Good evening. Sandy and I are blessed to be
here. Delighted to see you folks and
thankful for the opportunity to worship with you and fellowship
with you and hopefully to hear the gospel. Invite your attention
to Romans chapter 8, verse 28. My text will be found in verse
31. My message is titled, Man Proposes,
But God Disposes. Romans chapter 8, I begin reading
at verse number And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? And here's my text. If God be
for us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, as I said, my message is
titled Man Proposes, But God Disposes. You have heard undoubtedly that
expression before. It comes from a 15th century
book, The Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas Akimpas. He wrote it in Latin. His words
in Latin are translated into English. Man proposes, but God
disposes. This is A truth that is poignantly
illustrated repeatedly in the scriptures, that men have proposed
evil against God's people and God disposed to do otherwise. It is found in that little expression
of two words, but God. If you have an electronic concordance
You can look up that phrase, but God, look for the exact phrase. Repeatedly, it is found in the
scriptures, but God, and tonight, God willing, we're going to be
looking at a few of those instances, but that little expression, but
God, what two words of such minute proportion. ever betoken such
a vast difference or unfathomable consequence. Repeatedly in the
scriptures, God has overruled the plans of men against his
people and glorified himself in so doing. For example, we read of a rich fool. Jesus mentioned him in Luke 12. He says, The ground of a certain
rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and
build greater. And there will I store all my
crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul,
you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat,
drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, This night
your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things
be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God. I hope that would be true
of none of us tonight. Laying up treasure for self and
being not rich toward God. The man's a fool, but God will
bring his plans to naught. God has brought many plans to
naught. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? Our enemies are opposed to us.
It matters not who is opposed to us. If God be for us, who
can be against us? Let's look at a few of these
instances in scriptures. In which we find that very expression,
but God. And in those instances, let us
consider and note well how it is proven and manifested that
man proposes, but God disposes. First, consider the example of
Laban against Jacob. We read in Genesis 31, verse
seven, that Jacob told his wives that your father Laban deceived
me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not allow him to
hurt me. But God foiled his plans. Now consider Laban and consider
this man Jacob. You know Jacob, son of Isaac
and Rebekah. Laban was Jacob's maternal uncle,
brother of Jacob's mother, Rebecca. There came a time when Esau,
Jacob's brother, said, I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Rebecca
heard. And she and Isaac decided to
send Jacob off to Laban. Now, here is another instance
in Esau where we can see that man proposes, but God disposes,
although the expression, but God is not used. But Esau fully
intended to kill Jacob, but God did not permit it to happen.
But we're looking at Laban right now. Jacob has to flee to Laban
in Haran. He arrives there and they know
his mother, Laban's sister. It so happens that Laban has
two daughters. The older is Leah and the younger
is Rachel. Now the scripture says that Rachel
was very beautiful. And in the terms of the scripture,
she was beautiful at both in face and in figure. Leah, she
was probably about as beautiful, but her eyes were not as pretty
as those of her younger sister, Rachel. Evidently, Jacob became
smitten with Rachel, the younger daughter. And he contracts with
Laban, her father, to work for him seven years as a dowry in
order to obtain the younger daughter, Rachel. And for seven years,
Jacob worked hard for this man, Laban. And then came the wedding
night, the joyous occasion Jacob's going to receive the reward of
seven years of hard labor. And what has happened? Laban
deceives him and gives to him Leah instead of Rachel. He did not find out until it
was too late. But so was his love for Rachel
that he says, I'll work for you another seven years now for Rachel. So he did. He worked for seven
more years for Laban and was able to get the bride he wanted. He now had two wives. Took him
14 years to get the one he wanted. And then Laban said, don't leave,
stay. My crops are prospering, my flocks
are prospering while you're here. And so stay with me and I'll
pay you. So Jacob said, okay, stayed seven
years. 10 times Laban reduced his wages. Jacob says so. 10 times. He did
not get a raise, he got a cut, decrease in pay. But the Lord
providentially and rather miraculously greatly blessed him. And then
Laban's sons became jealous of the success of Jacob. He could see that Laban's heart
was not as good toward him as it was before. And so Jacob decided,
I've got to flee. I've got to take my wives, my
two wives, my children, my flocks that the Lord has blessed me
with. I've got to flee. So he makes his leave. He escapes. Laban is out shearing
sheep three days away. He finally finds out three days
later, Jacob has gone, taking your daughters and your grandchildren
with him. And so Laban takes off. He's
probably got some evil thoughts in his mind as to what he will
do to Jacob when he catches up with him. But God came and visited
Laban that night, the night before he was to meet with Jacob. And
he said, do not even speak evil against that man. Laban had come
to probably do more than speak evil. But God said, do not even
speak evil against him. And Jacob makes that expression
that Your father Laban has deceived me and changed my wages 10 times,
but God did not allow him to hurt me." You see this? Man proposes,
but God disposes. Second instance would be that
of Joseph's brothers against him. Joseph told his brothers
in Genesis chapter 50 that as for you, you meant evil against
me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as
it is this day to save many people alive. Joseph, 11th son of Jacob. His 10 older brothers hated him.
They were envious of him. They plotted to kill him. They
had an opportunity to do so. Instead of killing him, they
sold him to some Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites were slave traders. They took Joseph down to Egypt,
far away. Joseph's brothers, Take his coat,
drench it in the blood of an animal, take it back to his father
and say, we found this. It's your son, Joseph's, right?
Yes. He must be dead. No one fooled? Well, he's on his way to Egypt
to be a slave. Jacob lamented and grieved, convinced
he would never again see his beloved son, Joseph. Joseph is
sold into slavery in Egypt, and in the providence of God, he
advances to the head of the house. The mistress of the house lies
against him, and Joseph ends up in prison. But even in prison,
he proves himself to be worthy. He becomes, as it were, the warden
of the prison, though a prisoner he still is. And then word goes
to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. This man, Joseph can interpret
dreams. And the king had had two dreams
that greatly troubled him. He brought Joseph in before him
and Joseph told him, I'll tell you what these dreams are. You
have got seven years of plenty coming upon you. And during those
seven years of plenty, you better harvest and save all that you
can. Because after it are coming seven
lean years, seven years of famine, and you better have enough gathered
in during the seven years of plenty to last you through the
seven years of famine. Fario says, well, I'm putting
you in charge. And he put Joseph in charge of
Egypt, made him just about the second in command of Egypt. Whatever
Joseph says, you do it. The Lord has greatly blessed
him. And Joseph acquired much grain, put it aside, and then
came to seven years of famine. And the famine was wider spread
than in Egypt alone. because it also hit the land
where Jacob and his sons are. And Jacob tells his sons, I hear
there is grain down in Egypt. Go to Egypt. He had some crops
he had gathered. He said, take them down and buy
what you can. And here is Joseph on the throne
as it were in Egypt. and his brothers, his brothers
who recognize him not, though he knew them, they show up looking
for grain. Through that providence, God
brought the whole family of Jacob down to Egypt, delivered them
The boy who was sold into slavery became the savior of the family. Jacob and his family dwelt in
Goshen, there in the northern part of Egypt, and they lasted
through the seven lean years, and then the famine ended and
Jacob died. And Joseph's brothers were very
sore afraid. They knew that while Jacob was
alive, Joseph would do nothing to them. But now they feared,
since Jacob is dead, that Joseph will have his retribution against
us. So they sent some to him to beg
him to not do so. What did Joseph say? Joseph said,
As for you, you meant evil against me. But God, but God, but God
meant it for good to bring it about this day as it is to save
many people alive. God used the hated Joseph to
be the savior of his entire family. What marvels God does. Third,
consider the example of Saul against David. David says Saul
sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his
hand. Now Saul is king of Israel. David is the champion of Israel. It is David, not Saul, who went
out to face Goliath and killed the giant, the champion of the
Philistines. And they came back into the camp,
into the city of Jerusalem thereafter the battle. And the people say,
Saul has slain his thousands. And how pleased Saul is to hear
that. And then they sing, David has
killed his 10,000. Saul is envious. Saul is envious. Tried once to kill David by throwing
a javelin at him. Tried another time to have David
killed as he slept in his bed. David escaped and King Saul gathered
a posse and off he went after David, hither and yon, looking
for him in the wilderness, in the mountains, Wherever he could
hear that David was, he went after David, sought for him for
a very long time. But God would not deliver him
to Saul. Man proposes, but God disposes. Consider the example of the wicked
schemers against the righteous. Psalm 64, verse 6, they devise
iniquities. We have perfected a shrewd scheme,
but God shall shoot at them with an arrow. Haman, his name probably meant Magnificent. Which makes you wonder if he
named himself. Proud man. In the days of Esther. In the days of King Ahasuerus
of Persia. In the days following the Babylonian
captivity when the children of Israel are in Persia. living in captivity there. And Haman has come into the good
graces of King Ahasuerus and has been very highly elevated. And he hates the Jews. He plots
to have them exterminated. He draws up the edict King Ahasuerus unwittingly, not
knowing what he's signing, not knowing the consequences of it,
signed it into law by the law of the Medes and the Persians,
which cannot be revoked. That law required the extermination
of the Jewish people. That meant King Ahasuerus learned
the death of his wife, the queen, who is a Jewess, Esther. She leads the king, having let
him know that Haman wants her dead, too. So another edict is
drawn up Since the first one cannot be withdrawn, the second
edict is drawn up saying the Jews may defend themselves. And
they did. And they did. God raised them
up with a glorious victory. Haman went out to seek the extermination
of the Jews. And like these schemers, says
we have perfected a shrewd scheme, but God shall shoot at them with
an arrow. Esther was an arrow in the bow
of God, and she hit the heart of the king. And because of that,
this scheme of Haman was overthrown. And Haman built a scaffold 40
cubits high on which he was to hang Mordecai, but Haman is hanged
from it. He proposed, but God disposed. Fifth, consider the example of
the ungodly against the godly, Isaiah 17, 13. The nations will
rush like the rushing of many waters, but God, will rebuke
them and they will flee away. Two examples, one historical,
one prophetical. Historical example. King Sennacherib, Assyria, has
come down against Israel. He has surrounded the city. It looks like The end of Israel, a huge army
with not only the Assyrians, but others as well. Israel has
no hope. An army this size. What happens? They came rushing in like many
waters. Hezekiah prayed. God answered. Went into the camp. of Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
encamped around Jerusalem. And lo and behold, in one night,
under, shall we say, mysterious circumstances, 185,000 soldiers died. And Israel did
not lift a hand against them. The angel of God went through.
Man proposes and God disposes. God said, I will put a fish hook
in the nose of Sennacherib and lead him back to his land. And
he did! Sennacherib, who said, I will
destroy Jerusalem. No, God led him with a fish hook
through his nose back to the land of Assyria. And there his
own people killed him. Man proposes, but God disposes. historical or prophetical example. Satan, at the end of this millennial
reign of Christ, will be released. Whether or not he has already
been released or not, I do not know. But when he is released,
he will go out and deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, and the
four corners of the earth. And they will come up against
the beloved city and encamp around the city of God and seek to destroy
it. And just when it seems that the
church of Jesus Christ will be extinguished from the earth,
here he comes, King Jesus. And he wins the battle, the final
battle. Satan has proposed to destroy
the church, but Jesus said otherwise. Man proposes, Satan proposes,
God and his Christ dispose otherwise. Last example. One more, and the
most important. The most singular instance ever
Proving this antithesis, man proposes, but God disposes. It is the example of the killers
of Jesus Christ. Acts 13, verses 28 and 29, we
read that though they found no cause for death in him, they
asked Pilate that he should be put to death. But God, raised
him from the dead. The most glorious instance of
this antithesis that you will ever find, here it is, in Jesus
Christ. His death was murder, premeditated,
cold-blooded, with malice aforethought. The scriptures declare they murdered
him by hanging him on a tree. His killers are identified in
Acts 4, verse 27. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
and the people of Israel with the Gentiles were gathered together
to do whatever God's hand and God's purpose determined beforehand
to be done. Now, what an unholy alliance
is this. Herod and Pontius Pilate. Herod,
king of the Jews, although now it's more of a title than it
is of an importance, because the real ruler in Israel is a
Roman governor, the procurator by the name of Pontius Pilate. They despise each other. It would
appear that Pontius Pilate just kind of looked down his nose
at the king and the king resented a Gentile ruling
over my people, the Jews. And the Jews and the Gentiles. Jews considered Gentiles to be
dogs. And Gentiles were glad to not
be identified with Jews, whatever they were. They hated each other. Herod and Pilate, Jews and Gentiles. But in Jesus Christ, they had
one common enemy and they joined forces against him. They all
came together with this unholy alliance. But notice what else
we found. They were gathered together to
do whatever God's hand and God's purpose determined
beforehand must be done. What happened in the Sanhedrin
where Jesus was tried for blasphemy and found guilty. What happened
in Pilate's judgment hall where sentence against Jesus was passed. What happened in the streets
of Jerusalem when they said crucify him, crucify him. Whatever happened
When those soldiers laid his body on that tree, drove the
spikes through his hands, lifted him up and dropped him down into
that hole where the cross was to be, all that was done by the
hands of men predestined by God before time
began. You gathered together It's the
only time these four ever came together. They hated each other,
stayed away from each other as much as they could. But here,
God's hand brought them together. And they, with their hands, laid
them on Jesus and sought to destroy him. What a terrible instance. What a terrible instance. And
little did they know that when they did so, they were fulfilling
not only God's predestination, which they, of course, could
not know. They also fulfilled the Holy Scriptures, which they
should have known, especially the Jews. Surely they should
have known when they were hating him and calling for his crucifixion. They knew the scriptures, surely
they should have known. Wait a minute, we're fulfilling
the scriptures. No! Blindly they ran and continued
to do so. Because God's hand and God's
purpose must be performed. And he used the enemies of Jesus
Christ in their plot and in their scheme against him. They proposed to kill him. They
did. They did. When they drove those spikes
into his hands and feet. When they crushed that crown
of thorns upon that holy brow. When they scourged his back.
in all these things in which they made the blood of Jesus
Christ to flow. When that Roman soldier took
his spear and thrust it into the side of Jesus, when from
his heart there came blood and water, they thought they were killing
him. They did. But they shed the blood by which
God has saved and sanctified and justified his people. They
meant evil against him. God meant it for the best good
that ever was done. The most dastardly deed ever
done turned out to be the greatest blessing ever performed. Man
proposes But God disposes. Here is the foremost example
in all the Holy Scriptures concerning this. And I would close with this,
back to my text. And we know, because I hope you
have not forgotten, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God to those who are the called according
to his purpose. When the Lord blesses you with
a new house, that's good. When the Lord lets it burn down,
that's good. It's working for it. When the
Lord blesses you with a job, that's good. When your boss says I can no
longer keep you employed, that's good. Everything that happens
is weaving a tapestry in its warp and woof. And when you see
it at the very end, it's beautiful. Because if God before us, who
can be against us? On the other hand, If God is against you, no one
can be for you. I hope he's against none of us
tonight. I hope that we can bow our knees
and worship him, know him as ours, trust in his son, believe
in him. You've seen the way God takes
care of his people. You say, well, I'm going through
some rough difficulties now. Your book has not been completely
written yet. It's still there are still a
couple of chapters left. All right. And in the end, what
will you find? Man proposed, but God disposed. Because if God is for us. Who
can be against us? Oh, God, our father, bless, we
pray this word to the glory of your son. In whose name we pray.