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Proverbs 3:1-12 Proverb's Promise of Prosperity 7.28.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  I'm going to read verses 1 to 12, what will be our text this morning from Proverbs chapter 3. Then we'll pray and begin. Beginning in verse 1. My son, do not forget my teaching. But let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
• 0:31
  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline.
• 1:00
  or be weary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father of the son in whom he delights. Would you pray with me? Almighty God, you have built your church, this church, on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Join us together even now in unity of spirit by your teaching, that we may become a holy temple acceptable to you.
• 1:35
  Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Amen. Well, we have this far in the book of Proverbs, looked at wisdom's plea in chapter 1, continued our study in chapter 2 with wisdom's protection, and now shift focus in chapter 3 to wisdom's path, and more specifically, the prosperity offered to those who will follow wisdom's
• 2:07
  Wait a minute. Did he just use the word prosperity? Isn't that a dirty word when it comes from a pulpit? Did you guys hear? Pastor Danny is teaching a prosperity gospel. He said that if you put your faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sin, that the Lord might actually heal your afflictions. And if you prove the genuineness of your heart by storing up treasure in heaven, he might also entrust you with treasure on earth.
• 2:43
  Don't panic. Stay with me. We'll walk through the text together. I love the game of baseball. I love it. I know I talk about it all the time. And I'm sorry for those of you who are not baseball fans because you've got a baseball pastor. But I love baseball because it is such a perfect reflection of life. And I know that some of you may think, ah, that's not true. Life isn't that boring.
• 3:16
  You know, I love the game of baseball because you can devote your entire life to its study and never see the same game twice. You can discern certain patterns. You can become a student of the game as most coaches have become. And you'll begin to notice trends. And yet even with all of that, you will still not be able to predict what will happen next. But despite its complexity.
• 3:46
  you could boil the entire game of baseball down to a few simple points. Spend a lifetime studying it and never perfect it, and yet learn the game within seconds. Hit, run, throw, catch. That's it. You've learned the game of baseball in four words. That's it. That's the entirety of it. It's simple and yet complex.
• 4:22
  Just like life, our lives have an agreed upon set of rules. You can become a student of life and yet never reach the point where you can predict what will happen next. Our lives are hard. They're messy. There are failures. There are broken hearts. But the entire thing, our entire lives can be summed up in a few.
• 4:49
  simple points. And I've boiled this morning's message down to six words. And I realize that there are many more than these six words in our passage, but I love that God promises heavenly and earthly favor. Look at verse four. He says that he promises health. Look at verse eight. He promises wealth. Look at verse 10, all in a few short phrases.
• 5:13
  King Solomon boils the promises of God. In fact, he boils the entirety of Christian living down to a few simple points. These are what I'm going to call the talking points of Christian living. These are the hit, run, throw, and catch of Christianity. Look at the first two in verses 1 to 4. Notice the first two words are love and faith. Love and faith. You start in verse 1. My son.
• 5:43
  Do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Now we are reminded again of the heart of the author. This is not some distant relation writing to one to whom he does not know or care about. This is a loving father, one who is invested in the recipient. When Solomon begins this text with the words, my son, he issues a promise to all those who would listen.
• 6:15
  as a loving father is making a vow to walk with his sons, whether they follow his advice or not. And I would remind us that the same offer is made by our heavenly father. He doesn't call us distant cousins, the strange aunt and uncle that you only see two times a year. That's not the relationship we have with the God of heaven. He calls us his children.
• 6:45
  And he vows, making a promise to be faithful to his children, even if his children are not faithful to him. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. Even in disobedience, even if we become the prodigal, the father will be waiting to receive us back with open arms. We do not cease being our father's sons and daughters when we fail.
• 7:17
  Our heavenly father's love is not contingent on our obedience, but he does want us to be blessed. And because he wants us to be happy, blessed, he tells us what things he expects. He even commands them. And what does our father command? He says, do not forsake.
• 7:38
  Love and faithfulness. Look at verse 3. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. How? How do we not forsake love and faithfulness? And he says in verse 3, by binding them around your neck and writing them on the tablet of your hearts. Now, it would have been very difficult, I think, for an Old Testament Jew to forget the commands of God. In fact, it was their habit.
• 8:03
  to wear what are called phylacteries. Now, I know that that's a weird word, but it is the word that is even still used today. Phylacteries are small boxes, small cases, with tiny little scrolls rolled up in them. On those scrolls are written certain very significant Old Testament Bible verses, like Deuteronomy 6-4, the Shema, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And others...
• 8:30
  They would strap them then to the backs of their hands. Sometimes they would even strap them directly to the front of their foreheads. In fact, some still practice this. Here is a picture of a modern Israeli soldier. It's not 2,000 years ago. That's today.
• 8:48
  with one of these phylacteries. You see it strapped to the front of his forehead. He's got another one strapped to his arm. Do you see it there? Inside of those little boxes are contained these scrolls, Deuteronomy 6, 4, sometimes verses from Exodus. They'll roll these up. They'll stick them in there. And although it's not difficult, I think, to see the leap that men like these will take to take the scriptures and literally bind them to them.
• 9:14
  Deuteronomy 6, 8 even says, bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. They've taken those verses and literally applied them by strapping them in between their eyes and strapping them to their hands and arms. Although it's not difficult to see the leap they take, I also do not believe that this was the Lord's intent.
• 9:40
  I don't think the Lord intended for us to walk around with those things strapped to our foreheads. The use of phylacteries, even today, arose from a wooden literalism that eventually gave way to empty formalism. And here's what I mean. You and I will not become holy simply by writing Bible verses on our hands and on our foreheads with a sharpie.
• 10:09
  That's not how you become a holier person. You can do it. You can take a Sharpie and write John 3.16 on your forehead. I may be one of the only people in the room who has a forehead large enough to contain all of the necessary Bible verses. My forehead goes all the way down my back. But that's not how we become holier in the sight of God. Tattooing a Bible verse on yourself does nothing for the condition of your soul.
• 10:41
  And that's why the verse does not say, tattoo the Bible on yourself. It doesn't say that. Instead, it says, look at verse 3, tattoo them on the tablet of your heart. You want to go get a Bible verse tattoo? Totally, go do it on your heart. What would this mean except to memorize it, to meditate on it, to internalize it, to make it a part of who you are from the inside out rather than from the outside in? We must commit.
• 11:18
  Our walk, he says, to love and to faithfulness. Tattooing those characteristics, those attributes, tattooing them on our hearts. These attributes which reflect the character and the nature of the God that we worship. The Bible says that we are to be conformed to his image. To become more and more and more like him. We serve a loving and faithful God. Amen?
• 11:46
  And we must therefore be loving and faithful people. Our characters must reflect the nature and character of the God that we worship. It is easy enough to get God's word into our hands, but we all know that it is a lot more work to get it into our heads, right? How much more so to get it into our hearts? John Phillips says this, we must engage.
• 12:19
  Our hearts in the issue of our relationship to God's word. It's not just a hand exercise. It's not just a head exercise. He says it's a heart exercise. He continues, then we will not only hear it, we will also heed it. Love and faithfulness first tattooed to our hearts. Second, the next two words in verses five to eight are trust and obey. You say, wait a minute, really?
• 12:50
  Trust and obey. Is it really that simple? For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. Is it really that easy? The answer, yeah, it really is. The song kind of nailed it. Trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. So let's look at those two words. Let's look first at trust. Look at verse five. Trust in.
• 13:22
  The Lord simply stated, but applied with great difficulty. Did anybody honestly walking in here today not know that you were supposed to trust in God? Is that news to anybody? And yet we who have heard it again and again and again, some of us our entire lives growing up in the church, hearing trust God, is that not hard to apply? Does anybody else besides me have trust issues?
• 13:56
  I mean, I believe that I exist for a purpose. I believe that my purpose is to walk within the will of God to accomplish his desire, even over my own desire for my life. I know that that's his will, his plan, his will, his church, his name, his glory. Even I am his, but I have trust issues. I believe that God will hold me. And again, I believe that he might drop me.
• 14:29
  I believe that his way is best. But then again, I sometimes struggle accepting it. I believe God will only ever guide me in the way that I should go. But then again, sometimes I feel like the father from Mark 9. Remember this guy, the father of the demon-possessed boy who goes to Jesus and he says, Lord, I believe, but what? Help me with my unbelief.
• 15:02
  Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief. Lord, I believe, but I don't believe. Do you ever feel that way? I know the truth. I'm convinced of it. My heart is convinced of the truth. And yet I struggle sometimes to hand it all over to God and say, Lord, I trust because trust is hard. Do you ever wonder if God really knows what he's asking from us when he tells us to trust? Lord, you don't know how hard it is to trust.
• 15:33
  You see all things. You see the future. It'd be a lot easier if I could see the future, right? Then I wouldn't even have to trust. Lord, you don't understand. When he tells us to trust him, does he really understand how hard that may be? I think the answer is yes. Consider Noah. You know the wording of Genesis 6 to 7? Noah's life is kind of Genesis 6 through 9, but Genesis 6 and 7, the flood, Noah building the ark, the wording there in that one chapter seems to imply
• 16:05
  That it was a hundred years between the command of God to begin the construction on the ark and the first drop of rain. A hundred years. Can you imagine? Some even theorize, and although I don't think a hard line can be drawn from the scriptures, but some even theorize that it had never rained prior to the flood.
• 16:36
  So Noah gets this instruction from God. I'm going to flood the earth. How are you going to do that? Rain's going to fall from the sky. Okay. You're going to build a boat. Okay. You're going to build it big. You're going to start preaching to your neighbors and friends and family members. Okay. But I'm going to wait a hundred years. You're going to preach for a hundred years before the first drop of rain begins to fall.
• 17:07
  There is Noah building some gigantic boat in the middle of nowhere, making claims that a worldwide flood was coming, preaching for a hundred years with not a drop of rain. I wonder, would I have been as steadfast? Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, the famous hall of faith, in verse 7 says, By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark.
• 17:39
  For the saving of his household. By faith it says. Trusting. Trusting the word of God. Waiting on him. Trusting. Trusting. Trusting. Even though he could not see. Constructed an ark for the saving of his household. If you'll permit me just a moment to take an aside here. I speak specifically to the husbands. The fathers. The grandfathers. In the room. What are you constructing for the saving of your household?
• 18:13
  We also face a great flood, not of water, but of sin, a flood of lies, a flood of compromise, a flood. Look at every single ballot. Every time we vote, there is a flood of rebellion against God and his design, a flood against the truth. Men, heads of your homes, what are you constructing to protect?
• 18:46
  and preserve your families. Did God understand what he was asking Noah to do? Yeah, I think he did. Consider Job for a moment. Here's a man who lost everything, family, possessions, his house, all of it. And yet he says in Job 13, 15, though he slay me, I will trust in him. Though he slay me, I will trust in him. The Lord absolutely understands the human condition. He understands everything he is going to call you to endure.
• 19:19
  Maybe even to the nth degree. And yet he says with absolute confidence, with absolute surety, son, daughter, you can trust in me. I never fail. Trust in the Lord. Verse 5 continues, with all your heart. Now why would he have to add that? Half-hearted trust isn't trust.
• 19:47
  You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom. You can't. You can't straddle the fence. You can't walk the line kind of bouncing back and forth between the light and the darkness, between life and death. You can't. If you believe, if you really believe the gospel, that God became flesh and dwelt among us and lived a perfect sinless life and died on the cross.
• 20:15
  absorbing the wrath of God, was buried, went to hell for three days, preached a message of victory there, came back from the dead, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven on high, and is now seated at the right hand of God. If you believe all of that, that you were created by a God to be a worshiper, I know that every one of us in here is saying, well, yeah, I believe that. But if you really believe all of that, then be all in.
• 20:47
  You can't say, oh, I believe that and then go back. That's why Jesus says when you put your hand to the plow, don't look back. There's no looking back. You end up with a crooked life. There's no going back. Be all in. I shared a story with our young adults this last Thursday that I'll share with all of you this morning. A couple of Wednesdays ago, I was talking to one of the young men that comes on Wednesday nights here to our church from the City Kids neighborhood. His name is Edwin. I've shared about him before. He's the one who asked me the difference between a principal and a pastor.
• 21:19
  And I told him, you know, he knows. And we talk every Wednesday. We've developed a friendship in the last 18 months or so since he's been coming. The wonderful young man, he's going into the fifth grade. Honestly, is such a quality kid. And I just talk to him and say hi to him and whatever. He is so smart. Yes, he's really, really, really smart. He notices things that other fifth graders don't notice. He asks questions that I don't think other fifth graders even occurred to them to ask. But he came out to me a couple of Wednesdays ago.
• 21:51
  He says, Pastor Danny. I said, hey, Edwin, how you doing? Are you the only one who does your job? I said, I think so. I wasn't totally sure what he was asking. You know, like, are there other pastors in the church? Yeah, there's other pastors in the church. So I wasn't totally sure. I think so. What do you mean? And he says, well, like Pastor Sam is a pastor. And I said, yeah. He said, but are you the only one who gets paid to do what you do? And I said.
• 22:27
  Well, yes, there are other pastors, but I'm the only one who gets paid to do what I do. And he stopped and he kind of looked around and he said, you mean all these other people come for free? Yeah, yeah. You mean they just come because they think it's fun? Now listen, he's been coming for 18 months and it occurred to him, I mean, he, until that point, I think, thought that we were all getting paid to be here.
• 23:04
  And it occurred to him, wait a minute. You're the only one coming because you're getting paid. Everybody else comes for free. Everybody else is coming because they think it's fun. And I said, well, Edwin, I hope they think it's fun. But honestly, if you're only coming because you think it's fun, that eventually will wear off. It will. It will, I promise. When it's new and it's fresh and it's vibrant, you can't wait.
• 23:39
  for Wednesday nights and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings. You can't wait when it's new, but eventually, amen, church? Yeah, that fun wears off. I know probably a pastor is not supposed to confess this, but there are times I don't want to come to church. I don't want to wake up early. I don't want to stay up late. I don't want to work. I don't want to go. I don't want to shake a bunch of hands. There are times, if I'm honest, that the fun has worn off.
• 24:09
  And there are glimpses of it again, you know, where we really can stand up here. We sing rejoice, lift your hands and raise your voice. We really believe in the joy that comes from knowing the Lord, the fruit of the spirit being joy. We know that that's true. We rejoice in all things, in all circumstances, always without ceasing, we rejoice. But there are times when the fun has worn off. And so I told Edwin, you know, I hope, I hope that people come because they think it's fun, but that's not why they come either.
• 24:39
  Why do they come? I said, because they believe in what we're doing here. They come because they really, genuinely believe in what we're doing here. They believe the whole thing. They believe the gospel. And they believe really, there really are people who are going to die without Jesus and experience an eternity, an existence of eternal death. We really believe.
• 25:15
  When this says to trust in the Lord, it's not just a cute way to say, oh, I like Jesus a little bit and I'll tolerate his bride. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. All your heart continues and says, and lean not on your own understanding. Lean not on your own understanding. We must grow wary and distrustful.
• 25:42
  of our own understanding, you say, well, wait a minute. Does that mean that I must learn not to trust my own thoughts within me? Yes. Why? How come I can't trust my own thoughts? And the answer is because I lie to myself all the time. I'm a liar. The person I lie to most often is me. It's me. Every time I complain, I'm lying to myself. I think I'm better than I am.
• 26:14
  I think I deserve more. I see no reason for this. Don't you know who I am? You guys, we would never verbalize it, would we? We would never say that out loud. But in our hearts, every time we complain, Lord, I see no reason for this. Don't you know who I am? Every time I worry, when I worry, I'm lying to myself. That God does not have it under control. That God does not have me. That God is not sovereign over all things.
• 26:50
  Do you know that worry kills trust? It is impossible to conquer worry by our own strength. The only way to have true victory over worry is to trust moment by moment by moment and then look at the promise and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. What a simple but wonderful blessing promised from scripture. Trusting in the Lord results in a clear path, clarity, a well-marked, well-trodden path.
• 27:19
  For every day, not just ordinary days, but even in days of crisis. And this is why we can sing the song legitimately. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take him at his word. Just to rest upon the promise. Just to know, thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him. How I've proved him over and over. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Oh, for grace to trust him more. That's first trust.
• 27:50
  Notice the next word, though. Obey. Obey. Look at verse 7. Be not wise in your own eyes. The first step of obedience is the recognition that there is a better way and that that way involves us not knowing everything. Be not wise in our own eyes. I'm going to let you guys in on a secret. In our baseball team, the coaches call all of the pitches.
• 28:25
  baseball teams, the catcher calls pitches. He'll give, you know, I'll put a one down for a fastball and a two for a curveball and a three for a changeup or whatever. And he relays that to the pitcher and the pitcher says yes or no. That's not what I want to throw, right? And you'll see pitchers doing that sometimes. No, no, yes, that's what I want to throw. On our baseball team, the coach calls all of the pitches. He relays signs to the catcher who relays signs to the pitcher. And we have coached our pitchers. You do not shake off pitches.
• 28:53
  What we say to throw, you throw. When you stand up on the mound and when my son Pearson is standing up there, you guys watch him. Some of you have seen him pitch before. I mean, he becomes a robot on the hill. Son, give me your body. I'll be the brain. Okay? And you watch. He pulls that lid down like this and he puts his glove up like this. And I mean, he is just singular focus. There could be all kinds of stuff going on around him. All he sees is that catcher. That's it.
• 29:23
  Looks a little bit scary even sometimes, and that's intentional, right? This is it. This is life. Right now, it is me in that catcher's glove, and that's all I can see. And we have taught them, you don't shake off pitches. You say, well, Pastor Danny, I have seen your son shake off pitches. I've seen him do it. He'll stand up there, and he'll do his thing. Nope. Nope. Yep. And then that's the pitch he'll go with. I've seen him do it. Do you guys know? Here's the secret.
• 29:54
  even when he's shaking his head no, we're telling him to. The catcher's only given one pitch. He's not shaking anything off. We're telling him to do it because we're trying to mess with the kid who's up there getting ready to hit. Pearson goes, no, not that pitch. No, not that pitch. No, not that pitch. And now the kid up there is thinking, how many pitches does this kid have? I thought there were only like four. This kid just shook off seven pitches.
• 30:20
  What in the world is he going to throw left-handed next time? Like, how do you do that? No, no. Listen, the catcher only gave one pitch. Nope, nope. And I'm even telling him, I'm giving signs from the dugout or whatever, and I'm telling the catcher, give him no, and he'll do this. Nope, nope. Fastball, yep. Right, that's it. And it's the funniest thing. It's so fun to watch him just mess with other guys. Now, why would we do that? Why do coaches call the pitches? The reason is this, because we track everything.
• 30:48
  We track everything. I can tell you where certain players tend to hit the ball. We keep track. We have spray charts on every hitter in our league, every opposing hitter. We know their names. We know who can hit. We know where they tend to hit. And we know what pitches they like on what counts. And so when he gets up there and throws a first pitch fastball and it gets rifled into left center for a double, I know on the next time, that kid ain't seeing a first pitch fastball next time.
• 31:15
  Pearson, you just stand up there. You throw what I'm calling because I got this thing in front of me and I'm not kidding. We have a whole thing out. I got this thing in front of me saying this is this kid's name and I know how many times he's hit and I know what the counts were and I know what pitch he hit it on. The first step in obedience is to recognize that somebody else might know more than you. The same thing happens in our spiritual lives. The same thing.
• 31:42
  We've got one who sees all things, who knows all things, who tracks all things. How do I obey God? Recognize first that he knows more than we do. It is so funny to me, you guys, and this I say to my own shame, but it is so funny to me that I will stand on the pitcher's mound and shake off God's pitches. No, not that one. No, not that one. Would you just throw what I'm telling you to throw? I'm keeping track.
• 32:05
  Don't be wise in your own eyes. Continue. Verse 7. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. The second step in obedience is turning from evil to the good. Now, Scripture calls this repentance. Repentance. Turning away from evil. Turning toward God. And repentance is a requisite for salvation. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Turn away from evil. And notice again this promise.
• 32:32
  A blessing. Verse 8 says, it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Healing to your flesh. I want to point out something about this particular promise. Health. You guys all see in your Bibles, vast majority of your Bibles will have a little tiny hypertext number 3 next to the word flesh. You guys all see that? All your Bibles have it, right?
• 33:04
  The author chooses a particular word. Translated flesh, but that's not necessarily the word that he chose. That's the word that we use. He could have chosen any kind of word. Your body, there is a Hebrew word for flesh. Why wouldn't he choose the Hebrew word for flesh? In this case, he chooses a particular word. And there's a tiny little number three. And then down at the footnote in your Bibles, it says what? You guys all see it? It says navel.
• 33:36
  It will be healing, it says, to your belly button. That's what it says. It will be healing to your belly button. Now, it's a little bit funny. It seems a little bit funny to talk about this in church, but God brought it up. We have a coined phrase. We don't use it often, but we do use it. I've heard it. Where in a derogatory way, we would say that somebody is just sitting around contemplating their navel, right? We say that.
• 34:10
  And we use that to describe those who are so self-absorbed, even becoming self-worshippers, that they cannot see past themselves. They sit around staring into the hole in their stomach. But have you ever contemplated your navel? Why on earth would he use this word? He had so many others at his disposal, and perhaps it is because of what your navel represents. Your belly button is a reminder.
• 34:45
  that you were at one point imprisoned and helpless, right? In the dark, completely and utterly dependent for your survival on another. All of the nutrients and sustenance that you needed for your survival came from somewhere else. But at some point, you were taken from that environment and that umbilical cord was cut and you had to make a decision.
• 35:17
  From that point forward, the only way I will survive is if I begin to feed myself. I now have to make a decision. When that cord was cut, you were freed. And isn't that a great picture of what Christ has done for us in salvation? Even the language is similar to Romans chapter six, where it says that we were bound by sin, bound by it.
• 35:49
  With chains like the umbilical cord. But those chains were broken in the gospel, broken at the cross. We are no longer bound. Now we have been set free. So it's a reminder of past liberation, but it also provides us with a future reminder. While we were in the womb, we could not imagine what life would be beyond it. And are we not on this earth in the womb of eternity?
• 36:22
  Aware that there is life beyond it, but still attached to this existence. We are bound by it, longing for the day when that umbilical cord will be severed. We will join the Lord in the next life. The life which, after all, we were always destined for. Does God's word promise healing? Yes. But the healing that scripture offers.
• 36:47
  First and foremost, make sure you hear this. The healing that scripture offers first and foremost is spiritual healing. It's spiritual healing long before physical. Can God heal people physically? Of course he can. But guess what? All of those people that he heals are still going to die. Much more concerned is he with your spiritual well-being. Trust and obey. Last, the last two words, they come in verses 9 to 12, are honor and receive.
• 37:21
  Honor and receive. Look at verse 9. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats be bursting with wine. Now God demands first place in every area of our lives, including our finances. I hate talking about money. I hate talking about money. I especially hate preaching about money. But it turns out the Lord brings it up a lot. I think the reason is.
• 37:51
  Because the way we spend our money is an easy glimpse into our priorities. Our text says to honor the Lord with, there's this particular word you need to notice. It is the word first fruits, the best, the choicest, the top, not the bottom. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits. The concept of tithing on our income traces its roots all the way back to Abraham, who in Genesis 14 gave a tenth of all he had plundered.
• 38:22
  and the retrieval of his nephew Lot to the king priest Melchizedek. Abraham understood that this income, if you want to call it that, had been given to him by God, and so he gave the first tenth back to God in gratitude. Now, God's expectation on New Testament believers is no different. Although the New Testament never commands us to give a certain percentage, it does not. It does say to give joyfully and sacrificially. That's 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
• 38:52
  It also says, and this one may be the key, that Jesus is to be preeminent. That means first, first in every area of our lives. That's Colossians 1.18. Jesus is to be the first in every area, including our finances. Jesus gets the first fruits. What promise does it give? Verse 10 says, your barns be filled with plenty, your vats.
• 39:20
  bursting with wine. Our text says that not only is tithing commanded, but don't miss this, it's also rewarded. The Lord provides for his children regardless of their faithfulness. You could become a believer in the Lord and become the most stingy man or woman on earth, never giving to anybody else, no hospitality, no generosity, and yet the Lord will provide for you. Because that's the kind of God we serve. He is a giving God.
• 39:49
  But we should not, acting in that way, which is, in my opinion, sinful, we should not, acting in that way, presume upon the grace of God, expecting that God would bless us then financially if we leave him until last or leave him out altogether. One point in the book of Malachi, God, even in reference to tithing to the temple, says, test me in this. Test me in this and see what I will do.
• 40:22
  Honor the Lord, it says, with your wealth. And then notice last, receive. Receive. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be wary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father, the son of whom he delights. Receive. Now, you may expect in a section on using our wealth that we would receive more wealth. I mean, that is, after all, what true prosperity preachers will tell you. But that is not the truth of Scripture.
• 40:52
  Faithfulness and using our wealth will bring with it the promise of discipline. Discipline? So I'm going to give and what I get back is the Lord reproving me? Disciplining me? Why would I want that? The answer is in verse 12. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves.
• 41:13
  and a father, the son in whom he delights. He doesn't discipline us because he hates us. He disciplines us because he loves us and delights in us and wants us to walk in newness of life. He wants that discipline to bring sanctification. The Lord sanctifies those whom he loves. The entirety of the Christian life, I think, can be boiled down into six words, love and faith, so that we are an accurate reflection of the character and nature of our Lord. Trust and obey.
• 41:45
  There's no other way to be happy in Jesus. And honor the Lord and receive his discipline as beloved children. And God, I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word. I pray that our hearts would be soft to receive it. Lord, have your way in this church. It's about you, not about us. It's about your name, not ours. God, be glorified and magnified in this place. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.