The last verse that gave bread in Revelation 1, verse 3, the
last part of that verse said this, those that keep those things
which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Those that keep those things.
Those that hold them. Those that cherish them. I want you to turn with me to
the book of Proverbs. Going through this blessed book and listening as the Spirit of
God gives us some understanding. And thinking about that verse
that I just read, those that keep these things, of all the things that God Almighty has given us, commandment, law, precepts, to keep those commandments that
are not grievous. A believer hears the Word of
God and he's thankful. Lord, thank You that You talk
to me. Thank You that You give me a
heart to hear. I want to hear. I want a fellowship. with you. Lord, I want an intimate communication
with you. I want that. I understand when I ask these
things. It may be, Lord, that you're
going to cause my path to have to go through some things that
may be grievous for the moment. I understand that. And Lord,
if you do, I pray you'd help me in those things that you providentially
lead me through. But Lord, I do want to fellowship
with you. I do want to. And I understand that these things
are hard lessons to learn. People make statements. I hear
folks say, I'm a prayer warrior. I'm a soul winner. I'm on fire for Christ. I just
don't see that in me. But I do want to see. Those Scriptures that were just
read, that which we've heard, that which we've seen with our
eyes, our hands have handled of the Word of Life. The Spirit of God gave those
men some insight and they saw. As the Lord gives understanding
gives a word as for our good and His glory of all the things
that He has given His people and told them. Now listen, I mentioned this last week. We are not under law, but we
are under grace. What does that mean? That means
that we are not under the burden of the law of God to keep it
for righteousness before God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to them that believe. His obedience answers
being imputed to all that believe, not that their belief is the
reason that it is imputed. They believe because it is imputed. It's the evidence. So we're not
under the law for the establishment of or the maintenance of God's
law. But God's law, God's Word, God's
commandments, God's precepts, God's people keep them. I've
given them Thy Word, and they keep them. Now, I'm going to
tell you something. The evidence of a believer is
that God's people keep His Word. They keep it. People say, well,
we can do nothing. Oh, I beg your pardon. I beg
your pardon. Well, there's nothing that we
can do. No, not for the establishment of righteousness. Christ is the
end of that. But don't tell me that a believer
does nothing. Believers are faithful people.
And we're going to look at something this morning. You talk about
the Lord saying, I've given them your words and they've kept them.
I want to look at two verses this morning. Proverbs 3. 5 and
6, of all God's Word that He's given, this one right here, without
obedience, right here, I'm telling you there's no hope. There's
no peace. There's no comfort. There's no
life. God's people keep When I say Word, I can say Law, I
can say Precept, I can say Commandment. God's Law, God's Word, it's the
same thing. God's people keep this. Here
it is, verse 5, Proverbs 3, 5, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean
not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths." Now, I'm telling you, a believer
keeps that. He keeps it. Trust in the Lord. Hold for security. I want you to notice capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's Jehovah. Father, Son,
Spirit. Now let me tell you, God's people,
keep this commandment. You that believe this morning,
you trust in the Father. Do you trust? that the Father, as He says He
did, chose you before the foundation of the world in the Lord Jesus
Christ that you should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. You trust that. What do you have to do with it?
I have nothing to do with it. He chose me according to His
own will. to His own purpose. He took this lump of clay and made one vessel unto honor
according to His will. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
Freddy, that's the only hope I've got. I trust that the Father
chose me because I'm telling you, I'd never choose Him. Trust
in the Father. I trust that His providential
dealings with me, the way that He has absolutely
ordered, all things for me are for His honor and my good. How am I going to deal with that
in any other way? Trust in the Lord. I trust that every path that
He's caused me to take has been tempered with absolute mercy. And He has established all of
my ways in the way that's best. from me." Now, I trust that.
I go to the doctor. The doctor
says, I said, Lord, what am I going to
do? Trust in the Lord. He's done
that which is right. All temporal and eternal blessings,
trust in the Father that will surely do me good. Love me with
an everlasting love. Casting all your care upon Him,
He careth for you. Trust Him. Trust secondly in
the Son. You that believe, do you believe
that when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and walked
before His Father, He whose meat it was to do the will of His
Father, that He in word and thought and deed pleased His Father. And that
righteousness that He earned as a man, a man obeyed God, the
God-man. And that righteousness that he
earned, the Scriptures revealed, is imputed to God's people. Those that believe him is the
evidence that his righteousness has been established, imputed
to. Trust in the Lord. Trust the
Son. Trust the Lord Jesus. You trust
that when he died that Calvary He laid down His life for you.
That when He laid down His life, that He had you on His heart. He had to. Or I have no hope. He had to. He had to have died
for me. He had to have had me on His
mind. He's always known me. He said,
I know my sheep by name. I know them. He named me before my mother
named me. She named me because He had already
named me. Trust the Spirit of God. He who, as in that everlasting
covenant, agreed, I will call them out of darkness. I'll give
them a new heart. I'll quicken them. And I'll teach
them. I'll teach them all things that
the Son has said, all things that the Son has done. And I'll
seal them, protect them. And none of them are going to
perish. And I'll order their steps. And
I'll guide them, direct them, keep them. Trust the Spirit of God. Trust
in the Lord. But trust Him with all thine
heart. Now, that portion of Scripture,
all thine heart, has absolutely nothing to do with strength,
with your strength. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. It has to do with sincerity. Trust in the Lord sincerely. Let me give you an example. Two
examples in the Scriptures are given concerning great faith,
great faith. One of them was a centurion. He was a Roman soldier. And he
came to the Lord and he said, I've got a servant that I love. And the Lord said, I'll go to
him. And that soldier told him, he
said, no, I'm a man of authority. I say to this one, go here. And
he goes. He said, if you'd speak the Word, when the Lord says, great is
your faith, I have not seen so much faith, so great faith in
all of Jerusalem. A Roman soldier. A woman of Canaan,
a Syrophoenician woman, came to the Lord. She said, My daughter's sick.
She's sick unto death. And the Lord said, It's not meat,
not fit, that I should give the children's bread to dogs. She
said, Lord, you're right. I'm a dog. But I'm your dog. And I'm asking you. And He said,
Great is your faith. Be it unto you." And her daughter
was healed. Now let me tell you something. These people didn't approach
the Lord in their strength. But they approached Him with
all their heart. It has absolutely everything
to do with sincerity. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. With all my heart, I know Mike,
that without him, I can do nothing. I believe that. That's all my
heart. Peter, with all of his heart,
when he began to sink in the water, said, Lord, save me. I'm going to perish. That was
all of his heart. I mean, he was sincere. With all of my heart, I know
that if he doesn't save me, I'm lost. I don't trust with all of my
heart that I made a profession of faith or I walked down an
aisle or I was a Baptist or I was baptized. With all of my heart,
I know this, salvation is of the Lord. And lean not unto thine own understanding. Don't believe that you are going
to support yourself. by your own ability or discernment
or power. I can't trust my faith. My faith. Because of the presence of sin,
I struggle. I struggle to keep my mind fixed
upon Him when I attempt to talk to Him. floundering and feeble? David said, this is all my salvation. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. The Father chose me in Christ. And Christ in an everlasting
covenant agreed, I will save them. And the Spirit of God said,
I will call them out and I will keep them and I will guide them
and direct them and seal them. This is all my salvation. He
made with me an everlasting covenant. I trust. I don't lean to my own
understanding, but I trust Him that says, He that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. You know, I got to thinking about
He that cometh to me. about the best illustration from
Scripture, and I'll quote it. It was in the book of Exodus,
I believe. The nation of Israel was in the
desert, and there were some snakes that were biting them, fiery
serpents. And the fiery serpents When they bite, people were dying. And the Lord told Moses, He said,
I want you to take a piece of brass and form a piece of brass
and put it on a pole and pick it up. He said, here's what people need
to do that they don't die. Look. Look. And whoever looked, upon
that fiery serpent. And I know in our minds they
think, you know, just a look, that's it, just a look. But as
I've said before and thought before, yeah, but when you realize
that man by nature is blind, if God gives him a heart to look,
and he sees, just like 1 John, as we said, say, we looked on
him, we saw him. And we believe. Peter said, you're
the Christ. What is it to come to Christ?
I'm telling you what it is. It's to have the eyes of faith
that just looks. And you believe Him. That's coming
to Christ. To whom? Coming! I'm convinced there's some this
morning that's coming right now. You're coming. And you've come
before. He that cometh to Me and cometh and cometh and cometh. You never stop coming. Right now within your heart,
that new heart that God Almighty has given in regenerating grace,
you come to Him and you long to embrace Him. You want to hold
Him. You want to be with Him. You're
thankful this morning. that He's given you a heart to
be here. Lord, would you speak to my heart
again? Would you speak one more time? Lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him. Recognize Him. This is another commandment that
God's people keep. In all thy ways. How has He led you? What path
has He directed you to walk? How has the Spirit of God so
ordered your steps? And whatever it is, whatever
way it is, that's your way. In all thy ways. Brother Scott, why has He directed
you the way He's directed you? Because that's God's purpose. That's your way, His purpose.
In all thy ways, acknowledge Him. Lord, you've dealt well with
me. You've dealt well with me. You've directed me this way because
it's for your honor and my good. And Lord, you work all things
after the counsel of your own will. And for that, I'm thankful. Steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. And he delighteth in his way.
Not that that way is easy. I'm not saying that, but I will
say this. It's always profitable. the setting of that heart to
know that God Almighty sends all things according to His purpose
and our good, for His glory and our benefit. It is good that I have been afflicted,
that I can learn of Thy statutes. In all Thy ways acknowledge Him,
Lord, Your present right here. Lord, You're present when I lie
down. Lord, You're present when I stand
up. Lord, You're present when I'm here. Lord, You're present.
Lord, You direct my path. All Thy ways acknowledge Him.
And He shall. He shall. And He shall. Not my understanding. Not my
discernment. There's some things that He's
caused every one of us to go through that we would have never
picked. I would have never picked this. I wouldn't have chosen
the way, you know. Would you? Would you have chosen
the way, the path that you've walked? Would you have chosen
those ways? No, you would have chosen the
way that in your mind would have been the most Easy. Brother Walter Groover said one
time, he said, I wish I could learn the teaching and the instruction
of God without going through any trials. Betty told him, said,
Walter, that's not the way it is. We learn. We learn by adversity. We learn by, he shall direct
thy paths." Is there another counselor that
you'd rather have? Do you want to lean to your own
understanding? I'm not a believer. I don't trust myself. I haven't got any sense. We prayerfully ask for and consider
the Spirit of God to shed light upon God's Word to us, you rest
assured, prayerfully considering, thanking the Lord in all things,
give thanks. Why? This is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you. Do you realize how that takes
the sting out of these trials and tribulations? Lord, You've
ordered this. Lord, would You settle me down?
Lord, if You settle me down, I'm okay. Lord, if You settle
my heart, I'm settled. Though we may, no, no, let me
rephrase. Though we shall stumble in our
walk, His goodness and power and mercy shall cause even in
our stumblings, it's always going to be shown to be for our good. Oh, what I've learned in these stumblings. For He's
taught me. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." All
right. Gary, why don't you lead us in
closing here?