Those of you who were with us
last Lord's Day will know that today's study is the last half
of last week's sermon. Coming to the threshold of a
new year, I thought it would be profitable to us as the people
of God to consider what it is to think Christianly as we face
a new year. And I suggested that such a discipline
of mind is essential in the light of the biblical doctrine of how
the people of God are progressively sanctified. That is, how do we
more and more become conformed to the image of Christ and to
the revealed will of God. The Apostle gives us a very clear
guideline concerning that issue in Romans 12, 2, where he says,
Be not fashioned according to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So that the pattern
of our lives is determined by the pattern of our thought. As
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And with the world
continually pressing upon us its perspectives concerning how
to face a new year, it is essential for the people of God to think
biblically, to think Christianly concerning this very practical
subject. And though there are many things
that could be said, I suggested last Lord's Day that the most
important things could be collated under two headings. Number one,
what we can know with certainty concerning ourselves in the coming
year, and secondly, what we can know with certainty concerning
God in the coming year. Last week we only had time to
consider the three simple, fundamental things that we can know with
certainty concerning ourselves. As we think of the year 1976,
what can we know about ourselves? And I suggested from the Word
of God we can know, number one, the uncertainty of the events
of the coming year. The scriptures say boasts not
thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth." Proverbs 27.1. In the New Testament, James says,
Ye know not what shall be on the morrow, let alone any succession
of morrows. James 4 and verse 14. Secondly,
we can know with certainty not only the uncertainty of the events,
but the brevity of the time allotted to us. The scriptures everywhere
assert that the time allotted to us passes so quickly. James says, Ye are a vapor that
appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away. And
then thirdly, we can be sure of the accountability of all
that we do during this present year. For the scriptures tell
us, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. We shall give account of the
deeds done in the body. Romans 2 speaks of our accountability
for our thoughts and for the very secrets of our hearts. Now, this morning, I want to
move from what we can know for sure about ourselves to what
we can know with certainty about the living God. And when I say
God, I speak as a Christian. Therefore I speak as one who
believes that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So when I use the general term
God in our study this morning, I am using it having reference
to the living and the true God who is Father, who is Son, who
is Holy Spirit. Now, what can we know with certainty
about God? Let me suggest three fundamental
things this morning for your edification. We can know, first
of all, His sovereign rule over all the events and circumstances
of the coming year. Secondly, we can know for certain
his special care for his own in 1976, and we can know with
certainty his saving purpose for the coming year. First of
all, then, as we face all the uncertainty of our own lives,
the events in our homes, our country, our nation, the world,
we should find tremendous consolation and stability as the people of
God facing all those uncertainties with this absolute certainty
as one of the most fundamental convictions of our minds and
of our hearts. Namely, God's sovereign rule
over all the events and circumstances of 1976. In other words, we face
the coming year with belief in the living God of the Bible,
and the living God of the Bible is the sovereign ruler of every
atom in his universe. We do not face the coming year
as deists, but as theists. You say, well, what in the world
do you mean by that? Well, simply this. A deist is one who professes
to believe on the basis of human reason. He sees a world that
has some indication of a creative power and he reasons. God took
all the raw materials. He put them together. He established
the world. He worked into it certain laws. The principles by which ecology
would operate, the principles by which our own bodies would
operate, and then he took his hands off and says, now I've
made it and I've got it going, now let it do its own thing.
To illustrate it, God made the clock, put a spring in it, all
the wheels, all the cogs, all the arms, wound it up, took his
hands off, and he lets it wind down according to its own inherent
power and principles. That's a deist. We are not deists.
We face the coming year as theists, that is, those who believe in
the one God who is creator and ruler of his universe and who
is known by revelation. We face the coming year, I trust,
as full-blown theists who believe that the God who created sustains
and rules in his world. Now, why do we do so? Well, because
of the explicit testimony of the Word of God. And I direct
your attention not to many passages, because that would be an exercise
that could go on for hours, but just some pivotal passages from
the Old and the New Testaments. In the 42nd Psalm, Psalm 42,
the people of God are called upon to engage themselves in
wholehearted praise to God. Oh, clap your hands, all ye peoples. Shout unto God with the voice
of triumph. And remember, this was long before
the advent of modern Pentecostalism. The people of God are called
upon to be so taken up with the wonder of who God is that they
must express it physically. They must clap their hands for
joy. They must not just whisper or
mumble or groan out a reluctant expression of praise. They are
to shout unto God with the voice of triumph. They are to be so
taken up with their vision of God that they feel like triumphant
soldiers who have seen their enemies conquered and who shout
the shout of victory. Now, in what particular light
is the psalmist contemplating God that calls forth such vigorous
expressions of praise? Verse two. Four. Clap your hands,
ye people. Shout unto God. Four. The Lord
Most High is terrible. That is, He is a God who is full
of terror in the majesty of His reign. He is a great King over
all the earth. Here is the contemplation of
the psalmist standing within the people of God, who knew something
of God's kingship in a way that was peculiar to the nation of
Israel, and yet they saw that Israel's king and God was king
over the whole earth. Verse 8, God reigneth over the
nations. God sitteth upon His holy throne. How can we know for sure in 1976
that God will sovereignly rule over every event and every circumstance
in the world? We know it because He is a great
King over all the earth. Again, in the Psalms 103 and
verse 19, Psalm 103 and verse 19, having contemplated the Lord, as the great benefactor who forgives
the sins of His people, who sustains them in life, who is merciful
and patient, who is loving Father, who is tender and compassionate,
who removes His people's sins as far as the east is from the
west. You see, from all that we might
call the great personal, detailed, intimate aspects of God's relationship
to His people, But Thomas backs off and he sees something grander,
something more glorious, something more pervasive than God's dealings
with him as an individual. Verse 19, The Lord hath established
his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. You see, you'll be blighted if
all you see is that which is revealed in Scripture concerning
God's intimate, detailed concerns towards you as an individual.
You must back off and behold Him for what He is. He is the
God whose kingdom ruleth over all. And then the classic statement,
of course, in the New Testament, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
11, the little phrase concerning the God who has saved his people,
who has purposed redemption for an innumerable company whom no
man can number. The Apostle tells us, verse 11
of Ephesians 1, In whom also, that is, in Christ we were made
a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him
who worketh, not just redemption, not just the salvation of His
people, but who worketh all things after the counsel of His will. And then perhaps the grandest
statement in all of Holy Scripture, Romans 11 and verse 36, having
dealt with the mystery of God's dealings with the nation of Israel
in grace and in judgment, God's dealings with the Gentile nations
in judgment and now in grace, the hardening of Pharaoh, the
rising up of some, the raising up of some, and the putting down
of others, after the Apostle has contemplated all these mighty
and weighty and lofty things, he comes to this expression of
praise in Romans 11, verse 36, for of him and through him and
unto him are all things. to whom be glory forever and
forever." You see, all of the events and all of the circumstances
of the coming year are but what I intimated last week. They are
but an exegesis of God's eternal decree. What is God's decree? The answer of the shorter catechism
has never been improved upon. What are the decrees of God?
The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel
of His own will, whereby for His own glory God hath foreordained
whatsoever comes to pass. What are the decrees of God?
The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, that which is laid in
eternity, according to the counsel of His own will, framed by His
own free determination, And what do the decrees touch whereby
for his own glory he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass? Now
how does he execute his decrees? And the answer of the Catechism
is beautiful in its simplicity. God executed his decrees in the
works of creation. He brings a world into being
and providence, a world that he now governs. And what is providence? It is God's most wise and holy
and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures and
all of their actions. That's why Daniel could say in
Daniel 4.35, not Daniel, God got this confession out of a
heathen king. Look at Daniel 4.35, this great God of Daniel the God whom a heathen king came
to know for what he was by strange circumstances. Verse 34 of Daniel,
chapter 4, And at the end of these days I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever. For his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, his kingdom from generation to
generation. and all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay or strike his hand or say unto him, What
doest thou? You see the picture? The will
of God being accomplished in the armies of heaven, all the
celestial hosts, and the scriptures give us to believe that there
is a multitude of heavenly hosts, the angels of God who do His
bidding. He doeth according to His will
among the armies of heaven, down to the last inhabitants of the
earth, That's why Nahum could say he hath his way in the whirlwind,
in the storm, in the clouds, in the dust of his feet, from
the movement in what we would call the atmosphere that affects
the storms and winds. Jesus said, write down, to a
sparrow that falls, not one sparrow falls to the earth without your
Father, Matthew 10, verses 29 and 30. In Psalm 135, verses 5 and 6,
the psalmist celebrates this all-pervasive control of God
in his world and says, I know that the Lord is great and that
our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that hath He done in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in
all deeps. Oh, dear Christian, do you meditate
upon this truth? Think of it! Think of it! Whether
we turn to the macrocosm, that is, we think of the universe
in its vastness, standing with an articulate astronomer there
upon Mount Palomar, looking through that 200-inch reflecting telescope,
and we have someone talk to us about galaxies that are thousands
and millions of light-years away. Think of it, Christi. There is
not one motion of the smallest star in the farthest galaxy that
breaks the boundaries of the sovereign rule of God. Then turn
to the microcosm. From the macrocosm, the expanse
of the galaxies, to the movement of every last atom, Now you stretch
your mind with that for a while and you'll lose your appetite
for some silly little soap opera on the television. You meditate
upon that, my Christian friend, and you'll begin to lose your
preoccupation with your own little psychological itch. You'll begin
to lose your maudlin, selfish preoccupation with your own petty
little feelings. You think upon a God like that,
You begin to find who you really are as a creature. For we were
made to stand in amazement in the presence of such a God, doing
according to His will in the armies of heaven, caring for
the falling of a sparrow to the motion of the atom. And as we
face the coming year, what can we know about our God? We can
know with certainty His sovereign rule over every event and circumstance
of the coming year. Ah, but someone objects, Pastor,
isn't that fatalism? What will be will be? No, no,
my friend, listen carefully. Fate is a heathen God, and fatalism
is a heathen doctrine. You see, fate is like a cold
steel machine with its wheels and its cogs and its levers and
its rollers, but there's no life to it. It just grinds on with
no purpose, no plan, no pulsing heart, no warmth of feeling,
no affection. The God of the Bible is the living
God. He is the God who is described
to us as having a heart and bowels of compassion, the God who knows
and feels and cares. It is not fatalism, the cold
steel wheels of unavoidable events and circumstances falling out
to no purpose, with no wise, loving plan. No, no, my friends,
listen. We are talking about the living
God of the Bible. and the most helpful illustration
I've ever encountered on the difference between fate and this
biblical concept of God who orders all things. I came across it
a week or so ago in reading in B.B. Warfield, who has an article
called What Fatalism Is. And I tried to read this over
a number of times and give it to you in my own words, and I
said, no, I'd spoil it. So I'm going to read. this very
simple. You children latch on to this
now because it speaks about a child, a little boy over in Holland
and some of our Dutch friends will appreciate this. There's
the story of a little Dutch boy, says Mr. Warfield, that embodies
very fairly the difference between God and fate. This little boy's
home was on a dike in Holland near to a great windmill. Now
some of you have seen at least pictures of windmills and the
big wide arms that would turn when the wind came, and the long
arms swept so close to the ground as to endanger those who carelessly
strayed under them. But this little boy was very
fond of playing precisely on that spot where the arms of the
great windmill swept close to the ground. His anxious parents
had forbidden him to go near it, and when his stubborn will
did not give way, they sought to frighten him by arousing in
him an awareness of what would happen if he was ever struck
by the arms of that windmill and carried up into the air to
have the life beaten out of him by the ceaseless strokes of the
windmill. But one day, this little boy,
heedless of their warning, strayed under those dangerous arms and
was soon absorbed in his play at the precise spot of danger,
forgetful of everything but his present pleasures. Perhaps he
was half-conscious of a breeze springing up, and somewhere in
the depth of his soul whom he may have been obscurely aware
of the danger that was drawing near to him. But at any rate,
suddenly as he played, he was violently smitten from behind,
and found himself swung all at once with his head downward up
into the air. And then the blows came, swift
and hard, Oh, what a sinking of his boyish heart! What a horror
of great darkness! It had come then, and he thought
to himself, I am gone. In his terrified writhing he
twisted himself about, and looking up saw not the immeasurable expanse
of the brazen heavens above him, but his father's face. At once
he realized with a great relief that he was not caught in the
mill, He was only receiving the threatened punishment of his
disobedience. The little boy melted into tears,
not of pain, but of relief and joy. In a moment, he understood
the difference between falling into the grinding power of a
machine and into the loving hands of a father. That's the difference
between fate and predestination and all the language of men cannot
tell the immensity of the difference. Do you see it? Do you see it?
There's a machine operated upon by the brute forces of nature,
which if they caught the boy would have beat him to death
with no feeling and no heart. That's fate! But what this boy
was feeling was a loving father who yanked him by the ankles,
turned him upside down and began to thrash him, that he might
learn his lesson to the end. that that boy might be more submissive
to his father as well as for his own good. O child of God,
is not this the basis of any stability of mind and heart as
we face the unknown, the uncertain, personally, domestically, nationally,
internationally? We're not nervous about the activities
of President Ford Secretary Kissinger and Congress and Brezhnev and
Mao Zedong. We pray. I hope we pray. 1 Timothy 2 says we're to pray
for kings, for rulers, for those in authority. I hope we are intelligent
citizens that we're able to make competent decisions. But, my
friend, listen. Are you nervous about these things? Concerned? Yes? Do our hearts
bleed at the open sores of humanity? Yes, but nervous, distraught
to the place where we somehow have a suspicion that there is
some little thread in the fabric of the universe that has slipped
out of the hands of God? Our vision is that of John 17.3. We look at our lovely Lord on
the eve of His crucifixion. Lifting up His eyes to heaven,
He says, Thou hast given me authority over all flesh." On the eve of
His ascension, He says these words, "'All authority hath been
delivered unto Me in heaven and upon the earth.'" Ephesians 1.23,
God has exalted Him to be head over all things. Macrocosm, microcosm,
head over all things to His church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. You see, dear Christian, the
biblical doctrine of predestination, and that's all I've been giving
you, and I didn't use the term until the end. The biblical doctrine
of predestination is simply that which I have opened up to you
this morning. It is not a theological abstraction. It is not a concept
to be debated for the sake of debate. It is the sheet anchor
of the soul of the Christian to know with certainty that our
God is in the heavens. He does whatsoever He pleases. Has that truth become a deep
religious conviction to you? You'll never learn it in abstraction. It's when this wise, loving God
who is executing His decrees in creation and providence begins
to take you by the heels and turn you upside down and lay
it on you, that you begin to understand that you're in the
hands of a loving Father. And may I say to the unconverted
among us, God have mercy on you. For you're dealing not with a
capricious God who threatens judgment today and will somehow
be found of a different disposition tomorrow. You fall into the hands
of the living God, the scripture says, and it's a fearful thing.
You'll never catch Him in a capricious moment. You won't catch him at
a moment when he does not look at his holy law and take full
cognizance of all the ways in which you've trampled underfoot
that law and defied the authority of the living God. Every thought,
every work, every word he'll bring into judgment. You see, what comes with great
consolation to the people of God should strike terror into
the heart of the unconverted. But I must hurry on. We can know
with certainty not only the sovereign rule of God in the coming year,
but secondly, His special care for His owner in the coming year. Although God exercises an all-embracing
rule in all of His creation and over all the actions of all men,
The Scriptures teach us that He exercises a special providence
to His own in terms of a special relationship that He sustains
to His own. You got that? You see, the special
relationship brings into its orbit peculiar activity. Now, what is the orbit of God's
special relationship to His own? It's the orbit of the covenant
of grace. That is the divine initiative
both to plan and to execute mercy toward a specific people because
of who Christ is and what Christ has done. Now all who are His
people stand within the framework of that covenant of grace in
which God has made wonderful promises to His own Son and to
His people in the Son. And David could say of God's
covenant commitments to him what we must learn to say with intelligent
faith concerning God's covenant commitments to us. 2 Samuel 23
and verse 5, Verily, my house is not so with God yet. He hath
made with me an everlasting covenant. ordered in all things and sure,
for it is all my salvation and all my desire. O child of God,
that you would learn to say this with intelligent faith. God hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
and this is all my salvation. and all my desire." In other
words, the ground of all my confidence is that which God has committed
Himself to do in a covenant of grace. And all my expectations
are based upon that covenant. For you see, He has only begun
to do what He has purpose to do to those with whom He has
entered into covenant. The best is yet to come. We have
an earnest, a down payment, a foretaste. And we need, as the people of
God, to believe that within the framework of that covenant, God
exercises a special care. Where does He say this? Well,
in many portions, but let's take just one, the most familiar one.
You all know it. Romans 8 and verse 28. And we
know that all things work together
for good for all people? No, no. No, no. It doesn't say
that. That God controls all the events of all people is taught
everywhere in Scripture. But this passage says we know
that all things work together for good to a specific class
of people, to those who love God. And now he describes, as
it were, the very origin of that love. to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to purpose. You see, there was
divine initiative that made them His special people, and the same
initiative that made them His special people is operative to
provide a special providence, making all things work together
for their All of the provisions in that covenant are graciously
and eternally designed. They were purchased by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and now they are infallibly provided and applied
by the Holy Spirit. Child of God, what can you and
I know about the coming year? We can know not only this glorious
truth asserted in the first heading this morning. God's sovereign
rule over all, from the macro to the microcosm. But we can
be assured of His special care to us who are His own. Having taken the initiative in
our salvation, the same God now, knowing our frame, Psalm 103,
tenderly nurtures us as His people. You have that beautiful picture
in Ephesians 5. Christ is the heavenly bridegroom,
nourishes and cherishes his church. In both words, I don't know how
else to say it, but they drip with the most intimate connotations
of the feminine aspects of parenthood. What does a mother do? I mean,
a proud papa holds the baby, but it just doesn't quite seem
right in his arms. As hard as he just doesn't quite
seem there. But see that same child laid
upon a mother's breast. Somehow it just fits. Well that's
the connotation of those words. He nourishes to hold close to
warm, to fondle. He nourishes and cherishes His
covenant people, His church, those whom He purchased, those
upon whom the Father set His love in eternity and gave to
the Son when they were chosen in Him. This is not something
I am to understand as I interpret God's providences towards me.
No, no. I am to understand this on the
basis of revelation. and interpret the providences
from this. See the difference? If you look
at God's providences in order to read His heart, you're going
to come up with heresy. If you look at God's providences
in order to read His heart, you're going to come up with heresy.
There are many times when providence comes with deep furrows upon
its brow and its nostrils breathe fire, and its countenance is
dark and foreboding. You take Job. In one day, lost
all his wealth, lost his family, shortly thereafter loses everything. But what does he say? The Lord
give him. The Lord take him. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. Didn't William Cooper have that
truth firmly embedded when he penned the line, Ye fearful saints,
fresh courage take. The clouds, ye so much dread,
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.
Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face. How
do you know that? How do you know the sun is there
on a day like today? You can't see it. Anybody here
see the sun? How do you know it's there? Well,
man, the sun's there, and it's going to be there until the Lord
comes and consumes the earth in the fires of the second coming.
Right! Now, how do you know that? Well,
you say, it's been confirmed in my experience. It's asserted
in the Word. Ah, yes. How do I know, then,
that behind a frowning providence there's a smiling face? Because
I believe this truth, that having brought me within the orbit of
His special love and His distinguishing affection, everything in my life
is ordered for my good and for His glory." And Christians give
up trying to interpret providence. Give up trying to interpret it. You see, if I were to take the
fabric that's there on the piano, I'm almost tempted to go pull
it up. Let's take the curtains. There's the fabric of that whole
curtain on that side. Can you imagine someone who got
this up just six inches from his face and there was a tube
and all he could see was about one and a half square inches
and someone said, now what are you looking at? Well, he wouldn't
know if that were magnifying glass. He might be looking at
something wholly different. If it were something that shrunk
it, it might be something else. He would never know what it really
is because his perspective and vision is too limited. But you
sitting out there who can see the whole relationship to the
structure of the building, to the roof, you say it's obvious
what it is. It's a curtain. It fits with all the other things,
granted, because your perspective is broader. Now, my friends,
listen. Trying to figure out providence
is like trying to know what this is, looking at it like this.
Your perspective is too limited. You see, God, the eternal God
who fills eternity and who has purposed and planned everything
that touches your life from eternity with a distinctive end in view,
He alone is confident to see the significance of every thread
in your life in the great expansive view of eternity. And He calls
upon you to believe that it is so. And we wear ourselves out trying
to figure out Providence. And then we wear ourselves out
more trying to fight Providence. That's losing business, friends.
When you're fighting Providence, you're yanking at the hands of
omnipotence. That's losing business. I mean, if I were asked to go
mix it up with some guy 6'4", 275 pounds, who was intercollegiate
heavyweight wrestling champion, I'd just say, take it by forfeit,
buddy. I'm not going to mix it up with
you. I mean, why go out there and get your head busted? You've
got sense enough to say, you know, no contest. Throw in the
towel! Or may I say, without being irreverent,
my friends, capitulate. When God, by a wise providence,
brings things into your life that cut across the grain of
your natural temperament, cut across all of your fondest dreams,
and He blasts them and blows upon them, and you're left with
the ashes! It is the highest act of faith
to fall upon your face and say from the heart, all things are
working together for my good within the framework of the covenant
of grace. Oh, dear unsafe friend, what
a miserable state you're in. You don't know that all things
are working together for your good. All the good things God
showers upon you, you don't know whether God sending them is the
only heaven you're ever going to know. And whether you're just
being fattened for judgment, because the scripture teaches
that, you know. Psalm 73, Romans chapter 2, that some men God fattens them
and ripens them for judgment by showering upon them in His
providence good things that He denies His own children. And
you sit back in your unconverted state and say, God must not be
too upset with me. Look at all the good things.
I've got health. I've got strength. My bills are paid. My friend,
listen. How do you know that's a kind
providence? It may be God ripening you for
judgment. And then when God blasts your
gifts, you can't find consolation because your conscience tells
you this is a preview of the hour when He'll blast all my
fondest dreams, when all my gifts will shrivel in my hands. You
cannot say with a Christian, the Lord give it, the Lord take
it, blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, my friend, would that
we could make you jealous to become a Christian. Would that
we could fill you with jealousy. to be able to face the uncertainties
of the coming year with the confidence that a special, loving Providence
was ordering all the events and all of the circumstances of your
life. But then finally, we can know
for certain as we face the coming year not only God's sovereign
rule, His special care, but the certainty of His saving purposes
in 1976. Have you ever asked yourself
this question at the beginning of a new year? Will this new
year see a completed calendar? Let me make it even more pointed.
Will we be able to check off all 366 days? This is a leap year. I was informed
that I was inaccurate when I said 76 would have 365 days. One among us will have her fourth
birthday this year, a teenager who will have her fourth birthday,
born on that extra day in leap year. But be that as it may,
have you asked yourself, what will determine whether or not
we'll gather next New Year's Eve in each other's homes? What will determine whether or
not all 12 months will be expended on our calendars? with the wickedness
in the earth great, the blood of innocently slain unborn babies,
crying to God with an eloquence and a power that if somehow God
would allow it to become audible to our ears, I believe it would
deafen us more than the most raucous rock group which has
its materials and its equipment tuned up to a thousand decibels. The blood that is crying to God
from our western nations, Great Britain and America, with its
wholesale slaughter of undorned babies, with the abortion racket,
it cries unto God. One man slew his brother, and
God says, Thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. What must be the din in the ears
of God with the millions of murderers being performed in our Western
nations. Having been sold a bill of goods
that the end of life is sex, now we're being sold a bill of
goods that what promiscuous sex produces is not human life, but
just blobs of protoplasm. Why will God bear with that another
366 days? If you were God, would you? Would
you? Is God unmoved by the open sores
of humanity? Granted, all men sinned in Adam,
and no man is innocent. Don't you talk about innocent
people suffering. No human being is innocent. Every
human being in Adam sinned and is under the just condemnation
of God. But God is moved with human suffering,
for God in Jesus Christ is pictured as beholding the multitudes in
sheep with no shepherd. Seeing the hungry, he is moved
with compassion, saved or unsaved. God is not indifferent to the
starving multitudes of the third world, and now they are breaking
down the division into the fourth and the fifth world. God is not
indifferent to the careless affluence of our western civilization that
stops in great measure the bowels of its compassion. And then there's
the saints who are under the altar. We see them there in the
book of the Revelation, who have been martyred for the sake of
Jesus. And they cry out, Lord, how long?
How long before thou avenge our blood upon the earth? And then
there is the wicked who takes advantage of God's long-suffering
and taunts us. 2 Peter 3.1. Where's the promise
of His comfort? Since the fathers fell asleep,
everything continues. My friend, put all those things
together. And I ask the question, Reverend Lee, if you were God,
would you bear with all this for another year? If God does, what's the reason?
May I suggest there is but one fundamental reason? Only one. And I want you to read it in
your Bible, 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. The chapter begins with the account
of the mocking, sneering language of the unbeliever, and then the
promise that he will indeed come. Then the exhortation to believers,
verse 8, don't reckon time in the light of what you know of
time, but remember We're talking about God's timetable, the God
with whom a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as
a day. Then be comforted in the certainty that he shall indeed
come. Verse 10, the day of the Lord will come. The day of the
Lord will come. Oh, Christian, let it write itself
upon the tables of your heart. The day of the Lord will come.
There will be the consuming of all wickedness and wicked men,
the ushering in of the new heavens and the new earth, and in the
light of this, verses 12-14, there is to be a tremendous
practical effect. We are to look for, earnestly
desire the coming of the day of God. Verse 14, we are to give
diligence to be found in peace, without spot, blameless in His
sight. Here is the directive, but now
notice the next phrase, verse 15, and account. In the midst
of our confidence, the day of the Lord will come. in the midst
of our looking for and hastening unto the coming of that day,
in the midst of our preparedness for that day, walking in blameless
holiness before God and men, we are to account something.
We are to have a mind that logically and clearly comprehends something. What is it? Here it is. Account
that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. That's it. We're to know why
history goes on. Why, if 1976 completes its appointed
days on the calendar, it's to be accounted as salvation. That is, the saving purposes
of God must go on until they are fulfilled, and then the day
of the Lord will come. We take our clue from the first
coming. Think of poor Eve. God had said, the seed of the
woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. The first child
born, she says, perhaps this is He. Perhaps the promise is
fulfilled. I have gotten a child with the
help of Jehovah. Then it becomes evident that
that's not the promised seed. and months flow into years and
years into decades and decades into centuries and centuries
into millennia. The Abrahamic covenant and then
the development of the nation and the godly remnant continually
longing, when shall the seed come? When shall the seed come? And then we have that wonderfully
simple word in Galatians 4, for when the fullness of the times
was come, sent forth his son, right on
schedule. The angel came announcing the
conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary, not a day
too early, but a day too late. He moved the heart of that heathen
man to send out a decree that all should be enrolled to be
taxed. Why? Because the prophet had said
he would be born in Bethlehem. He had ordered the rise of the
Roman government, the establishment of Roman roads and communication,
the unifying of the empire under a common language. And you stand
back and say, Lord, if you'd sent him any earlier, it would
have botched the whole thing up. Looking back, we see the
wisdom of God. My friend, listen. After the
second advent, we shall look back and admire the wisdom of
God. When the fullness of the time
was come, he sent him forth the second time. We need, as the
people of God, to live in that confidence that there is ultimately
but one reason Why, this coming year we'll see its completion.
We must account that the long-suffering of God is salvation. The Lord Jesus said, Other sheep
I have, them also I must bring. And we must, in all of our thinking
as we look at the open sores of humanity, the injustices,
the wholesale abandonment to humanistic thinking, the wholesale
absorption with sex and with the temple and with what can
be seen and touched and all the rest, there are times when we
feel, Lord, how long, how long are you God? We need to say,
O God, The only reason the heavens that are still kept in store
now are not being consumed with fire is because you have other
sheep that you intend to bring. And if we believe that, dear
Christian, what an effect it will have upon our lives. What
in the world am I doing to be involved in that great enterprise
which is the rationale for the delay of the Lord? as a housewife, as a father,
in my place of business, in my school? Is it amidst the fulfillment
of all of my many God-given responsibilities? Is it my conscious prayer, Lord,
use me to call out those sheep? Jesus said, He that gathereth
not with me scattereth. My friend, that's where the imperative
of a holy life comes in. If you are not walking in blameless
holiness before your children, before your wife, your husband,
your work associates, you are scattering! Your heart and your life is not flowing
in to that great purpose of salvation. If we're not found seeking to
be enterprising in how we can reach our unconverted relatives
and neighbors. Notice I did not say if we're
not button-holding everyone and giving them a tract, you'll never
hear that said from this pulpit. Perhaps for some of us, the button-holding
and the giving of a tract might be the tangible expression of
a true concern. And sinner, do you see what this
says to you? How long do you think Almighty
God is going to go on? bearing the terrible weight of
your impenitence. How long? Until his saving purposes
are fulfilled, and then he's going to come. On the one hand,
that ought to frighten the wits out of you. God alone knows how
full the role of his elect is. There may be but one more name
on the role of that elect to be gathered in. He may be gathered
in ten minutes from now. I don't know. And if he is, on
one thing I know, the day of the Lord will come. The day of
the Lord will come. There will be the voice of the
archangel, the trump of God. The dead in Christ will rise.
O sinner, you'll shrivel before a coming Lord. Thank God it's
also a tremendous encouragement. My friend, you'll never know. You'll never know what God's
decree to you was until eternity dawns upon you. The fact that
the door of mercy is still open should be the greatest incentive
to run to it and to plead for mercy. There's not one phrase
of scripture that says any sinner presently listening to my voice
cannot be saved. Not a verse. Not a verse. The door of mercy
is open. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Don't wait until that almost terrifying picture of Revelation
6 dawns upon us, when the heavens will be rolled back as a scroll,
and the Lord comes, and then they shall cry to rocks and hills,
fall upon us, hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Imagine! crying
to God, hide us from His wrath. We have no refuge, no place to
go. Call upon mountains, fall upon
us, crush us, annihilate us, do anything, but oh, we must
not face the wrath of the Lamb. My friend, listen. God says,
now call. While the wrath of the Lamb is
restrained, and while He calls in the gentle overtures of grace,
come unto Me. Oh, leave it labored or heavily. You dear children, unsaved husbands,
wives, people who are believers, visitors among us, what will the coming year hold?
It will hold the ongoing of the saving purposes of God. Would
to God that it would find you encompassed within it. You say,
but I can't believe, my friend. Listen, that's a cop-out. You'll never know you can't until
you try. I can't repent! You're not even
trying. You see, every sinner who truly
repents by the gracious enablement of the Holy Spirit was conscious
of repenting. He didn't say, oh, I'm one of
the elect. God's going to give me repentance. Whoopee, now watch
it work. That's why the gospel comes with
the overtures of commandment. God commanded all men everywhere
to repent. This is His commandment, that
ye believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Don't you sit there and cop out
and say, well, I can't repent, can't believe. You're not even
trying. And you get in earnest about trying, and then you find,
oh God, but my heart is so hard. Then you'll understand why Jesus
is set before you as the Savior of hard-hearted sinners. He saves
from hardness of heart. He saves from inability. He saves
from the enslavement of the will. He is Jesus who saves from sin. Is your hard heart sin? Yes or
no? Well, then Jesus came to save you from it. Oh, my friend, know that the
reason January 11th has come to the calendar, a count that
the long suffering of God is salvation. and call upon Him,
embrace the Savior, and know the joy of facing this year with
the confidence that your Father controls the universe. Your Father
will order every event and circumstance within the framework of the covenant
of grace for your good and His glory. And know that your life
has significance because it is through His Body, the Church,
that the purposes of salvation are being realized, and when
they are fulfilled, He that cometh shall come and will not tarry. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Let us pray. seal to our hearts the word,
and O be merciful to impenitent sinners, that this very hour
they may become penitent believing sinners for Jesus' sake.