Several verses this morning,
but turn if you would to Joshua 21 Joshua 21 Want to read several
other verses before we get there, but put put a mark there in Joshua
21 Cuz I'm gonna start there in
the second part of my message. We just went through a week with
this election here and it's still ongoing. And I know that it didn't
turn out the way that a lot of people like us wanted it to turn
out. Or at least it's still working
in that direction. I don't know what the Lord has
in store. I myself, as well as many that
I know and talked to throughout this week, whether it was at
work or people that I know on the spiritual side of things,
we saw what all happened on Tuesday. We saw what all happened on Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's still going today. It'll be going for the next several
days. And there was a lot of turmoil,
a lot of unrest, a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, a lot of angst, a lot of mistrust, a lot of doubt. And that's just in me. I don't
know about you, but that was just in me, if I'm to be honest. And I've been thinking a lot
about this. My wife's reminded me on several occasions this
week, as I've blew up in frustration about the things that's going
on and the just sheer wickedness of everything that we see in
our political system. Whether it's Republican or whether
it's Democrat, just the fact that wicked people seem to be
thriving. Seems that the evil is abounding. that although what seems like
the people stood up with their voice like they've never stood
before in this country in many, many years, their voice was silenced,
so to speak. And I can feel the frustrations,
I can understand where we're coming from. But brethren, I
thought about that this week. Matter of fact, I spoke with
a dear brother and friend of mine yesterday. a couple of days,
and we discussed this, we shared in our frustrations, but was
encouraging each other in what the Lord has given us in his
word. We have to remember that as the children of God, that
this world is not our home. We have to remember that the
kingdom that we are to look for is the kingdom of heaven and
not for the kingdom of this world. While we are in the world, we
are not of the world, the Bible says. that we are just pilgrims
passing through. And as pilgrims passing through,
the affairs of this world should not be the affairs of us. And
I don't say that meaning that we should, and I know there's
people on every aspects of this have differing views, that Christians
shouldn't be engaged at all in anything political, that some
take the complete opposite extreme, that the president or that the
Christian should be advocating within the political system,
you know, Christian things, but yet there seems to be a middle
ground that we can be of the world, but not in the world,
or excuse me, in the world, but not of the world. And while we
may be able to partake of the things that take place in this
world, you know, the Lord has sovereignly put every one of
us here in America, right? The Bible tells us that he sets
our habitation. I live where I live because God
has set me here. I was born to the family that
I was born to because God put me there. And I didn't choose
that, God chose that for me. The place where I live, God chose
that for me. I didn't choose that for myself,
God chose that for me. We were put into a country that
God in his sovereign providence brought men from other countries
to bring this nation into being. God sovereignly used those men
to set up the political system that we have that grants rights
and freedoms to men based upon the rule of law and the constitution. and we're blessed by God to live
in this society that he has given us under the freedoms that's
been granted us, not the rights that we have necessarily under
God, but the rights that we have because of God, okay? Because we all know that we don't
have a right to anything, right? Even though the United States
says we have all these rights, God overturns and overrules those
rights. And so, at the end of the day,
the child of grace is to look to the kingdom of God above and
beyond his look to the kingdom of this world and the kingdom
that God has put us in, humanly or physically speaking. We're to
look at that spiritual thing. And so I thought this morning
I would give just some encouraging words to it. This message isn't
gonna be a profound message. It's not gonna be a deep theological
dig into the political systems and things like that. It's a
very superficial message in the fact that it's basically some
scriptures that I gathered together yesterday evening and this morning. to remind us of some things,
to keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, fixed upon God, and to not let
the things of this world drag us down, and to just remind us
of these great and precious truths of God. The title of my message
was, what was I writing down there? The one who elects. The one who
elects. Actually, I had four or five
titles to this, and I wrote them down, scribbled them out, wrote
them down, scribbled them out. Yeah, there you go. I had several
titles, and I ended on the one who elects. And here's the reason why. We
know, according to the word of God, that the Bible is very clear
that it is God who elects men for salvation. But just as God
elects men to salvation, he also elects kings and kingdoms. He is the great elector. So whether
it is in the spiritual or whether it is in the physical, our God
is the one who chooses the outcome. Whether it is for our temporal
Life, or whether it is for our eternal life, God is the decider. God is the chooser. God is the
one who sets it up. God is the one who brings it
into being. God is the author and the finisher,
not only of our faith, but of all things. All things were created
by Him and for Him. By Him, Jesus Christ, all things
consist or are held together, that He rules over all things. And so I wanted to divide this
into two things this morning. I wanted to show that God is
sovereign in the kingdoms of men in the fact that He is sovereign
over our eternal election, but He is also sovereign over our
political elections. But first let's harbor on the
sovereign election, eternal election. With your place there in Joshua
where I told you to mark, go back with me to Acts chapter
13 and verse 48. Acts chapter 13 and verse 48. As you've heard me say many times
here, brethren, Acts 13, 48 was a watershed moment in my life. This verse of scripture, when
God slowed me down enough to read it for what it said, put me down a path of studying
God's word in a way that I'd never studied it before. And
it opened up the gospel to me And it showed me many things
that I held untrue and preached that were untrue. And it showed
me the beauty of God and the work that he does in our salvation. Thousands of times I read this
verse, probably, I don't know, thousands, I probably couldn't
say that. But many times I've read this verse and never paused
to see what it says. But look what it says with me.
Acts chapter 13. And in verse 48, we find ourselves
with Paul and Barnabas preaching in Antioch. And it says in verse
48, and when the Gentiles, now remember, the Gentiles were people
that did not have the law. The Gentiles were everybody outside
of Israel. God had chosen a people starting
with Abraham, out of a heathen nation in Ur, and called Abraham
out and made Abraham a people, the Hebrew people. the people
that wasn't a people. He brought them out and made
them and called them Israel. It was his people, his chosen
people. He elected those people to be
his people over all other nations. Now, while by God's sovereign
right as creator, he laid claim to all those other people, the
Medianites, the Amlekites, the Amorites, and all the other ites
in scripture. As creator, he owned them. They
were his by right. But as far as a precious love
and a distinctive relationship He elected Israel out of all
the nations to show His mercy, His grace, to give His law and
the ordinances and the gospel to. And so Israel, and we've
seen that in Malachi, right? God said, the reason that I,
how I show my love to you is the fact that I chose you and
I didn't choose the people of Esau. I didn't choose the Gentiles,
I didn't choose the rest of the people. And so the Gentiles are
those who are outside of Israel, outside the Commonwealth of Israel,
those who were considered by Israel as dogs, unworthy, lower
than them, but yet God all throughout the Old Testament, and specifically
in the New Testament, was preaching that there were many among the
Gentiles that were also his. elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, but yet not have the gospel spread to them in great
manner like Israel had. Not being brought in. If you
remember, Jesus, whenever he prayed in John 17, he said that
he had sheep that were not of this fold and that whenever he
prayed, he said, you know, that I pray for these and also those
who will hear because of these men's message. And they will
come and they will believe because he has sheep out of every tribe
and language and nation and tongue. And so whenever we look here,
we're looking at the Gentiles, those who had been excluded from
the things of God. They weren't under the law. They
had never been given the law. But yet grace came to them And
it says here, and when the Gentiles heard this, what did they hear?
Well, they heard about the salvation on the light of God going out
to the Gentiles, that he should be salvation unto the ends of
the earth. See, all these Gentile people
that surrounded Israel, they heard about the salvation of
the Lord. They knew the salvation of the
Lord. You remember back in the Old Testament, whenever Joshua
was coming into Canaan and they came to Jericho, and whenever
the spies went into Jericho, what did Rahab, the harlot, and
those who were in her household, what did they tell those spies?
They said, listen, we've heard. We've heard that God is with
you. We heard the great things that
God is doing for you, for Israel, and how God is defeating everybody
for you. Well, brethren, listen, the Gentiles,
even though they were outside the Commonwealth of Israel, they
surrounded Israel and they heard the stories. They heard the news. They heard what was going on
with God and how God had this specific people that he had been
doing things for. And then here at this time, the
Gentiles have been hearing about this man, Jesus, who had been
walking with them and been healing blinded eyes, raising people
who had never walked, giving people hearing that had never
heard before, seeing that had never seen, people that were
dumb that they couldn't speak. He was healing. Lepers, he was
touching and healing and even raising people back to life.
The Gentiles were hearing of these things but yet that salvation
had been excluded to them. That salvation was first taken
to Jerusalem, right? Even Jesus said that. Even Jesus
said that his work or his ministry was to the lost sheep of Israel. It wasn't for him to go to the
lost sheep of the Gentiles yet. That was prepared and planned
by somebody else. But yet Christ came and preached
to the lost sheep of Israel, but the Gentiles had been hearing
of it. They had heard of the great salvation of the Lord,
and now they were hearing that salvation had come to the Gentiles,
that God was sending this message of salvation, this message of
hope to the Gentiles. And look, if you would, in verse
48, and when the Gentiles heard this, They were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. Who are the ones who believed?
The ones who were ordained to eternal life. Not the ones who
made a decision for themselves, not the ones who were convinced
by the preacher, but the ones who were ordained to eternal
life believed and the word of the Lord was published throughout
all the region. So we see here that God was sovereign
in the election of people who believed. God was sovereign over
the eternal election of not only the Jews, but the Gentiles. Not only of those of Israel,
but of all of true Israel, which are those of every tribe and
nation and tongue. God has elected a people for
himself from the whole world. Look with me, if you would, at
Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. And look
with me, if you would, at verse 29. Yes, 29. I guess we can start
at verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. We ought to pause and
think about that in light of what's been going on this week.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the call according to His purpose. Now remember, I've taught you
guys this, that in that phrase there, the word thee, the definite
article thee is there in the Greek, okay? A lot of times you'll
see in the modern translations of the scripture, you'll see
it said, and you'll hear people quote this wrong, They'll say
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called, who are called according to His purpose. But that word, the, is there
in the Greek as a definite article, meaning a specific group of people. The called is a specific group
of people. So all things work together for
good to them that love God, and the ones who love God are the
ones who have been loved by God, right? We love God because he
first loved us. The Bible says that he has loved
us with an everlasting love, with cords of love that he has
drawn us to himself, right? And so we see that it is them
that love God, those who are born from above, those who have
the love of God shed abroad in their heart, to them who are
the call, they are the ones who are the call. The called are
the ones who love God, according to His purpose, though.
They are the called according to His purpose. What is His purpose? What was God's purpose? Well,
look, if you would, just over a few verses at Romans chapter nine and verse
11. It says, for the children, speaking
of Jacob and Esau here, It says, for the children not yet born,
so they were still in the mother's womb, right? The children not
yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that Calleth,
it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Paul is appealing to God's sovereignty
in choosing or electing one over the other. He's saying that not
all of Israel will be saved, but those who are of God's, those
who are of God's in the spirit will be saved, those who have
been elected of God, because it is according to his purpose,
and his purpose is election. Now, you don't hear that preached
a lot in churches. You don't hear that taught a lot in Sunday
schools. You don't see many tracts handed
out with that information on there, but God's purpose and
this salvation of people is according to election, His choice, His
choosing. Why? Because God is sovereign.
Now you remember last week, I shared with you some things that I shared
down at the Bible conference in Choctaw, that in Exodus, God
revealed His name as I am that I am. which spoke of his sovereignty. I will be who I will be. I will
do what I will do. No man tells me what I can and
can't do. I'll do it the way that I choose to do it. And he
said, this will be a memorial to all generations. That's just
how I want to be known to every generation as the sovereign God. And God sovereignly does what
he wants to do. His decisions overrides any other
decision. His decision lays weight and
bearing on how every decision of man is made. It is because
of God's decisions that our decisions are made. Doesn't the Bible say
that it's not of man in him to know and to walk and to do? Doesn't
the Bible say that man may devise his ways but God directs his
steps? Election is according to God's
sovereign, or election is because of God's sovereignty. God has
the sovereign right to choose. Now, some are gonna say, well,
I don't think that's fair. Remember last week, we talked about that.
I don't think that's fair. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say that God is fair, or even has to be fair. The issue is,
is God righteous in doing that? Is God holy in doing that? And
the question comes up, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God to choose one and not choose the other? God forbid,
there's no unrighteousness with God. God choosing one and not the
other is God's righteousness being shown. And so back to our
passage in Romans 8, we see that them who are the called were
called by the electing purpose of God. Those who are loved, remember
what it said there? Jacob have I loved, but Esau
I have hated. It says he hated Esau. It didn't say that he loved him
less. I hear a lot of people who deny the personal, unconditional
election of God and eternal salvation. They want to say, well, that
means he loved Esau less because God can't hate anybody. Brethren,
I challenge you to do a word study on the word hate and find
all the places where the word hate is in conjunction with God.
The Bible says that God hated Esau. The Bible says that God
hates all workers of iniquity. Now, the children of grace, while
they may commit iniquity, they're not workers of iniquity because
of our justification. But everybody who has not been
justified with Christ, they are workers of iniquity. And the
Bible says that God hates them, that God has rejected them. He has rejected them, just as
with Abel, Cain and Abel. God accepted Abel's sacrifice,
but rejected Esau. God has that sovereign choice.
And so we see here in verse 28, we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called, and them alone, according to his purpose. For whom, going
back to the called, For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
So remember, the called are the ones who were justified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, the called,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of, here's the word, of God's
elect? It is God that justifies it.
So here we see, brethren, that God is sovereign over our election. sovereign over who is chosen
for salvation and who is not. Again, over in Romans chapter
nine, looking at verse 23, after the fool makes the question and
replies against God, you know, why have you made me this way?
Why have you made me this way? Or cried out, unrighteous, unrighteous. In verse 22, it says, And brethren,
I don't care how you want to turn that. And I've heard preachers
turn this and say that they fitted themselves. That is not what
that means. They did not fit themselves. God fitted them to destruction.
There's too many other passages of scripture that talks about
God ordaining men to that condemnation, that he has created the wicked
for the day of evil, that he has ordained those false teachers
in the, I think it was in Peter, ordained those false teachers
to that condemnation. Judas was a child of perdition
who was ordained to that very thing that he did. So God has
fitted these people for destruction. And it says, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
here it is, which he had aforeprepared unto glory. That means those
who are saved, those who are elected, was aforeprepared for
that. Before anything ever happened
before the foundation of the world, God had prepared vessels
for glory. That's you and me. That's why
we find in Ephesians chapter one, turn there if you would,
one of our favorite passages again. We seem to hit this in
almost every message for some reason or another. Ephesians chapter one. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as
he has chosen us, according to his election. See there, remember
God's purpose is according to election. Salvation and all that
entails salvation is according to election. God's choosing. God's choosing to bless us with
all spiritual blessings. What are those blessings? Well,
we heard some of them just a minute ago. Being called, being justified,
being glorified. Those are some of the things
that God has blessed us with. But it's according as he hath
chosen us in Christ, or in him, when? Whenever we came down to
the front of the church to the altar? No. That's not when God
chose that for us. Whenever we made that decision
in a revival, after we heard the fiery preacher get up there
and fling his arms and spit all over the place and, you know,
tell a few Shep stories and, you know, pull our heartstrings
and then tell us that we're all going to hell if we don't make
a decision for Jesus. No, that's not whenever God did
that. When did God do this? According as He had chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. For a purpose,
right? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are in earth, even in him, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him," remember the purpose of him was election,
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of the glory who first trusted in Christ. Brethren, you see there, God
has elected us. God has chosen us. We didn't
choose Him. He chose us. And He chose us
before the foundation of the world. All things were chosen
in His decree. He is the sovereign over our
eternal election. Look with me, if you would, at
1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This is the passage where Paul
is telling the Corinthians that we're not to listen to the wisdom
of men. Men try to make salvation after
the wisdom of men because they don't have the wisdom of God.
When men try to make salvation by the hand of man's decision
or by the conditions that man must keep, if you have a preacher
or a teacher or a church that is telling you that God has done
everything he can to save you and all you have to do is do
this, fill in the blank. Whether it's repent, whether
it's believe, whether it's come down to the front, whether it's
pray a prayer, whether it's sign a card, whether it's go through
the baptistry waters, whether it's joining a church, whether
it's playing ring around the rosy and running around the church
nine times. Whatever it is that they tell
you that you have to do and then God will save you, give your
heart to Jesus. Let him be the Lord of your life.
Let go, let God. Whatever it is, if they're telling
you that, they are not telling you the truth. They're not telling
you the truth. The reason for your salvation
is because God has chosen you and God has made that message,
that gospel, a mystery. He's made it a mystery. And the
wisdom of man can't figure that out because men are endued in
their nature with the desire and the bent to self-righteousness. Man innately desires to get credit
for what he does, to be self-righteous, that I can do it myself. I can
pull myself up by my own bootstraps. It's because of what I did that
I'm good enough. I'm worthy. My works are good
enough. My works are worthy. Whatever
the case might be. And it started all the way back
in the garden. Whenever Adam thought that by his own clothing
himself, that he could please God. And God said, your clothes
that you put on yourself are not good enough. Your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags to me. Self-righteousness is what men
in their wisdom And so they inject that into their gospel by making
the salvation of men based upon conditions. And listen, I know
the people that's out there that's preaching this thing, most of
them are saying, well, no, we don't believe that salvation is based
upon conditions, but you have to repent or you won't get saved.
You have to believe or you won't get saved. That's not the case,
brethren. Now, will we repent? Absolutely
we will. When the Spirit of God comes
into us, He will cause us to repent. He will cause us to believe. He will change our heart and
cause us to walk in His statues. He will cause us to call upon
the name of the Lord. But brethren, we don't do that
in order to get it. We get it in order to do it.
God gives it to us so that we can do it. That's what grace
is all about. But see, this is a mystery. And
Paul here is telling the Corinthian church that there are many that
come and preach to you, and they preach with the wisdom of man,
and they preach in enticing words of men's wisdom. But look what he says in verse, In verse five, or six, how be
it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the
wisdom of this world nor the princes of this world that come
to naught, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. See, God even prepared the fact
that men wouldn't even be able to figure this out. God, even
before the world began, ordained that the gospel and its understanding
and its spiritual applications could not be figured out by natural
man. That it would take an act of
God, giving them spiritual life for them to even understand the
ramifications and the implications and all the outworking of what
the gospel is all about. And that's just completely opposite
of what we hear in today's society. In today's society, all preachers
and churches are assuming that everybody is on the same level
of understanding that all they have to do is read and listen
and adhere to it. If you'll just listen and adhere to what this
says, then it's going to be yours. But brethren, we got to remember
that unless God gives us life, unless he gives us the spirit
of God, we will never know and understand the gospel. He says
that this is a hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God have prepared for them that love him."
Listen, no eye, no ear, no heart has ever been able to dissect
and digest the gospel apart from God, shedding that love abroad
in our heart. But God hath revealed them unto
us. See, that's how they have to
be revealed. The preacher doesn't reveal it unto you. Your mama
and daddy doesn't reveal. And that's not to say there's
not an importance in preaching. There is an importance in preaching.
There is an importance in parents raising their children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. teaching them the Word
of God, putting forth the Word of God to them. There is an importance
of that. But brethren, listen, you cannot
crack through and give them light. You cannot give them understanding.
You cannot give them belief. Only God can do that. And unless
God does that first and he does that in the new birth, unless
God does that, their heart will stay cold and their understanding
will stay skewed to understand the gospel through the wisdom
of man. He says, Now, we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, and here
it is again, that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God. See, God has ordained that this
wisdom that the natural man cannot see, this wisdom that is hidden
from the natural man, He has ordained that our glory
is to know it, to understand it, to believe it, to trust it,
to look to it. We have received the Spirit,
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God, not the things that were freely asked of us
by God to do so that we might get it. The Spirit is given to
us in the new birth so that we might know this salvation was
of God. It was free. I didn't have to
do anything for it. My repentance didn't get it.
My belief didn't get it. Those are the outflows of this
salvation. And God ordained that before
the foundation of the world. It is God who elects us to even
know that we have salvation. In Ephesians 2.10, you don't
have to turn there, but the Bible says that we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath, what?
Before ordained that we should welcome them. I shared with the
church in Choctaw a couple of weeks ago that word should there
is not a word of maybe so or a word of duty necessarily. But that word there, that word
should, is a word that means that it's gonna happen. Okay,
and the context that Paul uses in Ephesians, he used that word
several times. It's a matter of fact. And so
that word should should be taken that, well, if we should, then
that's an obligation on our part and you could or could not do
it. That's not what that word means. Don't have time to go
into all that this morning. So we see that God is sovereign
over our eternal election. There's a lot more verses rather
than I can read, but for the sake of time, I wanna move into
the second half of this. God is not only sovereign over
our eternal election, but God is sovereign over our political
election. This week, God has been sovereign over everything
that has taken place. Look with me at the passage that
I told you to turn to earlier, Joshua chapter 21. Joshua chapter 21, and look with me if you would. Joshua
21, and look with me if you would down to verse 40. It said, so
all the cities for the children of Moriah by the families which
were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their
law 12 cities. All the cities of the Levites
within the possession of the children of Israel were 40 and
eight cities with their suburbs. These cities were everyone with
their suburbs round about them. Thus were all these cities. And
the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he swore to give
unto their fathers. and they possessed it and dwelt
therein. Now I just wanna pause, just
a side note there, for those that don't think that Israel
is obtained and got their land, that they still have land to
be owed them. God give everything that he promised
to Abraham in the physical realm to those descendants. Look what
it says there. And the Lord gave unto Israel
all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers, and
they possessed it and dwelt therein. Now, we also know that the Lord
said this was a conditional thing, right? that they would have this
land as long as they served the Lord, but whenever they turned
against the Lord, that that land would be taken away from them.
And it was taken away. And the Lord didn't ever promise
to give it back to them. He fulfilled his promise and
gave it to them. They possessed it, but because
of their unbelief, because of their idolatry, the Lord took
it away. And it says, look in verse 44.
And the Lord gave them rest round about according to all that He
sware unto their fathers. And there stood not a man of
all their enemies before them. The Lord delivered all their
enemies into their hand. There fell not out of any good
thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel. All
came to pass. And what do we see here? Well,
we see here that God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men. He
give this whole entire land and all the people that dwelt within
them, he removed them from the face of that land and give Israel
that land for them to possess. And then every part of that land,
he divided up and give to each tribe member or each tribe and
then within each tribe, each member of that tribe had their
inheritance that God had promised them. and God fulfilled everything
that He had promised to do. Not one thing was left unchecked. Not one thing God left to chance. Not one thing did He leave in
the hands of man. God made sure that it all happened
the way that He had sovereignly purposed. And it did. And you'll
see here that God raised up this nation of Israel and give nations
at their feet. Give him a land that wasn't theirs.
Brother, I can't help but think the parallel that we see, and
I'm not saying that this is a spiritual implication of America, but I
can't help but at least apply the principle to what we understand
in our country. This was a country that was not
ours. We came into this country and
the Lord by his providence give it to us, and yes, at the feet
of others that were here before us. I'm not boasting in that. I'm not prideful about that.
I'm just saying that's how it was. That's how God ordained
it to be. Let me ask, if God didn't ordain
it, do you think we'd be here? I don't think so. If he didn't
ordain it, it's not gonna happen, right? But he ordained it and
he give it to us. And whenever these men and women
came to this country, to some degree, to some aspect. They
were looking to the Lord. They were trusting in the Lord.
They were coming for religious freedom to be able to serve the
Lord from underneath the dictates, from outside and out from under
the dictates of a king and a tyrannical priesthood that had taken over
and was controlling the ways that they believed and they wanted
to come to be able to believe in freedom, to know freedom. The Bible speaks of Christ bringing
liberty to us. not only in sin, but the liberty
to believe. He's given us liberty from sin
and the consequence of sin and the guilt of sin and the condemnation
of the law on sin. But he's also given us, brethren,
listen, liberty to believe on him. But yet the nations have
turned. Our nation has turned against
God. Our nation has put up with wickedness And listen, that also is by the
purpose of God. That is by the hand of God. He
raises up wicked men for the day of evil. And we see that
when God desires for things to be good for his people, not one
enemy can stand in their way. But whenever God desires to bring
judgment to his people, then nothing can stop him from bringing
that. Now, so we see here that God
did right and did good for these people. Look over at Judges chapter
six and verse one. Something happened. If you've ever read the, the
book of the judges and all the other passages of scripture during
the time period of the judges, this was a wicked, wicked time
for Israel. Wicked. Even the judges themselves
were wicked. Not all of them, but a growing
amount of them as time went on became wicked. And Israel became
idolatrous and wicked. And look at chapter six in verse
one, it says, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel. And because of the Midianites,
the children of Israel made them dens, which are in the mountains
and caves and strongholds. And so it was when Israel had
sown that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the
children of the East, even they came up against them and they
encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth till
thou come unto Gaza and left no sustenance for Israel, neither
sheep nor ox nor ass. for they came up with their cattle
and their tents and they came as grasshoppers for multitude. For both they and their camels
were without number and they entered into the land to destroy
it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites and
the children of Israel cried unto the Lord." Now, that word Midian there,
Midian was a son of Abraham, right? That word Midian there
means confusion. The word Midian means confusion. It means contention. That Hebrew word, it means confusion
or contention. When the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord delivered them into
the hand of contention and confusion. Brethren, if that don't speak
of what we see today, contention. Everybody is at contention with
each other. It's full of contention. Even
among the people of God, there is contention. Strife and debate over things
among believers that is drawing men apart and breaking fellowship
with one another in areas where liberty should be given as God
teaches. Within our country, we're seeing
contention between the right and the left, between the red
and the blue, between the liberals and the conservatives, the Democrats
and the Republicans. we see that there's contention.
God has delivered us into the hand of Midian. And that contention prevailed.
But what was the remedy? Look at verse seven. And it came
to pass when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, because
of the many a night that the Lord sent a prophet unto the
children of Israel, which said unto them, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you
forth out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed
you and dragged them out from before you and gave you their
land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God. Fear not the
gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but ye have not
obeyed my voice. And there came an angel of the
Lord and sat under an oak, which was an orpha that pertained to
Joash the Abesarite and his son Gideon, threshed wheat by the
winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, the Lord is with
thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my
Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen
us? And where be all his miracles, which our fathers told of us?
Saying, did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt? But now the
Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
Sounds a lot like Americans today, right? And the Lord looked upon
him and said, go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel
from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? I'll stop right there. There's
more to be said about that, but I just want to draw the parallel
that I see here. What did God do to remind Israel? Made him look back to his deliverance
of them, right? He sent him back to their deliverance.
He reminded them, remember, I chose you as a people and I did not
forsake you. I brought you out of your bondage.
I brought you out of Egypt and I made you a great nation and
I brought you into a land that wasn't yours and give you all
the cities and the people therein. Remember that. Remember that
I was sovereign in your salvation out of Egypt. Brethren, it isn't
until we look to Christ and remember His sovereign nature. He sovereignly chose us and elected
us to be not of this world, but out of this world. He chose us
to be not of this kingdom, but of His kingdom. And so whenever
we are in these times that we are living in right now, when
it seems like all hope is gone and that everything is coming
down on us and God has turned his back upon us, we are to keep
remembering that he has delivered us. And yes, we may have to go
through all these things. We may have to endure the hardships
that this nation is going through as it's being judged, but remember
our deliverance. Remember God's sovereignty. He
sovereignly chose us for himself, and he also sovereignly chooses
the election of those who rule over us and what we have to go
through in those time periods. Don't lose hope in the Lord,
but look to the Lord. Don't lose faith. Ask God to
increase your faith, to trust in him. You say, well, preacher,
I don't know about that. You know, I didn't vote for that
guy. Why didn't God give me the desires of my heart? Psalm 3310 says, the Lord bringeth
the counsel of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices
of the people of none effect. Can he surely change that today?
Can he change this election? I mean, it's still going, right?
There's still a counting. There's gonna be recounts. There's
probably gonna be recounts of the recounts. There's gonna be
a lot of name-calling. There's probably gonna be bloodshed,
the way that it looks. We don't know. But right here,
the Bible says the Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to
naught. He can change the very way that
everybody looks at this thing. He can cause an uprising among
the people to come and say, hey, we desire justice. and cause the people to look
within and find the evil that's there and to dispose of it. That's
what God's given the government the sword for, right? To punish
evildoers. And he can make the devices of
the people of none effect. If he can do that, but he doesn't
do that, is he less sovereign? No. Should we look at him of
any other way? No, remember that song we sung
earlier this morning? Even though that he might do
something to this body, his mercy still stays true. Psalms 47, seven says this, for
the God is king of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God doesn't just put words in
the Bible to fulfill them, right? If God is king of all the earth,
sing ye praises with understanding. Whenever we sing praise to God,
it's only because we're just in church and we know, well,
God's king, so we gotta sing about it. But do you really understand
that he's king? Trump's not king, Biden's not
king, the Supreme Court's not king, the Electoral College is
not king, God is the sovereign elector. So sing praises with understanding
to the king of all the earth. Isaiah 40 verse 15 says, behold,
the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the
small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles
as a very little thing. The nations are nothing to God. They're big to us. We look at
Russia and China all these kingdoms of the world. And boy, we don't
want to get into a nuclear war. We surely don't want to get into
another civil war. But the Bible here says the nations
are as a drop of a bucket to God. These things aren't nothing. Matter of fact, doesn't the Bible
tell us in the end that all the nations of the earth are going
to rise against his man, Jesus? Huh? What does the Bible tell
us is going to happen at that time? They're all gonna be laid
waste. The king of glory is going to
prevail. And his people are gonna prevail with him, brethren. Daniel chapter two and verse
21, the Bible says, and he changes the times and the seasons. We're looking at all the pretty
trees we just talked about a while ago. The Lord changes the times. Unfortunately, we had to adjust
to this new time change. Uh, it's horrible. I hate it. I mean, it's dark
as I'm getting off work, driving home in the dark and it's five
o'clock sitting at the home. We sitting at the house last
night and it's like, man, it's like, seems like 11 o'clock and
it was like six 30, seven o'clock. Well, the Lord changes the times
and seasons. We understand that we don't have, we don't even
have a problem with that. Do we? We love it. Well, we like
to see the trees come in in the fall, all the pretty colors. And even though we might not
like a whole lot of it, but even the snow whenever it falls, it's
so pretty outside. Don't like the cold, don't like
having to get around in it, but it is pretty. Then the spring
comes around and we see everything starting to come to life again,
so pretty. And then in the summertime, we
go to all the places that we go, the beaches and the lakes.
See, all the things the Lord has done in the four seasons
that we have here, we don't have a stinking bit of problem with
that, do we? But what about this? God being
sovereign, and he says, he removeth kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise
and knowledge to them that know understanding. See, brethren,
it is God who removes kings and setteth up kings. Do we go vote? Yeah, we have a civil ability
to do that in our country, and we go do that. And to the best
of our knowledge, we do and vote the way that we feel that we
should according to our morals and according to the word of
God and things like that, and we vote. But is our vote the
deciding factor? Doesn't the Bible say that the
lot is cast in the lap, but it is God is the one who is the
disposer thereof? You know that that word lot there
is talking about a vote. Whenever the first church came
together and they were trying to decide who was gonna replace
Judas, it said that they cast their lots and the lot fell upon
Matthias. They'd thrown their lots in,
their votes, they put their votes in, but the vote fell on Matthias. God was the one who disposed
that lot. Yes, they give their thoughts
and their opinion, but God was the one who brought the outcome.
He put the man in there that he wanted in there. Same thing
with the kings, with our presidents. He removeth kings and he puts
kings in. Daniel 4.17 says, this matter
is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of
the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever
he will and setteth up over it the basest of men. Brethren, we may not like the
guy but God's the one that put him there. We may love the guy, but it wasn't
us who got him there. It was God. You think, well, why would God
do something like this? It's brought division in our
country. It's brought division upon our
nation. It's brought calamity upon us.
In Amos chapter three and verse six, the Bible says, Shall a
trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?
The Bible says that God came to bring division, not peace.
He came to bring us peace in our heart as far as our reconciliation
to God. But brother, he didn't come to
bring peace, but a sword. In Habakkuk, Chapter one in verse
six, the Bible says, For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that
bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth
of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. He
raised up the Chaldeans. He raised up the Chaldeans to
specifically bring judgment to the nation of Israel because
of their idolatry and turning from the Lord. Now, if he did
that with Israel, do you not think that he can, with America,
raise up these very leftist people, these wicked people, to bring judgment upon our country
and nation? See, that's a bleak outlook preacher
that didn't help me today. One Chronicle says this, let
the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice, and let men say
among the nations, the Lord reigneth. Listen, brother, we're the Lord's
children, and people are gonna be looking unto us, if they be
Christ, they're gonna be looking to us from a word of God, for
a word of God. In all this panic, they're gonna
be looking to us for a word from the Lord. And while we might
be filled with the frustrations with the wicked and evil that
we see in the country, that we see in our government, we may
even see in our town, we have the charge to preach Christ and
Him crucified. But we also have the charge to
hold out His memorial to all generations, that He is sovereign. And just like here in this passage
we just read about the Chaldeans, just as he raised up the Chaldeans
to judge Israel, God may be judging America by those that he has
raised up here. Brethren, as a people of God,
we have nothing to fear. Let us all pray thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Let us not be found fighting
against the Lord's most holy and wise decree. We sang about
it this morning. We've read about it today in
the scriptures, that this is by God's sovereign decree, that
all things are happening at the counsel of His will. It's by
His sovereign decree that these things take place. And who are
we to think that we are wiser than God? Have you ever thought
of that? That what's taking place in here,
in our country today, and amidst all the chaos, On our end, it
looks like chaos, but in God's end, it's not chaos. It's a wise,
devised, and planned, ordained purpose of God. See, God is not
the author of chaos. Does that mean that there's not
ever chaos? There's chaos, right? There's chaos going on today. But see, what God does is not
chaos. It's chaos to us, but it's not chaos to Him. Why? Because
He controls it all. Chaos is something that gets
out of control. Chaos is something that is out
of our hands. Chaos is something that has gotten
loose and it's hard to get back under control or restrained.
That's what chaos is. Listen, this isn't chaos. God
is distinctly minutely involved in everything that's going on
because he's decreed it to be such. And it's accomplishing
his perfect, wise, holy, righteous decree. Now, who are we to say
that that's unwise for God to do what he's doing? The heathens may rage, but brethren,
the children of God should be a voice to the people that our
God reigns. not a voice of rage, but a voice
that our God reigns. And so I pray, brethren, that
in the days to come, whatever happens in our country, whatever
happens with our president, and I'll admit, you know, I've been
upset about the things that have been going on. And I look at
the wicked things that are happening with these voter fraud and all
this stuff that's happening, and it gets frustrating. And
there is, I think, a place for us to be upset and angry about
evil. The Bible says that there is
to be angry and sin not. We can be angered and sin not. There's a certain angry that
is not a sin unto God. And let's not go beyond that,
though. Let's be angry at the wickedness,
but also be sure that God is sovereign over all these things
and that he is working this to the good of them who are the
called. The Bible says that all good things come down from the
Father of lights. He is the one who's giving us
all these things. And if the very worst thing that
happens in this country, it can become a communist, dictatorship,
socialist, Marxist country. They could begin to turn and
take away every religious freedom that we have. They can invade
our church, drag us out into the streets, into prison, or
even worse, persecute us, behead us, shoot us, point blank. And brother, don't think that
that can't come. But the worst thing that they
can do to us is kill us. But the best thing that they
can do for us is kill us. If they kill us, this world is
not our home. If they kill us, the Lord will
avenge his people's blood. Remember the Bible in the Revelation?
It talks about the prayers of the saints. How long, Lord? before
you avenge us, those who had been beheaded for the cause of
Christ, those who had been persecuted and killed because of the cause
of Christ. And he said, wait a little bit longer, wait a little
bit longer, wait a little bit longer, but don't forget there
is a reckoning someday. He will not acquit the wicked,
brethren. So have hope, have hope. We have
a God who is in control. Let us encourage each other.
When you hear your spouse getting all wound up, be that calm, assuring
word that the Lord is in control. I'm thankful that I have a wife
that's reminded me of that. Friends that have reminded me
of that this week. But encourage one another. that
the Lord reigns. Does anybody have any questions?
Any comments or rebukes? Stone me out the door or what?
Run me out on a rail? All right, brethren. This wasn't
a fairy tale today. This is reality. This is what
the Bible teaches us. And so may we learn to live.
May God give us understanding to learn to live in the good
of that, to learn. Listen, there's strength when
we think upon Him. The Bible says, be still and
know that I am God. A lot of times we speak before
we think. I've done that a lot this week.
We act before we consider. We're rash in what we do. Quick
to shed blood is in our nature. But the Bible tells us to be
still, know that I am God. To rest on and think on the things
of God. And so a lot of times I think
if we'll stop and meditate upon the word of God, the Bible says
to think on these things, think on the things that are good and
pure. Think on those things. May God help us to do that. Heavenly
Father, Lord, we come and we ask your help for that. Lord,
all of us are in a place right now, Lord, that we're confused
and we're upset and we're angry. Many of us are losing hope for
this country. But Father, we know that you
are sovereign over it all. So we pray that in our infirmity,
in this fleshly man that looks to the outward things, that looks
to the physical things, that looks to the worldly things.
Father, may you subdue that by that inner man who looks to Christ
and looks to the things of God that reminds us of God's work
in this world and his control over all things. So Father Lord,
I pray that you would strengthen us in our faith strengthen us
in our resolve to not be complainers, to not be people who are quick
to jump off in the flesh after the things of this world, that
we might look to the kingdom of God and remember the work
of the kingdom of God that you have given to us as your church,
that we might continue to spread the good news of the gospel,
Lord. And I thank you for the message today that you have given
to me over the last few hours. to remind me of these very things. But I'm thankful, Father, that
while you may be the elector of our president and our government,
I'm even more thankful that you are the elector to salvation,
that you didn't leave us all in our sin, Father, that you
didn't just pass us all off as unredeemable, but through Christ,
you redeemed us to yourself. that through Christ you loved
us with an everlasting love and elected us unto the salvation
that has nothing to do with our good works, our righteousness
that we could never accomplish. Father, but you freely saved
us from our sin, saved us from damnation, saved us from ourselves. And Father, you will save us
from this wicked and untoward generation. You will save us
from this kingdom of the world. And one day, the kingdom which
is of heaven, the kingdom which is in our heart will be the kingdom
of this land. It will come and we will live
in the good of it, Father, with you forever. We look forward
to that day. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus,
and remove us from all this strife, discontent, sin, and anger, and
hate, Father, may you relieve your people from this world and
this world system and from our own flesh. Father, I pray for
our members that are not here this morning. I pray for Sister
Beth. I pray for Sister Louetta and for Mindy. Lord, I pray that
you might be with them wherever they're at today, where we know
where Sister Louetta and Mindy, our father, we pray that you'd
bless them, help them find a church down where they're at living
now. We pray for Sister Beth. We pray for Brother Ed's son,
Junior. We also pray for him, Lord, and
we ask that you might continue to minister through Brother Ed
and the things that were discussed at times that he was here. Lord,
we pray that those might continue to sit upon his heart and you
by your spirit might draw Lord, we just thank you that my grandma
was able to come here with us this week and for having her
here. I pray, Lord, that you've encouraged us, that you will
edify us through your word. We pray that what we've done
today has been pleasing to you. And we thank you for Christ who
died for us. We thank you for the blood that
was shed to forgive us of our sin, to reconcile us to you,
Father. We pray that you'll be with us
now as we eat. It might be a nourishment to our bodies. And it's in Jesus'
name that we pray, amen.