Turning your Bibles to the book
of Proverbs, if you would, the third chapter of Proverbs. We've been going through a series
of messages based on the characteristics of God's grace. Not complete, but just some. I've listed nine characteristics
that we wanted to look at in particular. Today we've come
to our sixth message in this series. This series of distinct characteristics
of God's distinguishing grace. It is God who distinguishes between
whom He is gracious to and whom He is not. In Romans 9.15 he
says, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Now that's distinguishing grace, is that not? Is that not God
himself speaking right directly to us? Saying, I decide on who
comes to me, I decide on who I'm going to be gracious to.
That's what the Word of the Lord says right there. Not me. This
is not me making something up. Not my interpretation of it.
That's God's Word. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
The world doesn't want to believe those things at all. They want
to interpret God's Word to their own destruction. These points
of grace are shed upon His chosen and they are shed upon them for
one reason and one reason only. Because of His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because of who He is, as He is
God Almighty in the flesh, who walked this earth. 100% man,
yes. He hungered. He thirsted. He felt the humiliation of people
spitting on him. He felt the pain of somebody
taking the cat of nine tails and slashing it across his back.
He felt the weakness of carrying this big huge log on his shoulder
so much so that the body could no longer do it. I tell you right
now that if God wanted him to, he could have carried that log
without ever touching it. We saw him move upon the earth
and calm the winds before his people. We know that He opened
up the sea right before everyone's eyes and made dry land for Israel
to walk across. And then He brought it down upon
the Egyptians, destroying them all. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
the authority of God within Himself. Distinct characteristics of grace,
they are shed upon His people for one reason, because of what
He did. He walked perfectly. Everything
He did was pleasing to the Father. Every single piece of the law
was fulfilled in Him. There was no sin in Him. And then He went to that cross. and shed His blood upon the ground
from that cross for the sake of His people. We receive the graces of God,
all these different characteristics because of what the Son has done. We receive that grace because
of what He's doing right now. As God, in the flesh, death could
not hold Him. He arose. You're right, Daryl, there was
an empty grave. He lives today. He sits on His throne ruling
over everything right now, just as He has always done from the
beginning of whatever eternity might be. Because of these things, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. Our last meeting here I spoke
of instructing grace. We looked into the teachings
of heavenly things. We took note that Christ is the
only one who can teach the heart of men. The Holy Spirit, the
Comforter, must come to the very elect. Those whose names are
written in the book of life. A book that was also written
before the world was created. That's God's Word. He comes with
instructing comfort. Pointing us to our Lord and Savior. As we go through this world dealing
with the sorrows of this flesh, we are pointed by the Comforter
to the only One who can give comfort. The One who rules. The one who has not lost control
of anything. But it is His purpose for these
things to happen. It is His purpose that we must
go through what we must go through in this life. He comes with instructing comfort,
instructing the poor, the broken, the depraved souls. that our
only hope is in His Son, the Christ of God. Our subject today
is directing grace. Are you with me in Proverbs chapter
3? Let's look at verses 5 and 6.
Trust in the Lord. This is Solomon speaking to his
son, trying to teach his son, his child, the ways of the Lord. in the Lord with all thine heart,
and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths. Not only does our Savior by grace
instruct us in the things of heaven, He guides us on our path
that He has set before us. Turn over to the book of Jonah,
if you would, please. Our great God has done everything
that He purposes of grace towards His people, and it will be fulfilled. All that is can be said to be
for His glory. and saving His elect is most
assuredly His glory. Salvation is of the Lord and
of the Lord alone. Everything throughout time has
been so, to call out those for whom the Father hath given Him,
to redeem the loved of God, that they would spend eternity in
union with our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That
means that all things All things are for our good to those of
us who love God, to those of us who are called. Even the things
that are not joyful, the things that are hard, the things that are painful. My entire life has come along
so that I would come to Christ just as He had purposed it. and exactly when He purposed
it. As it is with all things, Jesus
is Lord of all. All powers are under His authority.
All principalities are ran by Him. All things are His to rule. Are you with me in Jonah? Let's read the first four verses
of chapter 1 and then we'll skip over to verse 17. Now the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the son of Amittah, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has
come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and he went down to
Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare
thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. So here we see Jonah is running
from what God has told him to. He thinks, he's going, I'm running
away, I'm not coming. Yeah, let him find out where
I'm at now. I'm going to go hide in Tarshish, that's a big city.
Oh, how naive we can be to think that we can hide from God. He's God, He sees everything. What does it say in verse 4?
But the Lord sent out a great wind
into the city, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea,
so the ship was like to be broken. Think everybody was afraid of
that? Think it scared anybody on that? You're out in the ocean. If I'm in a big old huge boat,
and it starts Actually, you know, Kathy and I, one time we got
on a big old huge boat going between Victoria, Canada and
someplace there in Washington. And it was a big old huge boat.
And the winds came up. And I was surprised at how much
those big boats move. And it wasn't, I wasn't afraid
of it. But it was kind of unnerving
to wonder, see those big waves splashing up over a boat that's
13 stories tall. These people were scared. I know
I would be. I'd be flat out scared to death.
But here we see the Lord is the one that sent that great wind
into the sea. Do you think He did it because
Jonah was running from Him? Or dare I say, maybe Jonah ran
right into it because the Lord was leading him there. Maybe
the Lord allowed Jonah to think for a moment that he
was in control of things and able to hide. We're going to see how this tempest
wind and how this scary event is for Jonah's good. Look over
at verse 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah. They were going to take Jonah
and throw him over the edge of the boat to calm down the waters. They had figured out that Jonah
had been running from God, and Jonah said, just toss me over.
It's my fault. I've done it. Now the Lord had
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the
belly of the fish three days and three nights. Do we not see
God guiding the very path of Jonah right into this fish's
belly? He prepared the fish to be there. That means God brought
this huge fish right up next to the boat and was ready to
swallow Jonah when they threw him over. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly and he said, I cried by reason
of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly
of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice. Our Lord has to break and bring
the heart of His people to the very bottom that they might look
up to Him. Our righteousness has to be stripped
from us before we can look to the One who is righteous. You see the good in this picture of Jonah right here?
Our Lord had to bring Jonah down to the bottom to be swallowed
by this fish that Jonah might cry from the belly of hell, and
thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the
deep and the midst of the seas. Who cast him there? Jonah knows
who did it. How did Jonah know that? These
guys just threw him off the ship, right? He knew it because God
placed it in his heart just as He does you and I. We know that
these things are from God because God has given us the ability
to know that. Instead of walking around through
this world like we used to thinking, I was pretty lucky on that one,
wasn't I? Now we know that God was gracious
to us on that one, don't we? For thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the sea, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves
passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about,
even to the soul. The depth closed me round about.
The weeds were wrapped about my head." You tell me that Jonah
wasn't afraid of that. No man in his right mind would
not be afraid of that. Lord, help me. I am cast down. My sin is big. It's bigger than
I can... Lord, help me. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountains, the earth and her bars was about me forever,
yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto Thee, and
to Thine holy temple. They that observe lying and vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I avowed. Salvation is of the Lord." And the Lord spake unto the fish,
and it vomited out, Jonah, upon dry land. Do we not see the way our great
God saw fit to direct all that happened right there in what
we read? Those terrible moments that Jonah
must have felt. And Jonah did die, by the way.
We go on to read in a later part of God's Word where the prophet
refers to our Lord laying in the belly of the earth as Jonah
laid in the belly of the fish. And if our Lord Jesus died and
went into the belly of the earth, Jonah died when he went into
the belly of that fish. Yet the Lord raised him up again,
that he might know salvation is of the Lord. May God continue to teach me
every day, every moment, even if it is to kill me every day,
every moment, that I would not forget salvation
is of my Lord. Let's look at another, shall
we? Turn over to the book of Mark, if you would, please. Chapter 4. And while you're turning
there, allow me to read Psalms 119, verse 35, where it says,
Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments. Make me, O Lord, to go in the
path of Thy commandments. Guide my path. Direct me in that
way, whatever it takes. Do not forsake me, O Lord. Direct my path, for therein do
I delight. Or Jeremiah 31.18 where it says,
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised
me, and I was chastised as a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn
Thou me, O Lord, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the Lord
my God. Lamentations 5.21 where it says,
Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew
our days as of old. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask besides we've seen? Are you with me in Mark
chapter 4? Look at verse 36-41. And when they had sent away the
multitude, Christ had just spoken to a multitude of people, teaching
the parables. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took Him, Christ, even as He was in the ship, and
they were also with Him other little ships. And there arose
a great storm of wind. Who is it that controls the wind?
God Almighty. You ask me, is Christ God Almighty? Read this. And the waves beat
into the ship so that it is now full. And he was in the hinder,
speaking of Christ, in the part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and said unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose
and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there
was a great calm. Who is it that controls the wind? Salvation is of the Lord. And
it goes through the world as a wind. You don't know where
it comes from, you don't know where it goes. That's the way
the salvation of the Lord works. We don't know who's to be saved.
We preach to everyone that God brings into the church or wherever
it is that we're at, our fellow workers. Every time you witness
to a fellow worker or a friend or a relative, you're preaching
the Word of God. Our God is sovereign. He works
all things out according to His counsel. That's preaching the Word of
God. Peace, be still, and the wind
ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them,
Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, and said one unto another, What
manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? What manner of man is this? He
is God in the flesh. ruler of all it is, and he delights
in being merciful to his people of whom he has loved from before
time began. Folks, our paths are set. We
must go through these things that are for our good. We may
not know the direction that we should go, but we can take peace
in this very thing. By his grace, he is directing
it all for our good and for his glory. Is it tough, whatever
it is you're going through right now? If you're a child of God,
it's for your good. He says that. And God cannot lie. By His grace,
He is directing it all for our good and for His glory. Turn
over to the 23rd Psalm if you would, please. Our Savior knows what's best.
We just need to trust Him. Are you trusting in anything
of yourself? What about your feelings? Are
you trusting in your feelings? Folks, don't even trust in that.
Our Lord warns us against that. He says in Philippians 3, 3,
for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That includes your feelings. I may be thinking that I'm right
about something, but I need to trust more that my Lord knows
what's right. We who have been called to the
light of His grace, we put all of our confidence in the One
who has all power to make things happen. In the 50th Psalm, verse
1, we read, A psalm of Esther, the mighty God, even the Lord
hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto
the going down thereof. God created the suns. the stars,
everything to happen. Consider it for a moment, the
detail of your own body. Have you ever took a moment and
looked at the science of what it is that the eye does? The
eye takes something, reflects it somewhere in the back of the
eye and then projects it into the mind and the mind reads it
exactly what it is. Our God created that. He created
something so minute and so perfect and so... Man can't create anything
like that. He created a brain that would
think and be able to reason stuff out. Man can't create anything
like that. We think so, but not really. Isaiah 4611, it says, calling
a ravenous bird, our God, calling a ravenous bird from the east,
the man that executed my counsel from a far country, say yea.
I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. If God has
purposed to save His people, will He not do it? That's why
He sent His Son to the cross. To make sure. that every single
point was paid for. These are all points that declare
that God of Scripture rules. This is why we declare ourselves
to be sovereign grace Baptists. There's a lot of different Baptists
in the world around us. Calvary Baptists, Southern Baptists,
this Baptist, whatever. Sovereign grace Baptist. God's preachers preach our God
rules everything, including the will of men. And He can change
your will if He wants to, and if He wants to, He will. He rules by His sovereign grace,
therefore He directs all things according to His own counsel,
according to His own will, Therefore He is purposed, His purposes
shall come to pass. Are you with me in Psalms? The
23rd Psalm, the Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. Christ Jesus
is our still water. We go through this valley of
the shadow of death. He leadeth me besides Hilly.
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou
art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort
me. Christ is our rod. Christ is
our staff. Lean upon Him. Oh, how I wish
I could get this through to your heart, but I know I can't, but
my Lord will. Lean upon your Savior. Not just when you're troubled,
but when things are going your way. Lean upon our Savior. Turn to Him. He prepares a table for me in
the presence of my enemies. He anoints my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, surely, surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord because of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Stand with me, if you would,
please.