leading

the the nation in battle. And he says,

"Lord, we don't know what to do.

Eyes are on you.

Is that where you're at today with

something? I don't know what to do.

I got this problem of faith you can't

ignore and I got to deal with it.

We don't know what to do as a church. We

don't know what to do as individuals. We

don't know what to do as a family.

But our eyes

are on you.

And they had a wonderful victory.

So that's what Proverbs 3. Trust in the

Lord with all your heart. Lean not to

your own understanding. In all your ways

acknowledge him.

He'll direct your paths.

Now if somebody's listening to me is not

yet a Christian, you're not yet saved.

You can become wise to salvation

according to 2 Timothy 3:15

2 Timothy 3:15

by trusting in Jesus Christ and the

gospel. And Jesus is our wisdom. 1

1 Corinthians 1:30

Corinthians 1:30.

And so may God help us to rest in him if

we've never done so. The God of heaven

became a man and died on the cross of

Calvary that you could be saved. Who

would have thought that? Whatever

whatever fake religion ever invented

that? Nobody could invent it. Nobody

even thought it. Even the devil didn't

guess that one. He got out maneuvered.

Thank God for our blessed Lord Jesus

Christ. May our trust be in him, what

he's done for us, what he will do for us

and not what we can do for ourselves.

I'll close with this. AP Ross of Old

Testament scholar said to trust in the

Lord and not yourself

because he grants success.

Word trust carries the force of relying

on someone for security. The confidence

is to be in the Lord and not in human

understanding.

The call is for a trust with total

commitment

with all your heart in all your ways

in all time.

Father, we thank you for what we've

looked at tonight. There's a lot of

wonderful things in Proverbs for us to

enjoy and to discover and to be

challenged by. Some of them just really

rock our world when we think about what

you've said. But we pray, Father, your

blessing on this section of scripture.

May we

some sometimes all we can do is hang on

to a Bible verse.

We say this verse is going to get me

through this time of trouble.

And Father, we pray you would help us to

lean on your word and rest in it. And

give us those times when you speak to us

from your word.

And may we often

be heard by him saying, "Speak, Lord,

your servant hears."

Amen.

>> Look at the uh back of your bulletin.

You have the words to trust in the Lord.

[singing] Lord, as we go from this

[music] place,

loving you [singing] more,

trusting you more. [music]

May the power of your [singing] love and

the light of your word shine to a sin

darken [singing and music]

world. As we go from this

>> [singing]