Faith:Pathway to Blessing

Well, good morning once again. Sorry, you have to look at me
all day. Some people I need to thank.
Carrie, for playing for Christie. Larry, for being Alan and Lyle. Frank played himself, but at
the beginning, Red for Barry, who’s again flying. Also, last
night I called Frank because I was having problems with our
printer. And I don’t know if he was just waiting like, oh,
John, come on. But I said, Frank, I’m sick. I need you to preach tomorrow.
And there was silence on the other line. So I think I got
him. I also need to, I don’t want
to apologize because the message is even more important
these days. But if you were here four and
a half years ago. I did preach this before. And if you were
here four and a half years ago and you actually remember it.
I’m actually I’m very impressed. In your bullets in the sermon
title says the pathway to blessing and We had to get this to Barbara
earlier in the week because she graciously printed the bulletin
before they left for New York and I left out part of the title.
It should be an active faith the pathway to blessing. If you’re
a Christian or raised in the church this passage is going
to be very very familiar to you. It’s probably one of the top
10 or ones you memorized in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School. In looking, when I was putting
this together, inclination was to put, as the title, Back to
Basics. For as one wrote, these verses
are the core of Christian living. Solomon, as we know, wrote the
Book of Proverbs. And when we think of Solomon,
we think of wisdom. Someone said proverbs are simple
moral statements or images that highlight and teach fundamental
realities about life. Solomon sought God’s wisdom and
offered these proverbs designed to make men contemplate, number
one, the fear of God and two, living by his wisdom. The sum
of his wisdom personified in Jesus Christ. Another one wrote,
Proverbs contain a goldmine of biblical theology reflecting
themes of scripture brought to the level of practical righteousness
by addressing man’s ethical choices, calling into question how he
thinks, lives, and manages his life in light of divine truth. Scripture tells us that in 1
Kings 4.32, One thing as I get started, I’m going to reference
a lot of verses today. If you want them, I mean, try
and write them down, but I will, if you want them, I’ll email
you the ones I use today. Someone told me once after a
sermon, you use too many references. And I didn’t know how to take
that because I would think that would be a good thing. But it
was, I couldn’t write them down fast enough. So if you want them,
I’ll get them to you. Don’t be writing these down so
quickly because they’ll probably go pretty quickly. In 1 Kings,
it tells us that Solomon wrote 3,000 Proverbs. And our passage
comes from the first section of Proverbs, which commentators
generally agree is addressed to young people. The Proverbs of Solomon, the
son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction,
to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise
behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity, to give prudence
to the naive, to the youth, knowledge, and discretion. He wants children
to get off on the right start, and that’s something we like
to do with our children. Train up a child in the way she
go. And he will not depart from those ways. It’s ever more important
today because I think a lot of that is lost. Instead of training up children,
we’re leaving them to their own devices and they’re learning
from others. And Solomon wanted to do this
the right way. A foundation that if built upon, By these problems and live by
will not crumble. These are the basics. Their principles
that form a base for the fear of the Lord. But this is not
just for the young. It’s for us all. I mentioned
earlier that this is probably a very familiar passage to us. One we’ve got memorized we can
pull it out at any time. But sometimes when trouble comes,
when you’re confused, you don’t know what’s going on. Sometimes,
I’ll just say me, we forget to go back to these that we know.
We forget to go about what we know about God. And instead of
having these verses at the ready, we go through all sorts of motions
and then finally go back to these verses when they should be the
first things we go to. It’s the picture of a father
sitting his children down and explaining what he’s learned.
I know you, maybe you have, or you’ve heard, my mama always
said, or my dad always said, well, that’s what we have here.
Solomon sitting young people down and saying, giving him wisdom
and an instruction. As I said, we need to go back
to the basics. We go back to what we know about
God. We go back and remember his promises and how he is faithful
to keep his promises. We see that we need to trust. But as we will see in this passage,
it’s so much more about getting through difficult times. It’s
a guide that shows us how to live a life of faith. It brings
us right down to the fundamental core of what it is to live by
faith, and it shows the results of living such a life. This passage
shows us a pathway to God’s blessing. That blessing is found in the
last part of verse six. Let me read the passage to you.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own
understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and here’s the
blessing and he will make your paths straight. In looking at this passage, it
became abundantly clear to me that the trust the Lord is more
than an exhortation passed on from Solomon’s wisdom, but it
is crucial for the believer to guide them in their Christian
life. This truth is a necessity for the Christian to be able
to say, as Paul said and wrote, I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. This became
so very clear as I looked into the path that God will make straight
for us. It’s not a regular path. He has
laid out for us a spiritual path to walk. Proverbs 3 6 gives us
again that promise blessing that he will make our paths straight.
Your translations will either say and he will direct your path
or that he will make your path straight. In the Hebrew, the
word for direct means to make straight, plain or make evidence. Let’s be clear about what this
passage is not saying. It is not saying that by making
our path straight, he is making it easy or smooth. It is not
saying that by directing your path, God will lead you in all
sorts of into all sorts of financial blessings because God wants you
to be happy. This is not the plan and we should
not expect it to be. In fact, the path true believers
walk. Is filled with trouble. In this
world, you will have trouble. Scripture says, consider it pure
joy when you encounter various trials. Right in the beginning
of the book of James, if this world persecutes me, it will
persecute you. No, the road believers walk will
be filled with difficult seasons and confusing times. The promise
is that God will direct us and take us through difficulty. What God will do is make your
path evident, make it plain or reveal it to you. When a difficult
situation comes up, if we are trusting and being led by the
spirit, it will become evident what we are to do. How many times
have you heard one say, I just want to know what God’s will
is in this certain situation in my life and all that I’m to
do. And what I believe is that God is not hiding it, but that
so many times our lack of trust seems to cloud our vision. Now,
what this passage is saying is that God will make your way plain
or evident if you practice these fundamentals of the faith. As I said, this passage gives
us the pathway to God’s blessing. The blessing is that he will
make your way straight or evident. But why is this important? OK,
let’s review a few things. Let’s go back to the basic and
let’s start with the things that we know about the followers of
Christ. Facts about believers. Our Christian
life is referred to sometimes as a walk. That means there’s
progression expected. Unless you’re on a treadmill,
when you walk, I would assume you are meaning to get somewhere. God has a path marked out for
us in order to get us where He wants us to be. If we are not
moving, we are not progressing. We are not growing. We as believers
are expected to grow. Hebrews 5 12 through 14 says
for though by this time you ought to be teachers you have need
again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of
the oracles of God and you have come to need milk and not solid
food for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed
to the word of righteousness for he is an infant. But solid
food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses
trained to discern good and evil. As believers, progression is
to take place. And in order for that development
to take place, we have to move along a path. We journey from
point A to point B. Another fact about believers,
don’t take this. I don’t mean to offend because
I’m included in this. Believers are not bright. We are sheep, correct? He is
our shepherd. Sheep are not bright. We have
the tendency to forget. We are called sheep, and Christ
is our shepherd. Sheep need a shepherd, otherwise
they would get lost. They would get into trouble.
One of the admonitions Scripture gives us is to tell our children,
tell others, and pass on what God has done. Remember what God
has done in our lives. This not only serves to testify
about God, but it helps us not to forget. Humans have short
memories. We can look at the Israelites
and while they were in the wilderness they had the pillar of fire and
the cloud to guide them and they still got in all sorts of trouble.
We read of the account and think how could they do such things. Let us not think for one second
that we are not like them. We are worse because we can look
back at their example and think How can they do such a thing?
But yet we do the same things. What would they say about us? What would future generations
say about us? They would say, how could they
do that? It’s like watching a Lucy episode. You know, you see it hundreds
of times and you think, is she going to do the same thing again?
Obviously she will. But it’s like that with us. Are
you going to do that again? Are you going to go off the path
again? Are you going to disobey in that way again? Didn’t you
learn your lesson the first time? We have a tendency to forget.
OK. We need to know some things about
the path. First and foremost, we are called
to follow Christ, which indicates that He is leading us. To follow,
you have to have someone or something to lead. First and foremost,
1 John 2.6, the one who says he abides in Him ought himself
to walk in the same manner as He walked. So we are to follow Christ. He
is leading on the path. Also, the path can be difficult
to travel and help is needed to find it. The path we walk
is narrow. It lies in the midst of a dangerous
road and the path leads us in the opposite way of traffic. That way is the way the world
travels and it leads to death. Matthew 7, 13 and 14 enter through
the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad
that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through
it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads
to life and there are few who find it. There are times when
the path is dark. We are called to go through through
seasons that are troubling and confusing times where we don’t
know what to do next. We get the idea that it’s dark
because Scripture says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a
light unto my path. The road can be dangerous, even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The road is not smooth. There
are peaks and valleys, open and closed doors. There are bumps
in the road. My wife and daughter run a lot
on trails. And occasionally, well, less
occasionally these days, I will go with and walk, run behind
them. And on the paths that they run,
there are rocks. There are branches that go across.
There are holes that animals have made. There are things that
you need to watch out for. It’s not a smooth paved way. There are responsibilities for
us on the path. We are called to walk in a manner
worthy of the gospel. Philippians 1.27. We are called
to make disciples, come alongside those on the road, maybe some
who are new or new to the faith or on the path. It’s in Matthew
28.19. We’re to be holy. We’re to be set apart. We are
called to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. We are
called to walk by faith, not by sight. We are to be ambassadors
for Christ. We are to be light to a darkened
world. Those are responsibilities that
we have while on the path. There are things that we are
not to do. There are places we are not to
go. We are not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly. We are
to shed those things that hinder us from running on the path. Hebrews 12 1 through 2 1 and
2. Therefore, since we have so great
a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every
encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us and let
us run with endurance the race that is set before us. There is a purpose and destination
for the path. Number one, our sanctification.
As we travel, God brings seasons to refine us and grow us. First
Thessalonians 4.3 says that God’s will is our sanctification. We have a hope and a calling. Ephesians 1.18, I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened So that you will know what the
what is the hope of his calling? What are the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the Saints? We also have an eternity of praising
and glorifying God in heaven. At the end of that path. My new view of the path, it is
not the Thomas Kinkade picture. It’s no longer a treeline path, but it can be compared to maybe
more years ago when our kids were younger. Picture a snowy
day. You come in, they’ve taken off
their snow shoes, their snow clothes. The dogs have left their
toys. in the entryway, so when you
walk in, it’s not a clear path. You walk in, you take a step,
and then you trip over one thing, and you fall into this, and then
you have to maneuver this. It’s not a smooth path. Although the view of the path
that I have now is not a scenic picture that I might have once
had in my mind, one thing is very important. And it’s of invaluable
worth, and that is that we are on the path. Those who are outside
of Christ are lost, they are not on the path, they can’t find
the path, and they may not even know there is a path, but if
they did know, they wouldn’t want it. The vast majority of those who
are lost believe that all roads lead to the same place. as long
as you are a good person. But that is not true. There is
only one way, and whether that is intolerant or not, it’s the
truth. Jesus is the way, the truth,
and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Christ.
No ifs, ands, or buts. There is no admission apart from
Christ. Not even if you have one of those
purple bumper stickers on the back of your car that have all
the symbols The spell out coexist. That will not get you into heaven. Now. That’s not to say we shouldn’t
be peaceable with those who believe other ways, but. What I’m saying
is we can’t find common ground with those who, for example,
say the deity deny the deity of Christ or that there is more
than one way to heaven. I don’t think we can or don’t
believe we can join hands with those who do not believe the
Bible to be both inherent and relevant. To coexist to find
common ground with false religions is to place yourself on the broad
road. The way that leads to destruction.
Satan leads people on that path. That is the path we used to be
on but only by the grace of God has he set our feet on this new
path. the spiritual path, the path
we walk is difficult, but we have a promise of blessing. And
I want to give you three components of living faith that leads to
God’s blessing. And again, let me read trust
in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding
in all your ways, in all your ways, acknowledge him and he
will make your path straight. The first component of an active
faith that leads to God’s blessing requires complete dedication. Trust the Lord with all your
heart. Charles Bridges wrote in his commentary that this is
the whole or star star of the child of God, faith in his father’s
providence, promises and grace, no matter the situation, no matter
what comes our way, whether it’s good or bad, no matter the pain
or suffering, no matter the trial or disappointment, You need to
ask yourself, can I trust the Lord wholeheartedly? We can and
we must. So you say, well, then what would
cause me or what causes believers not to trust implicitly in God,
not to trust with all our heart? Number one reason, I believe,
could be uncertainty or fear. The unknown can be unnerving. We don’t see the whole picture.
We do not see the whole road. We can all recount experiences
we have had in which we were in way over our heads, but ones
in which God walked us through and suddenly we found ourselves
on the other side. Now, maybe as you were going
through the situation, you had an idea of what this would be
the way I want it to end. When you found yourself on the
other side, Maybe it’s not what you thought it should have been
or would have been. But I sincerely believe that
if you were to look at it and you go, you know, if it had gone
that way, that wouldn’t have been a good thing. God takes
us through and he will, the outcome will be what we need. is what
He wants for us. God knows your situations. Nothing
that happens is a surprise to Him. Nothing that happens causes
Him to adjust our plans. Our God is sovereign. Psalm 139.3,
You scrutinize my path. and my lying down and are intimately
acquainted with all my ways. There is nothing too difficult
for God. God is the creator and sustainer. You have a difficult time completely
trusting. From him alone, one wrote, comes
true help, for he alone knows the right way to the right ends.
He knows what benefits us. He is able to free us from that
which does not harm. Therefore, it is our duty and
our safety to place our confidence wholly in Him. We trust when
we know the outcome of the situation. It’s easier to go through a season
of difficulty when we know what’s going to happen on the other
side. We can prepare. We can ready ourselves. But if
we don’t know, it’s difficult to trust. When you know what
the purpose is, you have an easier time trusting. Well, James says,
Consider it pure joy when you encounter various troubles. Why? Because there is a purpose for
all you go through. I preached in James one said
trials are promised plans and have a purpose. First, Peter
one in this you greatly rejoice, even though for now For a little
while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials
so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold,
which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found
to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen
Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him
now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible
and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls. What are you going through right
now? Are you in a valley? Are you
on top of a mountain? Is it cloudy? Is it sunny? Just look at our church body
here, small as it may be. We have seen individuals go through
various circumstances, health issues, financial issues, family
issues, serious ones. But we’ve seen God work in all
of those. And I believe that the vast majority
of the people in our church here this morning will undoubtedly
say God has been faithful. And he could be trusted with
whatever the situation is. Let me ask you, has there been
a time in your life where God has been unable to do something?
You were in a situation, He couldn’t get you out. Where He wasn’t
faithful. I would be surprised if your
answer wasn’t an unequivocal, no, He has been faithful. He
has never failed. He has always been able to get
me through. If your answer is different,
then I think there’s a whole nother issue that we would need
to deal with. God has a road map for your life,
and it takes you from point A to point B. He knows us better than
we know ourselves. He created us. Whatever route
He might take you, the plan is to grow you closer
to Him and to build your faith in Him. His desire is that you
would trust him more and not less. And he knows what it will
take to accomplish that. The hymn How Firm a Foundation
includes these words. When through fiery trials my
pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be your supply.
The flame shall not hurt you. I only design thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine. He’s sanctifying us. That’s God’s
will. And He will do what it takes
to get that done. There is a purpose for which
you are going through and His grace will be ever present along
the way. Also, He is not calling you to
go through anything that He has not gone through. Hebrews 4,
15 and 16, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things
as we are yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy
and grace to help in time of need. Is there anything here
on Earth that is worth more than your salvation? Absolutely not. And this is another cause of
trust issues. You fear what you might lose.
Your security or comfort is misplaced. Is it possible that you fear
trusting God with all your heart because you may have to go without
something or life won’t be maybe as comfortable as you would like
it? We tend to value things too much. We place too much security
in assets. We fear the loss of possessions
which are temporal and pass away. There will be a loss of comfort
here without those things. Now, there is nothing wrong with
possessions, nothing wrong with those, nothing that makes your
life more pleasant. Those things are not necessarily
wrong, but they are not worth causing you to miss the blessing
of God, which is more worth far more than a possession. Jesus
told a parable in Luke 12 about a man whose land did very well
for him. And the man reasoned to himself,
I have to tear down my barns and build bigger ones to hold
all my crops. His security. Then he would be
able to say, soul, you’ve got it made. Take rest, eat, drink,
and be merry. What did God say to him? You
fool. This very night, your soul is
required of you. Now who will own what you have
prepared? Belongings and social social positions only give a
false sense of security. They keep you from fully trusting
and they do not save. Matthew 6, 19 and 20, do not
store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in or steal your treasures. here on earth won’t last. They
also don’t satisfy. I’m pretty sure, if you’re anything
like me, you have one time or another purchased something you
had to have. Gotta have this. And then not so much later, it’s sitting in a closet. It’s
stacked under a bunch of stuff. You’re selling at a garage sale
for 10% of what you purchased it for. Those things don’t satisfy. Philippians 3 8. More than that,
I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value
of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may
gain Christ. Paul had it right. He had his
priorities in order. The rich young ruler didn’t.
He valued his financial comfort above Christ. Another reason that may hinder
our trust is from the fact that our mind might be set in the
wrong place. You need to remember one fact,
and I understand this is sometimes hard to grasp, but as a believer,
We are aliens and strangers here. This is not as good as it gets. In fact, down here for the believer,
this is as bad as it gets. And it seems to be getting worse
with each passing day. Believers have an eternity of
praising and glorifying Christ. The one who has called you to
a living hope, The one who has taken you from darkness into
light. The one who has saved you from
an eternal punishment and torture in hell. You have a glorified
body in your future. For far too often we put too
much stock in the comforts of this world. Don’t forget that
we are here and we are gone. We are a blip on the screen. We are a vapor, a mist. And yet
we have a fear of losing things that we have here. Rather, we
need to focus on the spiritual treasures waiting for us in heaven.
Do not worry about what you might not get or what might be lost,
but dwell on what is waiting for you. Dwell on what is coming. Trust God implicitly. Maybe it
is a case of Fear of what’s coming our way. Look at the world today. Look
at our country today. It’s absolutely amazing at what’s
going on. Black is white. Up is down. Everything is just turned 90
degrees. Does it ever make you think that
God has lost control? God, how is this happening? He’s lost control and we’re going
to have to fix it. And it brings fear and anxiety.
Well, let me tell you, to me, when I back away, because I can
I can get into that trap of saying, OK, this is crazy. But when you
back away and think of it, it actually should make you trust
God more because what is happening is exactly what God’s word said
would happen. Things are going just the way
He said they would. And it’s even more reason to
trust in Him, and more important than ever, because it’s not going
to get any easier. But how about our own lives?
We know God is in control. We just have anxiety about how
He will accomplish that in our life. Have you ever prayed for
increased faith? Watch out if you do. Because it can bring about events
that will increase your faith. We are not just zapped with more
faith. It’s a progression. We live in crazy times. Things
are going on now that I absolutely know that God is providentially
ordained. I look and see things that are
just not right. And I know that many of these
happenings are God’s just dealings with a country that has for years
kept pushing him out of the way. I know he is in complete control,
but thoughts about what life could be like shortly. Drive
me to pray for God’s protection, protection for church and our
family. Now is not the time to place
your trust in anything else. When you are driven to anxiety,
remember what Paul said, for a momentary light affliction
is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all
comprehension. When you and your complete confidence,
when you put your complete confidence and trust in God, you can have
the confidence that you are being led and the decisions you make
are directed by him. When your trust is fully in him,
It will bring you a peace that is beyond your understanding.
That accompanies your situations. That peace will be yours. What
peace can come knowing you have put your trust in the one who
has complete and total knowledge of the way of the path. Isaiah 12 to behold, God is my
salvation. I will trust and not be afraid
for the Lord. God is my strength and song and
he has become my salvation. What peace there is in knowing
that in spite of your lack of trust, God remains faithful. Second Timothy 2.13, if we are
faithless, He remains faithful. For He cannot deny Himself. Your
faith has to be complete. It can’t be partial. What else
would you put your trust in? So the second component The first
component of an active faith that leads to God’s blessing
requires complete dedication. The second component of an active
faith that leads to God’s blessing requires complete dependence.
Lean not on your own understanding. This goes hand in hand with trusting
the Lord with all your heart. You need to be dependent, not
codependent. I believe that this is the biggest
barrier to carrying out the first step of trusting the Lord with
all your heart. It is the confidence put in ourselves, in the flesh. Pride is a barrier to complete
dependence. Our trust is misplaced. We trust
ourselves too much. Again, Charles Bridges wrote
that our trust must only be entire, not be entire, but exclusive.
This is the history of the fall. Bad things happen when man intervenes
or gets too high an opinion of himself. Verse 7 of this same
chapter warns us against this very thing. Do not be wise in
your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from
evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your
bones. Don’t overestimate yourself.
When God was getting a hesitant Moses on board with leading the
nation of Israel, Out of Egypt, Moses asked God, who should I
say sent me? God says, I am. Who I am, God is the I am, and
as I have said before, we need to realize that we are not. Saw me when I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars which you have
ordained, what is man? That you take thought of him
and the son of man that you care for him. We are in the grand scheme of
things, as I mentioned before, we’re a mist, we’re a vapor,
we’re a blip on the radar. We’re insignificant, but so often
we puff ourselves up. We make things about us more
than they should be. There are many believers who
like to make the work of Christ on the cross about them. There
is a popular book that was written a few years ago, and it was entitled
He did this just for you. And the description begins. You
already know that Jesus suffered pain, humiliation and death on
the cross just for you. Look how much he loves me. He
died on the cross for me. And I would say, yes, God does
love you deeply. But the work for the cross was
not about us. It was about him. He saved us
to show his glory. Don’t be wise in your own eyes.
The results of trusting in our own abilities have disastrous
results. Proverbs 14 12. There is a way
which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
God’s ways are not our ways. When you trust in your own understanding. You are not trusting God exclusively. We place too much faith in our
reasoning ability. We try to figure things out for
ourselves. Do you try and guess what God
is trying to accomplish in you or in others? Do you say, well,
since this is happening and this is happening, then God must be
doing this. Just like you have one of those
yellow books that says God’s will for dummies. And if you
go to the right section, And you OK. OK. And this is what
God is doing. That’s not the case. This is what Job’s friends did
and God chastised them because they had no clue what they were
talking about. Romans 11 30 through 33 through
35. Oh the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable. are his
judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind
of the Lord or became his counselor or who has first given to him
that it might be paid back to him again? Isaiah 55, for my
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares
the Lord. Dependence problems arise because
we have control issues. And we have this innate desire
to be in charge. We think we know best. We want
to make the decisions. We want to have a say in what
happens to us. When you lean on your own understandings,
you make your understanding your God. Jeremiah 17.5, Thus says
the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh
his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. It
is like you are saying that this is a situation that I can better
handle myself, God. I know what’s best. We want to
make the decisions. However, remember, the path is
not an ordinary path. It’s the process God is taking
you. And in some cases, the path,
the process is not does not seem logical. Abraham. Take everyone and everything
you have and just go. I’ll lead you when to stop. And
oh, later, he was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, the miraculous
promised son from his once barren wife, Sarah. But he trusted and
it was credited to him as righteousness. He trusted and God made his path
straight. What about Gideon? Gideon called
to lead an army of 300 men. Common sense would tell us that
this was crazy. And how you chose those soldiers
was crazy. God showed that he is not bound
by human logic. These were all done to show God’s
power, and it is only in him that we are able to accomplish
things that he needs us to accomplish. Zechariah 4, verse 6, Then he
said to me, this is the word of the Lord to the rubble, saying,
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.
You are looking at things from your side of things. What you
should do when tempted to lean on your own understanding is
to wonder why you are part of his elect. Why am I even on this
path? I was on another path and he
took me off of that and by his grace placed me on this. Why did God choose me? These
are things that are truly hard to understand. Why us? But the answer is because it
please God. He works all things to the kind
intention of his will. Your dependence and trust needs
to be undivided. Now, the third component of an
act of faith that leads to God’s blessing requires asking for
directions. In all your ways, acknowledge
Him. All your ways. Nothing’s too small. God does
not have a certain number of deposits you can do or withdrawals
you can do. Go to Him for all things. You
don’t have to worry about using up all your requests. It says
in all your ways, and don’t think that certain situations are completely
fine to handle yourself. In all your ways, acknowledge
Him. We don’t trust because we are ungodly. And you say ungodly? I’ll give you ungodly. I’ll show
you what’s out there. I’ll show you what’s in the world.
These things that are happening, that’s ungodly. Now, I said that
partly to get your attention. But believers are called to walk
in a certain way. They’re called to walk by the
spirit. You cannot depend on your own understanding, your
own reasoning. And this is the blessing, not only that you have
been called to walk this path, but that you have guidance of
the one who laid out the path. One wrote, man cannot direct
his own. No, not a man. This is a blessing from the Lord
who directs the steps of his people, keeps the feet of his
saints and directs them aright in things temporal and spiritual.
The path is impossible to walk in your own power. Jerry Bridges, again, in respectable
sins had this chapter on ungodliness. Now the sad fact is that many
of us who are believers tend to live our daily lives with
little or no thought of God. We may read our Bible and pray
for a few minutes at the beginning of each day. But then we go into
the day’s activities and basically live as though God doesn’t exist.
We seldom think of our dependence on God or our responsibility
to him. We might go for hours with no
thought of God at all. In that sense, we are hardly
different from our nice, decent, but unbelieving neighbors. Come on, come now, you who say,
today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend
a year there and engage in business and make a profit. You who do
not know what your life will be like tomorrow, you are just
a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you want to say, if the Lord wills, we will live
and also do this or do that. Planning is not a bad thing.
In fact, it’s smart to do. But we need to include God in
those plans. There are pitfalls on the path,
there are temptations, there are distractions, there are traps
along the way. Scripture says, My enemies spread
a net for me. Deceptions. There are things
that have the appearance of being right, but are counterfeits. We need discernment. We will
be persecuted for walking this road. You can only progress along
the path with the Spirit’s help. Without it, there is a battle
within you. The flesh wages war against the
Spirit. You want the Spirit’s direction,
not yours. Depending on your own understanding
and walking in your own power, you will quickly fall. Psalm
141, sin is described as a delicacy. Sin is tempting. That’s why in
Psalm 41, David prays, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch
over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any
evil thing. To practice deeds of wickedness
with men who do iniquity. and do not let me eat of their
delicacies. We need the Spirit’s direction
to guide away from sinful tendencies. Again, Psalm 142. When my spirit
was overwhelmed within me, you knew my path. In the way where
I walk, they have hidden a trap for me. As His children, we need
to seek guidance from the Spirit who knows what lies ahead. I
want to give you a picture But I believe a great example of
trust, implicit trust in the Lord would be. I’ve read this
passage before, it’s 2 Chronicles. And it’s King Jehoshaphat. Now,
this is even a This is just an amazing passage because it’s
the leader of a nation, of a country. When Jehoshaphat has brought
word that a group of armies led by the Ammonites are coming to
attack Judah. He starts with a prayer that
acknowledges God’s power and his sovereignty. And let’s begin
in verse 12. Maybe not there. I’m going to start earlier in
verse 5. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and
Jerusalem in the house. And I’m in Second Chronicles
20 verse 5. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the
assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before
the new court. And he said, O Lord, the God
of our fathers, are you not God in the heavens? And are you not
ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might
are in your hand so that no one can stand against you. Did you
not go our God drive out the inhabitants of this land before
your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham
your friend forever. They have lived in it and have
built you a sanctuary there for your name saying should evil
come upon us the sword the sword or judgment or pestilence or
famine. We will stand before you this house and before you
for your name is in this house and cry to you in our distress
and you will hear and deliver us. Now behold the sons of Ammon
and Moab and Mount Seir whom you did not let Israel invade
when they came out against the land of Egypt. They turned aside
from them and did not destroy them. See how they are rewarding
us by coming to drive us out from your possession which you
have given us as an inheritance. Oh, our God, will you not judge
them? For we are powerless before this
great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what
to do, but our eyes are on you. That’s complete trust. Where is your trust this morning?
What are you going through? Can God handle it? Or is it something
you think you can handle? Let’s pray. Father, we thank
You for Your promises that we have in Your Word. When things get difficult, when
things are confusing, when we are full of anxiety, let us go
back to the basics and remember what we know about You. That
You have called us to be set apart