Let's take our Bibles again and
turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter 24. I said 24 meant 12. It's verse
24 I'm going to look at. Proverbs 12, verse 24. I would like to speak for a few
minutes on the God who rules. I know this blessed book is actually sweet letters of
love from the Lord Jesus Christ to His people. Think of it. Ask the Lord to
grant us all a heart of mine to just stop and realize this
is the Lord speaking. These are not merely words. Think of it as we hear from Him. He said, My sheep hear My voice. You hear the voice of the Lord in that new heart as he speaks
through his word. These words are alive. We're not just looking at just
historical. This is today. The Lord is speaking today. Now listen to what he says. I'm an ambassador. I am just a mouthpiece. These are His words. Now listen
to what He has to say this morning. Proverbs 12 verse 24. The Lord says, The hand of the
diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute. Now the heart of any message
Any passage is only understood as the Spirit of God reveals
Christ in that passage. These proverbs are not just mere
moral suggestions. If we don't see Christ in this,
then we've missed it. Let's look at each word in that
first portion right there. The hand, the power of the diligent,
of the determined. Man, I like that. The diligent. He's diligent. You talk about
somebody that's diligent. They're determined. Those that are set on doing what
they desire to do. The hand, the power of the determined
bear rule reigns or has dominion. That's what it means. Now there
is absolutely no way in the world that a believer hasn't already
seen in just reading that. There's no way in the world that
we can't see Christ in that. The hand, the power of the determined
shall bear rule." Here we see the glory of God's servant, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the servant of the Lord. It amazes me when
I read those blessed passages of Scripture and I see how Our
Lord humbled Himself. And when He speaks with such
respect, here's God Himself. And when we behold Him in the
days of His humiliation, when He spoke with such respect to
His Father and prayed, He was praying in our stead. For us
in our stead. Praying perfectly. as we must
pray because as He was establishing our righteousness as a man, that
righteousness is puted to us. That's why the Father was saying
to us, well done, the servant. I want you to listen to this
Psalm 115. I love these passages. You take that passage we just
read. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule. Listen to this. Psalm 115. I'll
read this to you. 115 verse 2 and 3. Wherefore should the heathen
say? Where is now their God? I love
these passages. Just set forth the power of the
Lord. But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. And when we looked last
Wednesday night at Psalm 2, why do the heathen rage? People
imagine a vain, empty thing. Let's break His bands asunder. We're not going to have anything
to do with Him. And Scripture says, Lord, he that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh. Listen, we're all going to deal
with God. We're going to deal with God as submissive servants made willing
in the day of His power, standing before Him in a substitute. and so thankful in that day.
I think to myself right now that Almighty God would have
mercy to me and that I can stand in Him. I'm thankful for that.
But oh, what shall I know in that day when I actually look
upon Him and we see in that day the judge of all the earth. And
there's all men. All men standing before God.
The Apostle Paul says we shall all stand at the judgment seat
of Christ. He's going to put His sheep on
His right hand and goats on His left. In that day, how will we in that
day ever thank Him enough that He was pleased to show mercy. Are we going to deal with God? Where is your God, David? Our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Let me read this to you. I'm
talking about loving the passages that are set forth. God's power
and God's will. Let me read Zephaniah 3. I'll hurry. Zephaniah 3, verse
14-20. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout,
O Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. One of these days, We're going
to know what that meant. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands
be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will say, He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He
will love a joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that
are sorrowful for the solemn assembly. who are of thee to
whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo
all that afflict thee. I will save her that halteth,
gather her that was driven out. I will get them praise and fame
in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time
will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you.
For I will make you a name and a praise among all people of
the earth when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith
the Lord." Man, what a promise. Almighty God says, I will. This
is what I'm going to do for you. I'm going to turn away your shame.
I will be in the midst of you. I will. I will. Almighty God says, Proverbs 12,
24, the hand of a diligent shall bear well. I will do. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 8,
as the federal head and Savior and substitute of the church,
He by the mighty hand of His power, when He ascended up on
high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men." When He was raised from
the dead by the power of Almighty God, by His own power. Man, I
read that Scripture, and when the Lord said, I have power to
lay down my life, I have power to take it again. I'm reading right now, doing
a little study, Sometimes I try to stay a little ahead and study. I was looking at when the Lord
Jesus Christ, those Jews, those very Jews that got on to our
Lord, for that impotent man that He healed on Sabbath day. They
came to Him. I'm going to try to not preach
this message right now, but I'm going to have to take this. They asked Him. I asked him,
you know, what do you mean? What do you mean? Paraphrasing.
What do you mean by doing this? And he set forth a statement. He made seven statements concerning
his deity. Here, back here. The hand of
the diligent shall bear rule. And he told those Jews in verse
17 of John 5, he says, my father worked Who gave you the authority
to do this? My Father worketh hitherto and
I work. Do you know what he told them? He said, as my Father worketh,
as all of this world is being held together for the power of
God Almighty, that's what I'm doing. He told those Jews, he
said, I'm holding this together. I'm God. I'm doing as I will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
That's me. And boy, I'll tell you what,
they got on to Him. You know that. Our God is God. God Almighty. Almighty God raised
from the dead. He, as the surety of the sheep,
the captain of our salvation, He has led captivity. He has led captive that which
held us captive. Remember when we were going through
the book of Revelation? And He bound Satan for a thousand years. You remember this. A thousand
years. a number that is not literal. He has held Satan in captivity
to Satan's power to stop God Almighty from saving His people. The devil is God's devil. He
is God's tool. People talk like the devil and
the Lord is in some battle I'm telling you, when God Almighty
speaks, His devil does his bidding whatsoever, whensoever, howsoever. Consider my servant Job. Well,
I have, but I can't do anything about it because you've got him
hedged about. And the Lord gave Satan a little bit of leeway.
He said, you can go this and no farther. I need you to remember
this. Think how. quickly when something
comes up, some something comes up, some problem, whatever it
is, financial, physical, whatever it is, immediately, our old flesh
goes and we think, oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, that Almighty God will remind
me bare back into my hand, the hand of the diligent rose. Romans 8.28 is Romans 8.28 no
matter what. He works all things. Man, I tell you, that's a liberating
verse to me. He works all things. All things. And Ephesians 4 says, He ascended
up on high. He led captivity captive. He
gave gifts unto men. And Paul in Ephesians 4 was pleased
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God to tell us what
those gifts were. Go back and read them. Ephesians
4.11. I'll read them for you right
now. Here's what he gave. He gave gifts unto men. He gave
some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors
and teachers, for the perfecting, for the maturing of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect, unto a mature
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Think of the gifts. And he listed them. We don't
have to wonder what those gifts were. Well, he's got a lot of
gifts. The Spirit of God told what the gifts were. Some apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors. This is a blessed, blessed place
to be, to stand, no doubt about it. But I'll tell you this, this
is a burdensome place to be. Not burdensome, meaning that
I wouldn't want to be here. I thank God Almighty that I would
have the privilege to stand, but burdensome in the fact that
I realize I stand and look to God's sheep. I'm standing here preaching the
psalm that Almighty God has laid down His life for in the person
of His blessed Son, redeemed. God had given me a responsibility. You comfort my people. Comfort
my people. There's nothing that comforts
the people of God like the proclamation of the finished work of our blessed
Savior. Nothing. Nothing. Tell me one
more time. Almighty God, please take me
out of this world. Somebody said, well, what did
Marvin preach? He said, well, he told us one
more time how God put away our guilt by the precious blood of
His Savior. Tell me again how the work's
finished. Tell me again how God is not
looking to me for anything. Tell me one more time how the
hand of the diligent, and there's not but one. There's not but
one. There's not but one diligent. The hand of the diligent. He bears the rules. He accomplishes
God's purpose. All that the Father has given
Him, they're going to come to Him. And all that come to Him,
which is all of them that the Father has given to Him, He said,
I'll not cast one of them away. All of them. Ransomed from the
power of the grave by His own precious blood, the Spirit of
God shall surely regenerate. I know that. I know that this
is what we're here for, to be comforted, established, matured,
matured in the faith. God sends a preacher. God blesses
the message, the message of the gospel and settles His people. And His people hear it and they
rejoice in it. Who knows? God may be pleased. The thing that I continually
pray for, for this congregation. Lord, would you remember Katie? Would you remember this place?
Lord, would you bless this assembly? Lord, would you send an increase
according to your eternal purpose? Lord, I know that you will do
what you're pleased to do. The hand of the diligent shall
rule. But the slothful, the lazy, the deceitful, the beguiled,
the thrown down, that's what it means, shall be under tribute. They're going to be under a levy,
L-E-V-Y, under a burden, under their own burden, the burden
of their own guilt. the slothful, those that say, I will not come. And here again, let me remind
you this. Those that will not bow to our precious Savior do
so, number one, at their own eternal destruction. And they
do it according to their own will. Every man, every woman
that will not bow God Almighty is not going to be blamed. The hand of the diligent shall
rule. The slothful is going to be under
their own burden. We are all in ourselves as an
unclean thing, in ourselves treacherous, deceived, He alone is mighty to save. If Almighty God has mercy on
any, it will be because He chose to show mercy. And we will in
that day acknowledge His right, His power. It's not going to
be any in heaven that see in themselves anything to be proud
of in themselves. Lord, You're worthy to receive
all honor, glory, and praise because Thou has chosen us, Revelation
5, out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And You've
made us to be in Christ kings and priests in Him. May the Lord
teach us this day afresh the hand of the diligent, one, there's
only one, the power of the determined. If you left it up to me, I'd
have left it up to you. We're not determined to save
ourselves. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll run as fast as
we can to hell if God left us alone. That's what we desire. But thanks be unto Him when He
said, Deliver them. Just think of that word. Deliver
them from going down to the pit. I found a ransom. I think to
myself, Lord, You eternally found it. May God bless our hearts
today and to be able to muse, to think upon, meditate upon
Him who is mighty to save. For God's honor and for the good
of His people. Amen.