Henry Mahan. And he titles his article, Commitment
or Indifference? Pastor Mahan writes, we see so
little true commitment, so much indifference, and so few dedicated
people in today's religious world that we may be prone to accept
this attitude as normal. But it's not so. David wrote
in Psalms 147.18, He sendeth out His Word and melteth them. Paul wrote this in Romans 8.6,
To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. If God is pleased, writes Henry
Mahan, to move in love and grace upon a person, the very life
of Christ is formed in him, and unbelief is driven out by God-given
faith. Indifference departs at the revelation
of God's glory in the face of Christ. Ignorance vanishes as
Christ is revealed in his work of redemption as just and justifier. Self-pride disappears before
His grace and mercy. Self-righteousness has not the
slightest claim in the light of His perfect obedience. Self-love
takes an awful beating in the light of His love for us. No,
it would be impossible for a true child of His great invincible
grace to be indifferent or uncommitted after the melting of His Word.
and revelation of His love. Amen. I'd like to ask you to
turn to the 3rd Proverbs chapter 3, if you would. consider it a great honor, a great and wonderful blessing,
honor, to have folks call me when they need me. You know, Kathy and I were away
on vacation, but sorrow and troubles that we must live
through in this world don't take a vacation. Sometimes they come at us in
the most unsuspected times, don't they? I don't know about you folks, but
it sure seems to me that there's a lot of deep sorrow around us today. A brother in Christ was extremely troubled. He's
a very healthy man. He doesn't live here at this
church. He's a very healthy man, but
he's struggling with his faith. as he goes to see a doctor about
what's wrong with his heart. He's got a vowel problem. I was honored that he would seek
out me to talk to him about scripture for comfort as he was approaching the time
to go in before the doctor. He's a faithful man. He believes
in the Lord. But just as all of us, there
comes times when our faith is weak. If you tell me your faith
is never weak, then I don't know that your faith is true. And just as he himself, we ourselves
go through a lot of physical pain. mental pain, heart pains or feelings. We know that Leanne is struggling
greatly with the loss of her husband. We know that Shelby
Fortner still, after a year of the passing of her husband, continues
to this day to cry at times because she misses him so much. We know
that our brother Roger Deaver misses Joyce so much. We know that my brother Lee misses
his oldest son so much. This world is full of sorrow. There is much that is troubling
our souls in this world as we live in it. Our brother in Christ
and pastor friend, Kevin Thacker, and I were speaking yesterday.
And to be honest with you, quite most likely, we're preaching
the same message to our congregations this morning. I had no idea what
I was going to preach. And he began to talk to me about
these verses in Proverbs. And he said he was going to be
preaching from the last chapter of Romans. Or Ephesians, I'm
sorry, Ephesians. And there was a relation to the
two. So I have no doubt that he's probably been studying the
same verses I have, and that he's probably preaching the same
message. Because there's so much sorrow in the world around us. The things that are going on
in our very country can bring us to sorrow. The things that are going on
in our very hearts, the struggles that we have within and with
our sin can be very sorrowful. If you're not sorry for the sin
that is in you, you need to question. So for those who have those troubles,
The troubles of the world, the troubles of lost loved ones,
the troubles of work, the troubles of sin in their lives, our Lord
says to me. He says to Kevin, he says to
Norm Wells, Gene Harmon, whoever may be standing before God's
people preaching, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned." What words of grace can I give
a brother who's struggling with his faith on whether he'll die
or not from a heart problem? What troubles can I give to a
young lady who's desperate for the mate that she's lived with
and loves him so much and misses him so much? What words of comfort
can I give to a man who's struggling with a pain that just won't go
away in his body? What words of comfort can I give
to a man who is troubled with work We as children of the light do
struggle with the pains of this world, the loss of loved ones,
the fear of the unknown, pain and death, the course of our
country, the evils of the world, but the most close to our heart
is the wickedness that we see within, is it not? I'd like to talk to you today
about our greatest weakness. Would you look with me at Proverbs
chapter 3 verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. It says lean not. That's the title for my message
today is lean not unto thine own understanding. Lean not. Lean not on my own understanding. What an unnatural thing to do. In fact, it's impossible. What you're saying in those words
is lean not on the things that you've experienced. Lean not
on what you have learned throughout this world. Every part of our
mind leans on what we know, does it not? Every part of our thought
leans on what we've experienced. You put your finger in a cigarette
lighter. John, don't do that. Yeah, that's
right, I did. You would think, now I would
grow up and learn from that, but there was a time when I was
with a bunch of motorcyclists sitting around a fire and somebody
said, don't grab that rock. Guess what? I rode the rest of
the way home with this finger all bandaged up, a big old huge
puffy bandage like that, riding the motorcycle down the road
going, number one, number one. We live today by what we have
learned, what we have experienced. What do you mean, don't lean
on my own understanding? What do you mean, don't trust
in what I've already learned in the world or what I think
of the world? What do you mean, don't trust
in what we've seen with our own natural eyes? How can I throw
all that out and lean not on what I've learned over the time
and experience of my life? I tell you this, you can't. It's not possible. Man in our natural state cannot
and will not come to an understanding of the truths of God. That's
all there is to it. Mark your text here in Proverbs
if you would, please. And turn over to the third chapter
of John, some very familiar verses. I know we've looked at this chapter
many times over the last six, seven months. But there's so
much truth in what we're about to read, and I want to relate
to what that means to lean not on your own understanding. How can I turn from all that
I have known and put my trust in what is here in this book?
What is here in this Word of God? How can I put my trust in
it? If you've never heard this message, I pray that God may
be pleased this day that by His grace to give you
ears to hear. If you have heard this message,
may God by His grace be pleased to comfort you, to comfort your
aching heart. Look with me at this example
of a man in his natural state and the explanation of salvation.
Are you with me in John chapter 3 beginning at verse 1? There
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He was a Jewish leader in the
religious realm of the Jews. He had the power. to tell men
to go here and go there and do this and do that. He's like the
Pope. Well, maybe not as powerful as
the Pope, but he was one of the men at the top of the church.
The top of the religious group. Verse 2, the same came to Jesus
by night. Notice He came by night. He didn't
have the boldness to come out during the day when everybody
could see Him. It was a plain and simple fact
that Jesus Christ was an offense to the religion of the Jewish
people. What do you mean that salvation is in this man, this
carpenter, this one who is from Nazareth? How can that be? Our deliverer is going to come
and deliver us from the Romans. Not from sin, because there's
no sin in us. We follow the rule of the law. as best we can. He came by night,
and he said unto him, unto Christ, Rabbi, O teacher, that's all
you are is a teacher, you who teach. We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. Verse 3, And Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That means
to be born from above. Now here's a guy who's, I don't
know how old he is, but I'm sure he's not a kid. He's a Pharisee.
He's a leader. He's a full grown man. What do
you mean I've got to be born again? How am I going to do that?
Nicodemus saith unto him, verse 4, How can a man be born when
he is old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? You see what I'm talking about,
leaning on your own wisdom, leaning on what you think, what you have
been brought up to think throughout this world? You can't. This guy
couldn't either. He had not been given the gift
of being born again yet. He still was blind to the truths
that God rules over everything, that Jesus Christ is God Almighty
in the flesh. And our Lord goes on to answer
him in that question, verily, verily, I say unto thee in verse
5, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, And that which is born of the Spirit is the Spirit.
You can't lean on your own understanding of the flesh. You have to have
a new Spirit in you. To not lean on your own understanding
is impossible because God has to do it. He has to give you
a new Spirit in order for you to lean on Him. To trust on Him. Folks, I'm talking about the
grace of God. The grace of God to each and
every one of us. If we lean on Him, if we put
our trust in Him, it's because He has loved us from before the
world was. Plain and simple. Continuing on, our Lord said
in verse 7, marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
In other words, don't worry about that. That's not the most important
part here. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. And here's the big deal right
here. So it is, so is every one that
is born of the Spirit. Well, who controls the wind?
God Almighty, right? Doesn't He control the wind?
Didn't He say, be still to the storm on the sea? And it was
still, and everybody was amazed? Don't be so confused over the
born-again part. It's of God. Nicodemus answered and said in
verse 9, How can these things be? And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things? Are you not one who rules over people, and not understand
that I, the Lord Jesus Christ, rules over everything? And how
when I say something will be, it will be? Verily I say unto
thee, we speak that, verse 11, that we do know, and testify
that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told
you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if
I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended into
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Lean not on your own understanding. This man is a perfect example
of leaning on his own understanding. It didn't make sense. Do you
know, when you tell people, it is by the will of God, it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy, they'll say back to you, if they haven't
been enlightened by Christ, what do you mean? You mean to tell
me I don't have a free will? You mean to tell me I'm just a puppet?
No. No. We come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, but we come willingly in the day of His love, in the
day of His power, when He has given us a new heart, born again,
born of the Spirit. Let me give you another example.
Remember the demoniac man? Jesus Christ was in a ship and
He went across the sea to a land where there was a man who lived in
the tombs. He was filled with demons. And after the Lord had
healed that man, a picture of how He has healed you and I,
after the Lord had cast out all those demons, as He has done
with you and I, Where did we find that man? Do you remember?
He was found at the feet of Jesus in his right mind. He no longer had a trust in his
own knowledge. His own knowledge had him running
wild through the tombs. A picture of you and I running
through the valley of the shadow of death. The very ones who refused
to come to God shaking their fists, saying, I will not have
that one rule over me. The very ones that you and I
walked with and were like at one time, dead. Kind of a little bit of a relation
to that show they got on TV called The Walking Dead, huh? Said a
little bit. Don't take it too far. But now. Do you realize you're sitting
here this morning, right this moment, at the feet of Jesus? In your right mind, hearing His
Word of Truth. To lay all of our cares at His
feet, to lay all of our sorrows at the feet of Christ, to turn
from what we know as natural, we must be born again. Or in
other words, we must be given a new understanding of all that
is. We must be given faith to believe
His Word. The gift of faith. The world
did not just come into being. In other words, the Big Bang
Theory did not just happen. Nothing just happens. Once we leaned on what we thought
was chance... Do you remember ever being lucky? Oh, how lucky I was one day when
I made a little money at the casino. That was a long time
ago. And for a while, I lost a whole
lot of more money afterwards. So I was unlucky more than I
was lucky. Oh, how we once leaned on chance. Once we thought there was luck,
Once we attributed all things to mother nature, lady luck,
misfortune, but now the light of truth has been put in our
hearts. God rules. That's the light of
truth. Not just in most things, but
He rules in all things. And that includes the new heart
that He has put in us. Do you know He hardened the heart
of Pharaoh? Pharaoh's heart was hardened
by his own deeds, but the Lord hardened it also, Scripture says.
I'm painting a picture of what our Lord's grace means to you
and I. Grace preacher. If I was going
to call myself anything, I'd call myself a grace preacher.
One who preaches on the grace of God every Sunday, because
it's His grace that I love to hear. It's His grace that gets
me through to the next Sunday. It's His grace that gets me through
to this afternoon. He rules in our hearts. He either
leads us to ourselves in our natural understandings or in
His love. He gives us a new understanding,
a new heart to trust Him, a new heart that as the demoniac man,
we bring our cares to the feet of Jesus who first loved us.
This is a result of His love. We are brought to love Him because
He first loved us. We are brought to see by His
grace. We are saved through faith, not
of ourselves, lest we should boast. His love for His people
is so great that He gave Himself as a ransom for us. He became
flesh. We read in 1 Timothy 3.16, and
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
preached to the Gentiles, and believed on, and the world received
up into glory. We also read in Romans chapter
5 verse 6, For when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. We read in Ephesians 2 verses
4 and 5, But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened,
hath given life. us together with Christ. And we also read in Romans 8
29, for whom he did foreknow. You know that our Lord is going
to say to some, I never knew you. And those, it says, come thou
faithful servant. It will be by the grace of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that He could say that. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. that He, that we, might be the
firstborn among many brethren. That He, the Lord Jesus, might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us,
who can be against us. This is how we lay natural feelings,
the natural instincts, the natural desires, the natural thoughts,
the natural pains, the natural sorrows at our Savior's feet. Philippians 3, 3 we read this,
for we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Lean not upon your
own understanding. I don't understand everything
in this book. And any man who says that he does is lying to
you. But I believe what my Lord has
inspired men to write and put in this book. When my Savior says that Christ
Jesus, my Lord, was made to be sin for me, I believe it. I don't understand that. Some
men believe they do. But I don't. My mind's not able
to wrap around that fact that God became sin for me. It's also not able to wrap around
the fact that because of Him being made sin for me, that I'm
made righteous in Him. I'm not leaning on my understanding.
I don't need to understand it. I just know it is true. And I
know it is true because He has given me the gift to believe. Has He given you the gift to
believe His Word? We turn from our own understanding
and we lean on Him. We lean on His Word. We lean
on His love for us. He says, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. He says, I will never forsake
you. And He will not falter. Look again with me at verse 5
of Proverbs chapter 3. Go back to our text. Proverbs 3. Let's look at verse
5 again please. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. and lean not unto thine own understanding. Trust with all your heart. Turn
from your natural understandings. Put whatever feelings you might
have aside. Put whatever thoughts you might
have aside. And put your trust in the only
one you can trust, our Lord and Savior. He will not fail you. If you are loved of God, all
that is this world of sorrows has to offer will pass away.
and His grace will get you through it. I'm not saying it will be
peaches and cream. No. The sorrow that Leanne is
going through is true. The sorrow that Shelby Fortner
is going through is true. The sorrow that we all go through
is true. But we know, don't we? We know
because God has told us that all things are for our good.
I don't know how. I can't even imagine what that
was like for my brother and his wife to go through that with
the loss of their son and turn to those very verses. And I know
the only way that they could was by our Savior's power. I can't imagine the sorrow that
you loved folks have gone through in losing a loved one. But I
know that when you refer to God's Word to get you through it, it's
because God has given you that desire to look into His Word
and go through it. There will be sorrow. and trials
and tribulation, our sin will be as long as we are on this
earth ever before us. Aren't you thankful for these
words, but God? Does the words, but God, bless
you? Oh, it sure does me. I tell you
here this morning that if you're loved of God, His shed blood
covers a multitude of sin. In fact, it covers all of our
sin perfectly. When God the Father looks upon
us, His chosen blood-bought people, He sees the life, the death,
and the resurrection of His only begotten Son. Isaiah 53 verse
5, we read this, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. In 53 verse 11,
we read this, He shall see the travail of His soul and shall
be satisfied. God is satisfied with the blood
of His Son. We can trust in that. We can
put all of our trust in that. In verse 12 we read this, Therefore
I will divide him a portion with the great. Our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ sits on His throne right now ruling over everything. God the Father has given Him
all power, all honor to His Son, Christ Jesus the Lord, and all
the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him. We can trust Him. We can trust Him to fulfill all
that He has promised. He says, I shall never leave
you nor forsake you. Now let me read that correctly,
shall I? Hebrews 13 verse 5. Let your
conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things
as you have, for He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. We can trust that. so that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me." What man shall do unto me? He says that all the Father giveth
me shall come to me, but listen to what he says next, he says,
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Well, it takes a burden off of
my back, doesn't it, yours? Our path through the shadow of
death may be dreary, it may be sorrowful, but He has promised. Let's close this morning's message,
if you would, back in our text of Proverbs chapter 3. Read along with me as we read
verse 6. Well, let's just read 5 again.
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. That's a promise. Turn to the
Lord. All thy ways. You smash your
finger while hammering a nail? Okay, Lord, that hurts. That
really hurts bad. It was His will. And His will
shall be done. And He shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from
evil. It shall be health to thy navel,
and morrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy
barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out
with new wine." You know, there's those who want to take that and
say, if you just trust in the Lord, He's going to make you
rich. He's going to fill your barns. We're talking about spiritual
things. You want to talk about carnal things? Go somewhere else.
Spiritual things. My cup overflows even when I
don't know it. It overflows with His grace and
His mercy to me. Even when I can't see it, He
still died for me and saved me. When the world around us gets
rough, What do I say to comfort those who have lost a loved one?
What do I say to one who is concerned, who is worried? Am I saved? Did Christ die for me? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. when the sorrows of this world
become as waves of the sea. You ever stood on a beach in
the ocean, in the waves, and felt the pounding? Man, that
was a strong wave. If you stand there for much longer,
you're going to get another one. In fact, the longer you stand
there in that sand, you're going to continue to get waves slamming,
slamming, slamming. When the world around us becomes
like that, hitting us over and over and over again, turn your eyes upon Jesus. As Moses was lifted up, as Moses
lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and the people
looked upon it for the saving of their life, If there's troubles
in your world today, if serpents are biting at you today, or tomorrow, or the next, the only words I have for you
in comfort is this, look to Jesus. Take no solace in this. but take solace in what our Lord
has said to us. Have peace in His promises to
you and I. Look upon Jesus for He is the
life of the world. We sing a song in our Bible study We're not going to sing it. I
want you to open your hymn books to page 435. It might have been better for us
to sing this song in closing. On page 435 of your hymn books,
read along the words with me, if you would. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. all because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. See, even for a child of God,
to lean not on our own understanding is a very difficult thing. You want to turn away from what
we've grown up with and come to understand in what we've lived
with in all of our lives? Turn to Jesus. Turn to His Word. You can put trust there. Have
we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We
should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrow share? Jesus knows your every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden?
Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge,
take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake
thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer
in His arms. He'll take and shield thee. Thou
will find a solace there." Trust the Lord with all thine
heart. Oh, how I wished and prayed that I could do that. That's taking it to the Lord
in prayer. Our dear brother and my pastor,
Gene Harmon, reminds me often, he's just waiting for the Lord
to take him home. He's been walking with the Lord
for 40-something years now. And over time, God has taught
him. to take it to the Lord in prayer. Maybe someday the Lord will have us right there
with it in the same place. I'd like to ask