It is a privilege to be here. I love to preach, but I'd rather
hear your pastor preach. But I did. I got to hear him
on Wednesday. I enjoyed that blessing. I ask your prayers
again for me as I seek to honor Christ and magnify Him and preach
His Word to you. I pray He'll make it effectual
to your hearts. I pray He'll teach you, instruct
you. I'm just one that's just a vessel. You don't praise the pitcher
for the good tea you get. It's just to hold it. That's
all I do is hold it and pour it out. And I pray that God would
open your hearts to fill it this morning. Take your Bibles and
turn with me to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. We're looking at verse 13 this
morning, Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 13. Entitle this message, A Consideration
of God's Crooked Work. A Consideration of God's Crooked
Work. The Scripture says, Ecclesiastes
7 and verse 13, Consider the work of God. For who can make
that straight which He hath made crooked?" God's crooked work. Now, we're going to consider
this morning two works of God. As we consider the work of God,
we are going to consider, first of all, God's work of salvation. God's work of salvation. If ever
we are to continue and endure in the faith, we must constantly,
above all things, consider God's salvation. And I've got three
things concerning that. If you want to take notes, you
can just put it in there. I'm kind of hoping my message
will line up with the notes. We're going to consider God's
eternal work of salvation. We're going to consider the Son's
work of accomplishing that salvation. And thirdly, we're going to consider
the Spirit's work in applying that salvation. And secondly,
we're going to consider God's work of providence. God's work
of providence. And I have three questions under
this. What is divine providence? Why does divine providence appear
crooked? And thirdly, how does the wise,
the believer, how are we to understand the seeming contradictions of
God's promises and God's providence? So first of all, let's consider
his work of salvation. Now Solomon, in this book, moved
by the Holy Spirit, was given wisdom above every man other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. The man Solomon had the greatest
wisdom of all Adam's creation. It was given to him to be wise,
but not only this, but he was given to him to experience all
the pleasures that this world has to offer. He was given riches
above all men, power above all men. He was given the pleasures
above all men. And what was his conclusion?
His conclusion is simply this, vanity, of vanity, all is vanity
and vexation of spirit. That is the conclusion of the
wisest man who has been given all of the pleasures of this
world that a man could take. And he said it's all empty. It's empty. And it's vexing. It's vexing. The things of this
world are vexing to us. Why? He said, look, I had all
wisdom. I had all pleasure. And you know
what the vexing part is? I'm going to die like the fool.
I'm going to die like the poor man. We all die. There is nothing in this world
you keep. Nothing. The wise as well as the fool,
the rich as well as the powerful, and the poor as well as the powerless. All will die and all must be
judged of God. I beg you to listen then to your
Maker. Listen to your Judge. It is appointed
unto men once to die and after this the judgment. That's what
this book is concerning. It says everything under the
sun, anything you can think of is nothing. It's empty. It's
vain. You get it? It enjoys it for
a moment and the moment's gone. What did you really have? Nothing.
It's vanity. Consider this instead. You're
going to die. Consider. Be wise. Consider this. Now, so many people
in this world, in this age, who claim to know God. They claim
to seek after God, they claim to be accepted of God, but in
truth, many of this generation have no clue who God is or what
God requires of them. None. They all got an opinion
about it, but they really don't know. Most men are the Heim 57 religion.
They'll just take of this and take of that, and they put it
together. They say, well, I like this verse, and they go over
here, and I like this verse, but this one, I just like. They
just kind of pick and choose what they want. And that's how
they come up with their religion. These men view God as some kind
of old grandfather, that if you just do your best, you know,
if you're just sincere, You believe this way and this other person
believes that way. If you're both just really sincere
and you really believe, it's all going to work out. It's okay.
That's a fool. That's a fool. This is the heart
of the fool to believe that there are many ways to God, and sincerity
is the key. That's the heart of the fool.
God said there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
that way, the end thereof is death. You see, that seems straight
to this world, to try to earn God's favor, and if you just
do your best, then God's gonna accept you. Now that just seems
straight. That seems like a good, logical
religion. How do you know? Because all
religion, except the gospel of God's grace, all religion is
like that. You know, there are only two
religions. It's very important to understand. There are only
two religions. Don't confuse it. Salvation by works or salvation
by grace. There's no mixing here. It's
either or. If you say, well, I believe in
salvation by grace, but you got to do... No, you're worst category.
You're over there. That's who you are. There's only two religions,
works and grace. And the way of works seems logical
to us by nature. This is how we think by nature. But it's the way of the fool.
So this morning I want us to consider this. What God says
is this, the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. The law of God is not ambiguous. Be ye holy even as I am holy. This is God's requirement. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. All right, go ahead. Raise your
hand if that's you. Jesus said, Not every man that
saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
Consider that our sin, consider our sin, that our sin, we have
sinned against God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We are all as an unclean thing.
We are as a leper whose wounds and bruises and putrefying sores
cover us from head to toe. By nature, we are sinners. Listen, the reason you sin is
because you are a sinner. Sinning doesn't make you a sinner.
You're a sinner by birth. And because you're a sinner by
birth, you are definitely a sinner by choice. This is who we are. And I pray the Holy Spirit would
open this because if God never shows you your need of Christ,
you'll never come. Jesus 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.
How easy it is to say, Lord, Lord. How easy is it? Is it easy
for you to say? If you've got a tongue, you can say it. A lot
of people say it. Jesus said, I don't care if you
say that. I don't care how sincere you are when you say that. You
may be sincere. Lord, Lord, and you may be sincere.
Jesus said, Not everyone saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
the kingdom of heaven. but he that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven." And what is the will of the Father?
I just told you. Be holy, even as I am holy. You have to be holy. You must
be holy. So how then can one who is sinful,
one like me, one who is really guilty of sin, how then may we
be accepted of a holy God? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? In order to understand that,
this should be the vital issue here. This is the vital issue. How can God be just and justify
me? The only way to know that is
to consider His work. That's what Solomon said, consider
the work of the Lord. Consider His work in salvation.
And what we're going to consider this morning is very crooked
to the world. Yet, the Scripture says, how
can you make straight what God made crooked? That's crooked
in your eyes. Now, how are you going to straighten?
How are you going to make God, make His salvation align with yours?
You can't. You can't. Consider God's work of salvation.
Men are confused about salvation because they fail to see that
it's not by any work of man, but completely is the work of
God. Salvation is the work of God
alone. He doesn't require your help
at all. Jonah said that, didn't he? When
he got puked out by the whale, what did he say? Salvation is
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. The
Psalm 3 in verse 8 says, Salvation, listen, belongeth unto the Lord. It's His salvation. It's His salvation. Thy blessing
is upon thy people. Sinners, Stop trying to make
straight what God has made crooked. That's just crooked to man. That
salvation belongs to God and don't require anything of you.
That's just, something's wrong with that, they say. Why are
you going to straighten it out? What are you going to do? You
can't. Salvation is of the Lord. Period. God said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, here it is, not of him
that willeth. Here goes free will works religion.
It just, it just cut it off. It's just, you can't straighten
this. Not of him that willeth or him that runneth. There goes
works religion. But God that showeth mercy. Consider God's
work of salvation is God's work. It is His work that He purposed
before the foundation of the world. Go to Ephesians chapter
1. God's work of salvation happened
a long time before I ever experienced it. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
For this purpose, that, this is why He chose us in Christ,
that, We should be holy. Did I not just tell you what
God required? That God required you to be holy?
Look what God did before the world began. He purposed that
we should be holy and without blame before Him. And why did He do that? In love. That's why He did it. In love.
Having predestinated us under the adoption of children. Now
how is He going to do that? How is He going to make us holy?
How is He going to make us sons? By Jesus Christ. That's God's
purpose. By Jesus Christ. He's going to
bring us to Himself. According to the good pleasure
of His will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
You see this? God purposed our salvation. The purpose of His salvation
began in eternity. He chose a people and put them
in Christ, made Christ to be their representative. This is
God's eternal salvation. Consider it. Men say, I don't like it. Well,
how can you make straight that which God's made crooked in your
eyes? They consider election crooked. Why are you going to
straighten it? You ain't. You can kick, you
can cuss, you can spit. You can't change it. This is God's work. God began
this work in eternity. Look at 2 Timothy. I always like
this one. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Look at verse 9. I love this. Verse 8, Be thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, the gospel, nor of me as prisoner. But be thou partakers of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. who hath
saved us and called us. Which was first? What did He do first? Saved you. Then what did He do? He called
you. And He called you, it wasn't just a video call, it's an effectual
call, a powerful call, according to the power of God. He called
you. Our salvation was purposed of
God before the world began. How will men make straight that
which God has made crooked? Secondly, consider the miracle
of God's grace in accomplishing this salvation. Not only did
He purpose it, He accomplished it. He finished it. Over in Isaiah chapter of 42
we read of our Lord Jesus Christ. He accomplished it by Christ.
That's what he said he was going to do in eternity, didn't he?
By Jesus Christ. That's what he said. So Jesus Christ is to
come into the world and what is going to be the outcome? In
religion, they had to be real worried about the outcome. They
said, man he's coming to save but I just don't know if he can
do it. Isaiah 42, Behold my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He's talking about his
death. His crucifixion, that He was
going to come into the world and die for the sins of His people. He was going to establish judgment. See, judgment, what's a just
thing to do with the sinner? Kill him. But how can He save
me and not kill me? By this, Jesus
Christ satisfying the justice of God in our stand. He shall
set forth judgment unto truth. His death will establish justice
and truth. And listen to this. What's the
outcome? What is going to be the outcome
of this? He shall not fail. Isn't that astounding? He shall
not fail. Can you say that about anything
you've done? What? You going to do something today?
Are you sure you're going to get it done? You're not really sure. Man,
I'm going to do... Maybe, if God will, I'll get
it done, but you don't have any. God had total confidence in His
Son. He said, He shall not fail. Listen,
nor be discouraged. See, Christ is not discouraged.
He was never discouraged. He was never discouraged. The scripture tells us that the
seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent by the
bruising of his heel. Jesus Christ, our representative
man, came into this world as a man, as our high priest, so
as to offer both gifts and sacrifices to God in our stead. He came
and provided righteousness that God required. Paul tells us in Romans chapter
3 in verse 22, he says, even the righteousness of God, this
is not just any old righteousness, this is the very righteousness
of God, by the faith of Jesus Christ. If you're a believer
this morning and you have the righteousness of Christ, I want
you to see this, it is the very righteousness of God, made solely
by Him. You added not one stitch to this
robe of righteousness, not one. He made it all. And our Lord
Jesus Christ not only made our righteousness, but by His own
blood He satisfied the justice of God. When He died upon Calvary's tree,
He explained it is finished. Why? Because it's finished. It's
finished. God's satisfied. God raised Him from the dead
and set Him upon the throne. And what is He doing now? What
is He doing right now? Our Lord said in John 17, now
He's given Him power over all flesh. For what purpose? All
power is given to Him. Do you understand that? All power.
What power is not given to Him? You breathed this morning. There's
power in that. Who controls that? All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth for one purpose, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Do you see how he's not
going to be disappointed when it all wraps up? He is going
to give eternal life, not to who you think should get it,
not to who you want to give it to, but to whomsoever He will
give it to. You see, salvation belongs...
Now this, my friend, is crooked in the eyes of man. It's crooked
to him. But how are you going to straighten
what God has made crooked? What are you going to do about
it? I mean, nothing you can do about
it. Jesus Christ did save His people from their sins. And He
has now sent His Holy Spirit into this world that every elect
and redeemed sinner shall be quickened to life and faith in
Christ. Go to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
verse 13. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse
13. Look at this. We are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. I remember this. One guy called
me a long time ago and he said, you know what, if you just find
me anywhere in Scripture that election is to salvation, unto
salvation, I'll believe it. Went right here. God had from
the beginning chosen you to what? Salvation. He hung up. See he was trying to make straight
what God made crooked. Couldn't do it. He chose us to
salvation. Jesus Christ accomplished that
salvation and now the application to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now you who believe, I know this,
you sincerely believe. There's no doubt about it. But
how much you trust your sincerity? Not at all. The object of our
faith is not our sincerity. It's Christ. One day you're real
sincere, the next day you're not. One day you're sincere,
the next day you're not. See, we don't trust that. One
day you believe. You say like, Peter, I'll die
with you. And the next day you run and hide. Next day you deny
Him. You see, we don't trust our faith.
We trust Christ. When the Spirit gives you life
and faith, He sanctifies you. He makes you holy. He gives you
a holy nature that is not in you. And He gives you faith. Faith
is the gift of God. Faith has one object, which is
Christ. You know, a good illustration
of that is Ezekiel 37. Those dry bones. What a beautiful
picture of how God saves a sinner. Hey, Ezekiel is. He says, hey,
look at these dry bones, Ezekiel. And he goes out and he looks
at them and said, yeah, they're dry. Oh, they're very dry. Ain't no
water in them at all. They're dead. What a picture of you and me.
Dead. You know, it's not even that
the skeletons were together. The bones were scattered all
over the place. You couldn't even find out which bone belonged
to which person. You couldn't do it. Impossible.
He said, preach to these bones and you tell them I'm going to
give them life. Okay. Okay. Look, you said it. You know if
they can or they will or not they will. I don't know. I'm
just going to do what you said. He did. He said, Lord's going
to give you life. And all of a sudden the bones
began to rattle, began to shake, and bone came to his bone. flesh and muscle came on them. And he said, they're without
breath. He said, prophesy to the wind, preach to the wind.
Well, there's a picture of the Spirit of God and He gives them
life. This is what we were. We were
dead. We thought God's salvation was
crooked. We thought we had to straighten
it out. I know God said this, but that's not how I feel. It's
not what I think. And when God gave you life, you
realized your way was crooked. And His way was straight. His way is straight. If salvation belonged to me and
God, there'd be no hope for me. Salvation belongs to God. It's
His work. And He does a perfect work. He
does a perfect work. The Spirit comes and He applies
it to everyone. Now the second thing I want us
to consider is this. Consider God's work in providence. Consider God's work in providence.
I do pray that God give you grace and you do believe and you do
know that salvation is the eternal purpose of God. That you do know
this, that Jesus Christ actually accomplished your salvation and
you have nothing to add. You have nothing to add. You
know this, that the Spirit of God gave you life, gave you faith,
and if you continue in this faith, you know this, it has got to
be His work. The just shall live by faith. That's how we live. We live by
faith. We live trusting. That's why
I need to hear this salvation preached over and over and over
again. I've heard this since I was their
age. I didn't know it like they don't
know it, but I didn't know it either. But when God revealed
it to me, I knew this. that Christ was all and all my
hope was in Him. But as I go through this life
we have to consider God's work of providence because His way
of providence often seems crooked. It often seems crooked even in
the eyes of God's people. Now the Holy Scriptures are clear
that all that the Father chose and the Son redeemed, all of
them that are called by the Spirit of God will and must continue
in faith. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5,
he declares this, that we are kept by the power of God unto
salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. But then he
mentions something else. He said, your faith is going
to be tried. Your faith is going to be tested. Though you endure much tribulation,
much trials. Let me read this. I'm going to
read it since that way I don't get it mixed up here. He says, "...who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold
temptation, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than gold that pears, though it be tried with fire, might
be found in the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ." What is this trial? What are these difficulties?
It has to do with providence. Providence, we find ourselves
in such evil times, evil troubles and difficulties, afflictions. We are saved by the grace of
God, have the Holy Spirit, the new nature, yet we must still
struggle. And we do struggle with Divine
Providence. We still struggle for this reason.
You still have an old nature within you. This is why you struggle. If you didn't have this old nature,
if you just had a new one, you wouldn't struggle at all with God's providence.
Christ never struggled with God's providence. Just never did. You and I struggle all the time
with God's providence. We don't understand it. This
is because we have this old nature of death, this old man of sin,
this old man of death wrapped around our necks. And so long as we live in this
world, we are bound by this body of death to suffer persecutions
and sorrows and griefs and sicknesses and even death. Yet the elect,
the redeemed, those who are quickened by the Spirit, we must endure. We must continue in faith, no
matter what we experience. No matter what trials come our
way, we must continue in faith. We cry in our confusion, why
do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? Does that not vex you? It vexes
me that the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. You know,
Isaac's wife, she had the twins. She had the promise of God. She
said, you know, the seed of Isaac. The seed of Isaac. In his seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And then she
had those twins struggling within her womb. And she asked this
question, why am I thus? If the promise of God is this,
then why do I suffer? Why do I suffer? Asaph had this
problem in Psalm 73. He said, look, I know God's good
to Israel. I don't have any problem with that. But as for me, I don't know. My foot in Nile well slipped
and my faith was almost gone. The wicked, they don't have any
trouble. They don't talk about death.
Eternity? Judgment? Righteousness? They don't struggle with any
of these things. But God's people do. We have
this struggle of making our calling and election sure. Is there anything
else more important? Do you know you're in Christ? Yes. How often Have we questioned? Tis a point I long to know, oft
it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? And so we must consider then
God's providence. What is divine providence? What
is it? It is simply this, it is God's working out of His eternal
decree. Whatever takes place in time
was what God ordained to take place from eternity. So providence
is God working out His eternal decrees. Known unto God are all
His works from the beginning. There is nothing that takes place
in time that has not been determined by God. This is crooked to the
natural man. And often times it's crooked
to even God's people. In Isaiah chapter 41, God sends
out a challenge to false gods. You know what's the difference
between a false god and a true god? He said this, tell me what's
going to happen. Matter of fact, you tell me what
happened and I'll be amazed. You tell me what's happening
now and I'll be amazed, but I'll be really amazed if you tell
me what's going to happen. The difference between a false god
and a true god is this, sovereignty. A true god does whatsoever he
wills. That's the difference. Only the
true and living God says this, I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Declaring the end at the beginning. From ancient times, the things
that were not yet done, saying this, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. That's Isaiah chapter 46, 9 and
10. I will do all my pleasure. Consider then, believer in Christ,
that all things that have ever happened, that are presently
happening, and shall ever happen are decreed by God. You remember a long time ago,
but 9-11, I just, I won't forget the bumbling around of false
preachers. They couldn't, they kept getting asked, where was
God? Where was God when that happened?
Where was God? And they were just blah, blah,
blah, they just couldn't answer. I remember Milton Howard preached
a message exactly after that happened and he said this, I
am God and there is none else I kill and I make alive. You
know who did that? God did. Well, that's crooked. Well, how are you going to straighten
it? How are you going to straighten His providence? God did that. This is God's providence. The
Lord hath made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. You consider wicked men ruling
things, and you go, man, where's God? Well, He's right where He's
always been. He put Him there. Now, how are you going to make
it straight? Seems crooked to you? What are
you going to do about it? Amos 3, 6, Shall the
trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?
Shall the evil be evil in the city, and hath not the Lord done
it? Consider God's providence. Who's
doing all these things? God is. Consider the crucifixion
of Christ. Who did that? God did that. Remember those
Jews, they said, hey, we can't crucify him on a Passover. We
just can't do that. We can't do it. The people get
all upset. We can't do it. God said, I bet you will. You
will, because I determined it. Now they did exactly what they
wanted to do, and they were responsible. But I'll tell you this, God absolutely
overruled to make it happen. There was no other way. And so
as we consider God's providence, you better consider this. All
things that happen to you and me are according to the divine
decree of God. Secondly, why does God's providence
seem crooked? Believe me, there are many times
the providence of God seems to us to be crooked. It crosses
our path. It crosses what we think we need
or think we want that is good for us. It crushes our dreams. It destroys our plans. It causes
great pain and sorrow. and Solomon in the text. Go back to Ecclesiastes for a
second. Now, we're considering the work
of gods and providence, but if you go back through this text,
he's going to give you some things in this book that seem crooked. It seems just something's wrong
with this that I don't understand. Listen to this. A good name is
better than precious hauntment and the day of one's death than
the day of one's birth. What do we celebrate most, death
or birth? God said, you got it backwards. That seem crooked
to you? Look at this, it's better to
go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. That seem crooked to you? He tells us, for this is the
end of all men. You're going to die. Mourning
is the end of all men. His sorrow is better than laughter.
For by sadness the countenance of the heart is made better.
The heart of the wise is in the house of the morning, but the
heart of the fool is in the house of mirth." Don't you see? These things seem crooked. In
verse 5 he said, the rebuke of the wise is better than the song
of fools. The end of a thing in verse 8
is better than the beginning. Now none of us are going to desire
these things for ourselves. We're not going to say, man,
I can't wait to get to the house of mourning. You're not going to do it yourself.
But God in love brings us to the better places. These things seem crooked. God who has purposed to do us
good all the days of our life. And God's divine providence has
appointed for us these times of sorrow, these times of mourning,
and even our death for our good. None of this is intended for
our destruction. God says this, I know my thoughts
towards you. It's not important that you know
his thoughts towards you. It's more important that he knows
his thoughts towards you. I know my thoughts towards you.
Forget about what you think. Forget about how you feel. I
know my thoughts towards you. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil. That's my thoughts towards you. He brings these troubles and
sorrows for the purpose of drawing us closer to Him. He brings these
crosses and these things that cause us pain and affliction
so that we would set our eyes upon Christ. Set our affections
on things above and take our hands off of the things of creation
and time. When you have little children,
they grab a hold of these toys and these things that you know
are not important, and you have to pry them from their hands.
It's what God does for us. He said, Son, that's not good. That's why He takes it away. Do these providence seem to cross
you? Then consider it is the work of God's divine providence.
And so then, how then are we to be wise? That's the third
thing. How are we to be wise? All things happen by God's divine
providence and it seems to cross us and how are we to be wise
about this? Can we by struggling or working
or scheming ever get ourselves out of these crooked lots? Has
that worked for you? Kind of like quicksand for me.
The more I struggle, the deeper it goes down. The more I scheme,
the more I try to get myself out, the worse it gets. We can't by scheming get ourselves
out of these things, no. Surely we must be patient and
wait upon God. Look at verse 7 and 8 of your
text there. It says, Surely oppression maketh
the wise man mad, I'm sorry, just a second. Yeah, it's 7,
verse 8. He said, "...better is the end of the thing than
the beginning thereof, and the patient in spirit is better than
the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to
be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not thou,
what is the cause of the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely
at this." How often do we look, reminisced, What a foolish thing
to do. Go back and say, look at the
former days of our glory and say, how in the world can I make
it like that? And then we scheme as to try
to how to make it like that. He said, you're not wise to do
that. Just how foolish I am as a pastor.
There was a time when I was growing up, and I know this, the Spirit
of God moved, and there was a lot of people being saved when I
was young. I just saw my parents, and man,
they just gathered around, they loved the gospel so much, they'd
go out, they'd spend time together. I mean, that was just, the church
really seemed to be strong. in that day. And when I became
a pastor, you know, I really desired that. I really desired
that our church be like that. You know what I did? I tried
to make it like that. You know what it did? It got
worse. Don't try to make things like
they were. It's not in your hands to do
that. What is the wise thing to do, believer? Submit. See that your way is crooked
and God's way is straight. Bow to His divine providence and look to Christ. Set your eyes on Christ. Don't
look at the providence. Ezekiel has a picture for us,
the wheel within the wheel, right? And the scripture says that the
wheel within the wheel went straight forward. It turned not to the
right hand nor to the left. That's God's providence. The
eyes, the wheels were full of eyes. And God knows where He's
going. God knows what He's doing. He's
doing all of these things. It's going to be straight. And
you know what happens is when our providence cross, when our
desires cross His providence and they get run over. Then we
get our feelings hurt. And we become confused. As a kid, on a bicycle, you spin
that wheel, and get those spokes, and you spin the wheel. Sometimes
I'd like to just look at the spokes, you know? Just kind of
follow the spokes around in my head. Get real dizzy trying to
find the spokes, trying to trace the spokes out. Trying to keep
my eye on one spoke. That's what we do. We look at
a providence. We try to trace that back to God. You'll get
dizzy. Don't try to trace out the providences
to God. You know what? Look at the hub.
The hub of the wheel never moves. If you look at the hub, you'll
never get dizzy. You'll never be confused. Our God is in the heavens. and hath done whatsoever He has
pleased. And for you who consider His
salvation, consider this, that He is working all things to save
you. All of these trials are intended
for your good, What kind of man would you be without trials? What kind of proud spirit would
you have if you had no affliction? I got plenty more to say about
this. I'll say two more things and
I'll close. Go to Ecclesiastes 9. Look over there. Just cross
the page. How often you looked at God's providence and say,
how in the world could God love me and this happen? People have lost their children.
They've lost their families. And they say, how could God love
me and this happen to me? I'm telling you what you're doing
is you're trying to trace out the spoke, trying to trace it
back to God. You'll be dizzy. You're not going
to find it out. Look at this. For all this I
considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the
righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God.
There's salvation. You see, my righteousness and
my work, my obedience is all in the hand of God. He did it.
Listen. No man knoweth either love or
hatred by all that is before him. You're not ever going to
know the love of God by what happens to you. Some people say, well, man, God
must love me. Look at all this. It's just, I'm having a good
day. God, I must be doing something right. Look at that. And then
something bad happens. You say, man, God must hate me. No, you cannot know God's love
or hatred by all that happens to you. You know God's love for you by looking at Christ. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. That's how I know God loves me. He gave me His Son. How shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? And who shall separate
us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? What circumstance? What's going to separate you? If God controls all circumstance
and God saves you, then what in the world is going to stop
Him from saving you? It's not for your damnation,
it's for your salvation. God's doing it for your good.
Consider it and be wise. Submit. Though it seem crooked
to you, it's straight. It's straight. God's salvation
is straight. He purposed it. He accomplished
it. He applied it. God's providence. He keeps us by His power and
all things that happen to you are for your good. Submit to it and be wise. I pray God will help us.