Turn with me to the book of Proverbs
chapter 28. While you're turning there, I
was going to tell you in light of us being gone a week, not just next week, but
the following week, Lord willing, we'll have our services on Thursday
night. It's coming week, Wednesday,
following week when I'm down in Florida, Thursday. All right, Proverbs, Proverbs
chapter 28. I'd like to look at one verse
of scripture, verse five. Scripture says, evil men understand
not judgment, but they that seek the Lord understand all things. Our passage today could truly
be a continuation of verse 4 that we looked at last time. They that forsake the law praise
the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them. Now, that contention, that strife,
and it's because of a a difference of heart. Whenever John the Baptist was
thrown into prison, he was thrown into prison because he told Herod,
he said, it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.
Well, that offended Herodias, his brother's wife. and she influenced
Herod to have him thrown into prison. The scripture sets forth, Psalm
139.21, there's a contention of heart. Believers and unbelievers don't
see things the same. 139, Psalm 139, 21, do not I hate
them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am I, and am not I grieved
with those that rise up against thee? It's not that a believer
sees himself above another believer. He is what he is by the grace
of God, he knows that. But there's a heart of respect
for the Lord's word, his law. So in our passage today, evil
men, they understand not judgment. The natural man, all found without
Christ, dead in trespasses and sins, they understand not justice,
is actually the meaning of that word, judgment. They understand
not God's verdict. His law, his right to rule. They don't understand it. They don't discern God's justice. But not only do they not understand
it, also the word there means to, they don't attend it. They
don't consider it. They don't look well to it. They
don't regard it. They don't view it wisely. They don't view Him who is the
righteous judge, Him before whom all men are going to stand, the
mediator, the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. So when it comes to the declaration
of God's judgment, God's justice, The carnal man, the evil man,
man without Christ, he's completely ignorant. That's why they say
evil men understand not. They don't understand it. They
don't regard it. They don't care. They just don't
care. About you that know him before
the Lord revealed himself to you concerning what God has to
say. We're going to look at it for
a few minutes. We're going to look at what the Lord has said. We
just didn't care. Take it or leave it. I'm not
saying we might not show up, come to church. I'm not saying
that. I'm not saying, you know, we
don't try to, you know, treat our neighbors decently. I'm not
saying, but we just don't care concerning what God has to say
in his word. Psalm 92, five and six, O Lord,
how great are thy works. And thy thoughts are very deep,
that is, they're perfect. That's what it means, they're
perfect. And a brutish man, one who is spiritually coarse, the
meaning of brutish, coarse, or rude, just rude, knoweth not,
neither doth a fool, a silly, self-confident man understand
this. Now, when did all of this disregard
for God's word, when did all this start? Well, you know where
it started, in the beginning, in the garden. Satan came to
Eve and he declared that which God said was good. What did God say? Here's what
God said. Of all the trees of the garden
thou may freely eat but one. This is good. Don't eat of that
tree. That's good. Don't eat of that
tree. Satan said that it would be good
for them to eat of that tree because it would make them wise
to know good and evil. He told him, he said, you'll
be as gods. You'll know. He said that what
God said was not good, don't eat, that's good. And what God
said was good, to obey God, Satan said, no, that's not good. So
now, after having eaten, man died spiritually, and now everything
that the carnal man hears, not just here, but right here, everything
he hears concerning what God has said, he does not understand
it. He doesn't regard it. He doesn't
discern it. All thy works, that's it. Oh
Lord, how great are thy works. All your appointments, all of
your actions, everything that God has done in creation, in
providence, in salvation, they are beyond man's comprehension. He doesn't have the ability to
discern. He can't comprehend the greatness
of God's works. But the scripture says, but they
that seek the Lord understand all things. What do they understand?
Well, they understand that God is God. That's what, do we understand
the depth of it? No, we don't understand the depth,
but we do know this, that which the Lord does is right. And we
trust him and we thank him according to his word and we reverently
bow to his good pleasure. When God created the earth and
spoke it into existence, what did the Lord see? Well, Genesis 131, it said, God
saw that everything that he had made, and behold, it was very
good. It's very good. Now, man by nature,
and I'll tell you this, I'm the first one to admit, man by nature,
questions I don't understand. Why, why, why all these horrible
pests? Why all these mosquitoes, mosquitoes? If you're not, if you're not
from Louisiana, you don't understand mosquitoes. Certain times of
the day, two times a day, don't go out and, and without Spray
and don't go out at dawn and don't go out at dusk. If you're
from there, you know why. They'll eat you alive, especially
if you're in the swamps. It just buzzes with these, why? Why? Snakes. Why? Why would God create Antarctica? It's not even habitable. It's
just a big mass of ice. Oh, I understand Bird went down
there and had an expedition and stuff. Nobody lives there. That's
not a permanent place of habitation. Man questions. Do you think it
was necessary for God to make all these things? Obviously so.
Did it please him? He saw everything was good. So
here we are. We find all these things. And
in Providence, He worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Now in Providence, why do we
have plagues? You know why, you understand,
because of sin. Why do we have hurricanes? Why
does a hurricane come through and destroy and flood? Why? Why are there pandemics? Evil man understand not the judgment,
the verdict, the law, the justice of Almighty God. And concerning the order for
obedience that was given by God unto man, he graciously gave
man his law. The law started in the garden.
That's when he told Moses, no, Adam, Eve, concerning, but when
he gave his law to Moses, he gave it for the good, for his
honor, to set forth the glory, the character. The law is good. I've said before, what part of
the law can you find that's not good? I shall love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not
bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. You shall steal, kill. What part of that's not good?
But I'll tell you what man has done. Man considers that which
is forbidden by God now to be acceptable. That which is acceptable
in God's sight according to man is forbidden. Isaiah 520, woe unto them that
call evil good and good evil. that put darkness for light and
light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for
bitter. I mean, just look at this world. You tell me if evil man, all
of us born in Adam, if we understand the justice of Almighty God,
the judgment of God, in salvation, man asks, Now I've read this
so many times before, I'll just quote it for you. When Moses
asked the Lord, show me your glory. And here's what the Lord
said. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion. When the scripture says that
God hardened Pharaoh's heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart and
God hardened his heart. What did God do? He left him
alone. He left him alone. And man will
say, why does God show mercy to one and bypass another one? I love the Spirit of God's answer
through the Apostle Paul. 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? Man doesn't
understand. When the Lord was pleased to
set forth, he has mercy on whomsoever he will. That settles it. It's done. It's over. Man considers salvation to be
by his own power and so-called free will and decision, and he
completely ignores satisfaction of God's justice, God's wrath. He completely ignores the putting
away of sin without a fit righteousness before God. Man thinks that God's
going to accept his self-righteous efforts doesn't consider that
God's approach only in absolute holiness. But they that seek
the Lord understand all things. They that seek the Lord, that
is, those that seek Him regarding and looking well to His Word. Now, that's a marvelous thing.
Turn to Psalm 14. They that seek the Lord. Psalm
14, one to three. They that seek the Lord. Now,
Psalm 14, one to three. The fool has said in
his heart, there's no God. They're corrupt. They've done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of man to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They're all gone
aside. They're all together become filtered.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. So this is a marvelous
thing. They that seek the Lord. How did they come to do that?
Obviously they do. Turn to Jeremiah 24. Jeremiah
24. Obviously there's some that seek
the Lord. And they seek Him by the grace
of God. God gave them a new heart. Jeremiah 24, verse six and seven
says this, for I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and
I will bring them again to this land. I will build them and not
pull them down. I will plant them and not pluck
them up. I will give them a heart to know
me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people,
I will be their God, and they shall return unto me with their
whole, their sincere heart. There's some people, look, turn
to Jeremiah 29. There is some people that seek
the Lord. But they're not gonna seek Him
until He gives them a new heart. They're not gonna seek Him until
they're made willing in the day of God's power. Man by nature
does not seek God. He doesn't understand. He doesn't
care. He doesn't discern. He doesn't
look well to. Jeremiah 29, 10 to 14. For thus saith the Lord, that
after 70 years, and spiritually speaking, this is an event that
actually happened. but spiritually, God's people
being called out of bondage, spiritual bondage. Thus saith
the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I
will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing
you to return to this place, for I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
evil, to give you an expected end, an end with an expectation. Then shall you call upon me,
and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with
your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. I will turn away your captivity.
I will gather you from all the nations, from all the places
where I've driven you, saith the Lord. I will bring you again
into the place whence I caused you to be carried away. God's
people are gonna seek the Lord. He's going to give them a desire
to. He's going to give them a want to. And now the regenerate, one
called out of darkness, he seeks after Christ and he understands
something concerning God's justice. What does he understand? Well,
he understands it was satisfied at Calvary by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He understands according to the
Word of God, Romans 8, 1, that there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which be in Christ Jesus. Is he able to enter into the
depths of that which was happening between the Father and the Son,
the depth? No, there's a lot of things.
That which the Lord has kept secret, we don't know. But I
do know this. I know the results of it. And
I know I got hard for it. I know I want to come and I want
to hear the Word of God. I want the Lord to be honored.
I want God to be glorified and not man. I understand that. They
understand that by faith, that their salvation was God's choice
and not theirs. They understand that. They know
that had God not been pleased to choose them in Christ before
the foundation of the world, they understand this, they'd
have been just like Sodom and Gomorrah. They got that part
of it. They understand that. They understand
that they are what they are by the grace of God. They understand
that they're being kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. And lastly,
they understand that God's in heaven, that he rules in heaven. They understand that they're
earthy, that they're being kept that they're the recipients of
his mercy. And had he not plucked them as
a brand out of the fire of his justice, they understand this,
he would have been right to send me to hell, the very hell that
I deserve because of my sin. I understand that part of it.
Oh, to grace, how great a debtor. Daily, I'm constrained to be
what? I'm constrained to be daily a
debtor. to his graciousness. This is
what God's people understand, salvations of the Lord. And for
that, we're thankful. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's just take
a few minutes break and we'll come right back.