Living by Faith: Wisdom

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Living by faith means walking in wisdom. Psalm 37, 30-31 tells us that the righteous speak wisdom and that the law of their God is in their hearts. The truth of His word captivates our hearts, yes, but it doesn't stop there.

We speak it. We share it with those around us. See, part of following Jesus is helping others follow Jesus. What a joyous calling we've been given to strengthen and encourage others with the very truth God has used to bolster our own souls. This is part two of a message that was first preached on March 24, 2019 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

It's part of the series titled Living by Faith. This is the information age, all this information coming at you. And did you know that there are nations that use this tactic to influence the thinking of their people to keep the truth from them? Even though the truth could be inescapable, they throw out a glut of information and it gets lost.

Could it be that this is happening to us too, that the refreshing, transforming truth of God's self-disclosure is crowded out with the glut of information and all the noise that we have going on, all the stuff that's coming in. The law of His God is in His heart. What does that mean? It means that the Word of God is not merely an external object of knowledge, but it is a fixed rule. It is a fixed rule that foundation of life that becomes the fountain of your satisfaction as we studied last time. Whatever is the foundation of your life becomes the fountain of your satisfaction.

So what does it say next? The law of His God is in His heart. His steps do not slip.

His steps do not slip. That's just like back in verse 23, the established steps. The steps of a man are established by the Lord. You see, righteousness is wisdom in action. Where God's self-disclosure has informed and transformed my heart, I know the intent, the character, the purpose of the designer, and I'm walking and that establishes my steps because I pursue what I desire.

So my desires are now at a higher level. I am able to feast at God's banquet table instead of living out of the dumpster. And so I know the richness of God's feast and that establishes my steps.

That is my desire and therefore my steps are in pursuit of what I desire. I want you to consider the power of God's word, why it's so important that His word is in your heart. Because of the power that it has. Did you know God's word is very powerful as the scriptures make clearly known to us? Unlike our words, for God speaking and acting are the same thing. Did you know that? And God said, let there be light. And what? There was light.

All He did was speak. You and I can't do that. We wish we could. Walk into this room and it's dark and I say, let there be light. Well, first of all, I have to make sure that the room is wired correctly and that there are light fixtures up there. And then what I have to do, I have to go to the light switch and hit the light switch. Down here they say, mash that button.

That's what I have to do. I can't just speak it into existence, but God can and God does. His word is powerful because to Him speaking and acting are the same thing. Now get this, if His word is in your heart, that same power is in you at the core of your being informing and transforming your desires and your thoughts, your attitudes.

That establishes your steps. That is the power of God's word. One of my favorite verses in the Old Testament is Psalm 119 165. Great peace.

And that's what we all want, isn't it? Shalom. Great peace. Shalom, y'all. Great peace have those who love your law.

I love this. Look at the next line, the last line. Nothing can make them stumble. One of the translations says, and nothing shall offend them at all. That word stumble and offend, same word. And the idea of offending someone is that they stumble away from Christ.

They stumble away from faith. That is what it means to offend somebody. So Christians, don't go around being offended. Stop it. Because if you are offended, it only means that you're one of two things. You're either immature in Christ or you're actually still unregenerate. There I said it.

Mature Christian. Great peace have those who love your law. Nothing can make them stumble. That's a tremendous verse, isn't it?

I love that. Because this verse speaks of the one whose law of his God is in his heart and his steps are established through self-discipline, focusing on the law of God and self-leadership. I order my steps according to God's self-disclosure.

I'm not looking at anybody else to mimic their steps. I'm looking at what God has revealed. And I order my steps according to his character and his purpose. That's why I need his law in my heart. Because his law is powerful to transform. So that self-discipline and that self-leadership, not compared to or measured by other people, but by the unchanging, the fixed character and purpose of God. Established steps. This is what the psalmist means in verse 31 when he says, the law of his God is in his heart, his steps do not slip.

You know what that is? If this is true, then that means this person is skilled at life. And that's wisdom. Skill for life is wisdom.

That means success. Success is realized purpose. Again, going back to the law of his God in his heart, what is the very reason for my being? Why am I here?

What am I all about? God has informed us on that. And therefore I take my steps as he transforms my heart, my desires.

I take my steps according to what I pursue and I am living those established steps lead me toward a skillful life. That's wisdom. That's wisdom.

Functioning according to design. And therefore I have the capacity to speak truth with grace. Because it says in verse 30, the mouth of the righteous utters wisdom. Listen, you can't get there until you've done verse 31 first.

Right? This isn't about just memorizing the right thing to say in the right situation. That's superficial. This skill for life, the mouth of the righteous, uttering wisdom, that is the outflow of the one whose heart and mind have been transformed, informed and transformed by God's self-disclosure. And the steps that he takes are steps of wisdom, established steps by God. And then the wisdom that he utters, the wisdom that he communicates is the outflow of his life. Sometimes it's words, sometimes it's not. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom.

I like what C.H. Spurgeon said about this. He said, a man's tongue is no ill index of his character. Now that's flowery 19th century English. Let me give you the Rich Powell 21st translation of that.

Ready? The mouth is the exhaust system of the heart. This is what Jesus said. He didn't use those terms, but that's what he said. It's not what goes into a man that defiles him. You see, that's how we can measure spirituality, right? Well, you should be eating or drinking that because that's, Christians don't do that. It's not what the Bible says.

What did Jesus say? It is what comes out of a person that defiles him. Because the mouth is the exhaust system of the heart. What's coming out of your mouth, giving yourself, given a particular situation, put yourself in a stressful situation. Something that kicks your can. What comes out of the can? It's what's ever in the can.

Mouth is the exhaust system of the heart. Is it wisdom? When you get kicked, is it wisdom that comes out? Only if verse 31 is true about your life. The law of his God is in his heart and his steps do not slip. Your life is then able to communicate God's truth, God's thoughts, and God's ways. Why is this so important? Because you're not given life and wisdom and the word of God to inform you.

Just for your own life. You are here to glorify him. What does glorifying him mean?

It means pointing people to him. So part of following Jesus is helping others follow Jesus. Christians, you hear me on this? Part of following Jesus is helping others follow Jesus. That's why we have gifts and that's why we're expecting and they're spiritual gifts and we are expected as Christians to employ them because part of following Jesus is helping others follow Jesus. That's a life of wisdom. In that strain, Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ because he had established steps. So this is living by faith.

That's what it looks like. God's law in your heart, the established steps in his steps that he has left for us, the word of God informing and transforming and therefore I take intentional steps to pursue what I desire because my desires have been informed and transformed by God's self-disclosure. And when I do that, that is a skillful life. That's wisdom. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.