I want you to open your Bibles
to the seventh chapter of Mark's gospel, Mark chapter seven, and
just hold them there. I've had a lot on my heart and
mind, many things that have caused me great heaviness, many cares
that trouble me and give me concerns the last several weeks. I have, through the course of
my life as a preacher, watched with pain many, many whom I once
highly esteemed as faithful men and women fall away from the
gospel by one means or another. And I never observe it without
pain. I see folks who choose to just
walk away from the gospel, quit worshiping God, go do something
else. Others taken by some heresy or
some trial, some difficulty, and leave the worship and service
of our Redeemer. And I observe it with pain in
my heart for them, always, always. You never hear me mention it
for many reasons, but I observe it with pain. The senseless slaughter
of those folks in Las Vegas a few weeks ago is just one of those
things that you, if you could not be moved by that, I don't
want to move you. Concern, difficulty. In the fires
in Northern California, I've tried to stay in touch with our
friends who live in that area, Brother Rick Warder, some of
his family lost their homes in that fire. We see and observe the evils
of this dark, dark day in which we live, the moral evil, the
moral evil just Words can't express the grief we ought to sense in our
souls. Everywhere you go, fornication,
adultery, sodomy, riotousness, ungodliness is just in your face
all the time, and you're looked at as some kind of a weird fella
if you don't approve of it. The religious darkness of this
age is unparalleled. It's unparalleled. You read a
little bit of history and you think how could folks like those
Mayan Indians in those ruins down there, the Aztec Indians
in their ruins, how could they do the things they did? That's appealing compared to
the religion of this age. The religion of this age is just
utter darkness and corruption, altogether centered on man, ignoring
everything about man that's evil, and applauding man if he happens
to tip his hat toward God. Mother David Coleman's illness,
watching a strong man get weaker every day, the pains of their
family, I weep with you. The things that lay heavy on
my heart. Brother Larry Chris had been
strong all his life, all of a sudden sick, very, very sick. Brother
Oscar's going through so much difficulty. And the care of all
the churches. But in recent weeks, God the
Holy Ghost has graciously turned this sweet morsel of Holy Scripture
over in my heart countless times to the great joy and peace of
my soul, and it has given me great encouragement of heart,
and I pray it will do the same for you. Have you found a text
here, Mark 7? Try to picture the scene before
you. If you wanna go home and read the chapter, this is what
you'll find. Our Lord Jesus has just come
from Decapolis, or come to Decapolis from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,
where he had graciously healed the Syrophoenician's daughter,
who was grievously vexed with an unclean spirit. And here in
Mark 7, he continues his acts of mercy, healing one who is
both deaf and dumb. and his fame is simply so great
that it couldn't be hidden. There's a huge crowd standing
before him. He had caused the lame to walk,
the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. Here is a man who has
cast out devils, opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped deaf
ears and raised the dead to life again by the mere word of his
power. Folks were just dumbfounded,
astonished by what they saw. And in utter amazement, they
said in verse 37, he hath done all things well. And I've tried to preach on this
to you a number of times, and I'm not gonna do much preaching
today. I'm going to just give you some things that have been
going through my heart that have helped me, and I pray they'll
help you. He hath done all things well. Oh, Spirit of God, stamp this
upon our hearts. Make us to know it. to walk in
the light of it and to rejoice in it. Looking over all my past
life and everything I've experienced in these 67 years, I lift my
heart to heaven and say with this astonished crowd, he hath
done all things well. Like you, I've had a few trials,
a few heartaches, a little bit of pain, and a little bit of
sorrow. I've had a little hurt, I've experienced a little bitterness.
And I confess to my shame, I have caused much more than I've experienced.
But God, my Savior, had been so kind, so gracious to me, that
were I to die before I finished this message, I would suggest
you write these words on my gravestone. He hath done all things well. Here lies a man who was for 67
years the beneficiary of unceasing, relentless, special divine care. I have been for 67 years the
beneficiary of unceasing, relentless, special, divine care. And my Jesus has done all things
well. Sinners redeemed with wonder
tale, Christ Jesus has done all things well. grace through sin
atoning blood, believing we have peace with God. Now tell me,
you who know my Savior, you who are born of God, can you not
testify the same? Is there sitting here today a
believing man or a believing woman who would even think to
question this fact. He hath done all things well. Your life's experience verifies
that fact, does it not? From first to last, from the
day of our birth to this hour, from the earliest pangs of sin's
conviction to the blessed thrill of sin's forgiveness, from the
cradle to the grave, from earth to heaven. This is our testimony
regarding all the way our gracious God has led us through this wilderness
and in every experience along the way. He hath done all things
well. In providence and in grace, in
every trial, We experience in every truth
revealed in His Word, in every token of His love, in every stroke
of His rod, in every sunbeam of His goodness, in every cloud
that darkens our skies, in every sweet morsel He puts into our
lives, in every bitter thing He mixes in our cup, in all that
has been mysterious, confusing, painful, humiliating in all that
he's given. And in all that he's taken away,
he's done just right. He's done just right. He hath done all things well. This is the sum total of all.
This is, it must be our grateful acknowledgement now. through
time and to eternity. He hath done all things well. Our great God and Savior, who
loved us, who chose us, who redeemed us, who gave Himself for us,
who saved us by His grace, who has kept us in all our ways,
has done all things well. Brother Donnie Bell, I've heard
him make this statement a hundred times when we'd be somewhere
preaching together. He who is our God is too wise
to err, too strong to fail, and too good to do wrong. He who is our God is too wise
to err, too strong to fail, and too good to do wrong. God, our
God, cannot do wrong. He cannot fail but to do that
which is right and good and well. And if it comes to pass, it came
to pass because God purposed it. God brought it to pass and
God will get glory from it and you'll get good from it. He hath done all things well. Study the universe. Study all
history. Study God's creation. Study his
providence, his judgments, and his grace. View them in every
light possible. Examine them in their most minute
detail. And when you're finished, I promise
you, whether you're gods or not, I promise you, When you're finished,
when God gets done with you and God gets done with me, when God
gets done with all things, you and I, either to our everlasting
damnation or in our everlasting enjoyment of God Almighty, we'll
look over everything. And we're gonna say exactly what
God said as we read it when he'd finished the creation of the
heavens and the earth. It's been very good. It's been very good. Everything. Everything. I have only this
one thing to show you in this message. May God, the Holy Ghost,
convince our hearts that it's so. He hath done all things well. Turn back to the 119th Psalm.
Psalm 119. I hope you can, as I have these
last few weeks, take David's testimony to be your own. Psalm 119, verse 65. Thou hast dealt well with thy
servant, O Lord, according to thy word. In verse 68, he says,
Thou art good and doest good. God, my savior, has dealt well
with me. God, my savior, has dealt with
me. Don't you find that astonishing? God, my savior, has dealt with
me. God has focused his mind and
his heart, his attention on me. All the days of my life, God
has dealt with me. All the days of my life, the
angel of the Lord has pitched his tent and encamped round about
with me and dealt with me. Not only that, he's dealt well
with me. thou hast dealt well with thy
servant he's dealt well with me so well that words cannot
begin to express my astonishment at how well God has dealt with
me this little word well it's one of those Many words used
in scripture that's just bursting with meaning. We often times
read scripture or read other things, just pass over words,
especially little one syllable words that you're very familiar
with. This word means most favorably,
most kindly, most graciously, most lovingly, most pleasurably,
most finely, most joyfully, most merrily. Now, let me tell you,
Eric, how God has dealt with this man for 67 years, most favorably. Most kindly, most graciously,
most lovingly, most pleasurably, most sweetly, most prosperously,
most finely, most joyfully, most merrily. That's how God's dealt
with me in everything I've experienced in 67 years. These past 50 years, particularly,
since he saved me by his grace, he has dealt well with me as
his servant. Of course, he's dealt well with
me as his son, as his child, as his spouse, as his friend. But I particularly take delight
in saying with David, he has dealt well with me as his servant. I never, I hope never to get
over the astonishment of the fact that I'm standing here preaching
to you. unto me who am less than the
least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach to
you the unsearchable riches of Christ. I can't imagine a thought
of wishing not to do so. I hear I've heard many preachers
over the years say, I just, I wouldn't wish this on anybody. I would
wish this on everybody. Oh, what an honor. God's given
me of all human beings, God's given me this grace to preach
to you the unsearchable riches of Christ. I rejoice in his appointing me
to the work and in every appointment he's made for me in the work.
I rejoice and give him thanks for his call and for his gift
enabling me to do the work. I rejoice and give thanks to
him for all his provision, all his protection, and all the usefulness,
wherever it's found, by which he may make me beneficial to
others. He's dealt well with me as his
servant, exactly according to his word. I have never found any promise
in his word that he's not fulfilled. I haven't found it, not one. I have never heard anything of
which he decreed in eternity that he's not done well by. The Lord Jesus, who is the living
word by whom God reveals himself, oh, how well he has dealt with
me in him. The word of grace he gives as
he ministers to my soul. Oh, how well he deals with me. I had the privilege of sitting
and listening to Brother Todd Nyberg, Brother Donnie Bell,
Brother Paul Mahan preach to me Friday and Saturday. Thank
you God for speaking to me by your word. for letting me hear
your voice, for enabling me to worship you, to know again my
sin and know again your greatness and your glory and your marvelous
grace in the face of your dear son. He hath done all things
well. Let me just elaborate a little
bit and I'll send you home. In addition to the immeasurable
riches of his grace toward us in Christ, Our God has constantly
loaded our days with the goodness of his providence. He promised
there shall no evil happen to the just. That's his promise. Proverbs
12, 21. There shall no evil happen to the just. It doesn't matter
what any man does. It doesn't matter what you experience. It doesn't matter how painful
it may be, how it may hurt at the time, how you may feel injured
by it. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Nothing can harm me, not in time,
not in eternity. Do me evil, Mark Henson, until
it does my savior evil. It's got to get through him to
get to me. I'm in him, one with him, and
no harm shall come to him. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Much that we experience in time
appears at the time to be evil. And we get angry and shake our
fists and fuss and murmur and gripe and complain and strike
out. Oh, but we may in our unbelief
look upon it as evil. But God has proved himself faithful. God is my witness. I can't tell
you with what sobriety I say this. God is my witness. Looking back over everything
I have experienced in life. Before God saved me and since
God saved me. Looking back over everything
I have experienced in life. I say he hath done all things
well. My God has proved himself faithful,
and had I the ability to change anything, there is not one thing
I would change, nothing. Many things I have done which
break my heart before men, and break my heart before God in
the acknowledgement of them. Many things for which I repent
to this day with heavy heart and tears burning my cheeks,
but I would change nothing. My God has done all things well. Now it's good to acknowledge
this fact when we see it. It's far better, far more honoring
to acknowledge God's goodness, God's grace, God's wisdom, God's
mercy, when we can't see it. Just believe in God. Oh God,
teach me not to murmur. Teach me to quit complaining.
Teach me to quit getting angry at what you do. You see, to murmur
against God's providence, to murmur against the affairs that
you see day by day in your life, to murmur and cuss at what goes
on is to murmur and cuss God. For if it comes to pass, it comes
to pass by God's hand, by God's wisdom, and by God's purpose. Let us his praise and wonders
tell. Sing, for our God's done all
things well. Thou hast dealt well with thy
servant, O Lord, according unto thy word. Before time was in eternity. Always when you look at things
and consider things, first look at them in the light of eternity. Will you think about eternity
for a minute? What's been revealed to you about eternity? Will you
think about a time before time was? Before the foundation of
the world, the Lord God Almighty did all things well. and what he does in time. We're told in Hebrews chapter
four, verse 11, he finished from eternity. If it comes to pass
in time, God did it in eternity. And so that's God's foreseeing
things. No, it's not how the book speaks
of it. It was finished before the world was. Everything that
comes to pass in time comes to pass in our experience, but it
was done from eternity. And before the world was, the
triune Jehovah entered into a covenant, a covenant of everlasting mercy
and grace and peace. I don't pretend to know much
about that. God graciously condescends to
make a huge stoop. He stoops down so low when he
will make himself known to us that he speaks of himself as
having hands and ears and a mind and an eye and a heart and a
right side. Those are all just human terms
by which God identifies himself to us. God the infinite God is
infinite spirit. He doesn't have an eye or a mind
or a heart or hands or feet. He's God! but it condescends
to speak to us in human terms. And the covenant revealed in
scripture is human language to give us some idea of what the
triune God did for us from everlasting, how sure his purpose is from
everlasting. God the Son stood forth as our
mediator in the covenant of grace before the world was. assumed all responsibility for
His elect from eternity. Now, imagine this. God chose
you before the world was. If you're His, if you believe
on the Son of God, you believe Him because God loved you with
an everlasting love. Your faith in Christ arises from
his eternal purpose of grace to you. It doesn't cause God
to love you, it's the fruit of God loving you. It doesn't cause
God to choose you, it's the fruit of God choosing you. And the
Lord Jesus stands forth as our covenant surety before the world
was and says, Father, I will save them. I will fulfill everything required
for them. I will go and live for them. I will be made sin for them. I will pay the debt for them. I will bring them home to you. And the Lord God Almighty took
his son and slew him before the world was. Christ is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Well that's the way
God sees things. One of these days you're going
to find out what I've been telling you for years. If that's the way God
sees it, that's the way it is. If that's the way God sees it,
that's the way it is. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Brother Paul Mahan preached to
us yesterday morning from Genesis 22 and Abraham offering Isaac.
And the scripture tells us that Abraham withheld not his son,
his only son Isaac, but offered him to God and received him as
one raised from the dead. God said to Abraham, I see now
you've not withheld your only son. Well, he didn't really kill
him. Oh, but he really did kill him. He really did, in his heart. In his heart. And God Almighty, before the
world was... How can I say it, except to use
a term that doesn't apply? In his heart, killed his son
for you. And accepted the sacrifice. and
accepted you in his son. And then his son blessed you
with every spiritual blessing, heaped upon you all that God
himself can give to a man. God gave to you who he is in
Christ from eternity. And I'm gonna tell you a little
something else about God. When we were boys, not all of you
were boys, when we were children, did you ever say something? He's an Indian giver. He gave
and he took it back. He's an Indian giver, you can't
trust him. God's not an Indian giver. What God gave in eternity,
God will never take back. He gave you! blessing of grace,
every spiritual blessing that God can give a sinner, He gave
you in Christ before the world was. And then in the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. The Lord Jesus
Christ came here in our flesh. And He said, lo, I come to do
thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is written in my
heart. And while I walked on this earth
for 33 years. Is there any man here who's 33
years old, just 33? 33 years is the full age of a
man. That's the full age of a man.
I've been a man since I was 16. Well, wait till you're 33 and
tell me that. The full age of a man is 33. He's in the vigor of life. Our
Lord Jesus Christ walked on this earth for 33 years with deliberate
purpose, doing the will of God, obeying everything that honored
God, everything purposed by God, everything written by God in
his word, everything stamped by God on the heart of a man,
the Lord Jesus fulfilled it all, living in perfect obedience to
God, loving God with all his heart, soul, mind, and being,
loving his neighbor as himself. And He didn't do that for Himself.
He didn't need to do that for Himself. That One who came into
this world, came into this world through the womb of a virgin,
without the aid of a man, God's firstborn. He is that one conceived
in the virgin's womb by the overshadowing power of God the Holy Ghost.
He breaks his mother's womb when he comes into this world saying,
lo, I come to do thy will, oh my God. This man had no sin. He did no sin, he could not sin,
but he came here as a representative man, a mediator man, a covenant
man to fulfill all righteousness for his people. to obey God's
law for his people. To do what the prophet said he
would do, who is the Christ. He came to bring in everlasting
righteousness. And while he walked on this earth. I can't begin to describe this.
I hope you can believe it. When our Lord Jesus came in the
virgin's womb and he said, lo, I've come to do thy will, oh
my God. Don Fortner came into this world
as a man in the virgin's womb. Lo, I've come to do thy will,
oh my God. When he walked on this earth
and said to his mother and father, don't you know I must be about
my father's business? That's why I'm here. Don Fortner
walked on this earth and said, I must be about my father's business.
And when he loved his enemies and did good to those who despised
him, and when he loved his neighbor as himself and loved God with
all his heart. you who are God's. Mark, do you
understand this? You loved God with all your heart
and fulfilled all righteousness. All righteousness. Jesus Christ
wears this name. He who is God, our Savior, wears
this name. Jehovah sent in you the Lord
our righteousness. He is our righteousness in justifying
us and He is our righteousness in sanctifying us. It's remarkable
to me how that men will go out of their way to deny the obvious.
Just recently, a fellow I know spent a lot of time preaching
trying to deny both that the believer has two natures and
that Christ has made sin at Calvary. In the new birth, God doesn't
come and make the old man better. In the new birth, God the Holy
Ghost comes and puts Christ in you. You're made partakers of
the divine nature. I'm talking about the book of
God says. That's the language of Holy Scripture. So the new
man's put in you. A new man that cannot sin. A
new man that loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and being.
But brother Don, I've got this old man, this carnal, filthy
mind, this carnal, filthy heart, this carnal, filthy nature. What's
going on? a constant warfare between flesh
and spirit. And you can't escape either.
Paul said, I can't do the things I would. The old man can't do
things he would. And the new man can't do things
he would. Because everything we do involves both flesh and
spirit. That which is righteous is born
of God. That which is sin is of the devil. But it both comes out the same
faucet, comes out of me. Comes out of me. I don't know
a better way to illustrate it. When I got up to shave this morning,
I turned the hot water on, turned the cold water on. And both hot
water and cold water came out of the same spigot. Because both
were there. and here's Adam and Christ in
us. In the new birth, he comes and
sanctifies us, making us partakers of his nature, giving us that
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord called Christ
in you, the hope of glory. But righteousness in obedience
to God, obeying God's law would be of no benefit to anyone. It
would never merit heavenly glory for anyone. Sin must be punished. Sin must be punished. So the
fulfilling of righteousness involves more than just obedience. It involves a sacrifice. In Matthew,
the third chapter, our Lord Jesus came to be baptized of John the
Baptist. And John looked at me and said,
oh, Lord, I can't do this. I have need for you to baptize
me. And the master said, John, suffer it to be so now, for so
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. How on earth does ducking a fella
in some water fulfill righteousness? Symbolically. Symbolically. Our Lord Jesus, when he had finished
all his obedience as a man, obeying God in every detail of life,
comes now to the cross and suffers under the wrath of God and dies
and is buried and raised again. And thus, all righteousness is
fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ, When he
came to the end of his 33 years, set his face steadfastly to go
up to Jerusalem, he wouldn't be turned aside. He wouldn't
be turned aside. How'd he get there? The Jews
hated him, according to the purpose of God. Judas made a deal with
some folks to betray him. Got 30 pieces of silver to put
in his pocket along the way. Came and kissed him on the cheek
to betray him according to the purpose of God. And Jews, by
their instigation to Pilate, had him nailed to a cursed tree.
And they mocked and laughed and derided him as he was nailed
to the cursed tree according to the purpose of God. He hath
done all things well. There would have been no redemption
without Judas's kiss. No redemption without Pilate's
cowardly behavior. No redemption without the Jews
animosity. No redemption without him being
spit upon and nailed to the tree, beaten, lacerated, stripped naked,
and made mockery of. There'd have been no redemption.
And then at last, God put a curtain over the sun. There's three hours
of darkness when the Lord Jesus took the cup and made our sin his sin. And he cried, my God, my God,
Why hast thou forsaken me? And God planted darkness on the
earth at midday for three hours, and in the darkness I hear God
Almighty cry, as He turns His back on His Son, I am a purer
eyes than to behold iniquity. Awake, O sword, against the man
that is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd. And the Son
of God, with one tremendous draft of love, drank damnation dry,
he took the angry, furious sword of God's holy justice, put it
into his own soul, when his soul was made sin for us. And at last, when he had swaddled
it up, when he had swaddled up the wrath of God, when he put
away sin, and had fulfilled all righteousness. He cried with
a loud voice and said, it is finished. And he said, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. And redemption's work was done. Oh, he hath done all things well. No human mind, all human minds
together could never have come up with a way to save sinners
and God be just and justify the ungodly. Now this is what all
that means, Sam. If right now you believe God,
It's a right thing. It's a just thing. It's an honest
thing for God to forgive you. How? How can God be just and
justify the ungodly? Jesus Christ didn't just pretend
to do it. He actually fulfilled God's law. in every detail, and he put away
sin. He put away sin. Oh, my soul, hear God speak. The Lord God says, fury is not
in me. The Lord God says, your sins
and your iniquities will remember no more." He can't remember what
doesn't exist. He put away sin! and now in justice
receive sinners, every sinner who believes on his son through
Jesus Christ the Lord. If right now you believe on his
son, it's because Christ fulfilled all righteousness for you and
your faith in him is the fruit of his accomplished work of redemption. In all things, He shows us His
great mercy, grace, and love. Oh, He comes in time and causes
us to know what He's done for us, revealing Himself in us. And then creating faith in us
causes us to walk in his way and smiles upon us, makes us
to know his smile. And he leads us here in this
warfare to glorify himself by teaching us constantly that we
must lean only on him. We come to God by faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord. We come to God believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And graciously, he preserves
and keeps us. He said, I give them eternal
life. They shall never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out
of my father's hand. But what if they see it? There's
not any what if about that. What if one of them really messes
up? There's not any what if about
that. Rex, aren't you glad nobody knows how often you've messed
up but you? But God Almighty will never hold
it against me. This is what he said. I will
not remember your sins against you again forever. Forever. And he's the only one
who can do that. He's the only one who can do
that. If I do something to hurt you, I don't care how gracious you are.
I don't care how merciful you are. I don't care how kind you
are, you can't ever forget it. You can't forget. We don't have
within us that ability. God Almighty has forgotten. Has forgotten. my iniquities,
transgressions, and sins, past, present, and to come. He did
it before ever I was born, in the sacrifice of him whose lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And now, in his providence. I don't know what tomorrow's
gonna bring. I don't know what I'll wake up
to tomorrow that will break my heart. And I don't know what
you'll wake up to tomorrow that will break your heart. And if
you live many more tomorrows, something will. Something will. Something will. It's called the
way life is by God's arrangement. And I don't know what tomorrow
will bring that will scar me, make me hurt. I don't know. Something will if I live many
more tomorrows. But whatever it is, there shall
no evil happen to this just man. Can't be done. I'm God's. And in his good providence, he
is doing all things well. For we know. Do you know this? Teresa, do
you know this? We know it. We've read it in
the book. We know. We believe it. We know. After 67 years, I'm beginning
to know this. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Look it all over. Look it all
over. Soon we'll be standing on the
glorious side of this thing called life. Let us now say with confidence
and joy what we will then say with full knowledge joy. He hath done all things well. Amen.