That was good. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. I'd like to consider one verse
of scripture this morning, verse 3. Proverbs 12, 3. Before we begin, let's again
ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, Lord, You, in the
Holy Scriptures, by the Spirit of God, commanded us to pray
without ceasing. Ask, and it will be given. Seek, and you will find. Lord, this morning we ask and
seek and knock and admit, Lord, in the only way we know how,
trying, trying to ask, trying to seek, trying to knock. Lord,
would you do for us what we cannot do for ourselves? Would you reveal
the Lord Jesus Christ, for it's in his name we pray. Amen. Since man's fall in the garden, man by nature has always ignorantly,
blindly thought that he could make himself a covering before
God. He's always thought that. That's what Adam and Eve did.
They thought, well, I can cover myself with God. And the reason that they think
that is because the life of Christ is not in the unregenerate. He thinks in an opposite way
of what God reveals in His Word. Romans 1.21 says, because that,
when they knew God. Now every man, every woman born
in Adam has a consciousness to know that there is a God. Now
they know that, Neil. That when they knew God, they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. They weren't even
thankful that they even knew that there was a God. That's
not thankful because the devil knows that there is a God. Not
thankful for that. They became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened, was obscured, and they wandered
in darkness, is what it is. They became darkened. And they say, it sounds good
to me. Why do some believe that you
can speak in some gibberish, and
that's evidence of salvation? And why do some believe that
what you have to do is walk down an aisle and shake a man's hand
and recite? what He said and that salvation. Why do some believe that if that
man takes you and puts you in water, that that's salvation? Why do you think that? Because
their minds are darkened. It sounds right. It sounds good.
It's just not according to Scripture. Having, Ephesians 4.18, the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their heart. Obviously, men are ignorant.
That's what the scripture says. But what is the heart? What is
the very heart? What's the very essence? What's
the bottom line? What is the foundation of ignorance? What is it? What is the very
heart of ignorance? Here's what it is. Proverbs 12.3. A man shall not be established
by wickedness. Now, there's where it is right
there. Man by nature is ignorant of this point. A man shall not
be established by wickedness. He shall not be fixed, secure,
or prepared before God Almighty by his wicked act. That's what
it is. Unless the Spirit of God gives
a man a new heart to know better, a man will just continue to wander
in wickedness and darkness and rebellion. This is what man by nature thinks.
I can be established by wickedness. He doesn't call it wickedness.
He calls it righteousness. He thinks it is righteous in
himself. Boy, I tell you, if somebody
ever would ask, what do you guys believe over there at Katie Baptist
Church? This is what we believe. That a man cannot be established
before God by anything that the man himself does. He cannot.
He cannot. He cannot. What do you believe? We believe
that God saves according to His purpose and will and grace. God
satisfies Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
going to deal with men. He's going to deal with men. And for those that he has everlastingly
loved, he sent his only begotten Son into this world, made in
the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, he knew no sin. And God dealt with all of his
people in mercy and grace by dealing with one man, the man
Christ Jesus. Behold the man. God's going to
deal. And he established righteousness
before God Himself. The Father, the Law. He established
righteousness by being righteous. He walked in obedience. And the
righteousness that he earned before God Almighty, that very
righteousness, God imputes, He charges to their account His
righteousness. It's my righteousness. And I'm
not established by my wickedness. I'm not established by my free
will. I'm not established by my works. I believe God. I want to believe
God. I think I've got enough sense
to know I must believe God. I must. I don't have any hope apart from
that. Man desires to gain for himself
a permanent resting place and a right standing before God Almighty,
but because his heart is dead, Lord God, that unregenerate heart
fails to realize that life without Christ. And I'm not talking about,
well, I accepted Him. No, but then you're resting in
your acceptance. Well, I'm saved because I believe. That still works. You believe
because God saved you. And you don't look to your faith
as the source of your salvation. It's the effect of your salvation.
You say, well, actually, we're just mincing words. No, it's
the difference in words and grace. That's why men can talk so much. They use the word grace. They
use the word grace. But listen to what they say. If you believe that you've been
established because of your faith, then what you've got to say is,
that work of righteousness in Scripture says, not by works
of righteousness that we've done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. The first time the word wickedness,
man shall not be established by wickedness, the first time
that wickedness is set forth in the scriptures, Genesis 6-5,
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Isn't it amazing that God would
actually reveal that? Because by nature, man just does
not think that every imagination of his heart is evil continuing.
He just doesn't think that. I'm not saying, man says, I'm
not saying that I don't think some bad things every once in
a while, but you cannot, you cannot be serious, man would
say, in thinking that every imagination of the heart is evil continuing. Almighty God dealt with the wickedness
of man and revealed it in the ark. God dealt with wickedness. He dealt with evil. On some,
apart from the ark, the wrath of Almighty God, pictured in
the rain, fell on them personally and they died. But in beautiful type, Those
in the ark, the wrath of God fell on them too. But that wrath
fell on them in a substitute. And they survived. And the ark
took the brunt. Beautiful picture of substitution,
wickedness. That which is contrary to righteousness, I don't act, I don't walk in
myself as I ought. But thanks be unto God, here's
the comfort when I stop and I realize God is dealing with me in a substitute. God is dealing with me in Christ.
And I can settle down. I'm still breathing. when I see
what I am. I know, I've got, I think, enough
sense, enough spiritual sense and insight to know a man shall
not be established by wickedness. I know that. Wickedness is that
very being of a man without Christ concerning the enemies, those
left to themselves. Psalm 59 says, For there is no
faithfulness, no establishment. Look that word up. There is no
faithfulness, there is no establishment in their mouth. Their inward
part, that is their heart, their wicked heart, is very wickedness. We've said before, let God be
true. Let every man be a liar. The very heart of a man apart
from Christ is wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. It's a grave. Just an open grave. And they flatter with their tongue. They smooth. They smooth. Isn't man deceitful? I'm okay. Everything's fine. I've established, you know, things
before so long as man will lie to himself, the heart is desperately
wicked, deceitful above all things. Who can know it? A man shall not be established
by wickedness. of the righteous shall not be
moved." The firmness, the permanentness, the root, the foundation of the
righteous, not going anywhere. It is right here that we find
all of the stability for the righteous. themselves, they shall not slip,
they shall not fall, they shall not waver, because the root of
the righteous, Christ himself, he is the root. I'm not the root. If I'm anything of the branch,
grafted into the root, to the trunk, to the stability, to the
firmness Himself. What does God say concerning
the root of the righteous? Look at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. This is what God says about the
root of the righteous. Christ Himself. Isaiah 53.1. Who hath believed our report?
Who has believed our doctrine? Who has believed the hearing?
that we preach. Whom has believed? And to whom
is the arm of the Lord, the power of the Lord revealed? For he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root, out of dry
ground. He has no form nor comeliness
when we shall see him. There is no beauty that we should
desire. And he is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows, with grief and we hid as it were our
faces from Him, He was despised and we esteemed Him, not sure
of that. He had borne our griefs, carried
our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God
and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes were healed. Who's the root of
the righteous? It's Christ Himself. The root
out of dry ground. Who's believed it? Those to whom the arm of the
Lord is revealed. Those to whom the Lord has given
eyes to see. Lowly did He come into this world. Tender plain. Ruled out of dry
ground. His appearance was one of poverty. We know who this is. That's just
Joseph, Mary's boy. He's just a carpenter. Who do you say that I am, Peter?
You're the Christ. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. Who do you believe he is? Who do I believe he is?
If I could say that he's the Christ, the flesh and blood did
not reveal that to me. And I need to be reminded of
that every day. And it's sad, because somehow I forget. I learned this truth years ago,
and I remember this. I was taught this, and I remember. If He wouldn't reveal this to
me again right now, I wouldn't remember that. Do this in remembrance
of me. Lord, help me to remember right
now. Faith is continual. Faith is
absolutely now. Not faith that I had when I started
preaching this morning. I need faith now. Faith coming
by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. The
hearing of the voice of the shepherd. I need to hear Him now. And the more believers talk that,
the more faith They know something of their absolute need of Him. I need Christ Himself to reveal. Concerning Him, no form, no comeliness,
no beauty. Rejected by men. The Lord said,
My kingdom is not of this world. But this was God's Lamb. And
the world esteemed Him not. Do they esteem Him today? No. They have no earthly idea
of what's going on. So all things are just like they've
always been, you know. But this was the one. that bore
our grace and carried our sorrows. This is the one that the Father
looked at. This is the one that the Father
said, this is my beloved Son whom I am well pleased. You hear
Him. Stricken of God, wounded for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement
of our peace was on Him. Oh, may I remember that afresh
today. With his stripes, with his bruising,
were healed, branches rooted, grounded. Colossians 2, 6 and
7, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord by faith,
so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, established
in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with
thanksgiving, because it is we live to do. A man shall not be
established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall
not be moved. As he is in this world, so are
we. fresh, living faith from above
to believe in and to rejoice in it. For Christ's sake, and
for my good and the good of all of his people,