Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 22. Proverbs 22. I'd like to read verses three
through five. Many times we just look at One
verse in Proverbs. I'd like to look at three verses. Proverbs 22, 3. A prudent man
foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass
on and are punished by humility and the fear of the Lord of riches,
honor, and life. Thorns and snares are in the
way of the froward. He that doth keep his soul shall
be far from them. Man by nature is going about
his business today like he's going to live forever, like
there's not going to be a tomorrow. making plans for tomorrow and
not realizing this may be his last day. He doesn't see, he doesn't understand
that right now, this is what's happening in this
world right now. Almighty God is ordering all
things in this world for his glory and for the salvation of
his elect, everything. It doesn't matter if it's happening
in West Virginia or overseas in Iraq. It doesn't matter what
the price of oil is. Whatever is happening right now,
all things work together for good to them that love God. Them who are called according
to His purpose. Now, on the other hand, there's
some in this life that's been made to know how frail and how
short this life really is. They truly realize that this
life is a vapor. And that this life is going to
cease to exist as far as this earthly body is concerned. And
this temporary is going to give way to eternal. That's what's
going to happen. They know that right now, they
know right now that they're going to stand before God. Now listen,
I want to be clear, I want to be plain, I want to be very simple. Now listen, we're all going to
stand before God. And the books are going to be
open. And those that know not Christ are going to answer before
God for everything that they ever did, said, thought, they're
going to be judged out of the books. And they're going to come
up wanting. But there's going to be a book
that is opened, and in that book, the Lamb's Book of Life, written
before the foundation of the world. settled. All things settled. All that are found in that book,
they're dead before God's law had been paid. No charge. Now there's some in this world
that know that and they know it right now. And there's some
that don't. Now I want us to look at these
three verses of Scripture in light of those thoughts, right
there. Verse 3, a prudent man, one wise
and cautious, foreseeth the evil. What does that mean? That means
that he sees beforehand what's going to happen. He sees in God's Word, being
taught by God's Spirit, he's been given spiritual eyes to
see, ears to hear, and by the regenerating power of God's Spirit,
he beholds by faith. He knows something of himself
and he knows by faith that which the Lord has done for him and
revealed to him. And he knows that evil, that
has come upon man is because of his own rebellion. He understands by the revelation
of God that man from the crown of his head to the sole of his
foot is nothing more than putrefying sores. He knows that he has no
righteousness before God in himself. He's wise to know something of
the calamity and the grief and the misery and the sorrow that
awaits all that leaves this world without God. And He does by faith
that which the Holy Spirit has moved upon Him and drawn Him
to do. What? He hideth Himself. That's what Scripture says. He
hideth Himself. We need a hiding place. Not this
fig leaf. works false religion, man's works,
no. I need a hiding place. I need
one in which I can truly be hidden. According to Proverbs 18.10,
the Lord who is the strong tower, He is the hiding place of God's
people. Finds some security and some
peace hearing The word of the Lord, the shepherd, that's what
the Lord said. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
I know them, they follow me. Isaiah 26, 20, come my people. Now listen to this, you that
know him. Now you're gonna understand what I'm talking about right
here. It talks about a man hiding himself. I know and you know,
you that know him, you know I didn't put myself in him. God the Father
put me in Him eternally from before the foundation of the
world. But in time, in regenerating grace, He gives a man or woman
faith to believe and they trust Him and they come to Him by faith.
They do, they respond. They do. And it's all by the
grace of God. But they hear the voice of the
Master. Now you listen to me and tell
me if you don't hear this. Come, my people. Now you hear
him say that. You know exactly what I'm saying.
Come, my people. Enter thou into thy chambers
and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for
a little moment until the indignation be overcast. I was taken back
reading that. Come, my people, enter thou into
thy chambers and shut thy doors. There's something that by the
grace of God belongs to God's people. God has set forth before
their eyes, their spiritual eyes, their hiding place. And He says
to them, come. Now, I know, you know, that no
man can come except except it were given unto him
by my Father." That's what the Lord said. And I'm telling you,
when Almighty God calls in power, grants faith to believe, you
know what they do in the day of God's power? What? They willingly,
they come. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Here is the Godhead speaking
through the Lord Jesus Christ to the children of promise, through
the shepherd, drawing them to come to Him, God's only security,
the city of refuge. And He's powerfully taking them
by their spiritual hand and the hand of their heart, granting
them faith to believe and effectually beckoning them like Noah beckoned
his family and those animals. God said to Noah, Tell the animals to come in. Who sent those animals in? Noah. The Lord put them in there. Who
shut the door? Noah. The Lord shut the door. God beckons his people and he
says, come, enter into thy chambers. Now what chambers? That's what
intrigued me. Enter into thy chambers. Oh,
the secret chambers of His promise. The secret chambers of His covenant
mercy and security revealed only to the objects of God's mercy.
That chamber, now listen, here's a chamber in which to hide. Almighty
God has been pleased to choose to show mercy. That's a chamber
of peace and comfort and security. Christ laid down His life for
the sheep. Enter into that chamber of security. And the Spirit of God in regenerating
grace shall surely call out God's sheep. Enter in. Enter into those chambers
of God's promise. That promise that will never
fail. A prudent man foreseeth the evil. Man by nature doesn't see it.
Man by nature doesn't care, not concerned. You that know him,
can you imagine? Oh, if I knew him not, Fred,
where would I be? If I didn't care, and didn't
even realize I didn't care, thought I cared. A prudent man foreseeth
the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on. and are punished, the simple,
the foolish. They pass on and God deals with them. Left to
their own evil heart of unbelief, they continue in this present
course of life, devoid of the grace of God, going on unconcerned
in their rebellion against Him, oblivious to the danger of having
to meet God in their sin. and to answer. Every time I hear
of someone that gives no obvious outward confession, knowing God,
and they leave this world, what's the first thing you think of?
No more. They just, as that rich man just
lifted up their eyes out of hell. Are you saying that Anyone that
doesn't believe the gospel of God's free grace, that gospel
that Paul said, I'm not ashamed of, for it, it is the power of
God and salvation. You mean to tell me if a man
or a woman leaves this world not believing the gospel, that
they left this world without God? That's exactly what I just
said. Because that's what God said.
I can say that with confidence. God calls His people through
the gospel. Paul says, if any man preach
not the gospel that we delivered unto you, let him be accursed. A prudent man foreseeth the evil,
hides himself, the simple pass on under punishment. By humility,
verse 4, or because of humility, or the reward of humility, the
condescension and the fear, the reverence of the Lord. That's riches. That's honor. That's life. Those are the riches of God's
grace. To be able for Almighty God to
bring a man, bring a woman down. Now listen, we're all proud. We're proud. We think that we're
able. We think we have the ability.
But for Almighty God to bring his people down. I want to read
something to you. Isaiah chapter 2 on humility. The scripture says, by humility. My question when I read something
like that, by humility. And I know what man is by nature.
How did he get to that point? to where he was humbled. How? Listen to Isaiah 2 verse 11. The lofty looks of man shall
be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. A man or a woman
that is brought down. Now, we think by nature that
what we're able to do is we think we're able to satisfy God. We think we're able to do something
to reconcile ourselves back to the Lord. And the Lord said,
you can't. By the works of the law shall no man be justified
in his sight. But man thinks, he thinks that because he walked down an
aisle, He thinks because he prayed through, he thinks because he
did this or did that, he thinks because he did that, that God
then accepted him. No! No! That's presumption, that's
haughtiness, that's pride, that's arrogance before God. When God
said, you cannot! You cannot! Where is justice? Someone comes up and kills somebody
and then says, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It doesn't change the
fact you killed them, you murdered them. And justice demands death. Man thinks by just saying to
the Lord, I'm sorry. I'm a just God. And if you think
that God is not just, Consider the cross. What happened when
the Lord Himself laid down His life and was made sin? What happened? Where sin was
found, He bore all the guilt, all the sins of all of His elect
for all of time. He bore all of them. And what
happened? God killed Him. God killed him. That's just. Almighty God must
be just. And by humility and reverence
of the Lord, there's the riches now of God's grace being brought
down in my eyes concerning me and saying, Lord, you're just. And you've shown me what I am
by nature. James 4.6, He giveth more grace,
wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto
the humble. God mercifully brings down His
people in their own estimation of themselves and shows them
what they are in their fallen state and who they need, Him. And rewards them with that which
He's done for them and given them. He's brought them down. How thankful that we are that
the Lord would bring us down. You don't hear a believer bragging.
You don't hear a believer bragging in his salvation. Oh, he'll brag,
but when it comes to his salvation, he won't. No. I am what I am
by the grace of God. Thorns and snares are in the
way of the froward. He that doth keep his soul shall
be far from them. Thorns. spiritual snares, spiritual
hedges. And snares, these nets, these
plots, these traps are in the way, they're in the course of
life of the fraud, that one that looks upon himself as being able,
proud, arrogant. These thorns and snares are in
the course of his life in the way that he worships. Nothing is more evident of a
man unconverted than to take the spiritual way that is full
of nothing but rebellion against God. Now you know one would naturally
think that if there were two ways to travel There's two ways to travel to
a destination. One of them is clear and open
and level and well lit, you know. The other one is dark and obstructed
and dangerous, treacherous. You'd think that he would naturally
take the open way. You'd think he would. I'm going
to be honest with you. When I moved here, now I'm from
a place where everything, all the roads are flat. I think the highest point in
Louisiana is just a little over 400 feet. That's the mountaintop
in Louisiana. And when I moved here, all of
a sudden there were roads that I just wasn't used to. One of
them is, what's the name of that road? Crematory? No, no. The Evil Hill. Hillcrest. Hillcrest. I told Lindsey, I
said it's evil. I went over that road going toward
Fairmont from here and cars are parked. It's a two-lane road
and cars are parked on the right side and you have to go over
a hill on the left side of the road. I would rather take the
road that just goes into Fairmont and drive 300 more feet. At least
I can see, I could see you'd think. I told her, I said, I
just don't like that road. Man by nature, man by nature,
if there's two ways, now here's one way. Come unto me, all ye
that labor, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. And Satan's gonna
tell a man, You know, you can. You have a free will. And man
by nature, because of the blindness of his heart, is going to take
that way, that evil, dark, obstructed, dangerous, treacherous road. Men love darkness rather than
light. They love the mire of rebellion
and stubbornness before God. Thorns and snares are in the
way of the froward, but He that doth keep His soul, He that has
cast His soul upon Christ, Almighty God that has given Him a new
heart, that man, that woman that's been made to be concerned about
His eternal good of His soul, takes heed to His way. the way
he's going, knows something of himself and his danger, and he
asks, Lord, keep me. Lord, save me. I'm going to perish.
That man is said to keep his soul, not in the ability of himself
to do so, but he looks unto the Lord and asks Him, have mercy
upon me. Those found, according to these
scriptures, to be keeping their souls, trusting the Lord, waiting
upon Him, casting themselves upon His mercy, continually coming
to Christ because of their need. The scripture declares, those
snares are going to be far from them. Nothing less than the grace
of God in regenerating grace can cause a man in the midst
of his troubled way to seek security in the Lord. Think about that
prodigal son. Scripture says, He was out there
feeding the swine. And whenever I read that passage
of Scripture, it says He came to Himself. And you know what
happened. Beautiful picture. God Almighty
crossing the path of one of His own. And He just wouldn't leave
them. He wasn't going to leave them
in rebellion. removed that heart of stone and gave him a new heart. Gave him a new heart and said
unto them, live. He came to himself and he said,
how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and
to spare? And I perish with hunger. Isn't
that the word of a regenerated sinner? I'm perishing with hunger. I will arise and go to my Father
and will say unto Him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and
I've done it before you. Almighty God has been pleased
to not leave His people in the darkness rebellion against Him. He's been pleased to redeem them
by the blood of His precious Son. And when it pleases Him,
He's gonna put them under the sound of the gospel. He's gonna
put them under the sound that gives all the honor, all the
glory, all the praise to the Lord Jesus, and none to them. And they then, for the first
time, will realize what it is to be saved by grace, through the means of faith, that
it was not of themselves, It was the gift of God. I pray the
Lord bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.
Let's take a break.