Amazing passage, all passages
are amazing. I didn't mean it that way. Brother
Gary was just reading. One thing have I desired of the
Lord. That will I seek after. You know,
you think about it. How much man by nature what he
wants from God, I'd like to have good health and I'd like to have
some money. I'd like to have a nice place
to live. Nice car to drive. Have some
good friends. Live in a free country. David says one thing. One thing
have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, which is longer than just this
carnal life, I can tell you this. Life doesn't end when this body
is put off. That will I seek after. Boy,
how about verse 8, When thou sayest, Seek my face, my heart
said, Unto thee, thy face, Lord, will
I seek. Boy, by nature, my head didn't
say that. You know, with the commandment,
when God's going to show mercy, I'll tell you what happens. you
see a response. When God Almighty, it's God that
worketh in you to will and to do His good pleasure. You know
how you tell whenever God's done something for somebody? They
respond to Him. That's good, Gary, thank you.
Turn with me to Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs 10. We're going through the book
of Proverbs. And based upon our Lord's Word,
these Proverbs, the reason God speaks in Proverbs
parables is because it's given unto His people to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God. To others, it's not given. God
does not reveal. the mystery of His godliness. He doesn't reveal the mystery
of His godliness to the world. He reveals it to His people. Not the world of rebellion. Not
the world of animosity and resentment before Him. It's given unto you
to know. To them, He said, it's not given.
God's revelation is distinguishing. Today I'd like to speak out of
verses 23 to 25, and I've entitled this message,
The Desire, The Reward, and The End of Every Man. I'm talking about everybody.
Everybody. What the desire is, David said
just a few minutes ago when Brother Gary read, you know, one thing
have I desired of the Lord. That which I'll seek after that,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life. The desire, the reward, and the end of every man. This world is going to end very
soon. For every man, it's going to
end very soon. Either by the Lord's second coming,
or you're going to die. And James says in James 4.14,
what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. Now, this life is going
to be over quickly. How do you know that? We all
know it because of the frailty of our flesh. because of that
which God instilled within us, that a man should live forever.
We're going to try to do what we can to preserve this life.
I mean, that's just natural. If I get sick, I'm going to a
doctor. I'm going to do what I can. But I know this in light of eternity. What's a few years? And I'll tell you something else.
There's going to be a judgment. The Scripture sets forth that
there's going to be a great white throne judgment. Now, the One
of whom we speak now, the One, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the judge. The Scripture sets forth that
His judgment is sure. Daniel 7.10, the judgment was
set and the books were opened. Revelation 20.13 says all men
are going to be judged according to their works, according to
their works, either by a man's work of self-righteousness, of
him trying to establish a righteousness before God, or is he going to
be judged according to the work of faith? Or we're all going to be judged,
the Scripture says, Revelation 20, verse 13, according to our
works. And faith is a work, a good work,
a work response, the evidence of God's grace. All men have not faith. Faith
is given. It's given unto you to believe. Now, the question
on every man's lips should be this. What is my hope for eternal
life? Now, we're going to die and there's
going to be a judgment. Now, what is my hope for eternal life. I think in these these verses,
these three verses right here, I believe that we've got some
insight. I got three questions for you
today, and I'm going to I'm going to read these things and we'll
ask these questions and read these scriptures. And I pray
that God be pleased to speak to our hearts and give us some
understanding. What what's my hope for eternal life? That's
not that's not one of the questions. Here's the first question. What do you desire? What do you find pleasure in? What do you love? I'm just saying the same question
over and over and over. What do you enjoy? Verse 23 of Proverbs 10 says
this, It is as sport to a fool to do mischief. It is as sport. The word sport there means laughing
mockery. It is a laughing matter. It's a laughing mockery to a
fool to do wickedness, mischief, crime, lewdness. It's a laughing
matter to work out wickedness. Proverbs 14, 9 says, Fools make
a mock at sin. It's a laughing matter. What
do you desire? to the world, those that are born in Adam,
born apart from regenerating grace, to hear David say, as
Brother Gary just read, one desire, one desire. I've got one thing
that I love. I've got one thing appeals to
me, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life. And the fool says, oh, that's
the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. I ain't got time for that. I
ain't got time for that, preacher. I'm too busy. I've got too much
stuff to do. I've got too much stuff to buy.
I ain't got time to fool with you." It's a sport to a fool to resist
God and to hate God. That's just a laughing mockery.
Here's the situation. The world hates God. You say, how do you know that?
The Lord Jesus Christ, who we just saw just in the last message,
was truth. He's full of truth. If you want
to know what truth is, what did He say? What does He say? John
15, 23, He that hates me hates my Father also. Don't be surprised
if the world hates you. Hating me first, He said. The
world hates you. That's so stupid. That's what
the world says. You are so ignorant if you think
that I hate God. Many pretend to know. They pretend
to love. They pretend to worship God while
they reject. the record that God has given
concerning His Son. People say, I love Jesus Christ. And when you set forth clearly
who He is, you set forth clearly what the Scripture says about
Him, you set forth clearly the sovereignty of God, you set forth
clearly God's will and God's purpose and God's word and God's
counsel, that it's all of grace. You set forth in Romans 9, it
says the potter has the right to make one vessel under honor
and another vessel under dishonor when God Almighty, who truth
Himself says that there were some that were prepared for wrath. You say, oh, wait
a minute. Buddy, you have stepped so far
over the line. I am not buying that. I ain't buying that. I love Jesus,
but I don't love whoever you're sitting with. I'm not going with
you here. This, the Lord Jesus said in
John 3, 19, 20, this is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil, everyone that tries to reconcile
himself back to God based on his own merit, evil. Everyone
that will not bow to the Lordship of Christ as He set forth in
the Scriptures. I'm not talking about the Jesus
Christ that men are saying that's trying to do something. He's
not trying to do anything. God has a people. He's going
to save His people. Christ has redeemed those people.
Everyone that the Father has given the Son in eternal electing
grace is going to be converted. And they're going to believe
this. They're going to believe the record. He that doeth evil by not believing
the record, by not bowing to the Lord Jesus as He set forth,
hates the light. Neither cometh to the light that
his deeds should be reproved. I ain't coming to him. Oh, one day you'll bow. Men love what they go after. You want to know what a man loves
and what he goes after? Watch him. I love the Lord. I love his gospel. But a man of understanding is
sport to a fool to do mischief. But a man of understanding hath
Christ. He hath wisdom. They hear the Lord Jesus Christ,
the wisdom of God. Man of understanding hath wisdom,
hath Christ, the wisdom of God, because Christ has him. That's
the reason he has Christ, is Christ has him. I love that Scripture about Jacob
wrestling with the man, the Lord Jesus. Jacob wouldn't let him go. The
Lord told him, let me go. Jacob says, no. No. There's some sitting right here
right now that wouldn't turn loose of Him. Why? Because He's all you've got. Will you go away also, Peter?
Or where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal
life. And we're sure, we're sure, we're sure, you're the Christ.
We're sure. If you love me, keep my commandments." What commandments? Follow me? Seek me? Believe me? Well, I tell you what, I don't
find a whole lot of consistency in me and these outward actions
that I do. But I'll tell you this, you know
where a believer follows Him. in his heart. That's what David
just said. Gary, I'm glad you read that. Lord, when you said, seek me,
seek my face in my heart, I obeyed. I'll seek the Lord. And just
honest, Lord, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so inconsistent. Lord, I struggle so much with
myself. I'm so sorry. Have mercy on me. Lord, help me. Lord, strengthen
me. That is the most consistent thing
that I've ever heard in my life. Boy, I wonder about people that
are so obedient in their own estimation of themselves that
they just, they don't, they never deviate. Boy, you talk to a believer,
and I'm going to tell you something. There's a struggling person right
there. Struggling. That's my first question. What
do you desire? What do you love? Here's the
second question. What do you expect to receive from God? What
do you expect to receive from God? Verse 24, the fear of the
wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous
shall be granted. Question is, what do you expect
to receive from the Lord? Let me tell you what the fool
expects to receive. He expects Or he hopes or he's banking on
that his works of self-righteousness are going to stand in the day
of judgment. That's what he's hoping. Oh boy, I hope. Man, I tell you what, I walked
down the aisle and I prayed through the preacher led in the prayer
and I repeated it. And I've been coming to church
and I'm I'm reading my Bible as often as I think about it
and I try to pray and I try to do good and I'm trying to be
a good neighbor and I'm honest. I don't turn in anything on my
expense account that's not absolutely above board. I don't do that
and I'm just trying to be honest with everybody as I possibly
can. The fear of the wicked. shall come upon him." Do you
know what the fear of the wicked is? The fear of the wicked. Obviously, there is a fear. Obviously, there is a fear. What
is the fear of the wicked? It is a fair and impartial trial. That's the fear. The fear of the wicked is that
God Almighty is going to be righteous and going to be just. That's
the fear of the wicked. Man, I'm telling you, if I get
picked up for something and I'm guilty and I know I'm guilty,
do you know what my greatest fear is? Is that I'm going to
get exactly what I deserve. That's what I fear. Man, if there
ain't no plea bargaining, if there's a, oh boy, if I get a
jury, if I get a judge that just listens to the evidence and I
know good and well everything's going to be brought out, and
if that's the case, the fear of the wicked, it shall
come upon him. I know this. Mike, I know God's
just. I know He is. And I know that
the soul that sinneth is going to die. And I know this. I know enough. I've got enough sense to know
this. I'm a sinner. Then how should a man be just
with God? There's only one way. And it's
not going to be by works of righteousness that I've done. Scriptures has
already set that clearly forth. I know this, that it's there's
nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing that I can do. to reconcile
myself back to God. There's nothing I can do, Neal. There's nothing that I can do.
Then how should a man be just with God? One way. He, the Father, has made Him,
Christ, to be sin for us. He who knew no sin. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Here's what my sin
is going to have to be dealt with. And the Lord Jesus Christ made sin. Oh, the fullness of
that statement I can't enter into, but I know this. It was
more than just a legal thing. It was legal. Legally. But I'm
telling you, if he, as Brother Scott told me one day, if he
was not made what I am, then I don't have any hope. There had to be a divine, miraculous
exchange. He made him sin. And God dealt with him, you're
telling me, God dealt with him for me. When he died, he got
everything in judgment that I deserve. Is that what you're telling me?
Yes, that's what I'm telling you. You're telling me that if
the Father chose me and gave me to Christ was made sin and
God Almighty dealt with him in absolute justice and wrath, judgment. God dealt with him. And now you're
telling me that what God did to him for me, God is never going
to look at me again to answer for that sin. That's what I'm
telling you. So you're telling me that He
made him sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. And what He did as obedience before God, He never deviated
in word, thought, or deed. Nothing. And the Father was well
pleased with Him. And by His righteousness and
obedience, God was pleased with him, and in him, God will look
at me and deal with me as being in him. And what he is going
to receive, what God's going to give him because of his obedience,
the inheritance that he's going to have, I will be a joint heir with him.
That's right. Oh. Oh, I tell you that that's
good news. You know, you mean to tell me
that I. I'm not I'm not standing before
God condemned in Christ, no, no Romans 8 one says there's
therefore now no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. Then I I want him. I want Him. The desire of the righteous shall
be granted. You mean God Almighty has given
me a new heart to believe that and to trust Him? Yeah. How do I know that God
has done that for me? Do you believe God? Yes, I believe
God. God's done something for you. Here's my last question. What is your hope built on? Verse 25, As the whirlwind passeth,
so is the wicked no more. But the righteous is an everlasting foundation. Everything that I can build,
everything that I can do, everything that I can produce. You see, here's the
good news. This is the good news. Almighty God accomplishes for his people what
he demands of them. And there's nothing that they
do, nothing they can do. How are you going to please God?
How are you going to please God? This world's religion is, I'll
do and God will accept it. The Gospel says, God has done
according to His purpose and will and power and He told His
people about it. And the miracle is they believe
Him. As the whirlwind passeth, so
is the wicked no more. Turn to Matthew 7.24. 7.24. Now,
let's listen to me in closing. Everything that you have ever
thought, everything that you've ever thought, That you could do or should do
any anything that anybody's ever told you. On how to be saved. How to get saved, how to get
converted, how to. Everything. That you. Have ever heard that you need
to do in order to be saved everything that you've ever heard. To be reconciled before God,
any works that you can do is a lie. That's a lie. This one scripture refutes that.
There's a bunch of them. This one scripture right here.
We just looked at it last week. I'll read it to you. You just
stay right there in Matthew. I'm closing. Which were born out of blood
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." Now let me tell you something. That right there encompasses
everything that man could do. Salvation is not of heredity,
not of blood. It's not ancestry. Nor of the will of the flesh. How plain does that have to be?
Well, I believe that everybody has a free will. God says they
don't. Not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will. We just looked at the word. The
word was made flesh. It means human nature. Which
were born not of human nature. Somebody says, well, every man's
got a free will and he just needs to exercise your free will. That's
a lie. That's a lie. That's a lie. That's a lie. And anybody that tells you that's
a liar, you say, well, Marvin, you don't need to be so hard. They're lying to you, to your
eternal soul. They're lying to you. How are men born again? They're born of God. They're
born of God. All of grace. All of grace. Not by works of righteousness
that we've done. Well, I came down the aisle,
not of works of righteousness that we've done. Well, I was
baptized, not by works of righteousness that we've done. I prayed through. Here again,
I still don't know what that means, but I've heard it. I prayed through what? Name anything you want to name.
Matthew 7, 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which built his house upon a rock, upon Christ. And the rain descended, the floods
came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell
not. For it was founded upon a rock.
And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand, Rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and
beat upon the house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
It came to pass when Jesus said into these sayings, the people
were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. What's your hope built on? We
sing that song. My hope is built on nothing less
in Jesus' blood and His righteousness. This is all my hope, that Almighty God, according
to His infinite mercy, mercy, mercy, I will have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Lord, would You have mercy on
this sinner And Lord, by your grace, I'd say, as Paul the Apostle
said, I counted all these other things
that I had done. I was a Pharisee, a Pharisee.
I was circumcised the eighth day. I was on and on and on. He said, I count all those things,
but done. Somebody could say to you, you
that believe. The Lord, Lord, as many of you
here, I know. I wasn't privileged to grow up
under Brother Scott. Many of you were. And all you've
ever heard is Sovereign Grace preaching. I sat under Roman
Catholicism, and then I sat under Free Will, Southern Baptist. Oh, that's dumb. That's what
Paul said. I count it all but dumb. Oh,
that I may know Him." You know, a believer settles down, and
here's what he says, salvation's of the Lord. That's what Jonas
said, salvation is of the Lord. And when the last shot's fired,
this will be all my hope. This is all my hope. This is
what David said. This is all my hope, and this
is all my salvation. Here it is. I want you to listen
to what he said. He didn't start naming all his... This is all my hope. This is
all my salvation. That He made with me an everlasting
covenant. A covenant of grace, mercy, and
compassion. That's all my hope. If God's
done something for me, I've got some hope. Because I sure can't
do anything for Him. Oh, may the Lord bless these
words to our hearts. Amen. Amen.