Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 36 in the hardback timbrel, 36. We
haven't sung this hymn in a while. 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? Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is He, Lord Sabbath
is His name, from age 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 abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are
ours through him who with us sideth. 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. Mary Jane just called a few minutes
ago and their grandson Matthew is in lockdown in that building
where seven people were just killed in Milwaukee and. She's pretty upset, so I told
her that we would. We would pray for them and. Asked
for the Lord's mercy to. I think that from what I can
tell on the news they. There was one shooter and they,
I guess they've controlled the situation, but they haven't let
anybody out of lockdown yet. So, uh, but Fred and Mary Jane
are very concerned. So let's, uh, let's pray for
Matthew and Fred and Mary Jane, our merciful heavenly father, how comforting and hopeful it
is to know that you are sovereign over all things.
that the wrath of man shall praise thee, and that the remainder
thou shalt restrain. Lord, we pray that your comforting
spirit would draw Fred and Mary Jane into your presence now as
they are distraught, concerned over Matthew, and Lord, that
you would comfort them and encourage them or grow them in your grace. We pray for Matthew and ask that
you'd keep him safe and Lord that you would use this for his
good and for your glory, Lord, that you would give Fred and
Mary Jane opportunities to talk to him about Christ and show
him his need. We thank you for it, and we wait,
Lord, to know that what you do will be right. We ask it in Christ's
name, amen. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Chronicles
chapter 16. 1 Chronicles chapter 16. Yesterday morning I went to the
dentist for what I thought was going to be a routine dental
procedure. And four hours later I came out
of the oral surgeons office thinking I would never speak again. And
quite a bit of discomfort right now. So Robert was very kind
and gracious to be willing to stand and speak tonight and.
I'm very thankful for that and I look forward to. To the message,
Robert, thank you for for doing that. First Chronicles chapter 16.
And we'll begin reading at verse 34. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. For he is good. For his mercy. Is forever. You see the word endureth is
in italics. Sounds like his mercy is gonna
last forever. No, his mercy's forever. Always
been merciful, always will be merciful. And say ye, save us,
oh God of our salvation, and gather us together and deliver
us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name. and glory in thy praise, blessed
be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. And all the people
said, amen, amen, and praised the Lord. Lord, add these blessings
to the reading of his word. Let's pray again. Our heavenly
father, We're so very hopeful to hear a word from you tonight. Thank you for Robert. Thank you
for the willingness to to speak on such a short notice and Lord
pray that you'd give him Liberty and. Pray that you give us ears
to hear and pray that you would meet with us and. Comfort our
hearts in Christ. We ask it in Christ name. Amen. We'll sing one more hymn, Robert,
then you can come. Number 229 in the hardback temple,
229. Let's all stand together. Tell me the old, old story Of
unseen things above Of Jesus and His glory Of Jesus and His
love Tell me the story simply As to a little child For I am
weak and weary and helpless and defiled. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story, slowly, that
I may take it in, that wonderful redemption, God's remedy for
sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the story softly With
earnest tones and grave Remember I'm the sinner Whom Jesus came
to save Tell me the story always If you would really be In any
time of trouble a comforter to me. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the same old story When
you have cause to fear That this world's empty glory Is costing
me too dear Yes, and when that world's glory is dawning on my
soul, tell me the old, old story, Christ Jesus makes thee whole. Tell me the old, old story, Tell
me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Robert, please come tell us the
old, old story. Good evening. I appreciate Greg
allowing me to fill in for him tonight. It's a real honor to
be able to preach in a gospel church. That's something I never
had before we moved here. I'm going to be speaking to you
tonight about a slippery slope, slippery places. We're going
to start in Psalms 73 and verse 1. There was a man named Asaph that
was not an insignificant man. He was David's song leader, songwriter,
choir leader, whatever. He had to be a deeply spiritual
man for David to allow him to set the songs to music. This
is a man that was more than likely spent most of his time around
other children of God. We don't know for sure, we never
will know for sure, but this is not some heathen that walked
in off the street. This is a man that was involved
in a ministry, and yet he had a problem. He had a really bad
problem. It's no secret that not too long
ago I got involved in a bad business deal, and I'm living proof that
a fool and his money are soon parted. He had basically the
same problem I had when it was all over with. And that's what I want to touch
on tonight. He said, truly God is good to
Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Now he's not talking
about national Israel. He's talking about a Philippians
3, 3 Israel. He's talking about people that
worship God in the spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh, because believe me, the Old Testament
saints knew who the Lord Jesus Christ was, and they worshiped
God in the spirit. He's not talking about national
Israel. He said, truly, God is good to
Israel, even as to such as are of a clean heart. But as for
me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious of the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no
bands in their death. They remain firm. Now, when you talk to an unbeliever,
they'll listen to you so long. And when they get tired of hearing
what you're saying and they want to end the conversation, they'll
bring out the big gun. And they'll say, if there is
a God, why do bad things happen to good people? They'll always
get to that point. And you tell them, well, number
one, there's none good, but one, and that is God. There are no
good people. So don't tell me about bad things
to good people. Number two, God allows nothing. He controls everything. God causes
bad things to happen to good people for three, this reason. Because it refines us. We come
through the fire, refined gold. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
one. Seeing we are cumbered about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our fate. We've got to have patience.
It's not an option. We have to run. We have to live
this life with patience. Where does patience come from?
Scripture says tribulation work with patience. That's a lot of
times why bad things happen to good people, to teach us patience,
to teach us to turn to God in our hour of need, to remind us
that we have help in time of need. So don't ask me why bad
things happen to good people. Asaph admitted there is a God,
right? Surely God is good to Israel. There is a God. He believes that. He said, if
there is a God and there is, then he is of pure eyes than
to behold iniquity. He said, be ye holy as I am holy. He said that he is angry with
the wicked every day. The plowing of the wicked is
an abomination to him. Even what they do for a living
is an abomination to him. The sacrifice of the wicked is
an abomination on him. If these things are true and
God is like that, why? Why do good things happen to
bad people? That's his problem. That's what's
bothering him right now. And that's what bothers me. Why
is it that a run-around, knock-down, drag-out, drug addict movie star
can have $500 million in the bank, and we got to borrow money
to build a church? Why does that happen? How can
a drug dealer drive around in his Cadillac Escalade with $100
bills stacked up in the trunk? I got to drive a 25-year-old
Chevrolet. Why do good things happen to bad people? That's
what Asaph is worried about. And listen, it was real. This man almost had a spiritual
meltdown worrying about this. His feet were almost gone. The foundation of his very faith
was shaken thinking about this. His steps were well nigh slipped. If his steps is his daily walk,
he stumbled in his daily walk. It was really, really serious,
spiritually life-threatening to this man. It's not funny.
It's not funny to wonder about a thing like that because all
the children of God have doubts and fears at one time or another,
some greater, some lesser, but they're gonna come on us. He
was envious of the wicked. When he saw the prosperity of
the wicked, what in the world is there to be envious about?
Here, look at all of us. We love each other. We meet each
other three times a week, or at least twice a week. We have
good lives. I told Deanna the other day,
I am perfectly 100% satisfied with my life. What is it to be
envious of other people that don't know the Lord, that don't
know God? What was the number one thing
that bothered Asaph? There are no bands in their death. Their strength is firm. It bothered
Asaph no end that a wicked and adulterous old man could lay
in a hospital bed surrounded by his family, the wife that
he's ran around on continuously for 50 years, the children he
used to come home on weekends and beat up because he was drunk,
grandchildren that he don't know half of them's name and how old
any of them are. And he lays there and he smiles
at them. And he slides off into eternity. not a care in the world, no fears,
no problems, no worries, and he was envious of that. You say,
well, children of God are not supposed to be afraid to die.
That's not what we're talking about. The Lord does not give every
saint the grace and the peace and the faith that he gave Digna
when she died. There would have been serious
bans, serious regrets in my life if I'd have died when we first
came here. And I'm going to tell you why. I preached my first message about
early fall in 1970. Mel Augustine gave me a book
written by Alexander Hislop called The Two Babylon, Parallel Story
of Babylon and Rome. I loved it. I read that book
and read that book and read that book. And he said, bring us a
message on it. I said, yeah, okay, okay. I got
up in the pulpit and I preached about 10 minutes of fluff. That was my first message. And
every message I preached for the next 50 years was fluff. I preached in little churches
in Texas. I preached in big churches in
Texas and churches in Nevada. I had my own church for almost
seven years. I never once, never once in all
that time ever preached that Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. I never once ever got a sermon
that he was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Now, without bragging,
I can say that I was an alpha dog in the Calvinistic circles
that I ran in. I knew everything and preached
everything there was to know about predestination and election,
justification and glorification, and not one word of the gospel. And I think about all those people
that I preached to, all of them, and I never once, never once
mentioned the love of Christ. I mentioned the love of God because
it's in Ephesians chapter two and verse four. never once ever
told them that Jesus died for their sins because that didn't
interest me. I'm interested in the hard stuff. I'm a modern Rolf Bonner and
I'm gonna scare them to death to keep them out of hell. I would
have been bound by that when it was time for me to die. And one other thing I'll mention,
and I'll mention it again later, I would have been banded by the
fact that I didn't love anybody. I loved that woman and her son
and her granddaughter. She knows I'm telling you the
truth. I am the chief Calvinist. I speak, you listen. I know the
truth, and you need to hear it. And I did not love any of them. I would have carried that in
my day so Christians children of God will have regrets that
unless they have the grace. Unless they have the grace to
lay these burdens on Christ, it'll come back to him when it's
time to die. I didn't have grace enough to
know that I was like Mordecai told Esther said if you don't
do it, somebody will. Everyone that I never preached
the gospel to, if they were a child of God, somebody did. It just
wasn't me. I think most of us here lead
a kind of a sheltered life. We're not around a bunch of Textus,
Calvinists, Baptists. They're hard people, hard people. All they know is talking loud
and scaring you to death. They've got to carry that to
their grave. Asaph was envious that the unsaved
don't have to worry about this. They don't worry about whether
they ever preached the gospel, heard the gospel, or even knew
what it was. They just go away. They're firm in their strength. They believe right up until they
draw the last breath. that if anybody goes to heaven,
it's gonna be them. They believe that they've done
the things that they're supposed to do. My own mother told me,
said when she was dying with liver cancer, wrote me a little
note, it helps when you know where you're going. And I thought,
Mother, if you only knew, if you only knew where you're going
because of free will, You wouldn't be writing a note like that.
She, there were no vans in her death. It's a difficult thing to say,
but it is envious in a way. They don't have the cares and
the worries that we do about our own souls, our own hearts,
our own mind. I don't care about anybody else's
feelings out there when it comes to the gospel. I just know what
my feelings are. I don't mean that like it sounds.
I mean, my main concern with the gospel right now is that
Greg preached it. I hear it. If I get a chance
to preach that, I'll preach it. I never did before, but I have
to now. There will be no bands in my death because God has opened
my eyes to these things. I've had at least four years,
five years band free since we've been here, but not all the people
of God, not all the people in the world are that fortunate. So he's envious of the wicked
because there's nothing in their death that causes him any worry
or anything else. They're not in trouble as other
men are. And that's true. Their conscience
might be tickled, but it's not afflicted sometimes like ours
is. Have you ever done anything or
said anything, and the minute the last word left your mouth,
you thought, oh no. I hope somebody else said that.
Have you ever, the second that you did something wrong, your
conscience fights you so hard that you would immediately pray
about it? They don't have to do that. They don't have to do
anything like that. So Asaph is in terrible, terrible
turmoil in his soul, in his heart, in his mind. And I don't know
how long he goes through this. It doesn't tell us. It just,
it goes from bad to worse. It got so bad that he couldn't
even stand to talk about it. He said, I can't discuss it because
it's too painful. It's too painful. But then he
took it, problem, to the right place. Until, until I went into
the tabernacle of God Then understood I their end. Surely thou did
set them in slippery places. If you got problems, they're
not gonna be solved anywhere but in the tabernacle of God.
Very seldom, very, very seldom do you have a really serious
soul problem and you're sitting in your rocking chair and the
voice from heaven gives you the answer. That might have happened
in the Old Testament. It's not going to happen now.
If you ever get an answer, if you ever get the right answer,
it's going to have to be here. In the tabernacle of God, you're
going to have to come here with an open heart and open mind and
a bended knee and present your problem either to Greg or to
the Lord, but you're going to have to come to God. You're going
to have to. Now, how does that work? If I come to Greg about the love
thing that I was talking about, and I say, Greg, I've been thinking
about this. There's a void in my life. I don't have the capacity to
love anybody but my wife and child. And I'm worried about
it. Because if I start, especially
especially in the book of Acts, and read it all the way to the
end, I'm gonna find out one very, very important thing. It's not
an option to love the brethren. It's something you do or you
wish you did. It's a continuous thread all
through the pastoral epistles, all of them. So this is not an
option we're talking about. Greg, I got a boy in my life.
I don't love anybody but Deanna and my son and my granddaughter. And now this is all paraphrase. I'm actually not trying to put
words in Greg's mouth. He would say, are you a child
of God? That's the first question. Well, of course I am. I'm a child
of God. All right, we'll go to the scriptures.
If you're not a child of God, going to the scriptures is almost
a waste of time. You're just looking for reiteration
to the way you feel in that case. Go to the scriptures. OK, I'm ready. God said. If you don't love your brother
that you can see, that you're sitting next to, that you can
see, how can you say you love God that you can't see? Well, are you putting me under
the law? No, I'm not putting you under
the law. I'm telling you what God said.
When the Lord Jesus Christ said, come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden. Who labors and who's heavy laden?
The unregenerate do not. Show me an unbeliever that labors
and heavy laden. Show me a Christian that doesn't.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. Come on to me all you that labor
or heavy laden and learn of me. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me what there's a yoke involved. I have to take a yoke on me.
That's what it says. For my yoke is easy. And my burden is like burden. Did you say burden? A yoke and
a burden are we back under the law? No, you're in the Word of
God. You're in the Word of God. You're talking about why you
don't love anybody. Maybe that's why. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. There's a yoke involved. There's
a burden involved. For I am meek and lowly, and
I'll give you rest to your soul. You're not going to get rest. You can go to a psychiatrist,
a marriage counselor. You can go to the witch at Indore.
And you're not going to find rest until you get it from the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you why I say it
needs to be here. Old gray headed grandma sitting
in a rocking chair, reading her Bible and praying. She's a child
of God, but she's down here and God's up there. And she's speaking
to him from a long distance. You know where we're at right
now? Where two or three are gathered together and the Lord is here. That's why you're going to get
a good answer here because he's here. You're not going to get
one at home watching Greg on the TV. You're going to get it
right here. Well, so we're still under the
law. No, no, no, no. That's called
reasonable service. This is your reasonable service.
That's what the Holy Spirit said. Well, I really don't know what
reasonable service is, Greg. The Lord Jesus Christ partook
of human flesh. He was formed in the likeness
of a man, yet without sin. He did that because he loved
you. He spent 30 years, the Lord of
the universe, the creator of the world, the king of heaven,
the very highest thing there is, the Lord Jesus Christ, spent
30 years in obscurity in Nazareth. And he did it because he loved
you. And he started his ministry. And from day one, they wanted
to kill him. And they made fun of him. And
they reviled him. And they called him a winebibber
and a drunkard. And he withstood all of this
because he loved you. And they arrested him in Gethsemane
and took him up to the high priest. And they falsely accused him. And they took him to a Roman
emperor that had no business judging the Lord of glory. And
he sent him to Herod. And Herod and his men of war
made fun of him and beat him and spit on him and made a crown
of thorns. And he tolerated it because he
loved you. And they took him and nailed
him to a wooden cross and raised him up between heaven and earth
just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and
left him there to die. And he's there because he loves
you. And then they made fun of him.
Oh, if you're the Christ, come down and we'll believe you, we'll
believe you. He did all of these things because he loved you. And more than that, the scripture
always says, moreover, moreover, he was made sin for you who knew
no sin, that you might be made the righteousness of God in him. He was abandoned by the father
because he loved you. That's called a reasonable service
because it don't cost me nothing to love every one of you, but
it costs Christ everything to love me. That's called a reasonable
service. That's why it's not an option.
If the Lord Jesus Christ loves me enough to do all of this,
the least you can do is love others. Love your brothers. Now, When you bring things to the
church, problems, you better have an open heart, and you better
have an open mind, and you better come on a bended knee, because
these things, these things are the difference between believers
and unbelievers. Don't come here to have your
way. Come here to hear the gospel, hear the truth, and then pray
for the grace to do it. That's where he got his answer
in the house of God. I didn't, I mean, he said I was
in terrible, terrible mental state until I went into the tabernacle
of God. And what comforted him? What
was the comfort that he needed and that the Lord gave him? Then,
then understood I their end. Then I knew why that good things
happen to bad people. I know why, because they're in
slippery places. you'll find the end in Revelations
chapter 20. Chapter 20 and verse seven. We'll
go through that very quickly before I close. That is the end
of the wicked. And when the thousand years are
expired, verse seven, Revelation 20, Satan shall be loosed from
his prison. and shall go out to deceive the
nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to bring them to battle, the number of whom which is as a
sand of the sea. And they went out upon the breadth
of the earth. That means they covered the earth.
They went out over the breadth of the earth and they compassed
the camp of the saints about and the city. And fire came down
from God out of heaven and devoured them. Verse 9. Now there's something
here that if we're not careful, we'll miss it. I'm not an expert
on Revelation. Nobody is. Nobody. But I do know this. Between verse
9 and verse 10. The Holy Spirit took us from
time to eternity. You see that? The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Savior of the world. He's the same yesterday. He's
the Savior of the world. He's the same today. He's the
Savior of the world tomorrow, forever, and ever, and ever,
and ever, but there's no one left to save. They're all gone. The righteous
have gone on to be with the Lord, though God has sent his angels
out to gather his elect from the four corners of the earth.
They're with God. The last name in the book of life has been
called. The last lamb that God was not willing should perish
has been taken into glory. There's not a living human being
anywhere in the whole universe. Because we're at the point now,
after verse nine, that as the tree falls, so shall it lay. It's over and done with. That's it. Verse 10. And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast
and the false prophet are, and will be tortured, tormented forever,
day and night, forever and ever. Here's hope. And I saw a throne,
a great white throne, and him that sat on it, that's our Lord
Jesus Christ, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there
was found no place for him. That's who loves us, the one
seated on the great white throne. And I saw the dead. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine seeing the dead? Every unbeliever that's ever
lived is standing before the great whites on all of them.
Whatever how many there is, there they are. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. Excuse me. And the sea gave up
the dead that were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead that were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in a book of life was cast into
the lake of fire. That's the end of the wicked.
We're born twice, we die once. They're born once, they die twice.
The reason that good things happen to bad people is that's all they
get. What they get in this life is
all, that's it. So Asaph understood that, that
he may even have written the music for, I would rather be
a doorman in the house of the Lord than to dwell in King's
palaces. He knew when he went into the
house of the Lord that nothing that the unsaved have is worth
it. Nothing. Better to live in a
little mud hut and wonder If you're really a child of God
and the whole time you are and spend your life doubting maybe
that you you do belong to God, I was that way. Believe it or
not, I knew God predestinated people. I knew God justified
people. I knew God glorified people.
I was never sure I was one of them. Nobody ever told me. that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save sinners except him. It's far better. Now it's all
worth it if you've been a kind of a know everything and do nothing
for all your life. It's kind of worth it to find
out that is after all, it is a good thing. You'll learn by
mistakes. You'll learn that it's true,
that if I can't love my brother that I can see, you're sitting
right here beside me, how can I say I love God that I can't
see? We all have problems, some worse
than others. God can answer every problem. And the children of God can take
comfort from what I've told you about this point. We're not gonna
be in there with the dead small and great. We've already been
judged on Calvary. We've already been proclaimed
holy and without blame before him in love. So that is the,
you know strength. The Lord, when the Lord talks
about his second coming. It says, wherefore comfort ye
one another with these words. He's coming after us. He's coming
after us. You could say the same thing
about this. Take comfort in these things, that these people had
the good things for a while. At least they have that, but
that's all they'll ever have. Father, we thank you for salvation. We thank you, Father, for free
grace. Grace to call us. Grace to justify
us, Father. Grace to glorify us. Grace to correct our mistakes.
Grace to do the things that we cannot do for ourselves, Father.
Grace to not overlook our sins, Father, but to pay for them.
To call us debt-free from sin, Father. To be holy and upright
in your sight. To be in union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. To know that he did all these
things, Father, because he loved us. To know that we are not only
safe in his hand, but we're safe in your hand. Give us the grace
to love one another, Father. Take away our doubts, our fears,
our prejudices, all of the things that we need to live without.
Give us an unfeigned love for the brethren, Father. We ask
these things in Jesus' name, amen. Unbelief always gets it backwards,
doesn't it? The world says, why do bad things
happen to good people? The real question is, why does
good thing happen to bad people? And truth is, there's only been
one time in the history of the world where something bad happened
to someone that was good. The ultimate evil. and the ultimate
goodness, Calvary's cross. World can't see that. Lord gives
us eyes to see that. Let's be thankful, thankful. Robert, thank you. Tom? 252. 252. 352. 352. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide. Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven kind, O receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, Hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone. Still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed. All my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy way. Thou, O Christ, art all I want. more than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
freely let me take of Thee. Spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity.