I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter
19. Proverbs 19. I'd like to look at three verses
of Scripture, 10, 11, and 12 of Proverbs 19. I've entitled this message, God's
Wisdom in Man's Salvation. Proverbs 19 verse 10, Delight
is not seemly for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule
over princes. The discretion of a man deferreth
his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion, but his favor is as
dew upon the grass. I have three points. I want to
try to be very, very simple. I want us to understand what's
being said. I have three points. Number one,
Man is foolish. Number two, the wisdom of God
is revealed in the sinner's salvation. And number three, God is a just
God and a Savior. Now, man is born foolish. Now listen
to this verse of Scripture. See, this is not what's being
said. Delight is not seemly for a fool, much less for a servant
to have rule over princes. Now let me just tell you the
literal of what was said. Delight or luxury is what that
word means. Luxury is not seemly or it's
not beautiful for a fool. How much worse for an enslaved
bondman, a servant, to have rule over the governor, the chief
captain, or the general. That's what those were, princes.
That's what it means. Luxury is not beautiful for a
fool. How much worse is for an enslaved
bondman to have rule over the general? When God formed man in the garden. Here's what Scripture says. The
Lord said, let us make man in our image. Accomplish and let us appoint. Let us make man in our image. Now what he said there was, let
us appoint all that would ever be made. Let us appoint them. Appoint them is what the word,
let us make man, in light of their relationship to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Whenever God Almighty chose a
people from before the foundation of the world, Frankie made a
choice. God made the appointment. Let
us make man in our image. Then the Scripture says, so God
created. That is, to choose to cut down
or to make fat, a continuation of what He had just said. Let
us make. So He created. And then it says
in Genesis 2-7, so the Lord formed man out of the dust, like a potter
that makes a pot. And He forms it, He forms it
the way He wanted to. Now, the Lord God of heaven made
man, created him, formed him, God breathed into him and that
man became a living soul with consciousness and ability to
speak, an amazing creature. And Almighty God planted a garden,
the Garden of Eden, and made in that garden everything that
was pleasant. to the sight and for the good,
for food, the Scripture says, to grow in that garden. And God
put a river in that garden to water that garden. And then the
Lord, after He made Adam, the Lord put Adam into a deep sleep
and took a rib out of him. And He formed a woman. He made a wife. for Adam. And then from that rib, he made
man to have a wife. And this is what he said, it's
not good that the man should be alone. That's not good, not
good. Now there's a beautiful picture
of the glorious gospel of God's grace that gave the Lord Jesus
Christ a bride that God would give man The man, the Lord Jesus,
a wife, a bride, chose him a bride. And so therefore, God put Adam,
made a woman, put him in this garden, everything that would... Luxury. Luxury. God made a man, made him a wife,
and put him in the garden, and all that God was pleased to give
him was very good. It was very good. Can you imagine
what God said is very good? It's luxury, luxury, delight. But according to our Scripture,
delight or luxury is not seemly, it's not beautiful for a fool. It's not becoming. Man in the
garden exhibited foolishness. Almighty God had given man one
restriction. You can eat of all the fruit,
all these trees, except one. In the day that you eat thereof,
you're going to die. Now listen, here's man in luxury,
and luxury was not becoming. It was not delightful. And he disobeyed God, and by
one man's disobedience, all of mankind were made sinners, came
forth from their mother's womb, speaking lies, dead in trespasses
and sin. Now, the Scripture sets forth
that delight, obviously from the fall, is not seemly for a
fool. Man is born today and does not
have any delight in God's mercy. Man comes forth from his mother's
womb, his mind is enmity against God. Here's the only hope of
a sinner. But man by nature will reject
and reject and will go as fast as he can to hell because he
hates God. Luxury. Luxury. Delight is not
seemly for a fool. All men are born foolish. Foolish. How much less for a servant to have rule over
princes. Now, humanly speaking, let me tell
you, I'm going to give you an example of foolishness. I thought
of something. The word servant, it means an
ignorant and incapable one. One that has no ability to rule. A servant, has no capacity I was in the Navy, joined the
Navy in 1969 and went through boot camp and got out of boot
camp, went to Jacksonville, Florida and got on a ship, got on a destroyer
there. First day, first day on a ship,
that afternoon. got injured. A settling tank,
I was working under a torpedo launcher and a settling tank
fell over and hit me in the top of the spine and they took me
over to a medical ship and examined me in and out of hospitals for
about a year and then finally decided that this ain't gonna
work. And so they gave me a discharge. Now let me ask you something. Would you think that a raw recruit
coming out of boot camp, injured, you know, does that qualify me
to be an admiral? Well that's foolishness. I mean,
that's just raw foolishness. I mean, you don't know what you're
doing, you're a fool, you're inexperienced. How are you going
to accomplish? You don't even know what you're
talking about. You don't even know the rules of engagement.
You don't know anything about war. You don't know anything
about these ships. You don't know anything. You
don't know how many destroyers there are supposed to be around
an aircraft carrier. You have no idea how many battleships
are in a fleet. You don't know anything. You're right. You're right. But
do you know that that's the very thought that man by nature has
concerning his relationship to God Almighty, thinking that man
has the knowledge and the wisdom and the understanding and the
will and the capability to accomplish salvation. And man foolishly
thinks, I am the author. of what I must do to satisfy
God and I can exalt myself and I will be as the Most High. See,
everything else, foolishness is understood when you just put
it in context of something that you and I can see. But when it
comes to salvation, man thinks delight is not seemly for a fool,
much less for a servant to have rule over princes. Oh, the depravity of a carnal
heart. The Scripture says, from the
sole of the foot even into the head there's no soundness in
it but for the grace of God. All mankind, I can tell you this,
would either be in hell or bound for it. Man is born a fool. and has no capability of changing
his state before God in himself. Secondly, the wisdom of God is
revealed in man's salvation. Verse 11 says, The discretion
of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over
a transgression The discretion of a man. Here's what it means.
The intelligence, the knowledge, the understanding, and the prudence
of a man. The discretion of a man deferreth
his anger. You know, that a natural man,
just naturally speaking here, there's so much when we read
the Proverbs, it's obviously. There's so much good that's taught
in day-to-day life. There's just some natural things
that we learn. I know that. But I want to tell
you something. If all we see is the natural
right here, then we've missed the gospel. If we miss Christ,
if we miss the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we haven't seen Proverbs correctly. You know, I understand that for
a natural man, the discretion of a man deferreth his anger.
You take a man and he's got a little outward control. Outward control. I mean, you know, somebody may
say something to me and outwardly I may smile, you know, and I'll
say, well, that's okay, I understand. But inside I'm thinking, you
idiot. You know, what a stupid statement. That's what I'm thinking.
But for a man to have a little outward control over his emotions. And he doesn't just fly off the
handle, you know, and rant and rave at the drop of a hat. That
shows some restraint. It shows some wisdom. It does. You know, let's be discreet.
Proverbs 14.29 says, He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. And all of us are exhorted to
exercise this restraint. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, that is God's Word, slow to speak
against it, slow to wrath against others, especially those that
don't understand. If the Lord reveals it, they'll
understand. Be swift to hear and slow to
wrath. Slow to speak. But consider the discretion,
the intelligence, the knowledge, the understanding, the prudence
of Almighty God in the deference, in the putting away of His anger. His anger even especially toward
His elect, Almighty God, who is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity, for him to defer his anger? You know, that's wisdom. Wisdom is set forth, the wisdom
of God is set forth in the salvation of God's elect. Almighty God
is just. I mean, if justice was executed
immediately with every offense, I mean, buddy, we would have
just now, now, now, now, now. But for God to defer His anger
toward His people in their salvation is great wisdom. Great, great
wisdom. How? How can this be? How is it that God who is just
and will in no wise clear the guilty? How? Listen to this. Just turn with me. Revelation
13.8. Now, you've read this so many times. Here's the wisdom
of God. Revelation 13.8. How can Almighty God, in absolute
justice, show long-suffering? Look here, "...and all that dwell
upon the earth shall worship Him whose names are not written
in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world." Almighty God has ever seen the
blood. He's ever seen the payment. He has ever trusted in his son. You know, if somebody owed me
a debt, and somehow I was able to know, absolutely, absolutely,
that debt's going to be paid. You know, though it may appear
as though for a while that it's questionable whether or not that
debt's going to be paid, but if somehow I knew absolutely
that debt's going to be paid and I could actually see the
payment having already been made, you know what I'd do? I'd settle
down. That's just humanly speaking.
I'd be alright. They'll make you good. You might
know somebody and you know them and you know that he's not going
to beat me out of that money. He's not going to beat me out
of that. He's not going to do that. Your anger will be deferred. Almighty God, having chosen a
people from before the foundation of the world, and gave them to
the Son, and having given them to the Son, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." You hear him. Having been found in the Son,
and the Father never looked again at the chosen, at the elect,
at the bride. He never looked to them for satisfaction. Who did He look to? He looked
to the surety. I trust Him. He shall not fail. He shall accomplish. The Lord
says, My meat, I'm going to do what He wants. Oh, here's the
longsuffering of God. Scripture reveals that God is
longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3.9. How do you know? We're in the
Son. We're in Him. And I know this,
according to these Scriptures, the Scriptures reveal that He
is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. Oh, the wisdom of God. Everything,
as Brother Scott used to say, put all of His eggs in one basket. in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Scripture says that the discretion
of a man, the wisdom of a man, the intelligence deferreth his
anger. Why? He trusted in Christ. He was the first one to trust
in Christ. In all that he's given the Son, you know how many is
coming? All of them. All of them. I said a minute
ago, he's not going to fail. He's not going to fail. And God
Almighty is long-suffering, having ever seen the blood. The discretion
of a man deferreth his anger, and it's his glory to pass over
a transgression. Remember when Moses asked the
Lord, you know, show me your glory. This is what the Lord
said. He said, He said, I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. That is, He said, it's my glory
to pass over a transgression. It's my glory to pass over a
transgression. Is He just going to forget about
it? When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Justice is satisfied. Micah 7.18, Who is a God likened
to thee? that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy." How? How? Here's my third point
right here. God is a just God and a Savior. Verse 12 says, the king's wrath
is as the roaring of a lion, but his favor is as dew upon
the grass. Again, bypassing all human kings,
let's consider the king of kings. Let's consider him. Apart from being found in the
Lord Jesus Christ, God is a consuming fire. Now you know that. You
know. God Almighty is just. The King's wrath is as the roaring
of a lion. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
made sin and found Upon the cross there
was the Lord Himself that the Scripture says the Father made
Him sin. He hath made Him sin. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
found there upon the cross being made sin, what happened? He was forsaken. He was forsaken
of the Father. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? You're the Lamb. You're the Redeemer. You're the substitute for all
found in You. You're the ark upon which The
rain, the storm must fall. The king's wrath is as the roaring
of a lion. When the law beheld sin upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, judgment fell. And for all found within
the Lord Jesus Christ, they died under God's judgment In Him. That's what Paul said. I was
crucified with Christ. I was there. That's a deep, deep
thing to realize. But having been found in Him
eternally. We've always been found in Him.
And we were there. We were there. And truthfully,
when He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried.
When He rose, we rose. And right now, we're seated in the heavenlies. I can't explain all this, but
I know what the Scripture says. But I can tell you this, Almighty God that saw the blood
slain from the foundation of the world in time, it actually
took place, but God eternally saw it. His ways are not our
ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
But I can tell you this, the King's wrath is as a roaring
of a lion and all found apart from the Son. That wrath right
there as a roaring lion is going to be spewed out eternally upon
all that reject the Son. I know that. God is just, but
He's a Savior. His favor. is as dew upon the
grass. God is just. There's coming a
time when men are going to cry Revelation 6, 15 to 17 says,
and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the
chief captains, the mighty men, every bondman, every free man
hid themselves in the dens, in the rocks and the mountains and
said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, hide us from the
face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath
is coming. Who shall be able to stand? God's just. But His favor, His delight, His
pardon, His acceptance is as dew upon the grass. Micah 5.7 says this, And the
remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a
dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth
not for a man, nor waiteth for the sons of man." God just sends
it, the dew. You just get up in the morning. When does it get there? I don't
know. I don't know when it got there. But I know this, you walk
around early in the morning and you see the dew upon the grass
and the refreshment. Almighty God, having satisfied
justice and judgment for His people in His Son, now smiles
upon them. I've told you this illustration
before. It made such an impression on me. Years ago, my buddy, J. Byrd Beasley, remember I told
you that about how he got himself in trouble police officers came,
worked at a store, sold a guy some beer that he thought was
of age and he wasn't. Gave Jay Bird a ticket, he had
to go to court and I went with him. Judge Franks, female judge there
in Franklin, noted, I mean buddy let me tell you something, if
you had to go to court you better be innocent because I can tell
you She had a reputation and she meant it. And boy, I'm telling
you, it was just four or five people just before her. I mean,
just before Jay Bird got called. One young man got up and he was
going to represent himself. It was a second offense or something. And buddy, she cleaned his plow. woman came up and she was soon
to deliver. I remember this and I thought,
you know, wow, this poor lady, she looks like she will deliver
pretty quickly. She had 15 counts of hot checks
and she started explaining, you know, well I've had this and
I've had this bad and I've been sick and my kids are sick and
Judge Franks told her, she said, I'm going to tell you something.
if these 15 checks are not taken care of by 5 o'clock this afternoon. 15 checks. She said, you're going
to be in my jail tonight. Do you understand me? Yes, ma'am. And they called Jay Bird's name.
And I thought, oh, he's dead. He's dead. And an attorney that
Jay Bird never even hired that just offered his services before
court stood up They called his name, and he said, Judge, I represent
Mr. Beasley. And the judges looked
at that attorney and smiled, and he said, That's fine, that'll
be good. Next, and I thought to myself, Oh, to not stand before
the judge without a substitute, without a mediator. God Almighty
is a just God. In Christ, He's the Savior. God Almighty has mercy, but never
at the expense of justice. Lord bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake. Amen.