Look at Ecclesiastes. I want
to read you verses. The title of this
message is that very last verse in the book of Job, which he
said, I shall teach thee wisdom. I shall teach thee wisdom. Ecclesiastes 1, look at verses
12 and 13. Now, as you know, Solomon was
the wisest man on earth, and that none wiser before him or
after him were the exception of our Lord. And Solomon said
this in his search for wisdom, verse 13, I gave my heart, Ecclesiastes
1, 13, I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
concerning all things that are done under heaven. And this sore
travail, or seeking for wisdom, this sore travail, hath God given
to the sons of man to be exercised with." In other words, it's the
lot of all men to search for answers. That's what he said. It's a story
of eight men looking for answers. Everyone is looking for answers
to their problems. And they look to anyone and everyone. But I'm here to tell you it's
only one. Look at chapter 8, Ecclesiastes
8. verses 16 and 17, he says it
again, after considering many things, he concludes again, verses
16 and 17, "...I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the
business that is done upon the earth." What all is going on? Also, there is a fat pig a day,
and on nights he is asleep with his eyes. Verse 17, Then I beheld
all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that
is done unto the Son. Because though a man labor to
seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea, further, though
a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find
it. As I said, many, nearly everyone,
is looking for answers to their problem. Everyone has problems,
and everyone looks for answers. Some work with someone, and that's
the reason there are so many professionals out there in this
business of psychiatry and psychology and so forth. And let me remind
you, again, this is an absolute fact. You know the leading profession,
the profession that leads in suicide? Psychiatrists. So, they don't have the answer. If they did, well, who has the
answer? Who should we listen to? Where
should we go? Where should we turn for answers
to our problems? Now, go back to Proverbs 2. Proverbs 2. Turn back there.
Who should we listen to? So many voices. So many people
talking. So many... that claims to have the answer. Proverbs 2, look at this, and
we're going to look at a few verses, and then we'll settle
in on a little joke. Proverbs 2, look at this now,
verses 1 through 5, look at these verses very carefully. Apply this to our hearts right
now. My son, if thou would receive my words and hide my commandments
with thee, so that thou incline thy ear unto wisdom, true wisdom,
and apply thine heart to understanding, yea, if thou After knowledge, true knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice, that means to call on somebody for
understanding. If thou speakest her as silver,
you know how much people want money, spend their whole lives
looking, seeking, striving to earn money. If men would speak
wisdom like that, freedom, as silver, and searches for her
as for hid treasure, then shalt thou understand this," number
one, the fear of the Lord, and find it. You will find it. Now, who's talking here? This is God. This is God's Word. God is a father. Then you will
find the knowledge of God. Read on, verse 6. For the Lord
giveth wisdom out of his mouth, coming knowledge and understanding. Nobody else's mouth unless out
of their mouth comes what came from God's mouth. You understand? Men and women are born fools. God's Word says the fool has
said no God. In other words, men and women
don't believe God, no God, and believe there is a God by nature,
and men and women say no to God, to His Word, turn away the ears
from it. Fool. Listen to this, and I'm
going to have you turn, and you can go ahead and turn to Job
33 now, Job 33. But in Isaiah chapter 8, Isaiah
chapter 8, the Lord said this, and this is a good Mary Carey
book. This is what he calls the professional people. When they shall say,
that is, when somebody shall tell you, speak unto them, or
that is, go find answers from them that have familiar spirits,
or that is, those that have, seem to have some intuitive knowledge
or think they are psychics, or whatever. Psychiatrist, psychicarian,
what's the difference? Listen, this is God's word. He
says, when they tell you to do that, unto wizards that peep,
God help them, peeping wizards. Should not a people speak unto
their God? Should not people ask their God
for mankind? Why don't you just ask a fellow
preacher? Shouldn't they go to the one
who made them? The one in whose hands their breath is? The one
who ordains all things? The one who sovereignly controls
all things? The one who is working all things
according to his will, his purpose? Shouldn't they go ask him? And then he goes on to say, to
the law, that is, to the word and to the testimony, to the
gospel, if they speak not, whoever it is, the speaking wizards,
Whoever it may be, so-called preachers, if they speak not
according to this Word, here's all I am. They don't have any
understanding. They don't have any answers. They don't have any. All right? Job 33. Now, the book
of Job, the book of Job is the oldest recorded book in the Bible. Now Genesis, the first five books
of motive were written by Moses, dictated by Moses, okay? Moses
was many years after Abraham. The book of Job was written at
the time of Abraham. Job lived just, well, in that,
the generation of Abraham. He was from the descendants very
shortly after Abraham. And so that's important. This
is the first recorded book. And throughout this book, there
are men. What this whole book is about?
This whole book is about Job and his three friends sitting
around trying to analyze their faith. Job, and you know the
story. Job, God, according to God's
purpose, sent all these trials upon Job. Remember? Killed all
of his family, took all of his possessions. Satan, he let Satan
have him. Just trial after trial until
Job was brought down to nothing. You know the story. If you don't,
go back and read it. God did this for purposes, for his purpose,
according to his wisdom. And we might have the book of
Job, and we might have some answers, all right? But the whole book
of Job is about Job and three of his friends. There were three
friends who came to see Job, and when they saw him, they were
so shocked by what they saw. This great man reduced to nothing. They couldn't sleep for how many
days was it? About seven days. They just sat
and sighed. And then they started talking. They started talking. At first,
Job spoke right. When it first happened, Job said,
It's the Lord. The Lord gave and the Lord takes
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And his wife said, why don't you just curse God? What good
is your religion? He said, you're a fool of a woman. Have I received good from the
hands of the Lord? Shall I not receive evil also?
No, he slayed him, I trust you. He should have just kept quiet. But his friends, now his friends,
I started talking and he started talking and they thought surely
Joe was about probably, had to be the word center on earth for
all this to happen. That's what they basically said
for 30 chapters. Joe, now I'm not sure, tell us
if you can. Tell us. There's something you've
done in the gospel. And Job, you know, gets tired
of them accusing him, and he starts defending himself. And after a while, he gets foolish
and starts saying, I don't, what have I done to deserve this? Now, that's what this book is
about. It's Job and his three friends talking, and then God
sends a preacher. A young man named Elijah. He
disappeared out of nowhere. He disappeared out of nowhere.
Now, Elijah is a title of Jesus Christ. A young man. And the title of Christ's
preachers who are sent, who are called miraculously and sent.
All right, let's look at it, all right? That's the background
into this story. And this is Elijah speaking.
He said, Job, wherefore Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches,
hearken to my words. How about Jane? Let's talk to
Jane out there, okay? We talked about Bill and Jill
on Sunday morning. We'll talk to Job and Jane tonight.
It's not just men, it's men and women, okay? It's all of them.
Jill, we talked about you all Sunday morning. I get to tell
you. But, all right, Job, Jane, would
you listen to me? Verse 2, I've opened my mouth,
my tongue is spoken in my mouth, my words know me of the uprightness
of my heart. This man has nothing to gain
by stating what he's going to say. But from a true heart, a heart that desires to tell
the truth, and desire glorify God and to help Job to really
tell the truth, Job. That's what it means, that's
right. My lips will utter knowledge, clearly. I'm going to make it
plain to you, Job, Jane. I'm going to tell you the truth,
very plainly. All right? Read on. Verse 6. Now, verse 6. He said, I am according
to thy wish in God's seed." Job, earlier on, said, is there a
day, is there one, an impartial judge
that will plead my cause and give me answers and take hold
of God and me and bring us together? Well, somebody, Job said, we
need somebody. And so a lot of you says, you
ask for, you ask for someone to help you. I've never seen God say that. That's Christ, that's Christ. God who's manifested in flesh.
You ask for help, He can. It's also his earthen vessels. Read on. He says, I also am formed
with the clay. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Now, here's a fact, and I hate to keep saying this,
but it's so. No, I don't hate to keep saying
it. I'm not ashamed to say it. If we hear from God, if we're going to hear wisdom,
truth, answers, it's going to be a grown man. Christ is that man,
the man. He's the preacher, the preacher. But Christ said about his disciples,
his apostles and his prophets and his pastors and teachers,
he said, if they're going to hear from me, they'll hear you.
He said that. That's what Christ said that.
God said this. In 1 Corinthians, he said he's
pleased by the foolishness of preaching. There's nothing today
more foolish to this modern world than preaching. And what I'm
doing about that. And granted, what I say in here
is utter foolishness. They believe it. But not true
preachers. They're not Buddhists. They're
white men. Because they're preaching this right here. That's what
makes them white. And it's not Buddhism. It's wisdom.
And it's power. God said this. Paul said this. Paul said this to one church.
He said, I thank God that you receive the word, not as the
words of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Put your
face to the work of heaven, kid. He said, I'm so thankful to God,
because no man can sit and listen to another man and receive it
as God was speaking through him, unless God is gracious. Paul said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. John said this, he said, this
is what God here does. Now, but everybody says that,
don't every preacher says that? No, every preacher stands up
and says that. I'm God's man. No, no, no, no. True preachers never say that. True preachers don't ever say,
I am God's man. They say God has his men, but
they never say, I'm the Lord. I heard a fellow the other Sunday
night on TV standing up and saying, I am God, there's no one but
me. Ooh, I cringed at that. I thought, that's what Christ
said. Christ said that. Now it says 61. Spirit, God,
earth, mind, and age. Very romantic. John never said
that. John never said that, though he had the spirit more than any
other man. John. But he never said that,
did he? I don't think so. Christ speaks
to me. John said it about Peter. John
said it about John. Peter said it about John. John said it about John. John
said it about John. He said it about John. He doesn't
sit on his face. And here's the thing. How do
you know, you know, so many say that. How do you know? How do
you know who to listen to? Hmm? Why should you listen to
me? Why should you listen to me? Well, here's some things you
need to consider about the man, number one, about the man. He
didn't seek the job. If it's a man that went to school,
and was looking for the job, and studied, and trained to be
a priest, you've got to be a sinner. No. Find me one, sir. Find me one,
just one. And I'll say, there's some validity
to that. Go on to school, set it down. You won't find one. As a matter
of fact, none of them sought the job. Moses, God-fearing Moses,
said that. You're the man. He said, oh,
not me. No, not me. I'm just a shepherd. I don't
want it. That's what he said, I don't
want it. Came to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, you're going to be
my spokesman. He said, I'm too young. He was 24. He said, I'm too young. I said,
baby, I can't see. came Peter. Peter, I'm a fisherman. Look here, look at chapter 32. Chapter 32. The man is close
feet, swift to hear. He doesn't want to counsel anybody.
He doesn't want to, but he will. He's called on. And God calls
and sends him. Chapter 32, Elihu said, verse
4, Elihu had waited until Job had spoken, because Job was older
than him. People, when my dad, you know,
says he's coming here, I beg him to preach. I don't want to
preach. I'm just telling the truth. I mean, I doubt I'm not going
to explain that. I was getting along fine on the
railroad. I was getting along fine. Where were we then? Job said, I waited because he's
older than I am. Verse 5, when Elijah saw that
there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, nobody's
telling the truth. Then his wrath was coming. Verse
5, look down at verse 11 and 12. Elijah said, I waited for
your words. I gave ear to your reasons. While
you searched that, I was listening to everybody. Yea, I attended
unto you. Behold, none of you convinced Job or answered his
words. So I've got to speak now, he
said. So he's the man that doesn't
seek the job. He's been called. He's been sent.
Elijah just appeared. And he's slow to speak, swift
to hear, doesn't want the job of counseling, but when it's
absolutely necessary, necessity is laid upon him. That's what
Paul said, necessity is laid upon him. All right, now here,
so that's some qualifications, characteristics, how you know
the true one. But this is the most important
thing, Paul, is the message. The most important thing of all
is the message. The message. All right? God said
this in Jeremiah 3. He said this in Jeremiah 3, verse
15. He said, I'm going to give you pastors after my own heart.
God said that. I'm going to give you pastors
after my own heart, and they're going to feed you with knowledge
of shame. They're going to feed you. You're
going to know it. knowledge and understanding.
Of what? Fear of the Lord, yes. Knowledge. Knowledge of the Holy. But he
said in Jeremiah 23 verse 28, He that hath my word, that he
speak my word. So the true man preacher, and
one you can listen to, is a man who's gonna feed you knowledge
and understanding from God's Word. All right, now listen. This was Elihu. Elihu was just
such a man. He's just a man, people. He's
just a man. And he said that. He said, I'm
just clay. But he was God's man. This is in his message. All right,
let's look at it. And here's the answers for us. Everything
in this man's message is for us. Verse 8, he says, read down
through verse 12, 8 through 12. Surely thou hast spoken in mine
hearing, I have heard the voice of thy words. Say it, I heard
you say it, Joseph. I am clean without transgression,
I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. I have done as
I want. Really? God finds an occasion against
me. He counts me for His enemy. He puts my feet to the side.
He markets all my past. Why has God done this to me? That's what Job finds. We'll
say it. Verse 12, Behold, is this thou
art not jealous? You're not right, Job. You're
all wrong. Like I said, Job's friends thought,
sure, Job was doing something secret about it, causing him
all this trouble. Sure. And Job kept going, no,
it's not us. And he started defending himself.
Why me? I deserve this. Now, the things we need to understand,
folks, as to why things happen to us. Things we need to understand
in order to have a clue about anything in this world. And this is very careful. Look
at verse 12. If you're not right, I'm going
to answer you. God is greater than man. Number one, God is This is something no preacher
is saying today. You know that? They're not saying
it here today. One fellow, and I've told you
this before, we wrote an article for the paper, and the whole
thing was about the holiness of God. And some idiot Methodist
preacher So I'll just admit it, who he was taking a shot at.
He said, everybody knows about the moral purity of God. We don't
need to talk about that. We can talk about the love of
God. That man's answer reveals he
knows nothing about the holiness of God. The holiness of God is
not just moral purity. Moral purity. Let me give you a clue as to the
wholeness of God. Paul said this in Hebrews 12,
29. He's quoting from the Old Testament. Our God is a consuming
fire. Moral purity. Scripture says,
and I'm just quoting from memory, a few scriptures. Scripture says
He charges His angels with a calling. The holy angels. The scripture
says the sun doesn't need to shine. The moon, nothing is pure
in his sight. Scripture says man, who drinks
iniquity like the water, how is he going to be clean before
God? God lives in hearts, moral purity. God is holy, indescribably holy. God is a consuming fire. Try to put flesh in fire. It won't last a second. Man is flesh and he's corrupt through
and through. God is holy. He cannot even look
upon, think upon sin. This is what this Bible says.
God is just. This is what no preacher is saying
today. God is just. He will by no means
clear the guilty. He said that in Exodus 34. I
will by no means clear the guilty. He also said all are guilty. God is just. He said in the Hebrew,
every sin shall receive a just recompense from the Lord, and
the soul of that sin shall surely die. I still wonder how any modern
preacher or person, how they deal with an eternal hell. in reference to the love of God.
Huh? I don't understand. How can you understand? How can you understand
God if all you think about Him is His love? You see, the preachers tell me
in that that God is love. I didn't want that to happen.
God is love. God loves you. God's got a wonderful
plan for your life, and something bad happens. I'm confused. God loves me when I do nothing
in it. God is holy. This explains why
things happen. This explains why he's going
to burn this planet up, and men and women in it. This is the first thing we've
got to understand. God is holy. God is just. God is sovereign.
Look at this, look at verse 13. God is sovereign, verse 13. Why
must thou strive against God? He giveth not account of any
of his matters. This is what Paul, remember Paul
concluded in Romans 9, you remember that? When somebody said, well
if God is sovereign, then why does he always give account?
And all Paul said was, shut up. He's a potter with clay. Can't
a potter make one vessel of honor and another vessel of dishonor?
Huh? What if God willed, and I'm quoting from the Psalms,
what if God willed to show his wrath, endured with months-long
suffering, the vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction? That's
why he said, that favor I made you to cast you in the river,
Pharaoh. Hmm? That's what God is about. And he says, And what if God
endured with much longsuffering and mercy, vessels of mercy,
which he had prepared before, prepared in glory. He puts up
with all their sin, and He might show His glory in mercy. His
free, unearned, sovereign, wonderful, discriminatory mercy. Here's something we need to understand,
who God is. Some preachers aren't telling
us. That's just modern and professional,
don't even believe in God, but it's all kind of holy, just,
aside from God, like that. They believe yin and yang. And I know all about this stuff,
I've studied it. I've told you about it, gazing at my insides
cross-eyed for hours and days. So I'm going to leave you just
cross-eyed. Here's something, man is corrupt
through and through. Now this is not what modern philosophy
is going to tell anybody. They don't believe me. Man is
corrupt through and through. Needs mercy from the hands of
this holy, just, and sovereign God. Man is corrupt. See, the world, world philosophy,
and world wisdom has done away with all talk of guilt. I guarantee
you, go to one of these professionals, and the thing he's going to try
to remove from you is guilt! He says, that's your problem!
Guilt! You need to get off this guilt
trip! Blame it on your mother! If your mother or if your father
used to eat cocoa wheats or something and just go back, let's say a
lot of the same for $50,000 an hour. It's going to take a long
time. Can you tell somebody this? That
I love you? That I hired you? No. And they're
going to tell you, guilt is your whole problem. I'm here to tell
you, based on God's Word, guilt is where solving the problem
starts. You see, professionals will say,
no guilt. You need to love yourself. God does. God loves you. I've
heard a man say that the other day, one of these professionals,
a preacher. Instead of saying, God loves you, no matter what
you're doing, no matter where you are, God loves you, no matter
how many... He loves you. He loves you. He doesn't say that in this book. That man's a funky. He doesn't
have any answers. He doesn't have any answers. No-fault religion. That's what
we got today. No-fault religion. And so people
think we're all right, God loves me, and like I said, something
happens, and turn over to Luke 13. Very quickly, Luke chapter
13. And if something bad happens,
it just throws me in for a loop. Well, ain't that it? God loves
me. Why is this happening? Why, why, why, why? God loves
us. Preacher, preacher, you said
this? You remember this story. Our
Lord is the one that told this story. Yes, Jesus, gentle Jesus. that all these preachers were
talking about gentle, sweet, Jesus kind, and after he loves
you, Jesus loves you. Listen to the story. All right? Listen to what he said. Luke
13, verse 4. He said to him, well, they came
to him and asked him about some terrible things that happened
Verse 1, it says Pilate killed these Galileans and he took their
blood, actually took the blood of these kinsmen of theirs and
offered sacrifices to them. Just barbaric, horrible, horrible
stuff going on here. And our Lord said, verse 2, you
think that these Galileans were sinners, were sinners? Is that
the reason this happened? Melodically. Verse 3. He's talking
to everybody. Verse 3. He said, No, I tell
you, except you, Rick Campbell, you'll all, likewise, perish. This is General Jesus talking
to me. God loves you. He wouldn't let anything like
this happen to you. You don't repent. You're going to perish.
So he said, oh, he said, verse four. Now, this is certainly
applicable to New York City. And for those 18 upon whom the
tower in Siloam fell, I think everybody in the World Trade
Center, they were really bad sinners. God knew them as they
sat in the well. You think they were sinners above
all men that dwell in Jerusalem? He said, verse five, I tell you,
no, except you repent. You all perish. God's going to
burn this planet up, folks. That's not the love of God I'm
talking about. All right, going back
to Joe. All this seems hard. You've got to hear the bad news
before you hear the good news. You've got to hear the bad news.
You see, this whole book is designed to bring man down to the snake
belly low. That's what this whole book is
designed to do. to bring human beings down into
the dust, because you know what? There's only one place to go
from there. He said, he that hath exalted
himself, I'm going to bring him down, make sure of it. But he that abases himself, God
is able to exalt him. Job, now listen, Job, go back
to Job, look at Job 40, Job 40, I've got to hurry. Job 40, Job,
after hearing God speak through Elihu, after Job heard Elihu
speak, and our Lord spoke out loud,
evidently. Job, verse 3, answered the Lord
and said, Behold, I am thine. Now, Job, now that you've
got... Okay, what shall I answer then? What have I got to say to myself?
Nothing. I'm going to put my hand on it. Once have I spoken, yep. I won't
answer twice. I have spoken too much. I've
done too much talking. I need to shut up. This is what Romans 3, 19. After
Paul spends two chapters, first two chapters of Romans, first
chapter he talks about the world out there with all the homosexuals
and all that. He says, God's going to burn
them all up, all right? Yeah. Preachers sure aren't saying
that. Anyway, and in chapter 2, he deals with the Pharisees.
They're good religious folks, Sam. Good religious folks. He
said, you think you're going to escape to it? Because you
don't do what they do, you think you're going to escape to it?
I tell you. You're no different than them. Isn't that what he
said, John? We conclude, there's no difference.
None. Whatsoever. And then in Romans
3, he concludes, he says in verse 19, Whatever God says, He says
it to all the world, and all the world may be guilty before
God Almighty, and every mouth may be shut. Men are talking too much, and
preachers are worse. God did this, God did that, I
did this, I wanted the man to go, why does this have to be like this? God says, everybody
shut up. It's none good no more. None. All together it will become good.
It's what this book says. All right? Now, Job finally comes
to that conclusion. I'm buying it. I know it's good. Look back at 33. Chapter 33. Okay? Soon we realize this. The better we are, the better
off we are. So then we realize we're wrong,
we've done wrong, thought wrong, everything about us is wrong,
our thoughts are wrong, our religion is wrong, the way we think things
are is wrong. There was an old black preacher
one time, a preacher from Psalm 50, Psalm 50 where God said, I was altogether such a wonder
to yourself, and I'm going to reprove you. I'm not a man."
And the old preacher preached a message entitled, It Ain't
Like You Thought It Was. You ain't like you think you
are. God ain't like man thinks he
is. It ain't like you thought it
was. It ain't like these preachers
are telling you this. It ain't like God says it is. It either
is or isn't. If we're not going to believe
this Bible, this Word, let's throw it away and let's eat and
drink and be merry tomorrow with that, okay? Why should we listen
to anybody else? Get it? But if this is God, true
God, living God, and this is His Word, we'd better be listening
to that. This is it. There's no gray area. It's black
and white. Alright? Now, We need to come to this conclusion,
and this is the conclusion that Joe came to. I'm fine. We need
to come to the conclusion that I've lived for years with no
thought of God. And every one of us in here lives
however long we live, 20, 30, maybe 40, 50 years, with no interest
in God Almighty. Our Maker is the one who provides
everything for us. No thoughts whatsoever from God.
God's been a speaker for years. God's had his word there. We
may even have a copy of it in our little apartment or our home
or whatever. I did. Did I look at it? Who cares? I'm smarter than that. We can come to the conclusion,
I've been it for years, without knowing what God saw. I deserve And anything this side of hell is
mercy for them. I've lived a whole, nearly a
lifetime, without a thought for the One who provides me with
everything. God said this in Proverbs 1. He said, I've called and you've
refused. So he says, all right, it's not
the only time you're going to call on me, and I'm not going
to refuse. Preachers sure are saying that,
aren't they? I've never in my lifetime heard
a preacher preach from Proverbs 1. And I don't understand it. God said that. He said, you're
going to call it. It's going to be a day of truth. You're
going to be calling it. Oh, God, God, God, God, God. He said,
I'm not listening. Why shouldn't He? He said in Isaiah
1, in Isaiah 1, He said, I've raised up children. I've nurtured
children for years, fed them, clothed them, housed them, gave
them, gave, gave, gave, gave, gave, gave, just left, left,
left, left, left. And he said, the ox knows his
owner, and the old horse knows his owner, and the ass knows
his master's crib, but my people don't even give me a buck. He
said, why should I try to give you a buck? I just put my people
on. Forget it. That's the truth. That's the
Godless Bible. That's man's condition by nature. The sooner we come to that point,
we finally get to the point where we realize God doesn't owe me
anything. That's repentance, people. That's
what this book is about. Repentance. Repentance. You know, I never really, John,
I've sung this many times, I never paid attention to the first verse
of it. I've been singing it. Oh, Brother
Ed Hale, who's with the Lord now, he wrote this, he said,
when I was lost in sin and shame, have you let me take the blame? Did you catch that? It's the
Lord's mercy for a person to realize they're healed before
God. He let me touch the Lamb. He made me finally realize that
God doesn't owe me nothing. That God doesn't think I don't
deserve to be loved by God. The feelings I have to Him, I
deserve it. He let me own that. When I can
look down deep within and not see any goodness, not see, oh,
I'm such a good person. How can a bad thing happen to
a good person like me? No, you look down deep within
and I see these sinfulness of sin. Oh, how merciful. Oh, how
merciful. The Constitution's guilty. And only the guilty will they
hear the gospel. This gospel answers to life. Yes, life itself is only to the
guilty. This is a gospel for sinners. This is the dream I tell you.
Don't shield your children from the world. Dog, she'll just pay. Dog, this and that and the other.
The sooner we come to grip with what we are, the better off we
are. I'm not saying we've got to wallow in sin. This is why our Lord said, to
whom much is forgiven, to love much. Mary Magdalene, she never
looked out of her mind what she was. No doubt in her mind, but
she was no worse than the skull of a person who's never touched
liquor in his lips, who's been in church all his life, married,
been a hermit. She was no worse than Saul. In
God's eyes, they're both guilty as charged. But Mary, when God
came to her, everything that was mercy to her, and freely
forgave her all, She knew she was a sinner, see? Saul didn't
know he was a sinner. He thought he was righteous and
merciful to God, and Paul found out, and he wrote the whole chapter,
seven chapters on this. He said, I thought I was
a liar before. I thought I was good. I thought I was righteous.
I thought I was religious. I thought I was a good man. And I realized, probably, my
flesh was a whole good man. I'm going to preach Sunday morning on the prodigal son. Just wait
here after that. The prodigal son. The son who comes to the point
of where the prodigal was. Look at that. and come back as
repentant, unworthy, how it's better off than it's going to
be." Now, an older like you said this, predominantly, Joseph 33,
an older like you, a younger like you, a younger like you
said this. Look at verse 14. He said, God
speaks once, yet twice, men proceedeth not. God speaks, Job and Apollos,
they wrote Psalm 19. It talks about God's two books,
the heavens and the very floor, the firmament, the shoulders,
and everyone. Day unto day, let it speak. Every time the sun
comes up, God will be there. Clear, all so clear. All that
big ball of hydrogen. Rises in the sky, and all this
planet lives because there's a ball of fire in the sky burning. It doesn't come one inch closer
to the earth or one inch further. It came closer, we burned it,
and went back and freed it. Isn't that lucky? Oh, my God,
yes. Every time the sun comes up,
we all just wake up and say, God, yes. God, yes. Strange. This planet's the only
one that has life on it. Why? Because there's water on
this planet. Water, life. And it just comes out of the
sky. Why ain't we the lucky ones? We're the lucky planet. Venus
wasn't so lucky. Oh no, God is. This whole heaven
declares to go to the furniture store. It's depending on where
they are today as they're speaking. No place where it's voice is
not heard. There's no human being on the Earth that's there without
a speech. He said, this power, this Godhead,
our Creator, every human being on his face, in the dust, thank
him for creating us. And he said, but God spoke,
look, it's all, God speaks this way and God spoke this way. Look
at it. And he says, God spoke once,
yet twice, and men perceived it not. Brother Kelly was in the shield
drive in the sun, I was in the plastic sun, burning me alive. Yeah, you think about it a lot.
You're cussing God's son. Don't get what you asked for. Boy, I wish this rain would
quit. Yeah, it will. Now, you may have perceived it,
but it's not. But now, verse 15, in a dream,
a vision of the night, and each sleep falls upon me, and slumbering
upon the bed, he opens his ears again, and speaketh their instruction.
This is alluding to how God spoke to His prophets. God spoke to
His prophets. And Peter said this, in 2 Peter
1, he said, no scripture is in private interpretation. That
is, no man came up with it. But holy men spake as they were
moved by the Spirit of God. That's what this is talking about.
That God spoke to me. The lion said, Spirit of God,
have made me. The breath of the Almighty has
given me life, and I've got something to say. God spoke through men. He doesn't do that now. Because
we have a book written. Anybody who stands up and says,
God, I got a new word, he's a liar. Because this book is finished.
But before this book was written, God spoke to men in dreams. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, that's
how. Really, Ezekiel said, I had a
vision. What was his vision? We'll get to it in a second.
Somebody. Read on here. All right, verse
17, he says, this is the purpose of God. He's going to withdraw
man from man's purpose and hide pride from man. And I'm going to do this, I'm
going to do that. Oh, are you? We'll see about that. God said
it. He's always there, the Lord willing. man's pride. Look what I've done. Just wait and see what I'm going
to do, but here's what God says. Read on. But now he keepeth back
his soul from the pit. God And mercy reveals the truth
to someone. He's going to keep that person's
soul from the pit of life, from perishing by the sword. But the
man, and he's going to go through, or the woman, they're going to
go through trouble. Look at it. Stay with me a few more minutes,
all right? He's chasing on his bed, pain. Verse 20. His life is worth bread. He's
so naked that he can't sleep, can't eat, got troubles. We're going to look at that Sunday
morning. Not all this outside stuff. It's
what's in here. This is the whole problem. There's
only one person who can take care of that. Read on. Verse 21. His flesh
is consumed away. Cannot this thing of bones stick
out? Yea, his soul draws nearer to
the grave. His life to destroyers. This is a person in dire straits,
isn't he? Dire straits. Now here's the answer, verse
23. If there be a messenger with him, if God just send a messenger
to this fellow, this woman, God just send a messenger, an interpreter.
Interpreter of what? God's Word. Read on. One among a thousand. There's
not many of them. They're one among a thousand. To show unto man his uprightness. Who's upright? Christ's uprightness. See, this messenger here, this
one among a thousand, is Christ Himself, and it's those who preach
Christ. It's Christ Himself and those
who point men to Christ, one among a thousand, to show men
His uprightness, only Christ's uprightness. Verse 24, then God's
graciousness of that man, of that woman. And He stated to
them, deliver him from going down into the pit, I found a
ransom. And it's over with. That person,
bring on. He'll pray, verse 25, his flesh
shall be fresher than a child. This is regeneration. A new creature
created in Christ Jesus. He'll return to the days of his
youth. He'll be like a little child. He'll pray unto God. He wasn't even thinking about
God before. She wasn't even thinking about God before. Except to blame
God, or curse God. Now they're calling unto God
for mercy. for grace, to ransom them from the pit. Verse 26.
God's favoring one of them. He's going to see his face to
the shore. Who's favoring? The faith of Christ. And He'll
render unto man his righteousness. He's going to give that man or
that woman his righteousness. Perfect righteousness. That guilty
sinner is going to get perfect righteousness. They don't earn
it, they get it as a gift. Read on. He looks upon men as
any, as anything. Any man want a young person to
say, I have sinned. There's the key. And perverted
that which was right, and it probably be not. I'm a sinner
through and through. He's going to deliver his soul
from going down to the pit. His life to see the light. Lo,
all these things work with God all the time. God's done this
many times. Say, nobody's been as low as
I am. Oh, yes, every single child of God has been exactly that
way, to the point of despair, like this man. But not just on temporal troubles
and things, but inward, soul troubles, freedom. God often
has to bring his soul back from the pit. To be enlightened with
the light of the living. Who's that? Christ is the light. The light. Verse 31, Mark well
wrote that. Will you listen this way? And
if you didn't hear this message, it's very good. Get the tape.
Don't have to listen to it again. I can implement it. Hold your peace. I'll speak. If you have anything
to say, answer me. I desire to justify that. If not working on that, hold
your peace. I'm going to teach you this. Mark it well, Jane. Mark it well. Mark it well. You've heard wisdom from above. This is the wisdom from God's
Word. This is the answers from God's Word. General as they be. Now, we read, didn't we, how
it is said that a man tries to find out why certain
things are happening. He won't do it. He won't do it. God doesn't give an account of
his mind. God doesn't explain every move he makes. But we need to understand this.
The whole world doesn't revolve around me. I'm a very small ant
in a huge anthill. I'm an insignificant creature.
Yes, I am. A creature can't say this. Although
you're special, no, you're not. We're nothing. Job said I'm vile. Oh, no. All vile sinners are
faithful. Christ said, I came to call sinners. I came to baptize sinners, especially
God loves sinners. You know that? God loves sinners.
That's a wonderful plan. He's already worked it out. Yea,
once you come to this point, and call upon God for mercy,
and believe and look to Christ alone, then We know, now we know
Romans 8, 28. They're not children. Now we know all things work together
for good to them that love God, who is called according to his
purpose. God created this planet, put man on it for his glory. Man thinks far short of his glory.
God's gonna destroy man. God sent a man. Here's an all-blessed
gift. God sent a man to glorify Him. The God-man. The Son of God. He did it. He did it. God loves
His best man. I'm well-pleased with His righteousness. I said, Phil, He's glorified
me as my preacher should. He did this for some. He did this for some. And whoever, whosoever, it is,
needs this warmth. That's it. I accept them, I love them, I
receive them, and they'll come, and all things are working together
for their good. There's nothing, absolutely nothing,
going against them. If God before us, who can be
against them? They say, well, now there's no
condemnation, then there ain't a problem. It's all working together for
their good. Bad things happen. Joe, read
your last chapter. Joe, in the beginning, lost everything. He has to. Show us the whole
story. We're lost.