Clean Transcript

Do You Acknowledge God?

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• All right, let's open our Bible today to the book of Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3, and we're going to be looking at some of the, I suppose, two of the most quoted scriptures out of the Bible. Proverbs chapter 3 verses 4 and, or 3, yeah 4 and 5 it is. Let's read 5 and 6, I'll come back with verse 4. Look in verse 5, Proverbs 3 verse 5, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding."

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• "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." The title of the message today is, A Question. And the question is, do you acknowledge God? Scripture says, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." If I were to ask the average Christian, do you acknowledge God? Or if I just really asked anyone, do you acknowledge God? Most everyone, even non-Christians would answer, yes. And the reason they would give a positive response is because each one would probably say, well I believe that God exists. And of course the unsaved would go so far probably as to say that at least God was the creator and that would probably be as far as they would yield.

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• They do not know Him, they do not love Him, they do not trust Him and yet they would in that sense of the word actually acknowledge Him. Christians would go a little bit further and they would say, well yes He is not only the Creator, He is the Sustainer, He is the Preserver, He is the Savior, He alone is salvation. So Christians would probably go a little farther in what you and I would call an acknowledgment of God.

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• But one of the problems that we have with our language He said, oftentimes we really do not define our terms, or do not define the words that we use. The word acknowledge can be used in a number of different ways. For instance, when I speak to someone, like I just spoke to Richard, I have acknowledged his presence. I know he is in the room and I acknowledged him.

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• When I answer a letter I am acknowledging the receipt of a letter. I can also acknowledge a favor by expressing my thanks and my gratitude. Oftentimes we use the word acknowledge just simply by mental assent. For instance, we can acknowledge something and mentally assent to it just simply by nodding our heads. We don't have to say a word. And sometimes even legally, unless you object silence is counted as an acknowledgment. So we have to define our terms when we are talking about acknowledgment. Obviously when I asked this question, do you acknowledge God? And when I gave that as the title of this message it was indeed a loaded question. While most Christians would certainly answer in the affirmative, yes they acknowledge God. In reality most really and truly do not acknowledge Him. Because the word acknowledge means more than just simply to recognize someone or to acknowledge their presence. It means far more, it means that you also recognize and submit then to their authority and their claims. When you look at the word acknowledge in verse 6, "in all thy ways acknowledge Him."

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• The Hebrew word is Yadah which literally means to know, perceive, recognize, confess, to know by experience and clearly to recognize and submit to divine and sovereign authority. So if you do not recognize or submit to His authority and rule, no matter what you confess, no matter what you profess in reality, you are not acknowledging Him. So failure to submit to Him is in reality a denial of Him. So if I am not submitting to Him, if I am not bowing to His sovereign authority and power, in reality I am not really acknowledging Him.

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• So let me give it to you like this, our Lord said it best in John 14 and verse 15, He said, "If you love Me you will keep My commandments." Now He also gave the reverse of that in verse 24 when He said, "He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings." So if we love Him we will obey Him. If we do not love Him then we will not obey Him. That is why He said in Luke 6 in verse 46, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say unto you?" And the word Lord is the Greek word kurios which literally means boss, owner, master, sovereign. So why are you calling me boss? Why are you calling me sovereign if you are not going to obey me?

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• So when you look at Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 are probably two of the most quoted verses in the entire Bible. Many Christians have chosen these two verses as what they would refer to as their life verses. Unhappily I am afraid that this passage is not really understood by many Christians. And there is a vast difference between quoting a passage and obeying a passage. There is a vast difference to be able to simply quote and then to apply the truth of that passage. So let me just ask that you look back to Proverbs 1 very quickly. And I want you to look if you would please at the first five verses just so that you can see the purpose for which the book of Proverbs was written. So in Proverbs 1 in verse 1, "The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel," now here is why he wrote it.

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• "To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, and to the young man knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and will increase in learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel." So look at it in verse 1, he wrote it that you might know wisdom and instruction, that you might perceive the words of understanding, and to receive instruction and wisdom, and to give subtlety to the simple, notice if you would please, and the young man knowledge and discretion. And then he ends with this verse, "A wise man will hear and will increase in learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels." So wisdom, instruction, understanding, and knowledge are all useless unless they are applied. That's why he said a wise man will hear and he will increase in learning. And a man of understanding of course is going to be the man that will attain unto wise counsels.

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• Now, the question that has to be asked is this, how do we acknowledge God? Or more specifically, how do we acknowledge God in the context of Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6? So I want to go back to the first four verses of Proverbs 3, and I want you to notice if you would please that the emphasis is upon obedience. He says, "My son, forget not My law, but let thine heart keep My commandments."

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• "For a length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck, and write them upon the table of thy heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man." Now, if you forget not, but keep God's law, if you do not forsake mercy and truth, then obviously you are applying them in your life. You are obedient.

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• It means that you are submissive to divine authority. That is that you recognize and acknowledge that God does indeed have the absolute right to tell you how to live. He has the absolute right to tell you what to do, what to say, what to think, how to act. So, when He tells us, "in all thy ways acknowledge Him." How do we acknowledge God in the context of Proverbs chapter 3?

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• I'm going to give you four thoughts, and I'm going to show them to you. First of all, we must acknowledge Him personally. If we acknowledge Him personally and biblically, it means then in verse 5 that we will trust in the Lord with all of our hearts. Now the Hebrew word for trust here actually means to be bold in. It means to be confident in. It means to be secure in. So the word then has implications. If we really and truly trust in the Lord with all of our heart, which would be our mind and our understanding, then we do not need to look to anyone else or anything else or trust anything else. It means then that God is the absolute soul and only object of our confidence, our trust, our security, and our hope. Now, positively, this means that we trust in the Lord with all of our heart and that we are acknowledging Him as the only true source of help and blessing and salvation.

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• We're not trusting in any creature, either great or small. We're not trusting in man. In fact, man cannot help us. There's an interesting verse that occurs twice in the book of Psalms. The first time it occurs is Psalm 60 and verse 11. And there the psalmist says, "Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man." Isn't that interesting? "Give us help from trouble," pleading to God for help, "for vain, useless, worthless is the help of man." And then of course in Psalm 108 verse 12 again the psalmist says the exact same thing, "Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man." So let me show you something, if you would hold Proverbs chapter 3 but look back in your Bibles to Psalm 118. Psalm 118 And I want you to look at verses 8 and 9. And interestingly, Psalm 118 and verse 8 is the middle verse in the Bible. Verse 9 is the one that follows. So I'm going to show you what the middle verse in the Bible says.

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• Psalm 118 verse 8, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." And then the next verse says, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." So what God is saying, it is better to trust Him than to trust in man, and it is better to trust Him than to trust in governments. Governments cannot help us, man cannot help us. Now the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart." If you are trusting in the Lord with all of your heart, there is no room to trust anything or anyone else.

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• This is the marrow of the issue. It is impossible to trust God with all of our hearts if we are trusting someone else or something else. There are so many people that try to trust in God and then in something else as well. One of the black men that I actually was raised with. And when I say that, his family lived on our farms for years and years and years.

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• He was nine months younger than I am. He got all my clothes. He got all my toys. Father called him son half the time because he and I were just raised together. His mother and father were there on the farm working all the time. And so when John was grown and I was talking to him one day and had some other friends around and we got to talking about God and the Scriptures. And I said, "In a world ruled by God there is no room for luck, chance, fate, or fortune."

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• It is divine providence and divine providence alone. And one of the men looked at John and he said, "Do you believe in luck?" And John said, "Mm-hmm, I believes in both of them." Well you can't believe in God's providence and luck too, I mean it is impossible. But people try to say, well I really and truly trust God and believe in God and in something else as well.

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• You know interesting the Bible says this, in Psalms it is verse 20 and verse 7, chapter 20, Psalm 20 verse 7, "Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we will remember the name of our Lord." Well, think about that. Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of our Lord. And then the Bible says in Psalm 62 and verse 10, "Trust not in oppression," listen carefully, "and become not vain in robbery, if riches increase set not your heart upon them." And then of course in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 17 he says, "...charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but," he says, "...in the living God, who has given us richly all things to enjoy." Now, I can hear someone say, especially a Christian, well, brother, we were I'm smart enough not to trust in chariots, and not to trust in horses, and not to trust in oppression, and not to trust in riches. Well that's wonderful, but here's my question.

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• Are you smart enough not to trust in your own smartness? For he said, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding." Wow. Well you see the word understanding here refers to one's wisdom, one's knowledge, one's faculties. And the truth of the matter is because of our depravity, because of our depravity we now also have the tendency and the disposition and the propensity to lean upon ourselves and what we know and what we can do. For instance, just stop and think how often you may have used or at least how often you have heard other people say something like this: "Well in my opinion," "The way I see it," "The way I understand it," "Let me explain my point of view," "Well, I just know what I know and I will have to go with what I know." What are we saying? We're saying my understanding is supreme and this is what I'm going to go with. Well the Scripture says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding."

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• How in the world can you be trusting in the Lord with all of your heart if you think you know what is best? And if you think that you have the power and the wisdom to work things out. The truth of the matter is that here is what most people do: We often do that which we think is best, but what we determine is best is that which is going to bring us the most pleasure and the most happiness at the moment. Seldom do we actually lean upon the Lord and say, well I think this and I believe this, but God says this and I'm going to refuse my understanding and I'm going to obey God. How seldom do we do anything like that.

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• And how many times have you and I done that which we thought best and once we've done it we've gotten ourselves in trouble and we end up saying something like this: "If I had known this beforehand I just would not have done it." Well, of course. Now let me make a statement and you can take exception with me, but I'm gonna show it to you from Scripture. It's not in man to direct his paths. We do not have the wisdom, do not have the omniscience. If you would look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 17, I want you to look there. The truth of the matter is we do not have the wisdom, we do not have the strength, and the fact of the matter is we are actually putting ourselves under a curse when we trust in our own strength, own flesh. In Jeremiah chapter 17 notice if you would beginning there with verse 5, Jeremiah 17 verse 5 look what the scripture says, "Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord."

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• So if you are trusting in flesh you are trusting in your own understanding your heart is already departed from the Lord. So here is the curse that is going to be upon him. "For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." Then he says, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh."

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• "But her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." And then he says this, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the his doing." So if you are leaning to your own understanding you're departing from the Lord. That's what he said. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding."

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• Quoting John Gill he said this, "Trust in him at all times in times of affliction temptation and darkness there's a great deal of reason for it all power and strength are in him to help his love grace and mercy move him to it always the same. The consideration of what He has done for others that have trusted in Him, and for ourselves in time past, should induce and encourage us to it. And also the happiness of those that trust in Him, who enjoy peace and safety, and His displeasure at those that show any diffidence to Him or distrust Him. Trust in Jehovah the Son, in His person for acceptance, and in His righteousness for justification, in His blood for pardon, in His fullness for supply, in His power for protection and preservation, and Him alone for salvation and eternal life. Trust in Jehovah the Spirit to carry on and finish the work of grace upon the heart, of which a saint may be confident that where it is begun it will be completed. And this trust in the Father, Son, and Spirit should be with all the heart, cordial and sincere."

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• The phrase denotes not so much the strength of faith as the sincerity of it. It signifies a faith that is unfeigned, that is unhypocritical. It is not saying or professing that a man believes and trusts in the Lord, but it is with the heart and with the whole heart that he believes unto righteousness if he believes aright. So if we are going to acknowledge God then we have to acknowledge Him personally that He is the one that is worthy of all trust and we must trust in Him with all of our hearts. Secondly, I want you to note this in Proverbs chapter 3, we must also acknowledge Him primarily. So that means if we acknowledge God biblically we acknowledge Him with all of our ways. So He says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." So acknowledging God in all of our ways does not mean that we just acknowledge Him on Sunday morning, or Sunday night.

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• There is a term that each of you should understand, it is called the reduction of Christianity. And all that means is what has happened in our day and time Christianity has been reduced to the church building. So people go to church on Sunday and they will act pious, and holy, and sanctimonious, and oh yes we are wonderful Christians and we are going to worship God and we are going to do this. And then they leave that building and the six days of the week they live the way they want to live. They do what they want to do. No, God says, "Acknowledge him in all thy ways." Now let me explain what the reduction of Christianity really means. It means that you're acting like a pagan. It means that you're acting like the Syrians. You remember how King Ahab had defeated the Syrians.

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• He fought them on the hills. So the Syrians got together, 1 Kings chapter 20 and verse 28, and they said, "The reason they whipped us at time was their God is the God of the hills, but he's not the God of the valleys. So let's fight against them in the valley and surely we will prevail." And so on 1 Kings chapter 20 verse 28 the prophet of God came, they have again said, "I'm gonna give them into your hand because they have said that I'm the God of the hills, but I'm not the God of the valley." In other words when we reduce Christianity to the church what we are saying: He may be God in the church but He is not God in our lives, He is not God in our homes, He is not God in our business, He is not God everywhere else.

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• And it is a false philosophy. Now when the Bible says, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him." The Hebrew word for ways is the word derek which literally means not just a road or a path or a journey but it refers to all of our habits, all of our customs, all of our manner of life, our course of life. So the text means then if we acknowledge Him in all of our ways we acknowledge Him in whatever we are doing wherever we are. For instance, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10 in verse 31, think about this now, he said, "Whatever you do, whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Now stop and think about this. Probably each one of us would pray before we eat, we would thank God for the food. Sometimes you can pray afterwards. Deuteronomy teaches that, "After thou hast eaten and are full, then thou shalt thank the Lord thy God." Well, whether you pray before, whether you pray after, we still thank God for the food.

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• But the question would be how many of us actually would eat and drink for the honor and the glory of God? Stop and think about that. There's another passage I preached on this many years ago probably need to preach on it again in Romans chapter 15 in verse 7 the Word of God says this: "Wherefore receive ye one another, receive you one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God." Did you know that there's a biblical way to receive each other in the Lord and when we do not receive each other biblically then we're not honoring and glorifying God? So this is what he's talking about when he says that we are to acknowledge Him in all of our ways, whatever we are doing.

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• Adam Clarke said it like this. "Begin, continue, and end every work, purpose, and device with God. Earnestly pray for His direction at the commencement. Look for His continual support in the progress, and so begin and continue that all may terminate for his glory, and then it will be certainly for thy good, for we never honor God without serving ourselves."

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• Now listen, self-sufficiency and self-dependence have been the ruin of mankind ever since the fall of Adam. The grand sin of the human race is their continual endeavor to live independently of God, to be without God in the world. True religion consists in considering God the fountain of all good and expecting all good from Him. And that is true. The grand sin of mankind is that we try to live independently of God.

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• Now he said, in verse 6, "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path." So do you want God to direct your path? I told you earlier that it is not in man to direct his path. You say, but I'm smart enough, I can do it. No, you cannot. If you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 10, here it is spelled out for you, Jeremiah chapter 10 and look if you would please at verse 23, Jeremiah 10 verse 23, look what the Bible says, "O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man to direct his paths." It is not in man to direct his paths. And the reason it is not in man to direct his paths is because we don't have omniscience. We don't know. Jeremiah put it right on us. Did you know the Bible says in Psalm 37 verse 23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delighted in His way."

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• And then of course in 1 Samuel 2 and verse 9 the Bible says, "He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be in silent darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail." So if it is God who keeps our feet then no man is going to prevail by strength. You know if you just followed human reasoning and human logic and if you were gambling back in that day, you would have probably bet that Goliath would have creamed David. But he didn't, because not by man's strength is anyone going to prevail.

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• What did he say in the book of Zechariah? "Not by might nor power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts." So, it's not in man to direct his ways. So if we are going to acknowledge God, we must not only acknowledge God personally, we must also acknowledge God primarily. The Puritan John Trapp said it like this, "Ask counsel at his mouth. Aim at his glory."

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• "Be evermore in his presence and in the light of his countenance." And then he says this, "It is reported of a worthy divine of Scotland, I need to name him, that he did even eat and drink and sleep eternal life. This is to walk with God, this is to live by faith, this is to see him that is invisible, this is to go the upper way, even the way of light that is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath." So if we acknowledge God in all our ways, we are acknowledging him in all of our habits, all of our customs, all of our manner of life, all of our conduct, all of our attitude, all of our action. Now, I want you to look back in Proverbs chapter 3, because he says in verse 6, "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." Now look at verses 7 and 8. "Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health of thy navel, and marrow of thy bones."

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• So be not wise in thine own eyes, and fear the Lord. Now watch this, if you are not acknowledging God in all of your ways, what are you saying? I don't need Him. I am smart enough to figure this thing out. I am wise in my own eyes. And basically you are leaning again to your own understanding. Now he said, if you actually are acknowledging Him in all your ways, you are refusing to be wise in your own eyes, that means you are fearing the Lord and you are departing from evil. May I remind you that it is God that defines evil. The problem that we have today is so many people say, well I'm God, I define my own terms, and I know what's evil, and I know what's not evil, and the truth is, I determine what is evil and what is good. That's man playing God. God is the one that determines evil, and true wisdom is to depart from evil. Man's depravity by nature does not want to fear the Lord and depart from evil.

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• Let me show you. If you will look back in your Bibles to Job 28 and verse 28. Here is an interesting verse right before the book of Psalms you have the book of Job. Job 28 and verse 28 and look at what the scripture says. You want to know what it means to really have understanding? Look Job 28 verse 28: "And unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding." So you cannot profess to have understanding unless you are departing from evil. And then God says this in Proverbs 3 watch it carefully. He said in verse 7, "Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord, depart from evil." And then he says this, "It shall be health to thy navel and marrow of thy bones."

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• In other words, blessings always follow obedience. Always. And health and blessings are just some of those blessings. Health and life. I hope you try to thank God each day for the life that he's given you and for the health that he's given you. And you know, some of us may be in worse shape than others. But the truth is, probably everyone in this room is in far better shape physically than most people. Just stop and think about that.

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• So we must acknowledge Him personally. We must acknowledge Him primarily.

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• Now, look in Proverbs chapter 3. Here's the third thing. If we're going to acknowledge God, we must acknowledge Him practically. That is, we honor Him with the firstfruits of our increase. Look in verses 9 and 10. He said, "Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."

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• So, in this passage, he's actually talking about tithing. Now, let me explain something. When we tithe, we actually acknowledge and confess that God has not only created everything but that God owns everything and He controls everything. We are also confessing and acknowledging that we cannot out give God and whatever we give to Him He first gave to us. The Apostle Paul asked this question Romans 11 in verse 35: "Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again?" God said if you could show me one person that first gave to me I'll pay him back. And you remember there in 1 Chronicles 29 when David and all the people were sacrificing and gave all that silver and gold and precious stones for the building of the temple, David said it like this in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 16, "O Lord our God, all this store we have prepared to build Thee in house for Thine holy name cometh of Thine own hand and is Thine own." So he said, we can't give anything back to you that you have not already given to us.

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• Now I want to show you something. He said, "Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase."

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• Now here is the result if you do that. If you are acknowledging God practically he said, "So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."

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• Now interestingly as you look through Scripture God says that a failure to tithe and a failure to give God His offerings is theft. It's robbing God. I want you to turn to the book of Malachi chapter 3. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. And let's begin reading there in verse 8. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8. And look what he says. We're talking about honoring God in a practical way Malachi chapter 3 notice verse 8 because I want to ask you a question. Look at Malachi chapter 3 in verse 8. The question is asked, "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me." The answer to that question is yes. God said you've robbed me, but you say, "Wherein have we robbed thee?" "In tithes and in offerings." Bad to rob from a man and steal from a man, even worse to steal from God. But look what happens when you steal from God. He says, "You are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me, even this whole nation."

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• So it was not just an individual, although they did it individually because nations are made up of individuals. Then He said in this, verse 10, "Bring you all the tithes and into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." So God says if you obey Me and honor Me and acknowledge Me with your tithes and offerings I'm going to pour you out a blessing so great that you will not be able to receive it. In other words your barns will be full Proverbs chapter 3 says. Now, here's my question. Have you ever considered and asked yourself this question? Why does God say that a failure to tithe is theft? It's robbing God. And the answer is this, because a tithe is nothing less than that attacks by God for the use of his earth. God is the creator. God is the owner.

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• And God has allowed us to live and move and have our being and enjoy his life and his earth. Consequently, even the unsaved are basically required to tithe. They will not do so. I understand that. But they still use God's earth as well. And therefore they are responsible to honor God. So, if you had a vacant house and someone moved in it without your knowledge and without your permission and used it, possibly even abused it.

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• Maybe it cost thousands of dollars worth of damage. Would you not say that they were guilty of theft? Well, of course. Or if you had a renter and he refused to pay rent, would you not say that was theft? Well, it is the same thing with God. God is the Creator. He is the owner of all things. And He is the one that has given us richly all things to enjoy, obviously.

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• Now, let me show you aspect of this. I want you to look in Deuteronomy chapter 26. You see tithing is also a particular way to acknowledge God and to avouch that you belong to Him. So look in Deuteronomy 26 and let's begin reading there with verse 12. Because the year of tithing in the Old Testament was the third year, you remember it was an agricultural economy. So verse 12, God says to the Israelites, "When thou hast made an end of tithing, all the tithes of thine increase, in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled, then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levites, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them."

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• "I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away aught thereof of any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead. But I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me."

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• Now watch, "Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou givest us, as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments. Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart with all my soul." Now watch this, "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments, and to hearken to his voice," and here is verse 18, "and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments."

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• So Deuteronomy 26 indicates very clearly and very distinctly that there is a covenantal bond between those who tithe and God. In other words, it's not just the fact that we're covenantally bound to Him by virtue of the fact of our creation and that we are His creatures, but that we have been redeemed. And when we obey Him in this particular area, we are avouching, we are declaring, we are positively saying that He is our God. God says when you do this and obey me, I am avouching. I'm positively declaring that you are my people. Wow. So that's why in Proverbs chapter 3 when he's talking about acknowledging God in all thy ways he is saying, "Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses burst with new wines." Proverbs 28 and verse 25 says it like this, "He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat."

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• So that is why the barns are filled with plenty and the wine presses are bursting with new wine. And that is why the windows of heaven are being opened and a blessing is being poured out so that you are not able to receive it. Lord you can't contain it all.

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• Fourthly, if you'll look also in Proverbs 3, verses 11 and 12, we have to acknowledge Him personally. We have to acknowledge Him primarily. We have to acknowledge Him practically. Now we must acknowledge His paternity. We acknowledge Him paternally. That is, He is our Father, and He has the absolute right to discipline and to chasten us. Verse 11, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."

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• Now, God disciplines us and God chastens us in various ways. Usually, it is by word or by warning. There's no problem with that. As long as God speaks and as long as God warns, well, we're happy with that. But what happens when we do not heed His words and do not hear His warnings? Well, that's usually when He has to pick up a two-by-four and really get our attention. Well, and He's done that in our lives oftentimes. However, here's what God is saying.

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• When He does chasten us, when He does discipline us, we cannot despise that chastening. Neither can we be weary of it. I remember as a boy when my daddy often time would whip me and he would come up with this as he brought that big switch or sometimes the leather shaving strap. He'd say, "This is going to hurt me more than it does you." And I used to think, what a horrible time to lie. I know it's going to hurt. It's not going to be daddy. But I understood that when I had children of my own and had to discipline them. And he said, we are not to despise that chasing and we are not to grow weary of it.

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• I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 12 because in Hebrews chapter 12 he quotes from Proverbs chapter 3 and he enlarges upon it. So in Hebrews chapter 12 look if you would please at verse 5. Look what he says. "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children." And now he is quoting Proverbs 3. "My son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when the heart rebuked of him. Now watch this. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteth not? But if you be without chastisement, who of all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons."

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• "Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they, that is these earthly fathers, verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."

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• "Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Now I will assure you that all the whippings I got as a boy I never enjoyed any of them. And they were always grievous to me. But after I'm grown, I look back and I am thankful for everyone that I got. And I'm thankful that my father loved me enough to discipline me and to chasten me and to teach me. And I'm also thankful that I did not get as many as I really deserved.

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• You know, this is what God is saying. But now listen to this. He tells us that whenever he disciplines us it is always for our profit. It's that we might be made partakers of his holiness and that it might yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. I want you to understand something that God's chastening is always successful. The results are always there. Oftentimes, we have whipped our children and had to turn around and whip them again for the same thing. In other words, our chasing was not really successful is what it amounted to. But when God chastens, it is always successful. It always works. Now, I want to point something out that we need to really understand.

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• Look if you would, please. He said in verse 6, "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Then verse 7, "If you endure chastening, God dealeth you with sons." And then he asks this question, "For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" So there are no perfect Christians, just like there are no perfect children. Each of us has to be disciplined.

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• Chasen in some shape form or fashion and to some degree. Most of you know Alice and I had identical twin girls. I had to whip those twins like you would not believe. I don't know how many times I whip those twins. And they would always one would egg on the other. One would get straightened and the other would mess up then that one who gets straightened that one mess up. It was always one or the other. But Rebecca, my baby daughter, I may have whipped her twice in her entire life, never really had to chase in her. Why?

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• Because all I had to do was look at her heart and she would just melt and she would say, "Daddy, I'm sorry. I apologize. I will not do this anymore." And she wouldn't. So the point I'm trying to make is this, God doesn't have to beat us to death to chase in us. He could and some of us are hard headed enough I suppose we probably need it. But the point I'm trying to make is this, every one of us will be chastened in some degree or the other.

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• Now I want you to look very closely at verse 8. He says it like this, "But if you be without chastisement, who are of all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons." What is a bastard? It's a child that the father did not want, does not recognize, will have nothing to do with, will not discipline, and will not chasten. So let me put it to you like this.

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• God only chastens his own. So if someone who professes to be a Christian can sin consistently and constantly, and never get chastened, he's not a Christian. If you can sin and get by with it, you're just not saved. That's all there is to it. Because God will chasten his own. When I chastened my children, I tried to do so as early and as quickly as I caught their sin. Because if I waited it would get worse and I understood that. And certainly God understands that as well. So if someone can sin consistently and constantly and never ever get disciplined they are just not Christians. I've heard people say, well I was saved 40 years ago, but I've been a drunkard and a whore monger and all this for the last 40 years, but I'm saved. No, no, you can't sin and get by with it if you belong to God, because He said that He's going to discipline us for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness, and that when He gets through with us, it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

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• So we have to acknowledge Him as our Father, we have to acknowledge His paternity in us and that He has the absolute right to discipline us and to chasten us when we do that which is wrong. Now, let me try to tie this together for you. I want to make just two quick applications. The first one is this. I began this message with the question, do you acknowledge God? Okay. If you want to know whether you genuinely and truly and sincerely acknowledge God in your life, then here are some questions that you need to ask yourself.

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• Do you trust Him with all of your heart? Do you lean to your own understanding, or do you seek His counsel, His wisdom, and His direction in His words? Do you ask Him to direct your paths? Do you think that you know it all and are wise enough to run your own life? Do you trust your judgment more than His? Are you departing from evil? Are you indulging in it?

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• Are you obeying or disobeying? Do you tithe? Do you trust God with your finances? Do you understand that everything that you have, He gave you? Someone objects and says, but I worked for it. I earned it. Yes, I understand that. But who gave you life? Who gave you breath? Who gave you strength? Who gave you ability? Who gave you reasoning faculties, who enabled you to accrue whatever you accrued?

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• Do you receive his correction and chastisement cheerfully? Do you grow weary with his correction? Has his discipline made you more holy and more righteous and more obedient? And then think about this. I know that no one looks forward to a whipping. I never did, and I still do not. But I will tell you this, I had rather be whipped and chastened and disciplined by a loving, heavenly Father than I had be judged by a stern, righteous, just judge. I'd much rather get what I do not deserve than what I do deserve. And I would also encourage you to remember the middle verse of the Bible and the one that follows.

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• Psalm 118 verses 8 and 9, "It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." You have to understand something. Man will always fail us. That's it. I don't care how much we love each other. We will always fail. Steve could ask me to do something. I could say, yes, Steve, I will do it. And then I could go home and promptly forget it or neglect it. And I have failed.

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• Didn't intentionally do it, but I did it. He could say post office and I'd say, yeah, I see it. But I didn't know he wanted to stop. You see what I'm saying? Governments are going to fail. They have so many, many times. It's absolutely foolish to trust in man and to trust in governments. But Jesus Christ never fails. He's the perfect, sinless, holy, harmless Son of God. And we need to trust in Him. So the Bible tells us, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding."

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• "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." We have to make sure that wherever we are, whatever we're doing, we're acknowledging Him. For He alone is omniscient and can direct our lives and order our steps. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And Lord, that we do pray that You'd help us to acknowledge Thee in every area of our lives. Give us grace, Lord, that we may stop and think of what Thy will and Thy Word and Thy way is, and to order our lives accordingly. Give us grace to serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, amen.

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• you you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:14:46Z