Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 16:1, 3-4, 9, 19:21, 20:24 (Life Is Like A Tea Bag) (Part 55)

Your Bibles this morning to the book of Proverbs. And I'd like to read a series of passages to you for our time of scripture reading, and they will be the basis of this morning's exhortation, Proverbs the 16th chapter. And please follow along as I call out the verses that we'll be looking at. And hear this as it truly is the very word of God to you today. Proverbs 16, verse 1. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah. And verse nine. A man's heart deviseth his way, but Jehovah directeth his steps. And look at verses three and four of the same chapter. Commit thy works unto Jehovah, and thy purposes shall be established. Jehovah hath made everything for its own end, yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. And then turn to Proverbs the 19th chapter, verse 21, where we there read. There are many devices in a man's heart, but the counsel of Jehovah that shall stand. And then Proverbs 20:24. A man's goings are of Jehovah. How then can man understand his own way? Proverbs 21:1. The King's heart is in the hand of Jehovah, as the watercourse's he turns it whithersoever he will. And finally, Proverbs 21:31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory is of Jehovah. And thus far the reading of God's word. The year 1987 turning out to be a rather memorable year in my life. I suppose if nothing else, it will be significant because I alone am keeping the greeting card companies in business. I do want to thank all of you for the cards that you have sent to me, both through my heart surgery earlier in the year in recovery, and then most recently because of this stomach surgery that I've undergone. It really is wonderful to have Christian brothers and sisters like you all to know that you care. One of you wrote in a card that you sent to me something to the effect that I should come back a little slower this time so that you have me for more than six months before something else happens. And though I know that was very cheerful and constructive, it nevertheless was a good criticism to hear. And I'm going to try to to heed that as well as what the doctors are telling me. I'm now keeping two systems of my body working and they're not in the greatest of strength. And so I'm going to have to ease back into my duties here. But I am praising God this morning that I can be here to tell you that is my plan. I think it's appropriate to give thanks in the assembly of God's people for what he has done for you. In 1st Chronicles 16:8, we read, Give.

Thanks unto the Lord, call upon his.

Name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, Sing psalms unto him, talk of all his wondrous works. Well, God's been doing some wondrous work in my life. And the deeds of God, the manifestation of his power and his wisdom and his love, are such that it would be inappropriate for us in our theological maturity and sometimes perhaps smugness, to just take it for granted and say, well, we all know about that. I want to thank God for what he's done for me. I want to thank him for the strength that he has shown in the way that he has marvelously taken care of my needs and that of my family. At the same time in Mark, the fifth chapter, we read of a man who was demon possessed, who was healed of Christ. I don't have that confession to make. I haven't been demon possessed. But you know, Jesus says to this man, after he has been healed, go home and to your friends and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you and has had compassion on you.

The psalmist says, come and hear all you who fear God, and I will.

Declare what he has done for my soul. And if you'll turn to Psalm 116, we see another encouragement in God's word that we should share with one another in the congregation of God's saints the wondrous things he does for us in answering our prayers and delivering our lives, and taking care of our every need. I love Jehovah because he hears my voice and my supplications, because he hath inclined his ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The cords of death compassed me, and the pains of Sheol got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of Jehovah. O Jehovah, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is Jehovah and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. God preserves the simple I was brought low, and he saved me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. For Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee for thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the Living I believe, therefore I will speak. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste all men are liars. But what shall I render unto Jehovah for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of Jehovah I will pay my vows unto Jehovah yes, in the presence of all his people, verse 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I will call upon the name of Jehovah I will pay my vows unto Jehovah yes, in the presence of all his people in the courts of Jehovah's.

House in the midst of the O.

Jerusalem, praise ye Jehovah. I want to tell you this morning and praise toward God, that during my times of reflection over the course of my recent illness and the recovery from surgery that became a must at that time I came to a number of conclusions about things which might be called Reflections on the Meaning of Life. That isn't a very snazzy title for a sermon. I know, Reflections on the Meaning of Life. And so my wife helped me and decided we'd call it Life is Like a Teabag, and you'll see why that is soon.

But in praise to God, I want.

To share with you, as God's people and as my brothers and sisters in the Lord, what I learned through my recent experience, the lessons that I gathered and I had a lot of time to think about them, share them with you, so that you might learn them without having to go through those same experiences yourself. And there are four in particular that I want to share with you in praise toward God. Reflecting on the Meaning of Life. The first is this. If we understand the Bible, in particular, if we understand the wisdom that Proverbs would give to us, we are really not in control of our lives. We're not in control of the course of our lives, and we're not in control of the outcome of our lives. That's something that's very hard for us to acknowledge. It's something that's hard for us to give in to because we like to think that we are in the driver's seat. We like to think that we really can control the outcome, that if we just did things a little bit better, then we wouldn't get into the troubles that we get into. It's hard, you know, if you grow up and have this kind of macho mentality towards your life to to realize that you really are in the control of an all dominating providence and that you don't call the shots here. We depend moment by moment upon the providence of God for our lives. Look at Proverbs 16:1. The plans of the heart belong to man. But the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah.

Proverbs tells us that our plans and our preparations, yes, even what we plan to say with our mouths, that all of our plans are genuinely our own. The plans of the heart belong to a man. The choices we make are genuinely our choices.

They belong to us.

And yet, for all of that, for all of our freedom to plan in advance what we will do or what we will say, what we do always proves to be part of God's design, always part of a more fundamental plan.

Than we had in mind when we decided to act or to say the things we did. This verse is one of the strongest in all the Bible. That indicates a sense of double causation within the universe.

That is to say, I cause myself.

To do what I do. I make my own choices.

I even say what I want to say.

And yet, for all of that, everything I plan to do is part of a greater plan that God himself has in mind. You say, well, but I could have changed my mind. I could have said something differently. I could have made another decision. Yes, you could have. But if you had changed your mind, that change of your mind also would have been part of a greater plan that lies behind it all we have. In this verse you see an affirmation of the sovereignty of God.

Everything you do, even what you plan to say, belongs to you.

And yet it's from the Lord.

The plans of the heart belong to a man.

But the answer of the tongue, when all is said and done, is from Jehovah. Some of you may have heard of or seen the movie the Postman Always Rings Twice. It's an interesting title, if I understand it right, and you'll correct me, I suppose, if I haven't. But if I understand it right, that's an indication that trouble comes in pairs in life. And at least in 1987, for me that is true. The Postman has Rings rung twice. And I want to share with you that we have to realize how close we can walk to death and not even be aware of that. When I had heart surgery earlier in the year, I knew very well what the risks were. I mean, in fact, it was something that was put in statistical form. We knew how many people go through open heart surgery a second time. And at my age and with my particular problem, and what the odds are in terms of the natural course of events, I realized that it was a possibility that I would not make it through that surgery. And then in my course of recovery from that, perhaps in a mentality of showing how strong and able I was, I decided I'd get back to work just as quickly as I could. On the first day after the eight week recovery, I was back to work and in over my head. And so now, recently, the postman is rung again. And I think without becoming morbid and belaboring the details, you should be aware of why this was so significant to me. On the Friday that I went into the hospital, I did not want to go into the hospital. I was rather perturbed that I had to go into the hospital. My wife had reported some of the symptoms of my heart to my cardiologist, things that had accompanied what I thought was just the flu or a very bad stomach problem. During the week. The cardiologist, because he was concerned about my heart, had me meet him at the hospital, at the emergency room. And it was only at that time, after looking into a number of the symptoms of my stomach problem, they realized I was bleeding internally. And they talked to me for roughly an hour about how hopefully this would be a minor thing they could take care of. But at first they thought maybe they wouldn't have to do anything, maybe medication would do it. And then as I continued to bleed, they decided they would try a procedure which would simply gross you out to tell you about, to try to cauterize the bleeding. And it was only once they went down into the stomach itself to examine it, they realized that there was so much blood that I was about to go into shock. The doctor then said, we're going to have to do major surgery. I'm still thinking to myself, well, this is a fairly minor thing. What are we going to do on Monday? Maybe we'll go to surgery. I said, when would you like to schedule it? He said, we're going to have to operate within 15 minutes. I said, why is that? He said, you're bleeding so fast, we can't transfuse you enough to save your life. Now I went into the hospital angry, perturbed that my day and its schedule had been disrupted, only to find out that had I tried to gut it out in my macho mentality, one more day of pain, I would have gone into shock. And by the time anyone could have figured out why I was in shock, I would have died. Now, when you're recovering from surgery, when that's been the circumstance, and you've already been through a pretty dramatic surgery once in that year, I want to suggest to you, that it makes you think about things that you don't ordinarily think about. We get really busy, I get really busy with the details of life.

And you know, as long as everything.

Is going along just fine in your life, you're not forced to stop and reflect on what's it all about.

And so that's why I want to.

Share with you today what my reflections have brought me to. And hopefully God won't put you through what he put me through to realize these things. You do come to realize that you're not in control of your life, you're not in control of its outcome. You're certainly not in control of the course that it will take. In the end, it's only God who can sustain you. We're not at all self sufficient people.

Even with the care of the doctors.

Even with the most brilliant minds, and with all of the technical capability at our disposal, we are not in control of our lives, their outcome. Proverbs 21:31 expresses that pretty nicely. I think the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory is of Jehovah.

You know that verse does not condemn.

Looking to earthly resources for help if you're going to battle. Of course in that day they went to battle, not with tanks and with airplanes and so forth, they went to battle with horses.

If you go to battle, you do.

Look to the horse and you do prepare your horse and your chariots. That's right. The Bible doesn't condemn that.

It doesn't discourage making full and responsible.

Use of all the help that's at our disposal.

And, and yet we must realize for all of that, for all of our planning, for all of our human responsibility.

In the end, the final outcome and the deliverance that we will enjoy depends upon the will of the Lord. Psalm 27 says, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will make mention of the name of Jehovah our God. Today I could tell you about the wonders of medical science and how they cut open my stomach and stapled it back together and put me back home within a week's time. I can tell you how brilliant the.

Doctors are and the wonders of the.

Of the medicines that they've discovered to help people. But as the Bible says, we will make mention of the name of Jehovah, our God. Because behind all of that lies the providence and the care and the safe hand and the strong help of God. We have to realize that all of our plans then, that all of our resources are to be understood in the light of the all controlling sovereignty of God.

James, the fourth chapter expresses it very well.

When James says, you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

What is your life? You are like a vapor that appears for a while, then vanishes. So then you ought to say, if.

The Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

James says, you don't have the arrogance that says, tomorrow I'm going to do this. This is part of my plan for this week.

This is very important to me in.

Terms of my life, no matter what it is. James says, you don't say, tomorrow we will do this. He says, if the Lord wills tomorrow.

We will live, and I will do this or that. Everything we do is conditioned upon that. If the Lord wills, yes, prepare the horse for battle.

Yes. Consult the doctors. Use all the human responsibility that you should.

But in the end we'll make mention of the name of the Lord our God. If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this and that. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10 that.

Not one sparrow shall fall on the.

Ground without your heavenly Father. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Therefore, do not fear. You are of more value than many sparrows. And when it comes to the point you Wonder, I'm within 15 minutes of dying without even knowing it. It's a real comfort to know that you're of more value than many sparrows to God. And yet he doesn't allow even a sparrow to fall on the ground without his plan. He doesn't allow you to lose a hair from your head without it being part of his predetermined plan.

And so with the psalmist, I can say from Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all.

His benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems.

Your life from destruction, who crowns you.

With loving kindness and tender mercies. I hope it doesn't require a close call in your life. I hope it doesn't require that kind of experience which almost is shocking in its threat without you even being aware of it. I hope it doesn't take close calls to point you to the reality of the sovereignty of God. We are not in control of our lives, their course, or their outcome. No matter what we do, no matter what our resources. Humanly, we will make mention of the name of God and say, if God wills, for it all depends on Him. Second thing I learned in reflecting upon these matters is that our response to.

Adversity and the way we respond to.

Unexpected trouble in our lives is a barometer of our relationship to God. It's a real test of what we're made of as Christians. A person's character is like a teabag. That's why we called the sermon what we did. What I mean by that is you don't know how good it is until it's put in hot water. We really don't know what we're made.

Of and how strong our lives are and the value of our spiritual profession.

Until we're really in hot water. Just like teabags. As Proverbs 24:10 puts it, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. That seems like such a harsh thing to say. That proverb may be a little unsettling to us because we're so accustomed to always making excuses for our failures, or.

If not for our own, at least trying to help others not to feel.

Bad about their failures, to err as human. You'll do better next time. We like to encourage people.

Proverbs says, if you faint in the.

Day of adversity, your strength is small.

Face it in hot water. What are you worth? Exceptional strain in your life is a.

Fair test of what you're made of spiritually. And I want you to hear what.

Those who are spiritually strong have to.

Say in the Bible.

Psalm 23:4. Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will.

Fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

If there's one disadvantage to us all.

Memorizing the Shepherd's Psalm, and I trust you all have, the disadvantage is that.

We get so accustomed to the words.

And they're beautiful words. We enjoy the poetry.

But the depth of the spiritual profession.

That'S found there misses us.

David says, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll.

Fear nothing because you're with me. Psalm 42 says, why are you cast down, O my soul?

Why are you disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall.

Yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

To know that his face looks upon you and he cares for you.

Don't be cast down.

Hope in God. Peter says, cast all your anxiety upon.

Him, for he cares for you. I'm real good at casting about 30% of my anxiety upon God. And if I pray a lot and I work hard and I think about sermons that I've preached, I might get up to 50 or 60. But Peter says, cast all of your anxiety upon him.

That is to say we should be able to hand over to God all of our problems and not worry about.

Them, not get so upset with the pastoral problems of your life or the.

Burdens and deadlines that you have to.

Meet that you end up with an ulcer.

Not to worry about going through the valley of the shadow of death.

Because God is with you, we hope in his countenance, and we give all of our anxiety to him. I just wonder, how close must you be to God in order to confess those words from the heart, to say spontaneously and honestly, I don't fear anything. All my anxiety I give to God. If you don't spontaneously say that, then.

What I want to prescribe for you this morning is a strong dose upon reflecting on the sovereignty of God. That's how David was able to say that. That's how Peter was able to say that. They understood God's sovereign plan, God's hand and his involvement, his being near to.

Them and everything that they underwent. So they could say, you're with me. I don't fear, I hope in Your presence. Proverbs 16:3 says, Commit your works unto Jehovah, and your purposes shall be established.

You see, your plans are no less your own when you make them God's plans as well. But by praying God nevertheless, not my.

Will, but thine be done.

By praying that and turning your life over to him, and committing your plans, committing your thoughts and devices to God.

Then you remove the burden and you remove the pain and the anxiety that goes along with trying to make your life work out.

See, we've got to learn to place.

Ourselves in the sovereign and safe hands of God. Commit your works unto Jehovah, and your purposes shall be established. Cast all your care upon him. Why? Because he cares for you.

Our response to adversity and unexpected trouble.

Is a barometer of our relationship to God. Thirdly, I learned that we should daily give top priority to what matters most in life.

You know, you don't want to find.

That for you time is up, and.

Those things you were waiting to do, those things you were waiting to become, were deferred too long.

Do you?

The Psalmist says in Psalm 27 one.

Thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek after. What is it? I'm going to finish reading for you. What is it? Do you even know what it is?

The one thing needful in all of life.

Well, wait till your life comes to its near end, and then you'll want.

To know what it is, that one thing thing you should be seeking after. One thing have I desired of The Lord, that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the.

Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion.

In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock.

Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. What is the one thing you should seek after to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of your life? The one thing that you should desire is to walk with God, to know his beauty, to know his presence, and to commune with Him. You know, it's a shameful thing. We have to come down to a very low point in our lives. We realize that's what we've been missing, isn't it? We've been putting so many things ahead of that. That's the only thing I want out of life, to walk with God. And if he gives me another day to enjoy my family, praise God. If he gives me another day to write another book, praise God. But the one thing I want is to walk with him and to know him, to enjoy his beauty and his presence. Jesus said it this way. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things shall be added to you. And I'm afraid that the spiritual problem in this congregation, as in my life and the life of such, so many Christians in the world today, and maybe throughout all of time, but the fact.

Of the matter is, the problem that.

We all face is that we seek first all the other things of life. And then when God's kingdom has a little bit of time left in our lives, we give it. We give time as it's left over. We give the loose ends we might even stretch to make room for a Bible study here or there, to pray for a friend, we make room for these things. The one thing I desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to walk with him. Jesus said, above all, seek the kingdom of God and all the other things put in at the end. And all these things shall be added to you. All these other things of life, how you dress and how you eat and what you're going to do. All those things you see are the cares of this world. Jesus says, consider the lilies. They don't worry about these things. God and all of his strength and sovereignty takes care of them. And so seek God. Make him the first priority in your life.

You see, if it's God's sovereignty that.

Determines the course and the outcome of your life, then you need to make him the first priority in your living.

It's not your scheming and hard work.

That determines the outcome of your life.

It's not the stars. It's not biological heredity. It's not social environment. It's not good luck. It's God's sovereignty that makes our lives what they are.

Look at Proverbs 16:33.

The lot is cast into the lap.

But the whole disposing thereof is of Jehovah. For those of you who are not familiar with that, the casting of the lot would be like throwing dice in our day. Probably the closest analogy we have. I won't get into what the lots.

Actually were, but it was a way of making a decision.

When you didn't think you understood the.

Factors or you didn't have familiarity with the factors, one would cast lots and.

The lot would determine.

The way you throw the dice would.

Determine what you should do.

Proverbs says you can do that. The lot is cast into the lap, but you better realize the whole disposing.

Thereof is of Jehovah.

There is not for the thousands of times that dice will be thrown in Las Vegas today. There is not one throw of the dice that has not been disposed by.

God ahead of time.

Everything, even the most apparently random events in our lives are part of God's sovereign plan. And not only that, even our own free decisions are controlled by God's plan.

Proverbs 21:1.

The king's heart is in the hand.

Of Jehovah as the watercourses. He turns it whithersoever he will.

A watercourse.

Probably a bad translation. It's an irrigation channel. And the point of an irrigation channel, especially in Palestine, is that it was.

Under the control of the farmer. He decided when water flowed and when water didn't flow.

And what we learn here is that.

You take as important a person, as powerful a person as you can imagine. The king himself.

The heart of the king is just like the irrigation channels in the hand of God. He turns on the water and he turns it off.

God controls even kings, even the free decisions of the most powerful people you.

Know, God has planned in advance.

So whether it's the casting of the dice or a decision made in the.

Heart of a king, it's all part of God's sovereign plan.

Chance has nothing to do with it. Chance has nothing to do with our lives. Chance has nothing with to do. Nothing to do with. What transpires in the world.

And accordingly, we'd better draw close to what counts most in life, to what really determines the quality and the outcome of our lives.

We must draw close to God, the.

Almighty, the One who plans the end from the beginning, who works all things after the counsel of his own will.

And so I've learned some lessons through my experience. I've learned that we are not really.

In control of our lives, their course or their outcome.

I've learned that our response to adversity into unexpected trouble is a barometer of.

Our relationship to God and our dependence on his sovereignty. I've learned that we should give daily top priority to what matters most in life, drawing close to God. But then there is one other thing that I want to dwell on for, you know, I want you to understand I'm not here talking about the meaning of life in general. The cosmic question, does human life have meaning? As I think all of you know very well, you've probably had days of depression. I've gone through a few recently where.

You knew very well that human life in general had meaning.

But you may have questions about your own human life. Does it have meaning?

Does it have a point? Does it have a purpose? Is it moving toward a particular outcome.

That you approve of? The meaning of an individual's life is tied. Tied up with the purpose that person has for living, for that person's aim, that person's chosen outcome, what they're trying to achieve.

And all of us in our minds, one way or another, whether we're part of some grand cause, a movement in.

History, a political party, whether it be a pro life movement, or whether it's.

Just making money, whether you have some grand dramatic goal in mind or not. All of us in our minds imagine.

That we have a particular aim for our existence. There's a reason we do what we do. There's a reason for our continued living. And what I've learned is that what we may imagine the goal of our lives may be need not be at all what God has in store for us. And wise people say, that's okay. Fools fight against that. Fools try to manipulate and to scheme and to squeeze God into the box of their own devising. Wisdom says, the meaning of my life is probably inscrutable because the meaning of my life is tied up with God's plans for me. And I don't know what Those are. Proverbs 16, 4. Jehovah hath made everything for its own own end. You could translate that for his own purpose. I think that's better. Jehovah has made everything for his own purpose. Yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. See, there aren't any loose ends in God's world.

No loose ends at all. God's plan encompasses everything. If it encompasses the casting of the device and the decisions of a king's.

Heart, you'd better know it also encompasses the reason why the wicked live it.

Even the wicked have been made to serve the plan and the purposes of God. Paul puts it this way in Romans 9:22 there are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. And yet it's the potter, the one who controls the clay, who made them such. They didn't just by chance evolve into vessels of wrath.

They were fitted for that end.

They have been designed by God for that destruction. That they will know they have been sovereignly predetermined by God. And that, of course, is supposed to be a horrible, dark, difficult doctrine, but it isn't really. If you understand what we've been saying about the sovereignty of God, it is the natural consequence of that conviction that, yes, even the wicked are not loose ends in God's plan, that he has even designed their lives and their outcome to serve his purposes in the advance of his kingdom. Well, if the wicked have been designed for his day of evil, how much more should we ourselves, who know him as children of the heavenly king, how much more should we find the meaning and the end of our lives not in our choices, not in our imagined.

Ends, but rather in his sovereign plan? Look at Proverbs 16:9. A man's heart devises his way, but Jehovah directs his steps. Regardless of what we devise and regardless.

Of what we plan within our hearts, God's sovereign will has the last word.

Also the best word, but it has the last word.

Our own self conception of our chosen.

Aims are not determinative of the true purpose that we serve in this world.

Are not determinative of the outcome of.

Our lives and what we will accomplish. Because whatever God ordains will prove to be our function, will prove to be our place in this world.

And so when you stop and reflect.

Upon the nearness of death and how everything your life is but a vapor in the hand of God.

When you know the sovereign plan of.

God determines the end from the beginning, from the casting of the dice to the decisions of the most powerful people in the world, when you really comprehend the sovereign disposition of God, then you stop worrying about your chosen meaning, you stop worrying about what your life is all about. Because as the Bible teaches us, man may propose, but it's God who disposes. Proverbs 19:21 puts it this way. The wise. Excuse me, I better turn to the right. Chapter. Proverbs 19:21. There are many devices in a man's heart. But the counsel of Jehovah that shall stand for all of my devices and plans. It will be God's plan, God's disposing of affairs. It is ultimately established. I'd like you to look at one more verse in Proverbs before we stop today. Proverbs 20:24Aman's goings are of Jehovah. How then can man understand his? You know we can't understand the meaning of our individual existence. I trust God, his goodness and mercy to us will show us the meaning of our lives when they're all over. I assume that will be the case.

But I do know this.

Whether he shows it to us then or not, he has not shown it to us now. A man's goings are of Jehovah. So how then can a man understand the meaning of his way? How can he understand his path? You don't know where your path is going.

You don't know whether all the preparations.

You'Ve made, be they educational or part of your work experience or in terms of your family, you don't know whether the preparations you've made are going to work out at all, do you? I think we all know in one way or another.

Be it tragic or sometimes a blessing, we all know what it is to see our lives take a real sharp.

Turn, another direction from what we thought because a man's goings are of God. So how then can a man understand his own way? The part we're to play is predetermined by God. And that part may not be revealed to us in this life. We do not yet see the order. We do not yet see the plan and the picture.

We don't see the order that God will bring from the apparently unconnected details of our lives and the failed efforts in our lives. You see the point of it all. The point of my life and the point of your life.

Is not yours to determine.

It's God's.

The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. But the things that are revealed belong unto us and our children forever. That we may do all the words of his law.

God has not given to us the.

Secret secrets of his plan.

God has not told us what the outcome and the purpose and the significance and place and point of our lives may be.

He has given us rather his law. And he said, obey this this is what is for you and your children. The other things leave to me. And so no matter what you may plan, no matter where I put you, live in obedience to me and I'll bring order out of chaos. All tie all the ends together, all make history one orchestrated beautiful symphony. Even though you only think you're ringing a sour note. So the Book of Proverbs aims to impart wisdom to us.

A wisdom that knows how to respond.

To the close calls in life, a.

Wisdom that knows how to react to adversity, A wisdom that understands the most important things in life. A wisdom which has the right attitude.

Toward the meaning of an individual's existence.

And what we've learned today is that this wisdom of the Book of Proverbs, which is more valuable than gold, more valuable than rubies, this wisdom is rooted in an awareness and a conviction that God is totally sovereign. I want to be bold to say, without any party spirit about it at all, I must be bold to say, based on what we've seen from God's word, that non Calvinists, non Calvinists faced an insurmountable obstacle in gaining full wisdom. You cannot know the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs until you finally can lay back and say, God is sovereign, his plan determines everything. There are no random events. And even my free choices, in the very words of my mouth, have been.

Determined by God ahead of time.

Until you understand that, until you live your life within that framework of the all encompassing sovereignty of God, you cannot.

Be a wise person when your life gets into hot water, when you're led to think about the meaning of life.

When you start reflecting upon these things, if you're really wise, it will lead.

You to the sovereign plan of God.

To His providence, because he is our.

Life and he determines its outcome and he determines its meaning. Paul put it this way. On Mars Hill, in Him we live and move and have our being. He is the all controlling context of our lives.

And so let's be led to say.

With Paul in Romans 11, oh, the.

Depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his.

Ways past finding out.

For, for who has known the mind of the Lord. For of him and through him, and.

Unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Father, give us wisdom today. A wisdom beyond our means, beyond our human foolishness, beyond our shallow thoughts. Give us a wisdom that understands in the most cosmic, universal sort of way that you control everything, that our lives are in your hands, that we do not determine the outcome of our lives, the course of our lives. And that therefore, in the midst of adversity, we must draw close to you. Therefore, we must understand the most important.

Thing in this world is that we draw close to you.

And that we not fret over the individual meaning of our lives. For we know that our lives have meaning. Our lives have purpose because they're part of a broader plan and a scheme that you have devised. One which is far too mysterious and too deep for us to comprehend. And so we are sufficient in this. That everything that we do is of you. And everything we are to become is unto you. We do pray that you would take our lives, that you would control them in such a way that we would not serve the purposes of the wicked in this world, but we would, in some small, perhaps mysterious, and maybe even surprising way, advance your kingdom in this world. Make us servants to that end. That we would accept your will and know that whatever you ordain is always right. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.