Latest / HBCWestminster / 12.6.23 Proverbs 3:1-20 Pastor Danny Gardner

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12.6.23 Proverbs 3:1-20 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

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  Proverbs chapter three, beginning in verse one, the word of God says, my son, do not
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  forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for length of days and years
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  of life and peace they will add to you.
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  Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them
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  on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God
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  and man.
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  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
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  In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.
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  Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
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  It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
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  Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, then your
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  barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine.
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  My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof.
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  For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights.
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  Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding for the gain from
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  her is better than gain from silver, her profit better than gold.
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  She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her.
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  Long life is in her right hand.
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  In her left hand are riches and honor.
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  Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.
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  She is a tree of life to those who love her.
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  Those who lay hold of her, those who hold her fast are called blessed.
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  The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.
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  By understanding, he established the heavens.
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  By his knowledge, the deeps broke open and the clouds dropped down the dew.
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  Would you pray with me?
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  Almighty God, you have built your church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
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  Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
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  We would ask this evening that you would join us together in unity of spirit by the teaching
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  of your word.
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  That we may become a holy temple acceptable to you.
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  We pray all of these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns in
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  our hearts now and forevermore.
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  Amen.
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  Amen.
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  Thank you, church.
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  Well, we thus far have looked at wisdom's plea in chapter one, wisdom's protection
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  in chapter two.
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  Now we turn our focus to wisdom's path in chapter three, and more specifically on both
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  the prosperity and purpose.
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  The Lord has offered to those who will follow lady wisdom's call.
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  And I know what you're thinking.
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  Wait, did Danny just say the word prosperity from the pulpit?
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  Isn't that a dirty word when it's used in church?
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  Did you guys hear Danny is teaching a prosperity gospel?
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  He said that if you put your faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sin, that the
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  Lord might actually heal your afflictions.
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  And if you prove the genuineness of your heart by storing up treasure in heaven, he might
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  also entrust.
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  You with treasure on earth, but stay with me, friends.
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  We will work through the passage together.
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  I love the game of baseball because it is a perfect reflection on life.
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  You can devote your entire life to studying the game of baseball.
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  You can watch every single game that's ever been played, and you will never see the same
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  game twice that you may begin to discern patterns and trends, but you still cannot predict what
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  will happen next.
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  But despite baseball's complexity, you can boil the entire game down to a few simple
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  words.
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  Hit, run, throw, catch.
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  The most complex game that has ever been devised by man can be boiled down to just a few simple
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  statements.
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  And isn't that just like life?
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  It is simple.
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  And yet vastly complex.
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  There is an agreed-upon set of rules, and yet life is impossible to predict.
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  It's hard.
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  It's messy.
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  There are failures.
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  There are broken hearts.
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  But the entire thing, our entire lives, really can be summed up in just a few simple words.
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  I've boiled this section, what I'm calling Proverbs, promise of prosperity, down to six
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  words.
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  And I realize there are many more than these six, but I love that God promises heavenly
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  and earthly favor.
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  Did you catch?
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  Did you catch it in verse four?
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  You will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
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  He promises health in verse eight.
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  It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
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  And then he promises wealth in verse 10.
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  Your barns will be filled and your vats bursting.
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  All if we will commit our ways to a few simple but foundational points for Christian living.
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  These would be the hit, run, throw, catch.
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  We'll see what happens next.
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  Let's turn to the first two.
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  Words one and two, love and faith.
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  And notice again in verse one, my son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart
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  keep my commandments for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
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  Now notice verse three.
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  Here are the first two words.
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  Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you.
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  Bind them around your neck.
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  Write them on the tablet of your heart.
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  Then you will find favor.
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  and good success in the sight of God and man.
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  We are reminded again in verse one
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  of the heart of the author.
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  This is not some distant relation
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  writing to one whom he doesn't actually know
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  or care about.
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  This is a loving father.
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  He is invested in the recipient, his son.
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  And what does the father command?
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  He says, do not forsake love and faith.
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  Faith, bind them around your neck,
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  write them on your hearts.
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  Now, it would have been very difficult
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  for an Old Testament Jew to forget the commands of God.
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  It was their custom to wear what are called phylacteries.
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  I've talked about these in church before.
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  I've even shown pictures of them.
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  They were small, sometimes wooden or leather boxes,
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  cases containing significant verses to them.
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  Sometimes the Shema, the Deuteronomy 6.4,
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  there is one God or other significant Old Testament texts.
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  They were rolled up in little scrolls.
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  They were stuffed in these boxes.
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  And the boxes were literally strapped
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  either to the backs of their hands
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  or right onto their foreheads.
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  In fact, some in Israel still practice this.
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  If we have the opportunity to go to Israel again soon,
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  you'll see, and those who are planning on going in June,
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  you'll see these primarily men
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  standing around the temple precinct
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  with these phylacteries on.
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  They literally strapped the commandments of God
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  to their heads and to their hands.
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  Thinking that this practice made them holy.
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  But we know, we don't become any holier
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  simply by writing Bible verses on our hands
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  and our heads with a sharpie.
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  You can try it.
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  But you are not inherently holier, sanctified,
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  simply because you're writing Bible verses
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  all over yourselves.
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  Tattooing a Bible verse on your body somewhere
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  I know has become a popular thing.
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  It's fine with me.
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  I don't care one way or the other.
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  Maybe it's good.
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  It's cool, whatever.
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  I'm curious how it's going to look in 60 years,
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  but that reference is going to probably change.
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  But it does nothing for the condition of your soul.
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  It's okay to commit to,
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  and it's okay to be reminded of those things.
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  But simply writing them on your body
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  doesn't affect your soul.
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  The verse 3, however, does say
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  you should have Bible verse tattoos.
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  It says it.
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  Look at verse 3.
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  Where should you tattoo?
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  Do them on your heart.
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  Do you guys catch that?
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  On your heart?
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  Now, what does this mean?
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  Except that we would memorize the word of God,
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  meditate upon the word of God,
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  and then commit our walk to love and faithfulness,
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  attributes which reflect the character and nature
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  of the very God that we worship.
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  It is easy enough to get God's word into our hands.
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  It's available everywhere.
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  We got to work to get it into our heads, right?
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  And then we got to work.
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  We got to work even harder to get it into our hearts.
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  John Phillips has said it this way.
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  We must engage our hearts in the issue of our relationship to God's word.
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  Then we will not only hear it, but we will also heed it.
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  Love and faith.
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  Notice the second two words, trust and obey.
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  And you say, wait, really?
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  Trust and obey?
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  They should write a song.
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  Trust and obey.
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  We just sang it.
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  I obviously requested that from Sam this evening.
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  There's no other way to be what?
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  Happy in Jesus.
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  Than to trust and obey.
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  And you may think, well, can it really be that simple?
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  Look at verse five, trust in the Lord.
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  So simply stated, but applied with great difficulty.
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  Are you a person who has trust issues?
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  I believe that I exist for a purpose.
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  I believe my purpose is to walk within the will of God and to accomplish his desire,
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  even over my desire for my life.
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  My desire for my life.
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  His desire is more important.
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  His plan, his will, his church, his name, his glory, his me.
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  I'm his, but I have trust issues.
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  I believe that he will hold me.
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  But then again, I believe that he might drop me.
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  I believe that his way is best.
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  But then again, I struggle accepting it.
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  I believe he will only ever guide me in the way I should go.
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  I know, I trust that that is true.
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  But then again, like the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark chapter nine, who said,
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  I believe, but Lord helped me with my unbelief.
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  I believe, but sometimes I struggle with trust.
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  Trust is hard.
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  You ever wonder, does God really understand what he's asking us to do?
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  When he says it so simply in verse five, trust me.
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  Trust me.
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  Do you, do you think that he really understands the complexity of that command?
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  Does God know what he's asking when he tells us to trust him?
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  Does he understand how hard trust actually is?
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  Consider for a moment, Noah, you go back and read Genesis six and seven in the story of Noah.
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  Those chapters seem to imply that it was a hundred years between the command of God to build the ark.
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  And then the first drop of rain, a hundred years.
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  Can you imagine?
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  He was working on that boat for a century.
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  Preaching to people about how it's going to begin to rain in the desert.
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  Floods are coming.
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  We all going to die unless you get on the boat.
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  And for a hundred years, can you imagine how crazy his neighbors thought?
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  He was, you guys will have a neighbor like him, right?
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  What a weirdo.
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  And you know, the text, even, I mean, there are many who, who theorize it and it could be true.
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  And many who theorize that it had actually never, ever rained upon the earth until that day.
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  It was the first drop of rain ever that the earth was watered a different way.
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  And so he's now screaming about rain in the desert for a hundred years.
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  And not only are they saying this isn't coming, but they're saying, what's rain?
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  Water is going to fall from the sky.
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  Are you kidding me?
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  What a joke.
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  And here is Noah building this gigantic boat in the middle of the desert,
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  making claims that this worldwide flood was coming and preaching for a hundred years with not a drop of rain.
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  Can I ask you, would you have lasted the hundred years?
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  Would I have been as trusting as Noah?
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  Who said, you know what?
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  Even if it takes a hundred years, fine.
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  I know the promise of God never fails.
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  I will trust in him.
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  Hebrews 11 verse seven says,
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  by faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear,
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  constructed an ark for the saving of his household.
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  And praise God he did.
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  He trusted God.
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  He built the boat and he saved his wife and kids.
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  And can I take an aside here and talk to the men in the room?
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  And especially men in the room who are heads of household, husbands, fathers, grandfathers.
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  What are you constructing for the saving of your household?
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  We are, as you know, also facing a flood.
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  Floods of sin and lies of compromise of rebellion against God and his design.
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  Floods against our very biology and reality and truth.
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  What are you constructing in your home to protect?
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  To preserve your wife and kids?
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  Do they consider it an ark where the floods of the world cannot penetrate?
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  Consider Noah for a hundred years trusted.
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  What about Job?
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  Job is a man who lost everything.
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  It's the only thing that's famous about him.
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  The guy lost everything, family, possessions, his house, all of it.
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  And yet he says in Job chapter 13 and verse 15.
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  Anybody know that one?
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  Job 13, 15.
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  It's one that we all know, but I bet you don't know that you know it.
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  Job 13, 15.
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  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.
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  Right?
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  Though he slay me.
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  His friends are coming to him and just say, what is going on with your life?
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  You're certainly cursed by God.
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  And Job just says, you know what?
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  Even if he kills me, I will trust in him.
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  The Lord absolutely understands the human condition.
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  He knows the difficulty we will endure.
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  To the nth.
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  Degree.
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  And yet he says with absolute surety in verse five, you can trust in me.
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  You can trust in me.
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  And not only that, he says, you can trust in me with what?
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  All your heart.
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  Because half-hearted trust is no trust at all.
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  You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom.
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  If you believe, he says, believe all the way.
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  Trust all the way.
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  I was having a conversation several years ago with a young man who was coming here on Wednesday nights.
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  He's actually from our city kids neighborhood.
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  And he was attending here.
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  He was in a children's class that I was teaching on a summer night one time.
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  And he came to me and he said, Pastor Danny, and I've got a good relationship with this kid.
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  I like him a lot.
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  I've been in his home over there in the city kids neighborhood.
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  I've met his parents and know his family.
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  And he says, Pastor Danny, can I ask you a question?
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  And he said, he said, yeah, you're a pastor.
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  Yeah.
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  Does that mean you get paid to be here?
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  I said, yeah.
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  He said, anybody else get paid to be here?
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  And I said, no.
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  No.
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  And he said, you mean all these people come for free?
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  He said it just like that.
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  And I said, yeah.
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  And he said, do they come because they think it's fun?
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  And I said, no.
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  They come because they believe in what we're doing.
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  They come because they're all in their belief has changed.
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  It's with your whole heart, right?
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  It's not just mouthing some words and then going on about your life as if everything was.
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  It's the same.
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  He says, trust in the Lord.
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  You can trust him even for a hundred years, even though he slay you with all of your heart.
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  If you're going to believe, he says, believe all the way and the do not lean on your own
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  understanding.
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  He says, we must become wary and distrustful of our own understanding.
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  And you may ask, well, does that mean I shouldn't trust my own thoughts?
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  Is that what he's saying?
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  I shouldn't trust my own thoughts.
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  Is that what he's saying?
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  Yes.
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  Why?
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  Because we lie to ourselves all the time.
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  And I can always tell when I'm lying to myself, when I'm speaking untruths, because I begin
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  to worry and worry kills trust.
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  It's impossible to conquer worry by your own strength.
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  It is impossible.
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  It is impossible because if you try to rely on your own strength, you're only going to
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  come to the conclusion that you're not going to succeed.
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  You can't do everything you're trying to do.
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  You will not always win.
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  And so worry kills trust.
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  It will cause this anxiety in you that will cause you no longer to trust in the Lord.
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  In fact, the only way to have true victory over worry is to trust God the moment by moment.
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  And if you do notice the promise in verse six and all your ways, acknowledge him and
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  he will make straight your paths.
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  Your paths.
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  A simple but wonderful promise.
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  That is trusting in the Lord results in clarity, both on the ordinary days and in the days
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  of crisis.
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  And this is why we can sing it is so sweet to trust in Jesus and just to take him at
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  his word and just to rest upon the promise that just to know thus say at the Lord, Jesus,
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  Jesus, how I trust him, how I've proved him or and or.
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  Over and over.
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  Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus.
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  Oh, for grace to trust him more.
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  Trust in the Lord.
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  Notice word for the word obey.
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  Obey.
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  Verse seven.
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  Be not wise in your own eyes.
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  Fear the Lord.
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  The verse, the first step of obedience we know is the recognition that there is actually
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  a better way that we might have to admit that we don't have to.
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  We don't know everything be not wise, fear the Lord and turn from evil.
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  The second step of obedience is turning from evil to the good scripture calls this repentance.
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  It's the prerequisite for salvation.
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  Be not wise in your own eyes.
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  Turn from evil.
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  And if you will, here's another promise.
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  Verse eight, it will be healing to your flesh refreshment to your bones.
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  Another blessed promise from scripture healing to your flesh.
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  You probably have in your Bibles, a little translator's note.
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  If you look real carefully at the word flesh, there's a little tiny hypertext number three.
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  Do you guys all see that little tiny number three.
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  If you go down either the, they don't kind of end note referencing or center column referencing,
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  depending on how your Bible is arranged.
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  You'll notice there that the translator's note for the word flesh, the Hebrew word is
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  what word you see the little number three, the word navel.
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  It's your belly button.
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  That's the word that he uses his belly button.
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  We call those who are self-absorbed self-worshipers, naval contemplators.
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  They just sit around contemplating their own navels.
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  They are those who can't see past themselves.
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  So here's a weird question.
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  Why would the author here use the word belly button?
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  He had so many other words he could have used.
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  Why would he say this is healing to your.
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  Navel?
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  Well, have you ever contemplated your own navel or thought about your own belly button?
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  Why would he use this word?
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  Perhaps it was because of what your navel represents.
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  Your belly button is symbolic of something important.
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  And I love John Phillips thoughts on this subject.
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  Listen to what he says.
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  Your belly button is a reminder that you were at one point imprisoned and helpless.
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  Right?
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  Entirely dependent on another for your life.
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  The fact that it is no longer attached is a reminder that the sustenance of your earthly
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  life is now up to you.
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  You must determine to feed yourself to survive.
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  Nobody's doing it for you anymore.
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  It at one point attached us to an old way of life for which we are no longer suited.
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  Once the court court was cut, we were freed.
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  We gained our freedom.
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  We gained our independence.
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  But he says it also provides us with a future reminder.
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  While we were in the womb, we could not imagine what life would be beyond it.
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  Can you imagine trying to explain to a baby still in their mother's womb?
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  What life is like outside of it?
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  Be terrifying.
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  Right?
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  I don't want to go there.
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  No way you can't make me go.
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  And listen, are we not on this earth in the womb of eternity?
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  Oh, what a great idea.
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  That is.
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  We're aware that there is life beyond this life, but we are still attached to this existence.
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  Now our belly buttons are our flesh.
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  Our entire bodies are our belly buttons tying us to this earth.
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  But there will be a day church.
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  When that cord will be cut, right?
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  We're going to die and we're going to leave these bodies in the dirt.
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  Okay.
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  And we will go to the next.
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  Okay.
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  I gotta, I gotta keep going here with what he says.
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  Okay.
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  But still attached, bound by it.
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  Longing.
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  Longing for the day when our umbilical cord, he's talking about our bodies will be severed
• 21:56
  and we will join the Lord in the next life.
• 21:58
  The life for which we were always destined, man, look at verse eight again, it will be
• 22:07
  healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
• 22:10
  Does God's word promise healing?
• 22:16
  Yes, but listen, the healing that scripture offers first and foremost is what kind of
• 22:21
  healing?
• 22:23
  It is a spiritual healing for the next life first and foremost, right?
• 22:30
  Healing for the next life.
• 22:32
  Does the Bible promise that you will be healed?
• 22:34
  Yes.
• 22:34
  But you may have to die first and then will you be healed?
• 22:39
  Yes.
• 22:41
  And amen, a spiritual healing that results in eternal life.
• 22:45
  Notice the words five and six honor.
• 22:47
  He says, and receive honor and receive.
• 22:51
  Look at verse nine.
• 22:52
  Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.
• 22:57
  God demands first place in every area of our lives, including financially.
• 23:03
  Now I hate talking about money.
• 23:05
  I hate it, but it turns out the Lord brings it up a lot.
• 23:10
  And the reason is because the way we spend our money is an easy glimpse into our priorities.
• 23:15
  Our text says to honor the Lord with the first fruits of our wealth.
• 23:21
  Not the leftovers, the concept of tithing on our income traces its roots all the way
• 23:28
  back to Abraham.
• 23:29
  He gave a 10th of all he had plundered in the retrieval of his nephew lot.
• 23:33
  Maybe you remember the story.
• 23:34
  It's Genesis 14.
• 23:36
  He tithed to the King priest Melchizedek.
• 23:39
  He understood that his income, if you want to call it that had been given to him by God.
• 23:44
  And so he gave the first 10th back to God in gratitude.
• 23:47
  Now.
• 23:48
  God's expectation.
• 23:49
  God's expectation on new Testament believers is no different.
• 23:51
  There is no, however, new Testament command to give a certain percentage.
• 23:56
  So the tithe that we get from the old Testament, there is nothing in the new Testament says
• 24:01
  10% or whatever.
• 24:03
  All the new Testament says is to give joyfully and sacrificially.
• 24:08
  That's what it says.
• 24:09
  Second Corinthians eight and nine and Colossians chapter one says that Jesus must be preeminent
• 24:16
  first in every area.
• 24:19
  Of our lives.
• 24:20
  He says, honor the Lord with the wealth that he's given you and consider him.
• 24:26
  Verse nine says, consider him first.
• 24:29
  And if you do look at this promise in verse 10, then your barns will be filled with plenty
• 24:34
  and your vats will be bursting with wine.
• 24:37
  Our text says that not only is tithing commanded, it is also rewarded.
• 24:43
  The Lord provides his children before his children, regardless of their faithfulness.
• 24:48
  So.
• 24:48
  Yeah.
• 24:49
  Stop right there and make sure you understand.
• 24:50
  Are you saying pastor Danny, that if I don't tithe, the Lord will not provide for me?
• 24:54
  No.
• 24:55
  Did you know he will provide for us because he is faithful.
• 24:58
  Even when we are faithless, he will provide for us.
• 25:01
  Even when we are not faithful, even if we give nothing back, he'll still provide for
• 25:05
  us, but he provides all the more for those who are faithful.
• 25:11
  If we prove to be faithful in small things, the Lord will put us over bigger things, many
• 25:18
  things.
• 25:19
  And we should not expect that God would bless us financially.
• 25:22
  If we leave him until last, or if we leave him out altogether, honor the Lord with your
• 25:28
  wealth.
• 25:28
  Notice the last, the last word here for Proverbs prosperity, right?
• 25:35
  The word last word is receive.
• 25:38
  Look at verse 11.
• 25:39
  My son do not despise the Lord's discipline or be wary of his reproof for the Lord reproves
• 25:45
  him whom he loves and a father, the son in whom he delights.
• 25:48
  That do not the spies, the Lord's discipline, in other words, receive the Lord's discipline.
• 25:54
  Now you would expect in a section on using your wealth that you would receive more wealth,
• 26:01
  right?
• 26:02
  But that's what true prosperity preachers will tell you.
• 26:05
  That is not the truth of scripture.
• 26:08
  Faithfulness and using our wealth will bring with it the promise of discipline.
• 26:11
  What a weird promise that is.
• 26:13
  If you're faithful with your money, guess what I'll do?
• 26:16
  I'll discipline you.
• 26:17
  You're like, well, that's not what I want, but discipline understood correctly is a blessing.
• 26:22
  It is far more valuable even than worldly wealth.
• 26:27
  It brings satisfaction.
• 26:29
  The Lord sanctifies those whom he loves.
• 26:34
  A wealthy person without discipline is a monster, right?
• 26:40
  And so the Lord makes us this promise as you are faithful in your finances.
• 26:45
  I will also give you the discipline to spend those things well in proverbs, promises of
• 26:53
  prosperity.
• 26:54
  He come.
• 26:55
  If we will love and have faith and trust and obey and honor and receive now in the second
• 27:00
  half of our text, and we can go through this quickly, we're confronted with the purpose
• 27:03
  of life.
• 27:04
  Does life have meaning?
• 27:08
  That's an awkward place for a silence.
• 27:11
  Does life have meaning?
• 27:13
  Yeah.
• 27:14
  Why does so much of it seem pointless?
• 27:16
  Yeah.
• 27:18
  You ever had a pointless job?
• 27:20
  Do you remember high school?
• 27:23
  I would love to hear someday what everybody did for their very first job.
• 27:28
  And you look back at those jobs now, you're like, what was the point paycheck?
• 27:32
  Like literally no other point at all.
• 27:35
  Do you ever get a neighborhood job pulling weeds for your neighbors?
• 27:38
  You're like, I'll be back in two weeks.
• 27:39
  Why?
• 27:39
  Because all the weeds will be back between my freshman and sophomore years of college.
• 27:44
  I worked at America's tire company.
• 27:46
  Yeah.
• 27:47
  I worked there full time, 40 hours a week so that I could make enough money, you know,
• 27:55
  to continue to go to college and pay my tuition and all of those things.
• 27:59
  I thought I was living large.
• 28:00
  I was making 75 cents above minimum wage, right?
• 28:04
  Which in 1995 made it five bucks.
• 28:07
  I was making five bucks an hour, a full time busting tires.
• 28:11
  It was hard work, hard work and a pointless job.
• 28:16
  You want to know why?
• 28:17
  Because those people all had to come back for new tires again, but brand new tires on
• 28:22
  at some point you got to come back again.
• 28:25
  Perhaps the most pointless days of my employment or when I was teaching high school molding
• 28:30
  young minds is fulfilling.
• 28:31
  I'm not calling high school teachers pointless, but several times a year they gave all the
• 28:37
  students the day off, but then they made all the teachers come to work.
• 28:41
  They called it teacher in service.
• 28:43
  And if you've ever been a teacher, you'll know it is a nightmare.
• 28:46
  Yeah.
• 28:47
  I'm sure those things existed for a purpose, but to this day I couldn't tell you what that
• 28:51
  purpose was.
• 28:52
  The only thing I remember is watching two videos.
• 28:54
  I remember two videos of all I taught high school high school for four years.
• 28:58
  I can only remember two videos we ever watched.
• 29:00
  One was on bloodborne pathogens.
• 29:03
  If a kid is bleeding, don't lick it up is pretty much what I took away from that.
• 29:09
  The other was by some professional educator named Harry Wong.
• 29:13
  Harry Wong was his name.
• 29:15
  He began his lecture with a joke.
• 29:16
  Now.
• 29:17
  He's a professional educator had been in it for many, many years.
• 29:19
  He's Chinese American.
• 29:20
  He talked about his parents, how they met when they got married.
• 29:24
  And then he said, I am living proof that two Wongs don't make a white.
• 29:29
  That's all I can remember.
• 29:32
  That's all I remember.
• 29:33
  I remember those two things, all of those years of in-service, do you ever feel like
• 29:39
  you ever feel like I did in those meetings?
• 29:41
  I'm like, what are we doing here?
• 29:42
  Is there a point to all of this?
• 29:45
  Are we on earth?
• 29:46
  Are we on earth for any other reason than to cohabitate, reproduce and burn fossil fuels?
• 29:50
  That doesn't feel like we exist in a never ending teacher in service.
• 29:54
  The remainder of the passage before us this evening is a reminder that God is our greatest
• 29:58
  good.
• 29:59
  He is infinitely valuable and that we also have been instilled or created with intrinsic
• 30:06
  value because he made you on purpose with gifting and skill and you can trust.
• 30:15
  His purpose for your life.
• 30:17
  We are going to read two hymns praising God for two truths regarding his actions and characters.
• 30:22
  And the first is a song about his worth, that he is our greatest treasure and should therefore
• 30:28
  be our greatest pursuit.
• 30:29
  The second is a song about our worth, his wisdom in creation that he designed us.
• 30:36
  So notice hymn number one, beginning in verse 13, God's worth, he says blessed is the one
• 30:42
  who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding for the gain of love.
• 30:45
  Gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit better than gold.
• 30:50
  Man, if somebody came to you and said, would you rather be wise or rich?
• 30:59
  Honestly, it'd be tough to answer.
• 31:01
  Would you rather be wise or rich?
• 31:05
  And here, the author of Proverbs says, man, leave the gold and take the wisdom.
• 31:10
  Did you catch that?
• 31:11
  The wisdom is more precious than jewels.
• 31:14
  Nothing you desire can compare with her.
• 31:16
  Long life is in her right hand.
• 31:18
  And in her left hand are riches and honor.
• 31:20
  Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
• 31:25
  The first hymn is a beatitude.
• 31:27
  The blessed is the one who finds wisdom.
• 31:30
  It's in the form of like a love song about that woman wisdom.
• 31:33
  We've talked about her.
• 31:35
  It's about how the happiness she offers is lasting,
• 31:37
  but happiness from any other source is fleeting and temporary.
• 31:42
  You ever wonder, what do I want from my life?
• 31:44
  What is my greatest desire?
• 31:45
  And what do I want from my spouse's life?
• 31:47
  What do we want?
• 31:48
  What do we want for the lives of our kids?
• 31:49
  Your answers to those questions will dictate how you spend your time, money, and energy.
• 31:54
  That you can always discern what we believe will make us happy by our pursuits.
• 32:02
  Money, possessions, clothing, cars, a house in a certain neighborhood,
• 32:05
  friendships, a spouse, a different spouse.
• 32:10
  Our pursuits reveal everything.
• 32:13
  And most of us would say that we need Jesus to be happy.
• 32:16
  Amen?
• 32:16
  Amen.
• 32:17
  But based on our pursuits,
• 32:19
  we might be forced to say we need Jesus plus something else.
• 32:25
  When our boys were little, we don't do this anymore.
• 32:28
  I wish we did.
• 32:28
  I miss, honestly, I miss having little boys.
• 32:32
  But when our boys were little, we had them write Christmas wish lists.
• 32:35
  Many of you do that with your kids.
• 32:36
  We would take them to Toys R Us.
• 32:38
  It doesn't even exist anymore.
• 32:40
  We would give them each a notepad to write down anything they wanted.
• 32:44
  Anything they wanted.
• 32:45
  They got to walk through Toys R Us.
• 32:46
  And they would just come out with these long lists, right?
• 32:49
  Because to a seven-year-old, it's like, man,
• 32:51
  I'll take it all.
• 32:52
  After they were done, we had them number the list.
• 32:56
  Because we have a very strict rule in our house
• 32:58
  that our boys get three Christmas presents.
• 33:03
  Just like Jesus did, right?
• 33:05
  Three Christmas presents, right?
• 33:07
  And so we tell them, Jesus got three, you get three.
• 33:10
  And so they had to decide which toys were most important to them.
• 33:14
  Number them in order of priority.
• 33:17
  Which one do you want?
• 33:19
  Above all.
• 33:21
  Above all else.
• 33:21
  And so let me ask you, friends, what do you want?
• 33:24
  Above all else.
• 33:28
  The Westminster Catechism asks, what is the chief end of man?
• 33:32
  Do you remember the answer?
• 33:35
  Glorify God.
• 33:36
  Enjoy him forever.
• 33:38
  And is enjoyment of God your chief end?
• 33:42
  Is that your above all else?
• 33:44
  Do you really believe that nothing else you desire compares with God?
• 33:48
  Because that is what the text just says.
• 33:50
  Nothing you desire.
• 33:51
  Nothing you desire can compare with wisdom.
• 33:54
  Nothing you desire.
• 33:56
  When it comes down to it, do you really believe that the Lord has the ability to make you happy?
• 34:03
  Here's a guy, Solomon, right?
• 34:04
  In Ecclesiastes.
• 34:05
  Here's a guy who had everything.
• 34:06
  And at the end of his life said, the end of the matter all has been heard.
• 34:09
  Fear God and keep his commandments.
• 34:10
  That is the whole duty of man.
• 34:12
  Nothing else matters.
• 34:14
  He said you could look for happiness somewhere else.
• 34:16
  It is temporary at best.
• 34:19
  And so in Ecclesiastes, he says,
• 34:21
  I'm the guy who walked to the end of every road.
• 34:25
  The end of every single pursuit of pleasure.
• 34:29
  And I looked over the edge.
• 34:31
  And he says, I'm telling you, nothing we desire can compare with him.
• 34:35
  D.A. Carson, God has made us for himself.
• 34:38
  Our goals and joys are rightfully found in him.
• 34:41
  And notice he says here in verse 18, the end of this first hymn,
• 34:44
  She, wisdom, is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.
• 34:49
  Those who hold her fast are called blessed.
• 34:51
  Blessed.
• 34:52
  The hymn ends with the tree of life.
• 34:57
  Do you know this tree is only mentioned three times in all of the Bible?
• 35:02
  It's in Genesis.
• 35:04
  It's in Revelation.
• 35:05
  And then it's here in Proverbs 3.
• 35:07
  The tree of life was a means to unending life, unending joy, unending communion with God.
• 35:15
  It was the tree that was taken from mankind.
• 35:18
  Do you remember that?
• 35:18
  When Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished.
• 35:21
  They were banished from the garden to get them away from the tree of life.
• 35:24
  That is actually why they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
• 35:26
  You can go back and read it.
• 35:27
  God says, because otherwise they're going to keep coming back to the tree and they will live forever.
• 35:32
  The Lord knew that if mankind had access to the tree and so access to everlasting life on earth,
• 35:38
  we would have remained in this miserable state forever.
• 35:43
  We chose death.
• 35:45
  And so God in his grace and mercy does what?
• 35:52
  Let's us.
• 35:54
  He lets us die.
• 35:56
  Why?
• 35:57
  Because he loves us.
• 35:58
  And this place stinks.
• 36:01
  And these bodies stink.
• 36:03
  Amen.
• 36:05
  It's cursed here.
• 36:06
  And so he says, keep them away from the tree of life.
• 36:09
  Now we know in Revelation 22, the tree of life will be restored to us at the end of time in the eternal state.
• 36:16
  But Proverbs says, this is interesting.
• 36:18
  There is access to the tree even now.
• 36:22
  Through the pursuit of wisdom.
• 36:24
  And don't forget, wisdom is a person.
• 36:26
  Wisdom, we said a couple of weeks ago, is the street preacher, Jesus Christ himself.
• 36:31
  Mankind can have abundant life.
• 36:34
  Do you remember this promise from Jesus, John 10, 10?
• 36:37
  I came to give life and to give it abundantly.
• 36:40
  It's like he was saying, I am the tree of life.
• 36:43
  Come and take from me and eat from me and you will have everlasting life.
• 36:50
  What is being offered in this?
• 36:51
  This first hymn is a spiritual return to the Garden of Eden.
• 36:54
  In fact, the word for one.
• 36:57
  You guys go back to verse 13 and look at it.
• 36:59
  Blessed is the one.
• 37:01
  It's a good translation.
• 37:02
  But that word in Hebrew is Adamah.
• 37:04
  Adam.
• 37:06
  It's the name.
• 37:07
  Adam.
• 37:07
  The blessed is the Adam who finds wisdom.
• 37:10
  The blessed is the Adam who gets understanding.
• 37:12
  It's like a calling back to the Garden of Eden.
• 37:15
  And the author intentionally points us back to the Garden before the fall.
• 37:20
  And let me ask you, church.
• 37:21
  Are we happier than that?
• 37:22
  Nothing we desire can compare with that.
• 37:27
  Notice hymn number two.
• 37:28
  And with this, we're finished.
• 37:29
  Your worth.
• 37:30
  You have value.
• 37:32
  Verse 19.
• 37:32
  The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth.
• 37:35
  By understanding, he established the heavens.
• 37:39
  And since the dawn of time, mankind has pondered two questions inseparably linked.
• 37:44
  Who am I?
• 37:45
  And why am I here?
• 37:47
  And countless theories have been put forward to attempt to answer these two questions.
• 37:52
  The naturalist would say, the naturalist is the person who only believes in the natural, not the supernatural.
• 37:58
  The naturalist should not be confused with the nudist.
• 38:01
  Those are two different things.
• 38:03
  All right.
• 38:03
  So the naturalist would posit that you are no one.
• 38:08
  You exist for no purpose whatsoever.
• 38:10
  Your life is the result of an infinite number of random events that were governed by no one.
• 38:15
  You're an accident.
• 38:17
  There's no consequence to your life.
• 38:19
  Therefore, there's no consequence to your life.
• 38:21
  There's no consequence to your death.
• 38:22
  You evolved.
• 38:24
  Because there is no purpose, there is no right and wrong.
• 38:27
  You can live however you want.
• 38:28
  You can do whatever you want.
• 38:29
  You can die however you want.
• 38:30
  It does not matter.
• 38:31
  The whole universe is at the mercy of survival of the fittest.
• 38:37
  But did you ever wonder where that desire to survive even came from?
• 38:42
  Where did that come from?
• 38:44
  Nobody knows.
• 38:46
  If our lives are merely an effort to survive,
• 38:50
  then joy serves.
• 38:51
  No purpose.
• 38:52
  Happiness and kindness and companionship and friendship and marriage and society are all pointless.
• 38:57
  Our goal should be to live as long as we can,
• 39:01
  even at the expense of others.
• 39:04
  Right?
• 39:06
  Because it's survival of the fittest.
• 39:07
  That is what survival of the fittest is.
• 39:10
  But all of us are sitting here saying,
• 39:11
  wait, that doesn't add up.
• 39:13
  Something about that doesn't make sense.
• 39:15
  In fact, if that really is the governing philosophy of mankind,
• 39:19
  then there's a lot about it that doesn't make sense.
• 39:21
  Like, if we evolved simply to survive,
• 39:27
  if that's the whole purpose is survival and nothing else,
• 39:30
  survival of the fittest,
• 39:31
  then where did taste buds come along?
• 39:34
  If taste buds evolved simply for our survival,
• 39:40
  then why don't the healthiest foods,
• 39:42
  the ones that will extend our lives the longest,
• 39:45
  taste the best?
• 39:50
  Right?
• 39:53
  Lima beans,
• 39:55
  should taste good.
• 39:58
  But they don't.
• 40:01
  And our ice cream should be flavored like broccoli.
• 40:03
  But it ain't.
• 40:05
  Why?
• 40:07
  Because those taste buds are not there for our survival.
• 40:11
  Right?
• 40:12
  They're there because the Lord loves us.
• 40:15
  And he wants us to enjoy
• 40:18
  his creation.
• 40:19
  It's something about what those naturalists are screaming.
• 40:21
  It seems like they're always screaming.
• 40:22
  It doesn't add up.
• 40:23
  The creation versus evolution debate has been raging
• 40:26
  for centuries.
• 40:27
  Decades ago,
• 40:28
  the creationists developed an argument
• 40:30
  where they sought to prove empirically
• 40:32
  that God made the universe using evidence
• 40:35
  they call intelligent design.
• 40:38
  Their work, I think, has proved effective.
• 40:40
  We praise God for it.
• 40:41
  This next point is not in any way an effort to put down
• 40:44
  or criticize their argument.
• 40:46
  But notice our text this evening does not say
• 40:48
  that God created the universe with intelligence.
• 40:52
  That's not what he says.
• 40:53
  It says rather that he created the universe
• 40:56
  with intelligence.
• 40:56
  With wisdom.
• 40:57
  Did you see that?
• 40:58
  In verse 19, the Lord by wisdom founded the earth.
• 41:01
  You say, well, what's the difference?
• 41:04
  Many have defined wisdom as intelligence applied.
• 41:07
  Wisdom is intelligence in action.
• 41:10
  What does this mean for creation?
• 41:11
  But that God designed the universe
• 41:13
  to perform a certain task.
• 41:15
  And that task is inherent in its design.
• 41:20
  The stars, sun, and moon, the land and water,
• 41:22
  the plants and trees, fish, birds, and animals
• 41:24
  were not only designed in a way
• 41:26
  that made it possible for us to live.
• 41:26
  If it makes sense for their environments,
• 41:28
  that would be intelligent design.
• 41:30
  But all of those things were designed with wisdom
• 41:32
  in order to accomplish a certain task.
• 41:37
  In verse 20 says,
• 41:39
  by his knowledge, the deeps broke open.
• 41:41
  By his knowledge, by wisdom, the clouds drop down the dew.
• 41:46
  Even the very ground has a purpose.
• 41:51
  It's not just designed in a smart way
• 41:53
  that points to a creator.
• 41:55
  It's actually designed for a purpose.
• 41:56
  It does something.
• 41:58
  It accomplishes a task.
• 42:00
  The clouds, he says, produce rain
• 42:02
  every single time the Lord tells them to.
• 42:06
  And listen, friends, we should not stop there.
• 42:08
  It's not just clouds and dirt.
• 42:11
  Men and women, every single one of them,
• 42:13
  you and I, were also designed with wisdom,
• 42:16
  not just intelligence.
• 42:19
  You and I were designed with applied intelligence.
• 42:22
  We were made on purpose.
• 42:26
  With purpose.
• 42:29
  Ephesians 2 says it this way.
• 42:31
  We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works,
• 42:34
  which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
• 42:38
  We were designed for the works that God has given us.
• 42:44
  If you feel like you're sitting
• 42:46
  in this never-ending teacher in service,
• 42:49
  take heart.
• 42:50
  You do not live a purposeless existence.
• 42:53
  But you must pursue the purpose.
• 42:56
  And who will give your life meaning?
• 42:58
  Your happiness will not be found
• 43:00
  in the pursuit of worldly things.
• 43:01
  Money, possessions, even friendships and marriage,
• 43:04
  apart from God, are temporary at best.
• 43:08
  Nothing we desire can compare
• 43:09
  with the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
• 43:12
  And so don't listen to the theory
• 43:13
  which strips you of your worth.
• 43:16
  You were created by God.
• 43:18
  He loves you.
• 43:20
  He knows you.
• 43:22
  He made you on purpose, for a purpose.
• 43:25
  He made you for a purpose.
• 43:26
  Our lives, therefore, have purpose.
• 43:30
  And Lord, thank you for your word,
• 43:32
  which speaks so clearly every time it's open.
• 43:36
  God, we thank you for the truth.
• 43:38
  And Lord, we desire more and more and more wisdom.
• 43:44
  In Jesus' name, amen.