I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 29.
Proverbs, chapter 29. Bear was reading that passage
of scripture, 1 Corinthians. The apostle Paul was moved 1
Corinthians 2, 7 to say, but we speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. The verse of scripture I'd like
to deal with today, verse 4, is An amazing mystery. But it's
a mystery that's been revealed to God's people. And we see it. We see it through a glass darkly,
but we see it. I mean, we see it like through
an opaque glass, you know. Light passes through it. You
can tell something's over there, but oh, how clearly Lord willing,
one day we'll see it. But this verse of scripture is
such a marvelous mystery. And I pray by the grace of God
that I'll be able to preach it. And I'll preach it simply, Mitch,
to where we can understand it. I'm just a simple creature. And you got to tell me things
very simply. Don't try to be high and mighty
and speak over my head. Tell me something I can understand.
Proverbs 29 verse 4, the king by judgment establishes the land,
but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. Now, the Spirit of God, I
know, was the one that moved Solomon to write that. And the
Spirit of God moved him to set forth that upon which a land,
a place, is established. And the way that it's established,
according to the scriptures, it says the king by judgment, by justice, by right,
by that which is proper, that which is fitting, the king by
judgment establishes the land. That means that he causes it
to stand. He causes it to remain, to endure,
to be set. So the king, by his fair governing,
brings his country into a healthy, stable land. That's what it's
saying. Fairness, right, justice. You know, the happiness of a
people under good government, a good king, the happiness, stability
is found where all of the fundamental laws are established and they're
perfectly kept. And the people are secure in
their freedoms and in their liberties and where their lives and properties
are thankfully protected from hostilities and where everything
is in order. Nothing is lacking for the safety,
for the joy, the well-being of the people. And the fellowship
that they have with Everybody, including the king, they just,
it's just a wonderful place. You know that, I read that and
I thought, that sounds like utopia. Just, I mean, everything's fair,
everything's right, everything's stable, everything's just. One
might think, boy, I wish I could find a place like that. Well,
brethren, I got some good news. This is the glory of God's promise
and provision for his people. We have, as the children of God,
an inheritance that we truly, by faith, behold right now. By faith. It's a place that we
are fully convinced that we're gonna experience one of these
days. And in that time, we'll have
perfect sight. We'll be able to see it. But
it's a land, it's a life, it's an inheritance that we, right
now, believe and hope, have confidence in, but We're living in a world
right now. Now we have an earnest that's
been given. We've got an earnest that's been
given us concerning this land. It's the Holy Spirit. God's given
us a Holy Spirit. And he teaches us. He's the one
that reveals these mysteries. He guides us, directs us. He's instructing us. And I'm
so thankful because with that Spirit of God, we wouldn't know
anything. We don't know anything. We're just dead, spiritually
dead creatures of the dust. But we are, like all that was
spoken of in Hebrews 11, verse 13, it says, talking about all
these that died in the faith. They died in the faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. So I know that we
have A time coming when we will, by sight, by new eyes, we're
going to see. But I want us to consider something
for just a few minutes here concerning the present state of God's people,
God's elect, God's chosen. He's got a remnant in this world
according to the election of grace. These believers have been
made by the grace of God to cast themselves upon the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They trust in Him. They don't have any confidence
in their flesh. But right now, that scripture
I read, the king by judgment establishes the land. Let me
ask you this, do we have a king right now? Yeah. Yeah, we've
got a king. He is the king of kings and he's
the Lord of lords. And he is good. And he has a
kingdom. And his kingdom was chosen in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation
of the world. Now that's in Ephesians chapter
1. You know that. We've read that passage so many
times. God has got a kingdom. And they were chosen in Christ
that they would be holy and without blame before God in love. That kingdom chosen in Christ
is the Lord's people. They've always been the Lord's
people. But something happened. Something happened and the king's
kingdom found among the masses of this world, they never fell
from being the people of the king. They're always been the
people of the king. They're the king's people. but they fell
in Adam's transgression and therefore they fell out of fellowship with
God. They were alienated, alienated. And what happened was all of
us were in Adam's loins. It wasn't but two people. Well,
it was one. Then God took a rib out of Adam
and made a woman. There's two people, one but two
people in this world. And out of those two people,
all the masses of this world have come. We're all descendants
from Adam. But when Adam disobeyed God,
we all disobeyed God in Adam. Whatever Adam did, we did. And
when God told Adam in the day that you eat of this fruit that
I forbid you're gonna die, and he died, he died Spiritually,
eventually, gonna die physically. And when Adam sinned against
God, the kingdom of God that was found within Adam. Now remember
this, the kingdom of God is a chosen people. They're an elect people. God chose them. He chose to show
mercy to them. but they were found within the
mass of humanity. They were all in Adam. God's
always known them, but they fell and they died spiritually just
like Adam did. And they came forth being dead
spiritually. You know, if we ever get a hold
of that word dead, what does that mean, dead? Let me explain
it to you. It means dead. Dead. What can a dead man do? Let me explain it to you. Nothing. Nothing. He's just gonna be put
in the ground. He's dead. He can't do anything.
He can't do anything. But here they come. Dead people. Spiritually dead people. Dead by birth. Dead by practice, dead by love,
love to be dead. But listen, let me tell you about
this mystery that Bear was reading about. They didn't take God by
surprise when they fell. Having everlastingly beheld the
surety of their fall, God Almighty When I say God, I mean the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To rescue His elect from the
bondage of their sin and the judgment that was due. God's
fair. He's fair. He said, I'm a just
God and a Savior. To rescue them from the judgment
that is due, their transgression, what Almighty God did, according
to the scriptures, he covenanted together Father, Son, and Spirit
with himself, one God. Now you talk about a mystery,
and I'm talking about a mystery. We preach a mystery. This is
a mystery. But God covenanted with himself,
according to his everlasting wisdom and grace and compassion,
to save his people, his kingdom, from their sin. How could God
be just and justify a sinner? How can he do that? Well, the
Father, according to the scriptures, chose the remnant. That's in
Ephesians 1, 4. Christ, the Son, would come into
this world and redeem them. Just look at how he did it. And
the Spirit of God is going to cross their path and He's going
to regenerate them. And they all, God knows who the
elect are. God knows who they are. But what would happen, and here's
the mystery. God Almighty, the Son, would
take unto Himself the nature of man. Man is flesh, flesh made
out of the dust of the earth. God made man. He would take unto
himself the nature of man except sin, knew no sin, and as the
divine representative and substitute of the elect. He would come into
this world and he was going to obey in their stead. the law of God that they had
broken. And that law that had a penalty
for disobedience to it. When God told Adam, in the day
you eat thereof you're gonna die, that's a law. You give all
the fruit of this garden, but of this one tree, the fruit of
the knowledge of good and evil, don't eat it. In the day you
eat it, in the day you eat it, God knew he was gonna eat it,
in the day you're gonna die, Okay. Now what's going to have
to happen? God's law is going to have to
be satisfied. God's law is going to have to be satisfied. Now
if you want to know what can be done as far as salvation,
here's what it is. You have to never have ever had
any infraction of God's law. And let me tell you this, we're
already sunk. Because when Adam sinned, we
sinned. And nobody, nobody has ever,
born in Adam, ever obeyed God. Never. This mysterious redemption
is going to demand that one come into this world Not from Adam's
loins, he's gonna have to be born of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
consumed, not consumed, he was born, he was a virgin that was
born of the Spirit of God. God himself, created this holy thing, the
scripture says, in the womb of a virgin. And he came forth,
born of a virgin, and he honored the justice of God's law perfectly,
and God scrutinized him, and said concerning the Lord Jesus,
this is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased, And he went
to the cross, this perfect, perfect God-man. And he went to the cross,
and what he did was, because the law demanded justice. How can God be just? I can tell
you how it's going to be just right here. He bore in his own
body the sins of all God's elect. And he went to Calvary bearing
all of them. They were all his. He didn't
go to Calvary saying now I'm here bearing these are the sins
of Marvin and this and that. He went according to Psalm 40.
These are my sins. He's bearing them all. And he
went to Calvary and he absolutely hung on Calvary's tree bearing
the penalty, bearing the sins, and ready to accept the penalty
of what his people had done. He's always had them. They've
always been his. He's the king. He's got a kingdom. And his kingdom
has fallen. And he's going to redeem them.
And something's going to happen that is impossible with man. This is impossible. If I run
a stop sign, If I run a stop sign, I can do my best to make
it Neil's fault. I can do my best. I can just,
I can't make it, I can't make it his fault. It's my fault.
He might pay a fine for me. He might go to jail for me, but
I still did it. But God Almighty did something
that no man can do. Is anything too hard for God?
God Almighty took the sins of His people and gave them to His
Son, and He bore them all. Now, you talk about a mystery.
I told you last week or so, I can't even figure out what I've done. I don't even know what I haven't
done. I don't even know where I failed. There's things I do and I didn't
even realize I did it. You ever come past a sign that
says, end of school zone? I thought, end of school zone? I didn't even know I was in it. How can God be just? His son's gonna have to bear
the guilt of it. And he bore them, mine iniquities,
he said, within the hairs of my hand. and he hung before God
Almighty and God killed him. He bore the debt of it. Now for
all that he was dying, for all that he was dying, they don't
owe anything now to the law of God. They owe nothing to the
law of God. Why? He bore their sins and paid
their debt. He paid their debt. They owe
nothing They still got the presence of
it, but they don't owe the debt of it, not to God's law. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus.
But not only did they have to have their sins paid for, the
law demanded absolute righteousness. Christ bore the debt, but he walked before God's law,
and that law was honored in perfect obedience for the establishment
of righteousness by a man. A man obeyed God, a man, the
God man, perfect man. He obeyed God and he obeyed God's
law for his people. He was doing this for somebody. He was doing this for those that
he'd everlastingly loved and chosen in Christ that had fallen
in Adam and he paid their debt and he earned a righteousness. That righteousness is imputed,
is charged. And here's another thing, that's
a great mystery. I cannot, myself, make your obedience to something,
Jeff, to be my obedience. I can't do that, I can't do that.
But God can do it. And God did it. What a mystery. That obedience, turn with me
back, we're in Proverbs, just turn back to Proverbs 8. That
obedience that God Almighty beheld. Like I said, nothing ever takes
God by surprise. God wasn't surprised when we
failed. God wasn't surprised when he loved us. God, he all,
he is the I am. That obedience to the law of
God by the Lord Jesus Christ, that obedience. and his willing
submission to God's law to do exactly what he was gonna do
for his people. That has always been, in that
eternal covenant of grace, obedience was the very eternal subject,
observation of the persons of the Godhead. Proverbs chapter
eight, verses one to four, does not wisdom cry, is it not obvious
that the scripture just says, is it not obvious that this is
God speaking? Does not wisdom cry and understanding
put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high
places, by the way, in the places of the paths. She crieth at the
gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in of the doors.
Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. Now God's speaking to man now. He's speaking to man. But I'm
gonna show you where these men are. When I said that this obedience
to God's law for justice and for righteousness, it never started.
That subject has never started. Here's God Himself, and He's
going to be speaking. Well, as you said, He's speaking
to His people, yeah? But I'm going to tell you something.
Here's a great mystery. He's always told them this everlastingly. And this is what I mean. Before
the world was made, before they were born, before they fell,
nothing takes God by surprise. Before anything ever happened,
God was speaking unto his people that were in him. Now, you talk
about a mystery. Now, I told you this is a mystery.
I'm gonna try to make it as plain as I can. But listen to what
he's saying in verses 17 to 21. I love them that love me, and
those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are
with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is
better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice
silver. That is, I walk in the way of
righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I
may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will
fill their treasures. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His way, before His works of old. Almighty God,
who has ever had His people in Him, always loved solemn before
they fell, solemn in the fall, speaking to them now, everything
with God is always in the past tense. Turn to Romans 8, Romans
chapter 8, everything with God, nothing surprises God, nothing
slips up on him on his blind side. Romans chapter 8, verse
29, He did foreknow. What does that
mean? Those that he knew beforehand.
He's always known. Those that he did foreknow. He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he called them. He also justified in whom He
justified, them He also glorified. I told you last week, God's people,
chosen, justified in Christ, always, have always been in Him
glorified. We're just going through the
motions right now. We're going through the motions. God is doing
just exactly what God has been pleased to do. What a miracle
of God's grace. The revelation of the Messiah
Himself, He who was possessed by the Father before the world
was, His people always in Him, speaking to them as if they were
hearing Him right then. God Himself, the very One, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was, now listen to what I'm about to say
here, this is a great mystery, the Messiah, speaking in Proverbs
chapter eight, the one who is the very pattern, who was the
very pattern of the future creation of man. You remember when the
scripture says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth, and God said, let us make man in our image, You know the image of whom, in
whom they were made? The Lord Jesus Christ was going
to come into this world as a man. He was going to come into this
world as a man. That's how God had ordained that he was going
to do it. The one that saw the fall before it happened. The
one that saw, that knew everything. And Almighty God was going to
come into this world as a man, flesh. He is the image of the
invisible God. Man was made in His image. If
you want to know how God was pleased to come into this world,
the form that He was going to take, just look around. You're
looking at it. He who was the very pattern of
the future creation of man, before He took flesh upon Himself, He
was the one speaking of the work of redemption sure salvation
of His people. All this was eternally known
and seen of the Godhead. Before they fell, before they
were created, before the world was created, when there was nothing
but God, it was done. It was done. Time is for us. That's how we think, not God.
He is the I Am. And not only did God choose a
people, that he knew was going to fall, created a covenant of
grace with himself. They were going to be redeemed
before he ever made them. He said, I'm going to redeem
them. God's going to choose them, which was always done. Again,
I told you, I can't speak eternal. I don't know how to speak eternal.
Father would choose them. Christ would redeem them. The
Spirit of God's going to call them out. I'm going to tell you
something. There's one way God's going to
call them out. One way. The king has established the
one way that these blessings are going to be known. This is
the only way. They're going to have to hear
this good news. Let me tell you what the good
news. God has redeemed the people. Bad news is that we've fallen
out. Good news, God has a people that
he's going to save. There's a people, I don't know
who they are. I don't know who they are. I got an indication
after the Lord called. I told you that before. But I
don't know who they are. But here's the good news. He's
going to call them. He's already paid their debt. The debt's paid.
Debt's paid. Debt's paid. He's going to call
them out of darkness. He's going to tell them what
he's done. He's not waiting on anybody to do anything. God ain't
waiting on nobody. God's people, God's not waiting
on anybody to see if they're going to do something. The scripture
that I've read, the king by judgment establishes. He establishes the
land. He's not trying to establish,
he does it. Now here, God's gonna call him
out of darkness. And the way that he's going to
do it is he is going to set forth and proclaim a gospel. The gospel, the message of God's
mercy and compassion and grace to an undeserving people, but
a people that he loves and he's gonna save. He's gonna do it
one way, by the gospel. I love this scripture. You don't
have to turn to this. I'll just read it. It's Revelation chapter
14. Revelation chapter 14. You know, we, I think about this
beautiful message The message of God's sovereign grace. Sovereign
grace. Hadn't got anything to do with
man's works. Revelation 14, 6. I want you to listen to this.
John said, I saw another angel fly in the midst of having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth
and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. I went
and looked up just a few minutes ago. The everlasting gospel. Here's what it means. Adopted
from eternity. When God chose a people, Ben,
chose them in Christ, the gospel was too. This message of redemption. Everything has always been known
of God. And He allowed man. Somebody
said, well couldn't God have stopped man from falling in the
garden? Well sure, He's God. But He didn't. His mercy is going to be magnified
in the redemption of His people. He is going to show for in the
ages to come the indescribable mercy of God. And this gospel,
this proclamation of what I've gone over here, God choosing,
Christ redeeming, Spirit of God's gonna call. It's all sure, it's
sure. There's no ifs with God. There's no maybe, I hope, please
somebody, please somebody do something for God. No, no, the
gospel is sure. It's according to God's word,
it's established. The king by justice, judgment
established this gospel. This message, it's gonna be preached.
What's gonna happen is God has been pleased to raise up pastors.
And pastors according to his heart, Jeremiah 3.15, they're
gonna feed his people with knowledge and understanding. And those
that he's purposed to save are going to hear it. They're going
to hear it. They're gonna be willing. They're
gonna be willing to cast themselves upon the mercy of God. Psalm
110.3, they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it. All that
the Father giveth me, Shall come to me. Shall come to me. They must hear the gospel. But
you know what they've got to do? They've got to hear it and
believe it. And cast themselves upon the mercy of God. Not in
order to make it effectual. No, because God has ordained.
You will hear the gospel. You will believe it. You must
believe it. How are they going to believe
it? By faith. That's the only way they can
do it. Philippians 129, for unto you it is given in the behalf
of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for
his sake. Almighty God has demanded, God's people must believe, and
they must believe it, not in their head, but in their heart.
You're gonna have to give them a new heart. He'll give them
a new heart too. Whatever God demands, God gives. God gives
it. Nothing's left of it. By his
ruling, by his justice, everything that he has demanded, he has
fulfilled, and demanded nothing from his kingdom, nothing. It's
all upon his shoulders. The government, the government's
gonna be upon the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. He finished
the work of his father. Put a little article in the bulletin
today, I invite you to read it, by David Edmondson. Old Dave,
I love and appreciate him. talking about the Mona Lisa.
He said, you know, wouldn't it be pitiful? He said, the Mona
Lisa over there in the Louvre, over in Paris. He said, you know,
wouldn't it be pitiful if a little somebody like himself, he was
saying, he said, I don't have any artistic talent whatsoever.
He said, I'd take some children's crayons. and go over there and
go up to that Mona Lisa that Leonardo da Vinci painted years
and years and years ago and take some colors and try to fix it
up a little bit, you know, fix her mouth. You know, she's not
smiling that great. You know, just kind of get her,
put her some little dimples or something. He said, wouldn't
that be criminal? Likewise, a man think that he's
going to add to the work of God and add his little two cents
worth? That's criminal. What a What a blight he's cast
upon the goodness and mercy of God. He finished the work. He redeemed the elect from the
penalty of the law and established their righteousness before God.
And now they stand before God without blame. They're heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ. And God's preachers, this is
what they preach. This is all they preach. It's
all they go to preach. We don't, we don't preach anything
else, but in closing, King by judgment establisheth
the land, but he that receiveth gifts overthrows it. This is
gonna be a real quick point right here. He that receiveth gifts. What does that mean? That God,
little g God, that demands gifts. The word is actually oblations.
I had to look that up to make sure I knew exactly what it meant.
Contributions. demands of a payment for a service
rendered. He that receiveth gifts. That is, this little, this little
G-God. And I'm not going to be nice
about it. I'm not going to be nice about
it. Because I'm telling you, there's a little G-God that's
being preached all over this world. I want you to turn to 1 Kings.
I'm gonna wrap this up, but I want you to look at this. 1 Kings
chapter 18. There's a little G-God that's being preached. And let me tell you where he
was invented. This is not the king. This is not the king that God's
people worship. This little G-God was invented. He was invented being set forth
by Satan himself. There's one God, and the God
that we worship rules in heaven and earth. He rules because he's
God, and he does as he will. But this little G God, he's not
a ruler. He's nothing more than an imaginary
puppet. whose strings must be manipulated
by man. He doesn't establish peace. He
doesn't have any safety for his subjects. Everything is dependent. It's little g-god dependent upon
them. He's got a pretended kingdom.
He's just a fantasy awaiting to be exposed. in the day of
judgment. This is the very God, the liturgy
God, that Elijah mocked. 1 Kings 18. Remember there were
450 prophets of Baal. And I'm telling you right now,
I'm not deliberately trying to be overly mean, but I want to
tell you something. I've said this before. I'm telling
you, all of us are going to stand before God, and we're going to
be in one place or the other. We're going to be in heaven or
we're going to be in hell. And I'm telling you right now, the
Scriptures have warned, the Lord warned, He sent His preachers
to warn. Beware, beware, beware of false prophets. These false prophets are proclaiming
a little G-God that says you have to do something to make
your salvation effectual. You've got to do something. You've
got to do something that God will accept as your best effort
You've got to do something. You've got to walk down the aisle.
You've got to pray through. You've got to be baptized. You've
got to join a church. You've got to read your Bible.
You've got to do something. I'm telling you that that God
that somebody's preaching, they're lying to you. They're lying to
you. And they're making merchandise
of your soul. 450 prophets of Baal. They were
going to have a sacrifice unto the Lord. And Elijah let them
go first. He said, y'all go ahead, y'all
call on Baal. And they jumped up and down and they cut themselves
and they tried every way to get their little G-God to answer
from heaven. And here's what Elijah said to him. 1 Kings chapter
18, verse 27. And it came to pass at noon when
Elijah mocked him and said, cry aloud. What, obviously your God
came here. He's either deaf, he's too old,
his hearing's gone bad, cry aloud, for he is a God. Either he's
talking, either he's meditating, the scripture says, he's either
meditating, or he's busy, he's tied up with somebody, I don't
know, or he's pursuing, he's pursuing something. He got something
else he's got to be doing, or he's in a journey, or adventure
perhaps, he's sleeping, he must be awake, he mocked him. He mocked
them. He told them, the God you're
worshiping ain't God. The King establisheth by justice
the land. He establishes it. He that receiveth gifts. A God
that you have to do something for in order to get to heaven. He ain't God. You're more God
than he is, and we're certainly not God. There's one God, and
he saves sinners, and he saves them on purpose, and he saves
them by himself. Salvation is by the grace of
God. Now this is a great mystery, but it's so. I pray God bless
this to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's
take a break.