Thank you, Mike. Thank you all for everything. I have enjoyed myself with the exception of the time when you stand up there
to preach. I would be lying if I said it was totally enjoyable. But if the Lord blesses us, it
is. But I have enjoyed being here.
I'm thankful for you. I thank you for your love to
me, hospitality, and generosity to me. I'm thankful for Fr. John. We've known each other
a long time now. We've been good friends. I grow to appreciate him more
and more as the years go by. I especially appreciate him now,
watching him conduct these services and do all that he does, the
way that he does it, the way that he conducts himself. I just
like the way you do things. Plain man, simple, plain spoken. I like that. I like that. And thank you, Brother Frank,
for that message. That was good. Turn with me,
if you will, to Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy, chapter
32. This is a passage that I briefly quoted to you. Deuteronomy, chapter 32. I brought this message to the
church in Rocky Mount right after that Virginia Tech tragedy. And a tragedy it was. Tragedy
means a terrible event that ends in death. And I wanted our people, as I
want you now, to look at what God's Word says about these things. Not silent. And there's nothing
new. Nothing that has happened that
hasn't already happened. Right? Scriptures are full of
events just like that. Full of them. And my desire,
my hope, my prayer for us is that the Lord will, in the words
of Scripture, unite our hearts to fear Him. For if we fear Him, our children
fear Him, we need not fear anything else. If we fear Him and trust
Him, then we need not fear anything or anyone else. So is this message
vital? I believe it is. Deuteronomy
32. Verse 39, the Lord says, and again, this is to His people,
isn't it? This is through His creature
to His people. See now, verse 39, see now, my
father is a southern gentleman and he used to say that sort
of thing to me. You see here. Did your dad ever
say that to you in that way? You need to sit up and listen.
You see here, see now, that I, even I, am He. And there is no God with me. No small g, O.D. Not even a small g, O.D. You
understand that? Not even a little ruler. in any
way, shape, form or fashion. Read on. I kill and I make alive. I wound, that
means make sick, and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. That's a powerful passage isn't
it? Now this is not the only time
this is recorded in Scripture. Hannah, if you've read her prayer
in 1 Samuel chapter 2, she said the same thing. The Lord killeth. First she said, talk no more
so exceedingly proudly. She said the Lord killeth. and
maketh alive. The Lord bringeth down to the
grave and raiseth up." Now very plainly, our God says, there's no mistake about it,
is there? Actually, there's no mistake
about what God says in His Word anywhere, actually, is there? There are no contradictions. I believe I can say this, that
most things are not necessarily hard to be understood. The problem
is, man will not have it. And none so ignorant as those
that are willing to be ignorant, right? God very plainly says,
I kill if anyone dies. God did. Is that what it said? Read it with me. And he says
in the book of Job, he said man's days are determinant. Who determined
them? The Lord did. His bounds are
set. Right? Is that fatalism? Is that
fatalism? No, it's Job 14.9. It's God's
Word is what it is. As you put in the bulletin, Numbers
23, you cannot lie. The bounds are set, determined,
and nothing and no one can stop it. Someone dies, the Lord did it. There were means involved, weren't
there? A bullet, a war. an automobile, a disease. But the Lord did it. Didn't He
say that? I killed. Heart attack. Well, he slowly
got his arteries clogged and he suffocated. I killed. The Lord said. He did it. Now, the whole point in this
message for God's people is for our comfort. It's appointed unto man once
to die. Appointed. The way, the means,
the time, the day is appointed by an all-wise God. I kill. If someone lives, the Lord
did it. As we say about children that
are born, the Lord did it. Everything about them has been
determined. That's what Psalm 139 says it
doesn't. Before they were born, He knew
all about it. He determined it perfectly. If someone becomes ill or sick,
the Lord did it. Right? If someone is healed,
the Lord did it. So he had a good surgeon, a good
doctor. Well, he practiced a good diet. I wound and I healed, saith
the Lord. Well, she beat cancer. Nailed it. Do and say anything
but give God the glory. Anything. Nobody beats anything. I heal, the Lord says. See, this
gives God all the glory and gives His people and gives the world no excuse
for their blasphemy. I won't. Go to Isaiah 45 with
that. Brother Frank went there and quoted it and read from this.
And I don't mind that. There was a time when I would
have minded that. But I don't. I really don't. Brother, I think it's a good
thing. Brother John called me before
the conference in Kingsport. He was going to preach right
before I did, and he called me very considerately, graciously,
to tell me what he was going to preach on in case I was thinking
about preaching on it, I guess, so we wouldn't take the same
text. I've never had anybody do that.
That was very, very kind, very considerate. But you know, the
more I think about it, Brother John, You know, Scripture says
that at the mouth of two or three witnesses, maybe it'd be a good
thing if we take the same text back to back and break it. That
happened to my father one time. The man right in front of him
took his text. He didn't change it. He got up
and breaks it again. So it was established. This Isaiah
45, look at this. Brother Frank read from verse
21 and 22. We'll get to that in a little
bit. I want you to hold this, Isaiah 45. But in verse 5, the
Lord says, I am the Lord. Now, Lord, the Lord, capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That word is Jehovah, the
eternal one, the self-existent one, the self-sufficient one. Jehovah, the Lord said to His
people in exodus, He said, you're the only ones that know me by
this name. I'm revealing myself to you by this name. No one else
knows me like that. I am Jehovah. That means I am
the self-sufficient, self-existing, needing nothing, needing no one,
depending on nothing and no one. That's what Jehovah meant. I
am that I am. Nothing and no one or anything
has any effect whatsoever on me. Do you understand that a
little bit, as much as we're able? I am the Lord. Everything lives and moves and
has its being in me. There's nothing independent of,
outside of, out from under the control of, the influence of.
acting independently. I'm the only independent being
in the world. I will, and it will happen. I say it, and it happens. The only one. Man can never say,
I will do anything. John, we only can say, I hope,
I wish, across my heart. God says, I will. And it will be. That's what the name Lord means,
Jehovah. That's our God. He reveals Himself
to His people that way. Not the world, but His people.
I am the Lord. There is no other. He keeps saying
this, doesn't He? All the way through, especially
in Isaiah. There is none else. Why does He keep telling us this,
huh? Why does He keep telling us this?
To remind us, His people. Not everybody. The world doesn't
have a clue. They're so ignorant. Fools say,
no God. Everything around declares that
God is. That God is God. But fools know
that they are. There is no God. How ignorant
can you be? But God keeps reminding His people,
I am the Lord. There is none else. There's none
beside me. There's none with me. Never has
been, never will be. I'm it. I am that I am. I am the Lord. There is none
else. There is no God. He said, I girded thee. Verse
5, I clothed you. Though you haven't known Me,
everything you have came from Me. A man can receive nothing
except what? It be given him from above. Every
good and perfect gift cometh down from above. You think about
that. You think about it. Everything
we have comes down. What sustains our life comes
down. Sunlight, water, righteousness. Comes down. He says, I girded
you that they may know from the east to the west. There is none
beside me. I am the Lord. There is none
else. I formed the light. What's the first thing God Almighty
created? Light. Light. If He doesn't give light, what
have you got? Darkness. We're lovers of darkness
rather than light. We have no light unless God gives
it to us. I formed a light. That's a lesson
in it. First thing He created. And create darkness. I make peace
and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. All someone can say is, about
that, all they can say about that is, I don't like it, or I don't believe
that, or Amen. Right? God said it. That's really it. This message
is not an attempt to explain anything. but simply declare
who is God and who does all of them. And for us, as we said,
to both fear and trust the Lord. To fear and trust the Lord because
there is none else. There is none else. Now, he said,
I create peace and I create evil. Go with me to Proverbs 16. Maybe
someone in here hasn't seen this. I believe most have. We have
been so blessed, and you are now, to have a man who preaches God's Word line
upon line, precept upon precept. Without it, there's darkness.
There's ignorance. You don't have a clue. passage in Proverbs 16, verse
4, the Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked,
for the day of evil. That wicked is the wicked one.
Remember when the Lord said, pray this way, keep us from the
evil. Satan is a created being, isn't
he? As I said, I'm not trying to
explain anything. I'm just reading God's Word here,
aren't I? For the day of evil. There's a passage over in, I
believe it's 2 Thessalonians, that talks about only he who
now letteth will let. The mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Even him who's working up Satan. Only he who now letteth, that
means alloweth, permitteth, directeth, lets. Who's he? I'm the Lord. I do all these things. Now the
first thing we need to understand about God Almighty is that we cannot understand
God Almighty. and you're crazy to try to do
so. Look with me at Job 33, the book
of Job, chapter 33. Now, Job is acknowledged by most
Bible historians to be the oldest recorded book in Scripture. We
believe Job lived around the time of Abraham and actually
the first recorded book even before the books of Moses. But in Job 33, there's a man speaking
named Elihu. And let me say this about the
book of Job. You need to be careful about what you read in the book
of Job, don't you? End quote. Can a false man say true things? Absolutely. Job had three friends,
very pious and very orthodox. And if you'll read all that they
said, you won't disagree with anything they said. Isn't that relevant? But God
said, they have not spoken that which is right concerning me,
like my servant Job. And if he doesn't pray for them, They're in trouble. You think
about that. But there was a young man named
Elihu. He just mysteriously shows up. You ever thought about where
he came from, John? It doesn't mention him until
here, does it? Elihu was indeed a man sent by
God, a faithful young preacher like Jeremiah and other young
men who came up. Chapter 33 is Elihu speaking. And he is a faithful young man and a respectful
young man. He said age should speak, year
should speak. He waited on his elders to speak
and he said, now I've got something to say. And in chapter 33, here's
what he says. He says in verse 33, verse 12, And he's rebuking Job, actually.
And this, thou art not just. I will answer thee that God is
greater than man. Why dost thou strive against
him? Job, in the beginning, Job glorified
the Lord, didn't he? Glorified God. When all those
things happened to him, the only thing Job said was, The Lord
gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. In all of this, Job sinned not, nor charged God And
then these three fellows, poor physicians that they were, came
along and began to accuse him of all sorts of things. God did
all that. God did all that. Unbeknownst
to them, misunderstood by them, by Job. Job didn't know why it
came. But he was on safe ground when
he just stood there and said, the Lord did this. And then shut
his mouth. Shut his mouth. Then they started
accusing him, and they started, well, if this has happened, this
is bound to be so, if this has happened, then this must be so,
and they began to reason, didn't they? Reasoning, reasoning. And
then Job began to defend himself. And they were unjustly accusing
him, weren't they? And you defend yourself, too, don't you? Don't
you? Our Lord didn't. Who are we? There's half-truth
in everything that they accuse us of. So, the Lord did it. When he was reviled, reviled
not again, but had committed himself to the judge. Someone
is listening. He will do what's right. Vengeance
is mine, I will replace it. But anyway, Job started defending
himself, and so even he had to be rebuked by the young man.
And he said in verse 13, don't strive against him, don't argue
against him. He, that is God, giveth not account
of any of his matters. He doesn't give account of his
matters. My wife and I, when we were at our daughter's school
when she was a very young child, visiting, met that principal.
Remember? And that lady said to us, if I can remember exactly, said
something like, I was never ever able to have children, she said.
And she said, when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask God why. You know, real brazen and proud. When I get to heaven. No, you're not. God giveth not account of his
matters. He doesn't have to, and he just
doesn't do it. He doesn't need to. God's not
trying to convince anybody of anything. Never has, never will. Is it? God giveth not account
of his matters. God has spoken, look at what
he said. In verse 14, God speaketh once, yea, twice, but men perceiveth
it not. Meaning, they don't care what
he said. That's what it said, doesn't
it? They're not listening. God has spoken once. Why? Did you read Psalm 19 or Brother
Daniel? Brother Daniel? That talks about
two books, doesn't it? Psalm 19. Two clearly written
books. Clear revelations of who God
is and what God has done. A reason for that. Two clear ones. The first one
is the book of creation. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day utter His speech.
There is no language or voice that this is not heard. All human
beings are without excuse. The things that are made by God,
His eternal power and Godhead clearly seen by the things that
are made. Wake up in the morning, you breathe this invisible stuff
that you can't live without. Where does it come from? What
makes this balloon in our chest just keep doing that? Huh? You
ever thought about it? There's a pump in our body that
just pumps this life-giving substance through our veins. It's just
pumping. There's no battery attached to
it. Huh? And for 70 years, 80 years, it
just keeps pumping. And we breathe this substance.
And if you stop it for a minute, we're gone. What's the Scripture
say? That God in whose hands thy breath
is. Where'd that come from? Where'd
that all start, this thing of breath? Mammals live by breath. Where'd it start? In the beginning. God created man out of the dust. And it says he breathed. And he can't live without it.
And then when the day comes, God has spoken. Everything declares,
I am. Your thumbprint declares, He
is. Man's a fool, isn't he? And ignorant
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. May I say
this? It really doesn't take faith
to believe there's God. Just open your eyes. It takes
more faith to believe this nonsense they call evolution than it does.
Thank God he has done it. Huh, Jason? We all, this miraculous,
complex system called the universe and the most mysterious and glorious
creation of all of it, mankind, David said, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully, complexly, amazingly made, this creature. The greatest
creation of God Almighty. Why? Because it's created in
His image. No, we came out of a primordial
soup. A speck was floating around in
outer space one day and all of a sudden something happened and
here we are. professing themselves to be wise,
they became utter fools. There's no fool, the old saying
is, like an educated one. And what do men think is going
to save our society? May I say that, teachers? Of
course. God was infinitely merciful to
you. Not many wives have the flesh, I thought. Why am I? He sat you down like a little
school child and taught you, I'm God. Man's not. That's infinite
mercy. You look around you, look at
religion today, it's full of the who's who's of today, isn't
it? You look around this little group, not many men. And man, God's Word is life. God's Word. We're talking about
the creation. And the greatest book of all, God's Word, infallible, inerrant,
mysterious, glorious, isn't it? Do you ever open it and look
at it and read it or hear it read or hear it preached on that
you're not amazed by it? That it doesn't teach you something? Can you look at the same things
you've been reading for years and learn something brand new?
Man can't teach you something new once you've learned it. It's
God's Word. God's Book. He wrote it. What
does man do? He won't even read it. The wisest man ever lived, Solomon,
what God said. Wrote 3,000 proverbs. We have
about 870 in one book. Tell me how many that the average
person can quote. One. Don't care. Two. Not interested in what God said.
So they're going to do everything He said. They're going to fulfill
it. They're going to fulfill it.
And His Word is going to condemn them all. I said it. It's right
there for you to read. Well, the secrets. You're looking for the secret,
aren't you? Somebody's come up with a secret, evidently. I hope
nobody in here buys that book, please. I know Oprah has endorsed
it. Secrets. Psalm 25, verse 14 says, The
secrets of the Lord. Who God is, what things are,
why and what is with them that fear Him. He'll show them His
covenants, His purpose. Ephesians 1 talks about His purpose,
doesn't it? That God hath abounded toward
us in wisdom and prudent, made known unto us the mystery of
His will. God's made known unto us the
mystery. Oprah's not going to hear it
or endorse it. But God has made known unto us
this mystery. What is it? According to the
good pleasure of His will, has gathered together all things
in one, even in Christ. He made this whole ball of dirt,
this whole planet and universe for the glory of one person and
hath purposed and predestined a kingdom of people to be just
like Him, be in Him, to glorify Him, be with Him in a new place,
a new heaven, a new earth. Yes, God has abounded toward
us in wisdom, making known the mystery. The mystery. So, the first thing we need to
understand is we can't understand God. And I like that. I like
what Brother Charles Spurgeon said. Do you remember that? Spurgeon
said, and he was a brilliant man, wasn't he? There wouldn't
be a man alive today, Brother John, that could resist that
man's wisdom like Stephen of old. A lot of these pinhead preachers
quote him, but he wouldn't have anything to do with that. They wouldn't have him over to
preach, that's for sure. Miss Pershing said, and God's
men are brilliant men. Why? Because they're well-versed
in Scripture. Wise men. Wise men. But he said, I don't want a God
I can understand. That'd make Him just like me. I can't save me. I can't help me. I can't leave
me. I can't keep me from anything.
I need somebody infinitely mysterious. Without my understanding. And
look at Isaiah 45. I told you to keep that. Go back
to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. God says, I kill, I make alive. Isaiah 45. He says in verse 20,
assemble yourself. Come. We're all here together.
And here we are. We're not here by accident. We're
not. The Lord has gathered us. He
said that back in chapter 43. He said, I'll bring my people
from the north and from the south. I'll bring them. I'll gather
my sons and daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone is
called by my name. My sheep will hear my voice,
he said. What's his voice, Sharon? It's his word. They'll hear it.
And a stranger's voice they won't hear. They won't hear it. He says in Isaiah 43, these are
my witnesses whom I have chosen to know me and believe me and
understand that I am he, that I am God. Before the day was,
I am he. He goes on to say, I have declared,
I have saved. They all know this, he said.
They all understand who God is. Who did the saving? Who did the
choosing? Who does the keeping? Who does all that? All in all. I will work, he said. Who will
let it? I'm the Lord. You understand
that? You not only understand it, you love it. You believe it, you love it,
you bow to it. All his children are obedient children. They bow
to his sovereign will. He has no disobedient children
in that respect, no rebellious children. They were, but not
anymore. Isaiah 45, he said, gather together,
gather them, assemble yourselves, draw near you that are escaped
of the nations. That's a good way to put salvation
in it. Escapes. We've escaped. Kind of like a lot. Well, just
like lots. He himself didn't run out of there. The Lord laid
hold on him, being merciful on him. He lingered. He would have
stayed and perished with Sodom. But God, not willing that any
of his should perish. You're not going to lose one. Andrew, he said, after all that
you've given me, I've lost nothing. Lot was one of them. You wouldn't
know it unless God said it. He pulled him, the Lord being
merciful to him, laid hold on him and pulled him out, set him
without. He's escaped. Escaped of the
nations. Read on. And he said, they, that
is the nations, they have no knowledge that set up the wood
of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot say. Why pray to a God that cannot
say? And they all do, don't they? As I said the other night, when
9-11 happened, the most horrific thing, terrible tragedy in our
modern times, after World War II that is, certainly the most
tragic thing on our soil for many, many years, 9-11, when
that happened, and then most recently this this massacre at
Virginia Tech, you would not hear one single person on TV
or in a national spotlight say or even intimate that God had
anything whatsoever to do with that, would you? Nobody. And they all say, and their leaders
See, blind people are blind and they have leaders that are blind. They've heaped to themselves
teachers. Scripture says they grope for answers as the blind. And they heap to themselves these
blind teachers. Tell us why. And they don't know. And every
one of them to a man might say, and to a woman says, God didn't
want this to happen. Don't they? But it did, didn't it? Then he's not God, is he? Huh? He didn't want God. God! God who said to the ocean, stop! The ocean! Hitherto shalt thou
come and no further. Stop! The ocean! He didn't want this piss ant
with a pea shooter to kill these people. Couldn't stop him. Then he's
not God. Huh? Why pray to him? He can't save. Man's a fool, isn't he? Oh, we
just believe that God loves us, but he's standing by idly. He's
a bystander in affairs and just letting all this stuff happen
to his children. Do you do that, Mike? Do you do that to your
children? Huh? What utter foolishness. That'd be an insult to you, wouldn't
it? To your love, to your wisdom as a grandparent. Oh, there he
goes. There he goes, Tyler, across the street. I don't want to violate
his free will. He's going to give you a hit
by a car. I don't want it to happen. He needs to learn a lesson. What kind of father would he
be? What kind of God is it? And why
pray to Him? They prayed. And He said, you
assemble yourselves. Now you sit here and He said,
sit here! You see here, children, I am God. There's none of it. I kill. He doesn't explain himself. But
Abraham said this. When Abraham was pleading with
the Lord, wasn't it, concerning his nephew Lot, Abraham was pleading
with the Lord. He didn't want Lot to die. Love does worry. You wouldn't
worry about them if you didn't love them. Not necessarily sin. It's love. To be full of care
and anxiety and not trust the Lord and worry without end and
just lose sleep over it, that's unbelief. But Abraham was worried about
Lot. Don't, Lord, he said, if I, Lord, I want Lot saved. He said, Lord, would you spare
this city if you found, how many did he start out with? Thirty?
Just thirty? I won't destroy it for thirty-seven. And he went on and on and went
down, didn't he, in numbers finally. And finally he said this, Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? He's not going to do wrong. God cannot destroy a righteous
person. God cannot kill neither. He doth
not afflict men willingly, that is, without purpose, just to
do so. The judge of the earth does right.
He deals with every soul in righteousness. If somebody dies, God killed
them. God dealed with them. He either had mercy on them or
had justice. It was time. Wasn't it? God's time. Though they all died
together, God killed each one of them individually according
to his purpose and dealt with each one of them according to
his righteousness. That's right. We can't do wrong. Shall not the judge of the earth
do wrong? As I said, this is all our hope. This is all our comfort. We trust
the law, the righteous law. Now, who are we talking about
now when we're talking about the Lord? It's just the God of
the Old Bible. Now, hold on now. Just hold on. God at sundry times,
in diverse manners, spake unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by son. In Isaiah 25, it says, it'll
be said in that day, this is our God. He'll save us. And you notice if you read the
book, it says, unto me, I've sworn, look at it, verse 23,
I've sworn by myself, words gone out of my mouth, and righteousness
shall not return. Unto me, every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall swear. Unto me, who's talking? The Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't
it say that in Philippians 2, Sue? Every knee will bow. You know, it's the same yesterday,
today and forever. Same Christ. Hasn't changed.
Hebrews says, we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels.
Yeah, men, they saw a Jesus. They saw a man come to this earth.
A man. A man. And that's all they could
see was a man, wasn't it? A man. And that's why they call
Him Jesus today. That's why they still call Him
Jesus. That's all they see now. He said, who do you say that
I am? Who do men say that I am? They say, well, he's Elijah.
Everything they said about him would have been complimentary
to you and me, wouldn't it? Everything they said about him,
this is Elijah come back from the grave. That would have been
a compliment to me. Not him. That brings him down. To his chosen, those whom he
took up on that mountain that day and peeled back that plain
brown wrapper. Peeled back that veil of flesh.
He chose three to walk up on that mountain with Him one day
and see Him as He is, not Jesus. Who do you say that I am? We
see Jesus made a little lower than the angels. Why? To die
for. He is not hanging on a cross now. He is not in a woman's arms.
He is not in a grave. He is seated on a throne, isn't
He? reigning and ruling, we see Him
now reigning, crowned with honor and glory, it says there. That's
salvation. Now to see Him as He is now. Someday all eyes shall see Him. Someday every eye shall see Him
whom they have peered. Someday the scroll will be rolled
back on Him and all the scripture says the earth shall wail because
of Him. We thought you were just Jesus.
You're a willing Lord, aren't you? And they hit the dirt. It's too late. It's too late. Every person whom God kills stands
before the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, I told you that story
when he was standing and those men were seated? Now the tables have turned. He's seated. See the judgment. And before
Him all men shall stand. Who are you standing in? Where
are you standing? The Lord said to old Moses, there's
a place by Me in a rock. I'm going to put you in it and
on it and stand. Oh my. There's nothing new. There's
nothing new. And he said there in verse 21,
he said, bring them near. Bring them all. Let them take
counsel together. Bring all these experts together. They're gathering
together, aren't they? Figuring everything out. All
the experts. Get them. Let's bring their cause. Let's
hear what they have to say. And he goes, look at this, look
at this. He said, who hath declared this from ancient times? What?
Have you never read? Remember how many times it says
that? Have you never read? Our Lord
just infuriated those Pharisees, didn't He? He said, you do err
in not knowing the Scriptures. Have you never read? No, no,
I'm not reading it. I sure don't understand it. Have
you not been told to me from that time? Have not I the Lord?
There's no God beside me. Just God and the Savior. There's nothing new under the
sun. Let me hurry. Years ago, there was a tower
fell in a place called Siloam. Right? A huge tower fell that
killed I don't know how many. Do you remember reading that in the
Scriptures? And the disciples were perplexed, weren't they?
The disciples said, These must have been terrible sinners that
this happened. And the Lord, who did it, said,
I say unto you, except you repent, you are likewise buried. He didn't explain it, did he?
But it happened. A big tower fell, killed a bunch
of people. Job, one day, Some wicked men
came down and massacred all of his servants. He was massacred. Finished. Killed them all. Slew
them all. Bloody slaughter in one day. There's nothing to it. Who did
that? Read it for yourself. You have.
You have. We're so blessed. All his sons
and daughters. Tommy, all of his sons and daughters
were in a house one day and he sent a hurricane. Men back then might have called
it Katrina. Name of something. And killed them all. Who did
it? What did Job say? You know he
was... We don't even know how great
he was. Nobody in here has gone through that much grief. God's mercy probably never will
for what he said. The Lord did it. That's all he
could say. He didn't understand it, but
the Lord did it. He said, The Lord gave everything
I have was given to me. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I know what I know by the grace of God. I have what I have
by the grace of God. Everything I have, my wife, my
family, my children, my house, my belongings, everything I have
is given to me from above. What do I have that I have not
received? Cannot glory as if I did not receive it. The Lord
gave. He did not have to, but He sovereignly
did. He gave it to me and now He is taking it away. That is
His prerogative. It belongs to Him. And he took
it back. He gave it to me. I enjoyed it.
I thanked him for it. I didn't deserve it. I was unworthy
of it. But he gave it to me. Now he's taken it away. Blessed
through tears, through anguish, through perplexity. He said,
blessed. Think that made him mad, didn't
he? Now I'm trusting him. Let me give you some other wonderful
example. My, my. God had every Hebrew
child born in Egypt thrown, every male thrown into the river by
an evil man named Pharaoh. Can you ladies possibly imagine? Huh? And you've possibly had
them all. God had them all thrown into
the river. Didn't He? You've read it. In Exodus 1, to put one baby in a basket in
the river, to float it down the river so Pharaoh's daughter would
go down and get it. and pull it out and take it to
the very home of the man who sought to destroy the Deliverer. Have him raise him up. Pharaoh
said, I've gotten rid of that Deliverer. Come here, Moses. I love Psalm 2. Don't you? Psalm
2. Why do the heathen rage? The people rage. The people imagine
a vain thing. The heathen rage. The people
imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth and the rulers set
themselves against the Lord who gets them in the north. He that
sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. He that laughs last, laughs best,
doesn't he? Because God laughs. Pharaoh says,
I got rid of that deliverer. Come here Moses, I want to talk
to you. Now here's the mercy. Though
every one of those mothers grieved horribly, every one of those
children are in glory with the Lord. He saved them from the
evil days to come. They didn't have to live under
bondage. They had to grow up slaves like
everyone that got thrown in the river. He put in Christ the river. Think of all the abortions that
have happened. Terrible as though it be. Men do it because they
want to. Because they don't want that child. They did it with
wicked hands, but God! So then I spared them all from
being raised by heathens and growing up to be lost. Isn't
that mercy? I wouldn't have done it that
way. I don't ever recall as a child, Frank saying when my dad did
something, that's exactly the way I would have done it. He does something totally against
my will and I'd say, I'm glad you did that. Never. I wasn't
capable. God used a man. Can I go on a
few more minutes? God used a man named Paul, being
used to spread the gospel all over the then known world. The
greatest preacher that ever lived. He had him cast into prison and
finally had his head cut off. Terrible. And the early church
thought, this is horrible. Why did God do this? Well, while
he was in prison, He wrote 14 letters. He had time to sit down and write
14 letters, which God used to save our souls. Not the way we would have done
it. These ways are not our way. Infinite. Past finding that.
The heavens are higher than the earth. And on and on we could go with
the greatest example of all. God's going to save us from dying,
from death. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. Die and you shall die. That's
what it said in the beginning. God's going to save us. How's
He going to do it? God's going to come down here. How's He going
to save us? Is it going to be a miraculous
and glorious deliverance where He's just going to take us all
up to glory right then and there? No. He's going to die. He's going to allow men, yes,
they with wicked hands took and crucified the Lord of glory,
but did what God determined before to be done. They killed the Lamb. They took the Lamb, said all
the congregation must, to fulfill the Scripture. They took God's
Lamb, which is God Himself. God provided Himself a Lamb.
They took His Lamb. and killed him. And he died. And in doing so,
we don't have to. Now it's going to save us so
that we live forever. How? By dying. Now that's peculiar. But we have,
He's given us an understanding, haven't we? And we know why.
Everybody doesn't. People say that all over. They
say that Jesus died, and they don't have a clue. You do. You could ask anybody, I believe,
most everybody, why did Jesus Christ really die? And they'll
tell you. His people. And, I am the Lord, he said. I change nothing. I am the Lord. I kill, I make alive. I create
peace, I create evil. I the Lord do all these things.
I'm the only one there is. No one else. All authority. No one, nothing, anything is
not under the absolute direction of the Lord of the universe.
And that, you can just rest right there. And you fear Him, fear
missing Him, fear sinning against Him. Fear Him, respect, reverence. And if you fear Him, He says,
trust Me, you have no need to fear anybody or anything else.
Osama bin Laden is a little fellow on a camel. There's a story over
in 1 Samuel about David coming through and destroying all his
enemies. But he let a few fellows on camels
go free. And the fellow said, well, that
bothers later on. I'm not worried about a little fellow on a camel.
Fear me, he said, and you need not fear anyone else. Okay, I
have a lower pressure.