Every one of us, everyone for
whom God has called out of darkness, the darkness that we once walked
in and brought into the light of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
will go through times of desperation. Times when we feel our Lord is
not even with us. But even in those times of desperation, we still know who is sovereign
God of all things. We still know. David cried out,
my God, my... Do you know he had to experience
that feeling? I know that's a picture, a messianic
psalm, a messianic message picture of our Christ when He hung on
that cross. But David had to experience that.
He knew the darkness that we can go through and experience
as we walk through this life that God has us here. I know whom it is that I believed. I don't know if the Lord is close
to me right now, but I know who he is. And I know, I believe
he is who he is. I believe he has done what he
has done. And I believe he is right where
he is right now on his throne in heaven. You see, folks, everything
we go through, everything that comes our way, Our God has purposed. Everything throughout creation
was purposed by our God for a reason. Amen. You can open your Bibles, if
you would, to the book of Luke. We've been going through a series
of scriptures in the book of Luke. This morning we'll be in
Luke chapter 2. I'm convinced, are you? Like Paul said, I'm convinced
that nothing can separate me from the love of God. And he
gave us all kinds of reasons for that in the 8th chapter of
Romans. All the way back to Romans 8,
chapter 8, verse 1, there is therefore no condemnation. We
can't be charged. Our charge was laid upon our
Savior. promises of God shall come to
be. He's gonna return. I know it
seems like it's been a long time these last 2,000 years since
our Lord walked this earth. In His eyes, it's only a couple
minutes, a blink of an eye. Yeah, I know He's gonna be back. He tells me so in His word. My faith may be so weak at times
that I can't see past my own nose, but I still know who is
God. I still know that He rules over
everything and everything that is happening to me, everything
that is happening to my family, everything that is happening
to my brothers and sisters right here in this room or on the internet
or who can't be with us today. Pray for Brother James. Luper,
if you would. He's feeling pretty ill. I think
he's got a pretty good cold going on. The God of all creation, the
God spoken of in this book that we hold in our hands, is a God
of purpose. Let me read for you three verses,
four verses. In Isaiah chapter 14, At verse 24, we begin with these
words, the Lord of hosts hath sworn. Isn't that wonderful? That means his word is sure. Whatever he has said shall come
to pass. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, surely as I have thought. He didn't even have to say it.
He's so powerful, he just thinks it. and it comes to pass. That's the God of creation. That's
the God we know. That's the God we can trust.
That's the God that our faith is in, God-given faith in, is
the one who surely, whatever he thinks, whatever, surely as
I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed,
So shall it stand. A God of purpose. In the same chapter of Isaiah,
verses 26 and 27, he says these words, this is the purpose that
is purposed upon the whole earth. And this is the hand that is
stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purpose,
and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? In the 46th chapter of Isaiah,
verse 11, we read these words, calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have
purposed it, I will also do it. Well now, wait a minute, John,
does that mean Floods and famines, wars. Does that mean all of that
is purposed by God? Absolutely. You folks, most of
you remember what we call 9-11. Do you know that was purposed
by God? That's a sad thing in your and
my heart. But by the wisdom of God, it
was purposed for the good of His people. of his people, to them that love
him, to those who are called. Everything is. I remember growing
up, I was in Cub Scouts. I don't remember exactly what
it was I said, that was a long, long, long time ago. But I do remember saying something
about Hitler. And boy, I'll tell you what,
I got read by that lady, the scout master, the Cub Scout leader.
She just, she put me up in the corner. She made an example of
me. I don't remember what it was
I said, but I said something about Hitler and she just, she
come unglued. The rise of the German army and
Hitler was nothing compared to some of the evils that men have
done throughout all the ages. It used to be common for people
to take their children and sacrifice them to their imaginary gods. Jeremiah 428, we read these words,
for this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black,
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent. Neither will I turn back from
it. Folks, there is an eternity coming
for all of us. Every one of us are going to
go through that doormark death. You can't stop it. You can't
stop it. There's a day coming when each
and every one of us will stand before God Almighty and have
to answer for our lives. And many, many, many will try
to stand upon their own righteousness. You and I would be right there
with them if it weren't for the grace of God in coming to us
and calling us unto his own. Making us righteous in him by
making himself to be sent for us. Our God has purposed everything.
He's purposed everything. Everything comes to pass. Everything
happens by His authority. He's not the author of evil nor
iniquity. Man is the author of sin, but
God has allowed it. In fact, He's even purposed it. What? What are you saying, John? Be careful, Mr. Reeves. Folks,
does not God know all things? Does He not know everything?
Did He not know everything before the world was ever made? There's
no surprises with our God. We don't have some weakling little
God who has done something and now He's waiting for man to decide
on what to do. He doesn't need us. We need Him. He was not caught off guard when
Adam and Eve sinned. Listen to these words in Genesis
chapter 2 verse 17. But the tree of knowledge, let
me read, let me start that again. But the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. And then he says
this to Adam. He says this to Adam. For in
the day that thou eatest, in the day that, not in the day
that, not if you eat it, but in the day that you eat it. In
that day, when you eat it, you shall surely die. Did Adam, taking of the forbidden
fruit, surprise God? No. No. He has purposed all things. Listen to these words, Isaiah
23, 9. The Lord of hosts hath purposed
it to stain the pride of all glory. Did you catch that? Did you understand it? Our God
purposed the evils of this world to stain the pride of all glory. and to bring into contempt all
the honorable of the earth. Oh, we love to have a little
pride, don't we? When our Lord lists the sins that are an abomination
to him, you know the first one he lists is pride. When the devil told Adam and
Eve, you shall be as gods, he was talking about pride. You're
gonna know good and evil is what he told them. The thing he didn't tell them
correctly was, or the one, let me rephrase that.
The thing he told them that was contrary to God's word. God said
you shall surely die. The devil said, no, you're certainly
not gonna die, which was a lie. But everything else he said in
that conversation was absolutely true. You shall be as God's.
Go back and look at it in Genesis sometime if you want in your
own time. You'll see it's small g. Imaginary gods. The kind that men make with their
hands. The kind they make with their
heart. The kind they make of themselves. The very kind that
you and I made of ourselves until the day broke us. The day the
Lord broke us. The day the Lord gave us a contrite
heart. A heart that knew there was nothing
we could offer Him. A heart that looked and seeked
to Him because He first drew us to Him. The Lord of hosts hath purposed
it to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt
all the honorable of the earth. Natural man will most definitely
blame sin on God for that very reason. See how God made me? And they'll do that because God
allows it. Yet that's just another way to
put off your responsibility, to put off your guilt. And I
tell you here this morning, it won't work. Our Lord allowed Solomon to go
out into the world and to experience everything. Bill and I did a
study on that one time, Bill So, my best friend. We did a
study on that once. And the words that the Lord uses
in telling that part of history where Solomon went out into the
world, he experienced everything. Now you can take that as far
as you want, and you have not gone far enough. You think today's the only day
in the world of man where we have such things as homosexuality,
robbery, theft, murder, hatred? That stuff's been around forever.
That's why the sounds were called Sodom and Gomorrah. The Old Testament tells us that
men did what they thought was right in their own minds. Solomon went out and he tried
it all. And he came back and he said, it is all vanity. That means he went out and tried
every religion. He didn't just try all the wickedness and things
of the world, he tried every religion. He went to all the
different religions and tried them and sat at them and looked
at them and examined them. And it was all vanity. All vanity
of man's imagination. Men will find anything to put
off their responsibility for their own actions. Adam and Eve
tried to cover their own nakedness, and it was not sufficient. Even
after covering themselves with leaves, they still hid from God,
because they knew that their works was insufficient. And then God clothed them in
His righteousness. of the shedding of his own son's
blood. We have created all different
types of religions, all types of religious rituals trying to
thwart our responsibility for our actions, and yet it is all
in vain. There's only one place to put
away sin, and that's in the son of the living God, Jesus Christ
himself. We recently considered the purpose
of John the Baptist back in Luke chapter three, verse four. We
read these words, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah,
the prophet saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. There's
only one way. That's Jesus Christ, our Lord. John came with the message of
baptism and repentance. by the One who is the Way. In
the 14th chapter of John, our Lord tells us in His own words,
He saith unto them, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. That was you and I. That was every one of God's people
out wandering through the world looking for an excuse to cover
up their sin. trying to find a way to justify
their wickedness. Don't tell me you weren't. I
know you were. God's word says you were. Oh, with the love of God. When
he comes to a poor lost sinner, wandering in darkness, he shines
the light of his grace in their hearts. Everything comes to pass,
everything that comes to pass, comes to pass by the purpose
of our God. That God might show His mercy,
His grace upon a people He chose before the world was. Not all
people, but on a chosen people by Him through love with an eternal
love that is everlasting to everlasting. Listen to the word of Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 4 through 7. According as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, we were chosen
in the Savior. God the Father chose us in His
Son before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before Him. Holy and without blame. He had
determined, He had purposed before the world was ever created. I
will have a people, and they will be as holy as me, and they
will be in my presence for eternity. That's what that's saying, before
the world was ever made, from the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy without blame before him, in love, in
his love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of God. His will. Are you getting the
picture of whose purpose this is all about? Are you grasping
a hold of the magnitude of who it is that has purposed everything? to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace." God's eternal
purpose was decreed before the stars ever twinkled. John, the
writer of the book of Revelation of Jesus Christ, was given visions. And in those visions, he wrote
these words over in Revelation 5 or 6, And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a lamb. Stood a lamb, as it had been
slain. Can you picture that? Beautiful
white lamb. Perfect. Spotless before God. On the throne. You know, that's
what he is right now. Right now, he's sitting on his
throne with the very marks in his hand still there. Did he
not take Doubting Thomas and say, put your finger in there
when he came back from the dead? Did he not take Danny Thomas'
hand and say, put your hand in here, in the side where his sword
had punctured him? His wounds will be there for
eternity. For eternity we will cry out,
glory to our Lord for your mercy and grace to us. And in the midst of the elders
stood a lamb as it had been slain. Over in verse 12 of that same
chapter, We read these words saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessings. In the 13th chapter of Revelation,
we read these words, the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Everything that happens Our weaknesses
are crying out to the Lord, my God, my God, why have you forsaken
me today? Where are you when I need you?
Was purposed by God for our good. Our great Savior, born in the
likeness of man, yet without sin, was determined before anything
was ever created to be this perfect, spotless Lamb of God. Everything
He came to do, He did. And all He did pleased the Father
perfectly. This is my Son in whom I'm well
pleased, saith God Almighty from the clouds. And everybody heard
it, even though they couldn't see Him. Everybody heard those words. Are you with me in the book of
Luke, chapter two? I'd like you to read with me
if you would, verses 39 through 52. Speaking of Joseph and Mary,
and when they had performed all things according to the law of
God, the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their
own city, Nazareth. And the child grew, and waxed
strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God
was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem
every year for the Feast of the Passover. Did you notice that? They went just like, remember
Simeon? We talked about him just recently. Where was he? He was
in the temple of God. seeking, he was a devout man
devoted to seeking the will of God, where God's people meet,
in the temple. Mary and Joseph, Joseph and Mary,
they had gone out to Jerusalem every year for a feast of the
Passover, it says in verse 41, and when he was 12, speaking
of the Lord Jesus, when he was 12 years old, they went up to
Jerusalem after the custom of the feast, and when they had
fulfilled the days as they returned The child Jesus tarried behind
in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But
they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's
journey, and they sought him among their kinfolk and acquaintance,
and they found him not. They turned back again to Jerusalem,
seeking him. And it came to pass that after
three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst
of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. Here this is, this 13-year-old,
or this 12-year-old, here he is, sitting in the temple. You
know, you ever see those pictures of the leaders of the Jews? They
were all sitting around, they had the big hats, long beards. You know why? Because they'd
been around a long time. And here this 12-year-old kid
is sitting in the temple, listening to them and asking them really
good questions. Well now, wait a minute, what
is that supposed to mean, the slaughtering of the bull for
the sins of your people? What's that big veil that you
go in once a year? What is that supposed to mean?
You think the Lord Jesus Christ didn't already know what all
that meant? Just because our God became a
man did not mean He had to learn everything. He did have to learn
obedience. The Scripture very well tells
us that. But it also tells us He was omniscient about all things.
He knew the thoughts of every man. And all that heard Him were astonished,
verse 47, at His understanding and answers. Where'd this kid
get all that knowledge? He's God Almighty in the flesh.
He knows all things. He knew everything right then. And when they saw him, they were
amazed. Verse 48, And his mother said
unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy
father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And then verse 49,
And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wish ye
not that I must be about my father's business. I wanna focus the rest
of our remaining time on two verses. That last verse, we'll
come to that in a moment, and back in our first verse. And
when they had performed all things according to the law of God,
they returned, no, not that one, I'm sorry, verse 40. And the
child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom,
and the grace of God was upon him. I want to look at those
two verses a little deeper. All that we know about our Master's
boyhood and his early manhood, we've been given to us right
here in the Book of Luke. These few verses. We know absolutely nothing else
about his earthly life. We know nothing else about our
Savior from His infancy until He's 30 years old, except that
which is written right here. Now, I want to warn you. Let me warn me. Let me give you
a warning to myself, and may God apply it to you. We want
to be very, very careful. We love to exercise our imagination,
don't we? I wonder. Careful. Careful. There's a good reason
the Lord doesn't record a bunch of things for us. There's a really
good reason He records what He records in His Word. We love to exercise our imagination
in such things, but I warn you that God gives us little for
very good reasons. Brother Don Fortner wrote this,
he says, it is both the depth and folly and the height of arrogance
for men to speculate about things of God, things that God has chosen
not to reveal. It is an act of wisdom, it is
an act of faith, it is an act of humility to simply believe
and heed to that which is revealed. So what is revealed to us in
these verses in these few verses. Look again at verse 40 with me.
And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with
wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Waxed strong in
spirit. That word waxed means grow. God, the Son, is one with Spirit,
with the Spirit of God. Did you know that? Did you hear
me say that? God in the flesh is one with God in the Spirit
and God the Father. They are one. So how could he
wax strong in the Spirit? How could he become more stronger
with the Spirit if he is part of the Spirit? He's not talking
about his spirit growing strong, he's talking about the body of
the child. The spirit of God was with him,
is what it says. Filled with wisdom and the grace
of God was upon him. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit, one God, yet three distinct persons. His relationship
with the Spirit was one, this is speaking of his growth in
the flesh. God the Son, the Eternal Son, had to be in the flesh because
God in the spirit cannot die. Did you know your spirit cannot
die? All of us have a spirit that's going to go out into eternity.
Every one of us. And because of God's grace, the
spirit of those that he had loved before the world was will go
with him into heaven. The God of the Eternal Son had
to be in the flesh. God cannot die, but the God-Man
could. Look with me over at Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 10, if you would. We're talking about the death
of the God-Man, the purpose of God in sending His Son to be
the propitiation for His people. Over in Hebrews chapter 10, we
read, no, I'm not there. I don't know why, but I went
to Romans. That's not where I want to be. Hebrews, chapter 10. Over in Hebrews, chapter 10,
we read in verse 1, For the law having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make
the comers they're unto perfect. All those sacrifices that they
were instructed to do, all those sacrifices that God told them
to do, gave them to by the law of Moses, says right here, those
same laws that they would continue every year after year after year
after year, cannot make the scummers, they're unto perfect. Verse two,
for then would they have not ceased to be, for then, would
they not have ceased to be offered? If they could have done anything,
they would have ceased, right? If the offering was good, why
keep giving it? Because the worshipers once purged
should have no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices,
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. You see, I'm back again this
year to go into the holiest of holies with our sacrifice because
you folks in Israel, all of you Jews, have continued to sin throughout
the year. That's what they just said. You've
all been sinners, so I'm going to go in again this year and
do what God has told me to do. Let's go on. Verse 4, for it
is not possible. For it is not possible. that
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith sacrifice and offering,
thou wouldst not but a body. We're talking about the purpose
of God. God purposed his son to come to this world to be our
sacrifice. A body hast thou prepared. God Almighty prepared a body
for His Son to come into this world, to grow from a child into a full-grown
man, filled with the Spirit of God, filled with the wisdom of
God, filled with the grace of God, that when He would lay down
His life, He would be the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, purposed
by God. for us. Is the grace of our Savior
exploding in your heart yet? Is the grace of our Savior and
his love for you exploding in your heart? It is mine. I can't believe he would be merciful
to me, but he says he is. A body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, and
the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will,
O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifices
and offerings, and burnt offerings, and the offering of sin, thou
wouldst not neither hadst pleasure therein, which were offered by
the law, verse nine, then said he, lo, I come to do the will
of thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. In 1 Timothy 3.16, we read these
words, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in
the world, and received up into glory. That's our God. That's the one who is purposed
to deliver us from ourselves. That's the one who is purposed
that everything we would need to be with Him in glory, He would
provide for us. What a great and gracious God.
He provides all that is required for His people to spend eternity
with Him. We have no righteousness of our
own to offer up, so He provides us with the perfect, spotless
sacrifice, one to stand in our stead, one to be made sin where
we were sin. God's justice must be met. And for those whom He has loved
with an eternal love, He is justified in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has filled this one with all
wisdom. That's why they were so amazed.
This 12-year-old boy sitting in the temple with all these
long-bearded men. And they're all like, we've been
studying this for years, and you know more than we do. Because
he's the writer of everything. He was filled with all wisdom
as the God-man he hungered, as the God-man he thirsted. As the
God-man, he wearied, his body required rest. Yet as God, he
knew all things. He never stopped being God. And of course, the grace of God
was on him. Christ is grace. It's by the grace of God that
he purposed his son to come to this world and stand in our stead,
so that when we die, When our soul goes on to heaven to stand
before God and answer to God for what we did, we can say,
I stand in Him. He took everything from me. He provided everything we need.
and He took everything we deserved. Because of our Lord's works,
God is gracious to an undeserving people. God the Father chose
a people for Himself. Christ the Lord sanctified this
people through the shedding of His own blood. The Holy Spirit
is now calling His people, giving life to dead souls and drawing
them under God the Son. And I told you, we get to that
other verse, and here we go. Verse 49, let me repeat that
for you back in our text. How is it that ye sought me,
he said to his mother? Wished ye not that I must be
about my father's house? Did you not know? Have you not
seen throughout the life that I've lived already that I must
be about my father's house? She knew who her son was. She
knew that he was God Almighty in the flesh. She knew that he
was not a son of man. She knew that she was a virgin
when her son was born, when he was conformed in her womb. The
Spirit told her it would be of the Spirit of God, not of man. Why would you look for me elsewhere,
is what he's saying. Why would you expect me to be
anywhere else? Don't you understand? Turn over
to John chapter 6, if you would. John chapter 6. Let me read for you, if you would,
while you're turning to John chapter 6. Let me read from John
chapter 4. Jesus saith unto them, He says,
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me. What was the
purpose of God for His Son to be there? To be the propitiation
for His people. To be the satisfaction of God's
wrath upon Him instead of His people. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work. As we've already addressed,
God has purposed His Son to come and to be made of a woman in
the likeness of men, manifest in the flesh, yet without sin,
that God the Father would make Him, Him who knew no sin, to
be sin, that we, the loved people of God, would be made righteous,
the righteousness of God, in His Son. Look with me if you
would at verse 35, beginning at verse 35 of John chapter 6.
And Jesus saith unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that ye have
also seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Those
very words we just read, the will of Him that sent me, gives
a clear indication that God the Father had purposed His Son to
sacrifice Himself for you and I. We're magnifying the grace
of God in His purpose, and His purpose was to save us. Shall
He not? Can anything separate us from
the love of God which is in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? No! Not even you can separate yourself
from Him. He won't let you. He'll keep
drawing you back to Himself. Oh, we tried. Jonah ran from
the Lord. And it was painful. It had to be painful to be swallowed
by a whale or a big fish. That had to be something painful,
scary. But that was the purpose of God,
just as anything else was. Christ the Lord came to do his
Father's will, to be the bread of life, the life eternal, to
be that bread that nourishes the soul, just as the manna in
heaven in the wilderness was so obvious that it was a gift
from heaven, our Lord, the manna from heaven, our Savior, came
as a gift of heaven. Let's listen to these words of
a song we sing in our hymn books. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful
day. Day I will never forget. After
I'd wandered in darkness away, Jesus, my savior, I met. Oh, what a tender, compassionate
friend. He met the need of my heart.
Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling, he made all the darkness
depart. Heaven came down and glory filled
my soul. Not your glory. His glory. His glory. Glorying in Him who
saved an undeserving people. God purposed His Son to be our
propitiation, and the word in its simplest meaning is this,
satisfaction. God the Father is satisfied with
the works of His Son. His justice is satisfied. this justice that He poured out
on His Son, His holiness is satisfied, the holiness of His Son in you
and I. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in His Son, Christ Jesus the Lord. With that
in mind, let me close with one last thought. It is the purpose
of God for His Son to receive all the glory. Turning your Bibles, if you would,
to the 13th chapter of Acts. We'll bring this to a close.
Acts chapter 13. And while you're turning there,
allow me to read from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 30 through
31. But of Him, but of Christ Jesus,
but of God the Father, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Are you with me in Acts chapter
13? Begin with me if you would at verse 26. Men and brethren,
children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth
God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. To you is the
word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell in Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have
fulfilled those things that they read in every Sabbath day, the
words of the prophets, those men had fulfilled in condemning
him, condemning the Lord Jesus. We're talking about the purpose
of God. God raised up those men in Israel, the religious hypocrites
that they were, that they would fulfill his word and sacrifice
his son. It was purposed by God. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain, And when they fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.
But God raised him from the dead. God Almighty was satisfied with
his son. In Romans 8, verse 34, we read
these words. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God the Father, who also maketh intercession
for us. Our God is a God of purpose,
folks. Everything that comes our way, including our troubles,
were purposed for God, by God, for our good. I know it's hard. I understand I have troubles
of my own, just as each and every one of you do. Yet our Lord has
something good for me in it. I pray that he will show you
the good of what comes your way.