Turn this evening to the book
of Proverbs chapter 13. Welcome back, Cody. Trust the
Lord blessed you there and glad the Lord gave you a safe trip
back. Brother Cody was preaching with Brother Rupert Rivenbark
this morning. I think everyone knows our pastor
and his family are getting a well-deserved vacation. Proverbs 13. In studying for
this message, I've come to a conclusion that I ought to have arrived
at many years ago. I should have learned this a
long time ago. And those of you who know me best will recognize
the absolute truth of what I am about to confess to you. I am quick to advise, but so
slow to seek advice. I am quick to give advice, but
so very slow to seek it. And if you need any proof of
that, just come up to me any time and mention a controversy
or even just a simple topic. I will not only have an opinion,
but I'll be quick to advise on the solution or at least a course
of action that's best for you. Brethren, forgive me, I am a
foolish man. And I have no doubt that had
I been in the garden, I would have been advising Eve, you stay
away from that tree. I would have boldly advised Adam
to not dare eat that fruit all the while as I ate it with both
hands. I wish I weren't that way. But
I am. I don't know if anybody else
here suffers from these maladies, but they haunt me. They haunt
me. And I'm resolved. I'm going to
try to do better. But I don't know that I'll be
very successful in the short time I have left. But what does God's word say
about this thing of advice? And the answer is not a lot.
And there's a simple reason for that. It's because God doesn't
generally give advice. He gives commands. He gives commands
which reflect his will and are to be obeyed. When Adam disobeyed,
he began and we will follow in a long line of not, we simply
don't care what God commands by nature. And I have ready evidence
of that this morning in the Sunday school class, for which I'm very
grateful. The ladies are now teaching our
children. We had an example here. It said, God sacrificed an animal
to make coats of skin for Adam and Eve. And the animal's blood
was shed to cover their sin. But this sacrifice does not take
away sin. And I want you to see the illustration. The blood is a picture of taking
away sin, but it's not taken away, it's covered. Now, get
part two. The Lord Jesus Christ died to
take away the sin of his people. He was a sacrifice for his people
and his blood was shed to take away their sin. Everyone found
in Christ has no sin. This is what the animal sacrifice
did, okay? This is what Christ's sacrifice
did. It's gone. To which one of our children
made this statement. I want to get this right. I don't want my sin to go away. I don't want my sin to be taken
away. And don't we understand that that child didn't want that
taken off of her sheet of paper. But what an illustration that
is about us. The simple truth is no amount
of sound advice will help us if we don't care what is the
right thing to do. Much less the wise or prudent
thing. Our basic need, listen to me,
is not sound advice. First, we need a new heart and
a new mind that even cares what God declares. Outside of that,
we simply don't care. I don't want my sin taken away.
I like it too much. Out of the mouth of babes comes
truth often. You see, we died when Adam died
spiritually when he ate the fruit. And what we need is life. No amount of advice will help
a dead man. You can walk up to that coffin
and raise the lid and go, you ought not to have smoked those
cigarettes all those years. You give him all the advice you
want. If he's dead, it's not going to do him any good. Even
so, we ought to teach and advise our children. You know, it is
all we can do. We can't give them life, but
we can bring them where life is, to the one where life is. We teach and advise our children.
They're alive physically, yet they are young and foolish, and
lest we forget, they are dead in trespasses and sin. They're
young and foolish. God teaches and provides advice
for His children. How? First, He gives them life. Dead men don't need advice. But
if we're born again, then we do have need of advice. You see,
we can then hear truth and receive wisdom through His Word And listen
to this, and receive wisdom through the counsel of those whom he
has already taught. You know, we're not the first
ones to come through the gospel. Don't misunderstand. Most things
are clearly taught in God's word. And an illustration of that for
you children would be that if you go with your mom to the supermarket
and you see all those candy bars, Now you know, you know you're
not supposed to just pick up one of those candy bars, unwrap
it, and eat it. You know that, don't you? That would be stealing. And God's word clearly says,
thou shalt not steal. And on the other hand, if they're
giving away samples of candy, like they sometimes do about
this time of year, you may think it's okay to have one. But the
wise thing to do would be to ask your mom first, because you
may not be old enough to know. You may not have the wisdom to
discern, and therefore you say, Mom, may I have one of those?
Now, she may say, sure, that's fine. But on the other hand,
she may know something you don't. She's read or been advised that
it might not be good for you. It might make you sick. It would
be unwise to eat it. And you do well to seek and follow
your mom's advice. You'll have gained wisdom and
can now pass it along to your loved ones. The big sister can
tell your little sister, honey, you ought not to have one of
those. It might make you sick. Do we see how that works, that
principle? And it's a biblical principle, which I'll show you.
You'll have gained wisdom and can now pass it along to loved
ones. Here's the most telling scripture I could find about
advice in Proverbs 13, 10. Have you got it there? I actually brought a message
some months back on the first part of this verse, which says,
only by pride cometh contention. And didn't even read the second
part clearly or see it well. It says, but with the well-advised
is wisdom. That means that we can be well-advised. It means that there are those
who are well-advised. And it says if we are, we'll
gain wisdom. Now, don't seek human advice
when God's word clearly defines what our actions ought to be.
If we're not sure, we ought to ask. You say, ask who? Well, if you needed a cabinet
made, you'd get to a carpenter. If your faucet leaked, you'd
call a plumber. If your lights went out, you'd get an electrician.
Listen to this. Do not seek spiritual advice
from a worldly source. Don't seek spiritual advice from
a worldly source. Chances are your boss doesn't
have a clue what you're talking about. If, on the other hand,
your parents, your family member, your friends, Your brethren,
they show maturity, spiritual discernment, spiritual wisdom,
then seek their advice. That's a good thing to do. And
if you're still uncertain or you may just prefer to do this,
go straight to your pastor. Go straight to him. You think
he's pretty busy, don't you? And he is, but that's all right.
He's got time. He'll listen and he'll advise.
That being said, if you do go to him, We best have a good reason,
a scriptural reason, if we choose to ignore his advice. Now, if at any point our conscience
bothers us, that is reason enough. We're in a quandary. We're trying
to discern. We're trying to find. We don't
know what we ought to do. If we get in that place, if at
any point our conscience bothers us, stop. Don't do anything. You know, we don't have to do
anything in that regard until the Spirit of God makes it clear.
I want us to see one more thing about this seeking of advice
and counsel when we're uncertain what we ought to do. But first,
let's consider a most practical and needful lesson that's taught
in God's Word about doing something that is not well-advised. Turn to the book of Ruth with
me. Now, we almost all are familiar with this story of the book of
Ruth. But I want to read the beginning
of this, Ruth 1. And let me preface this by saying
this. Any man or woman who has a godly spouse, who has a believer
as your spouse, is the recipient of one of God's most choice blessings. The evil that men and women do,
we usually do it willingly. And I don't want my sin, you
know, taken away is profoundly true
by nature. What the child said, I don't
want my sin taken away. That is so true in us that given
half an excuse, we'll go forward in the wrong way. And a spouse not only can be,
but is often the instrument used or the means by which that evil
is either avoided altogether or it can overcome us. And let
me see if I can show you that. Look here at Ruth 1. Do I need
to say that again? A spouse is a great blessing,
but we need to be careful. that it's the instrument used
to encourage us, advise us well, or advise us in a way that we're
overcome. Look at Ruth 1, verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land, and
a certain man man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the
country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. And the name
of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and
the name of his two sons were Malon and Chalion, Ephrathites
of Bethlehem Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband,
died. and she was left with her two
sons. And they took them wives of the
women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah,
the name of the other Ruth, and they dwelled there about 10 years.
And Malon and Chalion died also both of them, and the woman was
left of her two sons and her husband." Now that's very sad. It's a heartbreaking account
up to this point. Here's what I want us to see
in this. In verse 1, it says that there was a famine. Now,
we know what that is. A physical famine is a shortage
of food. And how extreme this was, we're
not told. We don't know. There's no indication,
listen to me, there was no indication that there was a spiritual famine. And there is a difference, you
know, between a physical famine and a spiritual famine. But there
was no indication that there was a spiritual famine. In fact,
this place was called Bethlehem. You know what that means? House
of bread. We also know that God had foretold
and brought to pass the blessing of that place with the birth
of his only begotten son. But there was some sort of physical
famine. Now, if there is a spiritual
famine, Pack up and leave. Get out. That's good advice and
sound. Get out if there's a spiritual
famine. But despite the physical consequences
or the lack of natural prosperity, get to a place where the word
is prosperous and stay there. Stay there. We're not told who
wanted to go to Moab. And Moab, by the way, was the
incestuous son of Lot. It was not a good place. There
was no gospel preached there. But we are told who, we're not
told who wanted to go to Moab, whether it was Zalumalack or
whether it was Naomi or both of them, we're not told. But
verse one says this, it was to be a sojourn. You know what that
word literally means? It means to turn aside from the
way. It means there's the way, but
I'm gonna sojourn over here. I'm gonna get out of the way.
Pick myself out of the way. Folks, Moab was not the way. Christ is the way. The gospel
is the way. And he wasn't in Moab, and he
wasn't being preached there. Departure from the gospel usually
begins, you know how? With a sojourn, a little visit. We're going to go visit that
place. I'm going to, you know, I got relatives down there. I
think I'm going to go visit that place. Oh, they got a lot of
jobs down there. I think I'll go visit that place.
I'll sojourn there. That's how it begins. To which
I would say this, if we never leave at all, it's not ever a
problem finding our way back to the gospel. Is that too simple? If we never leave at all, we
won't have any problem finding our way back. But what began
as a visit or a sojourn became, in verse 2, they continued there. They stayed on. And the result
of that was the Limelech died. And then in plain terms, in verse
4, it said the sojourn was continued and they stayed there 10 years.
In simple language, you know what they did? They moved. They
were gone. They weren't living in Bethlehem
anymore. They were not now Bethlehemites. They were Moabites. They'd taken
up residence there. And what was the consequences
of that? The two boys died. And suddenly Naomi is alone with
these two daughters-in-law. Again, there's much we're not
told. Did they both want to go there
in the first place? Did Naomi want to go to Moab?
And listen, did she advise and persuade Elimelech? Come on,
honey, let's go down there. Or did Elimelech want to go to
Moab and he advised her, we're going to Moab? That's how a man
would do it, isn't it? What can you and I learn from
this? I'm going to give the men something quick and then the
ladies. Men, God has given us, according to his word, authority
over our wives, hasn't he? Having said that, a wife, a believing
wife can be her husband's best earthly first advisor. I'm telling you that from experience.
And if necessary, we, you know, we ought to use Our authority,
but it won't ever be advised, persuaded, cajoled, or even seduced
into something we are certain is not God's will and way. You have to have the backbone
to stand up and say, we're not going to do that. And it needs
to be done. That authority needs to be used
wisely and with loving kindness. but never use it to just insist
on getting our way. We're bad about that. Use it
to only stay in his way. Otherwise, you know what'll happen?
Heartache and sorrow. It's coming. Okay, ladies. You know, a believing husband,
he is your first earthly human advisor. You have great power in persuading
your husband. Do I need to tell any of the
wives here that? Use that power, though, very
carefully. Use it wisely and responsibly. Great good can come from using
that power for the glory of God. Great harm can come from using
it for selfish means. You can use it to get your way. And there are times you should.
There are times you should. However, if your way is not God's
way, you know where it'll lead? To heartache and sorrow beyond
your wildest imagination. Is that not where we found Ruth?
And I don't know whether she did it, he did it, or they did
it. But the result is obvious. Somebody here, somebody here
was not well advised. Am I saying God punished His
people? He punishes them if they don't seek and follow His will?
I'm not saying that. Not saying that at all. But that's
what Naomi said. You want to see that? She told
her daughters-in-law that she was going back to Bethlehem,
Judah. Look at the last line of verse 13. She said, y'all go your way. She said, for it grieveth me
much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out
against me." And they lifted up their voice and wept again.
And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clavened to her. And
she said, behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people
and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. She said, you know what Ruth
said to her? She said, no, no, I'm saying,
You see, I'm not saying here, she was saying, God's punishing
me. He's punishing me. And I'm saying, not that at all. I'm saying, he whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth. Are you punishing your children
when they're disobedient and they're putting their selves
in harm's way? No. You may have to chasten them
to teach them, to have them gain wisdom. But when we don't seek
our Lord's will and don't seek wisdom from the well-advised,
we expose ourselves to be sorely chastened. It's painful and heartbreaking. And look what Naomi said in verse
19. She said, so they two went, she
and Orpah left, and she and Ruth went. Those two went until they
came to Bethlehem, and it came to pass when they were come to
Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them. And they said,
is this Naomi? And she said unto them, call
me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt bitterly
with me." Now, folks, I want us to see something here. Do
we realize she came walking into her hometown? It's not that big
a place. And do you know what? They didn't
recognize her. They didn't know who she was.
They were going, you're Naomi? Do you read the surprise in there? They didn't recognize her at
first. Why was that? She said, well, I went out full. And I come back empty. She didn't
look like what she used to. Now I know she means I had left
here with a husband and two boys. And I came back without any of
them. She means that, but there's something else being said here.
You know what she's saying? When I left here, I was full. I was prosperous. I had plenty. I had nice clothes. I suspect
her tummy was full. She was well cared for. And she
came back in such a state that they did not know who she was. This, you know, she left full,
she came back a beggar, but it means that she didn't leave fleeing
the famine. Do we see that? The famine wasn't
the reason they left. There must have been some other
reason. And all the old writers speculate about it. They could
go down there and prosper. They could go down there and
make more than they had. They could Keep what they had
if they just went down there and didn't have to spend all
their money on food. Do we see? And it's unclear. But the fact
is, she left clothed and returned starving and poor, a beggar as
well as a widow and childless. And except for the grace of God,
we'll all do the same thing. We too will depart. And may God
give us wisdom and keep us well advised. to seek His will and
not our own. Our Lord is able to overcome
our foolishness. He is able to do that, as we'll
see here. If you turn over, I mean, to
chapter three, Ruth found grace and wisdom. Naomi, when they
got back, advised her where to go glean. And do you know what
she did? She followed her advice. We see
Naomi had learned some things. She said, go and glean, go and
glean. And she went to the field of
Boaz. And in chapter 3, God gave Ruth wisdom. She asked Naomi
after she met Boaz, she said, what should I do? And Naomi told
her exactly what to do. And what was Ruth's reaction?
In chapter 3, verse 5, have you got it? And Ruth said unto Naomi,
all that thou sayest unto me, that's what I'm going to do.
I wish I could learn. When somebody has wisdom and
advises me, I wish I could take it. I wish I'd go, hmm, that's
what I ought to do, instead of going, well, I'm going to try
this my way. That usually doesn't work out
so well. So how did this all end? Boaz wound up loving Ruth. He married her. She had a son. And who was he? Look at chapter
four. Have you got chapter four? Verse
16. And Naomi took the child and
laid it to her bosom and became nurse unto it, and the women
her neighbors gave this child a name, saying, there is a son
born to Naomi, and they call his name Obed. And who is Obed? He was the father of Jesse and
the grandfather of David. Boy, did the Lord work this out.
He just worked this out, Grant. And we need to learn that. Despite
our foolishness, if we're the Lord's, he's going to make it
right. He's going to work it out, and it'll be fine. He'll
turn our foolishness into his glory. But now turn to Luke 8,
which Brother William read, and I said there's one more brief
thing to see about advice and counsel. And I want us to see
what may well be the worst advice ever given that's recorded in
the scriptures. I suppose next to Satan telling
Eve, thou shalt not surely die, eat of the fruit. But this is
perhaps a close second. In Luke chapter 8, have you got
verse 41, and sandwiched around the story
of the woman with the issue of blood is when the man, in verse
41, Jairus, he was a ruler of the synagogue and he fell down
at the Lord's feet and besought him that he would come into his
house. Well, what's bothering him? For he had only one daughter,
about 12 years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went,
the people thronged him. He went to the Lord, and do you
know what I think he thought? I know what I might have thought.
I came here with my problem, and all of a sudden, this mob's
everywhere, and they're all over you, and I can't even get to,
I've stated my case, but you're too busy. Well, there was a woman
who didn't think he was too busy. She came crawling through the
feet and got and reached him his garment. She was made well,
just like that. And Jairus stood there the whole
time, in verse 48, and the Lord said to that, The woman he healed,
daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith that made thee whole
go in peace. Now look at this. While he yet spake, there cometh
one from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, your daughter's
dead. Your daughter's dead. She's dead.
I've been there. I saw her. She's dead. And look
what advice he gave him. Trouble not the master. That
may be the worst advice any believer can ever get. Trouble, not the
master. Do we realize? And why do we, if you're like
me, wait to seek our Lord? Why must we be absolutely up
to our chin in the flood before we cry out for help? You see,
to him, the master, he ought to be our first cry. I know we
can seek advice. But our first cry ought to be
to him, Lord, help me. Lord, that's what the woman did.
In her heart, she came through and touched and said, help me,
help me. She didn't need advice. She needed
help. And this man, he waited until
his daughter was at death's door before he sought the master. You know, if we can just cry
to him, he may answer us directly and quickly. Or he may set in
motion the answer through one of his own children whom he has
given wisdom and made an advisor. Either way, what a call on him
first. The problem is not that we trouble
him too much or too often, it's that we seek him too little and
way too late. Is anything too hard for our
Lord? That which troubles us is no trouble for him at all. It's absurd. Look at verse 50,
what happened. But when Jesus heard it, that
the daughter was dead, he answered, saying, fear not, believe only,
and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house,
he suffered no man to go in, say, Peter and James and John,
and the father and the mother and the maid. And they all wept
and bewailed her. But he said, weep not. She's
not dead, but sleepeth. And this is what the unbelievers
do. They laugh him to scorn. They think we're fools. You're
in trouble, and what do you do? You're praying to someone you
can't see. You're praying to someone they can't see. To them,
that's foolishness. To us, it's the wisdom of God. They laughed him to scorn, knowing
that she was dead. They thought she was dead. I
suppose they think we're dead, meeting over here in this little
group in this building. I think there's nothing going
on over there. And the Lord put them all out
and took her by the hand and called, saying, May it arise.
And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway, and he
commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished,
but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.
Is anything too hard for our God? This is all a picture of seeking
Him before the least and the worst trouble. I don't care how
small it is or how great it is. He's able to deal with any and
all of it. And we ought to seek the advice
of pastors and elders and husbands and wives and children and even
babes because out of their mouths may come wisdom. But seek ye
first the aid of the Lord Jesus Christ. He may send the answer
through his word or through the words of one of his other children.
Ask and then wait on the answer. He made himself, listen to this,
he made himself the answer before we ever had a question. He made
himself the solution before we ever had a problem. He solved
Adam and Eve's problem before they knew they had one. He prepared
a lamb before they ever needed the blood. He prepared that lamb
and then slew it in time to meet their need. He solves our greatest
need before the foundation of the world. Christ became the
Lamb slain. Will He not also provide every
need of those who wait upon Him? Trouble the Lord? Don't trouble
the Lord. That's just the worst advice
we can get. No, seek Him. Brother Henry used to say, bring
your trouble to the Lord and leave it there. Our problem is
that we either don't bring it or we do this, we bring it to
the Lord and we set it down and then we turn and as we're going
away we go, I'll just keep a little of it, if not all or most of
it. Bless our hearts, aren't we foolish? And me worst of all, trouble
the Lord? What is trouble to us is no trouble
to him. He is able to deliver thee and
the evidence of it is he brought this woman back, desolate, widowed,
childless, broken, and finally, a beggar. If we can just become
beggars who go to him and say, I got no answers, I got no solutions,
I got no advice, but I'm in trouble, and I need thee. To which he
will respond, reach out, and touch the Lord as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your heart cry. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he goes by. All right, let's stand together.
We'll be dismissed.