Open your Bibles to the 13th
chapter of the book of Job. We'll look at, especially in
the 12th chapter, verses 13, we'll not look at the rest of
the chapter, but I want to call attention to a few verses in
this portion of scripture. You'll notice in the reading
of the chapters that I assigned you in the book of Job, that the patriarch of old affirmed
the great principle of God's absolute sovereignty. And having said that, let me
give a quote by Billy Graham on God's sovereignty. Quote, God has the power to override
anything of course, but he has limited his powers to correspond
to the choices of man's free will." End of quote. Do you see why I get so upset
in studying and researching? Let's look, if you will please,
at verses 13, a few verses forward of the 12th chapter of Job. Job used the lofty language of
this portion of scripture for two reasons, and we're going to look at those
reasons in a moment. With him is wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaks down, and it
cannot be built again. He shuts up a man, and there
can be no opening. Behold, he withholds the waters,
and they dry up. Also, he sends them out. and
they overturned the earth. With Him, His strength and wisdom,
His strength and wisdom, the deceived and the deceiver are
His. All classes of men are under
God's control. He leads counselors away spoiled. and makes the judges fools. He looses the bond of kings and
girds their loins with a girdle. He leads princes away spoiled
and overthrows mighty. He removes away the speech of
the trusty or the faithful and takes away the understanding
of the aged. We'll read the whole chapter,
the rest of it. He pours contempt upon princes and weakens the
strength of the mighty. He discovers deep things out
of darkness and brings out to light the shadow of death. He
increases the nations and destroys them. He enlarges the nations and straightens
them out again. He takes away the heart of the
chief of the people. of the earth and causes them
to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in
the dark without light and makes them to stagger like a drunken
person. Do you see how Job exalts the
absolute sovereignty of God? No, folks, he's not creativity,
he's the creator. and having created he ever lives
to control what he has created. You know man is always bringing
something into existence of which he is afraid that he won't be
able to control. We know what happened when they
first developed the atomic bomb and the statements that were
made at that time by some scientists Here we have made this. Will
we be able to control it? Folks, I want you to know the
sovereign God whom I worship has never brought anything into
existence that He does not and He shall ever control as He pleases. I didn't know the force of a
tornado until I read about this one last week. You know how strong
the wind was? 260 miles an hour. It even peeled the pavement off
of the road and took the houses and people
and left nothing but a concrete foundation. Folks, How does a Christian react? I'll tell you, we constantly
thank God for His providential care. He may protect us today, but
He may not protect us tomorrow. It may be His will that we not be protected. You know, when you think about
how that Joseph was treated by his own brethren, and God permitted it, but out
of it, what did he become to them? What about the way that the people
treated Moses? God permitted it, but what was
the end result? What about the Savior Himself?
The One who never said anything or did anything contrary to God's
will, and yet He was put to death, but in that death He took your
place and mine. It was all in God's design, His
purpose, His plan. I can't say for sure what God's
will is in some things. You can't either. As I predict
it, and people who do say it don't know what they're talking
about, we have to wait upon the providence of God and how He
works. And folks, ultimately, we'll
know whether it's God's will or not. You'll notice that Job used this
lofty language that we've looked at this morning. First of all,
to show that he could speak as grandly of the eternal God
as his friends who were in reality his enemies. I'm talking about
Job. The eternal God. Secondly, he used this language
to show that he had as correct and extensive view of God's agency
as they had. He gave them at least six different
ideas of God's agency and let me mention them. First of all,
it was active both in the mental and moral world. Secondly, it was destructive
as well as restorative. Thirdly, it extended to individuals
as well as communities. I want you to see the vastness
of it described by Job in the verses that we have read. Fourth, it was absolutely sovereign
and resistless. And number five, it operated
in both the seen and the unseen realms. And finally, in no case
did it recognize God's moral distinctions among men. Here
we see His wisdom. God knows what He's doing. The wisdom of God refers to several
things in Scripture, and let's look at them briefly. I'm giving
you an overview. This is a Bible study period. I said the wisdom of God refers
to several things in Scripture. Number one, It sometimes refers
to an essential attribute of God. Job 12, 13 and Proverbs
8, 14. Secondly, it sometimes points
to Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God. Proverbs chapter 8 and
1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30. He has made unto his people wisdom. in 1 Corinthians 1.30. Thirdly,
it is used sometimes for the wisdom that is in the Christian
as God's gift. 1 Kings 3.28, 1 Corinthians 1.30. Number four, it is sometimes
used for the scriptures themselves. Luke 8.11 and verse 49. Number five, it is also used
for the doctrine of the gospel. First Corinthians 2.7 and chapter
3.10. Finally, number six, it is used
for the wisdom of this world. Paul said, the world through
its wisdom knew not God. With all the wisdom of the scientists,
folks, through all their wisdom, they'll never come to know God. When they knew God, or knew about
Him, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imagination. Paul said in Romans 1, The inhabitants of this world
know God, someone has expressed it like this, notionally, but
not experimentally. They know God essentially, but
not representatively in Christ. Good statement, folks. Great
statement. 1 Corinthians 1, 19-21. A true knowledge of God is not
reached by man's wisdom. It didn't take me long to learn
that, folks, as a Christian. Therefore, I've never been really
concerned about the wisdom of men. I'll be frank with you. You can call me whatever you
want, that's okay. I'm interested only in God's
wisdom. It's eternal. So a true knowledge of God is
not reached by man's wisdom. Plato, for instance, lamented
that he could not find the father of the universe. No, he couldn't. Socrates deemed
such knowledge the greatest happiness, but he confessed he did not know
how it could be obtained. Folks, we don't get it by our
wisdom. It's God's gift to you and me. Job was attacked by his friends,
but he had some good answers, didn't he? He had some very good
answers. I want to discuss the subject
of prayer with you. and we won't finish it this morning. How do you talk to people when
they have lost a loved one? How do you talk to someone who
has lost a loved one or friend in an awful accident or in something
like a tornado or a storm? Do you know how to talk to them? So let's look at the subject
of prayer. God's people are a praying people. Proof of it, our first words
after having passed out of death into life are, Abba Father. That's what the book says, Romans
8 15. We call him our father. We couldn't call him Father if
the Son had not taken our place at Calvary, and if the Holy Spirit
had not applied that finished work to our hearts and lives. Summarize the first 13 chapters
of Acts, if you will, sometime. The Bible expresses in various
ways the authority of the believing soul in prayer. such as lifting
up, calling upon, seeking God's face, bowing toward God's holy
place, entering into the sanctuary, drawing near, pouring out, waiting
patiently for, or padding after, etc. These are expressions of
a praying person. We have access to the Father
through Christ by the Holy Spirit that eliminates everyone who
denies the Divine Trinity. And yet, when you look at the
religious section of the Chronicle every Saturday, why they talk
about the praying Hindus and the praying Buddhists and the
praying this and the praying that. Did you know that prayer, true
prayer, is a cycle? I want to show you what true
prayer is. True prayer doesn't begin with you. It doesn't begin
with me. It's a cycle. So let's describe
it. True prayer originates where? In your heart? Nope. In heaven. Listen closely now. In the very mind of God himself. And this prayer, which originated
in the mind of God, is brought down, watch what I'm saying,
brought down by the Holy Spirit, who is also an intercessor for
the Christian. And he makes intercession, Paul
tells us, with groanings that cannot be uttered. Romans 8 26 and 27 beginning
in the mind of God brought down from God by means of the Holy
Spirit into the heart of the individual and even the expression
of it is sometimes in words that can't really be understood I'm
not talking about the unknown tongue either folks Thus, the desire of the believer,
watch what I'm going to say now, the desire of the believer, which
is the desire of God in true prayer, because it began in the
mind of God and was brought down by the Holy Spirit, So beginning in the mind of God
is born back after having been brought to the mind and heart
of the believer. Goes back to God where it began. It's a cycle. Begins with God,
comes down into us, and goes back to God. We have access to
God. Therefore, in true prayer, the
divine mind and the believer's mind always, always agree. But you know these foolish charismatics
today? I've heard them one after the
other. You don't pray if it's God's will. It is God's will,
and so they say it is God's will. I don't have any more time for
a charismatic than I have for a Buddhist. I'm just giving it
to you folks like the Bible presents it. But our institutions calling
themselves churches today are so filled with anemic people
they don't know even the first principle of the doctrines of
God. But they give their ideas of what they believe. So we pray in the will of God. And if there's a doubt, we say,
Lord, if it's your will. 1 John 5, 14. The prayers of saints
are pleasing to the Lord because, number one, the mind of Christ
is the light of their mind. Secondly, the will of Christ
motivates their will. Thirdly, the love longs for God's favor, and they offer spiritual sacrifices. It's a spiritual sacrifice, Hebrews
13, 15. True prayer is in the spirit,
as we've already manifested with the things we have said thus
far. But the proof of it, 1 Corinthians
14, 15, Jude verse 20, and Romans 8, 26 and 27. Listen to the one
in the book of Jude. But you, beloved, building up
yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Prayerlessness, like all sin,
is against God. All sin is against God. Therefore,
prayerlessness is against God. Let me prove it, 1 Samuel 12,
23. Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord
in ceasing to pray for you. Now when I pray, as I prayed
for Brother Charles when he went to hospital, and I remembered
Charles and Boyd, I don't pray for God to heal either one of
them. I don't utter a prayer in a commanding
sense like you hear these wild, heretical, charismatics and others. If it's your will, your will. I remember Brother Avery Rogers.
You know, his daughter has visited our church a number of times.
who still lives in Victoria. Dr. Rogers was a godly man. He knew the truth and he did
proclaim the doctrines of grace. He was up in his 80s. He had
a lot of young preacher boys who'd gone out from under his
ministry, quite a few, and they kept him busy in the last years
of his life, having him to come and speak to the people and give
them help. And he kept driving his car. And his family felt that he was
too feeble to do it. He said, I've just got to go
when they want me to go. I've just got to go. I think it was about 85 or 86
when this happened. But he had gone into a place
to get him a bite to eat. He was on his way, I think, to
Tennessee. And when he got some gasoline
at the place and got him a bite to eat, got in his car and he
pulled out right in front of an 18-wheeler, killed him. Well, some people couldn't understand
that. I'm sure that his enemy said,
well, I knew God was going to get him after a while. I didn't say that. I remember
the Apostle Paul and I remember wonderful experiences that he
had and you do too from the scriptures and God delivered him from certain
things but the time came that God didn't even deliver Paul
from prison and Paul became a martyr for Christ I'm sure there were people who
were praying for him And you see, the cynical person
today, the person who knows nothing about the scriptures would say,
a God who can and doesn't. That's very unsettling. I'm not too sure that you and
I will live and die a natural death. I'd like to just be living when
He comes and just caught up to be with Him. We don't know how
we're going. But do you know how to take that?
Do you know how to view that? Do you know what the Bible really
teaches on that subject? Prayer is the outlet for those
who abide in Christ. Outlet. The most intimate times
that the Christian has is alone with the scriptures, studying
them, meditating, asking God to help him or her understand
the precious truths of the book. And out left. Thus the spirit,
being the spirit of prayer by the way, in believers makes us
delight to go to the Lord in order that we may be much in
His company. Prayer is not, watch this, is
not intended to change God's purpose. Have you ever heard
people say prayer changes things? Folks, that's so silly. That
is so nonsensical. Prayer changes things. Why is
a Baptist not heard that all the time? Prayer changes things.
No, prayer changes people. True prayer changes the individual,
not things, and causes the individual to be in harmony with what God's
purpose is to begin with. There's a difference. So I don't pray that so-and-so
will be saved, God. Oh, will you please save so-and-so?
I don't do that. You say, well, you're wasting
your breath. I don't need to be asking you to pray for my
loved ones. I'm not going to pray for God to save them. God's
purpose is already eternally established. And the Holy Spirit bringing
the mind of God where prayer begins into my heart, I want
God's will done. And I want those who ask such
questions to come to the same conclusion. They want God's will
done, not theirs. So it is not for the purpose
of moving God to formulate new purposes. I don't pray expecting
God to formulate new purposes. Do you? I hope not. You see, what I'm saying this
morning goes contrary to almost everything you hear in the average
religious institution today. But folks, I didn't learn this
on my own. I learned it through the study
of the scriptures and research and great godly men of the past
three or four hundred years. God does not pledge himself to
alter our circumstances or remove our burdens. Are you listening
to me? We're not even to pray in that
manner. Remove these circumstances. Remove these burdens. But simply
give us the grace to measure up to our responsibility in the
face of these circumstances and in the face of these burdens.
Does that make sense? If for all there's a lesson to
be learned in them. So our greatest blessings often
come through the things that seem to be the most grievous
to us. Isn't that true? I look back
in my own life as a Christian. Sure, I've sinned. Sure, I've
come and continue to come short of God's glory. And I've had a lot of burdens
and a lot of circumstances. that I didn't understand, but
looking back now, I have no complaint as a result of any of them. Some
of my greatest blessings have come from them and having gone through those
experiences. Someone has said, If God were
always leveling down our circumstances to our spiritual state, we would
soon waste away with spiritual dry rot. Ah, folks, that's a
great statement. Have you ever noticed this? I
tell you, most of the stuff that I hear today, it nauseates me. But when I read things like this,
this is reality. This is where the strength is.
Let me read it again. If God were always leveling down
our circumstances to our spiritual state, we would soon waste away
with spiritual dry rot. Folks, that's tremendous. But that's not what religionists
want. And we got more religionists than we have Christians. But
let me say to you this morning, a Christian accepts that at face
value, without any question, knowing that it is biblically
true. Christ's way is to make us, he
finishes this by saying, Christ's way is to make us equal to our
circumstances, rather than render our circumstances to what we
short-sightedly think they ought to be. Ah, folks, that's where
strength is found. So prayer is the exercise or
expression of life, eternal life. Romans 8, 9, 14 through 16, 26
and 27 and Acts 9, 11. You remember the passage in Romans
9, 11? Behold, speaking of Saul of Tarsus,
behold, he pray, he's praying, he's praying. Before that time,
all Saul did was to say prayers. And most religionists today,
all they do is say prayers. They don't pray. It was not until
Saul of Tarsus was regenerated that he truly prayed. And when
he truly prayed, the scripture tells us immediately, Behold,
he is praying. I'm going to close with this.
We'll comment on it more later. But this is another fact that
we need to consider. There is a qualification in prayer. 1 John 5.14. And that qualification in 1 John
5.14 is not stated in 1 John 3.22. So look at those two verses of
scripture. Not stated in 322, but is stated
in 514. And what is the qualification?
It is this phrase, according to His will. According to His will. This does not mean that we have
to know God's will before we ask, but it does mean that in
order for the petition to be granted, it must be in harmony
with God's will. I have prayed many foolish prayers
and so have you. Foolish prayers. Waste of time. and God never bent His ear in
my direction. So the will of God is very important.
Very important. To ask for something according
to His will is the same as identifying oneself with God who wills. Oh, what a difference. God's will is that which is beyond
the power of man to control. His will is beyond the power
of man to control. Thus, whatever He asks, asks
from within the circle of God's will. And that is an absolute
necessity. We will stop at that point this
morning and observe the Lord's Supper.