I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, Chapter
1. Proverbs, Chapter 1. While you're
turning there, I want to say I thank the Lord for Brother
Neal taking the service this Sunday. Thank you, Brother. Proverbs, Chapter 1. We've been going through Proverbs
since 09. And I got to looking at this passage that we actually
looked at many years ago. I wanted to look at it one more
time. I've entitled this, Dwelling
Safely in Christ. Proverbs chapter 1. I'm going
to look at Verses 24 to 33. And I want to say this before
I begin. That after reading this passage
of scripture, I was reminded one more time the most foolish
thing that any man, any woman, will ever do in this life. Is
hear the gospel of God's grace. and refuse to believe it. Most
foolish thing that any of us will ever do. Reason being, that
refusal is soul damning. It's forever. To refuse, what's
the one thing, what's the one thing that a man can do and have
no hope? It's not to believe God in the
preaching of a gospel. Look at verse 24, Proverbs 1
24, Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched
out my hand, and no man regarded. Now, listen. The Lord has never
in the history of mankind, never has the Lord failed to have a
witness in this world. Never. From the beginning of
time, the Lord has always had a witness concerning His glory,
His power, His might. Men will say, I don't know what
you're talking about. The Scripture says in Romans
1.20, "...for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse." When God created the heavens and the earth, Almighty God has set forth that
man is without excuse. When we see the glory of God
in the creation, the trees, and the sky, God says that man are
without excuse the invisible things of the world. Brother
Henry made this comment. He said, there are some things
that cannot be known of God except through gospel revelation. But
there are some things that may be known of God by nature. God
Himself is invisible, but His power, majesty, and glory shine
forth in the things that He's made. Man has an intelligent
brain and should recognize God in creation, in providence. Men
should see Him in their conscience. All men have a witness. of right and wrong in their conscience,
they have enough light to be rendered inexcusable before God. So that a man, a woman born in
this world, just nature itself is a witness of the glory and
the majesty and the power of Almighty God. So therefore, no
one is without excuse. But according to the wisdom of
God, the Lord has been pleased to call out His elect, the chosen,
through a means called preaching. Not through looking at nature
and stuff. That's not how God's going to
call out His people. He's going to call out His elect
through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed to proclaim it.
I'm not ashamed to believe it. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation. The Jew first, also the Greeks. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. Now men are without excuse
just looking outside. But when God's pleased to call
out some of His own, He's going to call them out through the
preaching of the gospel. And the Lord has sent preachers.
Men are without excuse because they've seen nature and they
didn't see God. But God sent preachers. Also,
the way He's going to call out His people. God, who at sundry
times in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, He hath in these last days spoken unto us by Son,
whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made
the world. The Lord never never leaves nor
forsakes his people. And he's not going to leave nor
forsake his people in sending faithful gospel preachers. I
know. I've said this myself and foolishly,
I'm sure. It appears as though that there's
just not many younger preachers. There's some, there's some that
the Lord has raised up, but it just seems like some of the,
as I used to say, the older preachers, I guess I'm there, but it just
seems like as the older preachers, you know, get older and they
don't preach any longer, the Lord takes them home, and it
doesn't appear as though that there's that many younger preachers
being raised up. What's that got to do with the
way I see things? Here the Lord has said, Jeremiah
3.15, I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Jeremiah 23.4,
And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them,
and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall
they be lacking, saith the Lord. God's been pleased. He's going
to send His people a preacher, a pastor, He's going to give
that pastor a heart to want to come and sit down and seek God's
face and study and prepare and be ready and preach. And then when God's pleased,
He's going to bless the message to the calling out of God's elect. So God sent preachers into the
world to preach the gospel that His sheep might be called out
of spiritual darkness. But with that Word being sent
from the Lord, all men now are without excuse because the Gospel
is preached in the world. They're without excuse because
they see nature and they don't see God. They're without excuse
because now God sent preachers. Men are responsible not only
for what they have heard, but for what they could have heard.
If there's a Gospel preacher in this world, And a man doesn't
hear him. Shame on him. Shame on him. You think God would hold a man
responsible for looking at the trees and not hold him inexcusable? You think he's going to send
the gospel and hold him any less? This is the condemnation, John
13, 3, the Lord said, I mean 3, 19. This is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. So the scripture says,
because I've called, the Lord has called in nature, He declared
Himself in nature. Because I've called in the sending
of preachers, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand,
and no man regarded." Verse 25 says this, "...but ye have said
it not, all my counsel, and would none of my reproof." What he
said is man has considered God's counsel to not be worth hearing. That's what he just said. Lord,
what you have to say is not worth my time. I'm too busy. I've got too many things to do.
I'm not interested in what you're saying. You've said it nought. You've said that my counsel is
nothing. Nothing. That's what you said.
You've said it nought, all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof. And then he says in verse 26-27,
I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish cometh upon you." This is what he said. There's coming
a day when too late will be written upon every effort of man to make
things right. It's going to come a day when
Almighty God is going to say, I'm not going to hear you. I'm not going to hear. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation,
your destruction cometh as whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh
upon you. Why? Because I called and you
refused. You said it not. All of my counsel. Scripture says in verse 28, Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me. That's a scary thought. There's coming a time when it's
going to be too late. Too late. When's that day? The
day of judgment. If you've got breath in your
lungs right now, thanks be unto God, it's not too late yet. I
don't know who the Lord's going to call out, but I can tell you
this, He's going to call out His people. But to refuse and
refuse and refuse, I'm not going to hear that. He said, there's
coming a time I'm going to laugh. I'm going to mock. I'm going
to mock you. I'm going to mock you. Behold, the Lord's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy,
that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins has hidden His face
from you, that He will not hear." He won't hear you. Look at verse
29, 30. for that they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of
my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Man by nature, this is the point
I'm making, man is depraved. Man is totally depraved. Man is a rebel against God. When you hear the gospel preached,
I've told you this before, let this fiber permeate what's being
preached. Man is a depraved creature, ruined
by the fall. Man, by nature, hates the knowledge
of God. That's what scripture says. He
said, for that they hated knowledge. They hated knowledge and did
not choose the respect of the Lord. That's what he said. They
hated. Man hates the witness of nature
to the glory of God. Man hates the scriptures as they
reveal God himself in his sovereignty. The Pharisees searched the scriptures. The Lord told him, he said, in
them you think you have life. But he said, you're not seeing
what's there. You're reading the words. But
they are they that testify of me. Man by nature hates God's scriptures. And they hate the Lord Jesus
Christ as he's revealed to be God's Messiah. according to God's
everlasting counsel. They don't hate the Jesus that
came into this world and laid down His life and just died for
everybody, hoping that somebody would give Him their heart. They
don't hate that Jesus, that little J, Jesus. But I'll tell you this,
the King, the Master, Emmanuel, God with us. Let me tell you
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's God. He's God. He is God Almighty. the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And He came into this world to
seek and to save His people. He shall save His people from
their sins. Let me tell you, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the Savior of the sheep. He died for them, lived for them,
died for them, rose for them, ascended for them, and they're
in Him. And they'll ever be in Him. Man by nature hates knowledge. Did not choose the fear of the
Lord. Would none of his counsel despise
all of his reproof. Man by nature will not choose
the respect of God. That's what he said. You won't
respect. You won't choose to respect me.
But know what a man would rather do is choose superstition and
will worship to his own peril. 31. Therefore shall they eat
of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own
devices. Man, without the advocate himself,
without the one mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
will receive the just reward of his iniquity. He's going to
eat the fruit of his rebellion. Listen to Hosea 10, 13. You've
plowed wickedness, you've reaped iniquity. You've eaten the fruit
of lies, because thou didst trust in thy way in the multitude of
thy mighty men. Listen to Isaiah 3, 10 and 11.
Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him, for they shall
eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. And verse 32, for the turning
away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools
shall destroy them. Here's the cause of the wicked
being destroyed. Here's the cause. They turned
from God. They turned from Christ. They
turned their backs. They gave a deaf ear unto Him. Turned from His gospel and therefore
judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. That was recorded. I got that out of Acts 13. I'll
read that unless you want to turn. Acts 13, 44. Acts 13, 44. The Scripture says in the next
Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word
of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing you
put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Hebrews 10.31 says it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Man, by nature,
is in trouble. That's just the way it is. Man's
a rebel. Man despises God. Man hates God's
Word. He hates God's witness. He hates
God's Gospel. He hates God's Christ. But, verse 33, Last verse for tonight,
but, who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall
be quiet from fear of evil. To the ones who hears and hearkens
to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, In their heart, they
hearken, they hear, through the preaching of the gospel of God,
that object of God's mercy is going to dwell safely because
he dwells in Christ. He dwells in the refuge of sinners. And he's going to be at ease,
the scripture said, from the dread of evil. You know, the
distinguishing grace of God shines most brightly against the backdrop
of man's utter depravity. If you want to behold the grace
of God, you look at man for what he is. Now, I'm going to tell
you something. We're just evil creatures. I mean, that's not a good thing
that we can say about ourselves. As we are born in Adam, the Scripture
says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So none of us are blameless.
We're all, we're all as an unclean thing. All of us. But the Lord
has chosen to show mercy and compassion on some. Now that's what Scripture says. The scripture says that He chose
to show mercy on some. Out of every nation and kindred
and tribe, out of every family on this world, on this earth,
out of every family, Fred, some of them, maybe one of them. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, tongue, God has a people. And He's going to have a people
made up of all kinds. Why would He choose one and pass
by another? Because He pleased to. That's
the only answer you can give. It pleased Him. He predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. Was there anything in any of
us that Almighty God saw that merited mercy. No, you don't
merit mercy. Mercy is given to those that
are undeserving. God Almighty chose. And I'm telling
you, if a sinner is found desiring to hearken to the Lord, and to
cast himself upon Christ for mercy. The honor and glory and
praise for that hearkening doesn't belong to the sinner. It belongs
to the Savior, who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will. He who worketh in you, both to
will and do, according to His good pleasure, Whoso hearkeneth. I want us just to look, just
for a few minutes, at just each of these words, just for a minute,
in the preciousness. I know what we're like. We just
went over about eight or ten verses there. I know what we
are. Let's see who he is. Let's consider
him. I love this. Look at this. But.
Whoso. Whoso. Oh, the blessedness of that precious
title. Whoso. You know, our Lord made
this declaration in Luke 12, 8. Also I say unto you, whosoever
shall confess me before men, Him shall the Son of Man also
confess before the angels of God." Whosoever. Whosoever. You know, I can find myself in
that group. Whosoever. I know what I'm going to do if
the Lord leaves me to myself. I know what I'll do. I won't
come. But I tell you this, if by the
grace of God He gives me a heart, and makes me willing in the day
of His power, and calls me by His grace, and gives me a heart
to hearken, and I'm found in that whosoever group, I'm a blessed
man. I have nothing to brag on but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I know that. But I'm telling
you, to be found in this group of whoso's. And the spirit and
the bride say, come, and let him that heareth say, come, and
let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will. People tell me, you don't believe
in whosoever will. I beg your pardon. I'm just not going to give you
the glory for it. I'm not going to give you the
honor for it. I'm going to give God Almighty the honor for it.
But He said, whosoever, whosoever comes, I'll tell you who came,
the ones He called in power. I know who they are. Oh, listen
to the words of our Lord. John 7, 37, in that last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, if any man thirst, Let him come unto me
and drink. Whoso. Any. Every. All. Whoso. Whoso hearkeneth
to hear with obedience, to hear with attention, to hear with
interest, to hear with understanding and agreement. The Lord does
speak. Whoso hearkeneth God speaks. The Lord Jesus Christ
speaks and His sheep hears His voice. I know they do. He said
they do. That's a mysterious hearing.
It takes special ears to hear His voice. It's a hearing ear. He said it was a hearing ear.
And a seeing eye. And it's by faith. That's how
they hear. My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me. God's sheep hear the voice of
the shepherd. Don't you hear His voice when
you hear Him proclaimed as sovereign? You think, that's the one I hear.
The one that laid down for His sheep, the one that prays for
His sheep, that's the shepherd talking right there. That's the Lord of glory. That's
the voice of Him that I love. That's the one that I'm interested
in. That's the one that I love now
that I didn't love before until He gave me a heart to love Him. God's people hearkeneth unto Him. They hearken and they
continue to hearken. They find themselves with a desire
now to hear the gospel of God's grace. They want to hear the
message of the salvation of sinners. I want to hear of salvation that's
sure and forever. Salvation that I can't lose. Whoso hearkeneth unto me, unto
me, Listen to this, John 10, 5. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not, that is, they
regard or consider not the voice of strangers. Now, this is a
distinct mark that's found on all of God's sheep. A strange
shepherd, stranger, that is a false proud, haughty, self-seeking
preacher will not be heard by a regenerated sheep of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They'll flee from him. You let
a religionist, a worldly religionist, a man that's like a Pharisee,
you let him hear two men preach. You let him hear a true preacher
and a false preacher. Let him hear both men preach.
A true preacher and a false preacher. And that unconverted soul will
not be able to tell the difference between the truth and a lie.
I'll tell you what he'll believe first. He'll believe the lie
first. Because he loves darkness. But
he will not be able to tell you and differentiate according to
these scriptures, the difference. It can't tell you why, what I'm
getting at. But you let a believer hear those
two same men, and he'll detect heresy as soon as he hears it.
As soon as he hears it, he'll say, uh-uh, that's a lie. That
is a lie. God loves everybody, that's a
lie. Christ died for everybody, that's a lie. The Lord prays
for everybody, that's a lie. God wants to save everybody,
that's a lie. God doesn't want to do anything
he's not gonna do. The scripture says, who so hearkeneth unto
me. Here's what's gonna happen. They
shall dwell safely. They're going to dwell safely
because God has eternally placed them eternally in the cleft of
the rock. Chosen in Him the city of refuge
Himself. Dwelling in Him eternally. Names
written in the book of life. and before the foundation of
the world. Name's always been there. Written in Christ. They shall dwell safely. Because
they're in the hand of the Father that gave and entrusted them
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And now they're in His hand.
And they're never going to perish. Nobody's ever going to pluck
them out of the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ or the Father's
hand. They shall dwell safely. and shall be quiet, calmed from
fear of evil. They are, by the grace of God,
conscious by divine revelation of God's protection from the
evil one, Satan, who would, as a roaring lion, seek whom he
may devour, but he can't. Not God's people. Almighty God has hedged them
about. They're in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that hearkeneth unto me,
that dwell safely, they're going to be quiet from fear of evil
because they know that the blood of Christ has been shed for them. And God Almighty has said, when
I see the blood, I'm going to pass over you. And I'm going
to tell you what the hope that I have. That when Christ died,
He died for me. I believe Him. I believe that.
I believe He did. I believe that. I believe that
His blood has cleansed me, cleanseth me from all sin. I believe I'm accepted in the
blood of it. I believe that His righteousness
robes me. And therefore, I believe right now, that there is therefore
now no condemnation to all that be in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Whoso hearkeneth, whosoever hears
the Word of God, He believes it. Cast themselves upon the
mercy of God in Christ. You're going to dwell safely.
You're going to dwell safely. And be quiet from the fear of
evil. Nothing's going to happen. You're
secure in Him. For Christ's sake, for God's
honor, and for your eternal good. Amen.