And for the life of those, nobody
they may kill, God's truth abideth still, if He will restore it. Go with me to Matthew 2. We looked at this not too very long
ago, but in light of this recent tragedy, this will be very, very
relevant and helpful. Look at Matthew 2, verse 16. This was at the time of our Lord's
birth. Herod, verse 16, Herod, when
he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth,
and sent forth and slew all the children, all the children. that were in Bethlehem, and all
the coasts of the surrounding cities from two years old and
under. According to the time which he
had diligently inquired of the wise men, verse 17, this was
fulfilled because God's Word said it would happen. Jeremiah
the prophet saying, in Ramah, that's Israel, was there a voice
heard lamentation and weeping at great mourning. Rachel, God's people, weeping
for her children and would not be comforted because they were
gone. This is an urgent message. It's
so needful. It will be so helpful, I believe.
A horrible and terrible thing has happened, hasn't it? Unimaginable
horror for those children. I can't imagine. And their parents. Can you? What if that was Abby? What if that was Emma? Sophia? Isabella? It happened. It's a real thing. I cannot imagine. What would
we be going through right now? What would we be going through?
What would this little town be going through? It happened in this room. Not
once. Several times. Great sorrow. We would feel utter
shock. Utter shock and disbelief, wouldn't
it? Anger. Did you feel that? Anger? And everybody's left asking,
why? Are there any answers? Are there
any answers? Man doesn't have any. That's why we said this morning,
man's wisdom is foolishness. He doesn't have a clue. Religion
is foolish. They don't have any answers. They say God didn't want it to
happen. Then who needs Him? Huh? Who needs Him? Why bother with the God like
that? Huh? It's foolishness. Now, we don't have all the answers.
But we do have some. God has not left us in the darkness.
Confusion. We don't need to be confused.
The entrance of thy Word giveth light and understanding. We don't have all the answers.
We do have some. Thank God for the little we know. We preach in part. We know. We
do know some things in part. But thank God for what we do
know rather who who we know. That's the key to
this whole thing. Now, our reaction and response
to things like this should be, and someone said, I'd rather
not have heard about it, and I understand. I turn on the news
now, it's still there, and I just, I don't want to see it. And the news, I despise the media. I hate them. I hate them. Don't
you? I hate them. They're evil people. They're doing this to make money
and to read papers. That's what they're doing. They're
not trying to help people. They're doing it sensationally. You know what I'm saying is true,
don't you? Nevertheless, this has happened,
it's good for them. Our reaction should be one of
sorrow and sympathy. You'd have to be a monster to
not feel sorrow for those people. You have to be a graceless person.
to not feel. Scripture says we are to rejoice
with them that rejoice, whoever it is, and weep with them that
weep. That's what it says. Weep with
them that weep. Weep. Our Lord said, don't weep
for me. He said, but weep for yourselves
and for your children. The Lord wept over Jerusalem,
didn't He? Jerusalem, that rebellious town.
But He wept over it. He did, didn't He think? Yes,
He did. He had compassion on the multitude. The Lord had compassion
on the multitude. The ones that wanted Him killed,
He had compassion on them. And He says to us, you'd be perfect
as your Father in heaven is perfect. You'd be that way. You've received
mercy. You show mercy. God felt sorry for you. You feel
sorry for them. That should be our reaction.
And when we hear these things, we do. sorrow, and hopefully
have compassion. You know, these things ought
to soften our hard hearts. I confess, my heart is hard and
calloused so much, and I do not feel toward people like I ought
to. Anybody else? I think too much of myself. You
know, I think too much of myself. I need to think more on the things
of others. Who? Everybody. Do good unto all men. All men, especially those of
the household. We need to consider, in light
of this, our reaction should be to consider our light affliction. Paul said that. Our light affliction. Light? Now, Paul went through
great troubles more than all of us put together. But he says, light affliction.
Why did he say that? Because it's light compared with
our blessings. Compared to the many blessings
we've had, our troubles, our blessings far outweigh our troubles.
Our afflictions are light compared to what we deserve. Compared to the judgment we deserve
from God. Right? So the Lord mercies that we're
not consumed. Well, our afflictions are in
light of others, in light of what these people are going through
right now. I don't have anything in close
there. They're going through inexpressible. Like Raymond, they would not
be comforted. They could not be comforted.
There was no comfort to be found. They can't find any comfort.
They can't find any answer. They can't find any help. They
don't have any hope. Often, these things should cause
us to seek His face. Seek God's face. Is God angry? He's angry with me. We read Daniel 9. I hadn't read
that in a long time, and I thought, boy, that is us. That's me. That's us. That's
America. It ought to cause us to repent.
when we hear these things. Every one of us. Every believer. Our Lord one time said to His
disciples, that tower that fell on these people and killed all
of them, like the World Trade Center. He said, do you think
those people were worse than anybody else? He said, I say
unto you, except you repent, you'll perish. cause us to repent. You know,
Daniel was the finest man. Brother Stephen, Daniel was one
of the finest men in all of Scripture. The Lord doesn't list any fault
that Daniel had. No, none. Fine man. Yet Daniel sinned. We have sinned. Daniel knew himself. Daniel knew
himself to do what he was capable of. Daniel knew that it was of
the Lord's mercies that he wasn't a monster. He knew that. And he prayed that the Lord would
keep him from the evil one and from evil. Now, we're dealing with some
things that false prophets and false religion do not say, dare
not say, because they don't believe these things. And the fact of the matter is,
false religion and false prophets are the problem. That's the way it was with Israel
of old. Idolatry, false religion crept in, false prophets, the
land was full of them, very little truth, very little of God's Word,
no fear of God, and God's wrath came down. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed. Now, who brings these things
and why? As I said, false prophets are
not going to deal with it. They don't know. But there are
answers. Listen to this. Listen carefully. And I believe I'd have everybody
in the world's ear right now if they were listening to this
message. I know it would. Because everybody's
wondering. But after I say some of the things
that God's Word says, they would all want to kill me. Kill me. Hate me. I'm just saying what
God's Word says. What the world hates is our only
hope. What the world gets exceedingly
mad at, we're so glad it's so, that our God reigns. It's our
only hope. Our Lord said, My people are
destroyed, professing people, are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Destroyed. Destroyed by the world, by sin,
by riches, by covetousness. I adopt. Destroyed by despair
and unbelief, fear. Destroyed by drugs and alcohol. Destroyed. Destroyed. But God
said in mercy, He said, I will give them pastures after My own
heart, and they will feed them with knowledge. They will feed
with them with knowledge of what? Not of what, but of who. Knowledge
of the Holy. An understanding of who it is
that does this and why. Hard questions. Hard questions. I'm going to try to answer. The
Queen of Sheba came to Solomon and says that she tried to prove
him with hard questions. If God is this, why? Why? Why? And it says Solomon answered
all the questions. Now, I don't have all the answers,
and no man does, but I know who does. But I know he does not
give us every answer we need, but all we need. Whatever we
need is written. All we need to know. And any
hard question, we have some answers, okay? Number one, who did this? Who did it? Who did it? That's the first
thing that I wanted to know. When I heard of it, who did this? What's happened to him? Let's
get him. Go with me to Job chapter 1.
Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1. That's our first
response. That happened just the other
day is not the first time this has ever happened, nor will it
be the last. As a matter of fact, it may increase
because of the days we live in, because Scripture says so. It
is on the increase, isn't it? What used to be unheard of is
now, it's commonplace now, isn't it? What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? We're going to run to God. That's
who. It's not the first time. It's
been happening down through time. Let me remind you, the very first
couple, Adam and Eve, walked out of that garden. And Adam, one day, he had two
boys. Maybe more. He loved those boys with all
his heart. And he walked out and he saw
his young son, Abel, lying on the ground with his brains beaten
down. Who did that? Well, a man named
Cain did it. An evil, wicked fellow. Got mad
at his brother and beat his brains out. Yes, he did. But he couldn't have done it
unless God said so. Can you believe that? What other
hope do you have? Scripture says God does
what He determined before to be done. It is God that worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. Known unto God, Acts 15,
18, are all his works from the beginning of the world. He has ordered all things and sure.
That's not fatalism. That's Bible. That's truth. And
it's our comfort that God is God. Job 1, you know these verses. We've read them so many times.
You believe them. You take comfort from these.
Remember, Satan desired Job. In verse 9, he's the accuser
of the brethren. He said to the Lord, in verse
9, Doth Job fear thee, God, for naught? He fears you for nothing.
You've made a hedge about him, about his house, about all that
he hath on every side. Is that right? It's right. God did. Nobody could
touch him. Nobody could touch Job. The devil
is a powerful foe of him. He has more power than any human
being, than all human beings put together. He couldn't touch
Job, John. Couldn't he? Is that what he
said? He said it. I can't touch him.
I wanted to. I can't get near him. Is that
just Job? Is that just Job? You think, well, Job's a better
man than I am. Job's a sinner. Saved by grace. Job was chosen
by God. Job no better than you. Job,
one of God's elect. God put an end to him. He said, but now, verse 11, Satan
said, you put your hand, for you touch him. You touch him. You do something evil to him.
Touch all he has. He'll curse you to his face.
To your face. And our Lord said, behold, all
that he hath is in thy power. He delegated authority. He gave
permission and ruled over everything that Satan was to do, didn't
he? Is that right? I brought that
up to a fellow on the railroad one time, a real religious fellow.
Oh, he was so religious, just like most people. And I was talking
to him about God being sovereign over all things. Apparently,
something had happened You know, that he couldn't understand.
I said, well, God did. Oh, no. God didn't want that. Oh, no.
And I brought up Job and he said, here's what he said. He said,
I don't want to hear about Job. I want to hear it. Boy, I do. Don't you? It's the oldest book
in the Bible. Job's oldest book in the Bible.
First book recorded. And God said from the outset,
you listen to me now, Satan and nobody can touch God's people
unless God allows it, unless God directs it. Why? Because
he says all the way through this book, from Genesis to Revelation,
I'm God, there is none else. That's faith. That's hope. That's peace. That's comfort. There is no other. There is no
other. If we don't have a God who's
God, it's chaos. One unbeliever one time said,
some sociologist said, if there was no God, we need to admit
one, or else it's out of control. Go to Exodus chapter 1. False
religion, as I said. False preachers are the problem. They don't have the answers.
They're the problem. Those that say God can't save you unless
you let Him, they're telling men that. God can't save. They're
preaching a God who can't save. They're preaching not the God
of the Bible, a God of their imagination. They're saying God
loves you. They're telling everybody, evil,
wicked people, God loves you. That's what they're telling them.
God loves you. Oh, He wouldn't judge you. Oh, no, you are what
you are. It's okay. God loves you just
like He loves you. God won't punish sin. No, He
loves you. Oh, well then, I'll just do anything I feel like.
There is no fear. There is no God's answer to it.
There is no judgment. Society collapses. So-called
justice in the land. There is none. There's no right
or wrong. There's no God's answer to it.
No fear. No consequences. I'm going to
do what I feel like doing. And when I do it, God will forgive
me. Isn't that right? Isn't that the way it is? Who's
behind it? Preachers. The false preacher. It hadn't changed. It was just
like that in history. Just like that. You're telling me God loves evildoers,
preachers? Is that what you're telling me?
Huh? You're telling me God loves evildoers? That's a lie. What kind of God is that? What
kind of God is that? Let me tell you something. You
know, people call the God I'm preaching a monster. They call
the God we preach that's sovereign over all things and nothing could
happen unless He willed it and purposed it, because they don't
understand what's happening, and that you say God did this
somehow, and they say, well, your God's a monster. No, I'll
tell you who the monster is. That this God that they say is
standing on the outside, He loves you so much, you know, and His
child, something's going to happen to this child, and He won't do
anything. He's standing over there, and
here comes a car, and he's standing there, oh, please, baby, don't,
please, I want to save you, and he doesn't do anything. He can
do it, but he doesn't do anything. He's a monster. Isn't he? Their God's a monster. Our God. They call this doctrines of devils.
That's the doctrine of devils. That's exactly who the devil
wants them to believe. A God who isn't God. They want
them to fear the devil. He wants them to fear him more
than God. Exodus chapter 1. Go over there.
Exodus 1. As we said, this is not the first
time nor the last. This has happened all through
the Scripture. Those that don't read history or repeat it, don't
study it, especially those that don't believe and read God's
Word, they're going to fulfill it. Exodus chapter 1, we read of what happened there
in Matthew 2. Exodus chapter 1, you got it? In verses 15 and 16. The king of Egypt spoke to the
Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shippur and the
name of the other was Puah. And he said, when you do the
office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, See, they hated the Jews
and they said, if it be a son, kill him. Well, the Hebrew midwives wouldn't
do that. They feared the Lord and they wouldn't do it. And
well, Pharaoh did it anyway. And down in verse 22, Pharaoh
charged all his people saying, every son that is born, cast
them into the river. You've been living back then,
Rick, Catherine, he had come to your house and taken that
Andrew and thrown him in the river. Can you imagine that? Throw live
babies in the river. Who did that? Who did that? Pharaoh did it. That's right. Listen to Romans
9. Scripture sayeth to Pharaoh,
for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my
power in you. I'm just telling you what God's
Word said. We read about what Herod did to all those children
throughout. All of them. All of them. Not
twenty. Thousands of them. Who did it? Herod did it. And
that man is rotting in hell, as he should. But Acts 4, let
me read this to you. Acts chapter 4 says this, of
a truth, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ, of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, who
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." Do you believe that? That's so. What peace could a
mother have other than that? That doesn't do away with
sorrow. Ramo was weeping and lamenting
the great sorrows of his mother. It doesn't do away with that.
Love sorrow. You love, you're going to weep. I was going to
have you turn to 1 Samuel, David, man after God's own heart. True man. God's King. David came,
well, in chapter 22 now. He was on the run from Saul. And Saul, and there were priests
of Nob, 85 men who hid David. And Saul found out about it,
and he had 85 priests killed. And he went into town back and
had everybody in that town, men, women, children, sucklings, everything,
slaughtered. Saul did that. Killed them all
for David's sake. David blamed himself. David said,
I've occasioned the death of God's people. It's my fault. That happened. And then another
time, not too long after that, David and his men were fighting
a battle, and they were living in a place called Ziklag. And
they came back to Ziklag, and it says the Philistines had burned
all their houses to the ground, all their earthly possessions,
taken all their wives and children. And it said David and his men
wept until they had no more fire to weep, and no more tears could
come out of their body. Who did that? And here's what David did. Here's
what David did. What could he do? Where is he
going to turn? And the people talked about stoning
David. And it says that David encouraged himself in the Lord
his God. The Amalekites didn't do that. The Philistine didn't do this.
God didn't do this. I don't know why, but He did. He did. His beloved Abigail was there.
His children He loved. He thought they were gone. And
He encouraged Himself in the Lord, His God. He took courage. is God. Not a name only like
these fellas say. Not like fellas say, Jesus is
Lord. They don't mean a word of it.
They don't mean that. They say God wasn't there when
this happened. You mean he's not everywhere? You mean we don't
live and move and have our babies in him? Huh? That man's a liar. He can't give anybody any peace.
He doesn't have any. Let me ask you something. Did
this, what happened, shake your faith? If it did, your faith's not from
God. It's not God-given. It ought to confirm. Let me say
what I'm trying to say here. It ought to confirm our faith.
Number one, it ought to make us fully understand that man
is depraved. I mean, man is depraved. We say
that as a doctrine. It's the truth. Man's a depraved
creature. You see, preachers aren't saying
that. They're not saying that. Everybody has some good in everybody.
I'll tell you what, there's some evil in everybody. Everybody's capable of anything.
Let's run to the hills, you know. Several of us fellows go to the
hills. What's the promise? Well, you won't turn into the
devil. I won't turn into the devil. You'll go alone if you
go, but then hope that you don't turn. Deuteronomy 32. Oh, how blessed
we are. We know these Scriptures. We
look at them over and over and over and over again. This is
Stan Anderson's favorite chapter. Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. Things like this, sadness, they
ought to make a stop. Oh my, call on God. But they shouldn't shake our
faith. They ought to confirm it. Confirm
that what we know to be true, that what God has said is true
about man, about Himself. Somebody says, well, it didn't
happen to you. You can say that because it didn't happen to you.
No, it didn't. But it did happen to Job. And what did he do? It did happen to Eli. And what
did he do? And it has happened to many of
God's saints. And what did they do? God's grace
is sufficient. Faith is real. God-given faith
is real. You shake your faith, that's
your faith. With God-given faith, you won't shake it. You confirm
it. It's a trial of our faith. causes faith to strengthen. Because
who's your faith in? Our God reigns. Look at Deuteronomy
32. Look at verse 39. My dad used to say that, an old
Southern saying. You see here. See now, I think
that's where we've got it. See now that I, even I, Who? There's no God with me. No little
g. God means a ruler. There's nobody
ruling and controlling anything with me. In other words, there's
nobody equal to me. There's nobody doing that. He's
doing that, and I'm doing this. No, sir. See now, even I am he. Listen, I kill. But a bullet was flying. I sent it. I kill. Isn't that what he said? I kill. But what? Just leave it right there. Okay.
I know they're mean. But whatever it is, God sent
it. I kill. I make a life. He determines
who lives, who doesn't. That sickness, I heal. Neither
is there any that can deliver out of my hand. You see, everything,
the God in whose hands our breath is and all our ways. What do
false preachers say? He has no hands. They're all liars. And there's
no hope there. And I wish more people would
hear this. But you hear it. how best you are, how best we
are. I was going to have you turn to Isaiah 45 where the Lord
said, I create peace and evil. Whatever is called evil, it wouldn't
happen if I didn't purpose it. Well, like David, we encourage
ourselves in the Lord our God. We encourage ourselves in the
Lord our God. We take courage. We take Refuge
in the Lord our God. What should we do? Take up arms?
You know, there's some believers that have done that in the past,
and there's some now that are thinking that what we need to
do is stockpile arms and buy us a cabin in the woods somewhere.
So you're going to escape, are you? We'll put our children in
walled, fenced schools where nobody can get to us. They can't,
can they? Is that right? You think not? Is the wall going to protect
you? Lock on your door keeping you? Smith and Wesson your safety? Who is? We encourage ourselves in the
Lord our God. Just thinking about our little building here. And
this is a poor illustration, but it's still true. I've been
here almost 24 years. These little buildings out here
in the rural section of town, we've never had a break-in, never
had any vandalism, never had anything. Not that there's anything
in here to find, but nevertheless, it just hadn't happened. Could
it happen? Yes, it could. But it hadn't. Why not? God hadn't
willed it. Could what happened in Connecticut
happen in Rocky Mountain? Yes, it could. But it hadn't. Why not? God hadn't
let Him. We ought to be thanking Him,
shouldn't we? The Rocky Mountain ain't
better than that town in Connecticut. What do we do then? What do we
do? Run to the hills? No. Scripture says horses are
vain thanks to safety. You can't run fast enough. Take
up arm, live by the sword, you'll die by the sword. What do we
do? What are we going to do? The
same thing we've always done. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling
place in all generations. We don't live in a time like
David and the fathers lived in. Their lives were in danger every
waking moment of their lives. Brother Stephen, they lived in
fear, humanly speaking, of their lives all the time. The pioneers
heading that way, they didn't know if they were going to wake
up the next morning or not. Shot through by them. We don't live
in a time like that, thank God. Nevertheless, God is our help. It's not America. America is
not our safety. The police aren't our safety.
God is our refuge. And I'm going to close with this. I had so much I wanted to say.
But I keep quoting to you, and we keep reading from Isaiah 30.
Just listen real carefully. I'll read it to you to keep you
from turning. Thus saith the Lord God to his people. Thus saith the Lord God, the
Holy One of Israel, that's Jesus Christ, in returning and rest
shall you be saved. This is the same chapter that
says, don't run to Egypt, don't go to Pharaoh, don't do this,
don't do that, just come back, just come back and rest, sit
down. He said, in quietness and confidence
shall be your strength, your hope, your courage. your peace,
your safety. Just come, sit, and I'm going
to tell you, behold your God. I'm going to say, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. Just come, and I'm going
to tell you again, I am thy God. Beside me there's none else.
I've got a hedge about you. And if it happens, I did it. And I did it for your good and
it will work out for your good. Listen to me, God is infinitely
merciful and gracious. God just took 21 babies to glory
and spared them from a life of sin and corruption. And years
before they took thousands of them, thousands of them, bring
them in. Save them from this cruel world. What mercy! What mercy! Oh, the parents are
grieving, grieving, but if they knew God, then they will grieve. And that's love. But if they
knew God, they'd be thanking Him for sparing those children
from a lifetime of sin and corruption and maybe destroying their souls. That's the way to look at it.
Do you think for a minute all those babies that died in Christ's
stead, that Herod took and slew them, that Jesus Christ is going
to let those children die in His place, unrewarded? No. They all went to glory. And they all are right now singing
from the top of their lungs unto Him that loved us. and washed
us in His own blood and spared us from a life of sin and corruption. That's what they're all singing
right now. If you lost a child, that's where
they are right now. God is good. God is merciful. God is right. God is righteous. The judge of the earth does right.
He's fair. He's fair. He's right. He does
not err. He deals with individuals too.
He deals with everybody. He does what's right. You and
I don't know. We don't know what He's doing
and why. Here's some things about our
God. We cannot understand God. If we could, He wouldn't be God.
We can't understand God. If we could, He wouldn't be God. You don't want a God you can
understand. That means He's just like you. That means He's a man.
God said, Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as Thyself.
He said, I will reprove thee. I'll set things in order before
you. I'm going to show you. No, I'm not like a man. I'm not
a man. Oh, I'm so thankful. Aren't you? That He's God and not a man. He's too wise to err. He's too good to do wrong. God giveth not. Here's another
thing. God doesn't give an account of
His matters to anybody. He doesn't tell everybody what
he's doing. He doesn't have to, number one, and we wouldn't understand
it if he did. It's too complex. There's too
much going on. It's like that tapestry you were
talking about the other day. We look behind the tapestry and
all we see is a bunch of disjointed threads. We have no clue what's
going on. But you know this thread right
over here that looks like it has no bearing on anything is
directly connected to this loose thread over here. Uh-huh, you
turn it around and you'll see the whole picture. And someday,
we're going to. Someday in glory, we're going
to stand with Him as the vast panorama of life, the books of
life come out, and God's going to show us, look at what I've
done. Look at this. This over here, 3,000 years later,
this became. And this over here worked out
for this. And this little thing. And this
little fly had to land here in order for this to happen over
here. Why did I doubt him? I just couldn't understand. I
was so foolish. I just couldn't understand. Forgive
me, Lord. I was a fool. Sin is in this
world. With sin brought evil, all evil,
man is a depraved preacher. God is holy. God hates it. God
hates all workers of iniquity. God is angry with the wicked
every day. God will punish sin. God doth and God shall punish
sin. And He deals with every person
individually according to His infinite wisdom, as He knows
them. Yes, He does. And we cannot charge God foolishly
with whatever He does with anybody. Sin is in the world. God is holy. God doth punish sin. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. The wrath of
man, listen to this. Scripture says the wrath of man,
she'll praise him. Whatever happens, it's going
to praise God. And he says the remainder of wrath, he'll restrain. Whatever he can use for his purpose,
he will. And the rest of it, he holds
it back and restrains it. Here's a good, I've quoted this
to you many times. Thomas Watson said this, listen
carefully. God had the hand in the action
where the sin is. Like what happened? An evil man,
in a fit of absolute madness, went
out, the lot cast in the land, went out and just decided to
start shooting kids. He did what his evil heart wanted
to do. But he did what God determined
for him to do. God had the hand in the action
where the sin is. God says, I kill. But God doesn't have a hand in
the sin of the action. And here's the greatest example
of all. I'm leading up to this. Calvary. Nothing has happened in the history
of mankind like that. The whole world turned on God
because man is evil. Is God holy? Go to Calvary. Is
man depraved? Go to Calvary. You will see what
man thinks about holiness, what man thinks about God. We all
did that. We would all have been there
and done this. bloodthirsty, crucified, killer. Is God holy? Yes, He is. Will God punish sin?
God laid on Him the iniquity of us all and sent Him to hell.
Is God love? Oh, my! Greater love, no man
than this. Why that thou, my God, should
die for me? Would God have loved the ones
that killed Him? My, you want to know about love? There's love. Huh? Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. And that love is not a helpless,
fickle, you know, emotion. It's a saving love. Everyone
He prayed for, everyone He died for, He saved them. And He brought
them to repentance. And He brought them to faith.
And He brought them to Himself. And He changed them, sent the
Holy Spirit. You want to know, is God sovereign? Wicked men
took and nailed the Son of God. They did what their wicked hands
determined, what their wicked hands wanted to do. That's killing. What do you want to do? That's
killing. What do you want to do? That's all killing. They
did what they wanted to do, but they did what God determined
before they did. And in doing so, did it turn
out good? Did it turn out all right? Was
it good? Did all that work together for
good? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son. My, my, my, my. Is the Lord merciful? Oh, my. Our Lord, in closing, the Lord
said this one time to the disciples in Luke 21. Go back and read
it for yourself sometime. Luke 21. He was telling them
about what all they would go through. He was telling them
about what all they were going to go through. He said they were
going to be hated. They were going to be killed. He was telling
all his disciples, we're all going to be hated and maligned
and an enemy and be brutally killed for my name's sake. He
said, there's not a hair of your head will perish. Not until I say so. Not a hair
on your head will be buried. Not one hair will fall to the
ground until I say so. That's the same Jesus Christ.
In the next verse, he said, listen, in your patience, possess your
souls. Get a hold of yourself. In other
words, get a hold of yourself. And wait on the Lord in your
patience. Wait. You're going to go through
this trial. Believe me. I said it would come, and when
it comes, don't be surprised when it doesn't. But you just
trust me. It's going to be good. I said it. Remind me of that
real soon, would you? Who did this? God did. Why? Even
so, Lord, it seemed good in thy sight. Is it going to be good? Yes, it is. Was it good that
we heard this? Did it strengthen your faith?
Did it help you? I hope so. Alright. Brother John, you come lead us
in a hymn in closing. What number do I have? 268. That's it. Our firm of foundation. 268. Let's sing two or three
verses. All right, y'all stand and turn
to number 266. Pardon, pardon. Let me off the picket.