Alright, if you wish to follow
along, I will begin in the 72nd Psalm. Psalm 72. I will encourage you to read
this whole Psalm later. There's a lot I can say in introduction
to this Psalm. Some have said, you see in the
heading, it says a psalm for Solomon. And some argue as to
whether or not it should be a psalm by Solomon. Well, if you read
verse 20, you find out who wrote this psalm. That's a part of
the inspired scripture for sure. The prayers of David, the son
of Jesse are ended. So Mason, who wrote this psalm?
Whether he was the one that specifically penned it or not is not the point. Even if Solomon penned it, having
heard his father say it or whatever, doesn't matter. These are the
words of David. I do believe they are the words
of David for his son, Solomon. But I believe there's something
far greater than even that, as there always is. This psalm is
a psalm about Jesus Christ. Because he indeed is the king.
Yes, sir. He indeed is the king. But there's
one verse I want to try to zero in on this morning. Psalm 72
and verse 18. But remember, read this Psalm
sometime. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. Amen. Have you ever thought about that?
I heard Don Fortner In a message he preached, I heard him mention
this verse. I went back and looked at it
and read the psalm and it just struck me. Blessed be the Lord
God, the God of Israel, who only, emphasize that word, who only
doeth wondrous things. I will begin by saying that that's
true whether I see it or not. And I will go on and add that
is true whether I, in this message, am enabled to express it adequately
or not. That is true. Blessed be the
Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. Break it down. Blessed be the
Lord God. This word blessed here is a little
different than others where you bestow a blessing upon. That's
not what this is talking about per se. That is to where you
give some benefit to someone, to bless someone. This is more
along this line. This is what the actual meaning
of the Hebrew is, to kneel before in adoration. That's what it's
talking about. Blessed be the Lord God to kneel
before in adoration something or someone, and in this case
it is truly someone, someone to be greatly praised. In other words, another way of
putting it, to salute because of great dignity. Now, we know
there's arguments in our country now. You know, we see people
saluting the flag, that kind of thing, but it has a meaningful
basis for it. It has to do with the power of
authority. You see people in the military
saluting their superiors. Why, Joe? Because they are their
superiors. That's why. It means to salute
because, not because you got great dignity, but because the
person you are praising has great dignity. Blessed, blessed, David
says, blessed be the Lord God. And then he said, blessed be
the Lord God. I'm not going to go into the
details of this. The name literally, the old Jews wouldn't say this
name. I'm going to say it. I think
they wouldn't say it because of superstition and because of
a misinterpretation of one particular passage. But it is this, Yahweh
Elohim. Now when God, and God does, when
God describes himself or gives himself a name in the scripture,
we need to pay heed to why he does this. These were not just
words David chose to write down. These are words that God himself
moved David to express toward God. Blessed be Yahweh Elohim. In other words, the eternal,
self-existent, supreme ruler of heaven and earth. That's what
both of those names mean together. Think of it, the eternal, self-existent. It is expressed, or God rather
expressed it to Moses when Moses said, well, who shall I say sent
me? And God said, say, I am. I am sent you. I am. the eternal self-existent, that's
Yahweh, and then God. Elohim means ruler, the ruler
of heaven and earth. Blessed, blessed be the Lord
God. The God of Israel. We read that. And I even read it when I first
began to read it and ponder upon this for the past week or so.
And it just, I think of Israel. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel. But then, all of a sudden, God
opened my eyes, and think of it, the eternal, self-existent,
think of it, self-existent, who existed for eternity. Before
he ever created anything, he existed and was lacking nothing.
He didn't need to create because of some lack in him. He created
simply because he desired to do so. The self-existent, eternal,
eternally, we could say it the eternally self-existing one. Think of it, the eternal, self-existent
ruler of heaven and earth who needs no thing and needs no one. Mason, he could have went on
through eternity by himself and been totally pleased with himself. Yes, sir. That's right. So the
eternal, self-existent ruler of heaven and earth who needs
no thing and needs no one, this God has a people. Amen. Think about that. This God has
a people. Blessed be the Lord God. That's
the highest name. that people ever called God. The God of Israel. The God of
Israel. Four things briefly. This indicates
sovereign creating power. Israel. Israel. Israel was not there and then
God chose Israel. God created Israel. And think of it in its beginning,
not Israel a nation, but Israel a man. A man who was first called
what? Jacob. God called him Israel
later. So we see here sovereign creating
power referred to. We also see sovereign mercy.
Sovereign mercy. Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. Jacob was a twin. A twin even. Mason, this is not just one over
here and one there. These are two individuals in
the same womb. That's right. Sovereign creating
power. Sovereign mercy. We also see
sovereign, eternal, particular love. As I said, Jacob I loved. So much so that God created him
and called him Israel. Amen. Right. That's right. God
called him that, but he said, but he's all. And fourthly, sovereign
particular redemption. Israel is never called Israel
apart from the redeeming work of God Almighty. All to be blessed of the blessed
Lord God. All to be a part of that people. A God who needs no thing and
a God who needs no one, yet is pleased to have a people, Israel. Do you see that? How blessed
then is it to be a part of Israel? Now let me say right from the
get-go, I know there are those even in free grace circles that
argue about this matter, and it saddens me because there's
just no need for it. Even if I am a Gentile by nature,
If I have been called by the free and reigning grace of God,
I have been grafted in to the root stock of God's Israel. Paul said a man who is a Jew
is not one that's a Jew outwardly, and circumcision is not the outward
circumcision of the flesh or the letter of the law. Being
a true Jew, being truly circumcised, is that circumcision God creates
in the heart. And this kind of Melanious argues
this, and that kind of Melanious argues that, and they all argue
for their own point, rather than preaching, thus saith the word
of God. Now here's what Paul said in
the epistle to the Galatians. What a marvelous letter it was. A letter of justification by
Christ. Now you will hear some say, and
even men who know the truth, say that Galatians is a book
about justification by faith. No, it's a book about justification
by Christ. Through faith. Through faith. But think, here's this marvelous
short letter. that has so much profound truth,
and then Paul winds it up this way, verse 14 of chapter 6, but
God forbid, and that was some strong language in the old Greek
there, some strong language, but God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Right there
you see a Jacob and an Israel. Do you not? Do you not? What
we used to be, and what we still are by nature. But what God also
has sovereignly created us to be. By whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything, and he's talking about the circumcision
of the flesh. Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision.
What does avail? What really matters? Here's what
matters, a new creature. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of who? Not Jacob, though he was. He
calls himself at times the God of Jacob. But here it's blessed
be the Lord God, the God of Israel. But a new creature. And as many
as, that means all. That's what that simply means.
And as many as walk, and it's walk, not just profess, but walk. If what you say you believe doesn't
affect your walk, then what you believe is meaningless, though
it may be doctrinally true. and as many as walk according
to this rule, peace beyond them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God. That's the elect. That's the
elect. We can argue about all kinds
of other things. That's the elect. Plain and simple,
that's the elect. Whether it's the elect among
Jews or whether it's the elect among Gentiles. If you've been
created in Christ Jesus, you're a part of God's Israel. And I will tell you, I am probably
as pre-millennial, probably as strong a pre-millennialist
as any preacher of free grace that I know. But my message ain't
pre-millennialism. My message is Jesus Christ. You can think about being in
some, what men call a thousand years one day, and it means nothing. There will be some, according
to the book, who will be through, go through that thousand years,
and still will perish. But no, go back and read it. And if you take it literally,
to literally mean what it literally says, even some people who live
through that thousand years will perish. But let me tell you,
if you're in the kingdom of God, you're safe. That thousand years
ain't the kingdom of God. That thousand years is the thousand
years. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not
a time period. The kingdom of God is the reign
of Jesus Christ in the hearts of his people. Blessed be the
Lord God, the God of Israel. Oh, to be one of those people.
To be one of those people, right? Isn't that just a glorious thought?
Joe, there's a glorious possibility. A glorious if, isn't it? A glorious
thing to even contemplate? A dead dog such as me? That I
might be able to cry with David the king? Blessed be the Lord
God, the God of Israel. But that's just my introduction.
Here's my message. who only doeth wondrous things. That's what Don quoted. I should
say paraphrase to be more accurate, but yet that phrase caught my
mind. There's my text. Who only doeth
wondrous things. Here's my title. God only does
wondrous things. Now do not fall prey to anti-Christ
religion's sleight of hand here. Let me see if I explained what
I mean. I'm not just here to make a judgment against someone,
and yes, that's what I'm doing. But I'm not here just to make
a judgment against someone and then just throw it out there
and hope it sticks to the wall. No, they use sleight of hand.
In other words, they pick what they consider to be a wondrous
thing and then they put God in that box. And then anything that
happens that they don't consider to be wondrous, then they say,
well, that's not God, that's the devil. Now you understand,
that's the sleight of hand. And they'll take them little
shells and they'll put a pea of a wondrous thing under there
and they'll slide it around. And then they'll tell you where,
you can't pick words, you don't know where it's at. They're probably
tricking you some way or another. Preachers love to try to prove
to people they're wrong so that it lifts the preacher up. Hear
what the preacher says. Hear what the preacher says this
morning. And I ain't talking about this preacher. I'm talking
about a preacher of a higher order. and a higher order in
this respect, in more than one way, but mainly a preacher of
a higher order in this respect. This preacher, I'm going to quote,
was moved of God by divine inspiration to pin down the very words of
God himself. And in that sense, he's a higher
order than this preacher will ever be. What I write and what
I say, these notes, they're not inspired. You have to judge what
I'm saying to you from my notes based upon this inspired word
right here. That's what it boils down to.
And hear what the preacher said. Now he says he's the preacher.
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three. He says the words of the
preacher. Now here's what he said. To everything there is
a season. And a time to every purpose under the heaven. So
how much does that leave out? Well if he just said that, we
could sit and debate and argue about it, now couldn't we? Right?
If he just went on with the rest of what he was going to say,
we could sit and debate, well, exactly what does he mean by
the every season, or a season and a time to every purpose under
heaven? Well, God moves him to give us exactly what he's talking
about. A time to be born and a time to die. Well, that spans
the whole span of my life, does it not? That spans the whole
span of my life. A time to be born, a time to
die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted,
not reap. Now certainly we reap what's
planted, yes. But a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time
to kill. What? Yeah. A time to kill and
a time to heal. A time to break down and a time
to build up. A time to weep. There's time
to weep. God help me, sometimes I feel
like I don't weep enough. The time to laugh, I feel like
I got way too much of that. But yet, there's a time to weep,
Mason, and there's a time to laugh. In other words, so far,
in other words, everything is included here in what the preacher's
saying, right? Maybe he's not done yet. A time
to mourn, a time to dance. I guess you can't be a good Baptist
and believe that one. They used to think dancing was
worse than fornication. Because dancing led to fornication.
If you didn't dance, then you wouldn't fornicate. I am being
a little facetious now. But you know what I'm talking
about. A time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to cast away
stones, a time to gather stones together. There's a time to embrace. That's exactly right. But there's
a time to refrain. from embracing as well. A time
to get, a time to lose. A time to keep, a time to cast
away. Now, I've been a preacher for
33 years or so now. And I've read the Bible, and
I've read this, and I've looked at the dictionary, and I've searched
for words, and yet God Almighty is moving this man, and Mason,
he is covering everything about all of human existence. Yes,
sir. Everything. What a time to get,
a time to lose, a time to keep, a time to cast away, a time to
rend, a time to sow, a time to keep silence. That's one we probably
have a tough time with, I know I do. But there's a time to speak
too. A time to love? Uh oh. And a time to hate. All hate
is not evil. But even evil hate is included
here because it don't specify what kind. A time to love, a time to hate.
And what's naturally next? A time of war and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh
in all that wherein he laboreth? Do you see the connection here
now? In other words, there's a time for everything that happens
in this world. How am I supposed to figure this
thing out? If there's a time and a season
to everything, And you set your mind on trying to figure out
its purpose. You will be so busy trying to
figure out the purpose that you will experience the joys of nothing. Look, I have seen the travail
which God, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised
in it. So who is in sovereign control
of all of this purpose? God Almighty is. Look, he hath
made everything beautiful in his time also. Also, he hath set the world in
their heart. This is not God being mean, this
is the judgment of God against fallen men. Also, he hath set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. The more you try to figure out
how all this fits, the more confounded you're going to be. and his religion
and his preachers stand behind podiums like this and try to
explain to everybody why that event happened, why that circumstance
over here happened, why this took place and why that took
place and how it all fits together and they've confounded the world
so much that they don't even know the truth if it was a stick
and you hit them in the face with it. And yet God said even
this is a part of his sovereign purpose. so that no man can find out the
work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know
that there is no good in them. There it is. But for a man to rejoice and
to do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and
drink and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of
God. I know that whatsoever God doeth. Now what's that include? A time
to, a time to. Find me something that don't
fit in one of those categories. I challenge you to. You'll spend
the rest of your life doing it. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before him. That which hath been is now. And that which is to be hath
already been. Why? Because God Almighty foreordained
it before the world began. It's as good as done. Yes, sir.
Look, and God requireth. That was his past. In other words,
if it takes place, we'll sum it up for you here. If it takes
place, if it occurs, if any event occurs, no matter what it is,
from love to hate, war to peace, Sowing to rending no matter what
it is if it occurs the Lord God for Dane did all And it is all
wondrous because he only doeth wondrous things We love to compartmentalize Was
that something a thing God did or is that not something God
did what about the great deluge and Was that not something God
brought on this world? Yes, sir. Yes, it was. Yes, sir. God in his holy wrath brought
condemnation and judgment upon this whole world. The world that
then was ceased to be. That's right. Yet at the same
time, we see the free covenant grace of God manifested in God
saving eight souls. the same judgment that condemned
the world bore up these eight in the ark. And there's two things specific
about that. One, God Almighty saved the whole
human race and those inhabitants in that ark. You hear what I
said? We're here today because God
saved those eight people. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what the color of your skin is. I don't care what your nationality
is. I don't care what your religion is. You're here because God saved
those eight people. He saved the world there while
at the same time he condemned the world. If you ever get a
hold of that one, you might start getting somewhere. While he condemned
the whole world and drowned them, he still saved the world in eight
people. But more importantly, one of those people, actually
two, Noah and then the one son, he preserved the Messianic line. Because had he not preserved
the Messianic line, David Wright, we'd all went to hell, no matter
how wondrous that was back then. Because had Jesus Christ not
come into this world, we'd all die in our sins. He, this God, the God of Israel, doeth only wondrous things. Think of the events of Job. Think
of what Job went through. I mean, he lost every child he
had. How many, was there eight of
them? How many was there? How many? lost every child in
one fell swoop. You're right. Lost most of his
property, his animals, lost his health. And why? Because God
Almighty said for it to happen. Exactly. Amen. Now remember, God had built a
hedge about Job so that even Satan, the supreme evil one himself,
could not touch Job. Exactly. Because God said, when
Satan came to appear before him, God said in his word, he tells
us, he said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And
Satan said, ain't no need to. That's right. You put a hedge
about him, I can't touch him. Amen. And basically it boiled down
to this, God said you can touch everything about him but his
life. So much so that in the end of
those great convulsions of tribulation and trial, even Job's wife turned
her back on him. You still retain your integrity?
Why don't you curse God and die? Boy, that was a happy day in
the family, don't you think it was? What great encouragement
from a spouse. But let me tell you, I will sum
up the book of Job for you. God's glory supersedes, supersedes
my suffering. God's glory supersedes my suffering. My lack of it or my experience
of it. It's not my happiness that is
on top. It is God's sovereign glory to
do with his own what he will. And even date Satan, even murderers, And even terrorists,
they're all there in the first two chapters of Job. Satan and
murderers and terrorists and storms, tornadoes, whatever it
was, tornadoes, hurricane, whatever it was, are all under the sovereign
control of God Almighty. And in the end, Job is forced
to cry this very truth out. And this is a very, if you can
say this, no matter what else you don't have, no matter what
else God's taken away from you, you are blessed of the Lord.
I've heard of you with the hearing of my ear. But now mine eye seeth
thee. Wherefore, I hate myself. And I repent in dust and ashes. My suffering so far can't even
come close to Job's. And my suffering so far can't
even come close to some of yours. I understand that. I know that.
And I can't be any more empathetic with you. Because that's all
I can be is empathetic. I can't be sympathetic because
I haven't been there. But I can be no more empathetic
than that. But I'm here to tell you and
me and anyone else who has an ear to hear God Almighty's glory
supersedes our sufferings. And oh may God enable me to cry
like Job did even in the beginning. Even in the beginning, the Lord
gave. The Lord taketh away. Not the
devil, not the Sabians. The Lord gave. The Lord taketh
away. And he didn't stop there with
just some stoic Calvinism, did he? He said, blessed. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, do you have just a little
inkling then of what David meant when he said, blessed be the
Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. Oh, how that bows me in the dust
in shame. And it bows me in the dust in
fear. And that's what the preacher
said it's supposed to do. Yet many go head low against
God. Don't they? They either cry,
no God, I hate you because of this, or they make up some other
kind of God and say, that's not really God that does that, the
devil does all that. That ain't what Job said. Is
that what Job said? No, because Job knew better.
Job knew better. Apply that to your circumstances. It's not up to me to apply it
to your circumstances, I can't do that. All's I can do is God
give me the grace to mourn with those that mourn and rejoice
with those that rejoice. And I'm not too good at it. I
have a hard time rejoicing with those that rejoice, because usually
when they're rejoicing, I'm mourning about something, poor pitiful
me. And then when they're mourning about something, I'm sitting
back and saying, well, y'all could be more happier in the Lord than that.
You ever been there? God help us. He who only doeth
wondrous things. So if it occurs, it's a wondrous
thing. Even though it may rip my heart
as it feels from its spot. Think of a limelight. You remember
a limelight had a wife named Naomi, two boys. I mean, Mason, that would have
been A father with great pride in the nation of Israel, don't
you think? A loving, caring wife and two boys. And guess what happened? A famine
came to the land of Israel. Now who do you think brought
that famine there? God did. And that man sold his
inheritance. How do I know that? Because after
he and his sons had died and his widow came back to the land,
she didn't have nothing. So he took tell and run. He sold
everything he had, gathered up his money, Mason, headed down
into Moab. And the displeasure of God was
seen because Elimelech and his two boys died. So much so that
the woman named Naomi, which means pleasant, changed her name
to Myra, which means bitterness. Why? Because God's dealt bitterly
with me. She's in a strange land of idolaters. The only two that's left of her
family now are two idolatrous daughters-in-law. But why did
God Almighty, the sovereign King of heaven and earth, do this
wondrous thing? Because one of those daughter-in-laws'
name was Ruth. And God had set his love on her
in Christ before the world began. And God would even use the wicked
rebellion of a disbelieving man. Whether I'm gonna talk about
being saved or not, I'm talking about being justified in Christ,
that move down there, Mason, was unbelief. Thousands more
stayed in Israel and was still there when Naomi returned. The
land of Israel didn't fall apart, did it? But thank God when Naomi
came back, Mack Hatfield, a Ruth was with her. And God Almighty
will move this world just to save one soul. And He'll use
even wicked rebellion the wicked rebellion of men to accomplish
that very goal. I don't believe that, then you
don't believe God's book. Because I'll give you an example
of that. Look at the sufferings of Jesus Christ. And let's read
what the apostles said about that in Acts chapter four. Now
they had been jailed, they had been released, and listen to
what they said. Verse 23 of Acts 4, and they being let go, they
went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests
and elders had said unto them. When they heard that, they lifted
up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art
God. Amen. Which hast made heaven
and earth and the sea and all that in them is. Who by the mouth
of thy servant David hath said, why do the heathen rage? And
the people imagined vain things. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together.
And then look at this next phrase. For to do whatsoever thy hand
Thy counsel determined before to be done Blessed be the Lord
God the God of Israel who only doeth wondrous things God ordained even wicked men's
wicked acts in our salvation murderers, and God ordained that. So I said, I don't believe that. I know, because you don't believe
God. You don't know this God that David's talking about. You
don't know the God that I'm talking about. But some of you do. Some
of you do. One more example of this. What
about Peter's denial of Christ? What about Peter's denial of
Christ? Remember, Christ told him it was going to happen. He
told him how many times he was gonna do it. Now did he not?
And he said it, told him, and put it this way, Satan hath desired
you that he may sift you as wheat. Now who was the one you figure
Satan had to get permission from to do that? God Almighty. God gave it to him. Right? That's the only answer. That's
the only answer there is. Three times you will deny me.
And I can just see Peter after the first time it happened. I
don't know that Peter thought this way, but I know me a little
bit. I know I would have. The first time I said, I don't
know that man, I'd have been said, all right, that's it, that's
enough. It ain't gonna happen again. You ever been there? You
ever found yourself running your foul, filthy mouth? And I ain't
talking about just cussing and swearing. You can use Bible words
and still have a foul, filthy mouth. And you ever found yourself
running your mouth and then being caught right in the middle of
failure against God and say, all right, that will not happen
again. And guess what? It does the same day. And after that third time, it
said he cursed and swore. I don't know the so and so, but
I'll tell you what people, he could not avoid it. There was
not power enough in him against Satan. You and I can't go up
against Satan. We don't deal with him. We beg
our Lord to deal with him. Even Gabriel, wasn't it? Was
it Gabriel? He said the Lord rebuked you
to Satan, didn't he? But here's three things, and
I don't mean this as some kind of spooky thing. He denied him
three times, and here's three things. But here are three things,
let me give you, about Peter's denial of Christ. But apply this
to yourself. Think about it. We must be constantly
reminded of what we are by nature. We're so dull. We're so corrupt,
we would forget our corruption, even in our regenerate state.
if God didn't constantly remind us what we are by nature. We can be pretty moral people.
And we can begin to rest upon the laurels of those morals. There's nothing in this world
that if I didn't have to have incentive enough to do if I'm
not doing it or stop doing if I am doing it. If I have enough
incentive, there's nothing in this world I can't just stop
doing if I thought there was really something in it for me,
Mason, except this, believe God. And when God says you're gonna
deny me three times, you best believe him. You're gonna deny
him three times. It ain't gonna be twice. It ain't
gonna be two and a half times. It'll be three full times. But
thank God it won't be four. You know why? Because humility
before God is real. It's never voluntary. Paul talks
against voluntary humility. Look at it, Colossians. We don't
volunteer up our humility to God. Humility is what? It's being brought down low in
the dust before a superior. And you know the only way we
really do that, we're so proud by nature, is for God to push
us and put us down there. And thirdly, our compassion for
others is horizontal. It's this way. It's not vertical. It's not this way. When I preach to you by God's
grace, I preach with the full confidence in God's word. The
full confidence of my God and his Christ. The full confidence
of the work of his spirit and his gospel in the hearts of his
people and in this world. But don't suppose that that confidence
is in me because it ain't. I don't know myself like I ought
to, but I do know myself some. I'm nothing. I'm a clay pot. But God is used, pleased to use
clay pots, whether it's this one or whether it's you all.
And we can cry out, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who only doeth wondrous works. Have you ever failed God miserably
and just said, well, maybe that's why so-and-so ain't saved. No,
that's why you feel so miserable. Because you failed God. They're
not saved if they're not saved because God hasn't been pleased
to save them yet. Because if God's been pleased to save them,
he'll save them in spite of you, or he'll use you and even your
rebellion to bring it to pass. Go back and look at the examples
we looked at. Look at Jacob. So we can just go up, look at
Jacob. Was it Jacob? No, Joseph, I'm sorry. Joseph,
down in Egypt. You remember the phrase, and
people say things like, well, we know men do bad, but God turns
it around for good. No, that is not what Joseph confessed.
Joseph told his brothers, who the majority were wanting to
kill him. Okay, the majority wanted to
kill him. But they didn't. They sold him off as a slave.
He goes down into Egypt. You know the story. Becomes second
only to Pharaoh himself. And you know what he told his
brothers when this thing was finally brought to a head? He
said, you meant it for evil. God meant it for good. That's just the way it is. That's
our God. That's why David, the king, could write something concerning
his son Solomon. Now don't you think every time
he thought about Solomon, there was that little thing in the
back of his mind, Mason, that reminded him how Solomon came
to be? Every time he seen that little boy, every time he hugged
him, kissed him and loved on him, don't you think there wasn't
that little bell back in there David Wright ringing, how Solomon
came to be? You remember how Solomon came to be, don't you?
If you don't, go read about it. And yet David, writing about
Solomon, says these words, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who only doeth wondrous things. Amen. Father, oh God, teach us
this. And we know that it may well
be our trouble and our tribulation and our trials But oh God, help
us to keep our eyes, the eyes of faith, the heart of faith,
the mind of faith upon the prize Christ Jesus. And may we see
that this is all to your name's honor and glory, and one day
it shall be fully realized. In Christ's name I thank you,
amen.