Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs
13. I'd like to consider verses 15 to 19 this
morning, and I've entitled this message, concerning man. I have questions. As we continue the study in this
blessed book, the book of Proverbs, this has been a profitable book
to make word by word, word by word, just every verse trying
to see the gospel and trying to see Christ And as we continue
to work, let's never, never forget. I bring this up, but the reason
I bring it up is because we're prone to forget. I know I am.
This is the purpose of these proverbs. You know, you've read
them and you think, well, it just seems like just moral lessons. Just one lesson, the next verse
is just another moral lesson. No. Remember. If you don't see Christ in it,
then we miss it. If you didn't see what you thought
you saw, these scriptures, these are they, he said, that testify
of me. His disciples asked him, why
do you speak in parables and proverbs? Why? Because it's given
unto you to know the mysteries kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given." My friend, if we see Christ, it is because
it was given unto you to believe. If you see Christ and rejoice
in the gospel of God's grace, the Lord has given you a new
heart. Rejoice in that. Why do men think, and I'm talking
about these questions, why do men think concerning the glory
of God? Why do men think the way that
they do? Why? Well, here's the answer. Chapter 13, verse 15, it says,
Good understanding giveth favor. But the way of transgressors
is hard. Why do men think the way that
they do towards Almighty God? Why do they think one way or
the other? Why? Good understanding, good
intelligence, good knowledge, good sense, that's all, what
that word, good understanding, new politics. Regenerated by
the Spirit of God. Regenerated by Him who alone
is good. God is good. God alone is good. So, good understanding. Good understanding. Understanding from Him, Neil,
who is good. That's what it means. understanding, give it favor. Understanding from Almighty God,
who is the God of all grace, and works all things after the
counsel of his own will, good understanding, give it favor. It applies Good understanding. Understanding
from him who is good. Good sense. Good intelligence. Almighty God teaches a man something
of himself. Good understanding. Believers,
because of a heart made new by the Spirit of God, they have
a good understanding. They understand Now, I know we
see through a glass darknet. I mean, that's not up for debate.
I know, I know that we know in part, we prophesy in part, the
Spirit of God is given unto us by measure. Not Him. Without
measure with Him, but to us. We're struggling preachers. Men
stand and they're struggling. Paul says we prophesy in part. I don't know everything. I'll
read these scriptures and I'll ask the Lord. Man, there's times
that the Spirit of God, by His graciousness to me, I'll be adhering. I'll come to passage of scripture
many times in the Book of Proverbs. And I'll see what Mr. Gill has
to say, and Mr. Hawker has to say, and John Calvin
has to say, and on and on and on. Did you ask the Lord? Did you
ask the Lord? He said you have not, because
you asked not. And the first thing that I'll
do, I'll... Lord, I'm sorry. I didn't even ask you. Lord,
you wrote this. This is your Word. Lord, if you're
pleased to reveal this to me through a man, thank you for
that. I thank you for preachers that you've taught something,
but Lord, What can I do of my own ability to figure this out? Good understanding of Him who
is, the I Am. God's people have some understanding,
good understanding of the God of all races. I thought that he had made things
possible for me, but it was kind of left up to me. No, no. Good understanding teaches me
that he works all things after the counsel of his own will.
That he does all things well. That he rules in the army of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no man stays
as him. That's good understanding. Good understanding tells me I'm
in his hand. And I'm not going to make him
king. I'm not going to make him anything. He's going to make
me what I am by the grace of God, or he's going to leave me
alone in my own foolishness. Good understanding. Good understanding. Scripture sets forth that God's
people Recognize that Almighty God, He's working all of these
things. Why are things going on in your
life? I'll tell you why. Because He's
working all of these things for His glory and your good. Joseph's
brothers got him mad at him. I hope daddy's done shown him
some favor. Look at that curve of many cars. One of them said, don't kill
him. Let's sell him. Yeah, let's sell
him. We'll sell him. There's a caravan
right there going to Egypt. Let's sell him, and then we'll
take the money, and look, what we'll do is we'll take his coat,
and we'll kill an animal, put some blood on it, and go back
and we'll kill daddy. That animal got him. Yeah. Yeah, that's what
we'll do. And this will work. And then
we'll have him, we'll be rid of him. And you know what happened. The
Lord took and put Joseph in Egypt. This is where they sent him,
sold him, and raised him up, second in command, right under
the finger of him. Made him Pharaoh by the
God's hand. Joseph was realizing Pharaoh thought he was doing
him a favor. Pharaoh was in the hands of Almighty God. Famine
had sold their brother in slavery. God raised him up, made him in
charge of distributing all the food that was going to be had.
Here was the conclusion when Joseph revealed himself to his
brothers. As for you, you thought evil
against me, but God made it unto good. To bring to pass, as it
is this day, to save much people alive. Think about the trials that I've
gone through. I've had some things that happened
in my life. And you just look at yourself
at that I, those problems. Problems I was going through.
And yada yada all of a sudden I'm going through and pranking
and stuff like this. Well what happened? Well I ended
up in a cave and that was a blessing to me. I pray it was to you.
But I'm so thankful. You manage the evil, God makes
the good. Almighty God All these things are His glory. Good understanding, good understanding,
the Scripture says, boy, give it favor. It produces a favorable
attitude. It sets forth God Almighty who
has a favorable attitude towards the people. But it also does
the same thing. and his people's heart toward
him. Good understanding. Scripture says for him, give
us favor. That attitude of favor toward
God. New heart, new understanding.
Those who are the instruments in his hands of bringing about
to them, toward himself, honor. Lord, you're worthy. You're worthy.
Good understanding, giveth favor. It shows God's favor to them
and their favor. We love Him. Why? Because He
first loved us. We come to Him. Why? Because
He drew us. We all go back to Him. We understand. Good favor.
But the way of transgressors is hard. Way of transgressors. Unbelievers. Hard. I like that word hard. It means
uncultivated. Unbroken. Unbridled. Hard. Hard. Hardness of that
carnal heart. The enmity against Almighty God
longs to rid himself of the yoke of any thought of God. And he can. There's a conscience
in every man. Unbridled, unchanged, untaught,
without good understanding. That good understanding produced
favor, gave favor, that a man would call on God, but that one
left to himself a way of transgressors. Unbroken. I'm not going to have this man
rule over me. Yeah, you will. Yeah, you will. One day. If not in this life,
I bet he is. When he says depart from me,
you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. The way of transgressors, that
image of guilt that's stamped on every man born in town, it's
evidenced. How do you know? because he won't
bow to this God. Good understanding is evidence
one way a man will leave the Lord. He believes the gospel
of God's grace. He bows to that message that
gives Almighty God all the honor, all the glory, all the praise. Paul says we were all children
of wrath, even as others. And I told you this, not that
Almighty God ever looked on His people in wrath, never, never. But all of His people, even His
people, unregenerated, they were children of wrath against Him,
even as others. But the difference is, for some,
Chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world in
time, God gives them a good understanding, good knowledge. By that gracious
mercy of Almighty God, He gives it favor. Why do men think the
way they do? Well, they're wicked because
they're uncultivated. Hard, that's what the word means,
they're hard. They won't bow to Christ, give up to Almighty
God for salvation. But to the regenerate, why do
they think the way they do? Because the Lord's given them
good understanding. It's a gift. I can't teach you. I have no ability. I can preach,
but I can tell you this, if the Spirit of God doesn't teach you,
I can't teach you. There's been times that I have
read a scripture to somebody and I thought, there's no way
in the world you're not going to believe this. You've got to believe
this. Anybody that's got any sense
at all is going to believe this. And I usually, it's 2 Thessalonians
2.13, where we are bound to give thanks to you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God has, from the beginning, chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, setting apart
by the Spirit, and belief of the truth. I thought, there's
no way in the world that you won't believe that. Unless the Lord gives a new heart,
you just talk to it, didn't he? He's dead here. Surely, surely
somebody, no, not if he's dead. Good understanding. Now, in light of that first question,
why do men think the way they do, I got another question. Here's
number two. What's the evidence of those
two minds? What's the evidence of those
two? Now, I know this. There's only two ways of thinking. Why do men think the way they
do? There's only two ways of thinking. Good understanding
or hard. There's only two. Now, that's
what the Scriptures have to say. It's either good understanding
of bowing to God who's sovereign, bowing to Him who's Lord, Heaven
and Earth. He's sovereign in salvation.
He's sovereign in creation. He just doesn't believe it. I
just don't believe it. What's the evidence? Verse 16
tells us, Every prudent man dealt with knowledge, but a fool laid
open his body. What's the evidence? Well, every
prudent man, every regenerated, taught Every prudent man deals with
knowledge. He acts on it. He follows it. He executes. How? By faith. By
faith. You're sitting here right now,
and by the grace of God, everyone that the Lord has given a new
heart, good understanding. You know what you do? You deal with it. How? You believe
it. You just believe it. God's given
you a heart to believe in. You follow that scripture, you
act on it. We act the way we think. You know that's so. The scripture
says forth, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The prudent man, wise in heart,
he follows Christ. according to the knowledge that
the Lord Jesus Christ has given Him by Spirit. We follow after
this. God's people, they read God's
Word and they say, you know what? I know. I know that what Almighty
God has said. I know that's so. And if it goes
against what everybody taught me when I was, you know, coming
up in false religion gene, if it goes against that, I'm going
to believe God. I'm going to walk out there.
Lord, as you say, catching any fish? We fished all night. Haven't caught anything. Catching
on the other side. Lord, we've cast all night. But it's your
Word. It's going to go against, many
times it goes against, what this old man is going to say. This
old man is going to fight you. This old man is going to tell
you. I'm talking about the old man that lives in every believer.
There's two natures in every believer. The old man's going
to tell you, you can only take that so far.
The new man says, no, I'm going to believe God. And there's a
struggle there. They strive against one another.
The Lord Jesus Christ, if He's shined in your heart by the Spirit
of God and given you a knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, you're going to follow after Him. Faith, worketh
by love. Faith, love. Faith, love. God gives faith. When a man loves
God's Word, you're going to follow after him. You're going to do
what you do because what Almighty God has either done in you or
left you to yourself. Why do men do what they do? Every fruit of man deals with
knowledge. Every man left to himself just
lays open his body. God's people know that in them,
that is, in their flesh, they know that there is no good thing.
They know that there is a struggle. But God's people, taught by God,
they know that Almighty God has dealt with them in electing,
preserving, redeeming, quickening grace that all honor, all glory,
all praise is due to Him. Every prudent man deals with
knowledge. Every fool lays open his body. He lays out his silliness. That's what he does. He lays
his silliness out. He mocks at his guilt. He mocks
it. One that will not come. He will not hear. What he's doing
is he's mocking. He's mocking. Number one, he's
mocking what God Almighty says is going to happen to him. I don't think that. Do you know
if a man truly believed, eternally, if he truly believed that he
was going to spend eternity separated from God? If he believed it,
really, he'd do something about it. He don't believe it. He does
not believe it. A man that will toy, I'm telling
you, toying with this, you are toying with your eternal soul. You realize you're going to die?
Do you realize that as a man, the way that a man dies, the
way he dies, that's the way he's going to be forever. He that
is holy, as Scripture says, let him be holy still. He that is
unrighteous, let him be unrighteous still. The way you leave this
earth, I'm telling you, that's it. It's over. A fool just lays
open his silliness, mops, no fear in God, no care. For the
honor of Almighty God is eternal being. Verse 17, here's my next
question. Does it matter who I hear concerning
the evidence of true life? Does it matter? Why do men do
what they do? Why do they think the way they
think? What's the evidence? Number three, does it matter
who I hear concerning the evidence of true life? Verse 17 says,
a wicked messenger fallen into mischief, but a faithful ambassador
is held. We know that it is the voice of the shepherd.
That's what I said a while ago. My sheep hear my voice, I know
them, they follow me. But here's a question here. How
has the Lord He's been pleased to send forth the voice of the
shepherd to his sheep. Well, let me tell you the way
it is. Here's how he's been pleased
to send forth his voice. Through preaching. Preaching. Preaching the gospel. I will give you pastures according
to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Every true preacher, I'm talking
about one called God, preaches this message. Every true preacher
called God preaches the message of sovereign grace. Every true
preacher. Because there's only one message.
This is the message. This is the message that the
Apostle Paul said, I'm not ashamed of it. I'll read this to you
again. This is the message that we preach.
The only message. Does any true preacher preach
a different message than this? No. How do you know? Paul says, Romans 1, verses 15
and 17, For as much as in me is. As much as in me is. What he's saying is this. This
is everything, this is my desire, this is my hope, this is my plea. I pray God save your family,
I pray he does. I pray God save my family, my
grandchildren, my children. I prayed, I said the other night,
I pray God have mercy on those around you, those you know, those
you work with. As much as him means, I'm ready. to preach the gospel to you there
at Rome also. Why? He said, well, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and salvation
to everyone that believes in it. To the Jew first and also
to the Greek. For therein, in the gospel, free
grace, hungry grace. Not a man trying to exercise
his free will and trying to get God It is not of him that willeth,
or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It's
not of him that willeth. You can't say, well, you've got
a free will. Which we're born. As many as
received him, to them gave he power. That's the evidence. As
many as received him, this was the evidence of that. He gave
them power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed
on his name. And the Spirit of God, wise as
what wisdom is set forth here, he explained that scripture so
that we could not misunderstand it. Which were born, not of blood,
Just because I'm a believer, that does not mean that my kids
are going to be believers. Not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh.
I want God, Almighty, to have mercy on me. But I know this,
I don't have a will. I don't have a will. It's not
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. I want God
to save my kids, but I cannot talk them into it. which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the man of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. So when somebody tells you,
say, every man has a free will, you say, show me that. Show me in the scriptures, and
I'll believe you. But if you don't show me that,
then you've got choice to make. Now you've got choice. Now what
do you want to do? Which were born, not of him that willeth,
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of this gospel. Does it matter who
I hear concerning the evidence of life? Yes, yes, yes. Yes, it matters. How much does
it matter? Galatians 1, 8 and 9, Paul says, but though
we are an angel from heaven, if an angel stood, Though we
or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let it be accursed. As we
said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have received, let it be accursed. Does it matter? Yes. Yes. If it doesn't matter, if it doesn't
matter, then why are we here? Let's just go join up with somebody
else and have a big one. If it doesn't matter. But if
it matters, if it matters. I mean, listen. Almighty God
in His infinite mercy, compassion, grace, and all this stuff has
allowed this church to be here. And you've gone through a lot
of problems. People have despised you and hated you. Loved our
precious and blessed pastor. And God Almighty was pleased
to allow the gospel to remain that way. Does it matter? Yes,
it matters. An unfaithful messenger. Wicked messenger. Verse 17, falleth
into mischief. But faithful ambassador. Scripture
says, faithful ambassador. Does it matter what I preach?
Yes, it does. It's health. He delivers the only message
of man's cure from the bondage of sin by the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only message. This is the message that I've
rested my soul on. Does it matter? It matters. It
matters. Here's my fourth question. What
shall happen to those who refuse this message and those who regard
it? What will happen? Verse 18. Poverty
and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction, but he that
regardeth for truth shall be honored." That's pretty self-explanatory.
Poverty, reproach, is going to be the end of every man that
dismisses or refuses God's correction, God's instruction. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. What is His command? The one that God just told us
to hear. Here's His command. Come unto Me. All ye that labor
heavy laden, I will give you rest. Nothing but Him. Come unto
Me. Come unto Me. Aren't we supposed
to go to the church? Come unto Me. What about baptism coming to
me? How about coming to me? All ye that labor, heavy labor,
I will give you rest. If he regarded reproof, if he
regarded iniquity on me, What am I going to do? What am I going
to say? Where am I going to stand? Almighty
God has one message. This is my beloved son, and whom
I will please hear him, is the last question. If you do regard
his corruption, if you do, who made you different? Who made
you different? The desire accomplished is sweet
to the soul, but it is an abomination, it is an abomination to fools
to depart from evil. The desire coming to pass, that's
what it says. The desire accomplished, the
desire coming to pass is sweet to the soul. Well, the first
desire that we consider This desire has come in the past.
It's God's desire to show mercy to His people. Luke 12, 32 says,
Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom. So whose desire is it? If a man or woman comes to Christ,
whose desire was it? It's the Lord's. It's the Lord's
desire. His desire to save all of His
left. in his beloved son, the work
that was finished, when he said it's finished, God's work, God's
accomplishment, God's purpose, his desire is known to his people,
his desire to save his people. That desire
is known to his people. You know how? That he loved me. I love him. I love him. I'm talking about
I love him the way he's sitting at the door right here. I love
him. He's the boss. Brother Scott
used to say, who's running this show anyway? Who's in charge
here? Who's the boss? You know what
a believer says? Lord, you're the boss. You're
the Lord. Lord, I'm a worm. You have the right to do what
you will with your life. Thank you for showing mercy. To me,
the desire to accomplish this is sweet. Sweet to the soul. To that new man who beholds the
mercy of God accomplished in him. Lord, thank you for this. Hunger is after Christ. Thirst
is after Christ. But it's an abomination to fools
to depart from evil. You know what that means? foolish or silly to depart or
to decline from rebellion to the unbeliever. That's silly
to them. I don't want to do that. That's
what an unbeliever says. It is disgusting to me. I love rebelling against God.
Men that uphold sincerity. Those who desire Him as He's
revealed in the Scripture, they're going to say this one thing.
Lord, you've made me one. Helpless, on my road to Damascus,
you stopped me. On my way ahead, I left to myself,
that's where I'd be going. You said this, Lord. I found a ranch. Lord, when did you find it? It
was a good understanding before the foundation of the world,
the Lamb was slain. Lord, you've cherished so much
in me. Lord, you've kept me until this
day. Lord, thank you that I'm standing here today believing
you because the faith by which I believe you today, you just
gave it to me. Faith come on. Faith today. Look unto Him, all ye ends of
the earth, be saved. May the Lord bless these words.