If you will, let's open to Proverbs
chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. Here in Proverbs
3, we're going to get some very wise counsel. This is from Solomon. This here is the wisest man that
ever walked in the flesh born of Adam. He's pretty smart. He knows more than I know. And
this may come as a shock. He probably knows a little bit
more than some people that's going to hear my voice now or in the
future. Pretty smart fellow. And he gives
us the best counsel, the best pearl of wisdom we could give
to someone else, but the Lord gave this to us. He gave this
to us. Boy, I could teach somebody something.
I've got to know it. To teach is to learn twice. I've got to
learn it the first time. I hope the Lord shows us this this evening.
This body of death that we're walking around in, it's getting
older by the day. Time moves only one way. We won't
always be young. We're getting older. The vaporness
of life, it becomes more apparent with age. We become more childlike,
don't we? We started out, we had real light
hair. Somebody had to take care of
us. Didn't have many teeth. Couldn't
reach stuff up real high. What happens when we get older?
Our hair starts getting lighter on my arm. Teeth getting long
in the tooth. Gingivitis was kicking in. I
can't reach stuff as high. Stretch to get up there, don't
I? This life is quickly fading. And we don't know what tomorrow
will bring. Tonight might be the last time
any of us hear the gospel. The Lord might keep us alive
and dried up. Don't know what He might do. But we have today,
don't we? We have right now. You know whatever
happened in the past? That's the past, isn't it? Good
place for it. What's going to happen tomorrow?
I don't know. You know what time it is? It's right now. That's
what time it is. It's always right now, isn't
it? There will be a day when those that had the gospel of
God available to them. They have beloved brethren of
God available to them. They have a fellowship of the
saints. It was right there on their back doorstep. Fully available
to them. The day will come that they will
beg to have it. And it will be gone. when what
was once peculiar, once was strange. That's weird. Why do you go down
there every Sunday evening? Don't you watch football? Can't
you do this from home in your pajamas when you feel like it?
Why do you congregate on time in an orderly fashion? That weird, peculiar, strange
thing is going to become strongly desired for people and it will
be too late. We live in a world that despises
the gospel that we preach and believe. All around us, the Lord
we worship and serve, they despise it. Our brothers and sisters
that we associate with... A man told me one time, he said,
those men you preach about, you talk about all the time, Don
and Henry and those, those men don't mean nothing to me. I said,
they mean everything to me. That's who the Lord used to preach
to me. They're important. They're despised. And the world
that we're just traveling through, I'm just here for a season, just
for a trip, for a race. The religion of man looks at
us and they think, boy, what a strange doctrine you have. Singlet, what good's that? You
only got one. Our brothers down in Mexico years
ago and somebody come up to them and they said, in this part of
the country, they said, are you all four-pointers or five-pointers? He said, we're
one-pointers. Got one point. Now all those,
that's a good way to eat the elephant. That's all spokes and
a wheel, but the wheel ain't doctrines. It's always plural
too, isn't it? Doctrines. I come to the doctrines.
I come to Christ. That's all you preach to me.
That's all I got and all I need. That's all I want. I want Him.
I just want to know Him. What we're going to look at tonight,
this is the blessed declaration of our hope that's in the person
and the work of Christ. Here's something that you and
I need this evening. When we see our bodies becoming
more frail, when this inner man just feels weaker every day,
that's growing down. That's growing in grace. We don't
feel like it, does it? When we grow down, we're getting
weaker. We get tired in body, we get
tired in mind. We're running a race. We get
smiles underneath us. We don't mosey around, we run
it. This life's a race, isn't it? And there's a spending that
takes place, a using up. Consumption in this world. And
we need to be encouraged one more time. I need encouraged
one more time. Here's something if you were
in the prime of your life. Oh, you're strong and young and
got the bull by the tail. We need to be ever reminded of
who we are and who our Savior is. And here's something for
that person that has no direction. They have no hope. They're just
bouncing around. A little over here, a little
over there, and that's inside or out. Just discombobulating
all over the place. They're a head with the chicken
cut off. Here's a nail and a sure place
for you. Here's something you can hang your hat on. Here's
the words of Solomon, wise counsel. This is outstanding advice. You
can't get no better than these two simple verses. Look here
in Proverbs 3 verse 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. I have three
points tonight and I'll do my best to be brief. First, we're
going to look at the command. There's a precept here, an exhortation.
A command from the Lord to us. He used Solomon the Penitent.
Here's our command. To trust in the Lord with all
thine heart. Then we're going to see an explanation.
How to perform what the Lord commanded. What's that look like?
What's it look like to trust in the Lord with everything in
your heart? It's to lean not to thy own understanding. and
in all thy ways acknowledge him." You know, Kevin, I think, eh,
stop. Wrong. That's what the Lord tells
us. And then we get a promise. Here's
the blessing from that. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, not looking to yourself, acknowledging Him in all things.
He says, and He shall direct thy paths. He might not do it
right now. There's going to be some waiting
in there. He shall direct thy path. This encouragement, this
is for all the Lord's people. Strong ones and the weak ones.
The big ones and the small ones. Young ones and old ones. This
is for us. And we need reminded often of
it. We read this this morning. That
ain't enough. We need to dwell on these things. We don't need
a smorgasbord eating everything we can get our hands on. We need
some small healthy bites sometimes and to savor it, don't we? That'd
do us better. That'd do us better. Am I sure? Am I sure I need to hear this
again? Am I sure? I know I need to hear
it today. Do you need to hear it? How do
you trust him? Fully? Without fail? How are we doing when it comes
to turning from what my understanding is? How do we acknowledge Him in
all of our ways? How do we wait on Him? Are we
good at waiting on Him? We need to hear it, don't we? There is
peace found. I mean a flowing river of peace
when He grants us the ability, when He gives His people the
grace to do so, to trust Him. not to look to ourselves, to
acknowledge Him, and just to wait patiently for Him to move
our steps. Every time, without fail, peace
will come. Peace will come. Here's the command,
verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. That means to have confidence
in, to be secure in, to be bold in the Lord of hosts, the Lord
of Lords, the King of Kings, with everything in you, with
all your heart. Seeking everything you need in
this world, temporally, what we touch, see, smell, taste,
eat, fare like bill with. and in the world to come. Seek
every bit of it from your Maker, from your Lord. I need a job. Trust the Lord. Seek it from Him. I need a salvation. I need a robe of righteousness.
I don't have no righteousness. Seek it from the Lord. Trust
Him. Trust Him. Trust the Lord. This is God the
Father that chose you before time began. Put you in Christ. Put you in His Son. In the beginning,
God. It's Him. So we're told to trust
the very One that promised you eternal life in His Son. The
One that showed you mercy and grace before you were even formed
in the womb. That's the Father. To trust the
Son. His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ
for your soul. All of you. Every bit of it. His blood was
shed. That's who died for his people. The Lord put in him. And he's
a friend closer than a brother. And I was reading that today
and it hit me. I got some real good friends. And I probably
sacrificed a lot for them. And they sacrificed a lot for
me. And I would say that I'm as close to them, they're just
like my brother. in the flesh, you know, of siblings. They're
a sibling to me. Christ is closer than a sibling. Than somebody that's got my blood
flowing through their veins. He's closer than that. We're
to trust the Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit. The one
that revealed Christ in you. The Holy Spirit, everybody says,
there ain't no Holy Ghost down there. And the Holy Ghost this,
and the Holy Spirit that. And the Holy Ghost, if somebody
talks about the Holy Ghost all the time, they don't have it.
He said he'd come speaking of Christ. If you've got Christ,
you've got the Holy Ghost and the Father and our whole kit
and caboodle, don't you? That Spirit come to us and convicted
us of what we were. Trust that. You'll know it if
He does it. If He ever does it for somebody, and you're convicted
of sin, buddy, the waterworks are coming on. Whether you buy
yourself in front of it, ain't no show. It's going to be for
real. And convict us of Christ's righteousness. Boy, his blood was effectual.
That's what was sprinkled on that mercy seat. That's what
covered that broken law that I broke. It was shed for me and
I was the reason it was shed. And the Father purposed it all.
If that's convicted in your heart, trust it. with everything in
you. Trust that Spirit to come to
you. Lord sent it. Why do we trust Him? Why do we trust this
triune God? Numbers 23 says, God is not a
man that he should lie, neither the son of a man that he should
repent. He don't need to change his mind.
He ain't like me. He don't need to lie. Hath not he said and shall not
he do it? Or hath he spoken and shall not he make good on it?
He says, I'm going to do something. There's no possibility of failure.
He's going to do it. God doesn't want nothing. If
He wants something, it's already done. It's going to rain today. It rained already. He's our creator. This is who we're told to trust.
Me and Tim's talking about that today. You think about an aortic
valve. a bicuspid valve. He started
getting in mitral valves and all these things. Well, that's
some complicated stuff, isn't it? Tiny. Works a whole bunch. Look how many times that thing
flaps a day, open and close, moves around. We couldn't figure
that out if we had to, could we? God made it. He made it. And you know what he made it
out of? Dirt. We can't hardly make it out of
plastic and make it last more than a week. He made it out and
gave me some dirt. Look, there's a heart. There's your brain. Every bit of it. Trust Him. That's who we're told
to trust. Our Creator. Titus 1.2 says, We have the hope
of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the
world began. Before the world began. Before
we came on the block. Before I had a brain to think.
He promised it, the one that cannot lie. What happened way
back then, back before the world began? Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's past tense
and that's present tense. And that's to come. He blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. He's able to. That's somebody
to trust, isn't it? The one that's able to. The God
of all creation, of the universe, gave His people all the blessings
and heavenly places in Christ before we even had a conscience,
and He can't lie. All this happened in that covenant
of grace before time. How then was it effectual if
it hadn't happened yet? He just said it was going to
happen. That's the power of the Word of God. Paul wrote, said, and
being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to
perform. That's to trust the Lord. Are
you persuaded he's able to keep his word? If he's come to you, you are.
I'm persuaded. I'm not persuaded I'm able to
keep my word. I'm not persuaded I'm able to do anything. I might
tell you I'll be over for dinner and I may not make it. The Lord
said he'll be over for dinner and he's going to be there. I'll
put money on it. It has to. There's no remote
possibility that God will not or cannot make good on His promises.
It's an impossibility. Look at that Mount of Transfiguration.
That always just, oh what a precious sight that was. Moses and Elijah,
the Law and the Prophets, met on that Mount of Transfiguration. Joshua said, Moses, that's the
first word of Joshua. You end a Torah and it says the
law is dead. God sent Joshua. That's where
everybody stops. Alright, let's go back to the
law. Right there they stood. Moses and Elijah on that Mount
of Transfiguration. Speaking of what was to come,
what he must accomplish. Christ died on the cross. Well
how was they already in heaven? It hadn't happened yet. God said
it was going to. That's already money in the bank.
People get all bent out of shape over this imputation stuff. If
the Lord said there's something in your account, there's something
in your account. I'm going to save my people. They're saved
right then. It's done. 2 Samuel 22 says, As for God,
His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried
and He is a buckler to all them that trust in Him. How did the
Lord do all this stuff being just and justifier? How He did
it was perfect. Better than I could dream up.
The Word of the Lord has tried. It's been around for a while.
It's probably a verse. You know what? That Solomon guy
may have been smarter than me. He may have known something.
And He's a buckler to them that trust Him. Trust in Him with
all your heart and He'll be a buckler. He'll be a covering. A sturdy,
righteous covering. It's all my righteousness. We
trust the Lord and His promises because of what He swore by.
What did he swear by? He said, I swear by my name.
I swear by my glory. It is sure. That's the collateral
on the promises of God. Almighty God's glory. That's
pretty good collateral, ain't it? That's something to trust
in. He said it. And we trust Him
because He's a just God and a Savior. We have a sovereign God. But if He was sovereign and evil,
we're in trouble. Is that right? That ain't the
case. He's sovereign and holy. Just. A good and just Savior. There's
no double jeopardy. Lord, if He took out all the
wrath I deserved, I earned, in my sin on Christ on the cross,
He can't come to me again. It's double jeopardy. The law cannot twice demand,
once at my bleeding, sure at His hand, then again at mine.
It's satisfied. That's when Moses struck the
rock a second time. The Lord said, you ain't making
it into the land. I told you to speak to it. It's
already been struck. It's over. It's done. That's
who we're to trust. That's a good one to trust. You
gonna trust somebody, trust Him. Trust His Word. When do we trust
Him? When we're being corrected. He's
promised there. down in verse 12, for whom the
Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth. He's promised those he loves,
he's going to correct. And if you're in the middle of
a horrible trial or a light trial, trust him with all your heart.
Maybe, maybe he'll give you some comfort. I know he will. He promised
he will. In the life of a believer, we're
in continual correction of heart. That old man's always with us.
And it don't care about getting corrected. And a new man is the
only one who understands and sees the need of correction.
And when we think we've got it all figured out, boy, I'm doing
good now. I've got my head on straight
now. I'm in the right mind now. Watch out. Take it from the Spirit. Something's coming. Correction's
coming. What are we to do? Know when it's coming. Trust
in the Lord with all your heart. We need to trust Him when we
have a temporal ease and blessing. Somebody won the lottery, you
better pray for them. Somebody got a business that's booming,
you better pray for them. I might start trusting myself.
I may not be a good steward of what the Lord gave me. He might
use this to chase me and run me off. Trust the Lord who gave
it to you. Trust Him with all your heart.
The psalmist said, cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain
thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. Why wouldn't He suffer His righteous,
His beloveds to be moved? Peter told us, casting all your
care upon Him for He cares for you. That God we are to trust. What a God He is. He cares for
me. Oh, you talk about having something
to chew on for a while. Something to ponder. You want to write
some books about that? That's my book. Ain't nobody else can
read it. For me, a worm like me, he cares for me. He cares
for you that trust him. You that know him. You he's come
to. When it comes to our salvation, that's a time to trust him. Got
to. Trust the Lord with all thine heart. We don't have a dog in
that fight. Looking to ourselves and sitting
on the fence is how we spend our time. Somebody's sitting
on a fence and they dive a little bit in the world, and they dive
a little bit in Christ. They can take Him or leave Him.
You're coming off that fence. It's going to be on one side
or the other. And in this lifetime, I pray it's on the side of Christ.
He yanks you off of there, and like he told Zacchaeus, get you
down. We don't need to be up. Everybody wants to uplift Him.
No, it'd do us good to be brought down, so. at that time. Yesterday's gone.
Maybe we straddled fences a whole lot. Long time. And Lord finally
showed us that we ain't known Him as long as we think we have.
Tomorrow's not promised, yesterday's already gone. It's right now.
This text that we have right there, trust in the Lord, that's
present tense. That was present tense yesterday
when we read it, that was present tense this morning, present tense
right now, and if the Lord keeps us till tomorrow, go read that.
That means right now. When ought I to trust Him? Right
now. Right now and always. What a precept, what a command
to the hearts of His people that He's given us. But it looks a
little easier said than done, don't it? How are we to trust? What does trusting the Lord look
like? Look here in Proverbs 3, verse
5. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lean not to thine own understanding, in all thy
ways acknowledge Him. We're to trust the Lord, and
He explains that for us. Lean not to your own understanding,
and acknowledge Him in all your ways. What peace would enter
into the life of a believer? I mean, clicking your heels,
walking down the streets, the birds are singing so sweet today.
If we could enter into that. If He'd let us enter into that.
What is man's understanding? Pride is what the Lord hates
worst, isn't it? He said six things I hate. Yes, seven. Proud
looks, number one. I know a lot. We don't know nothing. We don't know nothing. The triune
God. There's a Father, there's a Son,
there's a Holy Ghost, and all three of them is one, and all
three of them is individual. Somebody says they got that figured
out. Don't hear them. That's above
my pay grade, isn't it? Christ being made a man. Almighty
God. Heavens can't contain Him. Fitting
into a body. Probably a small, frail-looking
body, too. Wasn't a big, old, robust man with big muscles.
Uncommonly. True, holy substitution. We can't do that as humans. You
can shoot somebody and I'll say, I'll go to prison for them. I'll
go to the electric chair for them. And they can take me and
die. You're still guilty. That guilt didn't transfer. A body
might have, but we're just warm flesh, ain't we? We got that figured out yet?
We don't know that. We don't understand that. Cross being
made sin, who knew no sin. Boy, that's something. And then
us being made righteous. Boy, I can't wrap my head around
that. The Lord interceding for us in
prayer. The old man and the new man in
one body. That's something. I know it's a war. I probably
don't know what some of the battle damage is, but I sure feel the
war going on. Capital H, Heaven. Everybody wants to go to Heaven.
Heaven's a person. I want to be with Him. In judgment, all the saints of
God. Here's something I don't understand. I have no understanding
to turn to. All the saints of God will rejoice
at the judgment of the wicked. Can you figure that out? People
I love, I care for. They have no care for my Lord.
And right now, I weep, I have tears over it. Lord, do something
in them. If you so will, Lord, reveal
yourself to them. But in that day, I'll say, boy,
that's just right. Just right. We got that figured
out? We're going to be without sin before God. I'm going to be alive for eternity
and no sin. I have a holy nature. What's
even more amazing than that? In the eyes of God the Father,
I am right now. Holy and perfect. Right now the
believer is holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. We don't understand
that. That's our heart. Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful
above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it? We don't
even know. He gives us a glimpse, but we
don't even know. That's our understanding. Don't
lean to that understanding. Don't lean on what you know.
Don't lean on what you think. Trust the Lord. Trust Him. And
acknowledge Him in all of our ways. We can acknowledge the
Lord. I can't fully enter into any
of those things I just told you, but I know the Lord did it. I
know He's able, and I know how He did it was right. And how
I'd have done it would have been wrong. We can acknowledge Him. Acknowledge Him in salvation.
Don't look to what you understand. Don't look to what you think.
Acknowledge the Lord. There will come a time we have
to acknowledge Him and His Word. There's a time some people may have thought,
well you have to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. Wrong.
That ain't it. You have to acknowledge the Lord. You're saved by works. Wrong. You don't keep that law. He kept
it. You acknowledge Him. Well, He
did all that stuff, we can get a little bit holy. We got some
holy living to work out, to ripen ourselves up. Wrong! You're going
to acknowledge Him. If you're His, you will. He'll
make it. Thanks be to God. We acknowledge
Him in Providence. Ain't that right? What peace
there is. Stub your toe, break a bone,
wreck a car, get fired, Get a job, however it goes, and say, you
know what? The Lord did this. The Lord did this. That's peace
right there. That's peace. That's comfort.
Trust in the Lord. I trust that He did that for me. It's for
my benefit, His glory. For His holy name, He did this
today for me. We can acknowledge Him in assurance. Boy, I need to do that. What do we know? Do I know I
have assurance? I don't know. I know He's sure. I know His salvation's sure. That's all I need to know, isn't
it? I can acknowledge Him. He's able. He's able to keep
me from falling. Acknowledge His promises. He
said, I'll never leave you and forsake you. That's how we can
acknowledge His assuring promises. We may think we've been forsook.
We may think He's left us, but our understanding's wrong. His
is right. We trust Him. We look to Him.
Acknowledge Him. We acknowledge His power to accomplish His will.
He said, I'm going to save a people. The Lord said, I've given nations
for you. Nations for you. I'd feel pretty guilty if the
Lord killed ten people in front of Him and said, I did that to
save you. Unless I saw Him. Unless I saw what a wretch I
was and what I had coming. He said, I've given nations for
you. We acknowledge Him correcting His children. And we don't get in the way of
it. Boy, that's good advice. We know that in the fleshly world,
don't we? See somebody correcting their... Lord, see the Lord correcting
His children. He's the one that does it through
the preaching of His gospel. We want to jump in on it. I think I can
add a little something to it. We'll make this a little clearer
for you. I remember when I was a kid, if one of my siblings
was getting a good whipping, I didn't want to be in the same
room. I might get some too. I might catch a whipping too.
Get out of the room. The Lord has corrected one of
His children. Trust the Lord to do the correcting. Trust Him
to complete the work. And God of all glory gives us
faith to trust Him. To stop relying on our great
big old brains and experiences that we went through in this
world and we acknowledge Him. Who He is. What's the result?
He gives us a promise. Isn't that something? Look here
in verse 5 again. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Trust in the
Lord wholeheartedly. Don't look to your own understanding
and your knowledge. Acknowledge Him and wait on Him
to direct your steps. What better advice could you
give somebody? That's good advice. He shall direct your path. We read that real quick, don't
we? And we think, well, He's going to show me what to do and
He'll make sure I, if I'm supposed to be in Northern California
next month, He'll make sure I'm in Northern California next month.
And that's true. Lord's sovereign in providence. But that word
direct means right, pleasant, and prosperous. How's my path
going to be in this world? It's going to be right. I know
that. Lord's directed it. He's directed my path, my right
path. Lord's purpose to have a pleasant path. He tells us
that, plainly, throughout these Proverbs. You have a long, happy
life. You have brethren all around
you. There won't hardly be a state I could drive across this country
and not have someplace to stay and somebody feed me. Take care of you, and
it'll be prosperous. be prosperous eternally. I know
some very poor financial believers, and I know some very wealthy
believers, but you know what? The poorest believer on the face
of the earth and the wealthiest believer on the face of the earth,
they're both prosperous because they got Christ, our inheritance. That's real prosperous. The Lord's
going to direct your path. Trust Him. Don't look to you.
Acknowledge Him, and you're going to be prosperous for eternity. Jeremiah said, Oh Lord, I know
that the way of man is not in himself. We ain't got no way.
It is not in a man that walketh to direct his steps. It's not
up to me to decide what I do. The Lord may let me go, may let
somebody go, but He allowed it. He directs the steps. And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are Thee called according to His purpose. You trust that? My brother Marvin said this.
What is the best thing that could happen to a child of God today? What would have been the absolute
best thing that could have happened to you individually in here tonight,
today? What happened today? Whatever happened today, that's
the absolute best thing that could have happened to you. Because
the Lord sent it. He purposed it. And He worked it for good
and for His glory. If I could trust that, be brought into remembrance
of that often, boy, what a comfort we'd have, wouldn't it? That
makes pain not, dulls it a little bit, don't it? Perks you up a
little bit. If we trust Him, not trusting
ourselves, but honoring the Lord, thanking Him, thanking Him for
all of it, for all things, the Lord's gonna make our paths straight,
upright, and pleasant, and prosperous. And He's the One that brought
us to do that trust. And He brought us to acknowledge
Him. And He brought us to turn away from us. Turn away from
everything we thought. Sometimes for a long time. He's
the One that did it. And we acknowledge Him again.
There's a circle there, isn't there? We come full circle. Lord,
I've got to trust You. And I've got to turn from myself.
I've got to acknowledge You. And I've got to wait on You.
And I can't do it. And so He says, You're going to trust Me.
You're going to turn away from you. You're going to acknowledge
me, and I'm going to make you wait on me, and I'm going to
make you upright. And then what happens again? Lord, I don't
think I'm trusting you today. It just keeps going. It keeps
going. There in the scriptures, we read
our master telling us that in these scriptures you think you
had life. You sit around reading the Bible all day long, you think
you've got something. That ain't life. He's life, isn't he? Well,
what did Paul tell Timothy? He said, Timothy, you have these
scriptures from your youth up and in them's life. In them's
life. Is that a contradiction? Of course
it ain't. It's about a person, isn't it? It's about a person.
He's got to teach us that. Full circle, being brought back
to look and to trust Christ again. That's why His mercies are new
every morning. We need mercy. Every morning. Turn over to Isaiah
42 and I'll let you go. Isaiah 42. Verse 16, Isaiah 42, 16. Our Lord speaks and He says,
And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not. I'm
lying. I don't know how to get there.
How do I get to trusting? I'll bring you. I will lead them
in paths that they have not known. Before someone turned against
themselves and their knowledge, they never had done it before.
He said, I'll lead you. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. I'm going to show you that I'm
making it straight. You're going to acknowledge me for it. These
things will I do unto them." Boy, that's something. Is that
just for today? Is that in the present tense?
"...and not forsake them." The Lord's going to do it all. He's
the Lord of salvation, isn't He? We go through all these circles
in this life. It's like a heartbeat. We believe,
we don't believe. Believe, unbelieve. Oh, I have
assurance that I'm bold to go out and slap a bear in the face.
And then I'm scared of grasshopper. We just keep going back and forth,
don't we? Hilltops and valleys. And each time being ever reminded
of the Lord in whom we trust. He brings us right there over
and over again. And He keeps doing it throughout
our lives. What about those that don't trust Him? Oh, I know about God. I hear
people tell me that. I know God. You might. Well, those that don't trust
Him. Those that look to their own understanding. Those that
don't acknowledge God. Look what I built. Look what
I did. How often is that me? Look what I know. And then I
don't need to wait on the Lord. I'll just take action. Abraham's wife did, didn't she?
Well, the Lord took too long. Maybe that's what He meant. Where's
Hagar? Don't work out too good, does it? Look here in verse 17.
Those that don't trust Him. Isaiah 42, 17. They shall be
turned back and they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in
graven images that say to the molten images you are gods. You
look to something other than the Lord God Almighty, the God
of our salvation, the God of our hope, the God of this universe,
the sovereign of all things. So I got baptized That's a graven,
molten image. I walked an aisle when I was
a kid, graven, molten image. The Lord said, you're trusting
in it, not in me. He commands His children to trust in Him.
What a privilege that is. It's not just that He's made
us do it, we get to. There ain't no peace in them other things.
There's worry and strife and carrying on. There's peace in
Him. Lord, make us trust. Lord, make
us turn from ourself. Make us acknowledge You. and
wait for our steps to be directed by you. Thanks for a good day,
Dom. That's good advice. That's good
counsel. Look to him.