It's so good to see all of you. I thank the Lord. I mean this, I really wish I
knew how. Tell you how good it is to be
here. What a blessing. To be able to assemble ourselves.
In the House of the Lord. And to know that where two or
three are gathered together in my name. The Lord said, I'm in
the midst of you. I'm glad he's here. I'm glad
to be here. I'm glad he's here. Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter
30. I'm gonna look at verses, Lord
willing, 21 to 23. And today as we consider God's
Word, I pray that we remember something. His Word is going to stand. It's going to stand. Says the Lord Jesus Christ speaking,
Matthew 24, 35, the Lord said, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away. Whatever he said is not gonna
pass away. Now we're here this morning for
a few minutes. That's all it is. It's just a
few minutes. And we're here to consider what
does the Lord have to say? What does God have to say? And
as we consider these scriptures, let's remember something. These
are not merely words to be taken lightly. Whatever the Lord has to say
through His Word, and I don't understand the fullness of this,
but it's going to come up again. This is going to come up again. Almighty God has promised His
Word is not going to pass away. And in the day of judgment, everything
that God has to say is going to be brought up again. As if to say, and I say this
reverently, the Lord said, I told you, I told you. I pray that
the Lord give me a heart to hear. I want to hear. I want to hear
what God has to say. His word. Oh, the preciousness of God's
word. In the beginning was the word.
The word was with God and the word was God. Here is the word of God. Now
today I want us to consider that which the Lord says to his people. Now listen to this. Proverbs
chapter 30. I want to read verses 21 to 23. For three things, the earth is disquieted, unsustainable, For three things the earth is
unsustainable, is quieted. For four, which it cannot bear. For a servant when he reigneth,
or a fool when he's filled with meat, or an odious woman when
she is married, and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress. Now let me tell you what that
does to me when I read that. I read that and the Lord said
there's four things that are unbearable, unsustainable. And
he tells us what the four things are. You know what? My mind is made to think, Lord,
would you teach me what you just said? Would you explain it to
me? Would you explain it to me? And I know what the scripture
says. I'm gonna send you pastors after my heart and they will
give you understanding. Do you realize, I don't, but
I wish I did, the responsibility that is laid upon a man that
stands in this pulpit. I wanna be truthful with you.
I wanna be truthful with you. I want to be honorable to the
Lord. Just a moment ago, Neil, you were reading scriptures,
and this thought went through my mind today. Lord, please don't
let me be disrespectful to you. Please don't let me be insensitive
to you. Lord, please don't have my mind go off somewhere,
nowhere land. Lord, help me. Help me to concentrate. Help me to hear. Help me to hear. Help me to hear what you have
to say. The scripture declares that three
things this earth is disquieted. It just can't bear up under them. Four, which it cannot bear. servant
when he reigneth. Now here's what, humanly speaking,
Lord willing, I want to look at it humanly, just for a moment,
so we can understand what he's saying, and then may the Lord
give us some understanding spiritually. Here's what this earth just,
he can't bear this. He can't bear this. Number one, a servant, when he reigneth. Actually, it's one in bondage,
a servant, a bondman, one in a laborer that is actually a
slave. He's one that is a slave, a bondman. He's untaught. This is what that
word means, untaught in the ways of governing. He's leadership,
he's just one who's unqualified, unfit for a position to reign
over others. That's what it means. When he
says it, three things, four things. A servant, an unqualified person. When he's put in a position to
be a ruler, placed in a situation of authority. And he's got some
responsibility to make decisions of grave importance. And he knows
absolutely nothing about that position. The Lord said, that's nothing
but anxiety. I joined service back in late
60s. And I just went through boot
camp, heard a few little things here and there and yonder about
military and this, that and the other. Let me tell you what that
didn't do. I was in the Navy, but that didn't
qualify me to be an admiral. I made a decision, I made a decision
to join, and I went down and signed a dotted line. But that
didn't make me chief of staff. It's just some things that's
just unsustainable in this world. And that right here, it's a servant,
one that's unqualified when he reigneth. Here's the second thing. A fool when he's filled with
meat. A fool that is reckless when he's extravagant,
when he's wasteful in that which he possesses. I thought about
the man Esau. He was a man that that was born before his brother,
twins. Jacob and Esau were twins. Esau
was born just a moment or two before his brother. Therefore,
he was the one who really deserved the birthright. But when he got hungry, he told
his brother, Jacob, give me something to eat. Jacob said, give me your
birthright and I will. DeSauce said, what good's a birthright
gonna do me? It didn't do me any good. I'm
gonna die right now. Okay, you can have it. I don't
care. Just reckless, reckless with that which was a precious
thing. Precious, precious, precious. That decision to, you know, I
want you to Turn with me to the book of Luke. Hold your place
there in Proverbs. Look at Luke 12, 15. Luke chapter
12, 15. Luke 12, 15. He said unto them, take heed
and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the thing which he possesseth. He spake
a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do to bestow my fruits. He said, this I'll
do. I'll build greater in there.
I'll bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I'll say to my
soul, soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years. Take
thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. I've got plenty. I got, I got,
I got more than I need. I've got so much. I'm just got
everything. But God said unto him, thou fool,
This night, thou soul shall be required of thee. Then whose
shall these things be which thou hast provided? Here's something
that the world just can't sustain. A fool, a man that is filled
with meat, but he has no sense to know how to govern it, how
to deal with it. Here's another thing back in
Proverbs chapter 29. I'm 30, I'm sorry. Here's the
third thing. An odious woman and she is married. An odious woman, repulsive, reckless,
just uncaring, just like It was found to be when Gomer was taken
by Hosea. It loved her. God told Hosea,
you take a woman of the whoredoms and you marry her. There was
a beautiful picture. I'll preach on that, how God
has taken the bride of Christ, odious in herself. But here's
something, an odious woman, reckless, spin thrift, doesn't care Husband's
doing everything in the world he can do to help her, sustain
her, provide for her. He's doing everything he can.
And she just don't care. She's just, you know, an odious
woman. The world, the Lord said, the
world can't bear up under that. And then lastly, It mentioned
back in the 23rd verse, last part, an handmaid that is heir
to her mistress is Hagar, who was given to Abraham by Sarah. Sarah, she was convinced she
couldn't have kids. She was barren, couldn't have
kids. How am I gonna? How is God going
to fulfill his promise if I can't have children? The Lord said
that he was going to give a child to Abraham. Obviously, it's not
going to come through Sarah. Well, I'm going to just give
my handmaid, I'm going to give Hagar to Abraham and we'll fulfill
God's God's will, God promised, we're gonna do it by the works
of our hands, we're gonna do it by our flesh, we're gonna
handle this thing. Almighty God says that, that
attitude right there, that's unbearable in this world. Three
things the earth is disquieted, four it cannot bear, a servant
when he reigneth, a fool when he's filled with meat, an odious
woman when she's married, and a handmaid that is heir, to her
mistress. Oh, the wisdom of God Almighty,
God's grace, to give men, women like us, examples so we can understand. Why do you preach in Proverbs? Why do you preach like this?
Why do you use these kind of examples? When we read them like
this, they seem so unable to be understood. Why do you do
that? The Lord said, because it's given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of God. To them it's not given. We read
these things and we partake of the goodness of God to hear this.
These earthly examples that have heavenly meanings and we read
them at first in our flesh, we read that. I can tell you what
you thought when you first read these scriptures right here.
You did the same thing I did. I read that the other day and
I thought, what does that mean? Where am I going with this? And
what it causes me to do is to say, Lord, If you don't give
me understanding, I don't get it. I don't get it. That's the
natural man. There's a natural man in me,
a natural man in you. And we don't understand it. But
he said, I'll send you pastors after my heart. They'll give
you understanding. Why? Because the Lord will give
them understanding. He said, I'm going to teach them.
And I'll teach you through that. So here's what we're going to
do. We're going to take what God has said in these Proverbs,
parables in these examples, earthly examples that have a heavenly
meaning. And we're going to ask the Lord
to give us some understanding in these things. There's no place
in the world that carries with it so much damage as these examples
here that was given, given us. this recklessness, this destruction,
when a sinner thinks himself a fool, when he's put in a position
of leadership, when he thinks he's got some authority, when
he thinks he's got everything under control, when a man that
is a servant, when he thinks he reigns, when he thinks he's
got the ability, Can't be sustained like this.
Is that not free will, false religion? Telling men, you're
able. You're able. You who are actually
a slave, a servant, a servant to sin. You've got the ability
to reconcile yourself back to God. You've got the ability to
make a decision for the Lord. And that's going to take care
of all of God's justice. God's wrath is going to be put
away. Everything's going to be fine.
All you've got to do is get in the water. Just let somebody
put you under the water. And the judgment of Almighty
God is finished. That's unbearable. That won't
stand up. That won't fly. That dog won't
hunt. You understand what I'm saying?
No, it's unbearable. Hold your place and turn with
me to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians two. Oh, when men tell
other men, all you got to do is What about the judgment of
God? What about justice? What about
God's wrath? I mean, you better tell me the
truth because I'm going to leave this world. Ephesians chapter
2, verses 8 and 9. Verse 8, for by grace or you're
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now let me ask you something.
Who are we gonna believe? Who are we gonna believe? Are
we gonna believe a man that tells me all you gotta do is come down
here, utter these words, if you say these words, if you pray
this sinner's prayer, if you do this, if you get in the water,
If you speak in tongues, if you do this, if you do that, if you
do that. All you got to do is this. Now who are you going to
believe? You're going to believe a man that's lying to you? Lying
to me? Or are you going to believe God?
Not of works. Not of works. For by grace are
you saved through faith. And not of yourself. It's a gift
of God. It's the gift of God. When man fell in the garden, The scripture said that the Lord
told Adam, in the day you eat thereof, the day you eat of that
forbidden fruit, you're going to die. And we all know, we've
heard this before. He didn't die physically that
day, but he died spiritually. He died spiritually. When he
fell in the garden, everything concerning man died. And I come forth and you do too.
You come forth from your mother's womb Let me tell you what your
attitude is toward the things of God. And we're all like this
by nature. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't have time. I don't have patience. I got
stuff to do. Man's sense of God's goodness
perished. Man's concern for God's honor
perished. Whenever Adam ate of the fruit,
Adam immediately blamed God. Yeah, did you eat of the fruit?
The woman. You gave me. Really, what he said was, it
comes down to this. It's your fault. You gave me,
Eve. If you wouldn't have given me
Eve, I wouldn't have listened to her. And so therefore, it's
your fault. He had no desire for God's presence. The Lord, scripture says, walked
in the coolness of the day. And what did Adam do? He hid. He hid from God. Adam, where
are you? God knew where he was. He gonna
tell Adam where he is. Yeah, he hid from God. What does
man, what does a woman do by nature? Now look, I'm just, I'm
just telling you what the things that the scripture sets forth
here that are unbearable, unsustainable for a man's hope of salvation. This is not going to bear up. That servant when he's reigning,
you that are a servant, me that is a servant to sin, servant when you reign, A fool
when he's filled with meat, a man that thinks I've got need of
nothing, I've got this going, I've got a good job, I've got
my health, I'm doing well, I work out, you know, as often as I
can. I'm doing good, I'm doing good, things are good. That's
not gonna hold up, that's not gonna hold up. An odious woman
when she's married, one that's repulsive, Tired of that, you get tired
of it, tired. Oh, man had no desire for God,
hid himself when he heard the Lord. And all that God had formerly
provided for man by his gracious hand, now the scripture says,
God told Adam, he said, now by the sweat of your brow. It's
not, you're gonna have to work. You have to go to work. There's
some consequences. There's some consequences. Let
me tell you this. There's some consequences concerning
not obeying God. Man was now found to be a servant
to sin, foolishly thinking that he possessed the ability to reign,
to reign with God. Fooled by the lie of Satan, that
he possessed the ability to be able to reconcile himself back.
Disobedience. Disobedient, thought by the acts
of his own supposed goodness that he could obtain an inheritance
with God. I was going over my notes this
morning, reading over these notes, praying, Lord, I thought about
what I've told you, Henry told me that day. He said, I got a
set of notes here. And he said, I know they're scripturally sound.
I know they are. But Lord, if you don't bless
them, they're just gonna be words. They're just gonna be words.
That's all they're gonna be. For me, for man, for anybody
born in Adam to think that I can obtain an inheritance with God. that I can be a joint heir with
Christ. A joint heir with Christ. Based
on me uttering a few words that I know in my heart, I've tried
that and had to do it three or four times because I kept thinking,
I don't know if it really took. I don't know if I was sincere
enough. I don't know. It was always coming back to me. Always
coming back to, well, did I do enough? What a mess man has made
of himself. What a mess a man is in. Oh, but with the bad news, I
got some good news. Let me tell you this. Here's
the bad news. If you're depending on something
that you've done or you think you can do, if you think you
can be sincere enough, If you think you can be righteous enough
or holy enough, if you think you can, I got some bad news
for you. Man at his best state. I mean his best state. I mean,
you know, I'm talking about the most religious. You know, I fast
twice a week. I've done this, I've done that,
and the other. The Lord said that man that was bragging in
all of his good works, He left there unjustified. But that publican
that said, God, be merciful to me. I can't. Lord, I'm just a
sinner. I'm just a sinner. I deserve
whatever. Lord, you're pleased to give
me. Lord, if you put me in hell,
I deserve it. I deserve it. David Edmondson
told me the other day, we were talking, he said that somebody
was talking to him, told him, they'd heard what David preached.
And they said, my God is too good. He's too kind. He's too kind
to put somebody in hell for their sins. David said, my God is too
just not to. I'm going to tell you something.
I need for God to do something for me that I can't do for myself.
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. That's all I can
do. I'm a sinner. All I can do is
sin. Turn with me. Hold your place.
Turn with me to Romans 5. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter
5. Just I'll read a few verses of
scripture, starting in verse 19. Romans 5, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous. The law entered that the offense
might abound, for where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Let
me tell you what, let me tell you what I need, let me tell
you what every sinner needs. I need for the Lord to bear My
guilt, I can't bear it. I must tell Jesus, I can't bear
this burden alone. That's what you just say. I need
for the Lord to do something for me that I cannot do. I need
for my sin to be paid in full. I need the debt of my sin to
be paid before God. before God's law. I need God
Almighty to do something concerning my sin. What in the world could
this possibly do? Oh, you've heard this so many
times. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For he, that is God, hath made
him Christ To be as in italics, he made the Lord Jesus Christ
for a people of God's choosing. I'm going to read that in just
a minute in closing. He hath made him, he made him
sin. He made him sin. God Almighty made the Lord Jesus
Christ for a people of God's choosing. Again, I'll read it
to you in just a minute. And I said, well, didn't the
Lord Jesus Christ die for everybody? No. No, he didn't. He said in
John, he said, I laid down my life for the sheep. I laid down
my life for the sheep. Well, I thought he laid down
his life for everybody. If he paid everybody's debt,
God be unjust. Send him one person to hell.
If all their debts paid, I lay down my life for the sheep. He's
got a sheep. He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. This is way too deep for me,
Pat. Way over my head. But Almighty God has done something
that I could not do. I told you a moment ago, you'd
want to read this, it's 2 Thessalonians 2. For whom did Christ die? 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verse 13, 14. We are bound to give thanks to
God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Almighty God has a people. Ephesians
chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Our Lord, I said a moment ago,
For whom did Christ die? The Lord said, and John, he said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Got a sheep. I've heard people
tell me for years, they said, well, that's not fair. I said, well, I'm gonna tell
you something. If he didn't lay down his life for somebody, then
we're all gone. Who art thou, O man, that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? I've asked people, who do you
think you're talking to? When we dispute the Lord, who do you
think you're talking to? Here's a wretched sinner. Unless
God shows mercy, Ephesians chapter one, three to six, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted. I thought my free will. Well,
no. It wasn't your free will. Because
no man will come unless the Lord gives a man, a woman, a heart
to come. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Well, what if he doesn't give
me a heart to come? Then I'm gonna tell you this, I hate to
be so honest with you, you won't come. For the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. How did he do this? I'm gonna
skip forward to the end of my notes here. I want you to turn
to Ezekiel 36, and I'm gonna end reading a few verses of scripture. Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. I'm going to start in verse 21,
and then I'm going to stop. You know, I heard Brother Scott, Scott
told me one time that he told somebody that had told him, they
said, you know what? If you tell people what you're
telling them right here, you're going to confuse them. If you
tell them, because they've never heard that before, but they told
old Scott, they said, if you tell them what you're telling
them right now, you're going to confuse them. You all have been here
for a while, you know what he said. He said, man's born confused. God's got to give him some understanding.
That's what he needs to be. This is the way that God Almighty
saves sinners. He does not leave it. He doesn't
leave it to ourselves, because we won't come. Lord, don't leave
me to me. Don't leave me to me. Ezekiel
chapter 36, verse 21. But I had pity for mine holy
name. Aren't you glad that God Be pleased
to have pity on somebody. I had pity for my name, for my
holy name, which the house of Israel. Now listen, when it says
the house of Israel, it's talking about the people, the church
of God, the elect, God's choice. Paul the apostle said, they're
not all Israel that are of Israel. Somebody can be born, naturally
speaking, a Jew. That does not make them an heir
of God. There were a lot of Jews, a lot
of Pharisees that hated what Paul the Apostle was preaching.
They hated it. They were looking to the law. They were looking to their works.
They were looking to their obedience. And they hated what... So just
when it says concerning Israel, remember this. Spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel. But I had pity
for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned
among the heathen, whither they went. And that's what we've all
done. We're all born like that. We're all born profaning the
name of God. I wasn't born a believer. Somebody
told Henry Mahan one time, they said, I've believed all my life. Henry said, that's just a little
bit too long. That's too long. You didn't believe all your life.
Because somewhere along the line, God calls his people out of darkness. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, spiritual Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do
not this for your sakes, oh, house of Israel, but for mine
holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether
you went, and I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned
among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of
them." This is what a believer said. I'm a blasphemer by nature. I am. I'm a blasphemer. So I'll tell you what, I remember
when I used to be a sinner. Let me tell you something. You
look at one that is right now. One that forgets so easily. One
that I could just, in my flesh, leave me to myself,
and I'll never stand in another pulpit. I'll never preach again. Leave me to me, and I won't do
it. I am by nature, a rebel against
God. And that old man is going to
be with me until the Lord takes me out of this world. And I don't
like him. I don't like me. I don't like
the old me. You that believe don't either. You don't. The heathen shall know that I
am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes. For I will take you from among
the heathen, and gather you out of all the countries, and I will
bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon
you. You shall be clean from all your
filthiness, from your idols. Will I cleanse you? A new heart
also will I give you. A new spirit I'll put within
you. I'll take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh, and I'll
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and you shall keep my judgments and do them, and you shall dwell
in the land that I gave your fathers, and you shall be my
people. I'll be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness. Oh, isn't that a precious promise?
I'm gonna save you. I'm gonna save you, not because
of how good you are. I'm gonna save you from it. And
I will call you for the corn. I will increase it, lay no famine
upon you, and I'll multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase
of the field, and you shall receive no more reproach of famine among
the heathen. Then you shall remember your
own evil ways, your doings that were not good, and shall loathe
yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your
abominations, not for your sakes. Do I this, saith the Lord God,
be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded for your own ways,
O house of Israel. I'm so thankful that God saves
sinners. Paul said, I'm chief. I'm chief. But there's some comfort in knowing
it when man or woman can be made honest before God. Just be honest. Lord, save me, as Peter said. Save me, I'm gonna perish. I'm
gonna perish. Those that come to me, the Lord
said, I will in no wise cast out. Come to me for life. Not
come to me because they're good enough, but come to me because
they need a Savior. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart.