I invite your attention to Romans
chapter 8, the epistle of Paul the apostle to
the church in Rome, 8th chapter. My text is found in verse 31. My message is titled, Man Proposes,
But God Disposes. Let me say just a word about
the passage that our brother Chris read to us this morning. Verse 2 of that chapter. Verse
3. There was a certain woman who was very talented, gifted
with musical instruments. And a so-called Christian worker
told her, you need to get saved and join
the church because the Lord needs you. The Lord needs you. I heard that story and I replied that in reading the Scriptures,
only once have I ever read that Jesus needed something. Only
once! Matthew 21, verse 3. He needed
a, shall we say, donkey. The King James Version uses a
term that may be a bit more offensive, but the only thing Jesus ever
needed was a donkey. He does not need me. He does
not need you. He does not need your talent.
He does not need your gift. He does not need your skill. If he were hungry, he would not
tell you the cattle on a thousand hills are his. He can call any
man he wants to to preach the gospel, and he can give the gift
of music to anybody he wants to. It's all his. Bear that in
mind. He does not need us. We need
Him. Romans chapter 8, verse 31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? There's a certain antithetical
phrase. You've heard it. You know it
well. Man proposes, but God disposes. Now that English phrase comes
from the Latin in a book, The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas
Akimpas in the 15th century. That book was probably one of
the foremost books, arguably the foremost book written during
the Dark Ages. But in that book, Thomas Akempis
wrote in Latin, man proposes, but God disposes. Now, you'll
find that phrase poignantly illustrated throughout the Holy Scriptures.
It appears in the small phrase, but God. But God. Consider that phrase. What two words of such minute
proportion ever betokened such a vast difference or unfathomable
consequence? Throughout holy scriptures this
phrase demonstrates the power and the might of God in overruling
people's wicked intentions. Man proposes, but God disposes. Consider this one example and
then I'll give you some more. But God. Do you want to see how
great a difference there is in man's proposals and God's disposal? I'll read to you from the story
Jesus told of the rich fool in Luke chapter 12. Jesus said,
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 I will 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, that's the next two
words. That's what he said. But God
said to him, fool, this night your soul shall be required of
you. then whose will those things be which you have provided?'
And Jesus said, so is he who lays up treasure for himself
and is not rich to work God." Every proposal, every scheme,
every plan that we ever make that is contrary to God's will,
He'll dispose of it. It will not be brought fully
to fruition. It will, in the final analysis,
be overthrown. And there's a reason for that.
If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for us, who can be
against us? But note the converse. If God
is against us, who can be for us? If God is against me, then all
the world together cannot help me. If all the world is against
me, I'm not concerned. If there is
this one person who is for me, if that is God, if God be for
us, what shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? I'm going to give you six examples
of this truth. Man proposes, but God disposes. The first is the example of laboring
against Jacob. Now consider that I'm going to
be using that term, but God. I simply took my concordance.
It will not only look up words, it will look up phrases. So I
just did a search for the phrase, but God, and things popped up. Here's the first one. Laban against
Jacob, Genesis 31 verse 7. Jacob told his wives that your
father Laban has deceived me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not allow him to
hurt me. So let me tell you the story
of Laban and Jacob. You know Jacob, son of Isaac. Laban is Jacob's paternal uncle,
brother of Jacob's father Isaac. Jacob's brother Esau swore to
kill Jacob and Jacob had to flee for his life. He was sent to
Laban in Harar and so Jacob fled to Harar. And there he met the
family of Laban, his paternal uncle. Laban had two daughters,
the older Leah, the younger Rachel. The scripture says that Rachel
was beautiful and the term that it uses means she was beautiful
in both face and figure. Leah, the scripture says, had
eyes that were less desirable. It is likely that she was perhaps
as beautiful otherwise than the younger Rachel, but there was
something about Leah's eyes that were less attractive. Jacob fell
in love with Rachel, the younger, and he contracted with Laban
to work seven years. in order to have Rachel for his
wife. He worked seven years, and then
on his wedding night, that Stephen Canavan Laban switched Leah for
Rachel. Now just bear in mind that it
is an oriental place in an ancient time, And on the wedding day,
the bride would have worn a veil that probably even covered her
eyes. Jacob did not find out he had married the wrong woman
until it was too late to undo it. And he complains, and Laban
says, our custom is we don't let the younger marry before
the older. You had to take Leah. Well, I
want Rachel. Okay, give me another seven years.
Okay. So, the poor man's got to work
another seven years to get Rachel. And he marries her. And the Lord blesses these two,
these three, Jacob and his two wives with children. And then
he contracts to work for Laban, worked for seven years, contracted
to work, but that scheming, conniving Laban changed Jacob's wages,
reduced them ten times. But thanks to a remarkable providence, Jacob was able to obtain, without
theft, But by God's blessing, the better part of Laban's flocks
and herds. And Laban and his sons are a
little upset at all this. And Jacob could see that it was
not going to go well with him. Laban was angry. And so Jacob
took his wives and his children and he fled. It was three days
before Laban heard that Jacob was gone, for he was out shearing
sheep. When he heard, he gathered a
posse of his sons and family, and off they went. Jacob's traveling
slowly, he's got youngsters and family with him, and Laban caught
up. But he had a dream, and Jehovah said to him in the
dream, do not even speak evil against Jacob. And so Laban overtakes
him and he says I was going to do you harm but Jehovah appeared
to me in a dream and said do not even speak evil against Jacob. So here we see A poignant illustration
of the fact that man proposes, but God disposes. Laban had put
a scheme against Jacob, but God said it will not come to pass. Remember that when people are
scheming against you. Second instance would be Joseph's
brothers against him. We read in Genesis 50 verse 20
that Joseph told his brothers 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. But God, you meant evil against
me, but look what God did. He overruled you. So let me tell
you the story. Joseph is the 11th son of Jacob. Joseph's 10 brothers hated him. They were envious. They hated
him with a passion and they plotted to kill him. Instead, they sold
Joseph, their younger brother, to Ishmaelites or Amalekites
and They took him down into the land of Egypt. Joseph's brother took his garment,
saturated it with blood, took it back to their father and said,
we found this. It appears to be your son Joseph's. Is it his? Yes, it is. He's dead. He's dead. And so the brothers,
you know, yeah, yeah. Good is dead. And so they thought
they're done with him. Yep. The Ishmaelites will take
him down into that land of Egypt and we're done with him. And
they forgot about him. But God was not done with him
and God did not forget about him. So down in Egypt through
a circuitous path Joseph went from slavery to imprisonment
to the second highest position in all Egypt. He did this when
he interpreted two dreams of the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh had
these dreams and no man could interpret them. And Joseph, being
blessed by God providentially, He interpreted them, Pharaoh,
you've got seven years of plenty coming and followed by seven
years of famine and it would behoove you to find a wise, intelligent
man to save the food during the years of plenty so that it is
available through the years of famine. And the Pharaoh says,
cannot think of anybody better than you. And so, Joseph is elevated
to the second highest position in all Egypt under none but the
Pharaoh. Joseph gathered crops and grain
during the seven years of famine, the seven years of plenty, and
then during the seven years of famine, he's selling it. Pretty soon, thanks to Joseph,
Pharaoh owned about everything that every Egyptian owned. Because
only Pharaoh's got food, thanks to Joseph. And so, here even
come Joseph's brothers from the land of Canaan. They've heard
their scream there. And they have to go buy grain
from Joseph, did not recognize him. It's been years since their
dastardly deed against him. They did not recognize him. And
then the poor fellows had to come back. The food ran out again. And this time he revealed himself
unto them. You remember your brother Joseph? I am him. Can you imagine? But he told them, no, there's
no retribution. Go get my father. Go get the
rest of the family. Bring them down to Egypt. You're
going to live down in Goshen. I'm going to set that whole part
of the land away from the Egyptians because sheep herders are an
abomination to the Egyptians. And you're going to live in Goshen.
I'll take care of you. And he did. He did. Family and posterity prospered
under Joseph. And then Jacob died. And the brothers are now terrified. Now that our father is dead,
Joseph is surely going to seek retribution against us because
of what we have done to him. And they sent a messenger to
him and said, Do not do anything against us. Our Father would
not want you to do it. And Joseph made that statement. Consider it. As for you, you
meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to
save many people as it is this day. Your wickedness against me resulted
in your salvation. You proposed to be rid of me. God disposed of your plan and
made me to be your Savior in this time of famine. How sweet is that? Joseph is proof that if God is
for you, who can be against you? Consider the third example that
would be Saul against David. 1 Samuel 23, verse 14. Saul sought him every day, but
God did not deliver David into Saul's hand. Now consider the
story behind this. Saul is king of Israel David
is Israel's champion for David had slain the giant Goliath and delivered Israel from the
Philistines and when they came back from
the battle Saul heard the people say, Saul has slain his thousands. And you can imagine, yep, slain
my thousands. And then they sang the second
verse of the song, David has slain his ten thousands. Well,
okay, this king is now just a bit envious of this upstart shepherd
lad. And became envious and decided,
you know, he's going to kill him. David is playing his harp
in Saul's court, trying to soothe the beast that was in Saul's
heart. And Saul tried to kill David
by throwing his spear at him, but providentially David escaped. Then Saul sent men to capture David and
kill him while David was asleep in his bed. But again, providentially,
David escaped. And then David learned that Saul
was going to hunt him down to kill him. David fled for his
life into the wilderness and Saul pursued him. Sometimes came
very, very close to where David was. And then David eventually revealed
himself under Saul and he told him that you tried to catch me
but God would not let you do so. Do you see this fact that
man proposes, God disposes? If God before us, who can be
against us? I'll give you the fourth example.
that would be the wicked schemers against the righteous. Psalm
64 verses 6 and 7. The wicked devise iniquities
saying, we have perfected a shrewd scheme, but God shall shoot at
them with an arrow. Notice, they devise iniquities, plural, God needs only one arrow
to defeat them all. I'll give you an illustration.
Haman. Haman was a foremost wicked schemer
in all the Holy Scriptures. He is a prominent figure in the
book of Esther. Now the book of Esther was written
about the year 440 B.C. at which time the children of
Israel were subjects in Persia. They had been captured by the
Babylonians, spent time under Babylonian captivity and then
the Persians conquered the Babylonians and now the people of Judah are
under the Persians. Haman hates the people of God. He was an Agagite or an Amalekite. And if you will remember from
a thousand years earlier these Agagites and these Amalekites
were foremost enemies of Israel even from the days of Moses when
the Agagites were King Agag of Amalek came and fought against
Israel. There was this animosity between
the Agagites and the Israelites, even from a thousand years earlier. And Haman has been promoted to
a very high position in the kingdom of Persia. And he devises a scheme to have
the Jews annihilated. He writes it out, makes it sound
good, and King Ahasuerus of Persia unwittingly signed the decree
by the law of the Medes and Persians, which means that the decree cannot
be rescinded. Little does he know, King Ahasuerus,
what he has done until God sent an arrow to him in the form of Esther, King Ahasuerus' queen, who just
happens to be a Jewess, a woman of the Jews, and Haman has sent
out a decree that She's got to be killed. Now you can imagine
what's going through the king's mind now. What has Haman done? He wants to kill my own wife. So King Ahasuerus made another
decree and said the decree that the Jews may defend themselves. Which again, law of the Medes
and Persians, cannot be rescinded. So we've got the two different
decrees. One for the Jews to be annihilated.
The other says the Jews can defend themselves. And God used an arrow coming through Esther. And that arrow pierced Haman. And he died. Haman built a scaffold
40 cubits high upon which to hang Mordecai. And then the king
says, hang him on it. Look at this, folks. Man proposes,
but God disposes. And if God is for us, who can
be against us? I give you another example. 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. I give you two examples, a historical
example, a prophetic example. In the historical example, This
would be back with the people of Israel in about the year 700
B.C. King Sennacherib of Syria has
amassed an army, a huge army, of Gentile nations, and they
have come down to besiege Israel, to take the city over. And there
they are outside the camp. besieging the city all the way
around, and it appears that Israel has no chance, no chance. Well, yes they do. The angel
of Jehovah, evidently the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, came down into
the camp of the Gentiles that night, walked through the camp
and slew 185,000 of them as they slept. As they slept, slew 185,000
of them. And King Sennacherib realized
what had happened. He fled back to his capital city,
and there he was killed. The nations have gathered against
the people of God, proposed their destruction, but God disposed
otherwise. The second example is prophetic. Read about it in Revelation chapter
20. Satan is bound for a thousand
years. That occurred when Jesus bound
him during his earthly ministry. At the end of a thousand years,
that would be the millennial reign of Christ in which we now
live. At the end of a thousand years,
Satan will be released. Whether or not he has already
been released or is soon to be released, I do not know. But
I do know this, that when he is released, he gathers the nations
Gog and Magog, the Gentile nations, and he surrounds the camp of
the saints and the beloved city. And just as it appears, just
as it appears that the Israel of God is going to be destroyed,
God will rebuke them in the person of Jesus Christ. Here he comes. Lo, he comes with clouds descending,
once for sinful sinners slain. But look at him now! He comes as King of kings and
Lord of lords, and he rebukes the nations that have gathered
against his church, and they flee into their everlasting torment. Oh, if God is for us, who can
be against us? But God, what a beautiful term
is that, and how great is this expression. Man proposes, but
God disposes. But I'll give you one more. I'll
give you one more. Oh, this is the greatest of all.
I saved the best to last. Man proposes, but God disposes. You want proof of it? Look at
the killers of Jesus Christ. We read in Acts chapter 13, verses
28 and 29, that Though they found no cause for death in him, they
asked Pilate that he should be put to death. But God, there
it is again, but God, what are you going to do God? But God
raised him from the dead. How glorious is that? God raised
him from the dead. The killing of Jesus Christ was
a murder. It is expressly said to be so
in Acts chapter 5 verse 30. It is said to be so in this instance
as well. They killed him though they found
no cause of death in him. That's murder, folks. They found
no cause for death in him. That was true of Pontius Pilate,
the Roman governor. That was true of Herod, king
of the Jews. Even Pilate said, I find no fault
in this man, and neither did Herod. And yet, put him to death. That's murder, folks. Now consider
who was involved in this. The killers of Jesus Christ are
identified in Acts 4, verse 27. Both Herod, the Jewish king, And the Roman governor, Pilate, they were previously in enmity
against each other. Herod, the king of the Jews, Pilate, governor of the land,
actually with more authority than the king And then we read, with the Gentiles. What Gentiles? Well, especially
the Gentile soldiers who crucified Jesus, and also the people of
Israel. Who would that be? The people
who stood before Pilate and said, crucify him, crucify him. Well, what has he done? Crucify
him, crucify him. Now consider what we have here.
Herod, king of the Jews. Pilate, governor over Judea. They hate each other. And yet, here in Jesus, they
have a common enemy. Gentiles. people of Israel, they
hate each other but again in Jesus they have a common enemy
and so Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jews laid aside
their animosities toward each other and came together and bundled
all their animosities together and directed them toward Jesus
of Nazareth who had done nothing wrong to either one of them.
The scripture says they were gathered together to do whatever
God's hand and God's purpose determined to be done. Ah! What a marvelous statement is
that! Did you read it? Did you hear
it? They were gathered together to
do whatever God's hand and God's purpose determined before to
be done. Consider this, that when both Herod and Pontius
Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles joined their hands together God's
hand intervened and they did with their hands what God brought
to pass with His hand, by your hand, and your determined purpose. Your determined purpose. These
four enemies of each other now directing their animosities toward
Jesus Christ in putting him to death have unwittingly fulfilled
divine predestination and the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures. Now how marvelous is that? How
marvelous is that? They have come together against
Jesus Christ and by God's hand They fulfilled God's purpose
in the Scriptures. They did not even know it. Unwittingly
they fulfilled God's will. For it was God's will that His
people, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, be saved, redeemed,
justified, and sanctified. How is that blood going to be
shed? God uses the enemies of Jesus
Christ to shed that blood. And in shedding his blood, they
fulfilled God's purpose and brought to pass the salvation of God's
people. How marvelous is that? Man proposes,
but God disposes. Here is proof of the psalmist
declaration that surely the wrath of man shall praise you. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise you. The more men vent their
wrath against Jehovah and his anointed, the more praise they
bring upon him. Here is the foremost example
in all the holy scriptures of Man proposes, but God disposes. But their killing of Jesus was
for naught. God raised him from the dead.
God raised him from the dead. How blessed is this truth! Two little words, but God what great consequence and difference
there is between them. But God, man proposes, but God
disposes. Therefore we can say, and what
shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? Well, they may scheme against you,
and connive against you. Yeah, Laban did against Jacob
and Joseph's brothers did against him. But you see what God did. So when people scheme against
you, might even be family members, when they scheme against you,
remember this, Man proposes, but God disposes. And if God
is for you, who can be against you? Well, they may persecute
you. Yes, they may. Haman persecuted
the Jews, and at the final day, the wicked will persecute the
Church of Christ. But God will intervene. Well,
they may try to kill you. Yes. Yes. Just as Haman tried to kill the
Jews. They may try to kill you, but God will dispose of that. Yeah, but preacher, they just
may succeed in killing you. Yes, they may. They killed Jesus, but God raised
Him from the dead. And if they kill us, God will raise us from the dead.
We are assured that Jesus of Nazareth is the first fruits
of all who sleep in Christ. And when everything has come
to pass at the final day, we're going to look back at the history
of mankind and we're going to say, it can be written in these
words, man proposed, but God disposed. And how glorious is
that! Child of God, the same God who protected Jacob,
Joseph, David, the ancient Jews in this church, is the same God
who will watch over us today. And if he be for you, who can
be against you? But I will remind you of this. If he is against you, who can
be for you? Your good works cannot be for
you. He will not accept them. Your righteousnesses will not
be for you. They do not satisfy him. He considers
them filthy rags. your good works. He says you
do not have any. I tell you, my friends, it is
high time for us, if we have not already done so, to flee
to this God who takes care of His people like He took care
of His Son. And may we rejoice in knowing
that man proposes but God disposes. And O God, our Father, be pleased,
we pray to hear our prayer. Save us. We have enemies, connivers
and schemers around us, persecutors, even Satan. But as you protected your people
and your Son, Save and protect us, we pray. Ever be for us, never be against
us. To your glory in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.