Now, if you would turn your Bibles
with me to Exodus chapter one. Exodus chapter one. We'll begin our reading in verse
15, read down through the end of the chapter. And the king of Egypt spake to
the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shipprah
and the name of other, Pewah. And he said, when you do the
office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the
stools, if it be a son, then you shall kill him. But if it
be a daughter, then shall she live. But the midwives feared
God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but
saved the men's children alive. And the king of Egypt called
for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have you done this
thing, and have saved the men's children alive? And the midwives
said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian
women, for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives
come in unto them. Therefore God dwelt well with
the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.
And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that
he made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people,
saying, every son that is born ye shall cast into the river,
and every daughter he shall save a life. Thank God for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our father, how thankful we are
that you've given us one more opportunity to meet together
and to open your word, to read it, to study it, to have Christ
preach to us, to have this blessed privilege, to be able to meet
in worship. And Father, I beg of you that
you send your spirit upon us and that you would enable us
to do that this evening, to truly worship you from the heart, to
worship in spirit and in truth. Father, I pray that you would
be with me in this hour. Father, there is no man sufficient
for these things, but you have been pleased to save and edify
and feed your people. through the foolishness of preaching.
Father, I pray that you would tonight enable me to rightly
divide the word of truth and to preach Christ with a true
heart for your glory and a heart for your people. A heart for
your people who need to hear from thee. And Father, be with
your people as we hear. Give us a hearing ear. Apply
your word to our hearts that we all may leave here tonight
thrilled with the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I thank you for
this place, and I thank you for this family of believers that
you've called together. Father, pray that you'd cause
us to be a help and encouragement to each other, that you'd give
us a love one for another, that you'd cause us to be able to
go forward, serving thee, serving our generation by preaching Christ
to them. And Father, I pray you'd be with
us. I pray that you'd be with us in these days as you have
in the past, that you would continue to provide, that you continue
to lead and guide. Father, that you bless your word
as it's preached from this place. Get glory to yourself through
the preaching of Christ in this place. That is our preeminent
prayer. And Father, for your people that
you've called into the valley of darkness and trouble, Sorrow,
Father, we pray for them. We pray that you'd comfort their
hearts with your presence. We pray you'd give them a fulfillment
of your promise that your grace is sufficient. Cause them to
rest in thee. All these things we ask in that
name which is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior,
amen. Now I've titled the message this
evening, Satan's Rage and God's Sovereignty. Now, from the time
before creation, when Lucifer determined to take the throne
of God, Satan has always raged against God. He's always raged
against the people of God. And Satan is a powerful, powerful
enemy, the one that's raging against us. Don't ever go looking
to take him on. I see these false prophets saying,
you know, I rebuke thee, Satan. I'm looking for Satan so I can
rebuke him. Don't do that. Don't go looking
for trouble with an enemy that we can't handle. Even Michael
the archangel wouldn't take on Lucifer head on. In Jude verse
nine it says that Michael the archangel, when contending with
the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not
bring against him a railing accusation. Now this is the archangel with
power and glory that, I mean, just makes us fade into nothing.
He said, the Lord rebuked thee. Even Michael wouldn't deal with
him, so if the archangel didn't try to take on Satan, by all
means, we should not try to do it either. But we do need to
be aware that Satan is still raging, he still attacks God's
church, and the way he does it is by attacking the people, by
attacking the people in the church. I would say that almost all of
the problems in God's church on earth today. I'm talking about
believers, local congregations where believers, where the gospel
is preached. That almost all the problems caused in that church
today are caused by Satan. They're Satan's attacks on the
church. I just think this has to be true
that every single time we see division, every time we see discord,
those are instruments of Satan trying to get our attention off
of Christ alone. And since our flesh is so prone
to that, to falling for that division and that strife and
discord amongst one another, that's very sobering, isn't it?
How easily Satan finds a foothold, something to work with in each
one of us. Remember when Satan tempted the Lord those 40 days.
Satan had to leave because he didn't find anything to work
with. There's no foothold with the Lord, but there is with us.
It's very sobering. But here's a word of comfort
for you. The history of Satan's attacks
against the church on earth is summed up in verse 12 of Exodus
chapter one. But the more they afflicted them,
the more the Egyptians afflicted the Hebrews, the more they multiplied
and grew. And these Egyptians, they had
all the power, they had all the might, and they were the ones
grieved because of the children of Israel. Now throughout history,
that's always been true. The more the church is afflicted,
the more it grows, the more that it is a blessing. That was true
of the early churches. The more they persecuted the
believers in Jerusalem, they just scattered all over the world
preaching the gospel. And they just, they sent that
gospel all over the whole world, turned the world upside down.
That was true in the time of the Reformation. How the kings
tried and tried and tried and tried to stamp out the church. You know, the kings working in
collusion with Rome, trying to stamp out this message of salvation
by grace alone through faith alone. You know, not only did
they fail, that message came into the throne room in England. The more the churches tried to
be stamped out, the more it has flourished. And that is going
to be true until the very end of time. It always has been,
always will be. So I want to look at a comforting
picture of that in our text tonight. Something I believe that we can
all take with us. Satan's rage and God's sovereignty. Number
one is this. Satan attacks Christ by attacking
his church. Verse 15, Exodus chapter one,
And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which
the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other, Pewah.
And he said, when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew
women, and you see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then
she a killing. But if it be a daughter, then
she shall live. Now here's Pharaoh's philosophy.
If you kill all the boy babies, the race will die out. And that's
true, that was Pharaoh's objective. It was, I mean, have you ever
heard anything more wicked than this? I mean, how devastating
it is to these mothers. I mean, we just can't imagine
that someone would take a, help you deliver a baby, and if that
baby's a son, take it and kill it. I mean, you just can't imagine
such a thing. But that was Pharaoh's objective
so that the Israel race would die out. But there's something
a whole lot deeper going on here. Satan was behind this. I promise
you Satan was behind this, working in Pharaoh's heart the same way
he worked in Judas' heart. Satan wanted to kill, wanted
to prevent the seed of woman from ever being born. He wanted
to kill Christ and stop him from ever coming. If he could stop
the seed of woman from even being born, Satan would achieve his
goal, wouldn't he? He would stop God's purpose of
redemption. He'd stop the Savior from being
born. And here's another thing that Pharaoh thought. He thought
if the Israelite women, if they don't have any Israelite men
to marry, they're gonna be forced to marry Egyptians, right? Well,
then the Israelites will be so watered down, you don't have
to worry about them anymore. They'll just be absorbed into
Egyptian society. But now that's a picture of how
Satan attacks God's church today. Now, we all know the story. 4,000
years ago, Satan failed to stop the seed of woman from being
born. No, the Egyptian midwives didn't kill those babies. But
Satan still hadn't given up. Just because he failed that time,
he didn't throw up his hands and say, well, I quit. He's still
raging. He's still raging today. He's
still attacking the church today, trying to get us to do what Pharaoh
was wanting to do. Water down the gospel. Oh, if
we can mix grace and words, before long, grace will be gone. Here's
the thing that Satan fears. grace. Pharaoh, he feared the men. He
wasn't worried about the women. He didn't think the women could
ever rise up and do him any harm, but he feared the men. So he
wanted to get rid of the men. Satan fears grace. He fears grace. And if he can get a mixture of
grace and works, the message will be so watered down, Christ
won't be preached at all anymore. If he can get the attention Somehow
on the flesh, the works of the flesh, the prestige of the flesh,
he can do something to affect it and get everybody thinking
about what the flesh can do. He's won the whole shooting match. All he's got to do is just mix
grace and works. He doesn't even have to get somebody
to turn completely apostate. He just got to get him to mix
grace and works. He doesn't have to get somebody
to deny that Jesus lived and died. He didn't have to get anybody
to deny that Jesus is the Savior. All he's got to do is get somebody
to think, yes, Jesus is the Savior, but I got to do my part. And
grace is destroyed. There's no more message of salvation
for sinners. Now, that is why it is so serious
that we only preach Christ, only. I make no apologies for being
very, very, very dogmatic about that. Because we can never refuse
to compromise. If we do, grace will be gone
from our midst. You know, I care a great deal
about this community, the community of Ashland. It has been my home
my entire adult life. It's the place that, I attended
worship services from the time I was 11 years old. And I know
our neck of the woods, people look at us as hillbillies and
kind of backward and kind of, you know what? But I have to
tell you, I love her. I mean, I just do. And this congregation,
I mean, words can't express how much I love you. The horror of
thinking that we compromise so that grace is not in this place
anymore. I can't even bear to think about
it. I can't even bear to think about it. If that happens, there'll
be no more message that'll save God's people. There'll be no
more message that comforts the hearts of God's people. There'll
be no more message that's teaching grace, that's teaching God's
people. I mentioned earlier, I was talking
to Betty Groover earlier this week, And she made this statement. She said, you know, old folks
need the gospel preached to them too. And I said, Betty, I know
that. And I said, I've always viewed
that this way. That for a believer who's up
in years that knows the time must be short. I've always viewed
that as like a marathon runner. You need a Gatorade in that last
mile. A whole lot more than you did
the first mile. We need some help. But if we
compromise, that's not going to be there for those that we
cherish and esteem so highly. It's just such a horrible thought
to me. We can never compromise for any
reason. Any reason. All right. Pharaoh says, now if we can get
rid of the men, We don't have to worry about the women, are
we? Where's my second point? God sovereignly protects his
church. God sovereignly does it so that
we know God did it. Verse 17 in our text says, but
the midwives feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded
them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt
called for the midwives and said unto them, why have you done
this thing? And have saved the men children
alive. And the midwife said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women
are not as the Egyptian women. The Egyptian women, they're kind
of wimpy, they're soft. For these Hebrew women, they're
lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Now you'll notice that God did
not thwart Pharaoh's plan by the strength and power and ingenuity
of the Israelites, did he? God used Egyptian women. who
worked directly for Pharaoh to stop his plan. Pharaoh wasn't
worried about women at all, was he? And it was the women that
stopped his plan. Women from his own country. And
here's how God did it. These aren't the only two midwives
that people think they're probably like supervisors, you know, midwives.
At this time, the estimates are that there were two million Israelites. Well, two women can't handle
all the births, you know, for all those people. So these are
probably like the supervisors or something. And God used these
women to stop this evil, wicked plan. And he did it by giving
them faith. It says here they feared God. They feared God. They feared
God because God gave them faith. The only way we're ever going
to fear God is if he gives us faith in Christ. I know they
had faith, faith in the heart, because faith in the heart, if
it's genuine, it always acts, always. The book of James tells
us, how do we know Abraham believed God? How do we know Abraham believed
that God was gonna bring the Messiah through Isaac? How do
we know that? Because he was willing to offer Isaac on the
altar, figuring God raised him from the dead. There's faith
in Abraham's heart, so he acted. There's faith in Rahab's heart.
That's why she hid the spies. She acted, faith in her heart
acted. These women had faith and they acted in love, saving
how many babies alive? It's hard to tell how many they
saved alive. They feared God. I sure would like it if God put
the fear of God in our hearts. I don't watch these news channels
and all those things. I do watch the nightly news sometimes.
All these 24-hour news, I don't watch them. Because their job
is to either make you afraid or make you scared to death.
That's their job. You know what will deliver you
from that? The fear of God. The fear of God always delivers
us from the fear of men. Because if we fear God, we're
going to know this. God's sovereign over these. God's
sovereign over this thing. Men aren't doing this. God is. And these ladies' names, Shifra,
it means fair or beautiful. And Pua means splendid or to
glitter. Do you know that's what faith
in Christ makes all God's people? It makes us fair and beautiful. It makes us splendor, to glitter,
That faith in Christ makes us splendid in God's sight. Now
you imagine such a thing. Sinners like us being made splendid
in God's sight. The only way that's possible
is if God gives us faith in His Son. See, it's the faith that
God gives us. It's the beauty that God gives
us. It's just like Ezekiel's baby. Remember in Ezekiel 16,
he found that baby out there in the field, cast out to the
loathing of its person, polluted in its own blood. And God passed by that baby and
said, it was your time of love. I say unto you, live. And he
made that baby grow and become beautiful. And God said, you
know why you're beautiful? It's my comeliness, my comeliness
that I put on you. God made her beautiful. It's
God's comeliness that makes us beautiful. And that's the only
way you and I can ever be beautiful in God's sight, is he gives us
faith in his son. And that makes his people Beautiful,
not just grudgingly accepted, beautiful, beautiful in God's
sight. And I also find this kind of
humorous. These women, they suddenly put
the blame on Pharaoh for the failure of his plan. Did you
notice that? They said, well, you know, Pharaoh, You made them
serve in such rigor for so long. You've made them strong. This
thing that you've done, you made them so strong. They got plenty
of strength to deliver their babies on their own. They don't
even need us. Janet did not find this very
humorous when she was giving birth to our children, but her
grandmother would come visit her after she had The babies,
you know, Janet had C-section, she's all sewed up, she's all
hurting, all this stuff. Janet loved her grandmother like
nobody else, but this is what Gammy said. She said, you know,
women today just aren't like women used to be. She said, women
used to be out working the fields, they'd go give birth to their
baby, and then they'd go back out and finish picking that roll
of beans. Now, I don't know if that's true or not. But you know
what would make that true? A life of rigor. I mean, if you're,
I mean, maybe that's possible. You go through the Depression,
I mean, you're tough as a pine nut, I don't know. But that's
what these ladies told Pharaoh was the problem. You made them
so strong, now they just give birth on their own. They don't
even need us. But you know what? Because of
what they did? Because they would not kill those boy babies. Now,
they had faith. God is sovereignly ruling in
this thing. See, this isn't just a story
for now. What is God working in this? You know, we should
remember that when something happens in our everyday life. It's not just right now. It's
not just me. If I could quit thinking, just
about me, how this directly affects me. God's working something here. Remember, Satan was trying to
stop the seeded woman from being born, wasn't he? But God's sovereignly
overruling this thing. Because these women did what
they did, Moses the deliverer was born safely. And Pharaoh
ended up raising him and educating him. Because these ladies feared
God. They wouldn't do this wicked,
wicked thing. Joshua. The great type of Christ
bringing his people into rest was born. Caleb, the faithful
dog, was born at this time. Eventually, David, the sweet
psalmist of Israel, was born. Where would we be without all
those psalms? I mean, how many times do you go read a psalm?
If these ladies hadn't done what they did, Solomon, the wise king,
would not have been born. Isaiah, the prophet, would not
have been born, to write thus in Isaiah 53 about this one who's
coming to save. And eventually, because of what
they did, Christ the son of David was born. The seed of woman was
born. God preserved the salvation of
his people and he did it by his sovereign power alone. He didn't need any help from
anybody, from the Israelites or any, Anybody else? And God
did it this way by using these two Egyptian women to do this
so that we know God did this. God, it's the only explanation.
God moved in their hearts and made them do that. The Lord gave
his people help from a very unlikely source, didn't he? From the very
Egyptians who were trying to destroy him. Remember the opening
reading we had to open service? The Lord sent ravens to feed
Elijah during a time of famine. If there's no rain falling, there's
no crops growing, this is a time of famine. Food is hard to come
by. And ravens who would normally
just eat anything, flesh or bread or, I mean, they'd just eat anything.
I mean, they're just garbage cans. They did not eat the bread,
but brought it to Elijah. They didn't eat the meat, they
brought it to Elijah to eat. They did something totally against
their nature. because our God is sovereign,
and he uses that sovereignty to sovereignly protect the salvation
of his people, to accomplish it, to protect it, and to preserve
it. All right, here's the third thing. God blesses the faith that he
gives. Verse 20, therefore God dwelt
well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very
mighty, And it came to pass because the midwives feared God that
he made them houses. Now, Moses says here that the
Lord made them houses. What he means is the Lord gave
them many, many children, many grandchildren, and all their
children prospered. This was this, their house, their
family name was a name that was well known. There was many of
them and they prospered. And at that time, all the people,
but especially women, especially women felt like this is Best
blessing a Lord could give a woman, that He give her many children.
And that those children would grow and prosper and do well.
That was just a sign of God's blessing if He gave you lots
of children. Having a lot of children, that gives a woman
protection, doesn't it? I mean, those children will be
able to take care of her in their old age and provide for her and
be around her and stuff. Having many children meant your
family name would live on, that you would not be soon forgotten.
Now I'm gonna show you a couple scriptures. Look first at Ruth
chapter four. Ruth chapter four. I'm going
the wrong way, hang on a second. These scriptures show us, this
is what these people thought of, what a blessing this was
from God to have children. Look at Ruth four verse nine.
And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, your
witnesses this day, that I bought all that was a limulex and all
that was chileans and all that was melons of the hand of Naomi.
Moreover, Ruth of Moabitus, the wife of Melon, have I purchased
to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance,
that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren
and from the gate of his place. Your witnesses this day, And
all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, we're
witnesses. The Lord make the woman that
has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too
did build the house of Israel and do worthily an effort to
be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house be like the
house of Phares. The Lord make you a house, whom
Tamar barren to Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give
thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth and she was
his wife. And when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And if you
read the rest of that genealogy listed there, I mean, Ruth and
Naomi were as good as dead. They're beggars, they got as
low as they could possibly go, and they meet Boaz, the kinsman
redeemer. I mean, just a snuff would have
ended Naomi and Ruth's life, But God saved him alive. And
not only did he do that, he made them a house. You know who came
from this union, from this marriage. King David. David the King. And eventually, you know who
was born from this idolatrous woman who met the kinsman redeemer? The Savior himself. Christ the
Savior. God sovereignly did. Made them
a house. Look at 2 Samuel. Second Samuel
chapter seven. Verse eight. Now therefore, so
shalt thou say unto my servant David, thus sayeth the Lord of
hosts. I took thee from the sheep coat
and from following the sheep to be ruler over my people, over
Israel. And I was with thee, whithersoever
thou winnest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy
sight. And I've made thee a great name, like unto the name of the
great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place
for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell
in a place of their own, and move no more, neither shall the
children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time.
And as since the time, that I commanded the judges to be over my people
Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies.
Also the Lord telleth thee, he will make thee an house. He's
gonna make you a house. And when thy days be fulfilled,
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers. I will set up thy seat after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I'll establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name, and I'll establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Now the Lord promised David here
that he's gonna make him a house. And that's a great blessing.
You see now, that's a blessing. And I know the Lord meant Solomon. He's gonna raise up Solomon to
be king after David. But the Lord meant a whole lot
more than Solomon, didn't he? The Lord meant, and David understood
this, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of woman, the Savior,
is coming through his house, through him. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the one greater than Solomon, has come. He's the one that's
gonna establish God's house. He's gonna establish it forever. It's not the house of David.
It's not a house over there somewhere in Israel, in the Holy Land. This is the house of God. This
is the house where the family of God dwells safely. Christ
established it, and he is the house, isn't he? It's him. Christ
is coming. That's what he promised David.
And all those people I mentioned they were all born. They all
fulfilled the purpose of God. Because these Egyptian women,
they feared God and they acted on the faith that God gave them.
And God blessed them greatly for that. Now let's not be mistaken. I don't want anybody to mistake
this. The Lord did not bless these ladies for their works.
You know, I haven't started out preaching salvation by faith,
but you got to keep it by your works. You know, salvation is
by grace alone, but you got to be blessed by your works. That's
not what I'm saying at all. You and I will never do one blessed
thing to ever deserve any blessing or favor from God. Not one ever. But this is also true. The promise
of God is this. He will bless those that honor
him. I don't feel any need, Jonathan,
to reconcile those two things. You and I will never do one thing
to deserve God's blessing, but he will honor those that honor
him. In John 12, verse 26, this is what the Lord said. If any
man serve me, him will my father honor. He will. Look at 1 Samuel
2. I'm gonna show you some scriptures
on this. I hope it'll be very encouraging
to you. 1 Samuel 2. God's given us this great blessing. This great blessing of having
a ministry here, having a place to worship. Let's not quit. Let's not quit. 1 Samuel 2 verse
30. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel
saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father
should walk before me forever. But now the Lord saith, be it
far from me, for them that honor me, I will honor. And they that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed. Now, I don't want to honor God
so he'll bless me. I want to honor God because he's
worthy of it. I want to honor God because that's what we should
do. But the Lord does promise those that honor me, I will honor. All right, look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, now
we've got the victory, brethren, we've got the victory. It's through
Christ, he's given us the victory. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, be unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. This I promise you. You serve
God. Whatever it is God's given you
the opportunity to do, you do it. Whatever it is, the door
that God opens for you to do something in His service, you
do it by faith. And you'll never waste your time.
You'll never, ever waste your time acting in faith. That's
what God promises. I look at Galatians chapter 6. Galatians 6. Verse seven. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,
but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life
everlasting. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season
we shall rage. or we shall reap if we faint
not. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are
of the household of faith. Don't become weary in well-doing. Don't become weary acting in
faith. Don't become weary serving God, thinking this is a waste
of time, this isn't doing anybody good. Don't be weary. The Lord's
gonna send a harvest eventually. Our job, is not to produce the
harvest. Our job is to serve God. Don't
become weary in well-doing. And then one more scripture,
Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter six. In verse nine. But beloved, we're persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany salvation. This
faithfulness and this serving God is keeping on serving Him,
continuing to trust Him. These are the things that accompany
salvation, though we thus speak. For God has done unrighteous
to forget your work and your labor of love, which you've showed
toward His name, and that you've ministered to the saints and
do minister. And we desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
to the end, that you be not slothful, but followers of the end. who
through faith and patience inherit the promises. Just keep acting
in faith and love. God's not gonna forget that.
God's not gonna forget. Let's not ever forget and become
slothful in serving one another and showing love to one another
and seeking to help one another. Now I want you to understand
what these verses are saying. I'm not saying you do this and God will bless
you, like this is investing. What I'm wanting to show us is
I'm exalting the grace of God. God blesses the faith that he
gives. It's God that makes us desire
and able to do these things to serve one another. It's God that
puts it in us. God does it. And then he blesses
us for doing what he made us do in the first place. That's
exalting the grace of God. God is going to sovereignly bless
his people. Now you just bank on it. Bank
on it. God's gonna bless his people.
And he's gonna use his sovereign power to do it. Now that's such
good news. There's nothing to worry about.
There's just, you know. Well, let's not forget this. Here's
the fourth point. Satan still rages on. He rages on anyway. Back in our text, Exodus 1, verse
22, And Pharaoh charged all his people
saying, every son that is born, you shall cast into the river,
and every daughter you shall save alive. Pharaoh just wanting
his people just, you know, every once in a while go through the
neighborhoods here of the Israelites, you see a boy baby or a boy toddler,
throw him in the river and drown him. It's just about the most evil
thing I can think of. I mean, I just, it's just, you
just can't hardly fathom it. that somebody would throw a baby
and drown him in the river. I mean, just unimaginable. But that just shows Satan will
never quit. He will never quit. But that's
okay. Because our God's never gonna
quit being sovereign either. God's gonna always sovereignly
rule everything in his creation. He's gonna always move all the
events of time together just like gears in a clock. to accomplish
the salvation of His people and preserve Him to the end. God's
going to do that. He's got the sovereign power
to do it. He's promised to do it. Then what are we to do? Keep
trusting Christ. Keep depending on Christ. Let's
not say, okay, well, we've got this problem. I'm going to roll
up my sleeves and get it. Let's keep depending on Christ.
Eventually, we're going to roll up our sleeves, but let's wait
until the Lord directs us, okay? See what I'm saying? Let's depend
on Him. I hope that'll be a blessing
to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
this, your word, the word that you've given to your people that
gives us such assurance, assurance of salvation, assurance that
all things are working together for good to those that love you,
to those that trust your son. And Father, we pray you'd give
us the grace and the faith to trust you, and to keep trusting
you, to serve you and to keep serving you. And Father, that
you may be pleased in some way to cause that for the gospel
to reach your people, to reach those that don't know you, to
cause your gospel to reach the hearts of your people that need
comfort and instruction and edification especially. Father, use it for
your glory and the good of your people, we pray. Father, it's
in Christ's name, for his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.