All right, I hope I can have
your undivided attention. If I would have a text, it would
be found in Genesis chapter 50, the last chapter of Genesis. Let me just read one verse of
scripture here. Genesis chapter 50, this one
verse will sum up what may take an hour for me to try to say. Genesis chapter 50, that's forewarning. Don Fortner always gives a forewarning,
and he preaches a long time, some time. But I've worked hard
on this, and there's no avail if the Holy Spirit doesn't help
us to enter into it. Look at this in Genesis chapter
50. Look at verse 20. Now, this is Joseph when he stood
before his brethren. Remember, Joseph was sold into
slavery and then finally was exalted to the throne of Egypt,
and then his brother came back, and you know the story. Anyway,
this is when Joseph would summon this whole thing up that had
happened, all the events that had taken
place in the life of Joseph and his brethren. their sinfulness
and everything. And he sums it up right here,
and this sums up the whole message. He says this in verse 20, he
says, As for you, you thought evil against me. You did what you wanted to do,
you sinned, but God meant it under good. To bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive. You thought evil against me,
as can be said about us toward God's Son. You thought evil against God.
Men with wicked hands have taken and crucified the Lord of glory,
but they did what God had determined before to be done, to bring the
past as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now, the thing that I was striving
to point out, this is the second part of that message on predestination. The thing that I was striving
to point out in the last message on predestination, the thing
I was trying to establish right off the bat, was that you either
believe it or you don't. That's the bottom line. You either
believe it or you don't. What God calls upon us to do
is to simply believe what he has written. without question,
without exception. That's what God demands of us.
That's faith. That is faith. Faith believes
because God says it, not because it's proved. Faith believes things
not yet seen. Seeing is not believing. Believing
is seeing. Faith believes things contrary
to human reasoning and logic. Faith is based completely upon
this book, God's Word. And true faith is childlike trust
in the all-wise Father. And it realizes, true faith realizes
that we are too finite in our understanding to know all things
that the Father hath put in his own power. That's what he said
there in Acts. Now turn over to Deuteronomy
with me, Deuteronomy chapter twenty-nine. There are so many
things that we may never have the answers to. Things that take
place in this life, so many things, if not most things, we may never
have the answers to. And we'll be left asking why
to the end. Why? Why? Look at Deuteronomy twenty-nine,
verse twenty-nine. This explains it. It doesn't go into detail
as to why things happen, but it just explains it all. It says the secret things belong
to God. The secret things belong to the
Lord our God, but those things which are revealed, he belongs
to us and reveals them to us. That's not really an explanation,
but yet it is. It ought to suffice, right, Terry?
That's childlike faith. And many things we may never
understand, and answers that we may never have, and we'll
be left asking why to the end. But the bottom line is, secret
things belong to God. He'd give us not an account of
his matter to any man. Doesn't have to. Doesn't have
to. And a true childlike faith, the
bottom line is this. A true childlike faith, we must
become childlike in spirit and attitude to submit submitting
to, and in subjection to, the will and the wisdom of our Heavenly
Father, who knows all, and everything He does is going to be balanced.
And that's faith, to say you don't understand why it's happened,
you can't reason it out, and you just say, well, God's on
the throne, God's the Father, and I'm His child, and it's happened,
and He brought it to pass. You don't understand why. He
brought it to pass. If he's choosing to let you in
on it, fine, good, that's mercy, that's grace. And if not, what
do you say? It belongs to God. Maybe someday
he'll show me. The song says, take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. Right? There's nothing wrong
with asking, but leave it there if you don't give an answer.
There's nothing wrong with asking the Lord why. Nothing wrong with
that. Your children ask you, why don't they? Nothing wrong
with that. But if he doesn't give you an
answer, if he just says, because I said so, then leave it alone,
right? Okay. He's God. Even so, Father,
it seems good, and I say. Now, we saw last week that this
word predestination means preordained. The word means to determine beforehand. And Romans 8, and I said this
last week, Romans 8 and Ephesians chapter 1 are talking about the
predetermined end of believers, and that's how we use the term. That's how we deal with people
when they ask us about predestination. We can't answer their questions.
You remember God predestinates men to heaven and predestinates
men to hell, and we can't answer that, so we say, no, he's talking
about people. Well, we say that to keep from
getting in a fight and keep from offending and saying what we
don't have the answer to. And we use words like sovereign
providence. Well, God is providence. But
God's predetermined purpose, and He's predetermined the purpose
and the end of all things, and it's one and the same. He predestinates
people and things. It's one and the same. It's one
and the same. He's predestinated the end of
all things. It's one and the same. People and things. And we'll see that in a minute.
The whole burden, the whole burden of this message, is this, is
to teach us that God sovereignly controls every single thing that
happens, whether it's good or bad. Everything God, everything
that happens, God is involved in. In every event, each minute
detail, and I'm going to do more of this in the next class because
I don't want to leave that at that. Put too much time into it. Each
minute detail of every event is sovereignly controlled by
God, and if this is not true, we have no hope whatsoever. If God doesn't control every
single event, we have no hope, and we're in confusion. People—listen
to this, listen very carefully—people blame all the good on God and
all the evil on the devil, don't they? This is what is called,
what is termed, dualism. Dualism. They blame the good
on God and the evil on the devil. Dualism sees God and the devil
as two independent, sovereign powers fighting one another.
Men in this generation, they believe in a dualism. They believe
that Satan is just as powerful. He's struggling for control,
God's struggling for control, and ultimately, who's the sovereign
one in the whole bunch? I've got no power in either one
of them. My will can determine the whole. Goodness gracious. And I'll tell you what this does. When we see these two sides,
good and evil, may the force be with you. You know, even our
movies and so forth are like this. We earnestly hope our side
wins. We're hoping that good wins,
that good will prevail. And at times it doesn't look
too good. At times it looks like Satan's got the upper hand, doesn't
it? And most people today are guilty
of believing this heresy, this very heresy. And it's especially
true in the charismatic movement today that emphasizes health
and wealth. In other words, they blame the
devil for everything that hinders our happiness. And if, you know,
God wants us happy, but he can't do it. You know, people try,
what they are trying to do, what they're trying to do is protect
God. They're trying to apologize.
They're apologizing unwittingly. They're apologizing for Scripture.
They're thinking it'd make it easier for people to believe
in God when they exempt God from what they think is evil. Do you
hear what I'm saying? They say, God's not in trouble.
Listen to this. Picture this. What if you were
lying in a hospital? And this goes on every day. You had a
terrible accident. Quote, accident. There are no
accidents, but I say that in modern language. You had a terrible
automobile accident. You're laying in a hospital and
you're brutally, you're banged up, in bad shape. And some creature,
some wolf, parasite, hospital wolf, comes down the hall, you
know, looking for his prey, and he finds one sick. That's who
wolves prey on, the weak, the helpless, the sick, don't they?
Wolves. They're easy pickings. So you're
laying in there, you're struggling, you've got questions, you're
hurting, you don't know what's going on. And he comes in there
and he says, Now God didn't have anything to do with this. Brian, what kind of hope would
you have then? What would you be saying? What
would the questions be running through your mind? Well, where
was God then? God loves you. Now God didn't
have anything to do with it. God wants the best for you. Well,
then where was this God that loves me and wants the best for
me? Why couldn't he do anything about it? Because Satan, you
mean Satan's more powerful than God? Well, I better be praying
to Satan, haven't I? Satan, please don't bother me.
Please let God do what he wants to do, Satan. Come on over here.
Isn't that foolish? But that's what's going on today.
Which side's the strongest? That's dualism. Whose side are
we on? If God isn't God, and if he isn't
in control of all things, the bad as well as the good, then
we're in deep trouble. Right? An atom bomb is just made
up of microscopic particles we can't see. I mean, if God doesn't hold it
all together, it's liable to have another big bang. Right? Our generation makes God to be
a loving God that wants to give you everything your heart's desire.
One man I read wrote this. He's a heavenly bellhop who's
waiting around to see what he can do. for us, how he can serve
you. But if things go bad, then we
start blaming God, don't we? Who needs this God anyway? I
wish people would start thinking that way, don't you? Who needs
a God like that? If he loves me, he wants the
best for me, but all I get is, who needs a God like that? But
for the true child of God, We know that all things were created
by him and for him. All things were of him, through
him, to him. All things worked together to
accomplish his all-wise purpose. Right? That's our hope. That's our comfort. And let me
show you this purpose. Ephesians chapter 1. This is
the purpose. This is the reason for the existence
of all things. This is the reason Why all things
take place, this is the ultimate conclusion of all things that
take place from the beginning of time to the end. This is purpose.
This is God Almighty's purpose, predestinated purpose. Look at it, Ephesians chapter
1, God has predetermined the means, the methods, the actions,
the end, the destinies of all things and all people throughout
the universe from the beginning of time, and he's let some of
us in on it. Verse 9, he's made known unto
some of us the mystery of his will, that's what we're talking
about, this mystery of how he does things, that it's all according
to his good pleasure which he purposed. It's all according
to a divine purpose in himself. And what is that? Verse 10, here
it is, wraps it all up. That in the dispensation, that
is, the final revelation, fulfillment of the fullness of time, when
it's all said and done, he's going to gather together
in one. all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Christ. You see,
God has bested everything in his Son, and the whole thing
was created for the sole purpose of giving his Son the glory,
the glory, the glory which was God's. He loved his son so much
that he's invested everything and everyone in making up the
glory of his son, in revealing this glory of his son. Christ
prayed this. He said, glorify me, when he
prayed there in the garden. He said, glorify me with thine
own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. Another time he said, glorify
your name. And God from heaven said, I've
glorified it. And I'll glorify it again, because
that's why this whole thing is taking place. To God be the glory. To God the Son be the glory.
Now listen, I'll illustrate this. You parents out there, some of
you have an only child. We have an only child, really.
You have an only child. And that child is the apple of
your eye, the sweetheart of your bosom. It's that child, you cherish
that child above all else, and you'll devote your whole life. You'll lay down your life for
that child, won't you? You probably won't think a minute
about it. You'll do everything within your power from the time
that child is born until it dies to make it happy, to exalt it,
right? To do everything. mortgage your
house a second time, a third time, wife will get a job, you'll
do whatever it takes, put them through college, put clothes
on their back, anything it takes, because you love that child and
esteem that child more than anything on this earth, right? And ultimately,
if that child succeeds, if that child prospers, who gets the
glory? The parents. Oh, you know, they're
happy that that child is exalted. The child becomes a doctor, a
lawyer, some successful person. They're happy for this child's
recognition. Everybody gives a child the glory. The child knows, Mom and Daddy
got me through college. I owe it all to my parents. And
that's what the child sees. The parent is perfectly happy
and content for that child to have the glory. And God is determined. He loves his son so much that
everything is going to work together. for his glory, going to exalt
his son, and ultimately God gets the glory for him. You see the
wisdom of God there? Well, look over at Acts chapter
2 with me now, Acts chapter 2. The glory and the happiness of
God's Son is ultimate glory. Look at Acts chapter 2. Now,
I want to show you how this wise God, God, how his ways differ
from our ways, how his ways are so much higher than our ways
and his thoughts than our thoughts. He gets his son's glory in a
way that we just wouldn't have figured it this way. It's not
the way we'd have done a thing. The cross was the ultimate display
of his son's glory. The cross, having his son killed. Now, you know, we may have a
child killed in the war or whatever, and he, you know, He earns a
purple heart and a silver and a bronze star and a congressional
medal of honor and all that. But that's just not the way we
do it, to give Him honor and glory. God's ways are not our
ways. God in wisdom, the greatest display
of God's sovereignty and predestinating power was the greatest glory
of Christ, His Son. Look at Acts chapter 2, verse
22. This is Peter's sermon at Pentecost. He said, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know. Now, he was delivered by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge or foreordination of God Almighty,
whom you have taken in my wicked hands and crucified and slain.
And God has raved them up, though, loose at the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holding them." Now
look over at Acts chapter 4, verse 26. David said this over
in Psalm chapter 2, Acts 4, Six, the kings of the earth stood
up, rulers were gathered together against the Lord, against his
Christ, saying, We'll not have this man reign over us. And of
a truth, against thy holy child, whom God anointed, Herod, Pontius
Pilate, the Gentiles, the people of Israel, were gathered together
against him. But they were doing what God's
hand and his counsel determined a long time before." The greatest
display of evil ever shown in the history of the human race,
the cruelest, most brutal acts of inhumanity to man, were done
to Christ on that cross, but they were working out the greatest
plan and glory of God ever shown. We wouldn't have done it this
way, but thank God he did. And through it all, God glorified
Christ with his ultimate glory, redemption. That's God's greatest
glory. I remember what he said to Moses.
Moses said, I've seen the Red Sea part, I've seen water come
out of the rock, I've seen manna come from heaven, I've seen this
and that, and there are plagues, and this and that, and I've seen
all that the human eye could possibly see. I want to see your
real glory, what you're all about, what this whole thing's all about.
I want to know the answers, the mysteries of the universe. God
said, all right, I'll show you how good I am. I'm going to proclaim
the name of the Lord. Who's that? Christ, the Messiah. I'll have mercy. I'll show mercy. That's the glory of God. Grace.
Be gracious to whom I will be gracious. That's the glory of
God, the ultimate glory. Listen to these things. Listen.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this. Here's God's wisdom. Satan. You think about these
things now. Satan in the garden, he used
a man, that which God created. Satan thought he was using to
mess God's plan up. Satan used a man to mess up God's
plans, he thought. God turned around and used a
man to crush and kill Satan. The very one that Satan thought
he'd messed up God's plans with, God used to kill him, put him
out of business. Satan had never started this
thing or tried if he'd have known the end. The second man came
from Adam. Right? Listen to God's power. That's God's wisdom in this whole
thing. Listen to God's power. God is gloried in this. Think
about this. The hands we just read about, the hands that cruelly
nailed Christ to that cross, the hands that cruelly nailed
Christ to the cross were putting God's Lamb on the altar. Think about that. The lamb slain,
prepared before the foundation of the world, comes into the
world, and men take him and put him on the altar for God. That's
the fire of God. They wanted to kill him. We're
going to see that in a minute. And here's God's glory, the greatest
display of man's wickedness, revealing man's wickedness as
never seen before, his hatred of God, pure holiness. This reveals
the depravity of man as never seen before. This was used by
God in His glory and His wisdom to reveal God's glory He has
never seen before. We'd have never seen His mercy,
never seen His love, never seen His grace, never seen His justice,
never seen His sovereignty, never seen His redemptive glory if
man hadn't failed and they hadn't killed Christ. Now listen, here
are several clear truths on God's predestinating power, several
truths here. Well, I think I've got three
or four here. I won't keep you too long. several
clear truths about this thing of God's predestined power. Now
listen, it's going to be interesting. First of all, God has a plan. That's very simple, but people
don't recognize that, do they? They don't, they don't. Every
one of us make plans. We make far-range plans, don't
we? Say, next six months from now,
or next year, next spring, my next vacation. We're going to
take a trip to, and we plan, make our, and we think it's fully
within our power to carry it out, don't we? But God can't.
No, things, God just acts when things are, oh, there, I better
do something. Things happen, God reacts, you know. He doesn't
know what man's going to do, he hopes, he chooses him, and
God doesn't have a plan. Right? Isn't that the way people
think about God? But God has a plan. According
to Scripture, God has a plan. It will not be thwarted, it's
going to be carried out. None is going to stay His hand,
right, John? None! None going to stay in his hand.
Everybody's going to see in the end that we could have got that
plan. And everything working out to
fulfill that plan. Everything. Good and evil. Everything. He worked at all things after
the counsel of his own will. He said, I purposed it, I'll
do it. All things work together for good to them that love God,
who are called according to his purpose, his plan. Known unto
God are all his works from the beginning. all things are working
out as planned. Okay, that's the first point.
God has plans. Secondly, God is always in complete
control and everybody is working for God, even the devil. Now, these are hard things. Turn
over with me to Habakkuk. The book of Habakkuk. You've
got to see this if you're interested. You've got to see this story
here in Habakkuk. This clearly illustrates what I'm trying to
talk about. Habakkuk. I'll give you a little time to
find it. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 1. One of the small prophets
there. Habakkuk. About 5 or 6 before
the end. You got it? Habakkuk. Now, Habakkuk here
in this first chapter, he's praying for revival. He's praying for
revival. And he can't understand why God
isn't answering his prayer. He can't understand it. And we
don't understand why God does what he does and why he won't
do what we think he ought to do. And Habakkuk couldn't understand
why all the wickedness was going on. If God's in control, why
does he allow some of the things that's going on? Habakkuk had
the same question here in chapter 1. Why God allowed everything
that takes place? It's a good question. There's
nothing wrong with asking that. I'm not afraid to answer it. I'm
not afraid to try to answer it. Let's put it that way. Well,
look here in chapter 1, verse 5. God gives him an answer. Finally,
God answers. Verse 4, Habakkuk got to a question.
He said, There's always slack. Judgements never, me, aren't
getting what they deserve. Abacus will say, how can they
get by with this? God's on the, why does he, you
ever ask that? Why? Don't you ever wonder, why
doesn't God wipe this man out? He's cursing him, he's blaspheming
him, he's telling lies on him, he's preachers, I ask that all
the time. Like the disciples, they want to call down fire,
didn't they? God, why don't you show them your God? He is, but
not in the way you think. God finally answers him. Look,
verse 5, verse 5 of chapter 1. He said, Behold ye among the
heathen, and regard, and you're going to wonder about this. Look
at it very carefully. God says, I'm going to work a
work in your days, and you're not going to believe it, though
I tell you. You're not going to believe it. Look
at verse 6. Look at it. He says, Lo, I am raising up
the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, which shall march
through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places
that are not theirs. They're terrible and dreadful,
and their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. I'm raising up your enemies to
slaughter you people, my people." Habakkuk was asking God, Why?
Where are you? What are you doing? Why don't
you do it? God said, Okay, I'll answer you, but I'm not going
to do things the way you think I ought to do them. You're not
going to believe this, but I'm going to tell you. I'm raising
up an evil and wicked nation who will come through and slaughter
my people. Oh, wait a minute! That's what he's saying right
there. That's what he's saying. Look at verse 12. He says, "...Art
thou not he from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?
We shall not die, O Lord, but thou hast ordained these Chaldeans
for judgment." And, Almighty God, you've established them
for corrections. God says, I'm sending some marauders
down through there. The Chaldeans are coming. The trials are coming, the pain's
hurting, the sorrow's coming, and God's seeing it. Oh, no,
wait a minute. He said you wouldn't believe
it, though I told you, didn't he? Right? And men don't believe
that, do they, Joe? No, I don't. No, I won't have
that. Preachers say, no, God is loving, something good's going
to happen to you today. Yeah, all things do work together
for good, but not just in the way you think they're going to
work out. For God's people, according to his purpose. It is true, God's
people, all things are for their good, but they may not come about
in the way we expect them or want them. As a matter of fact,
they probably won't. Let me show you another instance
of this, God's sovereignty in these things. Isaiah chapter
10, look at this, this is so interesting. Isaiah chapter 10,
like I said before, the source of all this confusion. that goes on today in religion
is this dualism, that God only wants what's good and Satan's
only what's evil. God only wants the best things
to happen and Satan's trying to do the worst things and this
and that and the other. Two equal powers going at one another,
butt and head, you know. Dualism. That's the source of
all confusion. Why, why, why, why, why? If God
is, why then? If Satan is, why? You know? That's
the source of all confusion, dualism. And the sooner we come
to understand—really, this is so important, this message—the
sooner we come to understand that God is sovereign over all
things, the more peace we're going to have, the greater our
faith is going to be. We're going to be able to say
like Job, though he's slowly, yet I'll trust him, because he's
doing what's in his purpose and what's right. Satan can't kill
me, but if God does, he's gone. The sooner we come to understand
that, the more peace and comfort we'll have when things happen.
Now look at this, Isaiah chapter 10, beginning with verse 5. Now
God was using the Chaldeans a while ago. Now he says, I'm going to
turn the Assyrians on my people. He says, O Assyrian, the rod
of mine anger. Now God turns the Assyrians down
upon Israel and brutally beat them and plundered them, pilfered
them. But God says, Assyrian is the
rod of mine anger. Isn't it? Verse 5, it's the staff,
the staff in their hand is my indignation. A man standing there
beating one of God's people over the head, and God says, he's
doing my business. Hard things, aren't they, John? Hard things to understand. Let's
go on, let's read. God says, I'm going to send him
against a hypocritical nation. Who's that? Israel. His people,
so-called. He's judging them, or he's chasing
them. And against the people of my
wrath, I'll give him charge, this Assyrian, to take the spoil,
to take the prey, to tread down like the mire. Droid, cut off nation, but he's
doing what I'm telling him to do. He says, are not princes
my kings? Here's this Assyrian boasting,
I have all these kings in my power and I'm going to take this
country of Israel. Verse 10, my hands, I'm going
to take them like I took every other nation. Verse 11, I'm going
to do unto Samaria and her idols and do unto Jerusalem and her
idols. I'm going to do it to everybody in my path. And it'll come to pass that when
the Lord, verse 12, hath performed his whole work, upon Mount Zion
and on Jerusalem, I'm going to punish the man that is Syrian
for doing what I see him to do." Did you get a hold of that? Did
you just read that? He said, after this guy does my work,
verse 12, I'm going to punish him for doing it. You say, that's
not fair. Oh, yes, it is. I'm going to
really dig into this real deep here in a minute. This guy was
doing what he wanted to do. That's what he said up there.
He said in verse 7, he wasn't doing my will. He didn't consult
God. He said, God, what do you have me to do now? No, he was
doing what he wanted to do. Just like the people who killed
Christ were doing what they wanted to do. What do you want to do
with Christ? Kill him! That's what God said. Kill him! And but God says, I'm going to
punish you for doing my business. for doing evil. He was doing
what he wanted to do. He was doing my bidding, but
he was doing what he wanted to do, and I'm going to punish him
for doing that. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Well,
well. Verse fifteen. Look at this.
Shall the axe boast itself against him that he was there with? Well, instead of the Chaldeans,
God sent the Assyrians down. And the Assyrians may have been
destroyed, but it was only in the It was a sword of God. It
was a sword of God. The end, though, was for God's
purpose. It was to bring to repentance.
It was a good end, to bring to repentance and ultimate salvation. Here's some other ones. You've
read of Job, haven't you? Everybody here has read the story
of Job. What did Satan say when he came to God? He said, I can't
do anything. God, Satan had to ask God, didn't
he? Let me go, let me go take his
sheep and his cattle and his oxen and his camel and burn down
his houses and kill his children and all that. Let me do that.
God said, OK, go do it. And Satan came back and said,
he still maintains his integrity. He said, oh, and Satan said,
God said, you caused my hand to move against him. In other
words, it was God's hand that did it. God says, I kill, I make
alive, didn't he? God killed Job's sheep, his cattle,
his oxen, his children, burned his houses down, didn't he? Who
did that? God? Yeah. How else could Job
deal with all this? What if Job had thought, there's
two forces working against me, Satan and God, and how could
he have dealt with that? It drove him crazy, wouldn't
it? He'd have taken a sword, And that's what he was trying
to say. I've done righteous. I can't
figure this out. I've worshipped God. I don't understand it. But
he's God. The Lord came. He takes away. He had said it with tears in
his eyes and a sob in his voice. He's God. He didn't understand
it, Henry. He doesn't call on us to understand
it. But where did Job's peace come from? and know that God
did it, right? And in the end, he found out,
boy, God gave him tenfold what he took away, just to reveal
this man's faith or to strengthen his faith. 1 Samuel 16 said that
God sent an evil spirit to plague King Saul, didn't he? Sent an evil spirit to plague
King Saul. Why? Why would God send an evil
spirit? That's what it says in 1 Samuel
16. Why would God do that? Because God had another king
in mind. He was king. Saul never was God's king. Oh,
he was doing his bidding. He was doing God's bidding. But
God didn't know. The people wanted him, so God
said, OK, you're going to get what you will, what you want
to have. You're going to bring misery
on your head. Man reaping what they will. So that was their
will. Give us a king. Gave him a cruel one, didn't he? But God
said, well, I've had a king who was buried a long time ago, a
king after my own heart. How's he going to get rid of
this first king? He sent an evil spirit to plague him. Everybody
works for God. Now listen. Listen to this verse
of Scripture. Surely, Psalm 76. Surely the
wrath of man shall praise him. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise him, and the rest he restrains the residue thereof." The rest
of it he restrains. Now listen to these words. Listen
very carefully. Man is filled with wrath against God. God didn't
put the wrath there. He didn't put it there. God's
not responsible for it either. He's not responsible for the
actions of man that expresses the wrath. Man's will is responsible
for every ounce of wrath and sin. in his own heart. He's responsible. Every act produced by that wrath
and that sin, man is responsible. Nevertheless, God controls it
and directs it to man's heart. Yes, he does. All of man's wrath
that will further God's purpose is allowed to surface. All of
man's wrath and sin that will bring about God's purpose God
allows to surface and is used and controlled by God for that
end, for his purpose. However, there's a lot of wrath
in man that won't serve God's purpose, so he says he puts a
bottle on it, a cork on it, controls the residue thereof. But God
decides when and how much of man's wrath will be expressed.
Listen to these verses of Scripture. The lot is cast into the lap.
The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Men think they're
doing what they want to do, and they are. But God's in control
of it. They do what he's determined
to be done. The Lord hath made all things for himself, even
the wicked, for the day of evil. Proverbs 16, all three of these
verses in Proverbs 16. Remember this, Proverbs 16, all
three of these verses. The lot is cast in the lap, but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The Lord hath made
all things for himself, even the wicked, for the day of evil.
Listen to this. A man's heart devises his way.
What am I going to do? What am I going to do? The Lord
directs his steps. This is what I want to do. This
is what I've decided to do. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do
this. You did what God just, God's already determined for
you to do. How do I understand this? Well, so. Listen, here's my third point.
God is sovereignly in control of all things and every one.
And man is completely responsible for his own actions. God is sovereignly
in control and man is completely responsible for his own actions.
Now listen, people confuse the free will of man with the free
agency of man. Now I don't want to confuse you
here again myself. But in their confused minds, people's confused
minds, they think there's one of two options. I spent a lot
of time. I keep saying that, but I did.
I told men the other day, I said, you know, sometimes I spend up
to 30 minutes looking for one verse of scripture that will
survive. And when I ask you to turn to a scripture, I'm not
just telling you to fill up time. I spent upwards of 30 minutes,
sometimes more, looking for one verse of scripture that will
apply to that. And when I ask you to turn, I'm
not being cruel. A lot more went into it than
for you to flip through it and look for it. But here's two things,
two choices that men think. They think either man is totally
free, he can do what he wants to do, or man's a robot. One of two things. They can't reconcile things.
They think either man is totally free and God's power is limited
by man's freedom, which is absurd, or they think man is a robot.
Now both are false. Both are false. The Word of God,
from beginning to end, teaches that God is absolutely sovereign
and man is absolutely responsible. Absolutely. That God has foreordained
everything according to his purpose and plan, and man is responsible
for his actions. Man is responsible. But our little
pea brains can't figure this out. Damn it. Our little peanut
brains, we say, this is a contradiction. I can't reconcile these two things.
You ever, you ask these questions? I know you do. All of us do.
We, our little pea brains, cannot come up with the answer. Whether
I understand it, and this is what I tried to say in the very
beginning, it's the reason I spent a whole message on this, whether
I understand either, both, or neither of these things, it's
still true. Because God said it, that's why.
So I can't figure it out, so it can't be so. Yes, it is. God
said it, that settles it, whether you believe it or not. You've
heard that saying, hasn't you? God said it, I believe it, and
that settles it. No, no, that's not the way it
is. God said it, that settles it, whether anybody believes
it or not. I thank God some people do believe it. But both are revealed
in his word that God is absolutely sovereign, he's going to accomplish
every part of his ordained plan, and man is totally responsible
for every thought, word, and deed. We have no excuse that
we're out of excuse. Right? Somebody says this. Well, this makes God the author
of sin. Now listen, it's a hard thing,
difficult to understand. Take your attention. This makes
God the author of sin, if God's in control of all things. Somehow
this makes God the author of sin. No, God is the finisher
of sin, not the author. God is the maker of the law,
not the broker of the law. We're getting into right now,
we're getting into what we call, for lack of a better term or
a way to put it, the permissive will. of God. We talk about the
directive will of God and the permissive will of God. Now,
this is going to clear up some things for you. I really believe
it is. It did for me. Acts 14, chapter 14, verse 16
says this. It says, He suffered all nations
to walk in their own ways. Now, God never would have permitted
sin to take place if there wasn't an ultimate good to come about
in it. He never would. God's good. You can't do anything
except that which is ultimately good. And had not sin been permitted,
God's justice, his mercy, and his grace, and so forth, would
never have been revealed. I tried to show you that while
ago. If sin hadn't taken place, the fall, if man would have remained
righteous, there's other things involved there. Man would still
have the righteousness of a man, and anybody could have failed
at any given time. But the righteousness of God is better. You know what
I'm saying? Since Christ came, we have the eternal righteousness
of God. Now it's never possible for us to fall. That's the reason
a believer can never fall. We've got an eternal righteousness,
Joe. If we still had Adam's righteousness, there's still that possibility,
right? But God can't sin. And God in me, Christ in me,
can't sin. That's the reason it's better righteousness. Better
righteousness. Perfect righteousness. Now listen.
The Lord permits sin. Now listen to these verses. Listen
to these sayings. Very carefully. The Lord permits
sin, but has no hand in it. The Lord controls sin, but does
not perform it. Someone says, some of you may
ask this, how can God control what happens without actually
doing it? Is that a good question? Did you just ask that? How can
God control or direct the end of something without actually
doing it Himself? He's God. This is the omniscience
of the all-wisdom and the omnipotence of the all-power of God. We couldn't
commence to get started to do something like this, but God
can. He's God. His ways—that's the reason David
said, His ways are just passed by tonight, unsearchable. But listen very carefully. We're
going to try to get into this. How can things accomplished for
God's purpose if he's not actually doing it himself? How can the
wrath of man, how can sin bring about God's purpose without God's
sinning, creating sin? Good questions, aren't they?
That's the reason I spend a lot of time on this. God doesn't
cause men to sin, but he allows it. This is what we're calling
the permissive will of God. How does he do this? Well, this
is the best explanation I could possibly find. He withdraws himself. He's the influence of everything
good, righteous, none good but God. Everything in the universe
that's good is because God's in it. God's in the universe. God's around, right? Everything
that's light It's because God's around. God is light. How do
you get darkness? How can God, who is light, create
darkness? Huh? Says He did in the beginning. How can God, who is light, create
darkness? Walk out of the room. Right? Turn off the light. Now, God's
not making it dark, is He? He's not making it dark. He just
walks off. He leaves. God doesn't cause
men to sin, but he allows it. Listen, like an unwatered plant,
what's an unwatered plant going to do? Die. What's an unfed animal
going to do? Die. What's an untrained horse
going to be like? Wild. What's an untaught child
going to be? Ignorant. Right? Man, left to
himself, will do what? Sin. He's susceptible to it all. God is the strength and the power
of us. He was all—he was Adam's strength,
just like he is us. How did Adam fall? God left him
unknown. Right? Adam would have never
fallen. He never—he couldn't possibly.
As God—as long as God—who shall separate me from the love of
God? Who shall pluck me out of the hand of God? Adam was in
God's hand. That's what he said to Job, or
to Satan, didn't he? Now he's in your hand. I'm hooked.
Here. God walks off. What does Adam
do? Sin. God didn't make him sin,
did he? He just left him alone, according
to his all-wise purpose and plan, which we're going to see, as
we've never seen before. Listen to this. Thomas Watson
said this. This contains volumes of wisdom, and it's wonderful
God has a hand in the action where sin is, but no hand in
the sin of the action. I'll repeat that. God has a hand
in the action where the sin is taking place, but he had no hand
in the sin of the action. Figure it out. Write her down. Look at it twenty times like
I did. You parents, let me illustrate this. You parents, in your experience,
and knowledge and wisdom. You know how to deal with your
children, don't you? I know Hannah. Well, the sad thing about it
is, though, after I already raised and gone, you finally learn,
don't you, Nancy? After they're gone, you think,
hey, I know how to raise them. That's too late. Not God. I know Hannah better than Hannah
knows Hannah. Right? I know her. I know what she's
going to do according to every action I take. Right? I know
her. I know her nature. And consequently,
we use what is called reverse psychology, don't we? Everybody
in here does it. We've been doing this to Sarah,
William, and he says, Harold, don't give me a kiss now. I don't
want a kiss. Don't give me a kiss. Don't give me a kiss. She just
practically tackled him to give you a kiss. That's what you do. Don't do it. Don't. Reverse psychology. Well, they did. Why? We know their nature. God knows man better than man
knows man. He knew Adam better than Adam
knew Adam because God created him, didn't he? He knew what
was going to happen. All he needed to do was leave him alone. Leave him alone. God knew Adam
better than Adam. But you say, why? Why? Why sin? Sin is so hideous. And the destruction
and the misery that comes with sin is so wicked, so evil. Why? Why? Because where sin abounded, grace
did much more. We're going to see in a minute.
Because God's wisdom, the greatest display, the greatest, the hour
of sin and evil and darkness, the most hideous display of evil
ever known was the means of bringing about the eternal purpose, plan,
and ultimate glory of God Almighty. Such has never been shown before.
The cross. We're talking about the cross
of Christ. The cross. Now, everybody in that scene
of the cross was doing what they wanted to do, weren't they? Everybody.
That's what we read there in Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter
2. Everybody was doing what they wanted to do, and everybody was
trying to pass the blame, too. Weren't they? Judas, he was a
son of perdition from the beginning. He was a fake from the very outset.
He was a fake. Somebody talked about this the
other day. Judas was a fake. He was a religious fake, like
so many today. One out of twelve is going to be a fake. That's
just a ratio. He was a fake. He was in it for
whatever. I don't know. He was in it for
the money. It turned out he was in it for
the money, didn't he? Judas wanted the money. He was greedy. He
turned in his own familiar friend, the Lord, kissed him, walked
up. He knew what he was doing. The devil didn't make him do
it, did he? He was doing what he wanted to
do. Master kissed him. Give me that money. Right? What did he do later on? He walked
back and took his money and said, Here, you take it. They said,
No, you did it. No, but I don't want it. You
did it. And then there's Pilate. Pilate
said, Pilate was in charge. He could have done whatever he
wanted to do. He didn't have to do the bidding of those people,
did he? He could have said, No, I want to set this Jesus free.
What do you try to do? I'm innocent, I got it, and I
don't have anything to do with it. Nothing to do with it. Yeah,
you do. Pilot, you're guilty. And the people, the people, everybody
was doing what they wanted to do, and they all were going to
reap the condemnation from it. But God was sovereignly working
out his plan. Now listen to this statement
by an old Puritan. What God sovereignly decrees
in eternity past, man will always choose in time. What God sovereignly
decrees in eternity past, man will always choose in time. This is the glory of God. Now
listen. These men, these people, were given a choice, weren't
they? They were given a choice to exercise
their free will, so-called. Who do you want, Jesus or Barabbas? Now, eternity hangs in the balance,
Terry. The salvation of a myriad of
people hangs in the balance here. It's all, this is the hour. This
is it, the Lamb's labor. What are they going to say? Well,
God's already agreed it. What are they going to say? Give
us Barabbas. They got who they wanted. They
were given a choice. Pilate said, well, what are you
going to do with Jesus? God had already determined him
to be killed before time began. He said, he's as lamb slain before
they found that shore. Well, what will you do? You exercise
your will. What are you going to do with
this Jesus? Kill him! God says, good. I knew you would. You see there,
what God sovereignly decrees in eternity past, man will choose
in time. God knows man better than man.
How do you want to kill him? All right, we're going to solve
this. You want to kill this Christ. How do you want to kill him?
Let's see, what can we do? We'll hang him? No, that won't
be good enough. We'll stone him. No, that's not what we want to
do here. What do you want to do? What's the worst thing we
can come up to do with him? We hate him so much. What's the
worst possible thing to kill? God said, I knew you'd say that. Because as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man do it
today. They did what they wanted to
do. The most hideous death they could come up with. Listen to
this. Let's think about this. What are we going to do? Let's
treat him as cruelly as we possibly can. Let's show our vengeance
and wrath against this man. Let's pull out his beard. Oh,
that's the worst thing you can do. I used to wear a beard, and
it's the most tender thing. Let's pull it out. I'd sent you would. Isaiah 50. He said they would. And then
they were getting together. They were planning this thing.
What are we going to do? Let's strip him naked. him shame. Prayed him for all. God said
you would. Isaiah 47, 3. Let's make fun
of him. Let's mock him. Let's mock him
in his pain. God said you would. Psalm 22,
8. Let's beat him. Let's pummel his face. God said
you would. Isaiah 50, verse 6. Let's spit
on him. Let's show our utter contempt.
Let's top it all off. Let's clear our throats and spit
on him. God said you would. Isaiah 56. Man, let's put him on that cross.
God said you would. Better yet, you know, they didn't
used to nail their hand. They didn't nail hands. No, they
wanted to hang there and suffer as long as they could. They wanted
to bleed to death. Man will bleed to death real quickly. They wanted
to suffer a long time. Die of exposure and really suffer.
They used to tie their arms up. They said, let's do the worst
thing we could possibly do. Let's nail him. Stick it in his nails
and stick it through his hands and his feet. God said you would. I mean, they were plotting and
planning it. Let's do the worst thing we can do. And they were
fulfilling God's plan. God said you would in Psalm 22,
16. And then when he gets good and thirsty, hang him there a
while. What's the worst? Just do some
more to him. Get a sponge filled with vinegar
and plunge it and make his thirst even worse. God sent you, boy. Do you see the sovereign power
of God in all this? Then the ultimate contempt of
it all, after he dies, we're going to make good and sure he's
dead. Somebody make sure he's dead. Take that spear and rip
his guts out. God said you would. Zechariah
12, 10. Now look on him whom they have
pierced. And you sit back and behold,
we've done it, haven't we? Yeah, you have. But you did what
God determined for you to be doing. And out of that sight,
like I said, came the church. God's greatest glory. Greatest
glory. Listen to this. If you were standing
there at this scene, I just graphically described it on purpose. If you
were standing there at this thing, and somebody came up to you,
a Calvinist, and they said to you, and you were beholding this,
this man who was brutally beaten beyond recognition and just spit
all, just never, behold, see if there's any sorrow. His visage
was marred more than any man, just a piece of meat hanging
there. What men were doing to this man. If you'd have walked
up and said, whispered in somebody's ear, said, God's behind this. God's doing this. What would
you have said? You'd have said, no, no. Can't be, can you? Then wouldn't
you? Yeah, you ask what Rex Humbard
would say. He'd say, if I'd have been there, I'd have stopped it. This was the greatest. God was
doing this. He couldn't have stopped it.
No man can stay his hand, can they? Or say, can't do this.
This is not the way to do it. Oh, this is his own way to do
it. Now, listen to this. You say, these bloodthirsty God-haters
did that. That's the ones that did that.
What's the only thing that will satisfy God's justice? The only
thing that will satisfy God's justice? Blood. Without shedding of blood, there's
no remission of sin. What's the only thing that will
satisfy these men's wickedness? Blood. The only thing that will put
away sin is the only thing that would give these men ultimate
pleasure. The only thing that God would
be pleased with and satisfy His justice is the blood of Jesus
Christ. And the only thing that would
satisfy sinful, wicked, guilty men was give us the blood, let
His blood be on us and our children. And they were doing what God
determined before to be done, shed the blood of His Lamb. You're
talking about wisdom, power, right? What wicked men did, more
than they wanted more than anything, was the blood of Christ. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise Him like never before. Right?
In this cross. And what was once a cry of utter
wickedness and hatred, let His blood be on us and our children.
Henry? God's turned His thing around,
hasn't He? What was once the cry of utter sinfulness, and
let His blood be on us and our children, is now the greatest
cry for mercy. Let His blood be on us, and please
my children, too. The wrath of man. We're going
to praise Him in it, gentlemen. Whatever they say, whatever comes out
of their mouth, whatever comes out of their hands, whatever
takes place, we're going to bring God Almighty, all the glory,
and work out according to His divine purpose as it's seen in
the cross of Christ. What God has decreed in eternity,
man will always choose in time. God decreed for him to pluck
his beard, put him on the cross, give him vinegar, this and that,
and everything that took place. But they chose it, didn't they,
of their own free will. Ain't a bit free, is it? Ain't
a bit. And that goes for everything
that's involved in this thing of the means and the methods
Seeking God, repentance, prayer, hearing the gospel, believing,
confession, baptism, our walk, it's all ordained by God Almighty
and it's going to take place. He has ordained from the beginning
of the time. Now he says, I'm going to do
something for them. Remember that? Where was that? I can't
recall right away. But he said, I'm going to do
all these things. I will do this. I will do that.
I will do that. He said, but I will yet be inquired of them
for this. They're going to pray about it.
is equal to 36. You remember that, reading that? So I want to do all that. I'm
going to do it all. I've already determined it'll all be done.
But in my good pleasure, in my purpose, in order to make them
responsible, they're going to pray for it. I've heard it says
it's going to come, but they're going to pray on it. We can't
figure it out, can we? But that's the way it is. And
it all comes back down to this. I started everything out with
this, and I end back up. Look over here with me at Philippians
2, and I'll quit. It's my last poem, and I'll let
us go. Philippians chapter 2. I started saying, we'll get off
this and get something easier. What would that be? Nothing's
easier. Goodness, nothing's easier. It's
all, ooh, who is sufficient for these things? Well, it all gets
back down to this, back to where I began, you know, childlike
trust, childlike trust. Now listen, Christ himself, listen
to this, this is a consummation of two messages, Christ himself
endured more than anybody at the hands of God, didn't he? He endured more pain and affliction
and suffering and sorrow and misery than any man will ever
endure. And it was, who did it? His father. And Christ, he didn't deserve
it, did he? If anybody could have ever said,
this is not fair, he could have. Terry, yes, he could have, couldn't
he? He says, the scripture says,
consider him who endured such contradictions of sinners against
himself, lest you be weary, because you didn't get what you deserve,
Debra. He didn't. What was his reaction, though?
He endured more at the hands of his father than anybody. What
was his reaction to it all? Same reaction we're going to
have to have. Not my will. ultimate childlike submission,
gentlemen. Ultimate. And this is what Paul
says here in Philippians chapter two. You want to read this and
you never