Alright, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes
chapter 7. And our text will be found in
verse 13. Our text will be found in verse
13. Now I've entitled this message,
A Consideration of God's Crooked Work. A Consideration of God's
Crooked work. Let's read this verse of Scripture
together. The Scripture says, Consider
the work of God. For who can make straight that
which he, God, hath made crooked? As we look at this book of Ecclesiastes,
we know that this book views everything from under the sun. It views everything from man's
perspective. And truly, as we're going to
see this, as we consider the work of God this morning, we
are going to consider it and see that it is from man's perspective,
man's wisdom, crooked. It's against what man thinks. It's against the natural wisdom
of man. It appears crooked. And so then
the writer of Solomon, the writer of this book says, how can you,
after considering his work, how can you, as you see it crooked,
how can you change it? How can you make it straight
according to your wisdom? And we know the answer. You can't.
You can't. It's impossible for you to change
what God has set, what God has done. The work of God is God's
work, and it may appear crooked to you. But no matter how it
appears, you will never make it understandable to human wisdom. It will never be understandable.
That's why faith and human wisdom are opposed to one another. They're
opposed to one another. Now I want to give you my outline.
I'm going to give you my outline and then we're going to take
it from there. The first thing I want us to consider is the
work of God in salvation. The Scripture says consider the
work of God. And in this work of God, as we
consider the work of God, we know this, the salvation of God
appears crooked to man. And no matter what he does, he
can't make it what he wants it to be. So we're going to consider
what God says about salvation. That God's salvation, first of
all, is eternal. It's an eternal salvation. Second
of all, it is an accomplished salvation. And thirdly, it is
an applied salvation. Then we're going to consider
the second work of God, which is providence. And that's mainly
what this is about, considering God's providence. But salvation
is part of His providence, isn't it? So considering God's providence,
and I have three questions then. First of all, what is divine
providence? Second of all, why does it appear
crooked? Why does it appear crooked to
us? And thirdly, how do the wise, those who believe in Christ,
understand the seeming contradictions between God's salvation and God's
providence? Because it does seem, it seems
to the human mind, they are opposed. to one another. You remember
Isaac's wife. She had the twins struggling
in her breast. And you remember how God promised
that that seed of Isaac would come to Christ. That he would
be the heir. And she says, well, if we're
the heir, then why am I struggling? Why is this happening within
me? Why am I thus? And that's what the believer
said. Why am I thus? Why am I thus? Why does it appear as though
God is killing me rather than doing what He promised? So we
want to deal with this contradiction. Now Solomon, who wrote this book,
why is this man next to the Lord Jesus Christ? the wisest man
that ever lived upon the face of the earth, and God gave this
man everything. Everything you and I could possibly
want in this world. He had riches, he had health,
he had wives, he had pleasures, he had everything. He had that
and wisdom. He had everything a man could
want. And yet, what was his first saying out of this book of Proverbs?
What's the first thing he said? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
and vexation of spirit. Why is that? If a man, you know,
you think if you had everything that you'd be happy, everything
would be well. That's what human wisdom says, isn't it? That's
what would appear to be straight to us. If we just had everything
we wanted, then it'd be well. He says, no, it's vanity. Why?
Because we all go to one place. You're going to go to one place.
I'm going to go to the same place. You know what place that is?
The grave. This is why it's vanity. You get everything you want,
but guess what? Somebody else is going to get
it when you die. What's the use? What's the purpose
then? The pleasures of this world don't
last. And so then, what happens to
the fool happens to the wise. What happens to the rich happens
to the poor. What happens to the powerful
happens to the powerless. We all die and we must face God. That's the important issue here,
friends. We must die and we must face
God. It behooves us that no matter
our state and standing or social class in this world, we should
listen to God. We should hear what God says
about Himself. What God demands of you and me. Because we will face Him. We
will stand before Him. And we will be judged by Him.
Whether you like it or not, whether you think that's crooked or not,
it doesn't matter. You can't straighten it. You ain't going
to live forever. I don't care what you do. Whatever
you have now, you're going to lose it. Hold on as tight as
you want to, you are going to lose it. Now, how important is it? You
should consider that. Listen to God rather than man.
It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, what?
The judgment. The judgment. I tell you, there
are so many people who claim to know God that don't know a
thing about God. There are many who claim to be
accepted of God, but have no idea even what God demands, what
God requires of them. They just walk through this life.
There's that man Ignorance in Pilgrim's Progress. You know,
he didn't have a trouble in the world. He went down that same
road with Pilgrim and he hadn't had a trouble in the world. And
when he got to the end, what did he find? He was cast out.
He was cast out. Most men have this Heinz 57 religion. I call it a buffet religion.
They take this book and they pick things out of this book. They take this text and they
take that text and they take what they got in their mind about
God and they make those texts, they twist them and rest them
to fit what they think about God. They make their own religion. They choose a little here and
a little there. They believe God is somehow, if they can just
be sincere enough. You ever heard that? Well, I
just think that man, if he's just sincere enough, God will
accept him. Friends, that's not what God says. That's not what
God says. They say, man is sincere. Surely,
if God, man does his best. They view God something like
a grandpa. You know, a grandpa with the grandchildren. My mom
will give my children everything. Anything. If they just do a little
bit. They just do a little bit of
their, something good. Try to find something good that
they've done. That's how they view God. If
I'm just sincere, He's like an old grandpa. He'll give me eternal
life if I just try my best. No. And so they're busy about
trying to obey the law, trying to make themselves progressively
sanctified. They believe Jesus did His work
and they've got to do theirs. Friend, that's the heart of a
fool. That's not a wise man. If you
believe that, listen to me very carefully. You're a fool. You're
a fool. This is the heart of the fool.
The fool says there are many ways to God. I'll tell you this, works religion
seems straight to the natural man, seems right. There is a
way, God says, that seemeth right unto a man. But the end thereof
is what? Death. Death. Works religion
seems right, it seems straight, but it's not. It's not. And so then, God here in our
text calls us to consider. Consider what? The work of God. Consider the work of God. What
does God really require? That's a good question. If you
be wise about this matter of salvation, what does God require
of you? Not what your daddy requires, not what your mama requires,
not what your church requires, not what the pastor requires.
What does God require of you? Here it is, the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. That's what God says. God said
that. God's law says this, sanctify
yourselves and you shall be holy even as I am holy. Would you be justified by the
law? Then what must you do? You must
obey the law completely in its entirety. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. Therefore consider, my friend, your sin. You have
broken the law of God. Consider your sin. Consider that
you and I have not continued in the obedience of the law of
God. And God says we have all sinned and come short of the
glory of God. We are all as an unclean thing. And our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And so may this morning the Holy
Spirit even now open your eyes to such foolishness. If that's
what you think about God's Word, that salvation is by something
you do, may God show you that you're crooked. You're crooked. You think God's salvation is
crooked, but you're crooked. May you open your eyes to see
your foolishness, that God requires nothing less than perfect obedience. Jesus said, Not everyone that
saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father. Doeth the will of
my Father. Now I've told you what that will
is, didn't I? Be ye holy even as I am holy. Now listen, considering we're
all going to die, considering you're all going to go and face
God, you're going to face God. And what does God demand of you?
He demands holiness. How then can one who is guilty
then be made acceptable? Is that not a reasonable question? The answer to this, we must incline
our hearts to the wisdom of our text and consider the work of
God. Now I told you, consider the
work of God in salvation. The work of God's salvation.
Men are confused about salvation. They're confused. Because they
fail to see that salvation is not by any merit of man. I want to be plain here. I want
to be clear. There is nothing you can do to
merit God's salvation. Salvation itself is completely
and absolutely a work of God. It is a work of the triune God. It is a work of the Father. It
is a work of the Son. And it is a work of the Holy
Spirit upon the sinful man, and in the sinful man, and for the
sinful man. It is not a work done in any
measure by the sinful man. That's where men fail. And you
know what men say? Well, that's crooked. I don't
like that. That puts all the... God has
all the marvels. He has all the power, all the
ability. That gives me no power, no hope. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. You have no power to save yourself. God's salvation. Salvation is
of the Lord, Jonah said. Psalm 3 and verse 8 says salvation,
listen, belongs to the Lord. It's His. It's His salvation. Sinner. Stop trying then. I want you to stop trying. Religion
wants you to try. God says stop. And then do what? Consider my salvation. Listen
to what I tell you about my work of salvation. First of all, this
salvation is an eternal work of the Father's choosing. It's an eternal work of the Father's
choosing. Consider that the Father has
chose to save some. God the Father chose an elect
people upon whom He gave all spiritual blessings. God chose
a people and put them into union with Jesus Christ. This is not
something we make up. We know this in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1, we all know
this very well. Paul said, "...Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Christ." When? When did He choose to save? before the world began. And listen, He purposed that
we should be holy and without blame. What did I tell you God
demanded? God demanded you to be holy and guess what? God purposed
His people that they should be holy and without blame. And He
purposed how they should do it. By Jesus Christ. By no other
means but by Jesus Christ. Therefore in eternity they were
accepted in the Beloved. He says that in verse 6, "...pray
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved." Over in 2 Timothy chapter 1,
listen to this. It says in verse 9, "...who God,"
speaking of God, "...who hath saved us, and called us with
an holy calling." Listen to this, not according to words. not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. He saved us, He called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, according to His
purpose and grace, when? Before the world began. The Father's
salvation is an eternal salvation. It's one purposed of God. And
listen, the means by which they are saved is all one. They're
saved by the merits of the Son. By Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter
1 again. It says, by Jesus Christ. That He should come. And Isaiah
foretold of Him, didn't it? Behold My servant, whom I uphold,
Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. This is the one God chose in
the beginning when Adam sinned. What was the prophecy? The seed
of the woman. You see, God purposed that He
would come into the world even from the beginning. From the
beginning that Christ should be coming into this world as
the seed of the woman to represent all of His people. This is the
work of God in salvation. That Christ should become a man
representing His people and obtain righteousness and make them acceptable. How can He make sinners acceptable
and holy? You can't do it for yourself,
but look at the one who did. He came into the world to do
this, to accomplish this work, and he did it. He accomplished
it. How? By his obedience to God
and by his death on the cross. That's how the salvation of God
works. That's how it was accomplished.
That's how it was finished. Isn't that what he said when
he got finished with it? How can you be more plain? It is
finished. It's finished. Seventy weeks
are determined. To do what? Make an end of transgression,
iniquity, and sin. That's what He came to do. Bring
in an everlasting righteousness. It's finished, He said. What
that said, I did it. Jesus Christ did this. He redeemed
them. What He told us in Ephesians,
Paul said in verse 7, whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His grace. In
Hebrews chapter 9 it says that He obtained eternal redemption,
everlasting redemption for His people. He has perfected forever
them that are sanctified. How? By His one offering for
sin. Now you religious people, religious
people make offerings every day. Well today I'm just going to
do good. I'm going to make an offering to God. I'm going to
do good. You know what that accomplishes? Nothing. Not one thing towards
salvation. Now listen, we who believe in
Christ, we desire to do good works because of our salvation. Never for or adding to His salvation. It's done. It's finished. The
salvation's accomplished. But not only this, God not only
purposed this salvation, this work, He also accomplished it
in Jesus Christ, but that's not the end of it, is it? No, because
He also promised to apply it to those elect. He will apply
it by the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised this. He said,
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that the
Father gave me should come to Me. That all He gave me, all
I represent, all I died for, all I made righteous, every one
of them shall come to Me. Does that sound questionable
to you? Of course not. It's God speaking. God doesn't
speak in questionable terms. He speaks in certainties. Absolute
certainties. He shall come to me. Isn't that
why you came to Him? If you believe on Him? You came
to Him because at that time He applied that work to your heart. He applied that work. This is
the work of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? It's a divine work
of God the Holy Spirit. Over in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 and verse 13, the apostle said, we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord. Why do we give thanks? Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you, and I said that already. Father chose you. And what's
the evidence? He said, what has He chose you?
He chose you to salvation. But what's the means? Through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. These
things are the work of the Spirit. The sanctification and creation
of a new nature, a holy nature, and faith in Jesus Christ, which
is an act of grace. It is a work of grace upon the
heart. Now, you who believe, did you not sincerely believe?
Of course you did. It was an act of sincerity when
you came to Christ, wasn't it? But how much did your sincerity
count? Men believe that sincerity is
the motivating and the foundational factor by which we're able to
come. Man's will, that's the foundation by which men are able
then to come to Christ. No. If you're able to come to
Christ, that's a work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this,
this is the Father's work that you believe on Him whom He has
sent. This is the work of the Father.
This is the work of the Spirit. To illustrate this point is simple.
Isn't that Ezekiel 37, the dry bones? Isn't that a beautiful
picture of God's application of His salvation? He sent that
prophet out there and there were a valley of dry, dead bones.
These bones were so dry they had no moisture, no life, nothing. He sent him out there and he
asked the prophet a question. He said, can these bones live?
Well, the prophet already knew, God knew what he was going to
do to these bones. He said, look, you know. You
know what you're going to do, and you know if they can live
because you're the only one to give them life. And still he
told that prophet, he told him to do something that's totally
crooked to natural wisdom. He said, preach to dead bones.
That's just against nature, isn't it? And yet, we do what's against
nature because God commanded it. Because we know God can give
life and God will give life to all those He promised to. And
so what do we do? We preach to these dead bones
and God begins to rattle the bones, rattle the conscience.
He begins to rattle the mind. He begins to challenge the sinner.
He begins to show the sinner his need. And then what? He breaks
forth in life and shows them Christ. And they run to Him. Why? He gave them life. This
is the work of God in creation. Consider that. Yes, everything
else is vanity and vexation of spirit, but consider this, salvations
of the Lord. Now that's something marvelous. That's something great that's
not vanity. Everything else is vanity, but
this is not vanity. Why? It's all a work of God.
If it's a work of me, it's vanity. If it's a work of God, it's sure.
It's sure. Consider this. Our salvation
is by the grace and power of God. And you who do believe on
Christ alone, is it not our joy and hope and peace to consider
this work? If you're in trouble, believer,
you should just sit down and consider this work. Do your sins trouble you? Mine
do. My sins trouble me greatly. Are
you oppressed? Are you hurt? Are you bewildered? And just sit down and think about
this. All is well. All is well. Why? Because my
salvation is a work of God and all of this is vanity. I've got
to let it go anyway. I've got to let it go anyway.
Why hang on to it? Hold on to this. Salvation is
of the Lord. And if I'm saved, friends, I'm
saved. Now who's going to take me out
of His hands? No one. Not even my sin will ever remove
me from His hands because He already considered it. He already
accounted for it and He already died for it before you ever committed
it. Is that not amazing? Now you
can just sit down in peace. You can just sit down and rest.
if you consider His work of salvation. Now then, seeing that His work
of salvation is accomplished, purposed, accomplished, and applied
to us, now then consider this thing called providence, because
we do have to live in this world. We do have to live in this world
as you're a believer in Christ, we live in this world, and we
must then understand God's work of providence. The Holy Scriptures
are clear. that all the Father chose, all
the Son redeemed, and all the Spirit have called to life in
faith, He will keep them. Isn't that right? Go to 1 Peter,
look at it real fast, because we're going to turn here and
move on. I'm not going to stay very long in 1 Peter, but I want
you to see it. 1 Peter chapter 1, look at verse
5. Speaking to the elect, to those
called, He said this, who are kept by the power of God. How? Through faith. unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last time. But notice something here.
Notice what he's now going to show you, the experience of your
life. He said that you're going to
be kept, but there's something going to happen to you. Look
at this. Wherein you greatly rejoice. Don't you rejoice in
that? Though now for a season, if need be. You, through heaviness,
through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith
be much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, might be found to the praise and honor and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ. He said, look, you're going to
go through trouble. You who have been saved, you
who will be kept, but I'll tell you, you'll be kept through the
fire of troubles and tribulations and trials and difficulties.
Well let me ask you this, who ordained these troubles and trials
and difficulties? The same One who ordained your
salvation. The same One who keeps you also
ordains all of the providences you face in this life. Providence
is divine providence because it is of God. All providence
is of God. And so as we suffer in this world,
believers can suffer. Don't you suffer? We suffer sorrows
and sicknesses and trials and difficulties and griefs and even
death. Yet the elect, the redeemed,
the quickened by the Holy Spirit, here's our hope, they shall endure
it. They shall endure it. Why? They're
kept. They're kept. Yet in these times
of trouble, we're often confused. Isn't it confusing how God says,
I love you with an everlasting love? So much love that I sent
My Son to die in your stead. So much love that I sent My Spirit
to dwell and live in you. So much love that I will keep
you all the days of your life, forgive you of all of your sins. You shall inherit everything.
And yet, what do we face? Is everything made of a bed of
roses now? Is everything smooth sailing
from now on? No. When you believe in Christ,
that's when real trouble begins. We suffer. And look, the wicked
prosper. Isn't that what Asaph had trouble
with. He said, you know, I know God's
good to Israel, but as for me, I nigh well slip, because I saw
the wicked prosper, and I saw the righteous suffer. And that's
exactly how it is. That's exactly how providence
works in this world. The wicked prosper, and the righteous
suffer. Well then, consider. Consider
the providence of God then. What is providence? What is that? I want you to understand providence
is everything that happens in time. It is the fulfillment of
God's eternal decree. Whatever God determined in eternity
to happen in time is happening, has happened, is happening, and
shall happen. It is the fulfillment of all
that God decreed. Now in Isaiah chapter 41, if
you would read that chapter, you'd find out God is describing
false prophets, false gods. He says false gods are nothing
but a stick. So they take a piece of wood,
they carve it out, and they bow down and say, you're God. And
God challenges anybody that says they're God. He says, look, you
tell me what's going to happen. Tell me. If you're God, you should
be able to tell me what happened. You should be able to tell me
what is happening, and you should be able to tell me what's going
to happen if you're God. And if you can't, you're not
God. Any God that hasn't determined all things is not God. Listen
to what God says about Himself. God says this, I'm God. There's
none like Me. Declaring the end The end of
all things. When was that declared? God says,
I declared that from the beginning. From ancient times of things
that were not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all My pleasure. Now that's God. That's God. So what is divine providence?
It is God working out His counsel. God fulfilling all and accomplishing
all that He had purposed to accomplish in time. Consider this, believer
in Christ, that all things that has ever been, that are happening
now and shall ever happen, are of the sovereign decree of God. All things, and I want you to
understand this, all things means just exactly that. All things. That's what it means. Everything. In our yard, there are a million
of those little propeller things that fall out of our oak tree.
They just come down like droves. Not one falls without the sovereign
decree of God. I mean everything. I mean every
good thing that happens to you and every evil thing that happens
to you. Every righteous deed done in
the world and listen, every sin done in the world is according
to the sovereign decree of God. Now listen, that seems crooked
to man. Doesn't it? That seems crooked. Well, how can God, who cannot
commit sin, He can't. He's holy in everything He does.
Then how can He decree it? He can. He does. That sounds
crooked, but it's not. You're crooked. All things are
decreed. The Scripture says the casting
of the lot. The whole disposing of it is
of the Lord. You throw a dice on the ground,
guess who determines what rolls? God does. God does. Proverbs 16 verse 4, The Lord
hath made all things for himself. Listen, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Amos says, Shall the trumpet
be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there
be evil in the city, and hath not the Lord done it? I'm going
to give you an illustration of this, and this is the pinnacle
of illustrations. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Peter, in that first message on the day of Pentecost,
he says, according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you, by wicked hands, have taken and crucified and slain
the Lord of glory. Was not the cross determined
of God? Their evil actions Judas' betrayal
wasn't already determined, and yet they did what they wanted
to, and they are in hell for it. That's crooked. I don't care
what you say. You can't straighten it. You
just kick against the pricks. Everything that is happening
and is going to happen is according to the providence of God. Well, why does God's providence
then appear crooked to us? Look at your text again. Go back.
Go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 7. It says this, Consider the work
of God, for who can make straight that which he had made crooked?
Believe it, there are many times the providence of God seems to
be crooked to us. It seems contrary, contrary to
us. What we think we need or what
we think we want and think is good, God often crushes our dreams,
our plans, and our schemes. Solomon in this text lists several
things that appear crooked. Look at your text. Go back to
verse 1. Look at this. He says in verse 1, the day of
one's death is better than the day of one's birth. And how do we celebrate? Aren't
we just backwards? Doesn't that appear crooked to
you? Look at the next thing. It is better to go to the house
of mourning than the house of feasting. Look at verse 3. Sorrow is better
than laughter. Rebuke of the wise is better
than the praise of fools. The end, verse 8, the end of
a thing is better than the beginning. Now all those don't sound crooked
to you? They do to our human mind and our human logic. They
sound opposed to what's really right. None of these do we desire. Isn't that right? We don't desire
death. We don't desire sorrow. We would
never bring those things on ourselves. It appears crooked to us. But
God, who has purposed to do us only good, brings these things
on us by providence. In that what he tells us in the
covenant of grace in Ezekiel, he says, I will do them good
all the days of their life. I will do them good. I know my
mind, I know my purpose, to do you good and not evil. Therefore,
divine providence has appointed these times of sorrow and mourning
and death, not for our destruction, but rather for our good. Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 2
says, when you pass through the waters, listen, I will be with
thee. And the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle
on thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. You see, God brings these trials
and providential hindrances so that He might draw closer to
us. That we might draw closer to
Him. Isn't that what trouble does?
Doesn't it press you so hard that you have no hope in yourself? No ability to do anything yourself? Then you must do what? Lean on
Him. You've got no alternative. When
you're in the water and in the fire, there is no place else
to lean. There's no one else to help. Now that was always true in the
joyful times. You just don't know it as well
as you do in the times. That's why sorrow is better than
laughter. That's why the death is better
than one's birth. Isn't that true of a believer?
The day of his death is better than the day of his birth. The
day of our birth is the day of our sorrow. The day of our death
is the end of our sorrows. God does these things in providence,
these hard things, these difficult things for us to understand why
He's doing these things. He is doing them for our good
and our benefit even though you can't feel it, you can't see
it, you can't taste it. The only way we can accept it
and receive it is by faith. Trust in the Lord. and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways of providence,
acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Where does He direct
you to? Himself. Isn't that where these
You know, as a kid, we'd always like to play in the water, and
you'd guide that water, and you'd stop it here, and you'd go this
way, and you'd guide it there, and you'd go this way, just making
little tunnels and trails for the water. That's what God does.
But His path always leads to Himself. It always leads us to
lean hard on Him when we don't understand. And so then, this
is the third thing, how do the wise, how do believers in Christ,
Understand these seeming contradictions. These seeming contradictions. Well, I know this. You can by your struggling and
working and scheming never get yourself out of these things.
It's wise for you to understand that. I think the quicker that
God brings us to that place, the sooner He brings us out of
these trials. But it's not always the same
amount of time, is it? Sometimes it takes years for
us to fully understand that we can't get ourselves out of this.
We can't make this thing work. We can't do it ourselves. So
then what must we do in providence that we can't understand? Listen!
Be patient. The best thing to do when you
can do nothing is do nothing. Look at verse 8 back in your
text. Better is the end of the thing
than the beginning thereof, and the patient in spirit is better
than the proud in spirit. That's a wise thing to be, is
patient. Understanding the work of God's salvation, considering
salvation's accomplished, considering all providence is in the hand
of our God, what is best? Is it best to be proud and boast
against God, or is it best to be patient? It's wise to be patient. Here's what you can do. Don't
be angry. Don't be angry. Look at verse
9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to
be, what? Angry. For the anger resteth
in the bosom of fools. Will you kick against the prick? Isn't this foolish of us to bang
our head against the wall, and then the next time we do it,
expect a different outcome? That's what we do. We do that.
And that's unwise. Considering God's providence
is straight. God's providence doesn't vary.
God's providence is not... I thought of this the other day.
The famine in the land where Jacob was. Do you realize Jacob
was God's chosen man? He loved Jacob, but he didn't
escape the famine. Could God have allowed him to escape the
famine? Yes! But he didn't. He had a purpose. He was going
to show us a picture of Christ, wasn't he? In Joseph. So no, you're not going to escape
this trial you're in. God's purposed this trial. God's
planned this trial. And the best thing you can do
is not be angry with God. Thirdly, don't seek to bribe
your way out of it. Look at verse... Let me see. Verse 7. Verse 7. Surely oppression
maketh a wise man mad. I'll tell you this. God's people
are confused in oppression. It makes us crazy. It does. But hear this. A gift destroyed
the heart. Look, you're not going to bribe
your way out of this. You're not going to buy your way out of this. It's foolish. It'll just destroy you. It'll
destroy you. Don't do it. but rather submit
yourselves under the mighty hand of God and in due time, in due
time. When's that? I don't know. In
due time. Remember that man at the pool
of Bethesda? His due time was 38 years. That's
due time. The famine in Egypt was seven
years. In due time. Your due time may
be five minutes, your due time may be fifty years. It doesn't
matter. In due time. And until that time,
don't seek to get yourself out. Rather, bow to the will of God
and faith in Jesus Christ. Looking and considering what?
Considering God's salvation and considering it's His providence.
Fourthly, don't look back. and try to recreate former times
of joy. Look at verse 10. Don't say this. God said, I'm just telling you
don't do this, because I know you're prone and I'm prone to
do it. Don't say this. What is the cause of the former
days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely
at this. How many times do we try to recreate
former glories, former days of good, Former days of joy, we
try to recreate it. We look back and we say, what's
the formula? What's the formula for that?
No, God's providence was that, and God's providence is not that
today. And no matter what you do, you
can't straighten it. You're not going to make it what
it was. I know this. I was reminiscing
with someone the other day of the days when the Gospel was
preached with such fervency. We had faithful men. We loved
to sit around and talk about the Gospel. It was something
that was providential. It's not something that we tried
to do, that we tried to make up, that we tried to to stir
people up to do it, it was something that was a wonderful time. And
listen, I'm not here to try to recreate that. That's foolishness
on my part. Those days are gone. Today, today
is God's providence. Today, whatever is today, whatever
is happening today is according to the will of God. We can pray
for it to come back, but we can't recreate it. Don't do it. How
foolish, how foolish. Today is exactly what God purposed
it to be. Do we know any better? I was talking to Cheryl about
this and I asked her, if you had the power to change
something, What would it be? And she told me what that was.
She said, I'd change this. I'd change this. I thought about
this myself before I asked her the question. I'm sure I thought
of things that I would change if I had the power. Then I asked
this question. Now then, knowing who God is,
knowing His sovereign decree, His providence, what should you
change? She rightly answered, nothing.
You should change nothing. Because if we were to change
anything, we would be saying we're wiser than God. And we're not. Therefore, no matter how painful
it is, we must surrender to God's wisdom. Therefore, believer,
we can by no way deliver ourselves Therefore, submit ourselves to
God's providence. Now, I want you to understand,
remember that prophecy of Ezekiel, the wheel within the wheel? That's
a picture of the providence of God. Providence of God is like
a wheel spinning within a wheel. It goes straight forward, and
it doesn't turn, it doesn't move. It's an immutable providence.
Whatever God determined to take place, is going to take place,
and is taking place, and has taken place. And there's no way
to change it. There's no way to move it. There's no way to
rest it. from its path. And listen, the
reason we're so angry, the reason we're so hurt, is because our
providence was going this way and God's went this way. We were
going to the left and God ran straight over our dreams. He
crushed our schemes. That's why we're upset. And so we should understand this.
But remember, whatever's at the bottom of the wheel, this is
good. Whatever's at the bottom of the wheel, guess what? Soon
it'll be at the top. Isn't this good if you're at
the bottom of the wheel? Isn't this good when God has ran over
you with His providence? Isn't it good for us to understand
that we will soon be at the top? But you at the top, be warned,
because everything at the top of the wheel, soon will what?
Be at the bottom. Haven't you found this to be
true? Top. Bottom. Top. Bottom. Top. Bottom. Yes,
that's God's providence. Therefore, believer, we can no
way determine God's love, or Christ's redemption for our sins,
or our interest and faith in Christ by any act of divine providence. I've used this illustration many
times before, the spokes in a wheel. If you have a bicycle and you
ever spin the wheel and you see the spokes, they appear to be
going out from the center. And that's exactly what God's
providence is. There's God in the center and every providence
runs out from God. Everything. Millions and millions,
billions and trillions, every second run out from God. But
if you were to try to look at one, You try to look at one providence. It would be like looking at that
wheel when it's spinning. You'll just get dizzy. You try
to find that one providence, and your head is turned around,
and you're trying to trace it back, and you can't. It's the
same way with our providences. You've got something bad, something
evil, and you're trying to find, trace it back to God's love.
You can't. You can't. You're confused. We're
confused. Become dizzy. And so what's the
remedy? Don't look at the providence.
Don't look at the spoke. Look at the thing that doesn't
move. The hub. Look to God who doesn't move. You know, God is not moved by
events. God moves events. He's not moved
by them. We think He is because we're
moved by them. We sin and we think God has moved. No. You were moved. He's not. Your love changed. His didn't. Your thoughts of God changed.
His thoughts of you never change. This is why it's wise in the
Providence to consider this is the work of God. Whatever it
is, it's the work of God. Look and consider Jesus Christ
your Savior, that He is working all things after His own will.
In Romans chapter 11, and verse 36 says, For of Him, and through
Him, and to Him are all things. All things. Whether joy or pain,
trouble or grief, sickness or health, poverty or wealth, all
things are of Him and to Him and for Him. All things. All things. I want to close with reading
what Brother Don said about this, because I thought this, I had
added this at the last minute this morning. Brother Don wrote
this, as a skilled pharmacist mixes medicine, our Heavenly
Father wisely mixes exactly the right measure of bitter things
and sweet things to do us good. Too much joy would intoxicate
us. Too much misery would drive us
to despair. Too much sorrow would crush us.
Too much suffering would break us. Too much defeat would discourage
us. Too much success would pump us
up. Too much failure would keep us from doing anything. Too much
criticism would make us hard. Too much praise would exalt us. Our God knows exactly what we
need. His providence is wisely designed,
sovereignly sent for our good. Let Him therefore send and do
what He will by His grace. If we are His, we will face it,
we will bow to it, and we will accept it, and we will give thanks
for it. God's providence is always exactly
the wisest measure and manner possible. We may not understand
it, we may not see it, but our lack of understanding does not
prevent us from believing God. Behold and consider the work
of God. Consider His salvation. What's
foolish to the world, what's crooked to the world, can they
straighten it? No. God chose a people. Christ
accomplished that redemption and He applies it. Has He applied
it to you? Has He applied it to you? Because all things else
is vanity. Everything else is vanity. Listen,
has He applied it to you? If He has, then consider it.
Believe it. Trust it. What about those hard
providences? Consider His providence then.
Consider His sovereignty. Consider that He is doing all
His will for the salvation of His people. Consider that in
your providence, He has determined it, He has decreed it, He has
brought it to pass, not for your destruction, but rather for your
good. And though you can't see it,
you can't taste it, you can't feel it, don't try to trace it
back, what are you going to do? Consider His salvation. You see that rule number one,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Rule number two, see rule number
one. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's it. Faith. Even in times of hard
providences. May God give us the wisdom to
consider these things.