Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 36 in the hardback temple. 36 in the
hardback. A mighty fortress is our God. A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing, Our helper He amid the flood, Of
mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Doth
seek to work us woe His craft and power are great And armed
with cruel hate On earth is not his equal Did we in our own strength
confide Our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our
side The man of God's own choosing? ? Dusk ask who that may be ?
? Christ Jesus it is he ? ? Lord Sabaoth his name ? ? Am aged
to age the same ? ? And he must win the battle ? And though this
world with devils filled Should threaten to undo us We will not
fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph ? Through us
? ? The prince of darkness grim ? ? We tremble not for him ?
? His rage we can endure ? ? For lo, his doom is sure ? ? One
little word shall fell him ? ? That word above all earthly powers
? ? No thanks to them abided ? ? The spirit and the gifts
are ours ? ? Through him who with us sided ? ? Let goods and
kindred go ? This mortal life also ? The body they may kill
? God's truth abideth still ? His kingdom is forever Please be
seated. evening. Let's open our Bibles
to Isaiah 52, Isaiah 52. And we'll begin reading in verse
7. You know the Lord Jesus came and often referred to him as
preaching. I believe that his feet are the
ones referred to here first and foremost, and then those that
he sends to faithfully declare the same message he declared.
Verse seven, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion,
Thy God reigneth. You know, that's our message. Our God reigns. Thy watchman shall lift up the
voice. With the voice together shall
they sing. For they shall see eye to eye
when the Lord shall bring again Zion. All of God's preachers preach
the same gospel. Break forth into joy, sing together,
ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his
people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. Let's pray together. I want us
to pray for Lauren tonight. She's anxious to those babies
to come. So let's ask the Lord's blessings. Our heavenly father, thank you.
that we can declare clearly, confidently that you reign over
the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth.
Lord, what great hope and comfort we have in knowing that your
purpose stands, that you always accomplish your will, that you
are in control sovereignly over all things, Lord, we pray that
you would make us mindful of that as we speak and as we listen
to the message that you've given us in your word, that we would
be brought by your Holy Spirit to bow before thee and that you
would speak to our hearts. Lord, we pray for Laura and ask
Lord for for your hand of grace and strength and comfort. And Lord, we pray that you would
bring these babies into this world and that Lord, we might
just rejoice in the gift of life and in your hand of strength
and Lord pray that you would give Lord and Adam just a special
measure of your grace in their hearts now as they wait on thee.
We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 75 in the hardback teminal,
75. Let's stand together again. ? Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide ? ? The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide ? ? When other
helpers fail and comforts be ? Help of the helpless, O abide
with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. What but Thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who, like thyself, my guide and
stay can be. Through cloud and sunshine, O
abide with me. ? Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes ? ? Shine through the gloom and point me to the
skies ? ? Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee
? In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to 2 Samuel
chapter 15. 2 Samuel chapter 15. Absalom has led a conspiracy,
a revolt against his father David. And we find in chapter 15 of
2 Samuel that Absalom gets Ahithophel to join him. Ahithophel was Bathsheba's
grandfather, was David's trusted confidant and friend. He was
David's number one counselor. Matter of fact, David writes
Psalm 55 in response to what Ahithophel and Absalom do. And David says in Psalm 55, if
it had been an enemy that turned against me, it would have been
fine, but it was a friend. And David's grieving over this overthrow, particularly because
it's his son and it's his dear friend. And in verse 12 of chapter
15, Absalom sent for Ahithophel, the Gilonite, David's counselor,
from his city, even from Gilo, while he offered sacrifices And
the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually
with Absalom. If you turn over just a page
to verse 31 in that same chapter, and one told David saying Ahithophel
is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord,
I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. As we continue this story for
the next couple of chapters, we find out that Ahithophel's
counsel to Absalom, the scripture says, was as if it were the word
of God. So the the immediate profit that
Ahithophel had to Absalom was very positive. And I'm sure that David's thinking,
no, the Lord has abandoned me. Everybody's conspiring against
me. I've asked the Lord to turn Ahithophel's counsel against
him and it's working just the opposite. You ever felt that
way? pray and things seem to be going
the opposite direction. I've titled this message, Behind
All Conspiracies. And what is it that's behind
all conspiracies? Our God reigns. Our God reigns. That's the message for tonight.
Our God works together all things for good for them that love him,
those that are at the call according to his purpose. After Ithafel
seems to be having some success in counseling Absalom and Absalom
seems to be having success in building up a kingdom against
his father, David joins in the conspiracy and David sends Hushai. to be Absalom's counselor. And as it turns out, Absalom
listens to Hushai's counsel and rejects Ahithophel's counsel. And Ahithophel, as a result of
all of that, later on in chapter 17, falls out of favor with Absalom
and goes and hangs himself. And there's a clear parallel
between Ahithophel and Judas. And I believe the message to us is that the Lord
always has the best interest of his children
at heart. And regardless of what the circumstances
may appear to be in the immediate, God works it for his glory and
for our good in the end. Is there anything that enables
us to rest our souls in time of trouble than to know that whatever happens,
whatever happens, our loving Heavenly Father is the first
cause of it. And that all the free, uncoerced
thoughts and actions of man are only secondary causes in the
hands of our sovereign God. Our God is sovereign. In all our sorrows, he is our
stay. In all of our distresses, he
is our comfort. In all of our troubles, he is
our rest. The Lord uses Absalom and Hithophel's
conspiracy to drive David to the Lord. As I said, at least Psalm 55
and maybe perhaps others, there's other indications in some of
the Psalms that David wrote during this time where he's pouring
out his heart and we're able to identify with David's cry
for the Lord to deliver him in his time of trouble. And the
Lord is always faithful. He's always faithful. Proverbs
chapter 19 verse 21 says, there are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord shall stand. The counsel of the Lord shall
stand. The heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord.
And as the rivers of water, he directed that whether so ever
he wills. Isaiah chapter 14 verse 24 says,
the Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, surely as I have thought,
so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. As I have thought, so shall it
come to pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. Oh, brethren, here's our hope. Our hope is that we bow before
our sovereign God and that even when the storms of life are like
they were for the apostles on the Sea of Galilee and we hear
the voice of our Lord saying, O ye of little faith, in the
end, in the end, we're brought to say, what manner of man is
this? Even the winds and the seas obey
his voice and he brought them safely to the other side. That's always our hope and that's
our God's faithfulness. You remember when, I think it's
in 1 Samuel chapter 30, when David and his army is off in
battle and they come back to where they had left their families.
their wives and their children in Ziklag. And from a distance
they saw that Ziklag was burning and when they got back to Ziklag
there was no one there. The Amalekites had come and burned
the city of Ziklag and carried off into captivity the wives
and the children of David and of all of his men. And the scripture
says that David was in great distress. and his men who loved
him were so grieved by what they assumed had happened that the
scripture says that they were ready to stone him. They were
ready to stone David. And then it says this, David
comforted himself in the Lord his God. In all of our distresses,
in all of our troubles, in all of our trials, he is our comfort. And he's ordained these things.
David in another place said, before I was afflicted, I'd gone
astray, but now I've kept thy word. What do you mean he kept
your word? These affliction has driven me
back. My need has caused me to come
before thee. Turn with me to Psalm 94, Psalm
94. Look at verse 16. Conspiracies, the conspiracies
of men. We hear a lot about conspiracy
theories today, don't we? Whatever conspiracies they might
be, and I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but whatever men might
be conspiring, whether it be in our individual lives, whether
it be, you know, at work, Maybe they're conspiring something
against you maybe in your family. Maybe an ex is conspiring or maybe... And I'm not saying
this is the case but there's a lot of people that believe
that there's a group of very powerful, very wealthy individuals
that are trying to establish a new world order and they call
them the Illuminati and that everything is being conspired
by them. For the sake of argument, let's just say that perhaps they
do exist. All conspiracies, whatever they
are, under the sovereign reign of our God. We need not fear
them. We need not think it. Behind every conspiracy, our
God reigns. He reigns. You have your Bibles open to
Psalm 94, look at verse 16. Who will rise up for me against
the evil doers? Or who will stand up for me against
the workers of iniquity? There's a conspiracy of sin in
my own flesh that attacks me every day. Who's going to help
me? Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul had almost dwelt in silence. Unless the Lord had been my help.
When I said my foot slipped, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts
within me, thy comforts delight my soul. To have the peace of God, we
don't have to have our circumstances changed. We need to have our
hearts changed, don't we? That's the real need. You know,
people have all sorts of distresses and by nature we naturally look
at our circumstances and think, well, that's what's causing it
or that's what's causing it. And David was grieved over what
was happening to him, but he comforted himself in his God. And the Lord delivered him from
his distresses, these circumstances weren't going to change anytime
soon. And when they did change, his son Absalom and his good
friend Ahithophel would both be dead. And yet God would establish him
on the throne and fulfill his promise. And David knew that
the Lord promised to give him an everlasting throne, that it
wasn't going to be taken from him. Turn with me to Isaiah 45. And in all of his doubts and
all of his fears, he found himself falling back on the promises
of God. Falling back. Oh, what did the Lord say? Come
unto me, all ye that labor in a heavy burden. Take my yoke
upon you. My yoke is easy. My burden is
light. Learn of me. And what do you
say? You shall have rest for your
souls. Isaiah 45, look at verse five. I am the Lord and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me. that they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens from above.
Let the skies pour down righteousness. Oh, that's what we need. That's
what we need. We need the peace of God to keep
our hearts in Christ Jesus. Our God is the first cause of all things. Whatever secret conspiracies
men might plan, whatever plots they may hatch, or success they
might have in fulfilling their own desires, in the end, they
are fulfilling the purpose of God. For behind every conspiracy,
our God reigns. Joseph knew about conspiracies. His brothers conspired against
him out of jealousy, sold him into slavery. Potiphar conspired
against him. Potiphar's wife conspired against
him. He spent the next 15 years or
so in prison. 22 years now, Joseph is in Egypt. And he's, all these conspiracies
have worked to bring Joseph to that place where he can become
a savior of his family. And so he says to his brothers,
you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God meant
it for good. He raised me up for this time. And Jacob, Jacob walked with
God for all his life. He's 130 years old. And Judah comes back from Egypt
and says to his father Jacob, he says, We met a man in Egypt
but he's not going to give us any more grain unless we take
Benjamin back with us and what did Jacob say? Joseph is not. 22 years Jacob had grieved over
the loss of Joseph. He had no reason to believe that
Joseph was alive much less the prime minister of Egypt. Simeon
now is no more. They left Simeon behind. And
now you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against
me. Know what he said? All these things are against
me. You felt that way? Truth is, the best 17 years of
Jacob's life were yet to come. 17 years, he would live in the lap
of luxury. He would have the honor and the
respect of Pharaoh himself. Jacob comes down at 130 years
old and Pharaoh is amazed how old this man is and asks for
his advice and his counsel and shows him great honor and then
puts Jacob and all of his family in the land of Goshen. Jacob spent 17 years as the father,
the respected father of the prime minister of the greatest
country in the world. I don't want to make too much of
numbers in the Bible. I know that people can get really
caught up in numerology. I know there are some numbers
that are very significant in the scriptures. But I did find
one place and maybe this is stretching things a little bit as far as
numbers go but the truth is still the same. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. The truth abides and it just seems interesting
to me that... The best of Jacob's life was
ahead of him. And brethren, whatever God has
purposed for us in this world, the best is yet to come. The
best is yet to come. I mean, that's our hope. And whatever the Lord's purposed
in this world to bring us to the land of Goshen, Then, our God reigns. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. It was necessary
and it's good. It's good. Though part of us feels like
all these things are against me. No. No, if God before me,
who can be against me? You have your Bibles open in
Romans chapter 8. It just so happens in Romans chapter eight,
we'll begin reading in verse 31. What shall we then say to
these things? What things? That God has elected
us before the foundation, that Christ has redeemed us, that
we're foreknown by him and predestinated by him, and that we've been redeemed
by him and sanctified by him. and he even mentions glorified
in the past tense. And we're talking about being
glorified in Christ when we go to be with him in glory. And
David said, when I awaken his likeness then I'll be satisfied.
In the meantime, I'm not satisfied with myself, I'm satisfied with
Christ. Here we are in the economy of
God. already glorified in heavenly
places in Christ. God before us, who can be against
us? He that spared not his own son, verse 32, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elected? Is God the justifier? No charge can be laid. The law
of God has been silenced. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. We're justified before God. To
be justified means that we're without sin. Without sin. As he is, so are we. He separated our sin from us
as far as he said. He remembers them no more. Justified. It is God that justifies, who
can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God's justified
me in Christ. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather than is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for
us. In Ephesians we read that we are accepted in the beloved
and we are in heavenly places in Christ Jesus right now. I
love thinking about it. When we pass from this world
into our eternal home, I don't believe we're going to be looking
around comparing what we're having, what we're experiencing to where
we came from. That can't be so. Time, the scripture says, will
be no more. We can't have any memory of this
life and I don't know what this means because everything we judge
and everything we measure is in time and space because that's
where we live. But the Bible says that in eternity
there is no time. And when we open our eyes in
glory we're going to see that we've always been there. In the
person of our substitute we've always been there. Whatever that
means. Now for the 17, count them with
me. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? There's seven. For it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, for we are counted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. All the best
is yet to come, is yet to come. When we set our affections on
things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God,
this is our hope. And all the conspiracies of this
world are working for our good to bring
us home to glory, to accomplish our God's purpose. Why? Because
he reigns behind them all. He reigns behind them all. He
reigns behind the conspiracies of our own thoughts and our own
feelings and our own passions. And he uses those things so that
the old man serves the new man. And the reminder of our sin drives
us again and again and again to Christ. In Acts chapter 23,
the word conspiracy is used again. The Bible says that over 40 of
the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem got together and conspired to
kill the apostle Paul. Paul was part of that. He was
part of that conspiracy when he left to go to Damascus and
the Lord arrested him on the road to Damascus. And now his
peers want him dead. And so the Bible says that these
men in Jerusalem conspire to kill the apostle Paul. And in
their conspiracy, they agree not to eat or drink until Paul
is dead. It just so happens, just so happens
in God's providence that Paul's nephew heard their conspiracy. He happened to be there. I guess he was still part of
that group maybe, I don't know, but he heard what was going on
and he came back and reported it to the apostle Paul and Paul
told the governor and the governor ordered a battalion of Roman
soldiers to not only protect Paul but take him to Caesarea
and carry him to Rome. Now it was God's purpose, God
had already told Paul that you're going to testify of me to Caesar. But now Paul doesn't have to
go to Rome just chained to one soldier, he's got a whole battalion
of soldiers taking him safely to Rome so that he can testify
the gospel to Caesar. And God used that conspiracy. That's just one example. So many
times, over and over again, we see. And sometimes we don't see. Sometimes we don't know how things
are working together. But we rest. We rest our hope
in knowing that our God reigns. There's a conspiracy of false
prophets in this world. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter
22. Ezekiel 22. Look at verse 25. There is a conspiracy of her
prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion, ravening
the prey. They have devoured souls. They
have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made many widows
in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my
law and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference
between the holy and the profane. Neither have they shown a difference
between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from
my Sabbath for I am profaned among them." Now that's a conspiracy
of false prophets. They didn't make no difference
between that which is holy and that which is unholy. They've
glorified themselves. They elevate man and his free
will and his works to accomplish their own salvation. How does
that conspiracy, how does God use that conspiracy to our good? Well, the scripture says that the false
prophets are a manifest token of the righteous judgments of
God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. The Lord has raised up this conspiracy
of false prophets proclaiming a false gospel in order to distinguish a difference
between the Egyptians and the Israelites. For if it were possible, and
it's not possible, but if it were possible, even the elect
would be deceived. Why is it not possible? Turn with me to Philippians chapter
1. Philippians chapter 1. Look at verse 27. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. And all my prophets shall see
eye to eye, and all of my people believe the same thing. For in
nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token
of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. The fact that you can't be deceived
by that false gospel. For unto you, it is given in
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake. having the same conflict which
you saw in me and now here to be now. The greatest conspiracy of all was what these Jews did and the Romans
in crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter declares that on Pentecost
when he preaches that first gospel message after the coming of the
Holy Ghost. And he says this, of Christ being delivered by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. You conspired, you took the very
son of God and you crucified him. But it was according to the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And the most wicked conspiracy
of all produced the greatest hope of salvation, the greatest
glory to God and the greatest hope that we have. The only hope
that we have. The sacrifice that the Lord Jesus
made to satisfy the demands of God's
justice and to establish a righteousness for his people. And all the plots of men, whatever
they might be, whatever they might be, are serving to that
end, the salvation of God's people. And all the trials and troubles
and circumstances of our lives, even death itself, is for the purpose of accomplishing
our eternal salvation. And behind every conspiracy,
our God reigns. And child of God finds great
comfort and great hope in believing, believing that our God is sovereign. David found that hope. He found
that hope. Oh, these were, can you imagine?
I mean, these were dark, dark days for David. His son, his
most trusted counselor turned against him. And David comforted himself in
his God. May the Lord enable us to do
that. Tom, let's sing together. Number
12 and the spiral hymn. Let's stand together. Number
12. ? Upon my great and sovereign God
? ? I cast my soul and rest ? ? My Father's hand controls the world
? ? And what he does is best ? So be still, my heart, and
doubt no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harm. He walks with me and holds me
in His everlasting arm. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My God with skill infallible
and great designs of grace, with power and love that never fail,
shall order all my ways. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Be ye leave, and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most minute
circumstance is ordered by my God, who promised that in all
things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. Oh.