Amen. I take your bibles and
turn back with me to Ecclesiastes chapter seven. Our text here is gonna be found
in verse 13. I'm entitled this message. God's crooked work. God's crooked work. He said, Consider the work of
God, for who can make that strait
which he hath made crooked? This morning as we consider the
work of God, that's what we're going to do. We're going to consider
God's work. Now, when Solomon wrote this
book of Ecclesiastes, he wrote it from man's perspective under
the sun, as man views things under the sun. And so as we consider
the work of God, and I want us to consider two of the works
of God here. First of all, the work of God
in salvation. work of God in salvation. And
secondly, the work of God in providence. And as man by nature
looks at the work of God in salvation, it appears to the natural mind
to be crooked. When I talk about God's salvation
by grace, to man, it doesn't make sense. It has no ability
to understand it. It doesn't go along with his
reasoning and his thinking. So to him, it's what? It's crooked.
And God's answer to you is this. How can you make straight what
God's made crooked? If this man is saved, how are
you going to change it? And in this matter of providence
to you that are believers in Jesus Christ, I want you to consider
as we walk through this life, we see the promises of God and
we see the providence of God and it appears crooked. How can God promise all of these
things to us and then in our experience it seems the total
opposite of what God promised? And yet, when you are a believer
in Jesus Christ, and you look at Providence, can you make straight
what God made crooked? And so, in salvation, I want
us to consider three things about God's work of salvation. If you
want to write these down, this is going to be the outline of
the message. So, in consideration of God's
work of salvation, first of all, I want you to see it's an eternal
work. It's a work of God, and it's eternal. Second of all,
I want you to see this. It is a work only accomplished
by Jesus Christ. And thirdly, it is a work of
God only applied and kept by the Holy Spirit. And the second point is God's
work of providence. And in this I've got three questions.
What is divine providence? Secondly, why does it appear
crooked? And thirdly, how do the wise,
the believer, in Christ understand these seeming contradictions.
So first of all, God's work of salvation. Now Solomon was the
wisest man that God ever put on the earth besides the Lord
Jesus Christ. This man Solomon was given great
wisdom. The only person wiser than him
was the one that gave it, the Lord Jesus Christ. The only man
ever wiser than Solomon. And as it was given to Solomon,
Solomon was given things that no other man has ever been given.
He's been given the wisdom of God that no other man has ever
possessed. He's given the riches of God
that no man has ever possessed. He's been given the pleasures
of this world that no man has ever had. And what was his conclusion
under the sun? Read Ecclesiastes and you'll
find out it's a very down book because he's viewing things under
the sun. And what does he find? It is vanity and vexation of
spirit. Young people, you have hopes
and dreams and aspirations and they're all bright and shiny.
What you're going to find is this. It's vanity and vexation
of spirit. Why is that? Because of one thing. Everybody dies. The wise man, Solomon, said,
in all my wisdom, I'm going to perish just like the fool. He said, I've got all this wealth,
and you know what? I'm going to die just like the
poorest of men. The wise as well as the fool,
the rich and powerful as well as the poor and powerless, all
will die, all will be judged by God. It doesn't matter what's our state or standing
among men, no matter our social class, our economic class, our
academic class. Listen, the only thing that matters
is this, how will you stand before God? That's the end. It's the end of all man. There
are so many people in this generation who claim to know God. As you
pass by, you could probably throw a stone and hit a church somewhere.
There are many people who claim to know God. They claim to seek
God. They claim to be accepted by
God. But in actuality, they have no clue who God is or what God
wants. They don't know. It's all different. Why? Because they base it on
opinion. Most people view religion as a buffet. They go to this
book and they take out choice text that they like and they
base all of their salvation on their sincerity. They view God
as something like a grandfather who just loves everyone of his
creation and somehow if they just do their best That's how I think about my kids.
You know, they just do their best. That's all I can really
ask from them. Why? Because they're a sinner
like me. But God's not a sinner like you. God doesn't demand
your best. Your best is not sufficient. Yet men think that they're just
sincere, that God will somehow accept them. But this is the
heart of a fool. This is what a fool says. A fool
says this, there are many ways to God. Well, that's just your
opinion, preacher, and, you know, I got my own way. You're a fool.
You're a fool. Either I'm right or you are.
There's not two different ways to God. I can't stand men who try to
say that they admire the Lord Jesus Christ and worship in some
other way. They say, well, He was a good
man. He was a great man. Listen to
what he said. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God but by me. That's it. So either he's right
or you are. I believe him. I believe him. There's only one way. The fool
says there are many ways. The fool says there's any path
to God as long as you just believe sincerely in whatever you believe.
Now listen to me. To the natural man, this seems
straight. This seems reasonable. It seems
logical. But fool, you should consider
what God says, regardless of what you think. or what you feel.
Listen to what God says. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. That's what God said. That's
what God said. God said, Be ye holy, even as
I am holy. Would you be justified? All that
would be justified by their works. Anybody want to be justified
before God by their works? I know people that really do
believe that they're justified by their work. Well, what they
do is they switch the word justified to sanctified. That's all they
do. They say, well, I'm justified by Jesus Christ, but I'm sanctified
by my cooperative effort. Consider what the law says. To
anybody who wants to be under it, in any measure, in any law,
Listen to what the law says, as many as are under the law,
works of the law, are under the what? The curse. For it is written. That's it. It settles it. It
is written. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. Don't give lip service. You want
to be under the law in something? You better find a high priest.
He better be related to Aaron. You better find a temple where
God sits. And you better start making sacrifices.
You know, they're not 10 commandments, they're 613. And you better know
all of them, you better do them all perfectly if you want to
be under the law. If you fail in one, what does
the law say? Cursed. That's what the law says. Cursed is everyone. So what does
your sincerity have to do with it? Absolutely nothing. I don't
care if you're sincere. If you fail, you will die. Therefore, consider your sin.
Consider that if you do not continue in these things, you have not. Consider that. You've not done
any of these things. I tell anybody who wants to be
back under the law, say, well, I'm saved by Jesus Christ, but
I've got to sanctify myself by my obedience. What law have you
ever kept? Name one. Name one law to me
that you've ever kept. And if you say anything, I know
this, you're a liar. None of us have kept these things.
We all have sinned, Paul said, and come short of the glory of
God. We all is an unclean thing. Our righteousness, Isaiah said,
your best deeds are as menstrual calls. So may the Holy Spirit now open
your eyes to see the foolishness of trying to approach God by
your sincerity. God doesn't want your best, he
demands perfection. Jesus said this, he said, not
every man that saith to me, Lord, Lord. Isn't that easy? Can't
you just say that? I hear people say it all the
time. Oh Lord, oh Lord. And they're sincere, I don't
doubt their sincerity. He said, Not every man that saith to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven. I just told you what
his will was. Be ye holy even as I am holy. Okay, go do that. Now considering
the truth that there is nothing in this world that is going to
stop you from dying. Save the Lord coming back and then again
this body has got to be changed. Seeing we are already guilty,
how then shall we approach unto God? The answer is in this text. Consider the
work of God in salvation. Consider how it is that a guilty
sinner may be accepted with God. In order to understand this,
you must consider this first, that salvation is completely
a work of God. You don't know that. The Spirit
of God has not spoken to you. He's not moved your heart. He's
not given you life. If you don't see that, that's
the first principle, isn't it? That I can't save myself. I can't
do it. God demands too much of me. I
cannot do it. Therefore, if I am to be saved
at all, God Himself must do the saving. Jonah said that. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
not a cooperative effort, friends. This is religion. To religion,
this is straight. That God does part of the saving
and we do the rest. That's just reasonable to our
natural minds. I'm not doubting them because
that's how I thought when I was lost. I believe my knowledge
of sovereign grace helped me. That's what I believe. I knew
this gospel when I was a kid. I believe that was my crutch
that I leaned on. Others do their works or their
religion, but it doesn't matter. You must consider this. David
said this. Listen to how David said it.
Salvation belongs to God. It don't belong to you. This
is why he gives it to whomsoever he will, because it belongs only
to him. He will either give it or withhold
it from anyone He pleases to do so. That appears crooked,
doesn't it, to the natural man? Well, let me ask you this. How
are you going to straighten it? May God give you the grace instead
to bow to it. This is the first principles
of grace. Salvation. Consider salvation as the work
of God. And I want you to know this first. It's an eternal work. It's an eternal work. Go to Ephesians
chapter 1. I know this very well, but I
think it's the clearest. I go here often because it's
so clear. I go to many other passages,
but I want it to be clear. This is the clearest one that
you can find. Consider that salvation is a work of the Father in electing
grace. What does that mean? It means
this, that before the world began, God chose a people he would save. And to them, and to them only,
did God, in eternity, give all his spiritual blessings. The
inheritance, salvation, He gave it to them. Look at what it says
in verse 3. He blesses God the Father. Bless me the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now why, Paul? Who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. All spiritual
blessings. You got that you that are saved?
You have all spiritual blessings. All of them. You're not missing
one of them. You have them all. Because they are in Christ. They're
not in you. They're in Christ. Now when did
He do it? Look at that, verse 4, according
as he had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. That's when he did it. See how eternal salvation is?
Salvation is only for the elect. God gave it to them before the
world began. I like this, before anybody could
object. It was just God and the Trinity
of His persons all by Himself. Who could object? There's no
obstacle. He purposed it. Look, and look
what He purposed. What God required is what God
promises to give. He said, according to what He
had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him. Isn't that
what we need? Now why in the world would He
do it? In love. in love, having predestinated us under
the adoption of children." Listen, and he didn't leave out the means. He told us what he's going to
do. Now he's telling us how he's
going to do it. By Jesus Christ. That's how. That's how it's going
to get done. No other way. And what is he
going to do? He said this, by Jesus Christ
to himself. Isn't that what you want with
somebody you love? You want them to be with you? God says, I love my children,
and my purpose is that they be with me. And to do this according to the
good pleasure of his will, that's the only reason he did it. There
was nothing in the object, there was nothing in the person, in
the elect, nothing, nothing different between us. None of the sons
of Adam were different. Now why is all this to be done?
To the praise of the glory of his grace. That's what's good.
The end of this is going to be the praise of the glory of his
grace. You know what we're going to do in heaven? We're going to praise
the glory of his grace. That's what we're going to do forever. with a sinless, perfect mind
and body. Now, you can't do that now. But
then you will be. And so, you see then, salvation
is rooted in the sovereign choice of God. And secondly, I want you to see
that salvation that was by Jesus Christ. Now, this is the difference
between true and false religion in our day. This matter of success. Did Jesus actually accomplish
what God sent Him to do? Did He actually save them or
did He make it possible? They're two different things.
If He made it possible, then it's also possible for Him to
fail. According to the Word of God,
salvation was accomplished. by Jesus Christ. So consider
the work of God's salvation. It was His electing grace in
eternity and it was by the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. Look at
Isaiah 42. God commands you, behold my servant. Stop looking at yourself. You
can't do anything to help yourself. Don't look to yourself. Look
at my servant. Behold my servant. He said, Whom
I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I put my
spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's going to bring salvation
even to the worst, even to the Gentiles. You said that to a
Jew back then, it's like, wow, what did you just say? He's going
to save the Gentiles? You've got to be kidding me.
These are the worst people in the world. Yep, he's gonna, that's
how great his salvation's gonna be. Even the Gentiles are gonna
be saved. And look what he says in verse
four about this work. He shall not, what? He shall not fail. You that believe in Christ, do
you believe that he failed in any measure? No. He said, lo, in the volume
of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. And then Paul says in that same
passage in Hebrews chapter 10, he says, by the which will, by
the will of God, by the will of God Christ accomplished, by
the which will we are made holy, sanctified. through, this is how, the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ. How many times? Once. How many times were you sanctified? Who did it? God purposed it. Christ did it. He accomplished our salvation.
And then he says in that same chapter, but this man, opposed
to those priests who kept working, he said, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sin, what did he do? He sat
down. He sat down. In that Old Testament
tabernacle, you know there were no chairs. You know why? They were never done. But this
man, when he finished, what did he do? He sat down. Not just
anywhere. sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. And he said, he hath, verse 14
of chapter 10 of Hebrews, he hath perfected. You don't have to
be an English major to understand past tense, do you? He hath already perfected them
that are sanctified. Those that were chosen by God,
he already hath perfected. forever, them that are sanctified.
So we look at the work of Jesus Christ in salvation and consider
this, that He is all our salvation. He is all of it. The salvations
of God's perfect grace in and not by any way the merits of
man. It is the work of Jesus Christ.
And thirdly, consider the work of God of salvation, that all
the Father chose, all of them, Christ died for them. And listen to what Timothy said.
I think it's 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9. Talking about
God, he said, Who hath saved us and called us with an holy
calling? Which was first, salvation or
calling? He saved us first. And then what
did He do? Because He saved us and called
us. And that's the Word. It's a holy calling. It's a perfect
calling. When God calls you, you can't
do anything but come. You either believe because you
do anything else. Can you believe on any other Christ but this
one? Can you even hear any other Christ
besides this one? Hurts my ears. I don't even want
to be in the same... I want to run when I hear anything,
any other Christ besides this one. Why? Because this is the work
of the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit of God will call all that
He chose. Look at 2 Thessalonians. Go over there real fast. 2 Thessalonians. Look at chapter 2, verse 13. Kind of capsulate what we've
been saying here. He says, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord. Now, why are we giving thanks? Here it is. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Now, why are you saved? Because
God hath from the beginning chosen me to be saved. Having Christ accomplish this,
but look at the work of the Spirit. Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Two things. When the Spirit of
God calls a man and shows him he cannot save himself, he shows
him Christ has accomplished that salvation and by the grace of
God he creates in us a new nature. A holy nature that was not there
before. Paul calls it a new man. Why?
Because it is. It's newer than the old one. I've had him since birth. But
this new one, he creates in us. And he says it's after God, after
the image of God in true holiness. And then what? What's the evidence
that I have this nature? Huh? Can you look at me and find
out? Can you see me? Can you follow
me around? Figure it out? No. Faith. Faith is the evidence I have
this new nature. Faith that trusts only in Christ.
This is the gift of God. I'm going to illustrate it and
move on. Ezekiel 37. What a beautiful illustration
that is. Ezekiel, the prophet, sat out there and he sent him
to this place where there was a huge battle at one time and
there were bones all over the desert. And he said, Ezekiel,
go look at the bones. And he goes out there and looks
at the bones. And he picks them up. And he says, these bones
are dry. They've been dead a long time.
And God asked him a question, a very peculiar question. He
says, Ezekiel, can these bones live? Ezekiel, knowing who he
was talking, he said, well, you know. Only you give life to these
bones. We can't do it. What a picture
of us by nature. Dead bones. What can dead bones do for themselves?
Not a thing. What can you do for yourself?
Not a thing. Can these bones live? You know. And you know what God did before
He raised those dead bones? He gave a promise. He said, I
want you to go preach to these dead bones. Most useless thing
you'd think you'd ever... Go to a graveyard and preach.
But that's what we are. I'm called to a graveyard. I'm
called a dead man. And preach to them. Tell them
what? Tell them God said this. I'm going to give you life. You know what happened? Those
bones began to rattle, shake. And scripture says, his bone
came into his bone. In other words, bones were scattered
all over the place. But the bone of that man that was here and
the bone of that man that was over there, they came together.
And God put flesh on them. God put all their organs in them. And they're just standing there. And Ezekiel sees them just standing
there. And he said this, Ezekiel, I
want you to preach to the wind, prophesy to the wind. What is
this? It's prayer, isn't it? Preaching
and prayer are necessary. We pray for what God has already
promised to give. I don't pray for anything else.
Why would I pray for something? This is what we pray for, that
God would give life to the dead. Why? Because God promised to.
You know what happened? Sure enough, they had life. God breathed the breath of life
into these men. This is a picture of the work
of God in salvation. It's a work God purposed in eternity. It's a work Christ accomplished
in time. It's a work the Holy Spirit gives
to everyone that God saves. You that believe. I want you
to consider that in everything. Consider the work of God in salvation.
Why? It is the only thing that is
sure in this life. And so then, to you who do not
believe, this sounds crooked. To the religious man, everything
I said is crooked. Let me ask you this, how are
you going to straighten it? How are you going to change it?
Consider it's the work of God to save sinners. Now and secondly,
consider the work of God in Providence. The Holy Scriptures are clear
that all the Father chose, all the Son redeemed, all the Spirit
shall call and give life and faith. We have this promise.
You that believe, you have this promise. God says that we are
kept. 1 Peter 1 and verse 5, we are
kept by the power of God unto salvation. ready to be revealed
at the last time. There is nothing in this life
that shall separate me from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus. Isn't that what Paul says in Romans 8? He says, Who are
you to lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God justified it. How can you
condemn anyone of God's elect? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
has risen again, who's seated at the right hand of God, ever
living to make intercession for us. So the question Paul asks
is, who's going to separate me from his love? He said, I'm persuaded that neither
life nor death nor angels. Man, one angel killed 165,000
people. One night. Nor angels. nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature, in case I miss one, shall ever separate
me from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Yet we who are saved by the grace
of God have a new nature, yet we still struggle in this life. We struggle. We do. We struggle with the divine providence
of God. We struggle to understand it.
You know why you struggle? Because you, as Solomon said
in Song of Solomon, he says this, we are as a company of two armies.
You have two armies within one man fighting each other. The
flesh and the spirit. These two, Paul said, are contrary
one to another, so you can't do what you would. I would always
trust Christ. I would always come to Christ. I would always
have Him present. I would always believe on Him.
I would always love Him. I would always serve Him. And
yet what do I find? Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? We struggle. This
is why we struggle with the providence of God. because we still have
the old man of sin residing in us. And so as we look now at things
under the sun, you that believe, you look under the sun, you see
everything backwards, don't you? The righteous suffer, the wicked
prosper. Those who are loved of God are
despised in the world. The gospel that should be embraced
by every sinner is hated. I tell you this often, Asaph
in Psalm 73, me and him, we have a very unique kinship. In Psalm 73, Asa said this, I
know God's good to Israel, but ask for me. What was he doing? He was looking at providence.
He was looking at the people around him. He saw that the wicked,
they don't suffer like we do. The wicked seem to prosper, they
seem to enjoy life, they seem to be happy. We're down. We consider
things like eternity and judgment and justice. We consider the
death of Christ. We consider sin in our lives. This is troubling to us. We can
have no thought of it. They don't care. They don't have
any concern about their souls like we do. They don't think about eternity. And so when we consider our troubles,
unbelief when the way of God's providence seems crooked? How can we straighten it? And so I want to answer three
questions. What is divine providence? First of all, it's very simple.
Providence is whatever is happening in time. It's God fulfilling
what he purposed to do in eternity. What is taking place right now
is what God purposed in eternity to take place. It's the working out of His providence.
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning. I like the
way, if you read Isaiah, you'll begin to understand some sarcasm
and humor in this. matter. God said, these people
bowing down to wood statues, He's making fun of it. It's useless. It's a piece of wood. And He
said, He says, He said, go to consider, ask your gods what
shall be. Better yet, let them tell you
what has already been. Do good. Do evil, God says. Do something. What can a false
god do? Can't do anything. He's false. He's not real. And the only thing
that separates a true and a living God from false gods is this.
God says, I, he said in Isaiah 46, he says, I am God and there
is none else, declaring the end, when? From the beginning. And from ancient times saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Consider
this, believer, that all things that have ever happened, all
things that are happening now, and all things that are going
to happen are according to divine decree. I don't like the way
things are happening. Okay, how are you going to straighten
it? What are you going to do to straighten
it? Can't do anything. Proverbs tells us, ìThe Lord
hath made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked, for the
day of evil.î Best to illustrate that is this, Godís not guilty
of sin, but I tell you this, there is not one thing wicked
men do outside of Godís divine providence and decree. Consider
the cross of Jesus Christ. I told you this, the Jews did
not want to crucify Him on Passover. They said, we can't crucify him
on Passover. God said, yes, you will. He was
delivered, Peter said, by the determined counsel and foreknowledge
of God. And you, by wicked hands, are
crucified and slain, Lord of glory. You see these wicked men
doing what they want to? Really, they're doing exactly
what God determined to be done. That's divine providence. And so as we look at this, we
consider the providence of God. I like the way Ezekiel saw it.
He saw it as a wheel within a wheel. There's a wheel spinning and
then there's a wheel inside of that wheel. And you know what
he said about this? This is the providence of God.
He said that wheel went straight forward. It didn't turn to the
right or to the left. Whatever God is determined to
do, that's what's going to be done. And who can change it? Who can alter it? One preacher
said this, if we had all power, we would change everything. Being honest, would you not?
You'd change everything. If we had all wisdom, we would
change nothing. God has both. And so what is
happening now is divine providence. So the second question is, why
does God's providence appear crooked? There are many times
that the providence of God seems to be crooked to us. Why? Because it crosses our path. We want to go this way, and God's
providence runs right over us. Does that not happen? Daily,
we have plans and we have schemes And when God's providence doesn't
go along with our plans and our schemes, what is it? We feel
it's crooked. There's something wrong. No,
it's just God's providence. It's God's determinate will. Solomon in a text, he states,
I'll go back to your text real fast. Now, in the very beginning
of that passage, he states several things that appear crooked. I
told you this at the beginning. He says, The day of one's death is better
than the day of one's birth. Is that how we celebrate things?
When we go to a funeral, do we celebrate? No, we go to a baby shower and
we go, whoo! New baby's coming into the world.
God said that's not better. Better is the day of his death.
Does that appear cross to you? He said sorrow is better than
laughter. Does that ring any bells to you? You like to go to a house of
mourning rather than a house of feasting? The songs of the rebuke of the wise is better
than the songs of fools. Would you rather listen to rebuke
or music? Which is it? You want somebody
to stand up here and tell you? Or did you just write a listening
to some catchy tunes? Seems cross to us. The end of
a thing is better. None of us desire these things.
None of us desire death or the house of mourning. We go the
opposite way. But God who has purposed God has purposed to do us good.
That's one of His promises. You know He said, I will do them
good all the days of their life. That's one of His promises. Do
you feel like that? Now God swears He will. He said,
I'll do you good all the days of your life. I think in Zephaniah
He said, and there shall be no evil. That's what He tells us.
He promises us. Is that how you, is that your
experience? And so by divine providence He
has appointed for us these times of sorrow and mourning and death
because we wouldn't appoint them for ourselves. And He doesn't do this for our
destruction, but rather for our learning. Isaiah 43 and verse 2 says this,
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.
And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. He said, Fear not, for I am with
thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. What is he saying this?
He's saying, look, it's not if you go through the fire, but
when you go through the fire I'm there. And I tell you this, when you're
not going through the fire, You don't have a need of His presence. But when you're in the fire,
guess what you need? You need His presence. See, this
text really comforts only those in the fire. Now, it belongs to you that if
you're not in the fire right now, just wait a minute. Just
wait. I like that wheel within the
wheel. You know why? Because whatever's at the top eventually
comes to the bottom. You on the top today? What's tomorrow? But if you're on the bottom,
what happens? Goes to the top. This is the way it is in our
life. And so he brings us these troubles.
Why does he do it? Why does he cross? We just sang
that hymn. He said the other day we were,
he said, I asked the Lord that I might grow in grace and love. But He did it in such a way as
almost brought me to despair. He said, He crossed all my fair
designs I schemed. You got any schemes? You got
plans? What do you do when the providence
of God rolls over your plans? Believers, it's not providence
that's crooked, it's our plans. It's our plans. And thirdly, how then do the
wise, do the believer, understand these seeming contradictions
of providence and promise? How do you understand that? Look
back in your text real quickly. Read again. Consider the work of God. We
have work of God's salvation. It's all of God. That's the only
firm thing in this world. And you believe that's yours,
regardless of providence. But consider the work of God
in providence. It seems to cross us. Can we
make straight that which he had made crooked? Listen, in the
day of prosperity, be joyful. That's okay. If God's put you
here on the top, then rejoice in that. In what? His work of
salvation. Consider His work in the day
of prosperity. Consider His work. When everything's going well,
consider His work. Look at this, but in the day
of adversity, consider. God also has set over one against
the other. To the end, to this purpose,
that man should find nothing after Him. You know why God's
doing this? So you ain't gonna find nothing
except Him. After Christ revealed Himself,
is there anything else? Now I know the flesh finds other
things, but what does He do with those things? He destroys them.
Why? So that you don't find anything
but Him. That's why He destroys them. The believer should take that
to heart. Can we by our struggling and scheming then straighten
what God has made crooked? No. Then what? Listen, be patient. Be patient. We should surely be patient in
our affliction. In other words, Wait on God.
Look at verse 8. He said, Better is the end of
a thing than the beginning of, and the patient spirit is better
than the proud. So in the midst of the crooked
times, what do you do? Wait. Endure by faith, looking
to Christ, clinging to Christ in the trial that you're in,
and be patient, long-suffering. Look what he says in verse nine.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. Isn't this the first
reaction when God crosses us? It's God's. It's our first reaction. We go across to be angry. Don't
be angry. That's how the wise should see
it. Be patient in faith. Seeing God has given us his son,
Paul said, How shall he not with him freely give us all things?
Thirdly, Don't seek to bribe your way out of it. Isn't that
a natural response? Well, Lord, if you'll do this,
I'll do that. Don't do that. But rather submit yourselves
under the mighty hand of God, and in due time, He shall exalt
you. And fourthly, look at this. Look
at verse 10, because this gives me trouble. This gives me trouble
a lot. What is the cause of, say not
what is the cause of the former days were better than these.
For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this nostalgia." Isn't
this us? We remember back to a good old
time. And we say, man, I wish today
was like that. You're not wise to do that. And
don't try to make today like that day. When I grew up, you don't understand.
I thought about this. When I grew up, there was such
a time of revival My parents were saved when I was young.
I saw people coming to Christ, and there was large groups of
people traveling to different states, hearing the gospel. It
was a great time. And often I find myself, I wish
today was like that. I'm not wise to do that. Today's
like it is because of the providence of God. I should bow and rejoice
in today. rather than trying to revive
glory days. The providence of God is like
a wheel. It's a wheel within a wheel. And I know this. When you, I used to be a kid,
bicycle in the garage and bored to death. I'd go out there in
the garage, turn my bicycle upside down, I'd spin the wheel. And
then I'd just get dizzy trying to look at the spokes. That's what it is when we try
to trace providence from the providence back to God. You're only going to get dizzy. You see a person suffering, a
believer, one that's loved of God. Isn't that what happened
to Lazarus? He whom thou lovest is sick. Lord, if you had been
here, he would have not died. What were they trying to do?
They were trying to trace the providence back to God. Don't
do that. Surely all providence comes from
God, just like the spokes come out from the hub of the wheel,
go outward. But you're not going to be able
to trace it back. What then is the wise thing to do is keep
your eye on the hub and not the spoke. Why? Because the hub don't
move. God is the center of all providence
and He does not move. And I want you to know this in
your time of grief, believer. You can't tell the love or the
hatred of God by your providence. Oh, man, this is something that
causes us much pain. We look at our providence and
say, well, how can God love me and do this to me? Don't look
at the providence. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9-1 said
you cannot tell the love or hatred of God by all that happens under
the sun. The only way you know God loves
you He's by looking to Christ. It's the only way, the hook that
don't move. And what does he say about his love? He said,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. What's the result? Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. You won't ever be consumed. Why? Because of the work of God in
salvation. That's why. And because of his divine providence,
we've seen that everything's opposite. It's not. It's not. It's going exactly
as God determined. And nothing that happens to you
in time will affect that salvation. Matter of fact, everything is
moving towards that day. I pray God to help you with this.
I know you're struggling. I know you struggle with the
providence. I do. But again, we must resign. Can
I make straight what God has made crooked? Is that possible? No. Give me grace to submit to
his divine providence, knowing that my salvation is secure in
Christ. Oh, I pray God will comfort you
with it. You stand be dismissed in prayer.