Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 24. Proverbs 24. I have not preached out of Proverbs
for the last few weeks, and the reason being is because the next
verses, verses, well 17 and 18 is what I was looking at, and
I just felt as though that I had absolutely no light on those
two verses. I would read them, and I would
read them, and I would read them, and I just did not know. I read a passage of scripture
that was such a blessing to me, I'll read it to you, it's out
of Luke chapter 24. And when the Lord met with His
disciples and the two that were on the road to Emmaus, after
the Lord had come to their house and then vanished, and then they
left and went back to Jerusalem, met there with the disciples,
the Lord appeared unto them, and the Scriptures said in verse
45 of Luke 24, then opened he their understanding that they
might understand the Scriptures. This is one thing that I'm reminded
of, and need to be reminded of, and need to express to you. Our
understanding of the Scriptures is not by our ability. You say, well, I've sat under
the gospel for years, since I was a kid. It doesn't make any difference. Unless the Lord gives understanding
into the Scriptures, you don't get it. We don't understand. And so I'm telling you, according
to the frailty of my own flesh, not having any light whatsoever
on Proverbs 24, verses 17 and 18, I was not going to try to
say anything. What am I going to say? I didn't
know what it meant. I think by the grace of God that
the Lord has given me some understanding, has given me some light on it,
and so therefore I'd like to look at verses 17 through 22. Not only 17 to 18, but 17 to
22. Let me just read these passages
of Scripture, and then we'll consider them for a few moments.
Proverbs 24, 17. Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth. And let not thine heart be glad
when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it, and it displease him,
and he turn away his wrath from him. Now, before I continue on,
I want to just say this. Believers do fall, and they do
stumble, and the wicked watch for it. and they rejoice in it. I know this for a fact. I'll
prove this. I'll read this to you, Psalm
38, verse 15 to 19. What it does is it gives an unbeliever,
it soothes his conscience. If he sees a believer stumble
or fall, it makes him think, well, he's no better than I am. It
gives him a false confidence, what it does. Listen to David,
Psalm 38 verse 15 to 19. For in thee, O Lord, do I hope. Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. For I said, hear me, lest otherwise
they should rejoice over me. When my foot slippeth, they magnify
themselves against me. For I'm ready to halt. and my
sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine iniquity,
I will be sorry for my sin. But mine enemies are lively,
they're strong. They that hate me wrongfully
are multiplied." So God's people are sinners, saved by the grace
of God. And they stumble, and they do. The Scripture declares that when
they do, The wicked finds great pleasure in that. It just gives
them, like I said, that false sense of security. Oh, I don't
need to be going and doing what they're doing. I mean, they're
doing the same thing I do. What difference does it make? Number 19, fret not thyself because
of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked. For there
shall be no reward to the evil man. The candle of the wicked
shall be put out. My son, fear thou the Lord and
the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change.
For their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the
ruin of them both? Now, our passage today is one
of divine warning against the wicked concerning their attitude
and treatment of God's people and it's also a glorious promise
of deliverance and safety who are found to be the objects of
God's mercy. God's people or pilgrims. They're sojourners, the scripture
says. And we're traveling through a world that is not our home. We're in this world, we're not
of this world. In this world. And I want to
share something with you that I think that the Lord has taught
me something of. When we say the world, I'm talking
about the world and it's religion, the world and it's ways, the
world and it's thought. Now we're in this world, and
like I said, but we're not of it. We don't do things the way
that the world does. The world in the Scriptures. Now I'm talking about even God's
people before they're converted, before they're called out of
darkness. They're not of the world. They're not of the world. You say, wait a minute. No. The world refers to the reprobate. What is the reprobate? The scripture
says that the potter has the right to make one vessel under
honor and another vessel under dishonor. Those that are made
under honor are God's elect. They are the chosen people of
God. Those that are made unto dishonor
are referred to as reprobate. They've never been approved.
They've never been chosen. God didn't make them so. Let
me reiterate that. God did not make them so. They
made themselves so. But Almighty God is pleased to
choose one unto salvation, to have mercy upon whom He'll have
mercy and compassion unto whom He'll have compassion. and to
another he's pleased to harden. Nobody has a right to question
that. Nobody has a right to question that. Who art thou, O man? Paul the Apostle said. Who art
thou that questions, that answereth God's Word? Does the creature
have the right to say to the Creator, why have you made me
thus? What is the demand then upon a sinner? Repent. Hear the Word of the Lord. If
Almighty God is pleased to give a man hope, he's got some hope. If he's not, if he doesn't, he
has no hope. But God's people, as I said,
are not of the world. The Lord told them that. He said,
you're not of the world. I've chosen you out of the world.
But if you were of the world, the world would love His own.
And I said, well, I still think that somehow we're of the world. Not in that wording. The world
is referred to as those that God's going to leave to themselves.
When the Lord said, I pray for those that you've given me, I
pray not for the world, but for those that you've given
me out of the world. I pray not for them. whenever
the Lord was hanging on the cross, and there were those that were
there that didn't know Him in regenerating grace, but were
wagging their heads and mocking Him. What did the Lord say? Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. He knew who He
was praying for. He said, I pray for my sheep.
That's who I'm praying for. I pray for the sheep. I pray
for the elect. So therefore, when we consider
God's distinguishing grace and we speak of the world, we have
to understand that the Lord was very explicit talking about who
He prays for. So, looking at the Scriptures,
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, let not thine heart
be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it. and it displeased
Him and He turned away His wrath from Him. Here's the first thing
I know. God's people are promised trouble in this life for believing
and following Christ. And that's what's implied. The
Lord is speaking concerning those that are not His. Rejoice not
when thine enemy... Now He's already promised us
that the world is going to hate us. They despise us because we're
the Lord's. Matthew 24 9, Then shall they
deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And ye shall
be hated of all nations for my name's sake. This world... is not resentful toward free
will works religion. In fact, it encourages it. The
world, those that are left to themselves, those that God Almighty
will, in time, prove to be of the world, they love everything
that gives honor and glory to men. Now here's believers, here's
the elect, they're in the world, they're not of it, And they're
doing the same things before God calls them out of darkness
that the world does. They look the same. How do you
know? How do you know the difference
in God's sheep and those that are not God? How do you know
the difference? Before they leave this world, God Almighty will
call them out of darkness. And they'll know where they've
come from. They'll know something about
where they came from. And they'll realize, but for the grace of
God, I would have died. So this world, it's resentful. Saul of Tarsus that hated the
gospel, hated the God of this Bible, and hated God's people.
He was going after them. He was going after them. And
after the Lord called him out of darkness, what did he say?
I'm the chief of sinners. Why? I persecuted the church. I did the very thing that now
I see them doing, and I know what they're doing, and they
mean it just like I mean it. God's people are promised. This is the verse of Scripture
I just quoted, John 15, 9. He said, If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth
you. The reason that the world loves
its own, religiously speaking, is that every variety of false
religion can find some common ground of agreement. I'm going
to admit that there's in every different denomination And you
just go ahead and we'll just make a long list of all of them.
All of them, remember, we won't get them all. But let's just
go ahead and list a few in your mind. You list all of those points,
all those religions, different denominations. Now there's something
different in every one of those denominations. There's something
a little, there's something in, you know, it makes men feel better
because if there's some little something I've got this little
nugget that they don't have. And it makes them feel more right. I know what you believe, but
this is what we can say. I've got this little nugget here.
But all of those things can be easily overlooked. You know,
they have, I said before, when I was in Tennessee, I had somebody
call me and wanted me to meet on the square. there in Franklin. They've got a big old statue
there of a Confederate soldier right there in the middle of
Franklin. They're all going to meet right there at the square.
All the different denominations. Marvin, can we count on you to
come and we're going to have a prayer day. And we're going
to pray for Franklin. And we're going to pray for Williamson
County. Pray that God, you know, we'll all meet together. All
the different denominations. Can we count on you? I said,
nope. You're not going to be there? I said, nope. Why are
you not going to be there? Because I said, I don't want
to be associated with them. I don't want somebody thinking,
well Marvin's there with them. And as soon as I show up, what
I'm going to say is this, I agree with you. Oh, I might be a little
different here or there. But basically, I'm with you. When it comes to God's people
being taught the surety, here's where we differ right here. We
believe that salvation is by the grace of God. And the faith given from above
is what believes it. For we're saved by grace through
faith, not because of faith. We're saved by grace. We only
know it by faith. Faith does not add anything to
our salvation. We're saved by grace through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from any work whatsoever
associated on our part It is salvation totally by God's will
and God's purpose and it is salvation that was finished by God before
the foundation of the world and openly shown to be that foundation
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shed at Calvary
and it's revealed to men exclusively through the preaching of the
gospel. And there's no common ground whatsoever with the world
in that message. None. None. You can't do anything
to merit your salvation, to procure it, to establish it, or to keep
it. We're kept by the power of God. Again, through faith, not by
it, but we recognize it, we believe it, we rest in it. The Lord has
ordained these things to be so, and He's determined that this
is the way His sheep, His people, is going to be distinguished
from the world and for glory. We shall be conformed to the
image of His Son, and it starts in this life. There's going to
be a refining of God's elect. We're going to grow in grace,
but we're going to do so in the furnace of affliction. It is
so. So expect trouble. Expect that
there's going to be every reason in the world for us to cast ourselves
upon the mercy of God and expect to be ridiculed for His namesake. We're in enemy country. We're
in this world. We're not of it. And they're
not our friends. How do you know that? It don't
seem like to me. The Scripture says that's so. In this world,
you're going to have tribulation. The world hates you. I've overcome
the world. That's what the Lord said. This
world does not understand faithfulness to the God of this Bible. It
doesn't understand faithfulness to His Word, to His direction,
His providence. We don't walk by sight. We don't
walk by what we behold or what we think or what we figure. We
walk by faith. We walk by the providence of
God. Well, why is this? Why does that happen? Because
the Lord ordained it. Well, the way I see it, it doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Why couldn't
Paul and his friend, Silas, Neil, I can't remember, who couldn't
go to, Barnabas, whoever it could, Paul and somebody. Couldn't go
to Asia. Why? Because God said so. Your parents ever told your kids
that? I don't want you to do this. Why? Because I said so.
I just ended it. Why? Because, listen, they don't
understand this. They don't understand. You walk
by faith and there's no compromise. And if we try to compromise His
leadership, the Lord is going to deal with us. And you're going
to know it. And we're thankful. I'm thankful.
I've always said this. Kids love to know where the lines
are. They love to know. Don't just set the lines. I guarantee you, buddy, when
my kids were little, this is the way it is. This is the way
it is. If I told them, I said, you be
in by 11, I meant 11. I meant 11. I didn't mean 15
after. And they love it. They love it. They think you're being mean.
You're not being mean. That's just so settling, you know? I
can't. I've got to be home. My dad told
me to. It doesn't matter. It may not matter to you, buddy,
but it's going to matter to me when I show up late. Believe
me. The Lord's people, know that He leads them according to His
eternal purpose to do them good. He directs their steps according
to His wisdom. And He's not going to leave them,
He's not going to forsake them. So, God's people, we expect,
we expect that there's going to be tribulation. When Job was,
according to the good pleasure of God, smitten of Satan, by
God's permission, He was smitten with sore boils from the sole
of his foot to his crown. He took a potshoe, a piece of
a broken pot, scraped himself with all, sat down amongst the
ashes. That's Job 2, verse 79. And listen,
then his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine
integrity? Curse God and die. How do you think that made him
feel? This was his wife. He loved her. That's his wife.
And how it must have cut him. But here was a man, Scripture
says, perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed
evil. He departed from it. And he told the wife that he
loved. Thou speakest as one of the foolish
women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this
did not Job sin with his lips. So here's the first point. Scripture
is talking to the world. Rejoice not when thine enemy,
God's people, falleth. Let not thine heart be glad when
he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it. And it displeased him, and
he turned away his wrath from him. I've got three points, the second
one. But associated with that hatred that the world has, tribulation
that's promised from heaven, there is a divine blessing. Luke
6, 20-23, it says he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and
he said, blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed
are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you
when men shall hate you, when they shall separate you from
their company, and shall reproach you and cast out your name as
evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day. Leap
for joy. For behold, your reward is great
in heaven. For in the like manner did their
fathers unto the prophet." Now, I want you to notice the blessing.
that's promised by the Lord to those that are poor in spirit. What does that mean? That means
that I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwells
no good thing. I know that. There's not a little
good in every man. There's none good in me and there's
none good in you. There's none good but God. Therefore, that
you know that, that you realize, I'm poor. I'm a helpless creature
of the dust. Blessed are those that are poor. Those that hunger now. What? After the righteousness of God.
And not my own. I can sit here and try to convince
myself that I've been faithful. That's what they're going to
confess the Lord. Isn't that right, Neil? They're
going to stand before God in that day. I prophesied in your
name. I cast out devils in your name. I want to study, I want to be
prepared. God has called me to pastor this
church. But I am a frail creature that
has just been reminded for the last three weeks, I had no idea
what the scripture was talking about. And when the Lord is pleased
to give some understanding of it, I think, it's the Lord that
opened my understanding to that. And it's a humbling thing. I told you, I heard Henry Mahan
said, he said, the older I got, he said, the more I realize how
stupid I really am. What do I know? I don't know. I don't know anything apart from
his revelation. Blessed are those who weep, not
under the affliction of this life, but of the continual presence
of sin and the struggles that come with it. Why? Because you're
going to rejoice. You're blessed. To weep now and
see, because you're going to laugh. That's what Scripture
says. You're going to laugh. Blessed are you that weep now
for what you see in yourself. Because you're going to laugh.
You're going to rejoice. And blessed are those who are
hated by men. Hated by men for Christ's sake. For the sake of loving and believing
the Gospel. I've said before. I've known
just a little bit, many of you here a lot longer than I, concerning
the resentment that has been toward not only Katie, but other
places. But for what? For the stand that
they've taken on the Gospel, on the God of this Bible, and
for loving the truth of this Word that gives no honor to men. It's not going to give anybody
any honor. It's going to give all the honor and glory to the
Lord. and thankful that God would raise up a pastor in the mid-fifties
and leave a faithful pastor here all these years. You think, by
the grace of God? Oh, listen. Blessed are ye that weep now
for what you see in yourself and for what you see in the animosity
against others. But he said, you're going to
laugh. Let me ask you this. Do you think Brother Scott's rejoicing?
Do you think he is? I do. I think he is. Does he
know? Yeah, he knows. He knows. You know. Blessed are you because
God has shown mercy and grace and has given you a heart to
follow after him. And those that see themselves
as truly inadequate, totally dependent upon the Lord for life
eternal, those that know that unless he has Mercy and the Lord
has robed me in His own righteousness. I know this. I'm going to be
cast out. I know that. I'm weak. I'm frail. They grieve over what they see
within themselves. So, blessed, blessed. We're taught to glory in tribulation. It's promised, but there's a
blessing in it. There's a blessing in the tribulation. Tribulation, the scripture says,
this is Romans 5, 3 and 5. The word is there, pressure. When the world is caving in,
it's just pressure, pressure, pressure. This incident, this
situation, it's just pressure. That's tribulation, that's what
that word tribulation. Tribulation, or pressure, worketh
patience. Now what does that mean? Patience.
Endurance to submit to the will of God. That's patience. Endurance
to submit. Is He working all things after
the counsel of His own will? And as I've said before, if whatever
we're going through falls under the category of all things, then
tribulation worketh submission to God's will. And patience What it does is it worketh experience. What does that mean? Proof of
God's truth. God's going to prove to us when
we go through and we're made to endure by His good power and
pleasure, He's going to show us, I told you. I told you. I mean, you know,
hindsight's always 20-20. We see it behind and we say,
I see it now, but buddy, I'm telling you, there's some times
when you're going through it, and it's just not that easy. It's
just tough, you know. And experience, what it worketh
is hope. What does that mean? Expectation
of glory that's promised. Do you really, truly believe
we're going to see Him face to face? Really? Really? Do you
really, truly believe we're going to be like Him? Do you really
truly believe that we'll behold Him and be like Him, be like
as He is? Do you truly believe that? Yes,
I do. Lord, I believe. Help my non-belief.
I believe it, you know. And hope maketh not ashamed because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. Those that have a good hope,
a good expectation in Christ, they're not going to be put to
shame. Man, I'm telling you, I think to myself, there's times
that I think, oh, do I truly believe what I'm preaching? Do
I really believe this? Do I really believe this? Man,
these doubts, these fears, I'm thinking, am I just repeating
something that I've heard? And I think to myself, Lord,
like Peter, Lord, save me. I'm going to perish. Lord, I
believe you. I've got every doubt and every
fear that anybody has ever had. But Lord, I'm thinking, Lord,
if salvation is not by the grace of God, then I don't have any
hope at all. Because there's sure isn't anything
I've ever done that's ever merited. Lord, I believe You. Tribulation,
work with patience. Patience, experience. Experience,
hope. And hope makes not ashamed. Thirdly, The wicked are warned
against rejoicing in God's providential dealings with His people. Now
that's what this scripture right here is all about. The wicked
are warned. God has promised us tribulation. In this world, you're going to
have tribulation. But He's promised that in that tribulation, there's
a blessing there. And God's dealing with His people
according to His will and His purpose, His good pleasure. And He's telling the world, be careful, be careful. I'm warning you against rejoicing
in my providential dealings with my people. Now let's see if I
can make good on this. The people of God are God's people. That's pretty plain, isn't it? The people of God are God's people. They've been chosen by Him in
Christ in electing grace. They have been redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been robed
in His righteousness that they should be holy and without blame
before God in love. regenerated by the Spirit of
God that indwells them who is the earnest of their expectation. They are the Lord's bride. They're the Lord's bride. His beloved sons and daughters
that He's been pleased to have with Him eternally in heaven. And the way that God deals with
them is according to God's will, and He takes ill treatment toward
them very seriously. Psalm 105, 15. Touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm. I want to just read
something to you. I'm going to read this to you.
Just listen. If you want to turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 16. 1
Chronicles. That passage of Scripture was
taken out of this passage right here. I want to read it to you.
and how God takes very seriously when people mistreat his own. I would tell you this. You might want to do something
to me and say something to me or do something and I might slough
it off. But don't try to get to Glenda.
Don't try to get to her. Don't try to get to one of my
kids. Let something go. But you ain't
going to let your wife, somebody mistreating your wife or your
kids. It ain't going to happen. If you do, it should. 1 Chronicles
16 verse 8. Scripture sets forth, Give thanks unto the Lord and
call upon His name. Make known His deeds among the
people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His
wondrous works. Glory ye in His name, and let
the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord
in His strength, seek His face continually. Remember His marvelous
works that He has done, His wonders, the judgments of His mouth. Oh,
ye seed of Israel, His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen
one. He is the Lord our God. His judgments,
His ways are in all the earth. Be ye mindful always of His covenant,
the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, even
the covenant which He made with Abraham, His oath unto Isaac. And hath confirmed the same to
Jacob for a law, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying,
Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance. when ye were but few, even few,
and strangers. And when they went from nation
to nation, and from one kingdom to another people, he suffered
no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their
sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets
no harm. The Lord may be pleased to raise
up a heathen nation, like he did Egypt. and try his people,
prove them to be his people. But that nation that God allowed
was his tool, his servant. That's what he said concerning
Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, Nebuchadnezzar. Pharaoh was God's servant in
reproving, trying God's people. He may raise up that country
and use that country to try and prove His people. But that nation
that God allowed to do just exactly what God permitted them to do
is going to be punished for touching God's anointing. The people of
God, according to God's good providence, were in bondage in
Egypt. God sent a prophet, Moses, to
tell Pharaoh, you let my people go. In time, because of God's
judgment through plagues and upon Egypt, Pharaoh did just
exactly what God commanded him to do later. And being left to
his own selfish desire, according again to God's good will, he
said, what have I done letting these people go? And so he pursued
after them. They were hemmed up before the
Red Sea, Pi-hi-hi-roth. That little point we talked about.
Here comes the Egyptians and there's the Red Sea. Almighty
God has placed them just exactly where He's placed them. He left
Pharaoh to his own heart to do just exactly what Pharaoh wanted
to do. Now they're hemmed up. Pharaoh
says in his heart, he says the earth's got them hemmed in. Mine for the picking. Pharaoh,
thinking that he had God's people where he wanted them, he followed
hard after them, the scripture says, and followed them right
on into the Red Sea. That very place that God opened
up and allowed them to pass over safely. And after the people
of God were over the Red Sea safely, God having delivered
them, God caused the water of the Red Sea to fall upon the
enemies of God. Satan desired to have Peter and
sift him as wheat. And the Lord assured Peter that
he would be tried, but would be delivered. He said, because
I prayed for you. Peter absolutely denied the Lord,
just like the Lord told him he was going to do, being tempted
of the devil to sift him as wheat, and God's going to deal with
Satan. God allowed him to do just exactly like those that
mocked even the Lord Himself. In the midst of all those people
that were mocking, there were some, I know that they were the
elect, because the Lord prayed for them, forgave them. He was
praying for a certain group. But those that were doing the
same thing that God's elect were doing, while they were yet in
a state of being unregenerate, The Lord Jesus Christ paid the
debt of those He'd everlastingly loved. And you know what He's
going to do to the others that were mocking Him? He's going to deal
with them in judgment. Now, knowing what we've considered,
I'm going to read our passage of Scripture again. And what
I'm going to do is I was actually dealing with two verses, 17 and
18. But I'm going to go ahead and let verses 19 through 22. be part of this message because
it is so self-explanatory, it demands, as Robert Hawker will
say this many times, he said these scriptures are so easily
perceived by the mind made sensitive by the Spirit of God, he said
my comments on them won't add anything to them, so I'm going
to include them in this part. I pray the Lord bless it to us.
Rejoice not, verse 17, Proverbs 24, when thine enemy falleth,
Now he's talking to the world concerning God's people. They're
the enemy of the world. Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest
the Lord see it, and it displease him. And he turn away his wrath. Now that word wrath right there,
it means his face or his dealings with. It's not eternal judgment
toward God's people, but He turns away the way He's dealing with
His people in tribulation and trials and sufferings. And He
said, don't you touch them. Unless God sees it, it displeases
Him. He turns away His wrath from
Him upon you. And then He says to those who
are tried, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou
envious at the wicked, For there shall be no reward to the evil
man. The candle, the light of the
wicked shall be put out. My son, fear thou the Lord and
the king." I made a note on that. Concerning the king, it's talking
about the authority that's raised up. this governmental authority. You respect and you fear the
Lord because of God's providential dealings with His people, it's
sure, but He's going to use authority that He's raised up for our good,
for our safety. So He says, My son, you respect
thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are
given to change. This thing change right here,
It means of opinion. Separate yourself from those
that are given to change in their opinions concerning how a man
is saved. They go from here to there. Those
at Mars Hill. Remember when Paul went to Mars
Hill? He said, I perceive that you're too superstitious. You're
very religious. You don't know who you're worshipping.
Separate yourself, come out from among them, be you separate.
My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with
them that are given to change. For their calamity shall rise
suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? That last line right there, the
ruin of them both, I just didn't understand what that meant. concerning
the Lord or the King. I can tell you that disobedience
to God, failure to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, it comes with
a penalty. That penalty is eternal judgment. But concerning the King, what
is the meaning there? Well, it's a breaking of the
law. There's a penalty also. I can tell you this, running
a stop sign and having a police officer see you, it comes with
consequences. God has raised up authority. That's why we're doing just exactly
what we're doing right now in separating and social distancing
because it's set forth by the governor. This is what it is.
This is the law. Who raised up that law? God raised
up that law. He did it for His glory and the
good of His people. And so therefore, He said, you
know, you respect, you fear the Lord and the King. All authority is of God. So when
we behold this truth, God's promised tribulation. In the tribulation,
it's going to come with a blessing. God has warned those that are
of this world. He said, concerning my dealings
with my people, He said, don't you touch them. I'm dealing with
them. And you try to put your hand
on them, and you try to afflict them, you try to do whatever
you desire to do, and I'm going to deal with you. I pray that
God bless this to our heart and teach us it's for His glory and
our eternal good.