Let us turn once again to the
Word of God and our text this morning is found in the book
of Proverbs in Proverbs chapter 19 and the words of verse 21
Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 21 There are many devices in
a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall
stand." There are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless
the counsel of the Lord that shall stand, the most striking
and remarkable contrast then is set before us, the significance
of that great word, nevertheless. I suppose we have to acknowledge
that the days in which we're living are quite momentous days
when we think of the recent referendum and the results of that referendum. We know that there has been much
prayer made that God would appear either in mercy or in judgment
upon this nation and we do not pray in vain prayers are heard
and prayers are answered but what confusion there is now in
high places when we think of the political scene that is so
evident in the land. The psalmist says that God answers
his children by terrible things in righteousness and surely we
see something of that how the designs and the frustrations
of men politicians have been altogether overturned and there's
such confusion not only in the governing party but also in the
party of opposition. Our comfort of course is that
the heavens do reign as we read in the 115th Psalm. God is in the heavens, he hath
done whatsoever He hath pleased. It is the will of God, we believe
then, that is being constantly executed in spite of all of the
machinations and all the inventions of men. There are many devices
in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord that shall stand. Thinking of these things, my
thoughts went to that chapter that we read, that remarkable
episode concerning that great Babylonian emperor, Nebuchadnezzar. who was so proud a man and yet
was humbled to the very dust and behaved himself as one of
the beasts of the field until he was brought to recognize the
absolute sovereignty of the only living and true God, even the
God of the Hebrews. And of course at that time those
Hebrews, God's ancient covenant people, the children of Israel,
were in bondage there in Babylon. And yet, it was the God of the
Hebrews that Nebuchadnezzar is clearly brought to recognize
and to acknowledge. Thinking then of that particular
chapter, my thoughts then went over to this verse that I declared
to be access. And I want us to consider something
of the content of the verse by looking at each part of the text. As I said, there is certainly
a contrast that is being drawn in this verse. On the one hand
we have the devices of man, and on the other we have the counsel
of the Lord. And how striking it is. Man's
devices are many, multitude, And yet, God's counsel is one. The contrast between the plural
then, in the first part, and the singular in the second part
of this verse. God's decree, of course, really
is not multitude. We speak in terms of the decrees
of God because there is an outworking of that great purpose. But God's
decree is one. It is single, it is simple. And
what is that decree? It is the honor and the glory
of His name ultimately, of Him and through Him, and to Him are
all things, to whom be glory forever and ever, we read at
the end of Romans chapter 11. And so, are we not assured for
those who are His children, those who know Him, those who are in
Him, but all things, all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the call according to His purpose. But let us come to consider the
words of our text. First of all, to say something
with regards to man. and the devices of man. There
are many devices in man's heart. Here, we are reminded, are we
not, of the seat of all the devices of men. They're in a man's heart. And so, in another of the Proverbs,
we have that exhortation, keep thy heart. In chapter 4 and verse
23, keep thy heart, with all diligence, for out of it are
the issues of life." What are we to understand then by the
reference here to the heart of man? We're reminded of the seat
of man's personality. We're reminded of that that we
might say is the central force in the life of a man. Of course,
when we think of anatomy, we know how important the heart
is. It is pumping blood to every
part of the body. But it's more than the physical
heart that we're thinking of here. As I say, it is the heart
that is the very seat of the man's personality. It is what
the man is. And the Lord Jesus, in his own
ministry, speaks about men themselves speak out of the abundance of
their own hearts. There are those passages in the
Gospels for example there in Matthew chapter 12 and verses
34 and 35 Christ says all generation of vipers how can ye being evils
be good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mad
speaketh A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings
forth good things. and an evil man out of the evil
treasure of the heart bringeth forth evil things." And then
again, there in chapter 15 of Matthew, in verses 18 and 19,
he says, "...but those things which proceed out of the mouth
come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. Here is the seat then. And God
is that one who knows. God is that One who is omniscient. There is nothing that we can
hide from Him. Man looks on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh upon the heart. I, the Lord, search the
heart. I try the reins, He says, to
give to every man according to the fruit of his doing. or the
hearts of men. How evil they are! And God comes,
of course, and does God search the heart? He does it by and
through His Word. That Word of God that Paul speaks
of in Hebrews chapter 4, it's quick, it's powerful, it's sharper
than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrows, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God's Word, a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. All things are naked
and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Let us recognize
then the significance of the heart. We just sang of it, did
we not, in our second hymn. And how striking are those words
there in the opening verse of that hymn, 310. Lord, when thy Spirit descends
to show the badness of our hearts, astonished at the amazing view,
the soul with horror starts. And yet, here is the mark of
those who know anything of God and anything of the grace of
God. They desire that God should come and deal with them and show
them themselves and reveal to them their real needs. and their
true state and condition before Him. We see it, do we not, in
the prayer of David? Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me, he says, and know my
thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead
me in the way everlasting. Oh, I trust that as we come together
today under God's Word, that that's our prayer, that God would
search us, that God would try us, that God would know us. He
that doeth truth cometh to the light, says John chapter 3 and
verse 21. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light that his deeds might be made known that they have
wrought in God. The seat then, the seat of man's
devices, it is the heart of man. It is that that is the central
force in his life. It's all that the man is. Out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. But then, what of man's condition
by nature? Well, that heart, of course,
is a sinful heart. That is the testimony of Holy
Scripture, is it not? That man's heart is full of all
manner of evil. It's full of confusion, and that's
intimated really in the language that we have in our text. This
word that's used, there are many devices. It's derived from the
verb, the Hebrew verb, that means to think, to plan, to invent. And men, you see, are full of
thoughts, and plans, and inventions. And how wicked are those devices in the man's heart. We're told so early in human
history. We only have to move on a few
chapters in the book of Genesis after that solemn record of man's
fall and his descent into sin. We only have to come to Genesis
chapter 6 and what are we told? God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and every imagination of the thought
of his heart was evil continually. Every imagination of the thought
of his heart. It's a remarkable Hebraism we're
told that we have in that verse. It brings out what man is as
a sinner. or the wickedness of man's heart.
The heart is deceitful, we're told, above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Who can plumb
the depths of that that's in a man's heart? I'm sure if we
know anything of the grace of God and those who are called
to stand and to minister the Word of God are often brought
to acknowledge this if the people only knew what was in the preacher's
heart. Would they ever give the man
any hearing at all? Oh, our heart is so desperately
wicked and yet God made man upright. God created man in the state
of innocence and set him there in paradise in the garden of
Eden. Oh, what do we read? What does
the wise man say? Lo, this only have I found. God
made man upright. But they have sought out many
inventions. The confusion the confusion that
we see, the result of the hearts of men. And that's the situation
that we come to, is it not, really, when we consider the state of
affairs politically in the nation. The Prime Minister never thought
for a moment that he would finish like this. But that's the confusion
of men. and the sins of men. The wicked
are like the troubled sea that cannot rest, whose waters cast
up mire and dirt. We're told there is no rest,
saith my God, for the wicked. But not only sinful confusion,
but when we think of men, it's their enmity against God, it's
as they set themselves against God. We're told again and again,
are we not, that that's the root of man's real trouble. He was
made in God's likeness, he was created to enjoy fellowship with
God, and he has set himself in opposition to God. The carnal
mind, the mind of the flesh, the natural mind, is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. It's an impossibility, you see.
that man's mind should ever be reconciled to God. It is not
subject to the law of God, it says, neither indeed can it. Enmity. Not just an enemy of
God, but man in his fallen nature is the very enmity. An enemy
might be reconciled, but enmity is enmity. And so in order for
the sinner to be saved, he must be born again. He must become
a new creation. He must become a partaker of
the divine nature. Such is the awful condition of
all men. The only hope for sinners is
there in the new birth. Because by nature his understanding
is darkened, is alienated from the life of God. through the
ignorance that is in him because of the blindness and the hardness
of his heart here is man's conditioning here is the seat of all of those
wicked devices lies at the very center of the man's being there
are many devices in a man's heart turn in the second place to say
something with regards to the counsel of the Lord to turn from
this sad scene when we consider men and when we look to our own
hearts why it does overwhelm us does it not if the Lord gives
us any idea of what we are by nature but thank God for such
a word as this nevertheless nevertheless in spite of all
man's sin and all man's confusion and all man's opposition to God
and the ways of God nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that
shall stand. Now with regards to God's counsel
consider in the first place that that counsel is good. On the
one hand we have all the badness of man but on the other hand
we see here all the goodness of God and it's interesting when
the Apostle Paul speaks of God in his purposes and God in his
decrees how he uses this word good in Ephesians chapter 1 verse
5 for example he speaks of the good pleasure of his will all
that sovereign will of God that rules. He does according to his
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth
as we read there in Daniel chapter 4. He takes up the nations as
a very little thing as a drop in a bucket as fine dust upon
a balance. His will rules you see, not only
over individuals but over nations. And Paul speaks of the good pleasure,
the good pleasure of his will. Then again, in 2 Thessalonians
1 and verse 11, we have this remarkable statement, the Apostle
speaks of the good pleasure of his goodness. The good pleasure
of his goodness. Oh, how that God's will, you
see, is such a good will. And we do well, friends, to mark
that fact. Now, what lies at the root of
that good pleasure? It is, of course, the great covenant
of Christ, is it not? And it's spoken of in Scripture,
that covenant, that eternal covenant, that great purpose of salvation
for sinners. In Zephaniah chapter 6 and verse
13 we read of the council of peace. The council of peace shall
be between them both. Isn't that what the covenant
of grace is? It's a council of peace. Here is man, as we said,
by nature in that state of enmity, but in the Godhead and in the
eternal purposes of that covenant. There was a council of peace
entered into by the persons of the Father and the Son. The council of peace shall be
between them both. When the Father, in his great
mercy, out of fallen humanity, made choice of a people. Our
God from eternity has sent His love upon that people and He
has committed them into the hands of His Son, that He might come
in the fullness of the time to do all that is necessary for
their salvation. All when the fullness of the
time was come. God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, we're told, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. It's the counsel of peace between
them both. That eternal covenant of grace. And so the Psalmist can say in
Psalm 119 and verse 68, Thou art good and thou doest good. All God's counsel you see, it
is a good counsel because in and through that God is revealing
himself God is making himself known it's a declaration of God
remember when God reveals himself to Moses back in Exodus chapter
34 Moses makes his request he asks
the God would show him his glory in the previous chapter, chapter
33 and verse 18 of Exodus. He said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. And what is the answer God gives?
He said, I will make all my goodness pass before them, and I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before them. and I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy and so it was as I said there in chapter 34 of Exodus
and verse 6 the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the
Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant
in goodness and truth all the goodness you see the goodness
of God, and revealed to us so strikingly in the outworking
of that great covenant of grace. I am the Lord, he says, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. All the love
that God has towards his Jacob. Jacob am I loved, he sort of
I hated, he says, in spite of all the folly and all the foolishness
of his Jacob's if we are those who are Jacob's, if we are those
who are the true Israel of God we'll feel our own folly, our
own foolishness we'll see time and again the wickedness of our
ways and yet in spite of all that we are what does God say? He's the unchanging Jehovah I
change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." The
words of the text then, the contrast that we have here, there are
many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the
Lord that shall stand. Now we see it being unfolded
in the events recorded on the page of Holy Scripture when we
think of the history of a man like Joseph and his brethren. Their devices, you see, they
wanted rid of their brother. How they hated him, how they
despised him. And yet, all their devices only
work out ultimately for his preservation and his exaltation. And we see
it when we come to the end of the book There in Genesis chapter
50, what does Joseph say unto them? Fear not, he says. Fear
not. They are so fearful. Jacob has
died. Will Joseph now, after the death
of their father, seek his revenge upon these wicked brethren who
had done so much against him? But no. Joseph says, fear not,
for am I in the place of God. As for you, ye thought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this
day, to save much people alive." You meant evil. God meant it
unto good, he says. Isn't that our comfort, friends?
All the evil that we might think is so much against us, and yet
God is so able to do all things. Because God is that one who rules,
God is that one who reigns. But all that great trial that
came into the life of Joseph, we're told in the psalm, in Psalm
105 and verse 19, until the time that his word came, the words
of the Lord tried it. He had the word of God, God had
spoken to him. God had revealed himself to him.
God had told him things in a remarkable way by dreams and visions. And these things must be so,
it was the word of God to the man. But until the time that
his word came. You see, God is the one who knows
the end from the beginning. God is the one who has ordained
all things. and until the time that God's
word came, the appointed time how that word tried him and is
it not so too in the lives of those who know the God of Joseph
God's word does try us at times now we have to wait upon him
and plead and plead that word time and time and time again
and yet ultimately We're brought to that that we see there at
the end of the book of Genesis. He meant evil unto man, but God
meant it unto good, says Joseph. But if that's true with a man
like Joseph, how much more do we see the truth of it when we
come to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and the treatment that he received
at the hands of the Jews. We're told, are we not, how he
came unto his own and his own received him not. How he was
despised, how he was rejected, how they preferred Barabbas to
Jesus of Nazareth. And yet, as the Apostle Peter
says in the course of his sermon on the day of Pentecost, all
his in the sovereign hand of God. He speaks of their culpability,
does he not? And yet at the same time he speaks
of God's absolute sovereignty in the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus. You know the words there in Acts
2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Must be so, you see. He must
die that death of the cross. That was the purpose of him coming
into the world. That was what was decreed from
all eternity. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, he says. He hath taken and
with wicked hands hath crucified and slain. Oh, they were guilty. They were so culpable in what
they'd done. in rejecting the Lord of Glory,
and yet it was God fulfilling His own goodwill and pleasure. It's there in the preaching of
the Apostles, it's there in the prayers. Again, look at what
we are told in the fourth chapter of that book, in Acts chapter
4, and there at verse 26, following. They're in prayers, concerning
Peter and John, who have been so threatened. And this is the
prayer, or part of the prayer, Acts 4.26, the kings of the earth
stood up. The rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." They acknowledge us that God is in these things. All that had happened to the
Lord Jesus Christ himself at the hands of those wicked men
was in order that God's counsel determined before would be done. it is the counsel of the Lord
that stands and it must stand and that counsel as we say is
good he's a good God and all that he does is good but then
also here with regards to this counsel of the Lord surely we
have to recognize the greatness of it God's absolute sovereignty
so stands before us in the language of the Scriptures, does he not?
The counsel of the Lord that shall stand. This is the great
I am. What does he say when he reveals
himself to the man Moses there at the burning bush in Exodus
chapter 3? I am that I am. This is my name
forever. And this is my memorial unto
all generations. He is the unchanging God. And
that's of course the significance of that name Jehovah. It reminds
us that He is the same. The same yesterday and today
and forever. The unchanging One. The Sovereign
One. Again, it's brought out in the
language of the Prophet, is it not? There in In Isaiah's book,
in chapter 40, and verses 13 and 14, the questions that are
put, Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or, being his counsellor,
hath taught him? With whom took he counsel? And
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, And I count it as the small dust of the balance.
Behold, He taketh up the aisles as a very little thing." Oh,
the greatness, you see, of this God who rules not only over individual
lives but rules as that One who is sovereign in the affairs of
all the nations of the earth. And what does He say? My counsel
shall stand my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. I have spoken it. I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. And how does God do it? He does
it in such a manner that we see him as that one who is ever humbling
men. And how striking it is In that
remarkable chapter that we read, we see the pride of Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 29 of Daniel 4, at the
end of 12 months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of
Babylon. The king spoke and said, is not
this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom
by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty while
the words was in the king's mouth there fell a voice from heaven
saying O King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken thy kingdom
is departed from thee and he becomes as a beast of
the earth he's humbled he's humbled as he himself acknowledges at
the end of the chapter concerning God's. All whose works are truth
and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able
to abase. And then his acknowledgment.
What an acknowledgment it is. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? All God's counsel is great because
God is that One who is sovereign and there is nothing outside
of His decree. All things, all events are at
His command, are they not? And as we said at the outset,
the remarkable thing is that God's will is so simple we have
all the confusion the sinful confusion of men with their many
devices their thoughts, their plans and yet as we said then
here at the end God's counsel is in the singer you see God's
will is so simple really That is a profound truth you know.
God's will is so simple. Job 23 verse 13, He is in one
mind and who can turn Him and what His soul desireth even that
He doeth. One mind. The simplicity of the
will of God. Israel are told, Hear O Israel
the Lord our God is one laws. There is a blessed unity, is
there not, in the Godhead? Though God is three persons,
yet God is but one. That is to us a great mystery,
an inexplicable mystery. We'll never fathom God, the three
in one, but God is all together of one mind.
And you see how important this is when it comes to the great
doctrine of salvation. And when we think of the details
of that doctrine, the mind of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit is one. Now there are some, you see,
who would acknowledge the sovereignty of the Father and say, yes, it
is true that the Father has made choice of a people They acknowledge the doctrine
of election, but then they don't acknowledge the doctrine of the
sovereignty of the Son in salvation. In fact, they like to say to
some that the Lord Jesus in his death has died for all men. Though
the Father has only chosen some men, yet the Son has made a sacrifice
for all. And so there is some variance
there in the mind of the son and the father, they are not
at one. Here is the simplicity of the divine will, what the
father wills, the son wills, and what the son wills, the Holy
Spirit wills. God's counsel is one. We read
in the New Testament, do we not, of the simplicity that is in
Christ. or the simplicity of that way
of salvation. God's will is so simple, though
it be so great, though it embraces all things, yet the end, the
end is the honour and the glory of His name. We've already referred
to those words that we find at the end, of Romans chapter 11. Remember how in those chapters
9, 10 and 11 Paul is dealing with the whole
matter of salvation, the whole matter of the rejection of Israel,
the calling of the election of Christ, even those sinners of
the Gentiles. And what does he say when he
comes to the end of chapter 11? Verse 33, all the depths of the
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who has
known the mind of the Lord? For who has been His counsel?
For who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto
Him again? For of Him, and through Him,
and to Him are all things. to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. It's all ultimately to
that great end, even the glory of God. But all the glory of
God is that that is for the good of sinners. Salvation for poor
sinners is that that God himself has purposed in spite of all
that man is in and of himself in all the wickedness and enmity
and confusion of his sins there are many devices in a man's heart
nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand for that
we might be those then today who are brought to look away
from ourselves and to look to this great God isn't that what
faith is? he says look unto me and be ye
saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else to look away from ourselves and all that we are all the sin
of our lives all the wickedness of our hearts it's looking on
to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith the psalmist says
this who is a rock save our God All that rock, you see. Here
is that that is so sure and so certain, so stable, in the midst
of all the confusion that is round and about us. Moses, in
that great song of Moses that we find in Deuteronomy 32, what
does he say? He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all His ways are judgment,
a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is heard." And
I say again, friends, that this is the one that we must be looking
to. And as we look to Him, this is
the one that we must be crying and calling upon. There is no
wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel, against the Lord we
read here in chapter 21 and verse 13 he will do all his good pleasure
for that we might be those then who would look to him and know
what it is to receive life from him and to receive from him that
gift of saving faith there are many devices in a man's heart
Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Amen.