 Today we're in Proverbs chapter 3 and so what we'll do is we'll begin reading together here in Proverbs chapter 3 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 through 10 and we'll get into our study. I'll give an introduction and move into our study as we continue now a verse by verse approach to the book of Proverbs. So in Proverbs chapter 3 beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 10, Solomon writes, My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your eye, in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Now I chose to look at the first 10 verses together because when you look at these first 10 verses what you actually have is a series of what is called five couplets. In other words, the first verse, my son do not forget my law, the first verse is going to be an admonition. But the second verse gives to you the result of following the admonition. We'll look at that for the first 10 verses. Five times he does that and we'll be looking at that individually as we go through this. So the first 10 verses of the chapter are arranged in what are called couplets. What we have here is we have Solomon. Solomon is giving an admonition and then he gives to his son the result of obedience because as a father it is his great desire for his son to be wise and as a father it is his great desire for his son to be blessed. And so he begins in verse one by reminding him. He says, my son do not forget my law but let your heart keep my commands. So that's his first admonition. Don't forget my law. Let your heart keep my commands. Do not forget. When he says do not forget my law, the word forget means to cease to care about something. Do not cease caring about my directions. To forget means to ignore. So he's saying do not cease caring about my directions and don't ignore what I'm saying to you instead let your inner man guard or keep my commands. So treasure the things that I've given to you. Value those things. Store them up in your heart. Take the things that I'm teaching you and place them in the treasure chest of your heart. Hold fast to those things. Now already he had already in chapter two verse one said something similar. Remember in chapter two verse one he had said receive my words and treasure my commands within you. So he's saying I want you to treasure. I want you to keep these commandments. I want you to see the value of them because what we believe is ultimately what we do. The thing is you have people who say that they believe something but you can really tell what someone believes just by the way that they live. It's one thing for me to say I believe a certain thing. It's another thing for me to live as if I actually do believe that. And so it's so important for us to treasure up the commands within our hearts because it's those commands that guide our life. So he says treasure my commands in your heart. Obey them from your heart. Like the Psalmist said in Psalm 40 verse 8. I delight to do your will oh my God. Your law is within my heart. So he says as a father I'm persuading you out of love. Obey what I am teaching you. My desire is for your life to be blessed by God. I want your life to be filled with peace and I want your life to be prosperous. So that's going to require a conscious decision on your part. Let your heart treasure my commands. Value the things that I'm saying to you. Not all sons value the things their fathers say. A lot of sons ignore the things that their fathers says and some sons never had a father to give them commands and they don't have anything to treasure. In the case of Solomon, Solomon said listen I want your life blessed son I want your heart to be touched by God and I want your life to be used by the Lord. So treasure the things that I'm sharing with you because what you believe is what you will do. And I want you to make a conscious decision to let your heart keep my commands. Now if you do so there's a result verse 2 length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. So there's a reason I'm telling you to do this because your life will be blessed. When he says that length of days and long life and peace they'll add to you. He's not simply saying you're going to have a long life. What he's saying is you're going to have a life that is blessed by God and it's going to be a life that is blessed by God and therefore it won't be filled with toil and problems. If you follow what the Lord has to say you're going to have a long and peace filled life. In Psalm 91 16 it says with long life I will satisfy him show him my salvation. So you're going to have a quality of life. A life that is reflective of a relationship with God. You're going to have a life that continues and that life that continues will be a life that is blessed. Like Jesus in John 10 verse 10 said he said I've come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly and so he's saying if you do not forget my law if you let your heart keep my commands the result will be length of days long life and peace and that's what's going to happen if you hold fast to the things I'm teaching you. In verse 3 he says let not mercy and truth forsake you bind them around your neck write them on the tablet of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the side of God and man. So the first couplet was general in nature this one speaks of relationships. He speaks concerning mercy in verse 3 mercy and truth notice that mercy and truth are two essential expressions of the nature of God. So mercy and truth should guide our relationships. He speaks of binding and writing that makes them a permanent aspect. He's saying I want them to be a permanent aspect of your character mercy and truth should be distinguishing traits of your life and mercy and truth will guide every aspect of your life and will inform the way that you relate to others and the result of this is these qualities will result in favor and esteem with God and man because of the way you live you're going to gain honor and people will see you as a wise individual. Now I don't know what your desire to be known as is. Everybody has a desire. What do you want to be known as? If somebody is speaking concerning you, what do you want to be known as? If they're saying something of you and they're giving their statement as to what they see you as being. Have you ever thought what is it that you would like people to think about you? I know that in my case on a personal level before I got saved and just after I got saved right at that time when I was 20 years old. I began to say if there was anything that I want to be known as I'd like to be known as someone who's kind to me kindness is a beautiful virtue, kindness. When I was a little boy right around Christmas my mom and dad had a friend, a friend of the family. I to this day don't know his name. His nickname was Whitey. That was his nickname and it was okay to call him that Whitey because he had real white hair and every once in a while my mom would drop us off at Whitey and his wife's name. I don't remember what her name was and they had sons around my brother and my age and so they've just lived up the street and my mom would drop us off there for a little while. I remember some things very well little boy. I remember that she used to make homemade tortillas. I remember that. I remember that she would put butter in them and put strawberry jam. I like that. I still remember that homemade tortillas with butter and jam but I also remembered something about her husband. He was a good-sized guy compared to me. I was just a little boy. He may have been short for all I know but I thought he was a big man. He had a bit of a belly and but he was really kind. He was a man who would show affection and that was unusual in my time. We didn't see much of that. My dad's side of the family were very withdrawn and not affectionate at all. My grandmother never kissed me as a child. She was not affectionate. She kissed me one time. One time I still remember. My grandma kissed me one time and I wiped it off my face. She just didn't do that. That was not us. That was not me and my dad's brothers were all loud and just was an interesting family. I didn't see kindness very often, not visibly, but why he was kind. He comes to mind right now for some reason. I didn't plan to share about him other than this. I do remember one day hearing a knock on the door. It was around Christmas and we didn't get presents like a lot of people my age. My dad was having a difficult time financially and all. We didn't get presents. This one particular Christmas and I remember the door. Someone knocked it on the door and we opened it up and there's this guy. That kind of thing with this beard and red suit on. It was whitey. I still remember the suit. It had rips in it. It was dirty. It looked like he'd been cleaning underneath the car with it. It was a mess. He brought in a little pillow and it had some toys in it and he gave us toys and I remember him touching my head and he called me honey. I mean men don't call boys honey, right? But he did. I just loved him. I still love the memory of that kindness. That was something I wanted to be. I'm not yet, but I want to be, but I grow up a kind person. What do you want to be? Well, another thing we ought to want to be and more so than simply the virtue of kindness of course is wise. We should desire wisdom. We should desire people to recognize us as having wisdom and that's what Solomon's telling his son. He said, let not mercy and truth forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. He says, this is what you should desire. You should desire to have these things so that you might find favor before men because God will place you in a position to do so. He goes on in verse five and he says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your way, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. So the admonition verse five, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So he says, this is something that will relate to your relationship with God. When he says, trust in the Lord with all your heart, that word trust is a close synonym for the word faith. When you have trust, you're secure. And he's saying you should be secure in and have a total commitment and confidence in God exclusively. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, not with a portion of it, but with all of it. You see to be blessed requires complete trust in the Lord. And this trust is beyond theoretical or intellectual agreement with things that we agree with and understand. It is speaking of a relationship, a relationship of trust because trust is relational. It emanates from a personal familiarity with God through his word. When you trust somebody, it's because that's that person you trust is trustworthy. That person and you have a relationship and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you can trust that person. Now I don't know about you. Maybe you trust everybody. Anybody who walks up and says something, maybe you trust them. You know, God bless you as you do. I don't. I don't because I've learned over time. Some people you can trust and some people you can't. That's just a fact. That's not something bad about them per se. It's simply that some people are trustworthy and others are not. And I've developed a relationship with people over time to discover that the deeper the trust, the better I know that person. So if I'm going to have trust with God or trust in God, that speaks of a personal intimacy in him. He has, in other words, developed a relationship with me that tells me I can trust him. He's not going to let me down. He's there. He'll be there for me and I'll have that relationship with him. So it's not a theoretical thing because a lot of people speak about, oh, the faith they have in God. And there's a theoretical faith. You know, we haven't a deep experience in this. We just, in theory, we think it's true. But that's not the same as trusting in the Lord. Because when you trust in God, you know he won't let you down. You know him, not simply things about him. And Psalm 62 verse 8, it says, trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. And Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. Nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight says the Lord. Rejoice and glory in the fact that you know me. So trust in the Lord and he says and lean not on your own understanding. Now let me develop that for just a moment. When he says that lean not on your own understanding. Leaning on your own understanding speaks of leaning on your own unenlightened sin nature. In other words, you can trust him, but you cannot trust yourself. That's interesting. But that's what he's saying. Why? Well, because we can convince ourselves that something's okay when we know in fact it's not. We can deceive ourselves. There's all kinds of forms of deception. The most dangerous form is self deception. It's when you've deceived yourself into believing something. He says your unenlightened sin nature will lead you astray. If you're going to make a choice to trust, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Why? Because you can deceive yourself. You see this world is filled with people's understanding and it has a tremendous influence on the way we think. You read the newspaper or you watch the news or you hear somebody speak and they can convince you that what they believe is true when in fact it is in opposition to what God says in his word. But they can say it in such an eloquent and such a convincing way that you can be seduced by it. So he says be very careful. If you're going to make a choice to be 100% confident, be confident in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. In Jeremiah 10, 23, we read, Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. Lord, we need your help. It's what he's saying. I cannot lead myself in the right path. So please Lord, be the one who leads me. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into thy own understanding. Verse six in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. So the admonition, trust in the Lord, the result he will guide you. In all your ways, when he says your ways, that speaks of your course of life. Acknowledge. The word acknowledge means make him supreme. In all your course of life, make him supreme would be a literal translation. And if you do, he shall direct your paths. How does he direct your path? Well, he does so by his word. He does so by his spirit. He does so as you pray and seek his guidance. He does so as you receive teaching from the word of God. He does so as you fellowship with other believers and the Lord uses them to help to strengthen you. So he will direct you. Proverbs sixteen nine says a man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps. Jesus in John fourteen twenty six said but they help her the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring your bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. And so trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. He shall direct thy path. So put your full confidence in him he and son he will direct you. This again is is advice commands given to a son by a godly Father. He goes on with a fourth admonition verses seven and eight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh. Strength to your bones. Do not lean on your own wisdom. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Do not lean on your own wisdom. Exercise humility because fearing the Lord inspires you to depart from evil. So the admonition is fear the Lord and depart from evil. And what will happen verse eight. It will be healthier flesh and strength to your bones. By fearing the Lord sorrow over sin and a life torn apart by sin can be avoided. Any parent in this room knows that as you've raised your children and perhaps they've gotten to young adult age high school age whatever. You know that if you're doing your job to the best of your ability that you've had a lot of conversations with your kids and you've admonished them in a variety of ways over the lifetime and the kids get tired of hearing it. Sometimes they get that look in their face. You've seen it. I've seen it. I gave it to my dad you know that looked like please stop. You know I've heard enough their eyes glaze over. They kind of their tongue sticks out. They start drooling. They fall asleep when you're talking to them and you do your best. You do your best to communicate to them the things that matter. You want them to know these things. You want to give them things that are valuable and you encourage them and you say to them avoid this and make sure you do that. Every room everyone in this room right now I'm sure all of us are old enough to say that if we had the opportunity to go back and do certain things we probably would do them differently. A lot of people say that. A lot of people feel that. Hey if you were able to go back to high school what would you do? I've been asked that. What would I do? Everything would be different. I had a played sports. I played sports when I was a freshman and I stopped playing sports. I'd have gotten away from I wouldn't have taken drugs. I wouldn't become a drunk at the age of 15. I would have avoided so many things of course. You know did my parents try and tell me that? Yes. Did my parents try and instruct me in ways to keep me away from that to avoid that? Yes. Did I listen? No. I didn't. Do I regret not listening? To some degree I do. I've come to a philosophic position though that basically has embraced the reality of what I've done in the past because what I am today is really the result of all the good and bad choices I made but especially the good ones because the good ones have outweighed the bad ones and the bad ones have helped me to have understanding about how to encourage people to make good choices and so you have Solomon a man who has great wisdom and he's saying listen son these are the things that you need to know and these are the things I want you to know please don't be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord depart from evil it will be healthier flesh strength your bones I want you to be blessed and so listen to me and then finally he continues on to say in verse nine honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine use your finances for the kingdom of God he's saying in a way that he would approve it's interesting how it says here and I want you to notice this honor the Lord with your possessions and the first fruits when he uses the word first fruits that helps us to remember something about the nation of Israel you see the keyword is first fruits it's a call really for him to remember the nation of Israel was once in slavery in Egypt and in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 26 verses one following it says when they came to the promised land they took some of the first of all the produce put it in a basket went to the priest they gave the produce to the priest and he dedicated it to the Lord and they did so they remembered that they were slaves they cried out to God and he delivered them so the first fruits was a reminder of their slavery so in giving to the Lord what they're doing is they're worshiping him remembering that he delivered them from slavery so in the worship of God through giving they were acknowledging his graceful provision so he's saying remember where you were remember the history of your people and so honor the Lord with your first fruits because it reminds you that it's God who provides for you in all things and in giving to the Lord you're remembering that your Lord has delivered you but as you do so verse 10 your bonds will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine your bonds will be filled in other words God will bless you so here's the heart of this the father is teaching the son to depend on God and to worship him with their gifts it's the father in this case who's doing that he is saying worship the Lord every one of us who are parents have the responsibility of teaching our children to honor the Lord with their possessions every one of us do we do it in a couple of ways one is we do it by example we we honor the Lord ourselves and two we do it through exhortation we teach them about it we say this is why we do this we trust the Lord because we know that we can never out give him and when my children were small one of the things I grew to understand about human nature is that human nature has a desire to get much more than to give even just on Christmas one of my grandchildren I'll leave Stella unnamed I love that baby I love her so much she is so stinking cute she is so stinking cute she's also a little girl who says at the end of opening her presence is there anything else and then she's walking over to other people to open their presence I mean that's my Stella and as I'm looking at her and I'm getting a kick out of that I'm laughing at that I'm thinking that is our human nature that is our human nature you know we get but it's one more thing like the millionaire was asked how much is enough and he says a little more a little more that's human nature you know the eyes of men are never satisfied we never have quite enough we always think that if we had just one more thing that we'd arrive and when you grow older as you begin to grow older you begin to realize that just absolutely not true because the eyes of men are never satisfied you get the new thing and it goes out of style and you want to get the newer version that's the way it is that's that's when materialism is made up of and so Solomon is saying to his son listen you need to remember that this nation was in slavery and God delivered us and when God delivered us he gave us crops that we didn't plant he gave us things that we didn't possess houses that we didn't build he gave us so many things so as a result of that make sure that you give back to him those things that you never had for yourself in the first place because everything that you have comes down every good gift comes down from above from the father of lights and so you need to remember that that what you have came from him and so the father is teaching the son to honor God depend on the Lord and worship him and Solomon was a man who could give himself as an example to a son who could follow him in verse 11 my son do not despise the chastening of the Lord nor detest his correction for whom the Lord loves he corrects just as a father the son in whom he delights so don't despise the chastening of the Lord the word chasing there when he says chastening chasing it speaks of discipline the word correct speaks of chastising why does God discipline and chastise he does so because we're his children you see God brings prosperity into his children's lives but he also corrects his children you see when we prosper it's easy to forget God in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 8 verses 17 and 18 God says you may say in your heart my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth and you shall remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day so prosperity can occur in our life but chastening does too because we can forget him so he brings chastening into our lives so that we might trust him as well as worship him and he does so because we're his children in Hebrews 12 9 through 11 it says furthermore we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of our spirits and live for they indeed for a few days chastened us as he invested them but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful nevertheless afterward it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it when God chastens you he intends to bring you into conformity with his desires for you and to transform the way that you think and live and he does chasten he does spank us there were these two kids in a park and they were fighting and a man came and separated the two kids and there was a guy who saw it taking place and the man took one of the kids and hit him on the bottom and told him to go sit over there and the other kid he didn't say anything to and so the man who watched this taking place walks up to the man who had separated the children and spanked one of them and this man walks up and he says listen he says I got to bring something up to you he says both of those kids were wrong both of those kids should have gotten spankings but you only spanked one and you let the other one go why is that and the man who spanked the the kid says that's easy one of them was my son and the other isn't and that's how it works I'm not responsible to be kid police go out and spank everybody you know go to the beach I get bored and spank some kids leave your kid your sister alone I'm just bored I'm not the child police but I do have a responsibility to take care of my home and that's what fathers do and that's why you don't despise the chastening of the Lord because the Lord is chastening you because you belong to him if you didn't belong to him he wouldn't be chastening you so instead of crying and being upset what we do is we thank God because he loves us enough to correct us and ultimately that is something that's going to produce good fruit in our life so he says do not despise the chastening of the Lord nor detest his correction for whom the Lord loves he corrects just as a father the son in whom he delights verse 13 happy is a man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold she is more precious than rubies you know I feel sorry for ruby she's always anyway she is more precious than rubies and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her length of days that's in her right hand in her left hand riches and honor her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace she's a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who retain her so he says wisdom gives length of days it produces riches and honor pleasantness peace as well as life but wisdom is better than riches alone you see because wisdom is better than riches because wisdom yields influence power and and against respect and the person who pursues and receives God's wisdom will be happy and will be joyful so pursue wisdom the way you do it I've been sharing with you it's just get into the word read it listen you don't have to be a Hebrew scholar a Greek scholar you don't have to be a very deep theologian all you need to do is be born again read the word of God some things you're not going to understand you know I've been reading the bible a long time I've I've actually taught through the whole bible and I can tell you I don't understand half of it's to this day I really don't I'd be lying if I said I do I don't there are things that I read and I scratch my head to this day and I say what are you talking about I don't understand that so a long time ago I learned that what I should do is act on the things I do understand if I act on the things I do understand the things I don't understand over time I may begin to understand you see it's not the things I don't understand that bother me it's the things that I do understand those things bother me and so those things bring conviction to me and those things bring correction to me and those things bring life to me and those things give me direction it's just the way it works and and so I want to encourage you in this because a lot of believers if someone were to ask me what do I think is a great failing of the church today one of the things that I believe is a failing of the church is the body of Christ doesn't read the body of Christ isn't really reading the word of God so a lot of people are taken by deceptive teachers because somebody's reading out of the Bible therefore he must be he must be right so get into the word read it and somebody was mad they were upset they said you know I keep reading reading and I just can't retain anything and this old pastor was speaking to this young man he was saying that he said I read but I can't retain and the older man said do you have a sieve at home he goes yeah he says how much water does the sieve hold well the sieve has holes in it so he says it doesn't hold any water he says so if you pour water into it what happens he says the water leaks through he says you may not have any water after you've put water in it but you've got a clean sieve let the word of God wash your dirty little sieve brain you know what I mean I mean you don't you're not going to retain everything don't get frustrated if you don't I think somebody needs to hear this right now don't get frustrated if you don't because you won't you know you won't but what you do remember apply it and watch what the Lord does in your life over time again I've taught the New Testament probably four or five times and I still think I don't get that I don't get that how does that really work and there's five different ways you can look at that which way is the right way and I've been studying and this for 44 years and I'm telling you just keep at it just keep studying keep trusting what you'll what you understand obey and Jesus said that if you obey him he says my father and I will manifest ourselves to you we're going to reveal ourselves to you in a way that you didn't know before get into the word watch what'll happen start reading tomorrow even tonight just read read a chapter and just let the Lord wash your dirty little brains and watch what happens watch what happens and now somebody's going home and crying because I said yeah dirty brains I'm playing with you verse 19 the Lord by wisdom founded the earth by understanding he established the heavens by his knowledge the depths were broken up and clouds dropped down the dew and so real briefly when he says in verse 19 the Lord by wisdom founded the earth wisdom predates all creation and these verses give us a picture of Jesus himself how do I say that well the New Testament reveals to us that Jesus is the wisdom of God Jesus is wisdom incarnate and Jesus is the creator of all things so when it says the Lord by wisdom founded the earth by understanding he established the heavens by his knowledge the depths were broken up and clouds dropped down the dew well Jesus is the wisdom of God incarnate in 1 Corinthians 1 24 Paul says Jesus is Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God in John 1 3 all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made Colossians 1 16 and 17 for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things consist and so this is a picture of Jesus Christ who is wisdom and who created all things verse 21 my son let them not depart from your eyes keep sound wisdom and discretion so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble and you lie down you will not be afraid yes you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet do not be afraid of sudden terror nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught preserve sound judgment and preserve discernment because when you do you will know that God will guide you as well as protect you in Psalm 37 23 and 24 it says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way though he fall he shall not utterly he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholds him with his hand if he falls he's not utterly cast down have you ever fallen when you walk with the Lord? of course but you're not lost you're not cast away God holds you up God holds you up somebody once said when you fall make sure you fall forward that's not a bad thought because we stumble none of us is perfect every one of us is going to be navigating through the mind fields on occasion we may not realize that we're stepping on something that's going to hurt us or harm us but you're not going to be cast away forever God has a way of renewing you when you come to him and you say God be merciful to me I'm so sorry I blew it the Lord listens oh God thank you for that thank you for that oh he's been merciful to me I got out of the military I'd been in the army for two years I got out of the army it was December I ETSed I got out of the army on December 15th 1972 and when I got out I came home it was Christmas season I went to one of my cousin's houses she was having friends over my mom my dad and I and some of my family went and my cousin's father wasn't saved but she was and he my cousin the older one offered drinks to everybody I had just gotten out of the military I was 22 years old so I thought that'd be nice so I had a drink forget what it was whatever it was one turned into two and two turned into three and before you know it I had had a few and I was getting what we used to call a buzz I don't even know if that word's used anymore is that word used anymore at all some of you old people know what I mean I started getting drunk and I felt bad about it I really did so I went into the front room and I sat down on the sofa that they had the couch and I was just sitting there trying to gather my thoughts and I was thinking oh you've been drinking you shouldn't have been drinking look at you now look at you now and here come these two guys friends of my my younger cousin and once it's on my left the other sits on my right and they begin to witness to me about Jesus and I'm looking at them and I said I'm a Christian and I'm slurring my speech because I'd had a lot to drink I said I'm a Christian and they said yeah and anyway and Jesus will and I said you hear me I'm a Christian you know I gave my heart to Jesus and I was drunk and I'm slurring my speech and I still remember where they kept sharing with me and I kept insisting I'm a believer and I was it wasn't I lost my salvation all of a sudden because I'd had a few beers but when they got up I've never forgotten what I said to them they said well it was nice speaking to you and I said yeah and then I said hear there or in the air because we used to say that you know meaning one of these days the rapture is going to happen and I'll be up there with you and they're looking at me like yeah with a can I've never forgotten that here I am it was 45 years ago this month I've never forgotten that but I've also remembered the mercy of God over all those years because look where I am today because God doesn't give up on you God holds fast to you don't forget that if you blow it go to him and say God be merciful to me I am so sorry I need your help strengthen me Lord I don't want this anymore and that's what I did and that's what we do isn't it and we say God help us God will hold us up and even if you fall you're not forsaken forever I'm not inviting you to go out and get some beer after bible study by the way I'm just letting you know that you can have confidence in him you see your confidence in him allows you to sleep in peace not stirring at every sound in Psalm 121 verses 4 through 7 behold he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is your keeper the Lord is your shade at your right hand the sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night the Lord shall preserve you from all evil he shall preserve your soul so your confidence in him allows you to sleep in peace knowing that he's there with you and protecting you in verse 27 do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in the power of your hand to do so do not say to your neighbor go and come back tomorrow I'll give it when you have it with you do not be selfish learn to be a cheerful giver learn to be cheerfully generous to those who have a genuine need good refers to what is needed and sometimes you will give good things because the thing that is needed isn't money at all what's needed sometimes is simply counsel or it's help it could be finances sometimes what is needed is a listening ear your time one of the hardest things for people to give today is their time is their time some people would just as soon give a dollar then a minute because their time they're under such stress so he says don't withhold good from people when it's in the power of your hand to do good for them don't be selfish give them what they need give them your time give them counsel give them help and sometimes give them finances in Galatians 6 10 as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially to those who are of the household of faith and then he goes on in verse 29 do not devise the evil against your neighbor for he dwells by you for safety's sake do not strive with the man without cause if he's done you no harm don't find ways to get even with your neighbors we have neighbors who seem to think my lawn is their dog's toilet don't go pick it up and drop it on their lawn I have a friend who did that don't do that don't find ways to get even with your neighbors he says remember if you make friends with them they can actually provide protection for you so if you know your neighbor it's kind of difficult today though isn't it it can be I don't know if you know your next door neighbors or your across the street neighbors some do some don't I grew up in a neighborhood we knew everybody in our neighborhood but it's not that way anymore I understand that my dad bought a house and paid it off he spent 30 years and paid it off that was unusual that's unusual now because people talk about their starter homes their first home then they'll go into their second home and then they finally get their last home which is their forever home you know but that's not the way it's always been and so when I grew up there were things called neighbors and things called neighborhoods and so people knew each other we knew each other's families we knew each other's kids I don't know if you had a neighborhood a neighborhood like this where if you did something wrong one of your neighbors would spank you that was true that was true and you know whack and then you'd get another one at home because the neighbors spanked you and it wouldn't make your mom mad that somebody had to spank you so you got it twice you know that's what that's what neighborhoods used to be you actually knew your next door neighbors you knew their name you knew the dog's name you knew your across the street neighbors the neighbors next to them the neighbors next to them I knew our whole block you know on one side and knew most of it on the other because that's what it was like because people stayed there they lived there and so what happened is if we were going on vacation my dad could say to Bill who lived next door or to Ed across the street or to Johnny directly across the street we're going to be gone for a few days can you keep watching the house and your neighbor would do that they would walk across the street and they'd say what are you doing here you know if somebody was trying to walk into your backyard or whatever that's what neighbors used to do so that's just a biblical principle that he's speaking about here he's saying he dwells by you for safety's sake do not strive with man without cause if he's done you no harm and finally verse 31 do not envy the oppressor choose none of his ways for the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord but his secret counsel is with the upright the curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked but he blesses the home of the just surely he scorns the scornful but gives grace to the humble the wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the legacy of fools and finally don't envy the oppressor choose none of his ways don't use the world as your example of leadership and power because the love of power produces bullies Jesus said in Matthew 20 verses 25 through 28 you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over them yet it shall not be so among you but whoever desires to become great among you let them be your servant whoever desires to be first among you let them be your slave just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life or ransom for many don't lord it over people do not envy the way of an oppressor you see God hates the abuse of power and God deals with them over time we're to be just and we're to be humble and the result of that is an inheritance of honor notice in verse 32 how his secret counsel is with the upright his secret counsel is with the upright that reminds me of what Jesus said in John 15 verses 14 and 15 he said you are my friends if you do whatever I command you no longer do I call you servants a servant doesn't know what his master is doing I've called you friends for all things that I heard from my father I've made known to you his secret counsel is revealed to those who walk with them and finally in verse 34 he scorns the scornful that gives grace to the humble God resists those who are proud in their own eyes but he ministers to those who trust him God has a way by the way and you've learned this I have to hey I learned it it's not something I've learned forever I have to learn it often if you think you're something you'll discover you're nothing you do if you think you're special the Lord reminds you of how you're really not and he's very kind when he does it but he does it you know and what I've asked the Lord to do and he's been very faithful at this is I've asked him can you help me to be humble and he says sure why not and he does and he's given me lots of opportunities to be humbled I remember one okay I could give you a lot of them I'll give you one you know I love my pastor Chuck with all of my heart and many many years ago now I was at a pastors conference and Chuck was walking past me at the conference and I had some of my friends with me and as Chuck walked by I said hi Chuck how you doing and he looks at me and he says hi Don he goes I've been praying for you and I smiled and as he walked by I turned to the guy with me and I said some guy named Don is being blessed right now you know but it's not me he has a way of humbling you God is very gracious to do that though so remember in verse 34 he scorns the scornful but gives grace to the humble