May they rest in glory, all for
us and you. May they rest in glory, all for
us and you. We may trust Him fully, all for
us to do, those who trust Him wholly. find him wholly true. That's good. I wish I could learn
that. Acts chapter 9. Now let's look
back there again. I didn't dwell too much on verse
5 because I intended to do so tonight. I don't mean to spend so much
time in one section, but nevertheless there's a lot to be seen here. Let's read the first five verses
again, Acts chapter nine. And so, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saw, saw. Why persecutest thou me? And
Saul said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. That is our text and our subject
tonight. The Lord often spoke in parables. and similes in one line. The Lord could say more in one
line than men do in an abundance of speaking. In one line, our
all-wise Lord imparts infinite wisdom. There are two basic things
I want us to see from this message tonight. First of all, man's
utter depravity. And then secondly, God's long-suffering
dealings with us. Our utter depravity. And then
God's long-suffering dealings with us. Now, if you're taking
notes, it's five points to this message. Five points. And they
are. We're going to look at five points.
And I'll give them as we go. The Lord has given a parable
here. a parable of a simile of an ox. Back then, oxen were used to
drive carts and pull great burdens and so forth, and the masters,
the owners of these oxen, would at times employ severe means
with which to get these oxen to do what they wanted them to
do, and they used at times a thing called an ox goad. And this is
the parable our Lord is giving here. In one little line, he's
referring to this parable of an ox and the need to use an
ox goad, a prick. to get the ox to do what he wants
it to do. There's the ox, the oxen. The oxen is a dumb creature,
a dumb creature, an ignorant, unthinking, brute beast. That's an oxen, isn't it? Turn
over to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 with him. Ecclesiastes chapter
3, right after the book of Proverbs, you'll find the book of Ecclesiastes,
which is full of wisdom. Wisdom given to a man that had
never been given to before. Quite so much wisdom to one man.
Solomon, and he talks about man as being a brute beast. Man,
a brute beast. Man was created high and noble,
yet he fell below the beast, far below the beast. Look at
Ecclesiastes 3, verses 18 through 20. He says, I said in my heart
concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest
them, or expose them, that they might see that they themselves
are beasts. And that which befalleth the
sons of men befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them.
As one dieth, so dieth the other. Yea, they all have one breath,
man and beast, so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast. All is vanity, all go unto one
place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." So man
is no different. down to the level of a beast
with an apology to the beast. I apologize to the beast for
comparing him with man. I really do. Why? Because the
ox, the scripture says, the ox knows his owner. And even the
ass is master's crib. Right? And they go lowing for
their food. The ass goes neighing. All a
man does is neigh. to God. But the ox goes lowing
after his food. He knows his owner and asks his
master's crib. Man doesn't even acknowledge
God by nature until he gets in trouble, does he? He doesn't
even give God a thought until he gets in trouble. God just
keeps feeding him and taking care of him and giving him shelter,
her shelter, and they don't even acknowledge God until they get
in trouble. The beasts serve their purpose, and they never
rebel against their Creator, do they? The beasts never rebel
against God, and man serves himself and despises the God who made
him, doesn't he? And the God who cares for him.
And all men and women by nature are dumb as oxen. I hate to be
so crude, but this is the parable here. We are dumb as oxen and
just as stubborn as mules by nature, just as stubborn until
God subdues our nature. and puts a yoke on us. And even
then, there are times when he has to use an ox goat, and we're
going to see that in a minute. Here's a blessed thought, though,
that if we belong to God Almighty in a saving sense, that is, if
we belong to God Almighty, he's going to have us, he's going
to break us, he's going to subdue us, and he's going to use us
for his purpose. That's a blessed thought, He's
going to put that yoke around them and we're going to find
it to be light and easy and downright enjoyable. Here we are. All right, an ox is a dumb beast. It's a it's a dumb, crude beast. It's also an animal is totally
dependent upon its master, isn't it? An ox, no way an ox could
fend for itself. It left to itself, it could not,
it has to be fed, watered, housed, and even protected. It thinks
it's fairly strong, but even protected. And God Almighty feeds
and clothes and provides and protects us all the days of our
life. 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years,
and on and on. God keeps on providing for and protecting
and watching over his people, doesn't it? Where is his service? Where is the service that belongs
to him? Huh? An ox is a creature which is
made for service. There is really no other real
purpose for an old ox but to plow for its owner. No purpose
except to serve its master. God didn't create us just to
have fun, to enjoy ourselves, did we? Did he? He didn't create
us just to enjoy ourselves, but to serve him for his glory. He created all things, the scripture
says, for his glory, for his glory, to serve him. Let me ask
you something. Some of you, you've had some
cattle, haven't you? How long would you keep an old,
if you had to plow with oxen? Maybe you have. How long would
you keep one who would never do a plan for you. But you could
never get it ever to do what you wanted to do it never do
any plan for you and you just spent money money money feeding
that thing taken care of how long would you keep it. He'd
be on your dinner table real soon. And we wouldn't even keep, you
know, we all have dogs. We're compared to dogs, too.
We all keep dogs. Some of us have real pedigree
dogs, like Pooh Bear, you know. Good dogs. Profitable dogs. Obedient dogs, you know, like
yours. Good dogs. Stan, oh, he's got
two fine dogs. They serve him well. How long
would we keep a dog, even, as much as we love those worthless
animals? How long would we keep a dog
if it always growled at us? What if it tried to bite you
every time you tried to feed it? How long would you keep it?
I know you wouldn't, at all. Well, that's us, isn't it? That's
us. An ox is also a stubborn creature. Like I said, an ox is made to
serve, and if it doesn't serve, the Master is not going to put
up with it. An ox is also a stubborn creature. It wants to do its
own thing and go its own way, and it has to be prodded every
now and then to do it. It has to be goaded in the right
direction, in the direction the Master intends it to go. Man
is more stubborn than an ox, much more stubborn than an ox.
Isaiah 53 says we have all turned our own way. The minute we see
something in God's Word that we're supposed to do, or the
minute he tells us what to do, we want to go the other way,
don't we? The other direction. The strength of sin is the law.
The minute we're told what to do, we want to do the opposite.
You know that's true in your children, don't you? That's the
reason you use reverse psychology in it. Don't do that. When you
want them to do something, you say, don't do it. And vice versa. We go the other way. Man goes
the opposite way. We're clearly directed to go.
We obstinately choose the wrong way. An ox is a stubborn creature. An oxen can be a useful creature,
though. It can be. It can be subdued. It has to be subdued. It has
to have a yoke around its neck, or it's not worth anything to
the master. There have been many men and
women over the years whom God has used in his service, greatly
greatly used for his service. Men and women that God has done
many things through. I know one man who was more noble
than any other man, and because he always did his master's bidding,
was obedient to him even unto death. The Lord gave him a name
which was above every name, above all others, and a place above
all others. You know, I'm talking about Christ,
who was never disobedient to his father, never. Always, he
said, I must always be about my father's business. So an ox
can be a useful creature, and so can a man. So can a man. All right, the second point.
Let's look at, so that's an oxen, and that's what we are by nature.
We're like dumb oxen, rebellious, useless, stubborn. obstinate
creatures, rebelling against our God by nature. That's us. Unless God yokes us and does
something with us, he's going to be done with us. Well, the
Master sometimes uses a thing called an ox goad with an ox. An ox goad, it's a rough and
a cruel instrument, to say the least. What an ox goad is, and
you've probably seen, maybe you've had one in the And oxgoat was
a long stick, a long pole that was sharpened on the end, a long,
razor-sharp wooden pole, very crude, very rough, and that's
what the owner would use occasionally when the ox stubbornly halted
in its tracks or turned the wrong way, the master would get his
point across to that oxen. But first of all, and that's
a crude way and a painful way, but first of all a good and kind
master. I assure you a good and kind
master, the owner of an ox, would first speak to those oxen. He
wouldn't immediately resort to a goad, you know, get on there
you dumb No, you would speak to, OK, get along, Nellie, or
Bessie, or Betsy May, or whatever you name, Oxen, you know, Lucy. Get along now, come on now. And
they won't, no, come on now. Do it, do as I say. They still
won't move. Well, a good owner gently, gently
speaks to its oxen first. Gentle but firm commands at first
and God Almighty. He's he's merciful, gracious
and kind and tender, compassionate. His mercies endure forever. He's
a he is. David said that according to
the multitude of that tender mercy. Loving kindness, God is
is full of loving kindness and tender mercies, and God Almighty
first speaks to his people. He doesn't use harsh means, especially
on his tender little children. He speaks to them first. Over
in Psalm 32, turn over there. He speaks to his children to
do his bidding. He speaks to them first. You
know, it's a shame. It's a shame that we don't heed
God's word when he first speaks to us. And he has to use more
severe means later. It is a shame. If we just heard
what he said the first time, he gently, kindly entreats us,
talks to us, speaks to us. Read the book of Isaiah sometime.
You want good reading. If you're looking for a place
to read in the Bible right now, start in Jeremiah chapter one. I meant Jeremiah. Start in Jeremiah
chapter one and start reading through there and read how the
Lord pleads, he uses that word, pleads with his people. He says
things like, what have I done to you, that you should rebel
against me? Those of you who know the book,
well, it's a shame we don't heed God's word and he has to use
more severe means of communication later on. Psalm 32, verse 9,
look at it here. be not as the horse, or as the
mule, which hath no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with
bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee, or that is, do
you harm, run you up against a fence, or run you through a
briar patch, or under a low limb?" Look over Proverbs 12 verse 1.
Look at this. Don't be like the horse or the
dumb ewe or the oxen for that matter. Proverbs 12, look at
verse 1. Whoever loves instruction loveth
knowledge, but he that hateth reproof, why, he's brutish. He's a beast. And there's countless
verses of Scripture like that, all through Proverbs and so forth.
I was going to have you turn. Well, one more. Proverbs 15. Look over there a minute. Proverbs
15. Verse 10, correction is grievous
unto him that forsaketh the way. In other words, he doesn't want
to be instructed or corrected. And he that hateth reproof is
going to die. This is the very point I was
trying to make. If he stays rebellious long,
he's going to die. A scorner loveth not one that
reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise." He's not going
to seek counsel or reproof. He doesn't want to hear it. And you remember our text in Psalm
141, we preached from one night on, Let the righteous smite me,
and it'll be a kindness, it'll be an oil on my head, it won't
break my head. Well, most of us have to be utterly
broken down to learn a lesson, don't we? It's not a shame that
we have to be utterly broken down to learn a simple lesson,
which could have been learned just by reading God's Word, just
by heeding what he said to begin with, right? You know, children,
we like oxen. As children of God, we need to
be goaded every now and then, and sharply prodded. Our children
are an example of that. Our children terribly grieve
us by their rebellious ways. Children are rebels from the
start. They're always resisting authority.
Listen to me, young people, all of you young people. Children resist authority, and
even good advice. Parents can give the very best,
most helpful, safe, profitable, instructive advice possible,
and children resent it. And you can't understand it,
can you? They resent it. Children have a deep-seated rebellion
in them, an obstinacy that becomes sullen and pouts when they're
told what to do, when it's all for their good. and they resent
any restraints put upon their liberty, when that very liberty
or freedom could ruin them, could even kill them. And parents place
restraints on their children, on some of the freedoms that
they want, things that could damage them and harm them, and
they get mad at their parents for saving their lives. And this
is exactly what God Almighty does to his people, too. places
restraints, withholds things from us, and so forth, that would
be harmful to us, and we get mad and resent it, don't we? And the Lord calls for our children. He calls for a rod, and he uses
the same thing on his people. A rod. You know, any instruction,
kids, see if this isn't so. I'm sorry to call you kids, that's
a little goat, isn't it? But that's a pretty close definition. But, Mom! Isn't that what a little
goat does? But? But, Dad! A little but? A little kid? Sorry, I was one. You know what I read the other
day? A wise counsel by an older father. Listen to this, Terry,
this is good. This man said to his son, He was talking to him,
trying to convince him of something. He said, Son, now you get this
in your head. I know a lot more about being
young than you do about being old. Doesn't that explain it all?
I've been young, and I'm now old. You haven't been old, and
you're not old, and you won't be old for a long time. I know
a lot more about being young than you do being old. That's
right. Young people resent any instruction
in the things of God. Y'all having a good time here?
Let's be honest. Is this your favorite place to
be, Rebecca? You just love this place, don't you? Honestly, I know I was one. I thought my mother and father
were inflicting cruel torture on me, that they hated me so
they made me sit in church. What horrible, what a horrible
torture. I'd rather be hung up by my thumbs.
Really. Really. And children, but this
is funny to you a little bit, but it's sad. Because this is
the evil nature that is within us from the very outset that
we despise anything that has to do with God. Any instructions
concerning the things of God is like an ox goad. It's like
a pointed object to children, utterly hate. That utter hatred
for God is clearly made manifest. And I hope that God, I hope that
you're here. I'm thankful for your parents.
They're doing the right thing by having you under the sound
of the word, which is Abel. I'm so thankful that you're learning,
you're hearing the word of God, which is Abel. This is what Paul
said to young Timothy. Timothy, I'm so thankful for
Lois, your grandmother, and Eunice, your mother, that they had you
under the preaching of the word, because it's able, God doesn't
have to, but it's able, the preaching of the word, to make you wise
unto salvation. And it could be someday, could
be someday God will bring home a word you've heard out of the
mouth of this preacher or some other preacher or your teacher
in the class, and it'll pierce your heart. Open your eyes and
you'll be sitting here and then I guarantee that you'll love
it. You'll love this. You say, no way. Yeah, you will.
Don't you jump. Right there, you wouldn't have
believed that guy if you'd have seen him. I've known him all
my life. Jumped out. Trouble. This guy was born trouble. They
thought he'd be in a penitentiary by the time he was seventeen.
And he came close. And I didn't reason, I know,
because I was saying, same way. Is this what you enjoy? You just don't think it's possible
when you're a young person. You think this is, it's like,
go ahead and stick me with a pole, Mom, just don't make me go to
church. It's like an ox goes. Well, you
know, the gospel is like an ox goad of God, too. You know, Saul
of Tarsus hated and despised. We saw that this morning. He
hated and despised the only truth that would save him. Isn't that
sad? That's the way men and women
are. They hate and despise the only way they can be saved. I
heard a man one time go up to A believer one time went up to
a bunch of men who were sitting around, standing around, cursing,
taking God's name in vain, saying, you know, they say, God damn.
And this man went up to this believer, went up to them and
said, fellows, pardon me, but he said, do you know if you stay
out of hell, it'll be by that name you're calling on? Spurgeon said this, he said,
you know, don't be asking God to damn you. He said he answers prayer. God, he said, doesn't answer
that one. Right? You know that Saul of Tarsus
hated the very way, the only way that could save him, and
men and women by nature hate the gospel of God's sovereign
grace and kick against it. Like I said, children hate to
be here and this is going to be their only hope of eternal
Their only hope, the only way God saved, and you know it's
the easy way. Men and women hate the easy way.
I want to take the hard way. Even in life, don't we? The Scripture
says that the way of the transgressor is hard. A young man wanting
to, you know, sow oats and have a big time and go out in the
world and have a big old good fine time, he's just bringing
trouble on himself. And he's going to find out it's
the hard way. The way of the transgressor is
the hard way. The easy way is to submit and
rest. This is what the gospel says,
doesn't it? Submit, bow to Christ, trust him, rest in him and him
alone, and he'll do it all for you. That's good. And Noah, you know,
Noah really just had two things to do while he was in the ark.
two things that one was raised. Rest and rest and wait on the
Lord to bring that art to the safe haven and but then he had
to feed the end. And that's the type in a believer
this rest in Christ, but every now and then do something for
God's people. The gospel becomes an ox goad.
And then personal afflictions. Let's look at these as ox goads. Over in Job, the book of Job,
chapter 2, if you want to turn, you can. The book of Job, right
before the Psalms. Personal afflictions. God uses
these as ox goads. Personal afflictions. This is
a good verse. You need to underline this in
your Bible. There is not one out of a thousand
people out there in religion today who know anything about
Job 2.10. There is not one in a thousand
who knows anything about it, much less believes it. Like I
told you, that fellow I work with said, Don't be bringing
up Job to me. He was a good Christian, though. Just don't be talking
about Job. You know, we go through personal
trials and afflictions and problems, and what do we say? Why is this
happening to me? Well, why not? Huh? Why not? Don't you deserve it? Huh? Don't we deserve a whole
lot more? The Lord hasn't dealt with us
according to our iniquity, our sins. He hasn't dealt with us.
in justice. No, we've received mercy. But
every now and then, look at Job 2.10. It says Job, verse 9, his
wife came to him and said, Do you still want to retain your
integrity? Do you still want to claim to be a Christian and
worship a sovereign God? Do you still believe in that
sovereign God? Curse God and die. What kind of God would bring
these things on you? A loving God wouldn't do that.
No, he wouldn't. But a holy God would. a just
God, a wise God, and really, yes, a loving God would and does. She said, Curse God and die,
verse 10. But he said unto her, You are
speaking like a fool, a foolish woman speaketh. Shall we receive
good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Shall God just bless me, bless
me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless
me all the days of my life? Have I deserved that? Just bless
me, just pour out blessing after blessing after blessing after
blessing on me. I'm such a good and obedient and dutiful child,
huh? I've just served him all my life,
huh? I always walk in his ways, huh? And never give me a good
whooping every now and then? God never punishes his children. There is a difference between
punishment and chastisement. Punishment is what you get at
the hands of a court of law when you've got it coming to you,
and you get strict justice. You are punished for that crime. God Almighty chastens. Yes, he does it severely, but
he doesn't do it out of anger or out of justice, but he does
it in a very instructive way. The thing we shoot for in chastening
our children is that they might learn a lesson through this.
Not to punish them, right? You're going to get it now. That's
not the way we deal with it, is it? Huh? We want them to learn
a lesson. Honey, I'm trying to teach you
something here. You're going to get it, but I'm
trying to teach you something. And I want you to learn through
this experience. Isn't that the way God chastens
his people? Sure it is. And he does it severely at times,
severely enough, only severely enough to drive his point home. And it's all according to the
constitution of the ox. The dumber the ox, the sharper
the point he's going to make, right? The thing to do is just
submit right off, right? And not kick, not kick, not rebel. Now, God's ways are mysterious, and they're intricately woven
together. They're mysterious, and they work together. It says
all things, all things, good and evil, work together for his
purpose, for them that love God who are called according to that
purpose, that saving purpose, eternal purpose. We may not be
happy and all real comfortable now, temporarily, but he never
promised us that all the time. But that's for our eternal good.
He's teaching us a spiritual lesson. That's behind it all. And it may not be apparent. It
may not be obvious or apparent to us while we're going through
something. It may not be obvious to us and
apparent to us why God is doing what he is doing or the for a
particular trial, because we can't find out God to perfection.
We don't know his ways. His ways are mysterious. Job
didn't know for a long time, did he, why he was going through
what he was going through. And we don't know. You know,
men still debate that, don't they? They still debate Job's
case, why God did what he did to Job and all that. God started
out by saying, my servant Job is a just and a righteous man.
And then he let him have it. And Job didn't know for a long
time. God often does not allow us to know why he's doing what
he's doing immediately or even in the near future. He may never
let us know in this life why some of the things. But people,
your only comfort and hope through these things
is knowing that he is an all-wise, loving, heavenly Father, and
he's doing what he's doing at his best, and someday you're
going to look back on it and thank him to high heaven. Just like you learned a lesson
concerning your parents, didn't you? When you were young, your
parents were pretty dumb. And when you got to be a parent,
your parents got smarter as the days went by, didn't they? They
just got smarter and smarter. It's amazing how much your parents
learned when you became a parent. I tell you. And we're going to
see, we're going to look back someday and see everything God
did and just be absolutely amazed. Stand amazed. We're going to
say, this is the Lord's doing and it's absolutely marvelous
in my eyes. And I wouldn't change a thing
if I could have. I'm sure glad I didn't. I'm sure
glad he didn't change it. I'm glad he did it exactly the
way he did it. You know, God often allows us to reap what
we have sown. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. Just like we allow
our children sometimes, don't we? Don't we let our children
go sometimes? We say, don't do that. Don't
do that. Stay away from that. Don't do that. I'm trying to
tell you, I'm trying to tell you, and they just won't listen.
You say, OK. Go ahead. Right? And they get in a mess
and they kick themselves. They kick you before and then
later on they kick themselves for not listening to you. Right?
God often allows us to keep what or reap what we have sown. You
know if you break the natural laws of God you're probably going
to suffer because of it. Everything God writes in this
book is good, it's prophet, it's right, it's true, it's just,
it's good, it's the best way. Everything for living life on
this planet is written right here, and it's absolutely the
best way. There's no alternative. There's
no better way. Exactly the way God has written
it is the best way to raise your children, to conduct your home,
to work your jobs, to work your farms, whatever it may be, to
conduct your business. Everything is written right here,
just the best way possible. And if we rebel, we're going
to suffer. We're going to break His natural laws and we'll suffer
for it. You overeat, you're going to
get You overdrink, you're going to
get problems. You smoke excessively, you're going to get problems.
Sexual promiscuity, children, if you don't do what God says,
and that is no sex before out of marriage, you may get AIDS. There's no promise you're not
going to get it. I don't care if you're the children of godly
parents, you may get it. Go out there and fool around,
you may get it. Right? Sloth, the scripture says, you'll
come to poverty. Covetousness, you'll come to
poverty. God will teach us our error,
but this is his kindness. He'll still bless us through
it. Somehow or another he'll still bless us. We'll suffer
and reap what we sow, but still in the end we'll get a blessing
out of that even. That's how good he is, that's how kind he
is, that's how wise he is. Allow us to do what we will,
and yet it works out according to his purpose. You know the difference between
a child of God and a reprobate? God chastens, God instructs,
God goads his children, but he leaves other people to themselves.
David learned this, didn't he, in Psalm 73? He said, I can't
understand why they're getting everything, and I don't get it.
Well, God's giving it to them. They're of the world, you're
not. God gives them the work. He gives them what they want
to. Let them get rich and fat. They're being fattened and slaughtered.
God's people are being weaned from the work. So he doesn't
always give us everything. It's not always good for us,
right? But he leaves them to themselves. It's like the man, there was
a farmer one time and he told his neighbor, he said, I don't
believe in God. He said, I'll just cuss God.
And he did. He shook his fist up and said,
I don't care if you cuss God. And he said, he dared God in
front of the man. He said, I dared God to do something.
And God didn't. He said, see? And the wise old
neighbor said to him, he said, well, and this was in the month
of October, he said, my friend, God doesn't always pay his debts
in October. He may wait until November or
December of the next year. But you can be sure God's going
to answer you. You're going to get what's coming
to you. You're going to get it. And so God gives people what
they want. The world, that is. Sometimes
leaving them to themselves and giving them what they want until
later on he finally gives them their just due. Everything. But
not his children, not his children. He chastens, he instructs, he
goads, he withholds things, he restrains, and so forth. And
then conscience is like an ox goad that God uses. Conscience,
God's Holy Spirit pricks the conscience of his people, other
people's. I remember, Rick, when I was
a young, young man, a teenager, my conscience never seemed to
really bother me. Did yours? I mean, you could get into whatever.
and my conscious everybody. You know I'm saying I never gave
it a thought what I was doing it never bothered me I just run
rush headlong into the scene and never bothered me. And in
God's good time it started by. That's the word of God written
on the heart and God pricks us with a conscience and he does
that even now his children. He impresses it even more deeply
upon the hearts of his older children, and the scripture says,
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. Grieve not the Holy
Spirit. Quench not the Spirit. The third
point here. We talk about man being like
oxen and God using ox goads. This thing of kicking against
the pricks. Back in our text, the Lord said to the Apostle
or Saul, he said, It's hard to kick against the pricks, isn't
it? It's hard on you. See, what this is like is an
old stubborn ox now. His owner is trying to get him
to plow in the field, and he just halts. And then the owner said, Yes,
you are. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. And
the owner gets this. And the owner never would stand
behind the ox. He'd stand over the side. You
ever seen those pictures in the Middle East, plowing? They'd
stand over the side and point and stick them with that stick.
And that old ox, when he'd get stuck, he'd kick. Every time. That's what he was doing. He'd
get stuck and he'd kick. It made him madder, kicked against
it. And this is what the Lord is
saying to Saul here. It's hard to kick against the
pricks, isn't it? They keep coming. It doesn't do any good, does
it? The kick. The thing to do is plow. Quit kicking. You know, every now and then,
the painful results Was that ox, every now and then, when
he'd get stuck, he'd kick, and then he'd get stuck in his kicker,
in his foot. He'd kick, and that prick would
stick in his foot, and then he was really hurt then. Then he
really could kick himself for kicking. And that's us. That was Saul. That was Saul of Tarsus. The end results of kicking against
God's prick is often worse than the pricks. Kicking against God's providence,
you know, Saul kicked against the gospel and so forth. We kick
against God's providence, despising and complaining about the very
things that keep us in the right way. You know, if we have it
hard, we want it easy. If we're poor, we want to be
rich when we would probably. In a time of prosperity or God
knows best. We would probably forget God.
You know that. So God brought. I'll just forget about him and
leave it later. Life of ease and prosperity. You know, David's
greatest sin. was when he was laying on his
bed at ease in Zion. Wasn't it? Wasn't his greatest
sin occurred then when he was laying around having a good old
time, walking around on his roof? He should have been out fighting
with the other king. Trials are meant to keep us cleaving to
God and strengthen our faith. And if we don't bear up under
them, they reveal very little faith, don't they? When the painful
results of kicking, the more you resist, the more it hurts.
The more you hurt yourself. Like I said before, we just heed
God's word and obey him at first. We might not bring such grief
on ourselves. Right? We just listen to God's
word at first. We might not bring so much grief
on ourselves later on. Marriage, let's take a few things
and I'll hurry. Scripture says, Husband, do you
want good wives? What man doesn't? I want a bad
one. Do you want a good wife? Well,
here's the key. Grind her under your thumb. Bring
her down. Make her submit. Tell her, submit. Don't you know I'm the head of
you? That doesn't work, Henry. I tried
it. Believe me, the strength of sin
is the law. All right, here's how you do
it. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the Church. Love her so much that she'll
love you to death and want to do for you and serve you. and
do and cook for you and clean for you. What can I do next,
honey? It works. It really does. In marriage. How about as parents? Parents. Scripture says, spare
the rod. What? Spoil the child. Chasing your children while there
is hope. And the rod takes different forms
the older they get. We need to heed that. We spent
six messages on that point. Scripture clearly speaks about
that. As believers, Scripture says,
be faithful in a few things. What are we called on, really,
to be faithful about around the things of God? Worship. A few things, just a
few things that God calls on us to be faithful to worship.
He's the best thing for us. It's not really a duty, it's
the best thing. It's like a child being told,
come to the table, it's time to eat. Oh, I'd rather play.
I'd rather play. Honey, you need to eat. You need
to eat. Oh, I want to play. I said, get
up to the table. And again, it's the best thing
for them, isn't it? That's where they get fed and where they grow
and nurse so they can play. And as obedient children, not
fashioning ourselves out of the lust of the world and disobedient
children, but as obedient children, we're not called upon to do much,
really. And what we're called upon to do is the very best thing
for us. Very bad. Now let me just deal very plainly
with you, and this is the last point. I'll give you some good
advice. Now listen now, this is going
to be helpful. This whole message, I hope, has been an instructive
one. I've been teaching you some things
here from this one line our Lord gives. You know the severity. Think about this statement now
a minute. I did, a long time. The severity of all our problems
is directly related to our relationship with the Lord. The severity of all our problems,
or that is how severe they appear to us, how hurtful, how this
and that and the other they are, is directly related to our relationship
to the Lord at that time. Scripture says, Draw nigh to
God, and he'll draw nigh to you. How do you draw nigh to God? Well, he said where two or three
are gathered, that's where I'm at. Isn't it? We have little
faith. We don't have much faith. Everybody complains about faith.
I had a woman ask me this morning and said she'd like to know more
about something or other. And she's not here tonight. She obviously wasn't very interested.
We say we don't have much faith. We don't have much understanding.
We want to know more. Well, how does faith come? How many times have I said this? How many times? What about spiritual
maturity? We need spiritual maturity to
handle the trials and problems that we face, don't we? We get
upset with ourselves because we get upset. How do you get
spiritual maturity? How do you grow? Desire the sincere
milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. How about assurance? We want assurance. We want to
know that we're God's people. We want to know, we want to have
some assurance that we're believers and not fret all the time over
our salvation. How do you know? Faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Assurance. And it all comes from a steady
diet of God's Word. And if we don't desire the sincere
milk of his Word, we keep missing, if we miss meals, we're going
to become ill, sickly, fretful, temperamental. And other things
that need to be used, like fellowship. Don't forget the illustration
of the hermit crab, Henry. Henry came up to me and said,
that's me. Hermit crab. Hermit crab, when it came out
of a shell. and what it takes to bring us
out of our shells other hermit crabs be around them. And here's good advice over in
Matthew 11. Our Lord gives this over in Matthew 11. He says this
in closing. He said to old Saul, it's hard
to kick against these bricks, isn't it? It's hard, Saul. The
way of the transgressor is hard. Matthew 11. The Lord said, Come
unto me, verse 28. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden," you have problems, problems with your sin, problems with
yourself, physical problems, emotional problems, whatever
they may be, spiritual problems, especially spiritual problems,
with your sin, come to Christ. How do you do that? Just come
to Christ. Go to asking questions and come
to Christ. and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest." There's a promise from somebody who cannot lie.
He says, Take my yoke upon you. Take it upon you. Don't make
me have to put it down on your head. And learn of me. I'm meek and lowly in heart,
and you'll find rest unto your soul. For my yoke is a promise. What does he say? What is his
yoke? Somebody say it. And my burden is light. It's
easy. You know, my brothers, I have
two older brothers, and they pick on me all the time. And
I was the youngest of four children. My oldest brother would pick
on me all the time, and they'd get me down, Sammy. Stephen didn't
ever do this to you, surely? Huh, Liddy? You're big enough now, you ought
to get him back. I'll help you, I'll try." They'd
get me down, and my brother, you ever have this Chinese torture
done to you? Oh, my. And you know, the more
I'd kick and fight, the more he'd do it, you know, just laugh.
And the more, what did I have to do? He finally said, I'm going to do it. My pride,
you know, wouldn't let me. I ain't going to do it to get
me up there. And you just cry and call. When, you know, if
I'd been smart, John, out of the soonest he'd grab me. I should
have said that, right? Now, here's some good advice. We need to quit kicking. Patiently
submit to whatever the Lord brings your way, knowing it's for your
good. Patiently submit to it. Remember,
when we start murmuring and complaining, God gets provoked. Here's a good way to keep from
murmuring and complaining. Count your blessings. I guarantee
you there are more than you'll quit murmuring. Count your blessings.
Paul said this, James said this, Count it all joy when you fall
into temptation. Knowing that the trial of your
faith works patience, but let patience have her perfect work,
that you may be perfect, mature by experience." No better teacher
than experience. And entire, complete, well-rounded,
wanting nothing. He said this also, "...in everything
give thanks, for this is the will of the Lord concerning you. Be content with such things as
you have," he said. Be content in whatever state
you are in. Be content in the Lord's will
where you are, and he'll give you peace about it, or either
change it. I told you this before in closing
this story. I worked on the railroad, and
I believe only Joe Parks could probably enter into what it's
like to be on the road. All time I was on call worked
on the railroad twelve years. Ten of those years I was on call
twenty four hours a day when I mean I mean they call me any
time I work the other two years I work shift work midnight second
shift worked on Sundays everything you all go through. And like
Joe, like I said, being on call, being home, I'd be home sometimes
for six hours and they'd call me and I'd be gone for thirty-six
hours. And I'd get home and I'd get in bed and I'd know as soon
as I'd get in bed they'd call me again. You talk about somebody
that was absolutely fit to be. Oh, damn, you know, all the time. And finally, and I was doing
some preaching at the time. And I was struggling with the
Lord's will. I didn't know what the Lord would have me to do,
and it looked like I was going to be on the road for a long
period of time, indefinite period of time. And I was doing some
preaching, and the Lord seemed to help me preach at places.
And I asked him, Lord, I don't know what your will is for my
life. This is tough. He knows. It's a good job. If I had counted my blessing,
didn't he provide for us? We have everything we have. We
have that big house as an indirect result of that good job I had. At any rate, I was troubled with
a difficult job like that. Lord, please show me your will
and your way. Finally, the Lord gave me peace
and contentment about my job. I said, Lord, either give me
another job. Or make me content with the one
I have. And you know, I felt finally
I reached a point where I thought, well, maybe it's God's will for
me to be on the railroad the rest of my life. What's wrong
with that? He gave me the job. I'll just
be content. And I felt more contentment than
I had ever had. while I had worked on the railroad
those previous eleven and some odd years, just perfectly content.
And I went to work, and that's what I'm going to do. Work on
the railroad, and whatever my hands, I'm going to do with all
my might, the Lord's gate, I'm going to be content in whatsoever
state I am. It wasn't a month later that
I was down here preaching to you all, and you know the rest
of the story. And the Lord opened a miraculous door. The same thing
happened with my wife concerning having children. I went five
years without having children. That's a trial if you want children.
We wanted them desperately. And Mindy said the same thing.
She finally reached a point where she said, Lord, maybe it's your
will. It is his will. Everything's his will. She just
realized it. Lord, it's your will, isn't it,
that I don't have children? That's fine with me. If that's
your will, that's fine with me. She got content and she also
got pregnant. That's the way he does things.
He'll either make you content or he'll change the situation.
He'll open doors for you, right? The key, though, this is what
I'm trying to bring out, the key is contentment, peace, submitting,
quit kicking, quit kicking. You're kicking against the bricks,
and the Lord is saying, I'm going to keep jabbing you until you
quit kicking. Submit! Be content! I've got you where I want you,
exactly where I intended for you to be all along. Bow! Smile! Praise me! Thank me! And you just don't
know what I might do for you after that. Quit kicking. We ask your blessing upon this
word. One short phrase that you gave
to Saul of Tarsus to arrest him, and it certainly accomplished
your purpose. It didn't return void. It stopped
his kicking. And Lord, may you use that same
praise to stop, keep us from kicking, kicking against the
gospel, kicking against believing Christ and taking his yoke upon
us and following after him, taking up our cross and following Christ
and submitting to his service and just believing Christ. Not
going our merry way, kicking that way. Make us stop kicking,
Lord. Come to Christ, follow him, believe
him. It's the easy way. It's easy,
it's light, it's downright pleasurable. And then make us quit kicking
against your providence. And make us act like we say we
believe. We say we believe God brings
all things, and he's sovereign, and we turn around and kick against
his providence. Lord, make us quit kicking. And
Lord, keep pricking until we stop kicking by your mercy and
your grace. Make us learn a lesson. Teach
us, Lord. by your mercy and grace. In Christ
we have met together today and pray that you would make these
things effectual. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.