as far as the world was concerned.
And people told that man he's a believer, he's a child of God.
They told him often that money is the root of all evil. Oh,
the rich man falls into temptation. And I wished I could have got
a chance to tell him that when those apostles were sitting there
with our Lord, and he said, it's easier for a rich man to go through
the eye of the needle, or a rich man to enter heaven than it is
for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. People told
that man that all the time. Wanting his money is what they
want, because they're too lazy to go work for it. And you know
what the apostles said? Oh, then who can be saved? They
weren't billionaires. Did you know that? They didn't
have a place to lay their head. Judas had all the money in one
purse. He had to go buy meat. They didn't have a refrigerator,
nothing. They didn't have a pantry. Who then can be saved? To judge
something like that, you better have some righteous judgment.
That's what we'll look at tonight, Lord, with you. Let's turn to
John chapter 7. This statement we're going to
look at here in John chapter 7 is going to have a broad application. And I hope we can apply it to
ourselves, each one of us. I hope we can stop doing what
we're doing and pay attention and Lord, speak to us and apply
this to our heart to help Our Lord just preached. Christ went
into the temple. He got up and taught. Can you
imagine that? There'll come a day for His people,
in eternity, that will go to service, and our great preacher
will preach to us, and after he gets through explaining to
us the Scriptures, and he shows himself the Scriptures, we can
go up after we hug him and say, thank you for that. I need it.
Oh, what precious thoughts that is. He got up and preached to
these people. It says in verse 17, if any man
will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh
of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in
him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep
the law? Why go ye about to kill me? And
the people answered and said, Thou hast a devil. Who goes about
to kill thee? They just ignored everything
he was applying to them. Who's trying to kill you? They
said, You have a devil. You're paranoid. What's wrong
with you? You ain't right. It just says
in chapter 7 verse 1, that they sought to kill him. And Jesus
answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye
all marveled. Song about that man from the
pool of Bethesda. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, not
because it is of Moses. Moses gave you that, didn't he?
What did Moses speak of himself? Is this from Moses? No, it's
not of Moses, but of the fathers. He spoke of the one that spoke
it to him. And ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man
on the sabbath day receives circumcision, the law said on the eighth day
a child had to be circumcised. Well if that happened to fall
on a sabbath, well you had to do something. You had to get
out of that lazy boy and circumcise that child. That was right to
do. So if a man on the sabbath day
receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken,
are ye angry at me? You'll do this, right? That fulfills
the law. Are you angry at me because I've made a man every
whit hole on a Sabbath day? It wasn't that he could walk.
That man that was crippled for 38 years, it wasn't that he could
just get up and move around now and he could carry his bed. He
was every whit made hole. They knew what he was talking
about. He said, I cleansed him on the outside and the inside.
I healed him on the outside and the inside. You'll circumcise
a baby on the eighth day to keep the law of Moses happy. I saved
a man. I gave him life. I didn't remove
something, I gave him something. I circumcised the heart. That's
what the circumcision is a picture of, isn't it? He said, I did
that. Man, he never went on Sabbath.
Verse 24, that gives us correction. Judge not according to the appearance.
You've seen all these things, and you got a big hubbub, and
you don't know what to do. Judge not according to the way
things look like. What's it look like right now? Everything falling
apart? Is everything all haywire? Don't
judge that what appears, but judge righteous judgment. Here's a brief statement, but
a very powerful one, and it summarizes everything that our Lord's saying
to these religious moralists that he's dealing with. Our Lord
says to them, and it says to us now, too, Those who believe. He speaks this. Judge not according
to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. This instruction
is given for all their misjudgments, all their misunderstandings,
all of them not knowing, all their not getting it. It just
went over their heads. They didn't understand it. And
our Lord says, don't judge on appearances. Judge righteous
judgment. He just said it from verse 17,
if any man will do his will, he'll know the doctrine. He'll
know what I'm talking about. There won't be appearances. He'll
have righteous judgment. He'll have understanding. Will
you do his will? Will you? Did he send lightning
from heaven when they said this? And just consume them right then?
Would he have been right to do so? He didn't, did he? He was tender. He was long-suffering. He was merciful and compassionate
to the ones that sought to kill him. His enemies are sitting
right there. And he said, don't look on us,
Erickson. You judge with righteous judgment. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. It's just a few pages there. 1 Corinthians chapter
2. If we judge in righteous judgment
and are doing His will, we will know all we need to know And
we'll know the truth of every matter. This ought to pique a lot of
people's interest. We're going to learn how to do
some judging. Personal things. I said this has a broad application.
This is personal things you have to deal with just yourself. Judging
others. When we think about other people.
Situations. Now this is hard. Have you ever seen anything like
this? The world's never seen a situation like this. How are we going to
judge a situation? How are we going to know what
to do? How are we going to respond to a situation? What about the
trials that come? Oh, it's heavy trials. How can
we judge righteously in those trials? What are the joys that
come? Joys. A celebration is as much a trial
as a pain sometimes, isn't it? Everything, broad application.
Here in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, it says, But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, but their
foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, what's
that? Those that have a new spirit,
those who seek the things above, those who seek the word of the
Lord, who have the mind of Christ, those that understand and know
the Lord. They understand and know. They
understand love, because he's first loved them. But he that
is spiritual judges all things. That means they have a good understanding
of, they have a good handle on, all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. If we truly judge, if we reach
our conclusion of a matter by righteous judgment, we will not
be judged. Now, are you eager to judge that
way? Are you eager to judge a situation or a person or a thing or whatever
in righteousness? If so, are you going to be eager
not to be judged? You want the Lord to judge you?
Do I want the Lord to judge me? In every matter that I've had? In every thought I've had? In
every passive thought or subconscious thought or dream I've ever had?
I don't. I don't. I don't want to be judged
and I don't want to have righteous judgment. How quick are we to
judge another person directly? How quick do you look at somebody
and say, they ought not do that. They should stop doing that.
They ought to start doing this. I may have done that once or
twice. Do it all the time, don't they?
Oh, I shouldn't do that. Quit doing that. Start doing
this. Do it my way. It's good that way, isn't it?
How quickly are we to judge a person indirectly that we've never met? If they made the exit to this
parking lot the way I think they ought to have made the exit to
this parking lot, it'd just be a better place, wouldn't it?
I thought that the other day. I don't know who designed this
parking lot, but they weren't thinking. And I thought, well,
I like sitting in my seat of judgment, don't I? If we truly judge a matter, a
situation, a thing, anything, in righteousness, what's that
mean? What's that mean? Well, the first thing is to know
the source of whatever's happening. What brought that here? How come
this is happening? Why is that parking lot laid
out the way it's laid out? Why is that president doing what
they ought to call me and get advice on? Joe Terrell said that
this evening. He said, when he turned my phone
off, the president might call me. He said, no matter who's
in office, I got good advice for them. And I said, I know
the feeling, don't I? Who's the source of whatever's happening?
What's the source or the one that's purposing anything? Trial
becomes a bad habit, whatever it is. The Lord is it. We read that Paul wrote to us
in Romans 11, for of Him and through Him and to Him. That's
the source, that's the means, and that's where all the glories
want to go. Are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.
How can that be? The Lord purposed all things. It comes from Him. It's through
Him and it's to Him. What about the bad things that
happen? Surely that couldn't be it. Where's God in those things? Amos wrote that to us. He said,
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?
Does the Lord do evil? Does the judge of this earth?
Doesn't He do right? He goes on and says, Surely the
Lord God will do nothing. He's not going to do anything
evil. He brought it. It's His allowing it to happen,
but He won't physically do it. But He reveals His secret unto
His servants, the prophets. That's a mystery. Well, He's
going to reveal it to His prophets, and then they're going to preach
to His people. That's what's going to happen then. Turn over
Genesis 50. How could that be? What could
these things that the evil happened and the Lord does it, but He
didn't do it? That's confusing. We need somebody to explain this
to us. What are these servants going
to understand that they can explain to people, these prophets? Genesis
50. This is quoted so often, but
the context tells it all. The context tells it all. And
the context and the fullness of the text, it reveals the secret.
Reveals the secret. Genesis 50, verse 18. This is
speaking of Joseph when he was bred and they had sold him off
to slavery. They took that coat of many coats, put blood on it,
and brought it back to the father, He said, well, the lion got him.
He's dead. And they threw him in that pit.
And the slave owners come by, picked him up, took him off.
He's in Egypt. And now he's over all them storehouses in Egypt.
There's great famine in the land. But there's corn in Egypt. Everybody's
starving to death. There's such good, clean, upstanding,
moral people, and you take about nine meals in a row away from
them, and they'll cut your head off to get a drink of water.
And now they're traveling long distances. Well, they show up
to this, place in Egypt. Here's this main man that's handing
out all the corn. And they realize, that's our brother. We faked
his death. We was getting rid of him. Make
it easy on him. He's daddy's favorite. We didn't
want him around no more. It says here in verse 18, Genesis 50,
18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face.
And they said, behold, we be thy servants. Oh, we know who
you are now. And Joseph said unto them, fear not. For I am
the place of God. Why are you bound to me? But
as for you, He thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. What you did, you threw me in
a pit. What you did was wrong. You meant it for evil. God meant
it for good. How'd that come to pass? To bring
it to pass. God meant good to bring it to
pass. This is gonna happen. That was evil, took place in
whatever town that was that Joseph was in. God brought it to pass,
didn't he? And in this day, to save much
people alive. There's the secret. There's the
secret. Judge not according to the appearance. All those things seemed horrible,
didn't they? And they were horrible. Those experiences were painful.
He was cold. He was hungry. He was in prison. Those were bad things that took
place. But Judge Ross's judgment, that one that sent good or evil,
he's saving his people. Do you understand that? What good or bad could happen
in a day's time? Well, God's using that for his
glory and to save his people, to save them while they're alive.
Oh, if I could understand that. There's a flag at the end of
our road today. It's stopping traffic. Time's running short. We might be late. I don't like
being late. Ain't good to be late. I got to get there. I got
to turn that sign around. The Lord's using that man standing
in the road up here on Skyline Truck Trail holding a slow or
stop sign to save his people. It's all for his glory. Second,
that's first to know who sent the trial. Whatever we need to
be judging, and we need to judge it in rights of judgment, who
brought that to pass? God did. Second is to know the
means. What's the tool used to accomplish
that purpose? In this case, the wickedness
of man. The Lord says in Amos 3, the Lord will do nothing.
Man's going to do this. We read that in Acts 2 the other
day. He and being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Almighty God delivered his son.
You've taken by wicked hands and have crucified and slain.
Wasn't that fulfilling every jot and tittle of the scriptures
and the law and the prophets? Wasn't that imperfection? Yes,
it was. They cast locks on his garments. They made fun of him. and spit on him and plucked out
his beard. God purposed that. Man did it. I'd like to expound
on man's responsibilities. We have to have some understanding.
We have to have some righteous judgment to enter into that.
If we sin, it's by our own choice. If we hate the Lord's Christ,
and the salvation and holiness that's in Him, that's completely
on us. If somebody winds up in hell,
it's fully their fault. They can't blame God for it. It'll be one or the other. It's
fully man's fault. Because the Lord said, if any
man will, do his will. He also said, He will not come
to me that ye might have life. Man has a responsibility to say,
because we have a nature. We have a nature. We can't act
contrary to that nature. Just like I always think of that beaver.
Somebody has a pet in the house, and it was grabbing them Christmas
gifts and trying to dam up the tub, the bathtub. Why was it
doing such things? It's nature. It's nature. We
need a new nature, don't we? Here's our natural mind's judgment,
if we judge something. So many times I've sat down,
I said, let me find a religious person, and let's get our Bibles
out. We're gonna sit down, and I'm gonna show you every scripture
that defeats your way of thinking. You think this, look here what
this says. You think that? Look here what this says. Is
that your doctrine? Is that your theological position? Well, come over here.
Look right there. What's that say? Read that out loud with
me. Is that in black and white? Is that in English? Is that plain? And
I think that'll get them converted. That'll be productive. Anything, at least that'll honor
God, won't it? Surely it must be, because that's my means.
That seems good, don't it? What a wicked way. The Lord of
heaven and earth stood in a temple in our text, and He preached
to them, and they did not hear Him. Hearing is by the Word of
God. Faith come by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Absolutely, the Lord's going to save somebody,
He's going to send a preacher to them. Somebody's going to
preach the gospel. There's going to be a one-way conversation,
not a debate or discussion, from Almighty God through the Holy
Spirit in the mouth of the jawbone of an ass, straight into the
heart of somebody's chest. That's what's going to happen.
Is that true? Yes. But the Lord must do it. He must
give life. He preached to them. You think that's a good message?
You think his points were better lined up than mine are or not?
You better believe it. But he wasn't pleased. It didn't
please him. It didn't glorify him. It wasn't
for the saving and good of his people to save those that heard
it. He didn't give them ears. He didn't turn it on. Get this secret. Man's disobedience
cannot override the Lord's sovereignty. Man's disobedience, willful disobedience,
it works perfectly in conjunction with His purpose and His power.
That's impossible, isn't it? How many pages would it take
for man to write out to explain that? With man, it is impossible.
And it's impossible for man to understand unless we're given
an understanding of who God is and who we are. If we truly see
who He is, all things are possible. If He wills it, it's done. It's
sure. It's certain. And I'm incapable
of anything, even entering into understanding what He's doing.
Remember 1 Corinthians 2, 6, 10, it says, For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? Lord should
have laid this parking lot out with two exits instead of one.
Right? You gonna teach him something?
But we have the mind of Christ. Oh, what hope. My mind ain't
worth nothing. I need his mind. My thoughts
ain't worth nothing. I need his thoughts. My actions
ain't worth nothing. I need his actions. I need to
be one with him. What's that mind? Paul said we
have a mind of Christ. What is the term? Philippians
chapter two. This will be the foundation of judgment when we
judge the righteous. Philippians chapter two. Verse five. Paul writes that church at Philippi
and says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus. And he said over 1 Corinthians
2, we have the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which
is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. He was God, but made of
himself no reputation. It took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. What humility? And every time I think I'm being
humble, I'm going to tell everybody how humble I'm being. I want
to boast about my humility. How humble I am. Will a child
of God be brought to humility? You bet. They absolutely will
be. How? By the Holy Spirit convicting
us of sin. The Holy Spirit coming to us
and showing us exactly what we are. And that will shut us up
to our sin and make us bow. If you bow before a king, you
bow before one that's above you, you bow before a holy God, you
ain't got nothing to say, but cry out for mercy, or cry out
in praise, but you won't put your face down in the dirt. Don't
look at him. Don't make eye contact. Throw
Matthew chapter seven. Here's a good one. Matthew chapter seven. Matthew 7.1. Judge not, that
ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet,
shall we measure to you again. I could stop right there and
just cry for cash now. Lord, don't judge me, my sin.
Lord, don't look at me as me. Look to my substitute. Verse
7. Why beholdest thou the moat that
is in thy brother's eye, the splinter, the tight splinter. Our Lord speaks in ways we can
understand. He gives us visualization. There's a little itty-bitty splinter
in your brother's eye, but consider stomp the beam that is in thine
eye. There's a great big two-by-four coming out of my eye, and I'm
like, hey, I think you got a little something. You get that visual?
Why you doing that? Don't you know yourself? Or how
wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out
of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in the hum. Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam in thine own eye, and then shalt thou
see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye. I can't
cast out my own beam. People want to clean up their
lives, get the holy living, it's stuck, I need a physician. You
get a splinter in your eye, do not take a pair, there's a good
medical advice, don't take a pair of tweezers and try to get that
thing out. Go to a doctor, right? That's good common sense. Go
to a doctor. You got a beam or a moat or whatever
in your eye, spiritually, go to a great physician. That's
who we need. When we judge a situation or event righteously, in righteous
judgment, we know the source. We know who purposed it. We know
who brought that to pass. And we know man's wicked nature.
So how can we truly judge righteous judgment? As a rightful child
of God, how can we do that? We judge and all should plead
for mercy. I thought, what judgment should I cast? What verdict should
I shout out to anyone, no matter the situation, no matter the
problem, no matter nothing? What could I tell someone? Here's
the verdict. Cry for mercy. A-double-L. All should cry for mercy. Bow
to Him, praise Him, and ask Him for mercy. We know all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We know that. And we know
all who believe on Him shall have everlasting life. Believe
on him. Believe on him. We know the one
who rules and reigns in holiness. We know him. I thought about
if I was getting robbed, somebody tried to mug me. That's a bad
situation, isn't it? How do you judge such a situation?
How can I judge that in righteousness? Almighty God, throughout time
in his providence and good pleasure and will, has brought someone
with a gun to me to mug me. God's going to use that to save
His people. Now, it may be to take me home right then, or maybe
to save that person. I don't know. Or to save another
watchman. I don't know what He's going to do. He might save them
alive, as He's promised He would. All flesh is grass, the Lord's
holy. Salvation is in His Son, Christ
alone, and being made one with Him, and having Him revealed
in us. And all that's by His free and sovereign grace, because
it pleased Him to do so. at His good pleasure for His
glory. Flee to Him as if your life depends
on it, because it does. Run to Him like your life depended
on it, because it does. Righteous judgments to praise
God, to plead for mercy, to encourage others to do so, to do the same,
no matter what's happening outwardly, the situation don't matter. Whether
it's raining, shinin', good economies, bad economies, it don't make
a difference. That's the same thing. We are to judge the gospel
being preached. We are given that, aren't we?
John told us, he said, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false
witnesses are gone out into the world, all those false prophets.
Our Lord just told us that in John 7. He said, He that speaketh
of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh the glory
But Him that sent Him, the same is true. No unrighteousness is
in Him. What's that mean? Does that mean you find a good,
faithful man that God sustained and no matter what comes, He
preaches Christ and Him crucified? Should you sit down with a pen
and a piece of paper and write down everything He says and you're
going to get Him on something? No, I don't mean that. I don't
mean that, does it? You walk in backwards and cover
the sin. But a child of God can sit underneath a man preaching
the truth and that person preaches. I'm so thankful for this. That
man preaching can stumble and fumble and stutter horribly. It just makes hardly no sense.
But after that message, that believer's heart is blessed.
Because he said, you know what? That man told me the truth. And
Christ was exalted. Christ was preached high, man
was preached low. Amen. I like that. Wonderful. And then
the same believer can sit under the greatest orator that ever
lived. Oh, the greatest preparation in a message. The greatest illustrations
that just captivate you. Oh, boy, you had me from the
get-go. better than watching a movie. I had your attention
the whole time. And they could walk away going,
I can't put my finger on it, but something was missing. Something
wasn't right. I don't know, but you get the
heebie-jeebies, don't you? Goosebumps. Something wasn't
right there. Something was missing. Never forget, a goat can live
on the good grass just as easy as a thorn bush. A sheep can't.
A sheep can't do it. What if there's no preaching
to be judged? No door to be open to tell somebody else to beg.
No door to be open for me to beg. I'm already begging. Lord,
show me mercy. There's no great trial to go
through. What if there's a stranger's trial? To rush to judge a situation
about concerning what to do. How do we act? What are we supposed
to do? It's to wait on the Lord. To wait on Him. We don't know
how this is going to pan out. I've said that before about World
War II. We armchair quarterback these things and say, They should
have done this. England should have done that.
England was getting bombed and they didn't know what was going
to happen. They got cut off. That's an island nation and here
comes a great enemy. They didn't know how this matter
is going to come to pass. We do. Don't we know all things? Isn't that righteous judgment?
God's going to save his people. He's going to be exalted. Would
you have it any other way? He's going to receive all the glory
for everything. Would you have it any other way?
Solomon wrote to us, he said, He that answereth a matter before
he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. Until we know
how it ends, we ought to be quiet, because it's folly, it's foolish,
it's shame. He goes on to say, The heart of the prudent getteth
knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. He says
stand still and be quiet, wait on the Lord, let's see what He'll
do. Let's see what His Word says, let's hear from Him. James says,
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. When we don't know how to handle
a situation, we don't know what to do, but we want to judge a
situation righteously. Weigh on the Lord. Don't consume
it on your wrath. I thought about being with King
David. He was working there to kill his best friend and steal
his wife. We read about these things. Imagine
being there with them. David, what did you do? He's
got a preach next week. He's got a message from God.
It's God's prophet. He's going to write us another hymn. Oh,
that don't seem good, does it? The appearance of that is bad.
God used it for good. Turn over to Jose. We read that
at the beginning of the service. Jose. Ezekiel, Daniel, Jose. Hosea was the Lord's prophet.
How do we know? How are we sure that Hosea was the Lord's prophet?
Because he spoke the word of the Lord. He did not speak himself. He didn't promote himself. He
spoke of God's glory in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
our great bridegroom, our great kinsman redeemer that came and
purchased his bride and cared for her and loved her, but he's
going to show it. The Lord was pleased to do that. On the outside,
this didn't look so good. All the things that happened
between Hosea and Comer, But our Lord said, Judge not according
to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. It says there
in Hosea 1, verse 2. The beginning of the word of
the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go,
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for
the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the
Lord. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, which
conceived and bared him a son. They had a son. They went on
to have a daughter, then another son. And some time passed, and
this happy little family was split up. She took off. Gomer left, went back to her
family roots, went back to her old ways of doing things, the
family business. The Lord spends all of chapter
two telling Hosea how he was going to work through Hosea to
provide for Gomer, to give her corn, to give her oil. She thinks
her lover is doing that. Did that deter him? If you don't know right now that
it's me doing it, I'm going to stop giving it. No, he kept providing
it. He's going to hedge her about,
draw her to him. It says there in chapter 2, verse
16. And it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi. That's husband. You're going to call me my love.
After all these things that took place. This was terrible. This
was against the law. Hosea would not marry her. That's against
the law. He was a prophet of God. And
she ran away, and all these horrible things took place. And he says,
And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt
call me Ishi, husband, my love, and shalt no more call me Bailey.
That means Lord, owner, master. Well, we're married. That's the
old man. That's the ball and chain. I got to do what he says.
Uh-uh. He says, there's going to be love now. He's going to
do all the work out of his love, and there's going to be love
in her. Verse 19. And I will betroth thee unto me forever.
Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, in judgment,
and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth
thee unto me in faithfulness. And thou shalt know the Lord."
You ought to know God. He's going to do all these things,
works all these things. He told Hosea to go marry her,
didn't he? He did. He went and got her. And he said,
this is what's going to happen. She's going to run. She's going
to go back to the way she was, that old nature. It ain't left. He said, I'm gonna bring her
down to nothing. And she's gonna know the Lord. Here in chapter
three, verse two says, so I bought her to me for, all these things
took place. He brought her down, he allured
her. So I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver and for an
owner of barley and a half owner of barley. And I said unto her,
thou shalt abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the
harlot and thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also
be for thee. What love? He said, now that
she's nothing. He already had her, didn't he?
Always did. He possessed her. And she went away. And she went
back to her ways. And he brought her down to nothing.
Hedged her about. Then I lured her in love. And
he bought her for 15 pieces of silver. She's up on that slave
block. Not worth a penny. He overpaid. He said, you will
bother me many days, you ain't gonna be for another man, and
I will also be for thee. I am my beloved, and he is mine. Wow, how precious that is, he
is mine. Glory, there'll be a people that
no man can number, and whoever won't be on the front row. Ain't
that right? He'll have one bride, and I'll have one husband. You
understand that? Me neither. He said so, I believe. Why did the Lord do all this?
Why did the Lord take his profit and say, you go marry a prostitute
and she's going to leave you and it ain't going to be worth
nothing. She wasn't worth much anyway. And it's going to go to natives.
And then you're going to have to pay for her again. You already
own her. Buy her for a price. All this
illegal activity. The whole time, Hosea is still
preaching the truth, wasn't he? Why did the Lord have Hosea spend
the church's good money on a no-good prostitute. I want to get that
to where we live. This isn't just a good old Disney
story. This isn't a good moral lesson
to teach people things. Put yourself in their shoes.
Here's God's prophet who married a harlot. Then she left him,
and then he took his income that they went out and worked for
and provided for him to go give her corn and oil. What you're
doing ain't right. Was he exalting Christ in it?
He's doing what God told him, isn't he? That's plain preacher,
this ain't right. Remember, he's going to save
his people alive. Why did he do all this? Why did
the Lord do all this? Because the appearance of this
is terrible, isn't it? Look here in verse 4. Hosea 3,
4. 4. All this is going to happen. Gomer's going to love the Lord.
Going to be brought back. Why? Because, 4, the children
of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince,
without a sacrifice, without an image, without an ephod, and
without a teraphim. Afterwards shall the children
of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their
king and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter
days. Why did he take his prophet and his bride and put them through
all that? Appearances are terrible. Well, that's righteous judgment,
wasn't it? God was saving his people. This
is what Joseph told us. We meant everything for evil,
didn't we? God meant it for good. He brought
it to pass for the saving of His people. He's going to save
them alive. He's going to save them alive. Our Lord accused
those men of being mad at Him. He said, you want to kill me
because I have made a man every whit hole on the Sabbath day. Lord, heal the man. Instead of us saying, well, that's
not according to the law, we ought to say maybe our handle
on the law Ain't up to God's standards. Who wrote it? Maybe
we ought to sit, be quiet, and learn again. Wait on Him. We
see something wrong, that's a good thing to wait. How can I wait? I'm so impatient. Know that God
purposed it. He's on His throne. He's sinning. It's His doing. And His children,
He'll correct His children. He'll teach them. Know what we
are. Do I want to have my life underneath
a microscope? Mm-hmm. I'll be shut up for my sin. and
know that God will save His people. Ain't nothing I can do to prevent
that. He will. He shall save His people. Now, when we can do that, and
there's a great judgment that needs to be made, a great situation
that needs to have a way forward, and we wait on the Lord, knowin'
He purposed it, knowin' what we are, knowin' He will save
His people and be glorified in this, well, now we worship Him.
What does righteous judgment lead to? Well, I call that situation
good. No, it's going to lead to worshiping
Christ who saved us in the first place and who loved us first.
I pray I can judge in righteous judgment. If a situation comes
up, no, whatever it is, a parking lot with the wrong exit. That's
God's parking lot. That's fine. I need to worship
him. I wait on him, know what he purposed everything. No, I'm
nothing. Know it, he shall save his people, and I'll just praise
him. You know what? It's a whole lot
easier to wait getting out of that parking lot. I got stuck in traffic this week,
can't you tell? Spurgeon wrote a book, I'm about halfway through
it. It's called The Newspaper and the Bible. Believers do that. If that's your life, if he's
your life, and you'll wander, you'll run, you'll be on a slave
block somewhere, he'll come get you. You'll be stuck in a parking
lot, you'll be stuck in a dentist chair, you'll be stuck somewhere,
and you'll see him, and your mind will be stirred up, and
you'll think of him, and how he's in control of it all, we
ain't nothing, and boy, we sure are happy. Wouldn't have it any
other way.