Well, it is good to be back home.
I thank the Lord for the years that he's given us. I think about the mercy of God
over these last 22 years. Knit our hearts together, give
us some comfort and being able to worship God together. That's worship. Hear the word of God, be given
a heart to believe it. Rest, rest in him. All right,
let's take our Bibles and turn with me back to the book of Proverbs
chapter 30. Lord willing, I'm gonna try to
deal with the last two verses of this 30th chapter. 20, or 31, 31 chapters in this
book, and we're in chapter, trying to finish up chapter 30. Over the last few weeks, I've
been considering the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in this
last section, Proverbs chapter 30. I've tried to go slowly because
of the weightiness of these passages of scripture. Verses 29 to 33, I'm gonna read
that and then Lord willing, we'll go right into 32. There'll be
three things which go well. Yea, four are comely, four are
beautiful in going. The way they go, the way they
run, the way the Lord's ordered them, the manner in which the
Lord has providentially ordered all these things. Then the Spirit
of God moved upon the writer to use some animals, relate to
simple subjects like us. People that need to see things
in parables, in proverbs, in illustrations. That's the way
we understand. Illustrations. This is what the
Lord's doing. A lion, which is strongest among
beasts, and turneth not away. A gray hound, or a war horse,
And he that, and he goet also, and a king against whom there's
no rising up. The reason that these things
are set forth so simply and so specifically is because we're
just little kids. We're just children. Our minds
are simple. I told somebody a while ago after
the services last Sunday night, I was talking to Gabe and he
was preaching on the simplicity of the gospel, the singleness. And he asked me afterwards, he
said, Dad, he said, was that too simple? What do you think my answer was?
I said, you can't make it too simple. I just love to hear it. Tell me simply. Just don't try
to dazzle me. Don't try to impress me with
how much you know. I just get so confused. Just
tell me one more time, just simply. Tell me how the Lord has been
pleased to choose to show mercy to an unworthy sinner like me. Tell me one more time how God
saves sinners and how he teaches them guides them, directs them. Just tell me one more time about
my Lord. So here we are tonight. We're
in this last part of this next to last chapter. And the scripture
says concerning these illustrations that have been given us, the
war horse, the eagle, the lion, If we've missed the message of
these scriptures, if we've missed it, and failed to see the glory
of it, and failed to worship Him, this is the message of the
writer to Proverbs concerning people that are concerned. Do I know Him? John Newton, do I love the Lord
or no? Am I his or am I not? There's
not a believer in here that doesn't need some assurance. I need some
assurance. Now listen to what the writer
to this book has to say. Verse 32, if thou hast done foolishly
in lifting up thyself, or if thou have thought evil. Lay thine hand upon thy mouth. Surely the churning of milk bringeth
forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood. So the forcing of wrath bringeth
forth strife. Now, the Lord's merciful kindness
to his people, to teach us, direct us, Give us a heart for Him. It's a heart that longs after
Christ always. We're always longing after Him,
after His faithfulness. Tell me again of His faithfulness.
Tell me again of His might. Tell me again, when I talked
about that line a while ago, what the Spirit of God was telling
all of us is the might the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
he-goat was talking about the guy, that he-goat that kind of,
just kind of by nature takes over, takes over the flock. The
kind of guy that butts them a little bit, you get out of the way,
kind of gives you a little nudge there, get back where you need
to be. It just, he's talking about the
glory of the Lord as the king, as the guide, the shepherd, the
master. If we fail to see Him as our
all in all, what believer doesn't feel in his heart? Lord, if I've
done foolishly, if thou has done foolishly in lifting thyself
up. I read over that again today,
trying to prepare my heart just before I got here. And I thought
to myself, who but a believer would ask that question? If thou
hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, if thou thought evil,
lay thine hand upon thy mouth. An unbeliever has no concern
whatsoever that lifting himself up, but a believer said, Lord,
if I've done it, if I've done it. And you think that there's
a believer in here that doesn't say that in his heart? Lord,
if I have done so, and I know I have, I'm not without guilt. What person that has been made
to know something of the Lord of glory has not said in his
heart, or not done in his heart, lifting up himself. We've got
an amazing warning that's given us right here. This is what this
is. This is a warning. If thou has done foolishly in
lifting up thyself, if thou has thought it, if you just thought
it, is anybody in here that's since y'all got here today, tonight.
Has anybody even thought anything foolishly in their heart? Is
there anybody here that's without blame concerning that? Is there
anybody here that would say I have not even thought one disrespectful
thought since I've been here? There's not one believer that's
gonna say that. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in your sight. That's an amazing
word of warning by the Spirit of God to hell-deserving sinners. I say that's an amazing warning
because men that have been left without a witness of the glory
of God, they don't care. They don't speak. If you have
no concern for your heart's attitude, and something's wrong. Every
believer is grieved over it. If thou hast done foolishly in
lifting up thyself, thought it. Here's what the scripture says.
Lay your hand upon your mouth. Well, what does that mean? Not
necessarily, but let me tell you what that's, spiritually
speaking, what it's saying. I'm guilty. Oh my, what have
I done? Even thinking anything disrespectful,
if you've lifted yourself up, lay your hand upon thy mouth. Let me ask you this. The failure
to do that, the failure to do that is what was evidenced in
the garden, the failure. Whenever I lay my hand, spiritually
speaking, upon my mouth, that's what I'm saying, Lord, I'm guilty.
I've thought evil, I've spoken evil. Lord, I'm guilty. Whenever Adam sinned against
God in the garden, whenever he took of the fruit that was forbidden
of God. What did Adam, what was the first
thing, when he took that bite of that apple, does the scripture set forth
that the thing he did immediately was cry out for mercy and ask
the Lord's forgiveness, ask the Lord to have mercy upon him,
Oh, what did he do? What was the first thing Adam
did? He hid himself. Why'd he hide himself? He was
guilty. He heard God speak. The Lord called him, Adam, where
are you? What have you done? Have you
eaten of the fruit? I hid myself. He, this man, had
done foolishly and lifted up himself above God. And what he had done is he had
taken what God had forbidden and he ate of it. He took it
for himself. That was God's. That was God's
fruit. It was a forbidden fruit. And
what he did was he took it. Did he show any remorse for his
guilt? Immediately, did he? He'd sinned
against God. He died, he's dead now, he's
dead spiritually. In the day you ain't thereof,
you're gonna die. Whenever God called him, he was calling a
dead man spiritually. Was there any remorse shown?
No. What did Adam do? Instead of saying, I am the man,
I have sinned against you, When that fruit touched his lips,
you would think immediately when he touched his lips, he would
have, surely you would have thought he wouldn't have eaten it. He
wouldn't have taken the bite, and he did. Took that bite and
he died. Did he show any remorse? Did he put his hand on his face
over his mouth and say, I've sinned against God? I've sinned
against the Lord, or what I've thought. Have you ever been sitting
in church? Let's just get real spiritual
about it. You ever been sitting in church now? I'm not talking
about somewhere out in Boondocks or something like that, you know,
at a ball game. I'm talking about where we ought
to be so sensitive to the spirit of God and the leadership of
God. Have you ever found yourself when you're sitting in church,
hearing the truth preached, and found yourself even thinking. Now listen to what he's saying.
If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou
hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth. I'm telling
you, if every believer would physically have to put his hand
on his mouth every time he thought something, we'd never take our
hands away from our mouth. that all we can do by nature
because of this old man is sin. That's what we do. Now here's
some good words of comfort. This is wisdom right here. Given
by the Lord himself. What did he do? Did he cry out? No. Here's what he did. The woman
whom thou gavest me, gave me of the tree and I did
It's not my fault. I'm a victim of circumstance.
The society in which I live has caused me to be, no, this is
what a believer's gonna say. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I have sinned against God. I
have treated him with disrespect. Man's nature It is by birth rebellious. We're all rebels against God. And we have, by nature, we have
no concern for our rebellion against him, by nature. Before
the Lord is pleased to call me out of darkness. I've told you
before, now I'll just go ahead and be honest, and y'all just
listen in, and if you agree, well, for that I'm thankful. But before the Lord is pleased
to reveal himself to me, do you know how much care I really had
concerning the shenanigans that I pulled? And I've pulled some
good ones. I mean, I've really pulled some
good ones. Do you know how much I really cared that my rebellion
was against God? None. I might have cared because I
was afraid to get caught and might have to suffer the consequences
of what I did. But that my rebellion was against
God, did I care? No. That's man by nature. If thou hast done foolishly in
lifting up thyself, thought evil in thine heart, lay thine hand
upon thy mouth. I am guilty by birth, guilty
by practice. I'm guilty. Now here's the, I
found this scripture and it was such a blessing to my heart. The scripture that set forth,
this is the attitude of a believer. I am vile. I am imperfect. Till I answer thee, I will lay
mine hand upon my mouth. Once I've spoken, but I will
not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. Man is by
nature guilty, but unless the Lord gives him a new heart, he
doesn't care. He has no concern for God's glory. Ecclesiastes 3, chapter 7, there's
a time, there's a time to keep silence. There's a time to keep silence.
And that is in lifting up yourself, which is always. And a time to
speak, admitting our guilt before God and crying out to him for
mercy. Here we see in this verse a constant
reminder to the regenerate of what he is in himself, in his
flesh. This is the wisdom of God. This is what God, and I thought
to myself, as this is coming toward the end of this book,
and how the message of the exhortation to remember, remember from whence
you fall, Remember, if you've done, if I've done foolishly
in lifting up thyself or thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy
mouth. That leper that came to the Lord
and was instructed, Leviticus chapter 13, 45, the leper in
whom The plague in his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare,
and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry.
And here's the cry. Here's the cry of a spiritual
leper. And by nature, that's what we
are. That old nature's still there. Here's what we cry, unclean. Unclean. What did Peter say to
the Lord? There, when the Lord had told
him, he said, you're going to sin against me. Before the cock
crows twice, you'll sin against me three times. And after the
Lord revealed to him Peter's frailty, what did Peter say to
him? I'm a sinful man. I am a sinful
man. And do you know the only hope
for a sinful man, sinful woman, is that God has mercy on sinners? By nature. We all try to cover
our physical blemishes, attempting to hide them from the eyes of
men, but a believer, being ashamed of what he is by nature, the
wretchedness that he sees within himself, a believer is not negligent
to admit what he is by nature. I wonder how many times we've
read Romans 7, 24. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? This confession is found according
to God's mercy. If you find a man, you find a
woman who is willing to admit what they are by nature. That
is a miracle of God's grace. Because by nature, we all believe
that we're really good people. We're not, I mean, okay, I may
not be, you know, perfect. But I would say that probably,
compared to most people, I'm probably in the upper, I'd say
75%, maybe 80. I mean, I might go a little higher
on my goodness and faithfulness. A believer's gonna say, I know
that in me, that is, in my flesh, like Paul the Apostle, there
dwells no good thing. I know that. I know. I know that
God, if you have thought evilly, if you've done, put your hand
on your mouth. Admit what you are by nature. You want some liberty, you want
some freedom? You wanna be, whenever we go to the Lord in prayer, this is one of the tough things
about praying. I've told you this before. It's hard to pray openly because
we just, we can't be as honest in front of others that we can
be just us and the Lord. Because he knows. He knows and
he sees. And we're not fooling him. We try to pray and make everybody
think we're sanctimonious. It's hard to pray openly, but
I'm talking about whenever we're just with the Lord. If you've
done it, if you've thought it, put your hand on your mouth.
Admit what you are. Because as I said a moment ago,
he knows. And the reason that men should
shun this foolishness, the reason that they should avoid lifting
up themselves against God, that foolishness that has eternal
consequences, the reason is because God is just. Now here's what he's told. Here's
the word of exhortation. If you've done it, lifting up
yourself, lay your hand upon thine mouth. And here's the reason. There's a day of reckoning coming.
There is a day of reckoning. Verse 33 says, surely the churning
of milk bringeth forth butter. The ringing of the nose bringeth
forth blood. So the forcing of wrath, the pressing of the wrath of
God bringeth forth strife and division between God and men. There's consequences. I wish
that I knew how to say this, and I know that only the Spirit
of God can give a man or woman a heart to understand this. I
wish I had the ability to be able to express to those that
I know, those in my family, there's consequences. There's consequences
with rebelling against God. There's consequences concerning
being foolish before God, lifting up yourself before God. There's
consequences for not having a heart and a desire to put your hand
on your mouth and say, I'm the one, I'm guilty. There's consequences,
consequences. He gave us some illustrations.
You see the mercy of God here. Somebody says, well, he's just
talking about churning of milk. Well, churning of milk, what
are you gonna have? Well, scripture says you're gonna
have butter. We understand that. I've never done it, but I've
seen pictures of people that have done it. They say that if
you churn it, some of you may have done it, it makes butter.
Well, you churn milk and it's going to have butter. You wring
your nose, what it's all about is pressing. And it's funny because
this churning This ringing and this forcing, those three words,
they're all the same words, same words. It's talking about pressure,
when you do something, pressure against. You put pressure against
that milk in churning, you'll have butter, it's gonna end up,
you're gonna have butter. You ring your nose, you just
keep ringing it and blowing it turning it, and pressing it,
and scripture says what you're going to have is blood. You're
going to have a nose. It's bleeding. If you irritate
it, enough. Oh, but the forcing of God's
wrath, in lifting up yourself, in despising His grace and His
mercy and compassion, forcing God, pressing God, the words,
like I said, turning, wringing, forcing, all the same word, pressure,
pressure. You press yourself against God,
and I promise you, here's what scripture says you're gonna have,
strife between you and God, or me and God. I don't want that. I don't want
there to be strife between me. Lord calls me, give me ears to
hear. Give me to hear your voice. You said that your sheep hear
your voice. I said before, I'm reading the
voice of the Lord. I'm reading the word of God.
This is his voice. He speaks. He speaks to his people
and he's telling us These very words are the voice of the Lord. And Lord, you say it. If a man
lifts up himself, you can call it free will, you can call it
what, but if a man lifts up himself above God, if you've thought
evil against God, not hearing what God has to say about God's
sovereignty, By God's electing grace, you can go wherever you
want to go. Putting a people under salvation
before the foundation of the world. Somebody says, I don't
believe in that election stuff. Well, I can tell you this. We
can go throughout the Bible and find it. It's true. God has a
people. And to rebel against that, you
know what we're going to have? It's going to be strife. And
you know who's going to lose? I'm going to lose. You're going
to lose. if we rebel against God. Oh, if you've lifted up
yourself, put your hand on your mouth. Lord, forgive me. Lord, I don't want to be rebellious
against you. Lord, I know that I'm gonna stand
before you. I'm gonna stand before you, and
I'm gonna have to give account. And Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm a
sinner by nature. I was born a sinner. This old
man is in me. Lord, I struggle with him and
I'm so sorry. It grieves me to have to see
myself and see what I am by nature. But Lord, you said, coming to you, all you that are
weak, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Lord, I'm just, I'm
coming tonight because I don't know any other way to do it.
I don't know, I don't know what else to do. Lord, come to you,
I'm coming in my heart. Lord, I don't know. I know this,
I've heard people say if you come to the Lord, you come down
to the front. I've told you before, the only difference between you
and me right now, probably about 12 feet, maybe 20 feet, 25 feet,
some of you in the back, it ain't got anything, in my heart. Lord,
give me a heart to come to you. I don't want to be in strife. I don't want there to be division
between me and you. Last passage of scripture, James
chapter four. James four. James four and verse 10. James four and chapter, verse
10, humble thyself. Admit what you are. Let's go
ahead and be honest about it, okay? Humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord. Not before men. I can put on
a good show. I can put on as good a show as
any of you can. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. If you've lifted yourself
up, if you've looked at yourself and thought yourself worthy,
these are the words of wisdom. There's going to be strife between
you and God. But coming before Him, hearing
His gospel, tell me again what I am by nature. I know it, but
I want to hear it again. Tell me about the Lord's mercy.
I know it, but I want to hear it again. Humble yourself in
the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up. Lord, would you
lift me up? Lord, would you have mercy on
me? Lord, don't leave me to me. Don't leave me to my old self.
I know, Lord, that there's mercy with you, and I'm asking you
tonight. I'm asking you. Lord, save me. Save me. Save me by your grace. Save me according to your goodness
and mercy for your sake.