I'm grateful to your pastor for
asking me to come. It's always a pleasure and a
joy to see old friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Turn in
your Bibles to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 13. In studying for
this message, I have come to a conclusion that
I ought to have arrived at a long time ago. And those of you who
know me best will recognize the absolute truth of what I'm about
to confess to you. I am quick to give advice, but
so very slow to seek it, much less to follow it. And I'm embarrassed
about that. And if you have to have proof,
just come up to me and mention a controversy or a simple topic
and I'll not only have an opinion, but I'll be quick to advise on
the situation or at least the course of action that's best
for you. And brethren, all I can say to
that is forgive me, I'm a foolish man. I have no doubt 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 I'd be standing
there just grabbing it with both hands and getting all of it I
could. Why? I'm a foolish man. What does God's words say about
advice? Not a whole lot. You know why? God doesn't generally give advice.
You know what He gives? Commands. He gives commands,
which are to be obeyed by His people. They reflect His will and are
to be obeyed. And when Adam disobeyed, he began
and we follow in a long line of those who simply do not care
what God commands. No amount of sound advice will
help us if we don't care what is the right thing to do, much
less the wise and prudent thing. Our basic need is not sound advice. First, we need a new heart and
a new mind that even cares what God declares in His Word. We
died when Adam died spiritually. When he ate the fruit, what we
did is lose our life, lose our mind. And no amount of advice
will help a dead man. You can walk up to that coffin
and raise the lid and go, y'all not drank all that stuff, y'all
not smoked those things, y'all not done this, y'all not... He's
not hearing a word of it. Why? It's sound advice. He can't hear it because he's
dead. So our problem is not that we don't get enough advice. But even so, we teach and advise
our children. It's all we can do, isn't it?
We can bring them to hear the gospel and advise them the best
we know how, the best the Word of God teaches us. They're alive
physically, yet they're young and foolish, and dead in trespasses
and sin. And God teaches and provides
advice for His children. How? First, He'll have to give
us life. Then, as His children, we can
hear the truth and receive wisdom through His Word, and receive
wisdom through the counsel of those whom He's already taught.
You know, one of the great benefits of being in a body of Christ
and being a family, in a family of God's people, is do you know
there's older folks and middle-aged folks and younger folks and babies
in Christ? And every one of them has experience
that others may not have had. And therefore, they have gained
knowledge, and wisdom, and they can advise us at times if God
will just give us the grace to listen, to pay attention when
the Word is preached, and in conversation, in fellowship,
and don't misunderstand. Most things are clearly taught
in God's Word. And it's really not a matter
of us needing advice. We just need not to rebel against
what the Word says. But look here at Proverbs 13,
at what to me is the clearest statement about advice in God's
Word. Verse 10 says, "...only by pride
cometh contention." And that's true. Any contention that exists
here, you know where it comes from? Pride. Pride. Somebody gets a little puffed
up, a little proud, and somebody gets their feelings hurt, and
I don't mourn you dude, and so on and so forth, and then you
got contention and trouble. But the second half of this verse,
look what it says. But with the well advised is
wisdom. Now that's the best scripture,
the clearest scripture I could find in all of God's word about
this thing of advice. And don't misunderstand me. Don't seek human advice when
God's Word clearly defines what our actions ought to be. But
if we're not sure, ask. Ask. Well, who should we ask? I tell you what, if I needed
a fence laid out, you know who I'd come to here? I'd ask Joe
McSherry. I'd say, Joe, how do you dig
that baby? Because I've seen him, he can dig a fence. I've
seen him do it. If I had a question about termites,
I'd probably go see Gary. I'd ask him about that. If you
need a cabinet made, check with a carpenter. If your faucet leaks,
get a plumber. If the lights go out, call the
electrician. And let's not seek spiritual
advice from a worldly source. If, on the other hand, if our
parents or family members or friends or fellows in Christ,
show maturity and discernment and spiritual wisdom, we ought
to seek their advice. And if we're still uncertain,
and this really might be the very first thing we ought to
do, go ask your pastor. Say, oh, he's so busy. He's not
too busy. The Lord said, you know, what
is it, the psalm? It says he's not too busy to
hear our cry. Your pastor's got time to counsel
with you, to advise you. That said, we best have a good
reason, a scriptural reason for ignoring his advice. If at any
point our conscience bothers us, that is a reason enough to
just stop what we're doing. If we don't know what to do,
the best thing to do is stand still. And I want us to see one
more thing about seeking advice and counsel, and we're going
to come back to that in a minute. But I want us to look at the
book of Ruth for a minute. It's a principle that is taught
that we'd be wise to pay attention to. Turn to the book of Ruth. If any man or woman who has a
godly spouse is the recipient We are, if we have a godly spouse,
the recipient of one of God's choice blessings. The evil that
men and women do, we usually do willingly. And a spouse not
only can be, but is often the instrument used or the means
by which that evil is either avoided or overcomes us. Look
here at Ruth 1 verse 1. It says, Now it came to pass
in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the
land. And a certain 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 Malon and Chilon. Ephrathites of Bethlehem,
Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech and 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 ten years.
And Mahlon and Chilon died. Also both of them. And the woman
was left of her two sons and her husband. And this is a story
your pastors no doubt preached on from time to time. And we
know the story, don't we? But up to this point, it's heartbreaking. How did all this fall out? How did this all actually happen?
Well, in verse 1 it says there was a famine. And that means
there's a spiritual I mean, a physical shortage of food. And how extreme
it was, we don't know. There's no indication, however,
and listen to this please, there's no indication that there was
a spiritual famine in this town, in Bethlehem. We do know what,
do you know what the word Bethlehem means? It means house of bread. That doesn't sound like famine,
does it? It says it was a physical famine. People
weren't making money like they used to. They didn't have an
abundance like they used to. But it was only physical. And
if there is a spiritual famine, I think your pastor would stand
right up and say what I'm about to say is the truth. If a spiritual
famine ever comes to this place, Pack your stuff and go somewhere
else. You say, well, I don't know if
I'll have a job. I don't know. What am I going to do? What about
my house? God's got houses and jobs all
over this world. But he always has plenty of them
where the gospel is preached. So, and don't misunderstand me.
I don't have any reason to think there is any spiritual famine
here. But if there is, don't be afraid to do that. God will
bless that. But despite the physical consequences
or the lack of natural prosperity, get to a place where the word
is prosperous. We're told, you know, we're just
not told really who wanted to go to Moab. Was it Elimelech
or Naomi or both of them? Verse 1 says, it was to be a
sojourn. You know what a sojourn is? It's
to be walking down the road and go, I think I'll go over that
way. And just sort of veer off the
course. And a sojourn is like a vacation.
You know, God's people, it's okay if you want to go to the
beach for a week. That's all right. You don't have to worry
about, you may miss a Sunday morning service here. That's
okay. That's a sojourn. And it's a
vacation. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
But, you know, Moab was not the way. Bethlehem was the way. Moab was
off this way. And if you look that word up,
Moab's got a bad meaning. It means incestuous son of Lot.
It's a bad place, folks. Bad place. Moab was not the way. Let me tell you something, the
Lord Jesus Christ is the way. Any other way is a sojourn that
maybe ought not be taken. I wouldn't recommend you go to
San Francisco for a vacation. You say, well, I'm not talking
like that in this day, Bob. Well, I'm telling you that's
just the truth. Whether the general population likes it or not, or
the people in San Francisco like it. It's like Moab. That's what
it is. Christ is the way, and He was
not in Moab. He wasn't being preached there. And departure from the gospel
usually begins with a sojourn, with a visit. And listen, if
we never leave it at all, it's not ever a problem finding our
way back to it. Want to hear that again? If we
never leave the gospel, we won't have any trouble finding our
way back to it because we never left it. But what began as a
visit and a sojourn, you know what that became? Verse 2 says,
they continued there. They got down there and decided
to stay. And you know what the consequences
were? Elimelech died. He died. And verse 4 says, they
stayed there. The sojourn became longer and
they stayed there 10 years. You know in plain terms what
they did? They moved from Bethlehem to Moab. They moved. They flat
out moved. They weren't going back anymore.
And the consequences were that her two sons died. And listen,
I know there's a lot we're not told here. Did they both want
to go to Moab, or was it Naomi who wanted to go? Did she advise
and persuade Alemalek? Or did Alemalek want to go to
Moab, and he advised her? You know how men advise their
wives too often? Honey, pack up, we're going to
Moab. Don't we do that, fellas, sometimes?
What can we learn from this? Well, let's... let's... let's... us fellows have a little
private conversation here a minute, okay? And most of this comes
from a Sunday school lesson by Henry Mahan, so I don't feel
like I'm trying to impart my great wisdom to you, okay? I
don't... a lot I don't know, but... Fellas,
God has given us authority over our wives. That's plainly taught
in Scripture. And a wife can be her husband's
best and first natural advisor. But if necessary, if necessary,
you know what? Let's not abuse our authority.
Let's be careful. Don't ever be advised or persuaded
or cajoled or even seduced into something where certain is not
God's will and God's way. Sometimes we got to use our authority,
but use it wisely and with love and kindness. Never use it just
to insist on our way. Use it only to stay in his way. Otherwise, sorrow and heartache
are ahead. Now ladies, let's take the other
side of that coin. Your husband is a believer and
is your first human advisor. Ladies, you do know you have
great power. You have great power in persuading
your husband. You ladies know that? I'm not
telling you anything you don't know, am I? But use that power
very carefully. Use it wisely and responsibly.
Great good can come from using that power for the glory of Christ,
and great harm can come from using it for some selfish means. You can use it and get your way,
and there are times you should. There's times you should. However, if your way is not God's
way, it will lead to heartache and sorrow beyond our wildest
imagination. Am I saying God punishes His
people if they don't seek and follow His advice, His will?
If they don't seek wise advice? That's not what I'm saying. That's
what Naomi said. Do you realize that's what she
said? She told her daughters-in-law she was going back to Bethlehem
and Judah. Look at the last line of verse
13. She said, it grieves me much
for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against
me. No, no, I'm sorry. That's not
the case. I'm saying what God's word says,
he whom the Lord loveth, he chastened. Do we understand the difference
between chastening and punishment? There's a huge difference in
chastening and punishment. God never punishes His children.
He doesn't. No. Those who won't bow to Him
wound up punished. But His children, He never punishes
them. But He will chasten us. He whom the Lord loveth, He chastens. And 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 this is the perfect case. Whoever did not seek the Lord's
counsel and advice about going down to Moab, whether it was
Naomi or her husband or her boys or whatever it was. Or by the
time she'd had enough, she had been sorely chastened, hadn't
she? And don't misunderstand, this is heartbreaking, isn't
it? This is awful. This is a terrible thing. Look
at verse 19. So they too, Ruth, the one daughter-in-law
with Naomi, the 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. Call me bitter, for the Almighty
hath dealt bitterly with me. Now, Listen, these folks, when
she came back, do you realize what that says? They didn't recognize
her. They didn't know who she was. She'd been gone 10 years,
and I know we all age in 10 years, don't we? We change. Physically,
we change. But something happened here.
Why didn't they recognize her? And the simple reason is, when
she left, she had plenty of stuff. She was healthy and strong, and
her husband and the boys. And when they came back, they
didn't recognize her. Look at verse 21. I went out full, and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty. Why then call me Naomi? Seeing
the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted
me." And that word afflicted means punished. She said, God's
punished me. Now, listen to me on this. I realize
Naomi means she left with a husband and two sons. And none of them
came back with her. And that breaks my heart. I'm
sorry for her. I'm not being critical of her
in that. But this means when she left,
she had plenty of stuff. Do you know they didn't leave
Bethlehem because of the famine? That's not why they left. You
want to know why they left? They had plenty, but they thought
they could go down to Moab and get more. What's the root of
all evil? It's the love of money. I tell
you, folks, for everyone who's ever departed the gospel over
anything, you know what it usually is? It's the money. It's the
money. Oh, I'm sorry, but it's the money.
And it means she had plenty of stuff when they left, which means
the famine hadn't yet affected them as a famine could. They
didn't go fleeing the famine. It was their excuse to go seeking
enrichment, or at least to keep the stuff they had. They thought,
if we go down there, we won't lose it all. She left well clothed
and returned starving and poor, a beggar as well as widowed and
childless, and except for the grace of God, here's the thing,
that's what we'll all do if God doesn't keep us. 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. And the evidence
of that is what happened next. They got up there to Bethlehem. And do you know what Naomi, the
first advice she gave Ruth? She said, we're broke. We got
nothing. Go out in the field and gather
as the beggars do. And Ruth went out, and the scripture
says, as hap would happen, as it happened, as it happened,
she went to a field owned by a man named Boaz. And she came
home that night, and you know what most leaners came home with?
A handful. The gleaners went through the
fields behind the young men that picked up all the grain after
it had been sawed down and cut. And here would be one stalk over
here. And boy, they'd run and get that
one. And after a full day, boy, if they had that much, they had
a load. You know what Ruth came home with? Ruth came home like
this. Look, Naomi, look what I have.
She didn't even know what she had. And Naomi said, where in
the world have you been? And she said, well, I was in
the field over here. She said, whose field is it?
She said, it's a man named Boaz. And of course, we know the story,
don't we? What happened was in that field. Now listen to the
difference. She didn't go out full. How'd
she go out? She went out as a beggar. And
what'd she come home with? She came home full. Do we see
the opposite? What happened? And Boaz rode
up in his stallion, and he's looking out there, and he sees
this girl with the other gleaners, and he says, who's she? He said,
well, she's the daughter of Naomi. She's come home from Moab. Naomi's
husband died, son's died. She was married to one of his
boys. And you know what Boaz, sitting on that horse, is thinking?
Boy, she's beautiful. She's beautiful. She's a beggar,
but she's beautiful. She doesn't have anything. And
he got his foreman over there and said, you fellas that walk
in front of that girl, y'all just, as you're gathering up,
just take a handful here and just let it fall. and go on that,
well, everybody's walking through that field, these girls, and
they're getting one here, one there. Ruth all of a sudden is,
oh, and she's got a handful. And by the time she gets home,
she's like this. She went out a beggar, and she
came home full. Do we see the difference there?
And so, Ruth didn't know what happened.
She didn't have a clue what was going on. It sounds like us when
we're babies in Christ, doesn't it? We don't have a clue what's
going on. But you see, Naomi now has learned
some things. And she learned them the hard
way. You know there's the easy way and the hard way, don't you?
Do we know that yet? There's the easy way to learn
and the hard way to learn. We can either read the Word and
come and hear it preached and We can be well advised. We can
learn this is wise and this is a good thing to do. That's not
so smart and that's not so good. We can learn that way or we can
run off to Moab. And sometimes that's what has
to happen. Our children have to go off to Moab. But if God's
with them, he'll bring them back. And they may go out full and
they may come home broke. That's what happened here. Naomi
went out full and came back busted. But she now knew some things. And when she told her daughter,
when she came home like that, she said, where you been? She
said, I've been in a man's field. Who is he? Boaz. She goes, he's a
kinsman redeemer. He can help us. I tell you what,
in the morning, you know what you do? You go back to Boaz's
field. You know, if your children ever
come home and go, I've got problems. My life's busted up. I thought
I had it pretty good, but I'm not so sure anymore. You know
what we might say? Come into Donnie's field. Listen, glean there. Glean there. The Lord is dropping handfuls
on purpose there. We see how advice can be a good
thing as parents and as elders. So what does Ruth do? She goes
back to Boaz's field. And the next day it's the same
thing. Hands full and hands full. And you know the rest of the
story, don't you? Boaz was just plumb in love with
her. And he loved her so much, took
her to be his wife. And look over in chapter 3, look
at verse 5. And Naomi said to Ruth, all that
thou, or Ruth said to Naomi, all that thou sayest unto me,
that's what I'll do. That's what I'll do. If we're
one of God's own, when He sends advice our way, good advice,
we'll do it. We'll follow it. We'll follow
it. And how did this all work out? Boaz loved Ruth, married
her. She had a son. And who was that
son? Look at chapter 4, verse 16. This little baby, Naomi, who
was childless and widow, took the child and laid it in her
bosom and became nurse unto it. And the women, her neighbors,
gave it a name, saying, This is a son born to Naomi. And they
called his name Obed, who is the father of Jesse, the father
of David. You think she's still better
now? I don't think so. I don't think so. Turn over to the book of Luke,
chapter 8. The Lord is able to take our
worst foolishness and turn it into His glory. And that's what
He did here with Naomi's foolishness. She now, you say, this boy Obed, the father of Jesse and the father
of David. And who is David? Listen to me
now. He's the, I don't know if I can get this right or not,
great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,
great grandfather of the Lord Jesus Christ. And where was he
born? In Bethlehem, where she never
should have left. But even though she did, he brought
her back for the purpose of fulfilling his glorious salvation. I said there's one more thing,
one more brief thing to see about advice and counsel. And having
said that, I want to show you the worst advice ever given in
the scriptures that I could find. Now maybe, I should correct that
maybe, maybe what Eve said to Adam, it might be
worse than this. It's good to eat, honey. I ate
it. You have some. That may be the worst advice
in the Scriptures, but this has got to be a close second. Look
here in Luke 8, verse 41. You know this story. There was a Behold, in verse
41, Behold, there came a man, Jairus, and he was a ruler of
the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought
him that he would come to his house. For he had only one daughter,
about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went,
the people thronged him. The Lord said to Jairus, when
he told him his daughter was dying, he said, Come with me. And he said, I'll go with you.
And on the way, you know, the woman with the issue of blood
reached through the throng, touched the garment of our Lord, and
was healed. They had that pause. And when that was finished, look
what was said in verse 49. while he yet spake." I'm sorry,
look at verse 48. He said unto this woman with
the issue of blood, he said unto her daughter, be of good comfort,
thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace. And while he yet
spake those words, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's
house saying unto him, your daughter's dead. He said, your daughter's
dead. And then look what he said. This
is the worst advice anybody ever got or gave. He said, trouble
not the master. Trouble not the master. Really? Trouble not in the Master? I'll
tell you, when we're unsure and don't know what to do, the first
thing to do is call on the Master. That's our first thing to do.
Why? If we tend to wait until we're
up to our chin in alligators before we call out to our Lord,
don't we? The Master ought to be our first
cry. First cry. He may answer directly and quickly. Or He may set in motion the answer
through one of His whom He has given wisdom and has made an
advisor. We understand sometimes the Lord
uses someone else to tell us, to enlighten us, to advise us
what's the wise thing to do. and to call on Him either way.
The problem is not that we trouble our Lord too much and too often,
it's that we seek Him too little and way too late as our last resort instead of
our first. Now I'm talking about myself
up here, okay? I'm not pointing at anybody out
here and saying, you ought not do that or don't do... I'm telling
you, I'm a... You'd think, wouldn't you think
after 40 years I'd know better? You know, if I got financial
trouble, a lottery ticket's the last thing I need. When my Lord has a... His treasury
is boundless. He can fulfill all my need without... just so simply. The first thing
to do is call upon the Master. And that which troubles us, you
know what it is to Him? No trouble at all. None at all. Is anything too hard for our
God? That's absurd, isn't it? Look at verse 50 of Luke 8. But when Jesus heard it, this
man said, Trouble not the master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered
him, saying, Fear not. Believe only, and she shall be
made whole. Now, we understand the situation.
Here's a man standing there, and his servant's running, and
says, Your dog is dead. Don't bother the Lord anymore. Can
you imagine this man's heart is crushed? He is crushed. And our Lord says, He answers
him, Fear not, believe only, and she'll 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 mother of
the maiden. And they all wept and bewailed her, but he said,
Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him
to scorn, knowing that she was dead. But our Lord put them all out,
and took the maiden by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise!
And her spirit came again, and she rose 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? That's absurd, isn't it? That's absurd. This is all a
picture of seeking our Lord before, whether it's the least or the
great trouble. Seek our Lord, and then He'll
seek us. Seek the advice of pastors, elders,
husbands, wives, children, even sometimes our children have something
to say to us that we ought to pay attention to. It's good advice.
but seek ye first the aid of our Lord. 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 the answer, we realize, to the only real problem
we ever had. That's our sin. He made himself
the answer. He took our sin, put it away,
and gave us his righteousness. Before we ever had a question,
he had the answer. Before we ever had a problem,
he was the solution. He solved Adam and Eve's problem,
didn't he? Before they knew they had one. How did he do that? He created a lamb amongst the
animals of the world. And that lamb was a picture of
the solution. He solved 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? Well, what's trouble to us is
no trouble to Him. He is able to deliver thee. You
know that song? Trouble the Lord, reach out and
touch Him. Reach out and touch the Lord as He passes by. You'll
find He's not too busy to hear your hearts cry. Reach out and
touch the Lord as He goes by. I'll tell you what, He comes
through this place on a regular basis. Y'all know that? He comes
through here on a regular basis. If we just come and sit and as
He goes by, just reach out and touch Him, all our problems,
He'll take care of them. As I studied for this, I thought,
you sound like I don't know what. It really bothered me to stand
up here as if I'm giving y'all advice, and that was not my intention. My intention was to glorify Christ,
who is not only our salvation and our substitute and the glory
of God, He's our advisor. He's our counselor, the Scripture
calls Him. Well, I hope that the Lord will
bless this and give it in the spirit in which it was intended.
Thank you for having me. Y'all are so good to me. I appreciate
you. Alright. Let's stand together, turning
your hymnals to Psalm number 129. Number 129, we'll sing the stanza,
not the chorus. my sovereign died. Would he leave home that sacred
head for such a worm as I? Was it I have done, he groaned upon
the tree. Amazing did he praise the Lord,
and love beyond degree. in darkness hide and shut His
glories in. When Christ, the Mighty Maker,
died, poor men the creatures sinned. But drops of rain can never Pastor will be back with us here
on Wednesday night, seven o'clock. Lord willing, we'll meet together.
If not here, then where?