Before we begin the message, let's go to God in prayer again. I want you to remember Brother Moose in your prayer. I know that Tia had sent out his text concerning his treatment. He's going to be undergoing quite a bit of chemotherapy and radiation and had to be quarantined. I think that's going to be the worst part of it, being quarantined from Sandy. So he had to be by himself.

So pray for them as they go through this trial, this difficult trial. And the church as well, that they'll miss their pastor as he's going through these difficult times, not able to preach. So pray for him and that congregation. I ask your prayers for me as I desire to preach this message to you. I probably have one of the most selfish pastors in the world.

I think I take a text for myself and then I know I'm going to get you. So, I pray that God would bless this and help us. What to God we can do? perfectly what this text says. Trust the Lord. I said this to Cheryl, we should trust, perfectly trust the Lord with all our hearts, and she said, well, one day we will.

And I thought, well, no, because when we get there, we don't need to trust. There won't be any need for faith. There, I just, I'll experience this myself. You'll experience this yourself and I guess we'll know what it's like to fully depend upon him with nothing in between.

Just saying that about seeing his face. You ever wondered what that looks like? What his face looks like? envy the man, that leper. Scripture says, and the Lord touched him. Know what his touch feels like. But I do pray this night that he would touch our hearts and our minds and our affections and our will, then my whole being would be set to trust him.

And God give us that. Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious fathers, we come before you bowing ourselves submitting, Father, to thy sovereign grace and will. Father, you have allowed us prayer. You've allowed us petitions. We may bring our hurts, our pains, our sorrows, our griefs, our fears, our doubts, and lay them before you tonight, and we have many. I pray this night that the text would be used of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of your people to set their affection and trust wholly upon Christ. I pray, Father, tonight that you'd be gracious to us and touch our hearts with this word. Make it effectual, make it powerful. as only you can do in the hearts of the lost, if there is any lost, that they might come and believe and trust in Christ and to those that are trusting, even for grace to trust Him more. Father, I pray for those that are sick. I pray for Moose and Sandy and others who have physical maladies and difficulties and afflictions in this body. Pray for healing upon them. Pray for those that are suffering in their minds. Those who wrestle against thy divine providence.

She would be gracious to cause us to bow and submit ourselves before you. For there alone is peace to be found in Christ. I pray that you would bring our paths to his feet and cause us to bow before him tonight and worship him. Father, I pray that you forgive us our sins. Help me. Give me grace and liberty of thy spirit. To no glory to myself or to those that hear, but the glory belongs to you.

We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and turn with me to Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3, and just for time's sake, I also want you to take your Bible and hold over it 2 Kings chapter 18. We're going to see this text and then we're going to see an illustration of this text.

Entitled this message, Trusting God. God. The text in verse 5, it says, Trust in the Lord. Well, how much are you to 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. As we look at these verses, I want you to see the necessity of the first in order to establish the second. In order to acknowledge God in all thy ways, you must first trust Him. You must first trust Him. And you see what He means by this. How are we to trust Him?

With all thine heart. Can you ever trust Him too much? Can you ever lean on God too much? No, with all thine heart. And how do we know if we are leaning, if we are trusting? Listen, lean not on thine own understanding. You can't say you're trusting God and leaning on your understanding. They're two opposite things. And as we trust the Lord and refuse to lean on our understanding, our feelings, our thoughts, our wisdom, our opinions, how things appear, that's understanding. You can't lean on that at all.

Then we are able to acknowledge God's sovereignty in all our ways, in all the ways of providence. And then God has the promise that he will direct your paths. And you're gonna see he directs them one place, and that is at the feet of Christ. He will bring every one of our paths to his feet. Hope we'll see that tonight.

Now, you see the key then here to this verse is trusting the Lord. And so if one does not trust the Lord, it's a moot point to acknowledge His sovereignty. There's a lot of people who can acknowledge God as sovereign over many things and yet still not trust Him.

Men know, in this world, men know there is a God and yet they do not worship Him as God. Men have made up a God of their own imagination, and in that God they trust. And so as they are going their way, they acknowledge their God. But truly, they're only acknowledging a God of their imagination, a God that does not exist, the God of this world. This religious age is a God that promises salvation but has no power to give it unless a man give him permission or a man somehow merit his salvation. This is the God of modern religion. It is a God that men create.

When the Scripture says trust in the Lord, He is talking about trusting in the Lord according to the God that is revealed in Scripture. In Romans chapter 9, this is the God in whom we trust, a sovereign God. Romans 9 and verse 15, For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy.

That's great. That's a wonderful statement, isn't it? That God will have mercy. And men would just love to leave it there. But that's not all he said. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion. That's good. But he doesn't stop there. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Conclusion. So then. This is God. This is the God in whom we trust.

So then, it is not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. We trust in a God, a merciful God, a God of mercy, but a God of sovereign mercy. He will have mercy on whom He will, and this mercy is not based on man's will or man's works. It's not of him that willeth or him that runneth. Do you not understand if it is of him that willeth or him that runneth, it's no longer mercy. It's merit. But the God we trust is a God of sovereign mercy. We trust in the only true God that saves, not makes salvation possible.

A God that makes salvation possible is no God at all. God who offers salvation but has no power to give it is no God at all. A God that no one should trust in. That's not the God of the Bible. God doesn't make salvation possible, but God saves. I like what Isaiah said, a just God and a Savior. Now, He can't be a Savior if He doesn't save. If He doesn't save, He's not a Savior. If I make salvation possible, I'm no Savior. God doesn't make salvation possible, He does.

We trust in a sovereign God. So when I say trust in the Lord with all your heart, this is who I'm telling you to trust. Trust in God the Father who chose a people before the foundation of the world. This is the God we trust in. We trust in God the Father who chose a people.

This is vitally important. We're going to see is if there were no election, there would be no salvation. Election is the root of our salvation. Our salvation is not rooted in time. Our salvation is rooted in eternity, according to the purpose and the will of God the Father.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and in love, purpose to save us. Isn't this glorious that the God we trust in, He's the one who put us in Christ? That we did not put ourselves in Christ. that God put us in Christ. God made Christ to be all our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We trust in God the Son who is our surety, our Redeemer, our Savior.

We trust in His perfect work. Christ was sent to be the representative man of all the elect of God. And as He came into the world as a man, He honored the law of God in perfection for His people. He obtained the righteousness of God by His own obedience. Then by His death, He satisfied forever the justice of God against the sin of His people. God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

We trust in God the Son as all our salvation. And we trust this, that God raised Him from the dead. We are sure of this. When we say trust in the Lord, we trust that God had raised Him from the dead because if there is no resurrection of Christ, there's no hope for us. You see, but because God raised Him from the dead, God proved something. He proved His victory. He proved His success. If there was any sin remaining on the Son of God, He could not be raised.

But where's our sin? It's gone. The Father hath removed our sin. How far? As far as the east is from the west. So far hath he removed our sins from us. And right now we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who sits on the throne of heaven ruling all things after the counsel of his own will. That's what we, when he says, trust in the Lord with all your heart, you trust this, you believe this, that all things move according to the will of Jesus Christ, everything. Isn't it, I'm ashamed to admit how many fears I have. Why? Because I know who rules all things. The one who saved me rules all things.

And this is what He's doing. He's not leaving us to question what He's doing. Our Lord is going to save His people from their sins. That's what He's going to do. Everything that's happening, it's happening so that the Word of God should be moved and the Spirit of God should find everyone that the Father chose. The Spirit of God will find everyone that Christ died for and He will give them faith, He will give them life, they will come to Him and they'll do exactly what we do, trust in the Lord. They'll believe on Him without doubt. He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

This is what we trust. We trust that the Father chose us. We trust that the Son has saved us. We trust that the Spirit has called us to life and faith in Christ. And we trust this, that everyone that trusts in the Lord, everyone that believes in Christ, shall never fail to receive all that God promised.

Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice. You've heard his voice. You have if you believe. You've heard his voice. And I know them. And they follow me. They trust me. They trust me. They believe on me. And I give unto them eternal life. I give it. You that trust Him, do you realize that this is a free gift? It's freely given. You have done absolutely nothing to merit this. It is an absolute free gift of Christ.

I give unto them eternal life. And this is the result of that gift. He said, they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, my Father which gave them me. See, he refers back to the election. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hands.

You that believe, you that trust in God, we trust this, that Christ is all our salvation. Is that what you trust? Is that your hope? This is the hope of everyone born of the Spirit of God, that we are saved by the blood and righteousness of Christ and trust Him to keep us.

Now, if there's anyone today that does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, do you realize this, that the doctrine of election never stopped anyone from believing? That's the objection of man, isn't it? Well, if you say something like that, you're going to get people not to believe. No! The doctrine of election never stopped anyone from believing. You know why? Because if there were no election, there would be no one coming. Without election, no sinner would come.

Now, how do you know that? Because Christ said that. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him. How then do we know we belong to Christ? How do we know that we are saved? Faith is the only evidence of my election. Faith is the only evidence of my redemption. When a person comes to Christ, if you can come to Christ, if you can come to Christ, you know why? It's because this power of the Spirit has given you grace to come to Christ. That's the only reason you ever came to Christ.

And everyone that comes to Him trusts Him. Trust in the Lord with what? All thine heart. See, the heart now has to do with the affections. When we trust Him, it's not just a matter of fact, is it? It's a matter of love and faith. These two things go together, faith and love. They go together.

You can't have one without the other. If you say you have faith without love, you're just acknowledging facts. If you say you have love but you have no faith, then your love is mooted. It's pointless. Faith worketh by love. These two go together. With all thine heart. Can you ever go overboard trusting Him? Is there a point where you say, well, that's just too much? No. With all thine heart.

Now I'm going to show you an illustration of one trusting Go to 2 Kings. I'm going to use Hezekiah as an example. There are many in Scripture if you want to, but I think this is a good one that follows this text all the way through. 2 Kings chapter 18, look at verse 3. Speaking of King Hezekiah, the Scripture says, And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David did.

He removed the high places, broke down the images, cut down the groves, broke into pieces the brazen serpent that Moses made, for in those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, but he and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. Now I want you to see the contrast here of those who did not trust in the Lord, And this man, Hezekiah, who did trust in the Lord.

Those who did not trust in the Lord were those who worshiped or bowed down to this brazen serpent. This kind of, you know, I've read this many times, but this every time I read it, it shocks me. You realize they kept that brass serpent for over 700 years? God told Moses, make that brazen serpent, right?

It had a purpose. It was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that himself. He says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. It had a purpose. But after its purpose, it should have been destroyed. But no, these religious men, they kept that brass serpent. They stored it up for 700 years.

And at this time, in Hezekiah's reign, they were lighting incense and bowing down to it. You know what Hezekiah called it? He said, Nehushtan. You know what that means? That thing of brass. That's what he said. He said, I can't believe you idiots are bowing down to that thing of brass. You know what he did? He burned it. He burned it up. All those groves and all those other isles they were worshipped, He put them in a pit, in a fire, and burned it. You see, these children of Israel, these children of Judah were trusting in the brazen serpent. The thing that pictured the work of the Messiah became the object of worship.

Is this not clearly seen in churches today? Crosses and emblems and pictures and movies, all kinds of things they use as aids to worship. They bow down to them that were only intended to be a picture of something. Baptism. Baptism is a picture of something. It's an ordinance our Lord instituted, but it only is a representation of something spiritual. The Lord's Supper. It is a picture of the broken body of our Lord Jesus. It's a picture of His blood that was shed for the remission of sins. But what do men do with the pictures? They bow down to the pictures and forsake the real.

This is the contrast that men that look to anything other than Christ alone are not trusting the Lord. If a man is looking to his works, his will, and Christ, he's not trusting. He's not trusting the Lord. He's trusting partially. But listen to our text. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. And then what? Don't lean on your understanding.

But this man, Hezekiah, look what it says of him. It says, He trusted the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he clave unto the Lord. You see, he's using another way to describe trusting. He clave unto God. He laid on him with both hands. That's what it is to trust God. It's not to trust God with this hand and lay your hand on something else. That's not trusting God. To trust God is to let go of everything else and grab ahold of him. That's what it is to trust God.

He claimed to him and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded most. He trusted, he claimed to the Lord. That's what it is to trust the Lord. that regardless of the providence of the circumstances of time and flesh, we cling tenaciously to God and never to what we think or what we feel or what we see. Those that are founded upon the rock of Jesus Christ are blessed because they hear the Word of God, they believe the Word of God, and they trust nothing else but Christ.

Do you trust Christ's blood as sufficient to satisfy God's wrath for your sins? Do you trust that? Listen, I put my whole soul on it. I put my whole soul on it. Do you trust that Christ's righteousness is sufficient? That it is itself the righteousness of God given to me? I trust on His righteousness and none on my own.

And that's what Paul said about his religion. Listen to how Paul put it. He says, I count those things I counted, I counted dung. And that's what he's talking about, his religion. He let go of all of his religion. He said, I count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ.

So then we who trust the Lord, we trust him wholly, we trust him completely, and we lean not to our own understanding. We lean not on our works, not on anything of our experience. We trust Him completely. And notice this, I want you to see this, go back to your text for a second. Hold here in Kings, because we're going to go right back. So, he said, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not on thy own understanding.

Now, as we who trust in the Lord, We who trust in the Lord must understand that this does not exempt us from trouble. Trusting the Lord with all your heart does not exempt you from trouble. In fact, it's promised. In this world, our Lord said, you shall have tribulation. Every believer who trusts in the Lord will be tried, tempted.

Why? Because your faith must be proven. You say, isn't it easy to say, I trust the Lord? Anybody can say that, right? God institutes trials and tribulations and afflictions for one purpose, to prove your faith. He's not going to prove it to himself. He'll prove it to us. Of what sort your faith is. Is your faith real or is it just a facade? You know what proves that, right? Trials. Trials. Remember the parable in Luke. Let me see. I wrote it down. Luke chapter 8, I think it is. Parable of the Sword.

Remember how the seed fell on different ground? Now the first one, it fell on the The hard ground, the bird came and took it away. You know, that's somebody that just doesn't receive it at all. But there are other three types of soil here and one of them was a stony ground hearer. He said the word came and it penetrated the soil just on the surface and it sprang up. But when the sun came down and beat on it, it burned up because it had no root.

And there's a lot of people that'll spring up. They have a lot of trouble, a lot of difficulties. They're sick, or their marriage is in shambles, or they're in financial difficulty. You know what they do? They come to church and they say, oh boy. And they say, I trust the Lord! But the moment those things are gone, where are they at? When those things are settled, when their marriage is fine, their finances are fine, and everything's all fine, then what?

They're gone. That's a tribulation. The tribulation, when it comes, it shines on them, and they just wither away. They ain't got no root. That other ground is the thorny ground here. Now, they spring up, and the thorns choke the Word, the things of the world. They come and say, yeah, I trust the Lord. You know, the things of the world, the cares of the life, they take precedent.

And then what? They're fruitless. They're fruitless people. They have no love, they have no faith, they have no real joy in the gospel. And those that were, the last one was the good ground here, is the one that God prepared the soil of the heart, and the spirit planted the seed, and they sprang up, and then what?

Out comes the fruit. You know what fruit? This is how, fruit comes from the inside out. It's a work of the Spirit on the inside of a man, and it comes out of the man. Religion has it backwards. They say, do this, do that, and then you'll be fruitful. See, they work from the outside in.

But when God saves a man, he really trusts the Lord. It doesn't matter his circumstances. It doesn't matter any outward circumstances. Why? Because the fruit doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside. The Spirit of God produces the fruit of what? Faith, love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance. All of the fruits of the Spirit. So, one who trusts in the Lord is not promised a trouble-free life.

Matter of fact, he's promised troubles. When you came to Christ, is that not the first thing you experienced was trouble? Trouble with guilt, with sin. Remember Pilgrim and Pilgrim's Progress? He was there, that man, Christian, he's in that city of destruction. What a picture of us, isn't it? And he reads that text about God's judgment and all of a sudden he has this big boulder on his shoulders. Guilt. Shame. Sin. What was that? That was trouble.

We knew we had to face a holy God. And it wasn't until God brought us to Christ that we were relieved of our burden. When God gives us grace to trust, we no longer need to worry of the burden of the guilt of our sin because Christ has taken it away. But I'll tell you this, that's not the end of our trouble, is it? Believers constantly surrounded by trouble so that his faith must be constantly tried and proven.

Look at Peter, look at 2nd, look at 1st Peter. 1st Peter, chapter 1, we like this verse here in verse 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed the last time. Isn't that wonderful? That's good. Sounds wonderful. We're kept. Kept from what?

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptation, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found to the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Christ. You see what troubles are for? Troubles are going to prove whether you really trust Him or not. Because it's easy to say you trust Him. Do you really?

Go back to Kings. Look at 2 Kings chapter 18. Now we read of Hezekiah and his trust in the Lord. Now then it's going to be proven. In 2 Kings chapter 18, In verse 22, this man Rabshakeh from the Assyrian army had now come and encompassed the whole city of Jerusalem. He now was surrounding Jerusalem ready to crush them in a moment. This is what he says, But if you say unto me, We trust the Lord our God, is not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem. Look at verse 28, And Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jew's tongue, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hands, neither let Hezekiah make you to trust in the Lord. saying the Lord will surely deliver us and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria. What was happening here? The faith and the trust of Hezekiah was being put to the test.

This, my friend, was a hopeless situation. They had already conquered the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. They crushed them. They ran over them. It was not even a contest. They had conquered everyone they had come in contact with. And now they come to this little city of Jerusalem in Judah. And now they're ready to crush them. And they're standing at the gate mocking his trust.

Don't you let Hezekiah say, trust in the Lord. None of their other gods were able to help them. Don't you let him say, trust in the Lord. There's no hope for you. It was a hopeless case. But Hezekiah, trusting in the Lord, did exactly what our text exhorted him to do. Trust in the Lord and what? Lean not on your own understanding. Lean not on your own understanding. Listen. In all thy ways acknowledge Him.

In all thy ways Hezekiah acknowledged the Lord in this. He knew God was the only one who could save him. He knew that. He trusted the Lord was the only one who can save him. There's not anything that comes into the life of the believer that God has not designed. Is that not right? You that trust him. Is that not so? Is there anything that takes place in your life that is not directed by the divine decree of God? It's what Isaiah says in Isaiah 46,

10. He said, 46 in verse 9, he says, I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end, when? From the beginning. From ancient times of things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

What was happening to Hezekiah? Exactly what God decreed should happen. What's happening to you? Exactly what God decreed should happen to you. When troubles come upon the children of God, we should be comforted in the fact that God has decreed them. They're not accidental. You know, you use the word like allow. No, God doesn't allow, He decrees. He doesn't allow things to happen to you, He decrees them to happen to you. They're on purpose. Everything God does is on purpose and nothing happens to the child of God by accident or chance.

If sickness or sorrow or pain or heartache comes, we are to be comforted and know that it comes from God. Acknowledge it! Recognize it! And so then whatever comes, Paul said this, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, to everyone who trusts in the Lord, listen to me, all things, all things working together for your good.

One preacher put an illustration like this. He said a man is sick and needs a remedy, a medicine. He goes to the pharmacist and the pharmacist takes a compound that by itself will kill him. He takes another compound that by itself would do him nothing. He puts them together and he makes a medicine.

That's what God does with everything. The thing by itself will kill you. You won't be able to stand it. Whatever trial God brings on you, if that's all it is, then you wouldn't be able to stand. But mixed with the grace and love and power of God, it's for your good. It's for your good. Remember what Joseph said to his brothers after he had been delivered into slavery, and the Lord had raised him up to save much people. You know what he said? He said, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Believers, let this be a refuge in the time of trouble. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. You don't have to understand what God's doing. Since when does he need to explain himself to us? Trust him. And then acknowledge it's him that did it. Acknowledge him in how many ways? In all thy ways. In all the ways that come into contact with. Acknowledge his sovereignty and his power.

Gil said this about the Lord being our refuge in time of trouble. He says, of trouble which saints have many, when God hides his face, when corruptions prevail, when grace is low in exercise, when temptations are strong. Yet even then, Christ is a refuge. Even then. He is a refuge from the storm and the trouble.

And in closer looking to acknowledging God, In the illustration of Hezekiah, let's see what Hezekiah did. Because this is what it is to trust the Lord. Listen to me. What Hezekiah did is what everyone does who trusts the Lord. In the time of difficulty, in the time of affliction, acknowledging Him. Look at chapter 19 now. Look in 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 19. Scripture says in verse 1, And it came to pass, When King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes and covered himself in sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. Where did he go? He went to the Lord. He went to the only place where God was. At that time, there was only one place where God manifested His presence. It was called the house of the Lord. That's where He went.

When you are in trouble, where do you go? I know the first instinct of the flesh is to go to our friends. Go to some man. Go to somebody. You need help. You go to this person. You go to that person. If you're in trouble, Go to the Lord. Why would you go anywhere else? If you trust Him, you'll go to Him. That's exactly where he went. He went to the Lord.

And notice this. He not only went to the Lord, he went to hear the Word of the Lord. Look at verse 5 in chapter 19, 2 Kings. He said, So his servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, and Isaiah said unto him, Thus shall you say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord. You see, the only comfort for the troubled believer is this, Thus saith the Lord. That's what we need to hear.

When we are in trouble, the worst thing a believer can do is neglect the public worship of God. That's the worst thing he can do. It's the most natural thing for him to do. When you're in trouble, you don't want to be around anybody, you don't want to talk to anybody, you don't want anybody near you. But in doing so, if you neglect the worship of God, you're neglecting what? You're neglecting the Word of God. God's people should never neglect to hear the Word of God because this They're neglecting their own comfort. They're neglecting their own comfort.

For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder of soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is the Word of God that cuts, and it's the Word of God that heals.

This is why we preach Christ constantly, because it's Christ. It's all about Christ. I was speaking to somebody who was who was listening to or reading a message concerning the love of Christ, and they were just so overwhelmed with the love of Christ. Do you realize it's the love of Christ that constrains us? It's the love of Christ that keeps us.

It's the love of Christ and his offering, his sacrifice, his blood, his righteousness, his glory, his deity. All of these things comfort us in the midst of our trouble. And if we neglect that, we neglect our own comfort. This is an instruction God has given to every one of his preachers. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem.

Now why? Her warfare is accomplished. Now isn't that good? Isn't that comforting? Your warfare is accomplished. Not your warfare with men, but your warfare with God. For the Lord hath received double for all her iniquities. Doesn't that settle you? If you have peace with God, what does it matter about all this other stuff? Anybody gonna keep this stuff? This stuff we keep fighting over, this stuff we keep worrying about, who's gonna keep any of it? They don't keep any of it. The only thing that matters is this. Peace with God. Word of God's the only way you're gonna know that.

And the last thing that Hezekiah did is he prayed. Look at verse 14. And Hezekiah received a letter at the hand of the messengers and read it. Not an old rabshakeh. He's out there yelling and screaming. He sent a letter. He sent a certified letter to Hezekiah, writing down all this stuff that he's going to do to them. What could Hezekiah do? Get this beautiful picture. Hezekiah takes his letter.

He's there before the Lord and he lays it out. He just lays it out before the Lord. What could I do? He lays it out. Hezekiah received the letter and went into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel! Now listen to his hope. Listen to his hope of God answering his prayer. Thou that dwellest between the cherubims. You see, he knew God was going to listen to him because of the offering of Christ. He was trusting the Lord. Is that what you do with your troubles? What an example! Man, you got troubles? I can't do nothing. My hope is that you hear me because of Christ. My hope is you answer these objections according to Christ.

Thou art the God. No other. Even thou alone in all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. You see, he acknowledged that God was sovereign over all his troubles. And you know what the answer of God was? Isaiah said, don't be afraid. Your troubles make you afraid, mine do, I have many fears. You know what God says to me? Don't be afraid. I'll send that guy back and I'll destroy him and his own kingdom. That's what God did. He did it by rumor. You know that? You got that? God spread a rumor. Didn't raise a sword. Didn't raise an army. Didn't do anything. He just spread a rumor. And that guy that made all those accusations. He turned tail and run, went right back to Assyria. You know what God did? God killed him in his own country.

What is that? You that trust the Lord, trust him with all your heart. Is he not worthy of your trust? I mean, has that not been proven? Trust Him for His electing grace, for His redeeming grace, for His saving and quickening grace, for His keeping grace. Trust Him. With what? All your heart. Leave nothing out. Trust Him with everything. And then, don't lean on what you see, what you feel, and what you think. None. Don't even consider it. Instead, acknowledge His sovereignty in everything. and listen to His promise, and He shall direct thy path.

You know where He directs you every single time? Christ. This is where we always end up, isn't it? We end up at the feet of Christ. And then, when everything's solved, what do we do? We get into trouble again. And then He brings us, brings us trouble, pushes it in, pushes it in, and brings us to that same place, to Christ's feet. Why? So we trust Him more. Have you trust Him enough? Have you ever said, well, you know, I trust Him enough. What believer ever said, I've got enough faith?

What is our prayer? Lord, give me more faith. What are you asking for? You're asking for trouble, aren't you? You're asking for trials and difficulties because that's how He gives faith. And so this is an encouragement to us. This is a text for us. It's a text of wisdom. Trust in the Lord. Not just when it's well, but with all thine heart at all times. Don't lean on anything you think or you understand or you feel. Trust Christ.

And then acknowledge Him. And He's going to direct your paths. He's going to direct you to Himself. Remember those, I'll close with this, the apostles. When all those people came, that 5,000 men he had fed and everything, they came there and he preached the gospel to them and they all left. He said this, he asked him this question, will you go away also? What was Peter's answer?

Lord, to whom shall we go? I got no place else to go. Friends, I don't want to go anyplace else. I trust Him. Lord, give me grace to trust Him more, to acknowledge His sovereign hand in all my ways, knowing He'll direct me to Himself. I pray God will bless this to you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Dan, it's just medicine prayer, brother. I want to be brave to drive this message that's sitting out in each of our hearts to thank you.