not completely sure how far we'll
get tonight in Proverbs 3, but we'll look at a few verses anyway. Now, most of you have been here
through this study, and you'll see a progression here in what
Solomon's teaching. He says here in verse 1 of chapter
3, my son, forget not my law. He's been saying, take heed. Don't be as those that rebel
and reject the counsel of God. And apply your heart with all you're
getting. Get understanding and wisdom.
And now he says, don't forget it. Don't forget it. Don't forget my law, my teaching,
my word. But let thine heart keep my commandments. This exhortation here, it calls
attention to another danger now that we face as sinners. And
notice, first of all, he still uses the language of a father,
my son. And we talked about that, son.
I mentioned before how that words like these given with love, As a father to a son, don't listen
to somebody that doesn't love you. That's pretty good advice,
isn't it? We saw how in the word, we saw
how that God has always seen to it that when his word is delivered
to his people, it's done by somebody that loves them. The true shepherd, he don't abandon
the sheep because he loves them. He's not just there as a hireling. But also this instruction from
a father to a son in any real sense will be given with great
care and certainty. Think about the conscientious
way in which you would give advice to your son. You're not going
to just tell him anything that just pops up in your head. You're
going to make sure that what you tell him is right because
he's your son. I'm going to make certain it's
right. And these words are not just
the words of Solomon, the man of God, and of whom God said,
he said, I will give you wisdom and knowledge and riches and
honor such as none before thee have had, and nor shall there
be the like after you. So a wise father now, and clearly a father that loves
his son, but these are also the words of our heavenly father.
to his sons and daughters, our perfect Father. And as I said, this verse highlights
another danger. It's assuming that we don't reject
outright the counsel of God, which is what we do by nature.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him and he has no ability to know them
because they're spiritually discerned. He can't discern them. Doesn't
want to and couldn't do it if he wanted to. And this is something
else though now. Assuming that we don't reject
the truth as it's our nature, assuming we receive and take
heed and apply our hearts as we've been instructed to, now
we're warned lest we forget. And this is common in Scripture.
You may be able to think of some verses of Scripture. Maybe 1
Corinthians 15. You thought, moreover brethren,
Paul said in verse 1, 1 Corinthians 15, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you. I've already preached it unto
you and I'm declaring it to you again, which also you have received
and wherein you stand. You've received it. That's what
Solomon instructed us to do. Receive the truth. Apply your
heart. Lay hold of it. And you've done
that, Paul said, by which you're also saved if you keep in memory. If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, don't forget. Don't get entangled in the affairs
of this life. Don't be like the seed that fell
on the shallow ground that sprung up quick, and then when the sun
came out, it burned up. If you keep in memory what I've
preached unto you, unless you've believed in vain. You see that?
The word keep in our text there, he said keep, keep it in your
heart, keep it in your heart. What does he mean by that? Guard
and watch over it. Does that make sense? The truth,
the gospel that we've preached, that you've been taught, that
you've heard and read yourself and studied and that God has
taught you. Keep a guard over your heart.
Treasure that gospel in your heart. and keep watch over it. You remember when Paul said in
2 Corinthians 11.3, he said, I'm afraid, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. He said in another place, you
ran well for a while, but oh now, who did hinder you? Who hath bewitched you? Paul was guarding and keeping
a watch, as any shepherd does, over those that God had given
him the charge over. But every man also, he's exhorting,
you've got to keep a watch over your own heart, too. Look at
Colossians chapter 1. Turn to that one with me, if
you would. Colossians chapter 1, verse 19. It pleased the Father that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross, by Him, by Christ, to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were at
one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He reconciled." He did that. He did that for
you. You didn't cooperate in that.
He did that by the blood of His cross, He just said. Not by anything
you do or don't do. He did it by the blood of his
cross. He reconciled you to God. He did that for you, in your
place, in your stead. In the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight, you being holy before God doesn't have anything
to do with what you do. Christ did that by his death. Now look at what he said in verse
23. All that applies to you, if. It's not dependent upon you, but this is you, if. You see
the difference? Not all of this is in vain unless
you do something. That's what religion teaches.
That's not what he's talking about here. He's saying, does
this describe you? Did Christ do all this for you?
If he did, you'll continue in the faith. Isn't that what he
said? Isn't that what the whole word
of God teaches? It's not up to you, but I'll
tell you this, if God's done something for you, you want to
know if you're in on that? Do you believe? Do you still
believe? Do you continue in the faith, grounded
and settled? And don't be moved away from
the hope. of the gospel, which you have heard and which was
preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul,
am made a minister now, if you continue." That's what Solomon's
teaching here. Don't forget. Don't forget. In Hebrews 2.1, Paul said, therefore,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Don't let them
slip. Keep a guard. Keep a watch over.
the gospel of the Lord's taught you. He said in verse 2, for
length of days and long life and peace they shall add to thee.
Now these words length and long, length of days and long life,
they're talking not so much about quantity but about quality. And
you know that from all the Word of God. Job didn't want to live
long, did he? He begged for God to kill him.
He didn't want to just live a long time. It was because of the quality
of his life that he prayed for death. He was praying for God
to kill him. If someone has a horrible life, has a life full of misery
and affliction, lengthening that life would be a curse, not a
blessing. No, this is symbolic of a good and prosperous life.
That's what he's talking about. A good, long life. A good, prosperous
Stephen didn't live long, but he was highly blessed of God.
He was favored of God. A prosperous life. He speaks
of the individual days being good. Length of days and long
life. The days themselves and the whole
prosperous life is what he's talking about. The whole life.
We know what this picture is. This is spiritual language here.
This is what our Lord Jesus Christ said in John 10 7. He said unto
them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I'm the door of the
sheep. And all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. The thief cometh not, but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy." Now, what did we say this morning?
Stealers, thieves is what they are, and murderers of men's souls.
But he said, I'm come that they might have life, that the sheep
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. not just in year, not just in
length of time, but he's talking about a quality of life that
most men and women in any generation will never experience in this
world. If you don't know Christ, you're
not living at all. That's what this book teaches,
not in the true sense of the word. He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God,
what you call in life is not life. He hath not life. And that's
talking about a quality of life. She that liveth in pleasure is
dead while she lives, the scripture said. In verse three, he said,
let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of
thine heart. You see, he equates his law,
his word, his teaching, with mercy and truth, because that's
how they come. That's how they come. Mercy and
truth come to the heart by the preaching of God's word, by the
teaching of good counsel, of God's law. That is, not the Ten
Commandments, but everything he writes, everything God has
said. He said, don't let them forsake
you. Now, think about that. Listen to what Proverbs 4.1 says,
and this is the way we normally think of this. Hear ye, children,
the instruction of a father. There it is again, Solomon said
in 4.1. Hear the instruction of a father.
And attend to no understanding, for I give you good doctrine.
Forsake ye not my law. That's how we would commonly
here this talk don't you forsake the truth but here in verse three
he said don't let it forsake you in other words mercy and
truth like jacob who said to the lord jesus christ i will
not let you go except you bless me lay hold on eternal life paul
said don't let it go don't let go Don't you forsake it and don't
let it forsake you What does it mean to lay hold of mercy? How do you lay hold of mercy
it's an intangible thing well Scripture is pretty clear about
that. You lay hold of mercy by laying hold of a person By laying
hold of the Lord Jesus Christ, how do you lay hold of truth? It's only by laying hold of a
person Well, Chris, what does he mean then bind them about
thy neck like you would wear a necklace? You can't wear a
person. Oh, no, that's exactly what Paul said. Do put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust thereof. Put him on. You won't be holy
before God. Put him on. You won't mercy before
God in the sign of God. Put on Christ. You want to know
the truth? Put him on. This is exactly what
Solomon's teaching in our text. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Bind him around your neck. Don't
let go. Don't let him forsake you. That's just right now. Didn't
our Lord say that heaven's taken by force? I won't let you go. I can't let you go. And of course this includes his
word and his gospel, but to truly embrace his gospel is not to
trust in the scriptures. Did you know that? To embrace
the gospel is not to trust in God's scriptures. That's what
he said to the Pharisees. You search the scriptures, you
think you have eternal life in the scriptures. But there they
which testify of me. And you won't come to me that
you might have life. The precious Christlessness of
the scriptures is that they testify of a person the Lord Jesus Christ
They're the gospel Paul said in Romans 1 concerning his son
and They're written that you might believe that he that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and that believing you might have
life through his name It's not trusting the scriptures. The
scriptures are written that you might trust him John said You
see the difference? Some of you take notes when I
preach, and I love to see that. I know that you're listening.
If you're able to write it down, I know you heard it. And not
everybody's able to do it. I'm not recommending that necessarily
to everybody, because I can't particularly, I cannot do that
because I can't concentrate and do that at the same time. If
you did that in school, you're probably used to it and good
at it. I didn't take notes in school. I daydreamed a lot in school.
But I love to see people doing that because I know you're applying
yourself to it. But you know what Solomon says
here? He says, write it down on your heart. Whether you write
it down on paper or not, he said, write it on your heart. Well,
that's what I desire for you and for me. It's such a difficult
thing to express, but we experience it a little bit as we get older
in the truth that This is not just something we do. This is
such a precious time and such a priceless blessing
from God to hear his word. May it affect our hearts and
not just be something we do, just a habit. Record the word
in your heart. That's what he said. And in verse four, he said, so
shall you find favor. and good understanding in the
sight of God and man. God first. If you don't have favor with
God, then any other favor is worthless. The favor of man will
be a curse to you if you don't have the favor of God. Proverbs
16, 7, When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
to be at peace with him. I've experienced some of that.
Our Lord says, it says in Luke 2, it says, Jesus increased in
wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Have you ever
thought about that? With regard to the Son of God? How could
He increase in favor with God and man? Well, Solomon says,
if you love the Word, if you love God's Word and apply your
heart, and don't forget it, guard it, bind it to you around your
neck, And not just the word itself, but what the word teaches, which
is to bind him around your neck, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how we're going to
be like him in this. We're going to gain favor with
God and men. To have favor with God and men. I thought about that. Generally speaking, God's people
do have both, and the favor of men in
a good way because we have the favor of God. As I said, you
may have the favor of men without the favor of God, but it'll be
a curse to you. It won't be a blessing, it'll
be a curse. I thought about this, and this
is just the truth, and you know in what sense I mean this. It's
in the sense of our text. A believer, generally speaking,
is a good person, a good citizen, a good human being, a good father. He'll be She'll be a good mother,
he'll be a good husband, she'll be a good wife. Did you read
the article by Henry Mahan that was in the bulletin this morning
or that I emailed to you? That's exactly what he says in
there. I believe it was Roland Hill that he quotes as saying,
if a man knows the Lord Jesus Christ, even his dog will be
better for it. You know what he means by that?
And Henry goes on to say in that article that a believer is going
to be a good father, a good husband, a good son or daughter, a good
citizen. It's just the truth. And you
know that I'm not saying that any of us are good by nature.
There's none good but one, and that's God. We know that. Nor
good in the sense of merit before God, even after conversion. Paul said, after being a believer
for some time, Oh, wretched man that I am. There's nothing good
in my flesh. In my flesh dwells no good thing.
We know that. But among the people of this
earth, God's people are exemplary. That's what I'm saying. And it's
just the truth. It's just the truth. In Daniel
6, 3, it says, Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents
and princes, preferred by evil men. My men that didn't know
God preferred above the presidents and the princes, the ones that
they had exalted, because an excellent spirit was in him.
Where did he get that, you think? You reckon he was born with that? An excellent spirit was in him,
and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. God will
give you favor even with men that hate your God and would
hate you except for God's restraining grace. but favor in the sight of God. That's everything. That's got
to be first. That's got to be primary. Can that come through knowledge?
Is that what Solomon's saying? If you bind the word, the law,
the truth, the mercy and truth around your neck and write it
on your heart, can you get favor from God that way? Well, I'll
tell you this. Paul said to Timothy, that from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation. I know this, that's the means
by which God gives you favor in his sight. By the truth of his son, by the gospel of
Christ, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The scriptures
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. Now you keep that in mind. We
have favor with God because of the representative perfect life
of Christ as our last Adam. And because of his victorious,
soul-redeeming, sin-atoning death on Calvary. But how do I personally
have a saving interest in Christ and what he did? What Paul just
said, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Well how am
I going to have faith which is in Christ Jesus? By knowing the
Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.
You see the order? That's what he said now here.
That's how faith comes. We have favor in Him. He is our favor with God. But
how does that get applied to me? By faith. Well how do I believe? And then Paul in Romans 10, he
carries that on out. How shall we believe without
hearing? And how are we going to hear without a preacher? And
how's the preacher going to preach unless God sends him? Everybody
wants to jump up and preach something, but you're not going to have
salvation that way. It's going to have to be from a preacher
that God sent with his word. Well, verse five, trust in the
Lord. Isn't this a beautiful, we sing this by the way, you
know, quite a bit, you know, this little song, trust in the
Lord with all thy heart. And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy path. It was a favorite little song
of mine. I love that scripture chorus
that we sing. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. All your heart. And that Ethiopian
eunuch asked Philip, what doth hinder me to be baptized? Phil
said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. Isn't that beautiful? Our Lord said to his disciples
in John 14, 1. I want to tell them to trust in the Lord
with all your heart. And now this is a time when the
disciples, they've given up everything. that they had and everything
that they were, everything that they did, and they were following
this one person, and he says, I'm not going to be with you
much longer. But he said this to, don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Trust me. That's what he's saying
there, you trust me. Don't be troubled. Don't be worried.
Don't be afraid. Don't fret. Don't be anxious.
Believe in me. Isn't that beautiful? What is
it to believe with all the heart? Well, I know something about
it. I know this. It's to forsake all trust in
any other. Now, I trust you folks. And when
I say, you know, the believer is a good person, I know some
examples of that. I'm looking at some examples
of that. And if you're going to trust anybody in this world,
it would be one of God's sheep, wouldn't it? And there's a lot
of things that I can trust you with. But with the ultimate trust,
with that which Paul said I've committed unto him, You can't
trust anybody else. Nobody else. With your soul. Paul said, we
are the circumcision. We're the covenant people of
God. That's what circumcision was,
the sign of the covenant of God's grace. We're the covenant people
of God, which worship God in the spirit, and we rejoice in
Christ Jesus. We don't have any confidence.
in the flesh. I know that's part of trusting
Him with all your heart, is to have no confidence in anybody
else. In regard to that which is entrusted
to Him, which is everything important. Everything of eternal importance. We have no confidence in this
flesh. David said in Psalm 20 verse seven, some trust in chariots
and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord,
our God. Some say, I've got more chariots
and horses than you do. So I'm going to beat you. Not
if you fighting against God's people. They didn't have a whole
lot of chariots and horses, but they had the Lord God. We will
remember the name of the Lord our God. If God be for us, who's
going to be against us? And I'll tell you this too, it's
to trust Him in spite of the circumstances and in spite of
the evidence. We tend to cling to the evidence.
We're creatures of sense and we see things and we know what's
going to happen based on what we see, based on our experience. You got to trust his word now.
In spite of the evidence, in spite of the circumstances, in
spite of your experience, Simon answering said unto him, Master,
we've told, we've been fishing all night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless it thy word. You
see how that's trusting Him with all your heart has got to have
something to do with that. It's got to have something to
do with forget the circumstances, forget the evidence, forget the
odds, what people talk about, the chances. What are my chances?
It depends on who your God is. Those who have the Lord God,
the living God for their God, don't depend on chance. Nevertheless at thy word, I will
let down the net. How about you? How about me?
And then it's to trust him when the stakes, even when the stakes
are high, especially then, especially when the stakes are high. David
said in Psalm 56, three, what time I am afraid. And that's when the stakes are
high. If you're scared to death, it's because you've got something
to lose. What time I am afraid. What are
you going to do, David? I'll trust in you. When whatever it is I'm facing
scares me to death, because of what I stand to lose,
I'll trust him then. I like the way David said that,
what time I am afraid. I'll trust in you. He needs to
trust him at all costs. And now what Job did, he said,
though he slay me, yet will I trust him. That's about as close to all
your heart as you're going to get in this life, you think?
Though he slay me. We talk about this a lot, but
religion talks about faith, you know, being, well, God won't
do that. I just believe that God won't do that. Faith says
whether he does it or don't do it, I'm going to trust him. God's
not going to let me die. Really? Job said, if he does
let me die, I'm still going to trust him. That's not faith saying
God's not going to let me die. Faith is not believing that God
will do what you want Him to do. Faith is believing God will
do what He said He'd do. Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him. It's to trust when you don't
understand. When you don't understand, that's
me quite a bit. Abraham went up into that mountain. Mount Moriah with his only son
the scripture said his only son whom he loved And he went up there to kill
that boy because that's what God told him to do And he did
so knowing that God had promised that through that boy the seed
would come now you think about that He never questioned God He didn't say, now wait a minute,
God, you can't do that. This is the promised son in whom
the sea is going to go. No, he marched up that hill with
that boy to kill him like God told him to do. And Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father and said, my father. And Abraham said,
here am I, my son. And he said, behold, the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb? How are we going to offer
a sacrifice to God? We don't have a lamb. Smart boy. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went
both of them together. I never have noticed that last
little phrase before. Isn't that beautiful? So they
went both of them together. Abraham said, God's going to
provide himself a lamb. And he went right up that hill
with that boy. Didn't Solomon say, right there in our text,
don't lean on your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart and don't lean on your own understanding. If Abraham
had leaned on his own understanding, he would have been reluctant
at best. But he wasn't leaning on that. And then, and this is
another one that's a blessing to me because I pray the Lord
will give me this. It's to trust Him when you don't
know what to do. When you don't know what to do.
Psalm 31 through you are my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for
thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. I don't know what to
do. Lead me and guide me. Psalm 61, 2, from the end of
the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Have you ever been there? When
my heart is overwhelmed. That wasn't the case much when
I was young. I knew everything. I always knew
what to do. But I get overwhelmed a lot more
nowadays. And David said, When my heart's
overwhelmed, I'm going to cry to you. And he said this, when
my heart's overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that's higher
than I am. And then it's to trust him with
everything. Is there anything that you can't
trust him with? We trust him alone. We talked
about that. We trust always, always, in every situation. And
by God's grace, may he give us faith to trust him with everything.
That's all the heart. Trust him with everything. David
said, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not
lack anything. Why, David? Because of who it
is that's my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I trust Him
that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day, my very soul. I trust in His precious blood
to cleanse me from all of my sin. I know that only the blood
of God can pay my sin debt against the Holy God, but I trust in
His blood. What's that song? We haven't
sung it in a long time. Jesus' blood can make the foulest
sinner clean. Do you believe that? For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood. Do you have faith in His blood?
Do you trust that His blood is able to redeem you. It's to know Him. Acknowledge
in the text in all your ways, He said. Acknowledge in all your
ways, know Him. That's what that means. In all
your ways, know Him. Not in theory. Not in your mind
only. But in your ways, know Him. You see that? not just in your creed knowing,
in your ways knowing. Like James said, be not hearers
of the word only but doers. May God give us grace to do that.
Solomon gives examples of this in the next verses that we'll
see next time, but not tonight. But here's his promise now. And
we'll close just with this thought. Here's His promise. He'll direct
your paths. Trust Him. Trust Him. And acknowledge Him. Know Him in your ways. And He'll
direct your path. Do you believe that? Well, I
don't always know what to do. That's when you trust Him. He'll
direct your path. He'll give you guidance. He'll
use His Word. His Holy Spirit in your very
heart. He shall direct your paths. In
other words, you're in his hand. A man deviseth his way, but the
Lord directs his steps on his head. Isn't that beautiful? And
I'll tell you this, that's everybody. But think of that in the sense
of his sheep. How's he gonna direct the steps
of his sheep with love for their good? He shall direct your path. We're
in his hand. Is that okay with you? You're
not in control of your life. Did you know that? Is that all
right with you? Oh, I wouldn't want to be, would you? Lord,
direct my steps. Guide me, lead me, take me. I'll
tell you this, if you trust him, that's exactly where you want
to be. He shall direct thy paths. Precious promise. We must bow in prayer together.