Proverbs chapter three I'm going to start by reading in verse one this morning and we're going to read down through verse eight. My son, forget not my law but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Verse three, let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart, so shall thou thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Verse five, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you. For this day, this opportunity to preach your word, to proclaim it, to receive it, to heed it. Lord, I pray that you'd open up our hearts and that your holy spirit would give us understanding. Lord, that we would be moved by your word and by your spirit today.

To surrender more to you of those things which we are holding back. To trust you more. And if there be one here that's never trusted Christ as savior. That they would make that all important, eternal choice today. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen. In Proverbs chapter three, God gives some very meaningful advice which we would be wise to listen to. And so we're taking time to look at some of that advice over the next few weeks. We already covered verses one and two. Do not forget God's law.

Keep his commandments. A longer and more peaceful life life will follow you. A lot of people are suffering today and one of the main reasons they're suffering is they are not listening to the commandments of their creator. Our creator made us. He knows what we need.

He knows what is good for us. And he has given commandments to keep us on a right path, on a good path, a path of blessing, a path of reward, and people are suffering today because they have chosen a different path. We are all suffering today because Adam and Eve chose a different path. But the thing is, though we all may have been born on the Broadway that leads to destruction, we can. We can choose to follow Christ onto the narrow way that leads to life and life eternal.

Number two, hold to mercy and truth in your life. Hold on to mercy. Embrace mercy and truth in your life. Practice them. Favor and understanding with God and man will it gain you.

If we will learn to be merciful, if we will learn and see the necessity of being truthful in our lives, it will serve us well in our lives. But also if we will embrace the mercy and truth of God it will serve us how long? Forever. Forever in our lives. These are very important things that we need to take to heart.

Number three, today, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Listen to God over your own reasoning. God will direct you in the way that you should go in life. Back several years ago, when we lived, my family lived in Macon, Georgia. We decided we were going to drive up to my parents, my wife's parents, my in laws in Ohio.

Usually, we went by way of my parents' house in Virginia and then went up from there but we decided we were going to against the the advice of the map. I decided that I was going to take these little roads that went through the edge of Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia because it was a straight shot from Macon to Charleston which where I was I was going to get there by the night so we could stay there and be that much closer. Well, my wife can tell you the story. We drove behind coal trucks and gravel trucks and log trucks. We drove through two blasting zones.

You know, it's it's just really disconcerting when you get to construction and you can't see where the road goes and there's signs around you that say blasting zone and there's nowhere else to go and fortunately, I had somebody in front of me that I hope that I hope knew where they were going because I was following them. So, anyway, we did get safely about 02:00 in the morning to Charleston but I should have followed the larger roads on the map and not decided to take all these little things. So, we never tried that again. So, the advice God gives us here is not just to trust which is important but to trust in him and not in who? Ourselves.

Bible says, there's a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. That's what Eve and Adam thought in the garden. Oh, the fruit looks good. Oh, she ate it. She's okay and then, a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Be careful if you listen to the crowd that says, let your heart lead you. The Bible says, your heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. So, be careful about letting your heart that is your human nature lead you and guide you because it will often lead you astray. Be careful even in trusting your own intellect because sometimes your own intellect will lead you astray no matter how smart you are. Some of the smartest people in this world, the people with IQs of 200 are atheists who do not even believe in a god.

And sad to say, their heart, their reasoning, their mind, their great intellect is leading them astray. Trust in the Lord. Trust in him. When at last, you must choose betwixt the two. Choose who?

Choose God. Sadly, we live in a world today of lost people. Directionless in life but particularly spiritually lost and separated from God and his direction. Dead in trespasses and in sins, we are told in Ephesians two. They are confused about many things.

Dismayed, not knowing where to turn next. Some are at the end of their rope in despair. Some of them choose the wrong people to follow. We see that around us a lot, do we not? People confused, people not knowing where to go in life, what to believe, who to believe, trying to navigate themselves without the help of their creator and their maker and his word.

Sometimes, even Christians who have found Christ are still wandering around in life unsure of their calling and of decision after decision that they make. You can be a Christian and still not be following Christ to the extent that you should be and trusting him. A matter of fact, most of us can improve in that area. Those that need to improve a lot are often miserable Christians because they are not trusting. They've trusted Jesus for eternity.

They can't trust him on where to live or what job to take or what church to go to or many other decisions in life. You can have direction in life. You can know where you are going eternally and today and tomorrow. You can have confidence in your decisions. You can have peace and joy and fulfillment in life.

You can get on the right path even if you have been wandering astray for a very long time. For his mercies are new what? Every morning, and for those who are his children, he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He's there. Problem is that he's not there.

The problem is often times we aren't listening and we're just not trusting him. There is a solution to all these needs. There is a map and a director you can trust. The question is, will you? You must learn to trust someone else other than yourself.

That someone else is God. So, we see in this verse, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Trust in the Lord. That's an imperative. It's a command.

God commands us. He expects us to trust in him. The word trust in Hebrew literally means to hide for refuge, to hide for refuge. David says, God is my fortress. He is my strong tower.

He is the place where I can hide. My refuge. He is for us too. When we don't know which way to turn, when we're struggling with things in life that we can't seem to lick. Go to God.

He is your refuge. He is your strong tower. He is the one in whom you can want. Trust and if God is making your decisions for you, if you are following him, you're not going to make the wrong ones. But you need to include God in your decisions and you need to trust him with all your heart.

In the New Testament, we are told to have faith. What is faith? Well, faith is believing in and putting your trust and confidence in someone that you cannot prove by your human senses. That is faith. Faith is trusting.

In this case, faith is trusting who? Trusting God, trusting Jesus. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek, IE, follow, trust in him.

You need to learn to trust the Lord. He will be your eyes. He will direct your steps. David said, thy word is what? A lamp unto my feet.

Let me see. I always get that. A light into my path, a lamp into my feet or a. That path. There you go.

Always get those two phrases confused. Anyway, but he is. He'll like the way. But only if you want. Only if you put your faith in him.

Put your faith in him. Trust him. No, you can't see him. But he's real, isn't he? No, you can't see him but he's in up in heaven looking down and watching you.

A matter of fact, he is right here what? With you. He has given you his word to direct your path. He has given you his spirit to use it. To help you make the right decisions.

Trust in the Lord. Put your faith in him. The object is very important. It's not just faith, it's not just trust, but it's trust in who? It's trust in the Lord.

That's all capitals. That's Jehovah. That there is only one Lord with all capital letters. God, Jesus. There is only one.

Only one that can lead you to life eternal. There's only one that can lead you through the obstacles and maze of life to bring glory to his name and have the all the peace and joy that he wants for you. He is the one in which you can completely trust because he is completely what? Trustworthy. He is the covenant God of Israel who always keeps his what?

Promises And he is also the covenant God of the church. That's the old covenant with Israel and that's the new covenant with the what? With the church. Sealed in the blood of who? Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins.

Who will keep all of his good promises that he has made to his children. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who always keeps his promises and leads his own and right paths. He is the God of Moses who delivers his children from the hands of the slave masters of sin with a mighty hand. He is the God of Joshua and David who gives those who put their trust in him the victory over the mightiest strongholds and against the most formidable giants. He is the God of Ruth who is our provider and our kinsman redeemer.

He is the God of Nehemiah who answers our prayers and assists us in completing our tasks. He is the God of Peter who sets us upon a rock, the rock Christ Jesus. Forgives all our sins, and gives us the key to eternal life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the God of Paul who transforms us in the light of Christ into his glorious image and makes the vilest sinner clean. Jew and Gentile alike.

He is the God in whom we can trust. He is the God in whom we must trust. Trust in him. Put yourself in his hands. Your eternal soul, your faith and hope, your prayers, your dreams, your daily decisions.

He is. Jesus is the way of life. If you will trust in him. John five twenty four and six thirty five, Verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on me, him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death on the life. John six thirty five and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.

He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. What does that mean? That means God's going to take care of you. God's going to lead you.

He's going to direct you but you do have to what? Trust in him. You have to come to him in faith and trust to be your savior and then you need to continue to grow in that faith and trust as a child of God. And trust in him for those decisions that you have to make. He will not lead you astray.

It's not enough to trust, believe, and have faith. It must be in Jesus or it is of no eternal benefit. There are many today who have taken the word faith and misused it. They tell you to have faith, to keep the faith in what? They kind of leave the object off.

Does the object matter? Oh, yes, it does. They tell you to have faith in your fellow man and while you need to learn to trust others in certain matters, only Jesus can save your soul and only Jesus knows tomorrow. So, be careful how much trust you put in your fellow man because your fellow man is a sinner. Whether it is your friend, your teacher, your employer, your peer, or even your pastor.

We are all what? Human. Put your faith and trust in who? In Jesus Christ, in his word. Have faith.

It'll all work out. Will it? Well, it depends on what your faith or who your faith is in. They're saying, just just have faith. It's going to all work out in the end.

Well, it may not. If your faith is in the wrong place, they say, you must have faith in yourself. I'll just have faith in yourself. You can do it. Well, we do need to have some self confidence, yes.

But again, watch out. There's a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. Be careful. Be careful in trusting who? Yourself.

I don't know about you but there were things when I was 20 and when I was 30 and when I was 40 that I've changed my mind about today. I've grown in my understanding. I've changed some of my thoughts and ways. Is that true of you? Probably.

Why? Because we don't know everything and you know something? If I'm still alive here when I'm 70 or 80, I will have changed my mind and changed some of my ways then because I'm still in the process of growing and learning but if I'll follow the Lord, I will grow and learn in the right direction. And I will see more of his blessing in my life. And not less.

So, we see the imperative, trust in the Lord. We see the object, God, Jesus Christ, and the extent, the extent. How how we're trusting the Lord with what? All our heart. All our heart.

That reminded me of this passage here, Deuteronomy six four and five, here oh Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Jesus said, this is the first and why? Greatest commandment. Love the Lord with all your heart. That means, let him, he has to have first one.

First place. He should have no competition up there at first in your life. No competition. He is the one you love. He is the one you trust above all others.

Matthew six twenty four, Jesus said, no man can serve two masters. For you will hate the one and love the other else, you will hold the one despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Make your choice. God needs not have any competition up there in first place.

He's it. Period. If he has competition, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. There's only one God.

Make that God the Lord of your life and let him guide you and direct you. Trust him. Choose you this day whom you will what? Choose you this day whom you will serve and serve him with all your heart. It cannot be God and others.

It must be God alone. It is either faith plus nothing or it is not faith at all. It must be the righteousness of Christ alone or is not Christ at all. It must be the grace of God alone or it is not of God but of works. God alone.

Scott Mashore sang for us about three weeks ago when he came for Judy's memorial service. A song entitled God and God Alone. We know there's only one God. We need to trust him like there's only one God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not on your own understanding. If we are to have any hope of living on the straight path, the path which leads to eternal blessing, then we must learn to place ourselves our way, our ambitions, our intellect, our reasoning, our desires under the umbrella of whose? Of God's. It doesn't mean that your intellect, your reasoning, your desires, your ambitions are all bad. If you're walking with the Lord, then, most of those are going to be what?

Good. But they all need to be under the umbrella of God. His will, his leading, and when you have something that's outside of that umbrella, don't what? Don't go that way. Stay under that umbrella.

So, you don't get rained on. By the foul consequences of life. Trust in the Lord. Stay in the refuge. Stay on the path.

Do not lean. Do not go astray being led by your own what? Your own understanding. You know, science today. Science is every time they, well, the science says this, well, science says nothing.

It's not a person, okay? Science is a tool that's used for us to discover things and being the fallible humans we are and not knowing everything, we are constantly changing what we know. Science is a tool to help us figure that out but when science seems to lead us outside the umbrella, should you follow it? No. Follow who?

Trust in the Lord. Your human reasoning is good. God gave you a mind for a purpose. He wants you to use it but when your mind and your reasoning lead you outside the umbrella of God's trust, don't what? Don't follow it.

Trust in the Lord. Lean not on your own understanding when it's taking you in the opposite direction. These verses here remind us of that but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be what? Added unto you. Trying to figure, how am I going to make this work?

How this going to work? How is that going to work in my life? Well, start by asking the Lord and trusting him. That's always the best starting place. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him what?

Deny himself take up his cross and follow me. Follow me, Jesus repeated in the gospels and so his disciples did. Well, but not all. Judas didn't. He asked his disciples to trust him and not on their own understanding.

At times, they found that difficult while sadly, Judas found that impossible. How did his path end? Hanging on a tree after having betrayed. The God of heaven. Fortunately, Joshua listened and followed the Lord even when his mind told him differently.

He led the people around the walls of Jericho 13 times and they shouted at the end and the walls fell down and the victory was theirs without hardly any loss of life. How did that happen? He listened to who? Listen to Lord. Did it make sense that walking around a place 13 times?

That that was going to just give them the victory and those huge walls were just going to crumble like dust in front of them? No. Sometimes, our ways and God's ways, they don't always what? Match. When they don't, whose ways are better?

God's ways. Joshua followed God's ways. Got some walls of Jericho you need to come down in life? Sin problems, relationships problems, work problems, emotional problems. You know how to get those walls to crumble?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into thine own understanding. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways. So, here's where the rubber meets the road. When you have a decision to make an action to take, do you ask God?

Do you really ask God willing to do what he says or go where he leaves? Are we just asking God because we want him to put a rubber what? Stamp on what we want to do. Do we do that sometimes? I dare say we probably do.

Lord, you know, I just, I'm, I have determined this is what I'm going do. So, Lord, I'm praying. Would you direct me? Now, put your stamp on it so I can go on. Or do you pray?

Not expecting God to answer. Just because it's the thing to do. Okay, I'm going to pray but I don't expect God to answer. So, then, I'm going to have to take it my way. Are you really going to pray?

He said, ask and it shall be what? Given. Seek and you shall find. Knock, it shall be open. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and it prayed it not and it shall be given him.

Do you acknowledge him? In all your ways? Your decisions in life? Or just the ones that suit you? Do you look for his word, to his word, for direction?

Do you call on him in prayer? Do you listen for the voice of his spirit? Warning or proving of your choice? I know there are times that I knew the Holy Spirit was talking to me and I didn't listen. And I regretted those decisions do or do you push ahead without giving God a thought without seeking his will Acknowledge him in all your ways and he will what?

Direct your paths. He will. He will not fail you. Jesus never what? Jesus never fails.

We do. That's why we need his help. Whatever decision in life we have to make. Follow and trust in the Lord. When it comes times to act, when it comes, comes time to act or choose.

Who makes the call? You or God? Verse seven, be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.

Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear and trust in who? The Lord. Depart from evil. Evil not just meaning wickedness but foul consequences in life and eternity.

You can avoid those. But we need to learn to trust in the Lord. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord. For your word, thank you for your spirit that you've given to us.

Lord, so many things in our life would go so much better if we would learn to trust you more. All many of the things we struggle with, Lord, we would have victory over. If we would just learn to trust you more. Forgive us for our struggles and trusting you over our own heart and over our own mind. Lord, change our mind and our heart to bring it in line with your will.

Lord, help us to walk in the spirit that we would not fulfill the lust of the flesh And Lord, we pray if there's one here today that's never trusted Jesus Christ to be the Lord and savior of in of their life. If there is any doubt in their mind and heart, I pray as we give this hymn of invitation that they would come. So that I would have the opportunity to help them to see by your word how they can have eternal life in Jesus. Lord, I pray that you would lead in this time of invitation. In Jesus name, we do pray.

Amen.