Trust in the LORD

Introduction to Proverbs 3:5-6 and its Popularity

0:04 Now we return to Proverbs chapter 3 to continue our studies in this chapter that is filled with various directives of a very practical nature, directives enforced by the strongest of motives. We have already considered the first two of those directives and the motives by which they are enforced. The first, of course, verses 1 and 2, an exhortation that the law of God be not forgotten, but that the commandments of God be obeyed. The promise enforcing that command by way of motivation

0:47 is for a long life, for true life, and for a peaceful life. Then the second of those directives concerns these twin graces of kindness or mercy and truth, and Solomon exhorts his son, or his pupil, not to forget them, but rather to bind them about his neck, to write them upon the table of his heart. In other words, to have his entire life characterized by these two graces, which are really a reflection of the likeness and the character of God. And then he gives this gracious promise that in doing this, he will find both favor and good understanding in the sight of God and of man.

1:30 In verses 5 and 6, we come to the third, third of these directives, and there is no real necessary connection between any of these, though there is an overall connection, but each of them is complete in itself. This one is a call to trust in the Lord with all thy heart. Glean not upon thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths.

2:02 Now these two verses, are very, very popular and very well known amongst God's people. You cannot be in the average evangelical church longer than six months, even if you are a total stranger to God, the Bible, to salvation. But what you will know, that these verses, though you may not know where they are, are somewhere in the Bible. Somebody will quote them in prayer, someone will quote them to a young person exercised about knowing the will of God for his life's occupation, his life's partner, where he should go to school, you cannot pick up the most elementary booklet or tract on the subject of divine guidance without confronting Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

The Misconception of Proverbs 3:5-6: Duty vs. Formula

2:44 Now I have a sneaking suspicion that what makes the verses so popular is not the main bulk of the verses. You see, the heart of the text is not the promise for guidance, but the heart of the text is the command to trust in the Lord with the whole heart, to repudiate all confidence in human wisdom, and to acknowledge God in the totality of one's lifestyle and pattern. Now I say I have a sneaking suspicion that the verses are not popular because they come with such sweeping demands upon us, but they are popular because of the little promise stuck on at the end, and he shall direct thy paths.

3:28 And the thing that struck me, and I'll emphasize it more when we come to expound the promise, is that this is the way the verses are usually regarded. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not upon thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, so that you may know that your paths are being directed. In other words, most people look upon the commands as a mean to the end that I will be guided of God, and that's not the thought of the text at all. What God commands in this text is your duty, even if he doesn't guide you for a moment.

4:04 You are to trust him with your whole heart because God is worthy to be trusted with the whole heart. If he makes you eat dirt for the next million years, you are still to trust him with the whole heart. And they never thought of it that way. Well, you better, because that's the way the text comes to us.

4:24 It doesn't say, do this, this, and this, so that you may be guided. It says, do this, and this, and this, because God tells you to. But wonder of wonders, for you ought to do them without any promise. He gives this gracious promise, I will grant this blessing to you as you do.

The Christian's Desire for Divine Guidance

4:42 You ought to do it anyway, but I will grant this blessing in the path of obedience. Now, the whole subject of divine guidance is a matter of great concern to the child of God. And the reason for that is not difficult to discover. Why is it that a Christian is concerned to know that his paths, his ways, are being directed by the Lord?

5:04 Well, because he has a new heart, and that new heart longs to do the will of God. God said, I will take out the heart of stone, I will give you a heart of flesh, I will cause you to walk in my statutes and to keep my judgments. Every true Christian can say, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. So because he has a new heart, he longs to do the will of God.

5:30 To change the biblical perspective, anyone who is a true sheep of Christ wants to follow his shepherd. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. To change the biblical perspective again, all who are true subjects of the kingdom of God desire to do the will of their Savior King. Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

6:02 So it's natural for the true child of God to be deeply exercised concerning the matter of divine guidance. Because of this, this text, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, strikes an immediate response in the heart of the child of God because it is one of the clearest and strongest texts on the general theme of divine guidance. But now the text poses a problem. Just as it is natural for the child of God to respond to this text, it's one of those texts that has sort of a poetic ring which renders it so familiar to the ear that it's so difficult to come to grips

The Climate of the Text: Biblical Doctrine of God

6:44 with what it's really saying. Hence nothing is to be spared in seeking to clear away all sentimental and romantic perspectives of this text and to come to grips with the true substance of the mind of God contained in it. Now it will be my pleasure, now it will be my effort to try to help us together to do that very thing. And the way I'm going to attempt to do it is, first of all, to consider with you the climate of the text.

7:17 Look at the text itself like a beautiful forest. And before we go in to examine the various trees in the forest, we're going to get in a helicopter and we're going to fly over and around it a few times and just look down because we want to see the forest before we see the trees. We don't want it said of us with this text. We couldn't see the forest for the trees.

7:36 So the first thing I will attempt to do with you is to enter into something of the atmosphere, the ethos, the mood, the spirit, the climate of the text. It breathes a spiritual climate. We want to become sensitive to it. Then secondly, and I think we'll have time to begin this, we should consider the commands in the text.

7:57 Obviously, we have three commands here. Trust, lean not, acknowledge. And then we shall attempt in the third place to open up the promise of the text. He will direct thy paths.

8:13 First of all then, the climate of the text. We're in our helicopter and we're going to just circle around the text. What is the climate of this text without which you will not be able to understand the text itself? Well, let me suggest three things about the climate of the text.

8:30 First of all, it is the climate of the biblical doctrine of God. You say, where in the world do you get that? Well, look at the text. We are called upon to trust a certain being with the totality of our heart's affection and trust.

8:48 We are called upon to acknowledge, that is, to recognize the claims and law of a certain being in every single facet of our lives. So you see, at the very outset we are confronted with a concept of a God who is worthy of this absolute trust and this unquestioned and total obedience. In commanding us to lean not on human wisdom is the assumption of the infinite, all-embracing wisdom of God. In calling upon us to acknowledge Him in all our ways is the assumption

9:33 that God is concerned about all the ways of the people of God. That He is the God of particular and detailed providence, the God of loving involvement with His people. In promising, and we are just working down through the text, in promising His direction is the assumption that He is so vast, so infinite in power and in wisdom that He can cause all of the intricate machinery of the universe to move with reference to working out every detail in the life of everyone, of every child of God in every single place and in every single instance.

10:17 Now you see, if you wrench the text out of that climate of the Biblical doctrine of this kind of a God, you cannot appreciate that text. You can't really understand it. It will just be a nice little sentimental plaque-like text hung up on the wall of your home or on the wall of your mind, but you'll really not hear the voice of God in it. The Shorter Catechism asks, what is God?

10:46 And the answer is a classic answer. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. Now if we do not know God to be this kind of a God, then we have no basis to understand this text. If we want this God for guidance, we must first of all have Him for worship and for intelligent praise.

11:16 Your dealings with God in guidance will rise no higher than your dealings with God in worship. It's the God whom you worship to whom you will be related in the matters of guidance. The climate of this text is not the little God, of human conceiving, nor the little God of much popular preaching, but He's the great God of the Bible, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely sovereign, glorious in His majesty and in His power. The more you know of Him as revealed in His word, the more broad, the more glorious will be a text such as the one before us.

The Climate of the Text: Biblical Doctrine of Man

11:59 In the second place, as we make our second passage, over the forest, this is the climate of the biblical doctrine of man. Look at the text. Why does he say, lean not upon thine own understanding? Trust in the Lord with all thy heart.

12:18 Acknowledge Him in all thy ways. You see, man is a creature incapable of rightly directing his own ways. That's why he's called upon to trust in God. Why he's called upon not to lean upon his own understanding.

12:33 He is creature. And this text breathes the climate and the atmosphere of that biblical doctrine of man, that man is a creature utterly dependent upon God for all that He is and has as a creature. For in Him we live and move and have our being. He giveth to all life and breath and all things, without me ye can do nothing.

13:05 Now unless you know something of that biblical climate of the doctrine of man assumed in this text, you won't be able to understand the text. You cannot live a creature dependent life in nine areas and then when it comes to guidance live a creator dependent life. No, no. You will carry over into the matter of guidance the same perspective you have of yourself in your general existence.

13:33 And so the climate assumes and breathes, exudes this biblical doctrine of man. Not only his insufficiency as creature to direct his own ways, but there is a hint of his double insufficiency because he is sinful creature. His understanding which should be the very lamp of God within his breast has become darkened so he is not to lean upon it except as it is illuminated by the Holy Spirit through special revelation, that is the word of God written. But then there is something on the positive side.

14:10 Man is the special creature whom God delights to guide. What a precious thing. Though it humbles me that I cannot lean upon my own understanding, the text says that this infinite, almighty, all-powerful, all-wise God will direct mighty steps, mighty steps, mighty paths. I am not just a speck in a meaningless, empty void of a universe, a little bit of cosmic dust floating around until I float off somewhere else.

14:43 I have meaning. I have dignity. I am a man made in the image of God. And God is committed to guide the steps of such a creature.

14:53 I say the climate of this text is the climate of the biblical doctrine of man. Now, by way of application, let me say that the reasonableness and the rightness of these directives in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 will appear in direct proportion to our sensitivity to the biblical doctrine of man. Some of you may be offended when we come to expound the second of these commands. Lean not upon thine own understanding.

15:22 You'll find your creature pride in that head-on and spot right there in the snoot. You won't like it. Don't God but tell me. Don't you see what your trouble is?

15:31 You've got a wrong view of who you are. You don't know what you are. Oh, I'm an intelligent twentieth-century cult. Yes, I know all that and so does God.

15:41 And he says, don't lean upon your own understanding. Yes, but...

15:45 Yeah, God knows all about that. Yes, but God knows all about that too. You see, you can't appreciate the text until you have some sensitivity to the biblical doctrine of man, what you are. Creature of man.

15:58 Creature of man. Creature of man. Creature of man. Creature of man.

16:02 It is utterly dependent upon him for all that you are and have. Sinful creature, doubly dependent upon him because sin has darkened the mind. And yet wonder of wonders, noble creature and image bearer of the living God. The more we view ourselves in the eyes of the Bible the more we'll appreciate this text.

The Climate of the Text: Biblical Doctrine of Communion with God

16:19 Thirdly, now we're making our third pass in the helicopter and we're running out of gas. It is the climate...

16:27 It is the climate of the Biblical Doctrine that one should love as it is most important of communion with God, Solomon assumes that God can be known to the extent that trusting him with the whole heart will be both reasonable and delightful. Solomon assumes that God can be known with such intimacy that he may be acknowledged in all of our ways. Solomon assumes that the creature can so enter into vital communion and walking with God so as to have

17:07 all of his ways directed by that God. You see, take the words trust in the Lord, acknowledge him, he will direct thy paths. What do those words mean if severed from the biblical context of communion with the living God? Now here, you see, is one of the great problems in the matter of communion with God.

17:31 It's a matter of guidance. We want a formula that will assure us of right decisions, but a formula that can work detached from living communion with the living God. And God says, I don't have any such formula. You and I can never know the gift of guidance by God without the grace of communion with God. We cannot have our feet directed into the right direction

18:09 of communion with God. We cannot have our feet directed into the right direction of communion with God unless our hearts are directed into communion with the person of God, with the whole heart. That's communion with God, you see. In all thy ways acknowledge him and we'll see as we seek to open up that phrase which may take at least one sermon, perhaps more. It's a profound concept that acknowledging him is the very essence of communion with

18:41 God. God is. God is here. I am communion with God. I am communion with God. I am communion

18:44 with him. All that that implies. He will direct. He doesn't say thy paths will be directed. That's too detached. That's too impersonal. He, the living God, will direct

18:56 thy paths and be in those paths. That's the whole ethos of the text. Do you feel it? Do you sense it? I trust you do. That's the climate of the text. The climate of the biblical

19:09 doctrine of communion with God. So, if you're here tonight, an utter stranger to vital communion with God through Jesus Christ, this text is not for you. Don't you reach your hands in to snatch something here. This is children's prayer. Until you've entered into

The Interdependence of Theology and Exegesis

19:28 the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, until you've repented of sin and believed on the Lord Jesus and come by that one way into fellowship with God, you cannot know the blessings of this text fulfilled in your life. Now may I just bring a little aside to you young men. I hope you've caught a principle. And in case you didn't get it, I thought I'd better enunciate it. You see now why you must be theologians before you can be exegetes? You

20:05 see why? You will see what your eye is trained to see in the passage. And many times the message of the passage is not just there in the words rightly defined and in the grammar and the relationship. No, no. The message comes with a total impact. The message comes

20:21 with a total impact. But you'll not feel that impact unless the spiritual eye is trained to see it. And this is where the matter of the discipline of theology comes in. You see?

20:30 A man cannot be a true theologian unless he's an exegete. That is, able to open up text of Scripture. And he cannot be a true exegete unless he's a theologian. The theologian and the exegete must be together. So never feel your work is done when you've just dealt with

20:46 the grammar. You've just dealt with the words. But you must pause and wait before the text. You must wait. You must wait. You must wait. You must wait. You must wait. You must wait.

20:52 You must wait until something of the total impress of the whole mood and climate of the voice of God in that passage breaks in upon your heart. All right? So much, then, for what we've called the climate of the text. And I hope the three passes over in the helicopter and with the gas running out, you're now prepared to say, let's get out of the helicopter and go in and examine some of the trees one by one. All right? We'll do that. And the first

The Commands of the Text: Reliance, Repudiation, Recognition

21:16 clump of trees we look at are these trees that are the commands of the text. And I make no apology for calling them commands. I could have used a more polite and diplomatic word, the entreaties, the exhortations, the admonitions, but they're just plain old commands. Well, you see, this is a Christian assembly. We're not under law. We're under grace. Is

21:39 that so? Are you a disciple of Christ? Did he not say, make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you? Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. He that hath my commandments

21:59 and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. So the word command should never be foreign in a Christian assembly. What makes it legalism is any thought that by obedience I earn the favor of God. What makes it Christianity is that having received his favor graciously, I long to obey him explicitly. All right?

22:24 What are the commands? Well, there are three of them. Two negatives, two positives. In between the positive is sandwiched a negative. Trust in the Lord. Lean not upon thine own

22:35 understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. May I descend to alliteration tonight. I don't often do it, but I want to put some pegs for your memory. The three commands are

22:46 a command to reliance, trust in the Lord, repudiation, lean not, and recognition. In all thy ways acknowledge him. Reliance, repudiation, and recognition. Now, before we start with the first one, we've got to ask the question, to whom are these commands given? The chapter begins with the

To Whom are These Commands Given? Covenant Children

23:06 words, My son, forget not my law. Let thy heart keep my commandment. Let not kindness and truth forsake thee. My son, trust in the Lord with all thy heart. You see, it is not

23:20 just every creature of God who's called upon to trust him. In the sense of this text, rather, it is the one who stands in a covenant-saving relationship to Jehovah God. You say, how do you find that in the text? Well, it's obvious. Because the

23:40 one called to trust is considered in this text as the object of the loving, fatherly care of Jehovah. That's how he's viewed. Trust in him. Don't lean on your own understanding.

23:55 Acknowledge him in all your ways. He is the God who stands in the relationship of a loving father to guide and to direct you. Now, that relationship does not exist in the case of the unrepentant, unconverted sinner. As Bridges asks so perceptively, can the sinner's God, that is, the just avenging God, be the object of trust and constant acknowledgement? No, this can never be. Far from desiring

24:28 to acknowledge him, he can never be. He can never be. He can never be. He can never be.

24:28 The sinner wants to put God out of his thoughts and out of his ways. Far from desiring to trust in the Lord with his whole heart, the sinner's desire is to detach himself from any living communion with the living God. And far from being committed to guide his ways, God is out to destroy the impenitent sinner as long as he remains impenitent. I think the most classic commentary on this is Psalm 50. To any person who is not a repentant, believing

25:09 sinner sitting in this building tonight, and you try to take Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 into your mouth and begin to claim it, this is what God says to you. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, and that thou hast taken my covenant into thy mouth? He says, Who are you to take my word into your mouth and claim it as yours? Seeing that thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee, when thou sawest a thief, thou consentest with him. God says, I know you're not a true son of the covenant, not because

25:48 of what you say, or you take covenant language into your mouth. You claim to be in saving relationship to me, but God says, I know how you live. When you see a thief, you consent with him. When you know that that man in the place of God is a thief, you consent with

26:02 him. When he feels guilty of you being here, and that knowledge of other men is of in the room that you sit in front of your TV and watch the lecherous scenes pass before your eyes until lust burns in your heart

26:46 and the very eyes that look upon the picture tonight are the eyes that are full of adultery before the TV, before the billboard, and out on the street. He says, who are you to take my covenant into your mouth? He says, I see you consenting with the thief, partaking with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit.

27:12 I know your business lies, your social lies. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother and slanderest thine own mother's son. I hear you when you speak to other members of your family immediate and remote. I know the bitterness you have to cousins, to aunts, to uncles who've wronged you.

27:31 I hear those words. This thou hast done. And I kept silence. Thou thought that I was altogether such a one as thyself.

27:40 Here's man making God in his own image.

27:43 But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God. See the opposite? In all thy ways acknowledge him.

27:54 Recognize his claims. In the shop, in front of the TV, in your social life, in your business life, in your personal life, in your thought life. That's the mark of the righteous man, the true son of the covenant. But I hear you as the false son of the covenant.

28:11 And God says, you forget me. Now he says, consider this, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. I don't know who your God is, but that's the God of the Bible who says, I'll tear you to pieces in righteous anger and fury if you dare to claim my covenant promises and you don't live with the marks of a true son of the covenant upon you. That's what God says.

28:39 And these precious words in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 are given not to false sons of the covenant who take the saving mercy of God upon the lips and dare to say, this is for me, but whose hearts are strangers to the power of God's grace, bringing them into a hearty consent to the terms of covenant faithfulness to a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. You can't, you can't face life in the knowledge of his direction until you first of all face your need to repent and to believe the gospel. So these words are given to all who repent and believe

Command 1: Reliance – The Object of Trust (Jehovah)

29:24 and who continue to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well then, what is the first of the commands? And I think we'll have time just to consider this. It is the command to reliance.

29:37 Look at it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. With all thy heart. And every word is pregnant with significance.

29:47 First of all, consider the object of this reliance. Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart. Trust in him who knows the right way to the right ends and the right means to attain it. The one who's created you anew in Christ Jesus unto good works which he has before ordained that you should walk in him.

30:13 How is this God described to us in the scriptures? He's described as the one who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2. Hebrews 13.

30:24 He works in us that which is well pleasing in his sight. He's described as the one whose will for us. We read it in Romans 12 this morning. What is it?

30:34 It is good. It is acceptable. And it is perfect. It is a plan for our lives woven by the fabric of God.

30:43 It is a plan for our lives of eternal love and eternal wisdom and eternal faithfulness. And the object of this reliance is this God himself. The great God of promise, of providence and of grace. Now by way of application let me say that this command would be utterly wicked if directed to any other object.

31:09 There is no other object, no other being under heaven of whom it can be said trust him with the whole heart. It would be the essence of wickedness if it were any other object than Jehovah. But listen, the object being what it is, anything less than this is the essence of wickedness.

31:33 If anyone other than Jehovah God were the object of this command of reliance, it would be wickedness. But because Jehovah is the object, anything less than this is the essence of wickedness. And so the key to complying with this command is having right views of this God. If you have any suspicions about the genuineness of his love,

32:00 of the infinite scope of his wisdom, or any questions about the good intentions of his heart, you'll find it very difficult to trust him with the whole heart. We had a classic example of this in our own home tonight and I promised the children I wouldn't tell on them and embarrass them by giving too specific a detail about how it happened. But it was a classic illustration. My wife had just been talking with me about some thoughts that had been going through her mind in this area and I had been working over the message upstairs and then something happened that was a perfect illustration.

32:35 In fact, I'm going to break my promise, Bethy, and you forgive me. She's got her head down. She doesn't feel too well anyway.

32:42 We were getting ready to come out of the house and most of all of us had our coats on and Beth had to change her leotard so she was bringing up the rear and when everyone came down from the upstairs level, those of you in the parsons know it's a split level and you go up that half flight before you turn again to go up into my study and she was up in her bedroom and all of us were getting out of sight and suddenly a fear came over that she was going to be left in the house all alone and she began to cry.

33:09 The first question we asked was this, Bethy, has Daddy or Mommy ever left you alone in the house by yourself? No, Daddy. I said, well, couldn't you trust us then? That even though you couldn't see us, we would not do something that we've never done before when there was no good reason to do it.

33:28 Now, it illustrated the very thing my wife was talking to me about just prior to that. In trying to analyze why it is that certain friends of my son at school, everybody loves them and wants to be with them. The principle that she mentioned was this, when we have absolute confidence in the presence of a person that they're not out to hurt us, they're not out to conquer us, they're not out to show us up, they're not out to undercut us, they are the kind of people we love to be with. Why?

33:54 Because we have absolute trust as to their intentions.

33:58 When there's somebody that you think is out to rival you, you find it difficult to get along with that person. Whether it's your wife, your kid, your cousin, I don't care who it is. The people you really feel comfortable with are those whose intentions you have absolute confidence in, right? Isn't that it?

34:15 Now, apply it to the text. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart. If you have absolute confidence that He's not out to get you, He's not out to show you up, He's not out to put you down.

34:34 If you have absolute confidence that all of His intentions are intentions of love and of goodness and of grace, what else can you do but trust in the beholder? Now, do you see why the Bible talks about an evil heart of unbelief? That was the sin of Adam and Eve. An evil heart of unbelief?

35:00 God says, Adam, in my goodness and in my love, I tell you, leave that tree alone. If you eat of it, you'll die. And in my goodness, in my love, in my concern for your well-being, I don't want you to die. Leave the tree alone.

35:21 The devil came with his lie, casting insinuations upon what? The goodness and the truthfulness of God. Half God said,

35:33 maybe God isn't quite so true to his word. Maybe what he says can fall to the ground in unfulfillment. And then he casts aspersions upon the goodness of God. God doth know that in the day that you eat, you'll be like him.

35:47 He is doing a major put-down at us. He's not your friend. He's your rival.

35:55 And Adam believed him. And he wickedly said, he did not trust the Lord with all his heart. And so you and I are called upon to believe one as his children who can view his heart not abstractly. Oh dear Christian, never try to view the heart of God in abstraction.

36:20 You are fleshed out in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You are only begotten who's in the bosom of the Father. You have declared him. He that hath seen me, Jesus said, hath seen the Father.

Command 1: Reliance – The Essence, Source, and Measure of Trust

36:35 And in the Lord Jesus we read the goodness the kindness the love the faithfulness the mercy of our God. That's the object of our trust. In the second place notice about this reliance not only the object of it but the essence of that reliance. What is it?

36:55 Trust in the Lord with all thy heart. Someone has defined this word trust and I think it's a beautiful and workable and biblical definition. It is childlike unwavering confidence in our Father's well-proven wisdom faithfulness and love.

37:17 What does it mean to trust in the Lord with all our hearts? It means to exercise childlike unwavering confidence in our Father's well-proven wisdom faithfulness and love. Let me illustrate. The Father comes home from shopping perhaps with the wife and they've left some of the children at home the oldest being such that it would be proper to do so and they notice that the house has begun to be consumed with flames and the children as yet have not noticed it because they're coming up from perhaps the garage and sweeping across the roof and they yet are not aware of it on the inside and the Father's way into the house is blocked

38:02 and he begins to cry out to the children and suddenly the oldest child comes to the second story window and he says what is it Dad? and he says the house is burning and you need to come out and he says Dad how can we? and he tells them not to open the doors going down to the downstairs that it will cause the flame to sweep up and he begins to plead with the children to jump out into his arms one by one and the child is tempted to think but Daddy I can't do a thing like that that will destroy me there's two stories between me and the ground that will break my bones that may kill me but the Father says what? Son trust me Son have I ever asked you to do anything that I was not confident would be for your good have I ever expected you to do anything

38:46 that was not framed in my love for you and he pleads with his son with his daughter to have what? to have childlike unwavering confidence in his well proven wisdom faithfulness and love and when the child has that he'll jump he will trust in his Daddy with all his heart that's what that's what the text is telling you and for some of us it's so simple and yet so difficult isn't it? has not God proven his wisdom his faithfulness and his love to you times without number and yet isn't it amazing

39:30 in the moment of pinch we forget so quickly his well proven wisdom and we start to lean upon what? you see how the text comes to us? Solomon had observed human nature in his own heart in his own heart and in others and whenever we're tempted not to trust in the Lord when he's saying jump he's saying oh there must be a better way downstairs and we start looking for our own way of escape that's why he follows up with the words don't lean upon your own understanding it's the essence of unbelief it's unbelief that makes human understanding a substitute for this

40:14 childlike confidence in the Father's well proven wisdom faithfulness and love and the real problem some of you have is that you still got naughty thoughts about God that's why you're not trusting him with the whole heart maybe you had a father who betrayed you and you're projecting that father's betrayal upward to God and you say somewhere along the line God's going to stab me in the back oh you never say that but I've counseled with some of you and that's exactly the way you think why if I utterly abandon myself to God what will happen I mean that's dangerous business is it is it dangerous to rest in the lap of infinite love is it dangerous

40:59 to repose in the lap of infinite wisdom if that's dangerous welcome the danger welcome the danger that's the essence of this reliance having looked at the object of it Jehovah the essence of it childlike confidence consider now in the third place the source and the measure of this reliance look at it in the text trust in the Lord with all thy heart there's the source of this trust the heart the seed of your being the center of what makes you you the heart which is comprised

41:43 of the judgment of the affections of the will of the faculty of choice and desire the totality of the inner life the center of the inner life the citadel of a man's being the source of this trust is to be right from there it's the thing that happens with that little boy when he's standing there and he seems frozen to jump out of the window but when his heart really goes and he plops in his daddy's arms then his feet and his hands and everything else is gone wherever the heart goes the rest of you will come what has your heart has you that's just that simple

42:27 that's why the scripture says out of the heart are the issues of life Jesus said out of the heart proceed adulteries fornications blasphemies pride foolishness murder theft he says when you see a man's hand steal something his hand's just going where his heart was all the time that's the doctrine of the bible where the heart is the man is what the heart is the man is and so the source of this trust is to be nothing less than the citadel of your being and what's the measure of it to be trust in the lord with all thy heart well is that some kind of sinless perfection though

43:11 when the bible talks of an undivided heart it doesn't mean a heart that has obtained absolute purity but it's speaking about basic sincerity the bible describes single heartedness as opposed to double mindedness in which a man is trying a woman is trying a fellow or girl is trying to serve two masters Jesus said you can't do it you love one and hate the other hate the one and hold to the other you can't serve God in mammon the heart can have only one supreme object of affection and allegiance only one only one and that's the call of this text it's the call to trust in the lord with all thy heart no holding back

43:56 of any department of the heart's affection and committal less than this is a heinous provocation of God look at the example of the israelites you'll find the record of it in psalm 78 here they are wonderfully provided for by God's loving kindness his well proven faithfulness wisdom and love had been their portion being brought out of Egypt through the red sea established in the wilderness the manna provided day after day but they didn't get the message we read in psalm 78 and verse 18 then they tempted God in their heart

44:39 by asking food according to their desire yea they spake against God they said can God prepare a table in the wilderness all the while they're groaning and moaning that God would give them flesh they said he couldn't do it anyway even if he wanted to see the height of the divided heart the expressions of it well he just got this manna day after day manna of course it's a miracle and of course it's a constant monument of God's faithfulness it's there every day and double portions on the day before the Sabbath of course it meets all our temporal and physical needs even having in our bodies seems to affect our shoe leather we notice our sandals never wear out

45:23 but we're not concerned about that it doesn't titillate our taste buds we want flesh God didn't give it to us even if he was concerned with our taste buds you get something of the feeling of the spirit of unbelief that questions what God's love God's wisdom God's faithfulness that's what it is now how does God regard this when the heart is in this state verse 20 behold he smote the rocks so that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed can he give bread also will he provide flesh for his people wherefore the Lord heard and was wroth and the fire was kindled against Jacob

46:07 and his anger went up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted God not in his salvation they had a divided heart may I press the question upon your conscience tonight do you sit here in this place with a single heart or with a divided heart tonight the call of the text is trust in the Lord with all thine heart dare to believe that his ways for you are good acceptable and perfect ah but you say Pastor Martin I see that that's a picture of me

Application: How to Comply with the Command to Trust

46:51 I question God's heart all the time I question his wisdom I want to know everything all mapped out and then I'll see if I can trust him for if I feel it's good for me that's wickedness questioning of his wisdom questioning of his love what's the way in to the condition commanded by this text I believe the answer is beautifully and simply stated in Psalm 9 in verse 10 what is the way to comply with this first commandment which leads to to the fulfillment of the promise of divine guidance Psalm 9 in verse 10 and they that know

47:36 thy name will put their trust in thee the name of God is the revealed character of God and this text says those who know the revealed character of God will trust in that God I trust to be intensely practical at this point if you're having trouble complying with this text and that's why you're all fouled up when it comes to guidance you can't with confidence pray that God will unfold his ways because you've got sneaking suspicions they might not be

48:14 oh thou great Jehovah because you think maybe he's going to guide you to eat sour grapes for the rest of your life or maybe he's going to have you go down and sit among skunk cabbage and pick it for the rest of your days you've got such low mean unwillingness dirty thoughts of God you're going to come to that place where you say Lord I do trust thee I do place childlike unreserved confidence in your well proven wisdom faithfulness and love here's the answer they that know thy name

48:58 will trust in thee you need to study the character of God as revealed in the word of God but as we indicated earlier particularly as it is revealed in the word of God in Jesus Christ study the character of God find one place in the scripture where he had it in for any of his children find in scripture where the Lord Jesus would come all the way from heaven to the confines of a virgin's womb into the filth and mire of a world full of sin identify himself with sinners in the sinner's ordinance in the waters of baptism live among sinners pray for them pray among sinners

49:43 eat among sinners and then go to a cross until the billows of the father's wrath break upon his holy head and he's tossed into abandonment and cries my God my God why hast thou forsaken me and you look at all that and then see if you can willfully question the love and the kindness and the goodness of God they that know thy name in the name of God is bound up in the name of Jesus he has revealed him study the character of God in the Lord Jesus until you find your heart

50:26 almost without conscious effort running out saying Lord Jesus how can I do anything other than trust you the great problem of the rich young ruler was right here when Jesus he came saying Lord I want eternal life true life I want my ways to be guided by you now and into eternity the Lord in love said in essence to him oh my young man if that's to be true then the vicious self-destructive plague of idolatry must be ripped from your heart sell what you have give to the poor come follow me you'll have what misery the rest of your days no

51:11 treasures in heaven you'll have an earnest of them now and the full inheritance then the young man couldn't believe it those words it says he went away sorrowful why because he felt that this was the way into bitterness and now he was torn I don't have all that I long for in my riches but I know I'll lose much that is very real and important to me if I give up my riches and he was torn and divided all the blessedness of those who can say with Peter and James and the others Lord we have left all to follow thee and Jesus says no man hath left how his land his father his mother and mother for my sake in the gospels

51:55 but he shall receive more in this life and in the world come life eternal this is the path into compliance with this text study the character of God as revealed in the word but particularly in the Lord Jesus that's the positive and then I close with the negative refuse all mean thoughts of God as coming as coming from the devil himself whenever you find your heart drawing back from trusting in the Lord with all your heart believing that his will is good acceptable and perfect don't entertain those suspicions

52:40 for a moment they are breathed by the same serpent who breathed them to our first father and said hath God said yea God doth know oh may God humble us tonight and break us bring us to repentance not so much for growth sins and profligacy if we've been guilty of them may he humble us for them but that's not the problem with most of us may he humble us not so much for that which will mark the multitudes of worldlings who abandon themselves to the last memories of this year and introduce the first of next by drowning themselves in wickedness in immorality and drunkenness this night but may God

53:25 humble us on this last day of nineteen seventy two may God break us on this last day of this year with the terrible sin of questioning his well proven faithfulness wisdom and love that's why God's let us feel the bitterness of going our own way we've said in essence God I can't trust you to lead me in a good way I'll make my own good way and God says I'll hedge it up with thorns until you rise up and realize how few you should be that's God's chastisement Lord I tell you that the way that might come if I truly trust you

54:09 is a way of love but I will in a form of perverted inverted self love I'll plan my own way God says alright and I'll see to it that bitterness stalks your paths until you fall upon your face and say Lord thy way not mine oh Lord what e'er that path may be now for some of you that has very concrete implications I don't need to tell you what they are they're coming to your mind right now right but some of you it may mean a very cherished relationship some woman some man some boy some girl you haven't dared to really hold that thing up like this and say God if this relationship is not of you smash it

54:54 because it cannot be for my good you haven't dared to do that but God's calling upon you to do it tonight some of you it means an ambition you're not an ambition to be something you haven't dared really say Lord if that ambition is not of you smash it because it cannot be for my good or for your glory for you to trust in the Lord with all your heart and as it were get into the way where this text will become a precious framework of God's dealings with you you're going to have to do some specific dealings with God about some specific things for some of you it's going to mean restitution there's certain things that God's demanding of you in the way of making things right with fellow believers

55:39 and you've been unwilling to do it you say oh that will crush me that will humble me and it will do this that cannot be God's goodness pressing that upon my conscience yes it is are you going to go to another year dropping your head every time you see certain people because your conscience is not void of offense towards them you've wronged them by deed or by word by action how about some of you high school students you've cheated in certain courses and though you've pushed the thing down down down every time you sit in that classroom that was witness its walls were witness to your cheating your conscience is tormented and you say I know I ought to make it right but how can a good God ask me to do this

56:23 I might form the course I might I might I might I might I might what are you saying you're saying God's way in demanding that you thoroughly deal with your sin is a bitter way not a good way that's casting aspersions on the character of God for you to trust in the Lord with all your heart means you're going to have to have some specific dealings with God I don't know what they are maybe God's even guided me in my off the cuff illustrations to nail a specific issue that you feel right now there's nobody else in this building but God and me oh my friend if God is so zeroed in upon you you dare not walk out of this place without saying oh God I will trust you though everything in my flesh cries out I read your

57:08 character in the face of Jesus Christ I see your faithfulness your love your mercy Lord I will trust you with the whole heart I believe help thou my non-belief it's one thing to put Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 on a plaque quote it in a testimony meeting it's another thing to begin to know what it says and walk in the light of it may God grant us to face this first of the commands trust in the Lord with all thy heart Amen let us pray Amen