Happy birthday, Ashley. I don't
know too many 17-year-olds that come to church on Wednesday night
on their birthday, but I sure am thankful for her and for her
parents that have been so faithful to have her here over the years. I'd like to read tonight for
our scripture reading from Romans chapter 8. If you'll turn with
me there in your Bibles, Romans chapter 8. We'll begin reading verse 24.
For we are saved by hope. Hope. He's going to go on to
describe that. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for it? But
if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it." This isn't, I hope my team's going to win or I hope
it's going to rain. This is a sure hope that will not disappoint. This is just another way of describing
faith. Faith. Likewise, the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." You found yourself
so conflicted between your faith and your fears that you could
do nothing but just groan before God. That's the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. It's, Lord, I don't even know
what to say. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God." He's never conflicted. He knows exactly what he has
purposed. He's got it all worked out to
every detail. And that's what he goes on to
say, for we know that all things work together for good To everyone? Oh, no. No. I hear people say all the time,
well, you know, it's going to turn out for good. Not if you're
not a believer, it's not. Not going to turn out for good
at all. But for them which love God, to them which are the called
according to His purpose, Those that He has laid His hand on
and given to them that effectual, irresistible call that we looked
at last Wednesday night? Yes. To them, in all their trials
and all their troubles, God's working everything together for
good. And now He's going to go into
the primary purpose. We've been talking, our God's
a God of purpose. And look what he says, for whom he did foreknow,
those that he placed his love on in the covenant of grace before
the world began, he did also predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. That's it. He's already conformed
us into the image 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. Please take notice of the verb
tense. He doesn't say, They will be
glorified. He says they are glorified. Already done. Already done. What shall we say then to these
things? What's our response? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Let's pray together. I want us
to thank the Lord for Jennifer Dunbar's father had very, very
serious surgery yesterday. I think it was about an eight-hour
surgery, and he's not in good health. And he came through the
surgery and is in ICU for the next four days and then be in
the hospital for a couple of weeks. So their prayer is that
the Lord will use this to give him an interest in the gospel. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful for the hope that you give to
your children to believe that thou art eternal and that you
have purposed all things for their good and for your glory. We pray, Lord, that you would
comfort our hearts with your grace as we reflect on how you
have predestinated, you have called You have justified and
you have glorified your people in Christ. We ask that he would
be lifted up, that our hearts would be drawn to him and that
we would find him to be our all and find him to be in all. Thank you for the successful
surgery on Jerry yesterday and we ask Lord now that your hand
of healing would be upon his body and that your hand of conviction
would be upon his soul. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. That's a glorious truth. And yet let us not lose sight
of the fact that we need him most this very hour. We just sang about how life would
be in vain if he did not meet our needs. Well, this would be
less than in vain. What we're doing right now would
be less than in vain if the Lord was not pleased to make himself
known and help us in our attempts to worship him. We just read that passage from
Romans chapter 8. I'd like for you to turn with
me in your Bibles, if you would, back to Ecclesiastes chapter
3, where we were this past Sunday. And I remind you of what we know. What we know in verse 14. We know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Forever. Have you ever seen a child play
with one of those little toys where they dip it in soap bubbles
and make a bubble? And you think, that bubble doesn't
last very long. It's just there for a few moments.
That's what time is to God. It's a soap bubble. And we're
in it. And one of these days, he's going
to take his finger and pop it. God's not restrained or constrained
in any way by time and by space. He made it for our benefit. God lives outside of time and
space. He's eternal. God's never had
a new thought. He's never had a new purpose. He's never had a new idea. He's
never had to change his plans, ever. He's eternal, in and of
himself, outside of time and space. You think about how much
space there is outside of that bubble. How much space is there
in the atmosphere outside of that bubble? How much space is
there in the galaxy outside of that bubble? How much space is
there in the universe outside of that bubble? Well, the whole
universe, as we know it, is inside that bubble. And God lives outside
of it. And he's ordained and purposed
everything that takes place inside that bubble. And he didn't, he doesn't have
to change his plans, he doesn't have to come up with a new, well
I didn't foresee that happening. No. No, he purposed everything. From the microscopic to the telescopic,
everything is right on schedule. Everything is taking place according
to the purpose of God. And when His purpose is finished,
He's gonna pop the bubble. And then there'll be nothing
but He and eternity. Eternity. That's what He's saying here,
I know. I know that whatsoever God doeth it be forever. He did it in forever and it is
forever and nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken
away from it. This glorious truth is what brings
us to his feet in a spirit of submission and worship. God you brought all this to be. Any anger expressed against circumstances
is really defiance against God. You know, people I, you meet
people that, you know, they're just angry all the time, angry
at this, angry at God is who you're angry at. Just deal with
it. That's the truth of it. Whenever we bow up against our
circumstances, that's what we're doing. We're showing our defiance
against God. Nothing can be taken. God doeth
it. You see that? Amos said, has evil come into
the city and the Lord has not caused it? He causes it to grow. He brings alive. He kills. He
does everything. Now, that men should fear before
Him. If we believe this, we're not
just saying, well, you know, everything's going to work out.
There's a silver lining around every cloud, and you know, what
comes around goes around, and it's all going to be okay in
the end. That's not what we're saying, and that's not what God's
saying. What God's saying is that I'm God, and I've created
everything you know. including you and all your circumstances,
and I've done it for a purpose. I'm a God of purpose. We know
that all things work together for good for them that love God,
those that are called according to what? His purpose. Our God's
a God of purpose. He's not like us. He's not just
trying to figure things out willy-nilly. No, He's purposed everything,
and He purposed it in eternity. And that's particularly true
about our salvation. So that that which is present
is past, and that which is to be is past, and God judges everything
based on the eternal covenant of grace. That's what the next
verse says. Now, look with me at verse 11. He hath made everything beautiful
in His time. It's all gonna work together
for His glory. And His glory is the salvation
of His people. Not one of His sheep are gonna
be lost. He's gonna see to it. He's already ordained it. He's
purposed it. And He's gonna fulfill everything
that He's purposed. And He's gonna make everything
beautiful in His time. Why is it gonna be beautiful?
Because He's gonna be glorified. he's going to be glorified through
everything he does. And the wrath, you say, well
what about all the evil that's taking place in the world? Well,
God says, the wrath of man shall praise me. And what remaineth, he shall
restrain. In other words, if man has an
idea for wrath, if you and I have an idea for disobedience that
doesn't work in God's purpose, he didn't purpose it, he restrains
it. He restrains it. He has made everything beautiful
in His time. This is why we're so offended
and God's so offended by a message of salvation that depends upon
man making a contribution to the purpose of God. You know
this idea that God loves everybody and Christ died for everybody
and God wants everybody to be saved and He's doing everything He
can, won't you help Him out? He's made an offer. He's working.
He's waiting for you to let Him have His way. How offensive that
is to the nature of God. And it's contrary to everything
that's true about Him. He's God. He lives in the eternal. And He's ordained everything
that's taking place in this bubble. And when His purpose is finished,
He's going to pop the bubble and be done. Heaven and earth
will pass away and everything will be caught up into the eternal.
You see, we look at the temporal things of this world and we think,
well, that's reality. In fact, reality is outside of
time and space. Reality is in God. It's in God. These things are, you know, they're
real to us because we're physical. He hath made everything beautiful
in His time. You know, what this does is this
causes us to fall at His feet and fear Him, worship Him, glorify
Him, bow before Him and say, Lord, whatsoever You do is right
and is good. Lord, give me the grace to believe
You. That's why we've said that unbelief
is the root of all of our problems. It's the root cause of every
sin is not believing that God is God. God, give me faith. Increase my faith. Lord, give
me faith to redeem the time, the brief little time that we've
got in this world, Lord. Give me the faith to trust you
in it, to know that it's just a fleeting, fleeting life. Also verse 11 look also he has
set the world in their heart You know we here's here's what
we have. We've got the world. It's in
our heart. God's put it there So that no man can find out the
work that God maketh from beginning to the end Say what's God doing in your
life? I don't know I don't know what He's purposed.
I don't know what He's going to do tomorrow. I mean, I know
what's happening now, and I have a little bit of understanding
about what's happened in the past, but how God's working it
all together for His glory and for my good? He's put this world
in my heart so that I can see it for what it is, but I don't
know what's going on behind the scenes. I don't know what God's
doing, and neither do you. That's why we have a hope that's
not seen. We have a God that we can't lay
hold of. So what do we do? Verse 12, I know that
there is no good in them. In what? In the things of this
world. They're just passing away. In man. So what do we do but
for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life? Rejoice? Yes. Yes. We are the true circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in Him. We know that
He's accomplished that which God sent Him to do. What is that? The salvation of His people.
He finished the work. We have reason to rejoice and
to rest, to believe that God's doing it just right on time. And to do good in this life. We're not under the law. We don't
live against the law. We don't use our liberty in Christ
as an excuse for being evil. No. Here's God's purpose, that we
rejoice in Him, trust in Him, hope in Him, believe that He's
doing everything according to His divine, eternal purpose. And with the time that He's given
me, Lord, give me the grace to do Thy will. And also that every man should
eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor. It's the gift of
God. You know, just, that's all we can do. enjoy the things we
have, acknowledge everything that we have as being given to
us by God, and believe that He works all things according to
His purpose and will be beautiful in His time. In His time. Now He's ordained troubles for
us that aren't beautiful in our time. They're just not. They're difficult. They're hard.
They cause heartache. They cause conflict. But here's where faith comes
in. Believing that He makes it beautiful in His time. Lord I, give me the grace to
wait on Thee. To wait on the Lord. He shall
renew Thy strength. He'll mount you up with wings
as eagles. He'll give you feet to walk so that you're not be
weary and legs to run so that you're not faint. Waiting on
God. That's what Isaiah said, just
wait on the Lord. That's what faith is. Lord, I'm waiting to
experience that which you've already fulfilled. What is that? It's my glorification.
It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He shall appear, we shall see Him as He is and be made like
Him. We're going to be brought into
your eternal realm through the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, what that will do is it
will set you free. It will set you free from the
things that men are in bondage to. This is the truth. This is what it is to have a
saved mind. The spirit of fear is not of
God. Fear looks at our circumstances and doesn't trust God. The spirit
of fear is not of God. He has given us the spirit of
love, love for Him, love for the Gospel, love for His Word,
love for one another, power. You know what power is? Power
is seen in one's ability to believe God. That's the power of God. To believe
God. There's no greater power in all
the world than to believe God. To rest in Him. And, you remember
the rest of that verse? Spirit of fear is not of God,
but of love and of power and of a sound mind. You know what
a sound mind is? It's a saved mind. It's a sane
mind. You know, I'm gonna make a statement
and some people are gonna hear this and they're gonna say, well,
that's pretty, but it's true. It's true. Believers are the
only people in this world that are in their right mind. You ever feel like a sane person
in an insane asylum? You know every person in this
world that doesn't have a saved mind is insane? They are. They're insane. They're out of
their minds. They don't know the truth. They
don't know that God is upon His throne. They don't know what
we're talking about right now. This is the only truth, the only
rational thought that a man can have. And every unbelieving person,
I don't care how educated they are, I don't care how intelligent
they are, I don't care how articulate they are, I don't care how successful
they are, they are insane. They are out of their mind. It happened at the fall. We lost our mind at the fall. And only in Christ can we get
it back. Because the mind of Christ is
the only mind that is a saved mind, a sound mind. I mean, why would you live your
life for something that's in a little bubble that God's going
to pop one day? Why would you do that? Why would
you sell your soul to that? Why would you give out to that?
Why? Because you're not in your right
mind. Because you can't see what's real. A person, an insane person
cannot see the truth. They can't see what's real. They
live in a fantasy world. Unbelievers are living in a fantasy
world. Believers are the only ones that
are in their right mind. They're the only ones that believe
that God is a God of purpose, that He is eternal, and that
what He has ordained and purposed, you can't add to it and you can't
take away from it. And He's going to make everything
beautiful in His time. He's in absolute, complete control
over everything. People talk about making Jesus
Lord of their life. That's the most foolish statement.
Won't you make Jesus Lord of your life? Now that's the talk
of an insane person. That's the talk of a person that's
out of their mind. How are you going to make Him
Lord of your life? He is Lord of your life. I mean, that's just... Go back with me to verse 1 of
this chapter. to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under
the heaven. Now the heaven here is a reference
to that which is eternal, that which exists in God outside the
bubble. And everything that's under heaven,
everything that's taking place in this little soap bubble in
which we live, God has a purpose in it. He has a purpose to everything,
in every season, in every time, in every day, in every circumstance.
This is true in creation, it's true in providence, and it's
most especially true in salvation. He's not out of control in any
area. Now, I know that we read these
verses following and think that, you know, it's in relationship
to our lives. And it's true. There's a time
to be born and a time to die. And your day of death is already
appointed by God and you're not going to change it. Any more
than you could change the day in which you were born. You're
not going to do it. God's purposed it. And it is appointed unto man
once to die. God's appointed it. And you're
going to be just as out of control of that as you were your physical
birth. But here I want you to think
with me about the spiritual aspect of this. There's a time to be
born spiritually. God's appointed a day for each
one of His children, each one of His sheep. Paul said, when
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, in
other words, it was in His appointed time that I was born, and called
me by His grace. When it pleased Him, He made
Himself known unto me. The Lord opened Lydia's heart
to as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. God's
ordained a day, a time, a moment for each of his children to come
to Christ. And nothing's going to change
that. And nothing, nothing, nothing will thwart his purpose in accomplishing
that end. There's a time to be born. And there's a time to die. And
you know what? For the believer who's in their
right mind, we're talking spiritually now. Physically, our birth and
our death is two different dates, hopefully a long way apart. But
spiritually, you know what? They happen at the same time. They happen at the same time.
The day you're born is the day you die. Die to yourself. Made alive to
Christ. The Lord caused you to see your
own... Paul said, before the law came,
he said, I was alive. He said, I thought I was alive.
Here's an insane person, a person who thinks they're alive, but
they're not. You know what we call that? We
call them zombies. That's what the world is. They're just walking
dead men. They think they're alive. That's
insanity. And what does God do when He
gives us a right mind? When He gives us a saved mind, when He
gives us the mind of Christ, He causes us to see that we're
dead. When the law came, I died. He
was dead before. to be spiritually dead to realize
that he has quickened those who are dead in their trespasses
and in their sins. That's what Job said, behold,
I'm vile. I never saw it before. It's not
until you're born that you realize that you're dead. And your birth
and your death happened at the same place, same time. Now I
want you to think about this in relationship to Christ. The day of his incarnation was
set in eternity. And the entire Old Testament
was full of types and shadows and pictures and promises pointing
to that day that God had appointed. when a son would be given and
a child would be born and the government should be put upon
his shoulders and his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
And when those angels came on that fateful day, They cried,
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which
is Christ the Lord. The incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ was purposed by God at a specific time and place and
it happened exactly how he designed it. And he is born of a woman, born
under the law. body thou hast prepared for me
that's what he said a body thou hast prepared for me why so that
he could be God's perfect man he came into this world lived
in a body just like you and I do tried and tempted in all ways
that we are and yet he never for a second struggled with unbelief
he never for a second had the thought of fear. He trusted God
perfectly to his dying breath. Father into thy hands I commend
my spirit. God required a man to satisfy
the purpose of the law. to satisfy the design of the
law, to fulfill the law, and the Lord Jesus Christ did that.
He himself is the end of the law for righteousness. And so
looking to Christ is having his perfect righteousness imputed
to us and having him represent us, if you will, as our substitute. There's two words. that if God
ever gives us the grace to understand them, we'll have some understanding
of the gospel. Two words, substitution and satisfaction. If God teaches you what those
two words mean in light of the gospel, you'll have some understanding
of what the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to do. He
came into this world to be the substitute for God's elect, those
who were foreordained, foreknown, elected of God, chosen before
the foundation of the world in Christ. He came as their substitute,
and He alone satisfied the demands of God's holy law. There's a time to be born, and
there's a time to die. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross, He was not a victim of circumstances. How many times
we hear him say, my time has not yet come. There's times when
they tried to make him king. There's times when they tried
to, they set traps for him and they were gonna, oh no, my time's
not yet come. And then what does he say to
the disciples? My hour has come, let us go. He set his face like
a flint towards Jerusalem and he went to the cross, laying
down his life for the sheep. No man took his life from him.
No man took his life from him. And on that cross he bore in
his body all the sins of all of God's people and satisfied
once and for all the demands of God's justice. And through
his shed blood made a covering for the sins of all of his people.
A time to be born and a time to die. God was so satisfied, He was
so satisfied with the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made
on Calvary's cross that He could not allow Him, His body to see
corruption. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. God raised Him from the dead as the positive proof
that everything necessary for our salvation was accomplished
in Him. The resurrection is just saying to us It's finished and
God's satisfied. And the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
back into glory, taking with Him the names of those for whom
He lived and died, and He ever lives right now on the right
hand of the majesty on high, making intercession for us. A time to be born and a time
to die. Oh, that God would give us the
grace to behold the man. Turn with me to John chapter
19. I want to show you something. You remember how oftentimes we
have seen in God's Word words that were put in italics by the
translators in an attempt to make the verses more readable. And we have found that most of
the time, those words detract from the meaning of the verse.
And we'd be better off most of the time just leaving them out. Verse 4 of John chapter 19, Pilate
therefore went forth again and said unto them, Behold, I bring
him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in
him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing
the crown of thorns. They mocked him. They made a
crown of thorns, placed him on his head, pressed them into his
brow until the points of those thorns blunted themselves against
his skull. He was an absolute bloody mess. They ripped his beard from his
face. His visage was so marred that he didn't look like a man.
He did not look like a man. And now he comes forth. Pilate
thinks, well surely this will satisfy the bloodthirsty crowd. You see Pilate's name is in italics. I don't think Pilate made those
words. Just leave it out. Then came
Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe
and saith unto them, Behold the man! Behold the man! The Lord Jesus Christ saying
to you and saying to me, Behold me! Look at me. Look at me. This is what I've
done for you. This is the fulfillment of Zechariah
chapter 6 verse 12. Behold the man. The man who will
lay down his life for you. The man who entered into that
bubble of time and space and fulfilled the demands of God
and suffered the cruelty of sinful men for his people and with barely the ability to
speak he cries with confidence to you and not a desperate cry
not a cry oh pity me he's already said don't don't weep for me
weep for yourselves But if you go to Zechariah chapter 13, chapter
12, you'll see that when we see him, we weep. We weep because
we know that it was our sin that put him there. And he says, behold the man. Look what I've done for you. A time to be born and a time
to die. And nothing can be added to it
and nothing can be taken away from it. And Satan's most glorious
hour of what he thought to be his victory over God was in fact
his defeat. For God made everything beautiful
in his time. Was the agony of the cross beautiful
at that time? Well, in the purpose of God it
was. But it was made beautiful in
God's time. God was satisfied with the man. The man that laid
down his life willingly for his sheep. There was a time for you and
I to be born physically. There was a time for you and
I to be born spiritually. There's time for us to die. I
know I remind you all of that a lot. I'm reminding you of something
God keeps reminding me of. I mean, we're talking all of
time and space being a bubble. A soap bubble. What does that
say about your life and my life lived inside that bubble? It's just a fleeting moment. The hope that we have is that
there is one who has laid down his life for his people. He willingly
came into this world, satisfied the demands of God's
righteousness, and then satisfied all divine justice when he said,
behold the man. Oh, that God would give us the
grace to behold the man. Go back with me to verse 2 of
Ecclesiastes chapter 3, a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant. Now we know physically there's
seed time and harvest, that's obvious, a time to plant, a time
to harvest, a time to pluck up, but let's think about it spiritually. Paul said, I planted, Apollos
watered, and God gave the increase. What are we doing right now?
We're planting the seeds of the gospel, aren't we? Believing
that in God's time they're going to bear fruit. Some of that seed
is going to fall on good ground. Ground that's been toiled by
the Spirit of God. Ground that's going to be watered
with the Word of God. Ground that's going to produce
fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100 fold, but it'll be fruitful.
Why? Because that ground is where
the trees of righteousness, which are the plantings of the Lord,
have been planted. There's a time. There's a time. to plant. Oh, that the Lord would
plant the seed of the gospel in our hearts. And there's a time to pluck up. There's a time when God's going
to send the angels with a sharp sickle to thrust into the harvest
and to gather into the barn the wheat and to cast the chaff into
the fire. God's going to harvest. He's
going to harvest His harvest. And all the wheat that He's planted
is going to be brought into the storehouse. There's a time for us to cast
out some things. The Lord told Abraham, he said,
you cast out that bondwoman. Abraham thought he was going
to help God out when he realized he and Sarah weren't being successful
in having a child. And God's promises, he wondered
if they were going to come to be. And so he thought, well,
we'll just help God out. And that was 3,500 years ago,
and the Middle East has been in conflict ever since. Between
Ishmael and Isaac. God told Abraham, He said, you
put that bondwoman out. For that's the child of the flesh.
And the flesh profiteth nothing. The child of the promise is the
only one that's going to inherit eternal life. And that comes
through Isaac. and through His seed, not seeds,
seed, which is Christ. Oh, cast out. Don't let anybody
put you under the law. Don't be monitoring yourself
and measuring yourself and trying to motivate yourself by the law. That's the bondwoman. No, we
have a promise. That's the motivation. Here's
a time to cast out sin in our lives. There's always a right
time to do that, isn't there? To cast out unbelief, to mortify
the flesh. But we don't do it by the law.
We don't do it by the law. We do it by grace. God does it
through the gospel of the finished work of Christ. time to kill, and a time to heal. Oh, is it your experience that
you have to put your flesh to death many, many times in a day? That's what the scripture speaks
of when it talks of mortifying the flesh. And it just keeps raising its
ugly head, doesn't it? That's a time to kill. Every
time you see the ugly head of the flesh raise up, look to Christ. Look to Christ. God will give
you the grace to put that flesh to death once again. In Zechariah
chapter 13, the scripture speaks of the true gospel and the false
gospel, and he talks about putting out that false gospel. Kill it! As a matter of fact, it goes
to such extremes. Turn with me there. Zechariah
is one of the lex of the last book in the Old Testament. I
think we looked at this verse recently, but it's worth looking
at again. Zechariah chapter 13, verse 1. And in that day there
shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. That's the fountain
of grace. That's the river of life. It
flows like crystal from the throne of God and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, what water it is. And that
day is here. That day is here right now. Right
now. Zacharias prophesied of that.
He said the day will come for sin and for uncleanness you'll
be able to wash yourself clean in that water. And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names
of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered."
You know how I know when someone's heard the gospel? They have forsaken
all their false gospels, and they have no apologies for calling
their false faiths and their false gods, what they were, idolatry. I was an idolater. I was a blasphemer. I was an injurious man. I did
it in ignorance. But I can't do it now. Why? Because
I'm no more ignorant. God's given me a sound mind.
He's shown me the truth. I can't claim ignorance anymore.
In that day those idols will be put out. I will cause the
prophets and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land. We don't
give a false prophet a hearing here. I had a man say to me one
recently, last few years, preached in his pulpit. He wrote me this
long letter saying, he said, you weren't very professional
because you knew that what you were preaching was contrary to
the doctrine of my church. And if I came to your church,
I would have afforded you that professional courtesy not to
brought up my doctrine. And I wrote him back and I said,
you never have to worry about that. I said, I had two things to say
to you. Number one, perhaps you should guard your pulpit a little
bit better, like I do. Number two, you never have to
worry about coming here to preach. And it shall, look at verse three.
And it shall come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy,
so a false prophet still can't, he can't refrain himself. He's
gonna speak lies about God. Why? Because he's out of his
mind. He's insane. He doesn't know the truth. So
he speaks lies not knowing he's speaking lies. Then his father and his mother
that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for
thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord, and his father and
his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. Spiritually speaking, that's
exactly what we do even to our own loved ones when they speak lies. When they speak lies, those lies
and they speaking those lies are dead to us. Why? Because the Lord's cast all idols
and all false prophets out. Why? Because it was His time
to kill. Just like we die the same day
we're born, we kill the same day that we're made alive. Why? Because that's what He does.
That's what He does. Time to kill and a time to heal. I'm so thankful. for the healing
grace of God, aren't you? The balm of Gilead. Oh, the sweet
grace of God. This gospel is a two-edged sword.
It kills and it makes a life. It's just like Jerry's surgery. Eight hours of surgery. And there
was some cutting and some mending going on. And that's what the
Lord does, doesn't He? cuts us open. Brother Wayne,
I think you mentioned Sunday morning about Lord doing heart
transplants. That's what he's doing. That's
pretty serious surgery. We're not talking about a heart
bypass. We're talking about a heart transplant. He takes out the
heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. He's got a cut to do
that. And then he heals us. He heals
us. He heals the brokenhearted. He
gives hope and comfort to those who are sick with sin. And nothing can be added to it. Nothing can be taken away from
it. He makes everything beautiful in His time. And believing this
is what brings us to His feet. in whatever circumstances He's
ordained for us, knowing that He does all things well, and that His purpose is going
to be accomplished. His purpose is going to be accomplished.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful that You've given to Your people a saved
mind, a sound mind, a sane mind, the mind of Christ. To know,
Lord, that you are eternal and that everything that is happening
inside this bubble of time that you've created is all for your
purpose. And when you're finished with
your purpose, you'll bring it to an end. Then we'll see all things clearly.
from your eternal perspective. Lord, forgive us for our unbelief.
Forgive us for not trusting you in the things that you've ordained
for us. Cause us, Lord, now by your word
and by the power of your spirit to rest in Christ. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. In the soft back tenor, let's
stand together, number 128.