Favor and Understanding

Review of Mercy and Truth in Precept (Proverbs 3:3)

0:03 Words of instruction to his son after the flesh, or it could have been his words to one of his pupils who came for instruction. In Proverbs chapter 3, our attention tonight will be focused particularly upon verse 4. But I shall read verses 3 and 4, spend a few minutes reviewing what we studied together last week in verse 3, and then move to the exposition of verse 4. Proverbs 3 is this chapter marked by a variety of practical precepts, precepts enforced again and again by the strongest motives. My son, forget not my law, but let thy heart keep my commandments for length. Length of days and years of life and peace will they add to thee. Let not mercy or kindness and truth forsake thee.

1:08 Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tablet of thy heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. We announced last week that we could approach verses 3 and 4 under the general heading of Mercy. Mercy and truth in precept and in promise.

1:35 The whole unit of thought centers around this commandment concerning mercy and truth and the promise attached to the commandment and particularly applicable to those who obey it.

1:53 Mercy and truth, what are they? Well, I hope you're convinced after our study last week that whatever. They. They are.

2:00 They are the Siamese twins, the mutton jet of Old Testament thinking. We saw that again and again, mercy and truth are attributed to God himself. They are essential to the very character of God and they mark all of the ways of God. In the Psalms, we read all thy ways, thy paths, the ruts that the chariot of God cuts as it moves through history are mercy.

2:30 In the Psalms, we read all thy ways, thy paths, the ruts that the chariot of God cuts as it moves through history are mercy. And truth. And so God delights in mercy and truth because they are an essential part of his own being and a constant characteristic of his ways with the sons of men. But you say you haven't told us what mercy and truth are.

2:48 Well, you weren't here last week and I can't re-preach that, but I will give you a succinct definition. Mercy in this setting and in the setting in which we traced it out in other passages. Is the Old Testament equivalent to agape. It is that love, that intelligent, purposeful affection which wills and seeks the good of its object.

3:14 Truth is not so much that which is opposed to falsehood, but truthfulness, trustworthiness. When God declares himself to be a God of truth, he is saying, I am the God who not only declares things to be, what they are, but whatever I declare will stick fast. And then we saw that the mercy and truth combination comes to us in the Old Testament within the framework of covenant, grace, and mercy. God, as it were, moves to sinful man, impulsed, if we may use the word, impelled by his mercy.

3:53 And then he enters into covenant, pledging himself to do certain things, for sinful man, towards whom he's moved in mercy, and whatever he pledges to do, he will unfailingly accomplish, because he's the God of truth. And that's the rich meaning of these words in their Old Testament setting. Mercy and truth. And we are commanded in verse 3, that what is characteristic of God in all his ways, should be characteristic of us in all our ways.

4:29 Mercy and truth should be as the chain about the neck, that is, visible and constantly before us as the children of God. And then we also read that they should be written upon the tables of the heart, that is, they must become a part of our inward spiritual constitution by the work of the Holy Spirit. So much for that very brief and imperfect review. Now we come to mercy and truth, not in brief, but now in promise.

Introduction to Favor and Good Understanding in Promise (Proverbs 3:4)

5:02 What will happen to the son, addressed in the passage, who takes to heart this admonition, let not mercy and truth forsake thee. He really sets out to bind them about his neck and to write them upon the tablet of his heart. With what promise does Solomon give an incentive to his son? What does he hold before him as the motive, as the motivation to pursue this course?

5:35 Well, he tells him that in so doing he shall find favor and good understanding from two sources, both from God and from man. Now as we think our way through the text and seek to understand mercy and truth in promise, first of all we shall define the words favor and good understanding. We'd like to know what we're going to find. So we'll know when we found them.

6:02 And then in the second place we'll see how this promise is true in relationship to the Lord. What does it mean to have favor and good understanding in the sight of God? Thirdly, we'll find out what it means to have favor and good understanding in the sight of men. And then last of all I will draw three concluding observations which will, I hope, be helpful and practical in their application.

Defining Favor and Good Understanding

6:29 First of all then, what do these words mean? What is this favor that Solomon says will be found by the man, the woman, the fellow or girl who pursues mercy and truth? Well, the word favor is the general word used in the Old Testament to describe gracious, loving acceptance one person of another. If I find favor in my brother's eyes, I find gracious, loving, and loving acceptance.

7:02 He does not merely tolerate me, does not merely put up with me, but he, as it were, he opens the door of his heart and receives me into his heart. He has a gracious disposition towards me. Now notice that this is the obvious sense in which this same word is used in context where it is described. And you see, that's what we must do.

7:24 When we have a word dealt with in the abstract, we go to a biblical setting where the abstract is seen as the word of God. It's fleshed out in a concrete example. Now you have such in Genesis chapter 30 and verse 27. Genesis 30 and verse 27.

7:42 The context is Jacob and his dealings with Laban. We'll pick up the thread of thought at verse 25. And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto my own country, unto my own place, into my own country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service, wherewith I have served thee.

8:16 And Laban said unto him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have divined, that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. Now you see what Laban says? He says, Now Jacob, you on up and leave. Take your wives, your kids, and everything.

8:36 But, he said, I discern that I've been blessed in my own business, because you've been with me now. Jacob, if I have found favor in your eyes, if I have found loving, gracious acceptance in your eyes, then prove it by complying with my request. So you see, favor then means this idea of loving, gracious acceptance. One other example of this, chapter 39 and verse 21 of the same book of Genesis, and there's so many references, I'm being rather arbitrary in picking these.

9:15 Genesis 39 and verse 21. The setting here is Joseph having been maligned in his character by Potiphar's wife and placed in prison. We read, But the Lord was with Joseph and showed kindness unto him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in his prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. What did God give Joseph in the eyes of the prison keeper? He gave him loving, gracious acceptance, which resulted in the fact of Joseph being entrusted with these privileges. Alright, these examples suffice. What then is this good understanding business?

10:15 How do we gain good understanding in the sight of God and of our fellow men? Some have felt the apparent awkwardness of this rendering, and you'll notice the marginal reading in the American Standard is not good understanding, but good repute. And there are some able scholars who have tried to say that we shouldn't translate good understanding, shouldn't translate it that way, but rather, good success or good repute. But there is really no linguistic reason for doing this.

10:46 And whenever you feel embarrassed by the general meaning of the word, it's tricky business trying to say, well, it could possibly mean this, especially when we hold the view that God the Holy Ghost directed the biblical writers to choose the very words that they chose. Now the word, the same word in the original, is the word that in other places obviously means what it says. Good understanding, that is, well-becoming insight or prudence, refined intellectual perception. It's used that way in 1 Samuel 25, 3, for example.

11:23 And we'll only look at this one example. 1 Samuel 25 and verse 3. If I remember correctly, this is the setting of that woman Abigail, wife of that churlish fellow who about lost his neck because he wouldn't show kindness to King David. Or lost his head, not his neck.

11:44 He would have had his head severed from his neck. Yes. Verse 3 of 1 Samuel 25. Now the name of the man was Nabal and the name of his wife Abigail.

11:57 And the woman was of, here's the word, good understanding, that's what she was inwardly in her head and heart, and of beautiful countenance. That's what she was in her face. Now it's wonderful when those two things meet. You've got to make a choice between them.

12:12 I hope you have good sense enough to know which is of greater value, not only in the sight of God, but in your own eyes after a few years. Well, here was a woman who had good understanding. And her subsequent history showed what that good understanding was. She was a woman of spiritual sensitivity.

12:30 She was a woman of sound judgment. And when it looked like her husband's life and maybe her own and her family was in jeopardy, she very quickly perceived a way to placate David's anger and to turn away his wrath. So then, if this is the basic meaning of the words, see what God promises to those who seek to adorn themselves with mercy and with truth, who seek in all of their ways to be motivated by that selfless 1 Corinthians 13 love, and who seek to be men and women of trustworthiness, women and men of truth. God says, in pursuing these things, you will find in the course of that pursuit favor, a benevolent disposition towards you from God and from men. And in the judgment of both God and man, you will be a person possessed of becoming insight, prudence, refined insight and understanding. Now then, how is this true in relationship to God? In what sense do we find favor and good understanding in the sight of God?

Finding Favor and Good Understanding in the Sight of God

13:53 Well, let me state it first of all negatively. This text is not saying that if you will go out and cultivate mercy and truth and bring them up to a certain degree, you will find the favor of judicial acceptance with God. That is, you will be your own savior. It's amazing how some of the most elementary and stupid ideas can persist in the minds and hearts of men when they are openly refuted on every page of the Bible.

14:25 Now there is no idea more unscriptural than that I can somehow do something that will placate the anger of God against me because of my sin. We've just spent weeks expounding the biblical doctrine of justification from Luke chapter 18. And condemnation rested upon that Pharisee because he sought acceptance based upon what he was and what he did. He said, I thank thee I am not as other men, I fast, I tithe.

15:00 The scripture says he did not go down to his house justified. It was the man who said, I am destitute of anything in me, anything done by me, to gain acceptance, who pleads for nothing but mercy. Jesus says of him, this man goes down to his house justified. So whatever the text is saying about human beings finding favor in the sight of God if they bind mercy about the neck and write it upon the tablet of the heart, it is not saying that we are justified, that we find judicial acceptance on the basis of our performance.

15:41 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Therefore by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.

16:02 Well if that isn't what it means, what does it mean? Well think of it in relationship to our Lord. And I found this most helpful. Turn to Luke chapter 2.

16:14 We have very little record of what happened to our Lord between the time of his birth and early infancy and the time of his official setting apart for the work to which the Father had called him at his baptism. But there is the incident of the visit to the temple when he was 12 years of age. And at the conclusion of this description, of the activities surrounding that circumstance of the recognition of his absence and Mary and Joseph go back all troubled and find him in the temple, etc. We read in Luke 2.52 these following words, Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Now let me ask a very simple question. Was there anything Jesus could do that would earn the judicial approval of his Father? Did he have to earn it?

17:20 Did he have to earn it? Had he sinned? Had he robbed God of anything that was his due? Of course not.

17:28 Well what then did it mean that Jesus, as he advanced in wisdom and in stature, also advanced in favor with God? Well you see, it was not in any way a favor of judicial acceptance. But it was the favor based upon two things. It was the favor of reflected likeness and the favor of obedient sonship.

17:58 As more and more the fleshing out the development of the character of his Son, the Lord Jesus, there was more and more a reflection of his own perfection in his Son. For the scripture says, The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And so the Father, as it were, extended favor, displayed favor.

18:33 Jesus grew advanced in the favor of God. A favor based upon the increased reflection of likeness and also the matter of obedience as a son. What brings greater delight to the heart of a parent than to see a child delighting to obey him? And when that obedience becomes more and more extensive as the child develops and the sphere of responsibility increases, and the sphere of the child's knowledge of what is expected increases, if obedience keeps pace with that increased measure of understanding, what happens to a parent's heart?

19:17 The child grows more and more in the favor of that parent. So that all the favor you could show at two years of age, or that you'd show to a child of two, who was what a two-year-old child should be, is nothing compared with the favor that you showed toward a ten-year-old, who is what a ten-year-old should be. So there is growth in favor, even in the Lord Jesus, in relationship to the Father, that favor based upon the obedience of His Sonship. Now seeing what it is with reference to our Lord, I trust you can see what it means and what it is in relationship to us.

19:59 We saw that mercy and truth are inherent in the very character and nature of God. Now He has laid hold of us and saved us for what purpose? Whom He foreknew He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. He's committed to a redemption in which He's going to perfect in us the moral likeness of His own Son.

20:28 Now mercy and truth hung about our necks as a chain, that wherever we go, we are marked by mercy and by truthfulness, by kindness and by trustworthiness, the Father seeing more and more of His own likeness. What happens? We find favor in His eyes. It's the favor of reflected likeness and also that favor of the obedience of sons and daughters.

21:04 He sees us come to a passage such as we came to last week and we reflect upon it and we say, Lord, in my dealings with so and so, I've not been dealing in mercy. They'd never know that I was wearing mercy around my neck. I've had mercy, as it were, stuffed in my back pocket and been sitting upon it. I haven't been adorning life with mercy and Lord, the reason I haven't is because it's not being written upon the tables of my heart.

21:31 I've nursed grudges. I've nursed suspicion. I've been niggardly and now in my spirit, Lord, and you begin to cry to God, that He would take away the sin of unkindness and that He would grant you to be kind and merciful and perhaps you've not been a person marked by truth, trustworthiness. Your yea was yea.

21:55 Your nay was nay. And in the ensuing days since last week, you've been praying about this. You've been crying God for assistance in it. You have been working in the spiritual sense of working out your salvation.

22:10 What's happened this week? You have grown in the favor of God, if that's what you've been doing. As you bind mercy and truth about your neck and write them upon the tables of the heart, you find increased favor, the favor based upon the reaction of the Father to the Son who walks in the way of His commandments. Now this whole concept of enjoying the favor of God is a very central theme in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament.

22:43 And I was struck again this week as I took down my concordance and started looking up the words for favor, well-pleasing, acceptance. And I'm amazed at how this was a constant motivation in the heart and mind, particularly of the Apostle Paul. Listen to him in 2 Corinthians 5, 9. Wherefore, he says, we make it our aim, or as the margin has it, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted, we may be well unto Him.

23:19 The rendering in the American Standard is more accurate. I think it is the well-pleasing rendering. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 9. Yes, whether absent or at home, to be well-pleasing to Him.

23:32 What is Paul saying? He's saying wherever I go, down in a jail at Philippi, out in a shipwreck in the midst of the Mediterranean, sitting at the house of some wealthy Christian eating filet mignon when I'm abounding, when I'm abased, he said the thing that drives me, the thing that motivates me is wherever I go, I want to know that I'm so walking as to evoke the favor of my Heavenly Father. He knows that the matter of judicial favor has been earned by the Father and he can add nothing to it. Jesus Christ has earned the judicial favor of God.

24:16 He has forever turned away from the law. But my friend, you can incur the frown of God as a father or you can incur the smile of God as a father and God's smile and frown in the father-son relationship is based upon your conduct. No, it isn't. That's Bible.

24:43 The moment you say your judicial standing rests upon your conduct. That's legalism. Paul said to know the well-pleasing to Him. This is how he states it in Romans 14.

25:01 Verse 18. Here these people are squabbling and all upset about externals. Human heart doesn't change. You want to get people in a good old debate, you'd get them talking about what they should eat or shouldn't eat.

25:18 All the externals. Paul says, no, no, you've missed it. If you're preoccupied with externals, you've missed it. Verse 17 of Romans 14.

25:27 The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, joy, and the Holy Ghost. For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God. Approved of men. See the two-fold reference?

25:49 He that serves Christ in the sphere of righteousness. That's not imputed righteousness. That's practical godliness. He says, forget this matter of whether eat this meat or not.

26:01 The issue is, are you keeping the law? As a believer, strive and conform to the revealed will of God. Have that inward peace, the knowledge that all is well between you and God. Joy in the Holy Ghost.

26:14 Christ in this context. That provokes the smile of your heavenly Father. And he said, it'll also provoke the smiles of approval from most men, particularly godly men. You find a similar reference in Colossians 3.20.

26:35 We won't look at it. Ephesians 5.10. Take your concordance some time and look them up.

26:40 That's what I did. I don't have a magic elf that flies out of the corner of my study and whispers texts in my ear. I get them the way you do. You see, this is one of the great joys of knowing what God has done for me in Christ.

26:54 I can now please in Christ. You can't. Nothing you do pleases Him. Romans 8 and verse 8.

27:03 Look at it. They the flesh cannot please God. What you do pleases God. If you are not in Christ in a vital union created by the work of the Spirit taking you out of what you were by nature and joining you to Christ, nothing you do pleases God.

27:26 That's why the Scripture says even the plowing of the wicked is sin. Now you better go out and plow or you'll be guilty of a greater sin. Your best works are nothing but bad good works. Now they're better than bad bad works.

27:44 You better be out plowing, providing for yourself and sitting around waiting for a welfare check. Just getting in trouble. But nothing you do pleases God. Nothing.

27:56 When we have been brought into union with Christ, clothed in His righteousness, now indwelt by the Spirit, we can please God. Not in our own strength, no. We can please God. Hence the apostle says, I make it my aim to be well pleasing unto Him.

28:16 And whenever you talk to a true Christian about how he can please God, how he can gain the favor of God, you touch a very sensitive nerve in his inner spirit. Because nothing is a stronger incentive to any course of action than the knowledge this will please my heavenly Father. This will gain the favor of my Father. A son and a father who have a wholesome, proper relationship.

28:47 How beautiful it is to see the son motivated by the thought that what he does will bring the smile of his father's approval. That he'll find favor in the eyes of his father. Now let me ask you a question as you sit here tonight. Is this any kind of a reward to you?

29:05 I mean, does this, to use the current term, does this turn you on? The knowledge that if you pursue loving kindness and truth, you'll find favor in the eyes. Could you say, look, if you promise me fifty dollars a week in my savings account, if you promise me a new home, if you promise me a new suit of clothes, that one, for favor of God, that's a bad, bad sign that you're in bad, bad shape spiritually. If you're not moved by the thought that a given course of action will bring the favor of God.

29:41 But not only does the text say that you'll find favor in the sight of God, but it says good understanding in the sight of God. Now what does that mean? When does God pronounce your understanding as good? Is it merely when it fills the head and then causes you to wag your tongue and tell people how much you know?

30:02 No, no, no, no. But when the truth of God molds the life as we saw this morning, and you're adorning the doctrine of God in all things, then He's pleased and said, ah, that is good understanding in my sight. Come right back to the text. When does God pronounce your understanding of mercy and truth being good understanding?

30:28 When He sees it bound about your neck and written upon the tablet of your heart. When He sees you pursuing a course of mercy and truth, He says, ah, that is good understanding. It is the knowledge which is leading to godliness and to holiness of life. What kind of report card would God give you if He were keeping records of whether your understanding of all the preaching you've heard in the past six months was good or bad?

31:01 Are you adorning the doctrine in all things? When you are, God says, that's good understanding. This is the sense in which the text means or says you'll find good understanding in the sight of God. That is, God will pronounce your understanding good.

Finding Favor and Good Understanding in the Sight of Man

31:21 All right? Having looked at the meaning of the words and how, at least in some measure, it's true with reference to God, consider in the third place, how is this promise fulfilled in relationship to man? Look at the text again. Thou shalt find favor and good understanding not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of man.

31:45 Now the Bible teaches there are two ways to seek the favor of men. One is sinful. The other is right or virtuous. Paul says in Galatians 1.10, If I should yet seek to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2.4 Even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts. Now how in the world do you reconcile that with what the apostle says in Romans 15.2?

32:16 Look at it if you will. Romans 15.2 Let each one of us please his neighbor. And 1 Corinthians 10.33 This almost sounds like an explicit contradiction. 1 Corinthians 10.33 Even as I also please all men in all things. If I should please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

32:48 Now he turns around and says, Even as I please all men in all things. Well, did he please men or didn't he? Well, he did and he didn't. It's obvious, you see, that there must be two different kinds of the man-pleasing spirit.

33:04 Two different ways in which people seek the favor of their fellow creatures. One sinful, the other virtuous. Now, what are the differences? Well, let me try to give them to you this way.

33:19 A sinful desire for the favor of men is always marked by seeking it from a wrong motive and in a wrong way. The wrong motive for the sinful kind of desire for the favor of men is that you're afraid of men. Afraid of their opinions. Afraid of their being alienated from you.

33:45 Afraid, perhaps even, of what they may do to you physically. In a way of physical abuse. It's this kind of a spirit that Jesus condemned in Matthew 10.28.

33:56 Fear not them which kill the body and after this have no more that they can do. This is what the writer to Proverbs means when he says, the fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso trusteth in the Lord shall be safe. A sinful spirit of wanting the favor of men is born out of a fear of the creature and secondly, it's always obtained at the expense of having to disobey the law of God. I will fail to do something God requires that I may have the smile or the favor of my fellow man.

34:33 Whereas that virtuous desire to seek the favor of men is born out of a true love for men. You go back to these settings in which Paul says, I please all men. What is he talking about? He's talking about things indifferent in themselves and says, I know that there's no virtue in having my head shaved and eating kosher food.

34:58 Going up to the temple and taking a vow. But he said, if that will help me to get the ears and the confidence of some of my Jewish friends, he said, I'm willing to please them. What is he saying? He's saying, I love to subject myself to stupid Jewish dietary regulations.

35:18 Is that what he's saying? And he says, if I've got some weak brothers who think because back in their old days when they ate meat that had been offered up in the temple that that caused them to partake of the heathen temple worship and they're not able to separate the worship of the idol from the eating of the meat. He says, I'll bear with their weak conscience I know that an idol is nothing but a piece of meat. It's a piece of meat.

35:43 If you get it as a bargain. Remember, Paul was a Jew. He says, that's fine. It's fine.

35:51 But he says in Romans 15, we that are strong, we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. And if that fella can't eat that, he says, let's bear with him. What was the motive here? It wasn't that he was afraid of men.

36:03 It's that he loved men and he was willing to accommodate to their weaknesses and to their prejudices on things indifferent. You see, seeking their favor in this sense was born out of a motive of true love and secondly, it was secured in a course of strict obedience to the law of God. He didn't have to do this at the expense of disobeying God. Now, I suggest that it's in this second sphere that the writer to the Proverbs says, the reward of love and the reward of pursuing mercy and truth will be that you will find favor in the sight of men. Now, you see, men are pragmatists, men of the world. They may have no sympathy for the roots out of which a merciful, truthful man lives and acts, but they sure like the fruits of it. Check it out in the Scriptures.

37:11 There's no indication that multitudes in Potiphar's household were brought to faith in Jehovah, but they sure like the way Joseph's faith in Jehovah made him conduct himself so wherever he went, he was brought to a place of leadership and responsibility. Look at Daniel, down in that bastion of heathenism. Babylon, raised to a place of tremendous prominence until he's second only in the whole kingdom. They didn't particularly like the roots out of which that merciful, trustworthy character was formed, but they liked the fruits of it.

37:54 And so they found favor in the sight of man and good understanding. People would say, in essence, as they do today, I don't understand a guy's religion, but it sure makes him do what's pretty nice, makes him a good neighbor, makes him a good working man, he puts in eight hours' work for eight hours' pay, and in that sense, though they may not have any sympathy for the truth that lies at the root of it, for the godliness, for the roots of that godliness, they still, in that sense, say that we find favor in their eyes. This was true even of the early church before persecution came, Acts 2 and verse 47. It says they had favor with all the people.

38:36 So as a general rule, godliness will produce this result. Favor not only in the sight of man, but in the sight of God, but in the sight of man. The judgment of good understanding, not only from God, but from our fellow man. Now, moving into what I trust will be practical and will sort of bite in where we live, we come in the fourth place to some concluding observations and applications.

Concluding Observation 1: Inseparability and Order of Favor

39:02 First of all, note the inseparability of these two things in the promise. When there is godliness expressed in mercy and truth, favor will be found in the sight of God and in the sight of man. Therefore, beware of any perspective which courts the favor of men at the expense of the favor of God. This is the peculiar danger of people who are older and people who have what I don't know what else to call, but a Melanchthon-like temperament.

39:43 I've been reading this week in William Cunningham, The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, and in his very perceptive essay on Melanchthon and the Church of England, you can see Cunningham with a Christian spirit trying to analyze the mentality and the spirit of Melanchthon, the man who was Luther's right-hand man, but is unlike Luther as night and day. What Melanchthon would have been like if he didn't see Luther's excesses and what Luther would have been like if he didn't have Melanchthon to balance him out, God alone knows what would have happened for good or for evil in both cases. But anyway, Melanchthon by temperament was a man who loved peace. He felt in a sense that his whole mission was to keep the waters as quiet as possible, even in terms of the relationship to Rome and later on in relationship to the doctrines of grace in confessional Lutheranism and all the rest. I don't want to go into that whole story. But this temptation, you see, of wanting so much, the second part of the promise, I want to find favor and good understanding in the sight of men. If you ever wrench it loose from the predominant perspective, I must first of all find favor in the sight of God.

41:03 Though these two are inseparable, remember there is a distinct order in them and beware of any perspective that says we must find acceptance with men if the price we must pay is the price of losing the favor of God. But now in the second place, and now I'm speaking particularly to you young people, beware of the perspective which professes to be concerned only with the favor of God and is indifferent to the favor of men. This is the mentality of much of what I would hope to say in the judgment of charity is in great measure, or some measure or other, a spiritual awakening and movement amongst some young people in our own country. One of the things that greatly disturbs me is this mentality. Look, if the Lord Jesus is smiling and the fathers please, nothing else matters. Oh yes, it does matter.

42:01 God's placed you in this world with other people. And you have legitimate social responsibilities in and out of the church. That's why Paul says in Romans 15 to those who say, look, I know God smiles when I eat this piece of meat. Why, when I bow over this piece of meat that I bought at a bargain price, God smiles when I pray and thank Him.

42:27 And if God smiles... Paul says, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.

42:33 Verse 2, Romans 15, Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproach of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me. He says that's an irresponsible attitude. No, no, he says, you must be concerned with the favor of men.

43:03 I quote again from 1 Corinthians 10.33 Even as I seek to please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many. You ever heard this in our day? Look, what's a piece of paper with marriage?

43:24 What's a piece of paper? We love one another and we covenant to be true to one another. We don't need to worry about marriage license. We don't need to worry about...

43:32 What's a piece of paper? Look at all these people hung together with a piece of paper and they're on God. And this is amongst so-called Christians too, you know. You see, marriage is not just a thing between two people.

43:45 It's a social institution. And if you've been taken off the open market and no longer have an available life, no longer have an available commodity, it ought to be registered as such. It ought to be known and declared as such. It ought to be known that you've taken upon yourself the responsibilities biblically laid upon you for the provision and care of that wife.

44:07 No, no, you cannot be indifferent to the favor of men and claim to be walking in true biblical godliness. And I say this is a particular danger of young people. Because we've got so many young, I want to speak to you faithfully as your pastor and as your big brother in the Lord. Don't be indifferent to gaining the favor of men.

Concluding Observation 2: Difference in Favor (Absolute vs. Relative)

44:32 I think it's accurate to say that in the early stages of development and you have it with our Lord and you know that's almost a verbatim quote from the life of Samuel. You have the same word of Samuel in 1 Samuel 2.26 The child grew in favor with God and man. Opposition and persecution generally come, if I've read the scriptures aright, when a man begins to have a spoken ministry.

44:59 Violent opposition will come because in a peculiar way the preached word becomes the searchlight to uncover the corruption in men's hearts. Now I know that the Bible says all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. I know that. I'm fully aware of that.

45:15 And I'm just dealing now in general principles and I think it is a general principle that in young people they should be tremendously sensitive to praying and laboring for that kind of godliness in balance that will commend itself not only to God but to the world and make you in the truest biblical sense a beautiful person. When they see a young person who naturally can be full of impetuosity governed and disciplined in his judgment and in his sentiments that's a beautiful thing. And it gains and elicits the favor of men. Note then the inseparability of these two things the favor of God, the favor of men and I've already anticipated the second thing. Note the difference in these two things. The favor and the good understanding that you find with God in the way of mercy and truth are absolute and they are unchanging. There's never a time when God will not delight seeing his own image reflected in you.

46:22 And the more you display mercy and truth the more you will know the favor of God. And because God is changing a changelessness unchanging, I'm sorry because of his changelessness that favor and good understanding with God will never fluctuate. Though the favor and the good understanding with men is relative and is variable. Hence the same Lord of whom it is said He advanced in wisdom and status and in stature and in favor with God and man.

46:56 It isn't long before we find them looking him in the eyes saying Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a demon? Away with him, crucify him. You see the fickleness of man is such that at times he likes the fruits of true godliness but there are other times when he's so exposed in his sin that he lashes out against the one who is the instrument of exposing. Look at the same with Daniel.

47:23 And how he found that this was not constant and unvariable. And look at the early church. The same church that had favor with the people is the church that knew the brunt of the persecution that came to the church in Jerusalem. So as we seek to understand this don't feel that if relatives and friends have begun to turn against you and no longer show favor to you that automatically means there's something wrong with you.

47:52 No, no, no, no. This promise must never be regarded as though the two parts of it are equal and parallel. No, there is a difference. The favor and good understanding you find with God are absolute and unchanging though that found with men is relative and variable.

Concluding Observation 3: The Divine Source of Favor

48:10 And then in the last place will you consider with me the source out of which this favor comes from which alone it can be truly found. In closing to Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 and 21 Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant even our Lord Jesus make you perfect in every good thing to do His will working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. The phrase that I want to set before you is this. Now the God of peace make you perfect working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight.

49:27 Let me state it as simply as I know how. God is that which has its origin in God. The only thing that pleases God is that which has its origin in God. Look at the original creation.

49:43 God made this and He says it was good. Why? Because it was the product of His own infinite wisdom and power and might and concern for His creature that He was going to place upon the earth. It came from God and was pleasing to God. What's true in the original creation is true in the new creation. As the writer to the Hebrews gives this benediction, this sanctified wish on behalf of the people of God. He views them as a people who can do that which is pleasing in the sight of God only as God Himself works it in them. And you see the basis upon which He works it in them? On the basis

50:30 of His covenant mercy. That covenant sealed in the very blood of Jesus Christ the great shepherd of the sheep. You see every single road in scripture leads to Calvary. Leads to the Son of God who died to save a people.

50:51 Who died that these graces might be worked in His people. And if you set out tonight to say I will construct from the raw materials of my own ability and my own energy this this great blessing of mercy and truth and I will hang them about my neck. I will write them on my own heart. No, no friend. I remind you that it's one of the distinctive blessings of the new covenant. God says I will take out the heart of stone, give them a heart of flesh. I will write my laws upon their hearts and upon their minds will I put them and I will write them. And so the only source out of which these things flow is God Himself and that grace which He extends to us through Jesus Christ His Son crucified on behalf of sinners. And so if you would know

51:47 the fatherly favor of God pursuing mercy and truth, you must first be brought into the family of God. You must come by way of the cross that path of humbling yourself, acknowledging your undone-ness and your need of God's grace in Jesus Christ. And you don't stop acknowledging it there. As you come to tomorrow and say Lord I'm going into that office situation it's so hard to bind mercy about my neck.

52:17 Lord it's a cutthroat world that I live in. The attitude is so entirely contrary. There's nothing to induce me to be merciful. None show mercy to me. But Lord you died on the cross that I in that office tomorrow might adorn my self with mercy. Oh God by the Spirit write mercy upon the tablet of my heart. Lord I go out into a world where a man's word means nothing. Everybody's guilty of double talk. All kinds of lies, business lies, social lies, a world of lies. Lord I would be a man of truth. I would be a woman of truth. Lord by your Spirit, the Spirit given because Jesus died grant me the grace of truthfulness.

53:11 This is what it means to take all of these duties and promises and see them permeated with gospel motives and gospel principles and find that the Lord Jesus and He alone is able to make you to be that which is well pleasing in His sight. May God be pleased to write upon our hearts mercy and truth. The precept may ever be before us. The promise be there as an incentive.

53:42 May we know its gracious fulfillment in our lives to God's glory. Let us pray.