Judge not that you be not judged,
for God so loved the world. All things work together for
good. I suppose those three brief portions
of three verses of Holy Scripture are quoted more often by men
and women than any others, people who don't know God from a billy
goat, use those phrases all the time. How often I've heard people
quote that portion of Romans 8.28, all things work together
for good, as if they were knocking on wood, or rubbing a rabbit's
foot, or something else to conjure up a little bit of good luck,
trying to mix magic and religion. Superstition and faith together.
But what does Romans 8.28 say? What does that blessed verse
of Holy Scripture teach? Let's look at it together. Romans
8.28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. The text begins with a marvelous,
marvelous little word, and. What a blessed word that word
and is, as it is used by the Spirit of God in this place. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, and all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. The law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death, and all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. what the law
could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we're the
sons of God, children of God, and if children, heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Christ. And I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. But that's not all. And all things work together
for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. The Spirit helps
our infirmities. We don't know what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he,
our Lord Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man,
maketh intercession for us, for the saints of God, according
to the will of God. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. all these bountiful, bountiful,
bountiful, rich blessings of grace, and God's adorable providence
too. It is my delight, again, to try
to preach to you about the providence of God, God's adorable providence. That's the title of my message.
Just hold your Bibles open at Romans 8, 28, and ask God the
Holy Ghost, whose word you have in your hand, to inscribe its
message upon your heart. We use terms that often people
do not understand or misunderstand. I don't want that to happen.
Divine providence is the daily, constant, sovereign rule of our
God over all things. for the accomplishment of His
eternal purpose of grace in predestination. It is God's daily, constant rule
of all things for the accomplishment of His sovereign, eternal purpose
of grace in predestination. Predestination is the sovereign,
eternal, immutable, unalterable purpose of God Almighty by which
he ordained and ordered, according to his own will and good pleasure,
all that comes to pass in time. Predestination. is God having
determined everything that is, has been, or shall hereafter
be before ever anything was. Predestination is not hard to
understand. I was at the men's store, oh,
this has been a year or so ago, and the fellow that commonly
helps me in there, Darryl said, he said something to me, he said,
I forgot what even the question was, he said, that will be the
determinant, if that's a proper word. And I said immediately,
Darryl, that's a proper word. Determinant, the determinant
is God. The determinant of everything
is God. He determined from eternity every
breath of every man and beast and all things that come to pass
in time before the world was. So pastor, how can that be? Take
it up with God. I'm just telling you what he
says. God is God. That means he controls everything. Divine providence. is the accomplishment
of God's sovereign will and purpose in predestination. It is God
doing in time what he predestined in eternity. It is God sovereignly
bringing to pass all that was predestinated before the world
began. Predestination is God's purpose. Providence is the execution of
God's purpose. We have a beautiful, clear picture
of God's providence in Revelation chapter 10. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is pictured as an angel, the mighty angel of the Lord, standing
with one foot on the earth and one foot on the sea, having the
covenant of God about his head and the book of God in his hand.
And he turns the pages of the book. Every time the sun rises
with every morning sun, he turns another page. And through the day, accomplishes
everything that before the world was, was determined for that
day. Wonder what God has in store
for today. I wonder what God has purposed
for today. Whatever it is, it is for your
good, my brother. For your good, my sister, for
your good, you who are my brothers and sisters and do not know it
yet, for the glory of our God and for the good of his church
universally for all time. Whatever it is that he's purposed
is good. The Lord is good. He's good. and everything he does is good. He even makes evil to be good
for his elect. Hear me well, be sure you understand
the doctrine of Holy Scripture with regard to God's providence.
Nothing in the universe happens by luck, chance, fortune, or
accident, or even by blind fate. Everything that comes to pass
in time was purposed by God in eternity and is brought to pass
by his holy, wise, adorable, and good providence. Nothing
comes to pass in time that God didn't purpose in eternity in
sovereign predestination and everything Everything that God
purposed in eternal predestination, he brings to pass in his providence. That which God predestined in
eternity and brings to pass in his providence is for the good
of his elect and the glory of his name. Now, we won't look
at all these scriptures. I've written several down. I
want to just read them to you. Let's see if what I said thus
far is in accordance with the book of God. It doesn't matter
whether it matches your reason or not. You just aren't as smart
as you think you are. You're just not near as smart
as you think you are when it comes to spiritual things. It
doesn't matter whether they appear to you to be logical or not.
I have discovered that the most logical folks in the world are
terribly illogical. It doesn't matter whether they
fit with the way you see things or not. I discovered that most
people who can see can't see much. They're very, very blind. And those who can see, see just
through a glass darkly. But this is what the book says.
Let God be true and every man a liar. Surely the wrath of man
shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. Ah, what a word, what a word. Everything done by godless men
in their anger, wrath, and enmity against God, God works for his
praise. And that which is in men, that
they would like to do, that God will not use for His praise,
He restrains them from doing. He will not allow them to perform.
The Lord hath made all things for Himself. Yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. Perhaps Solomon is saying in
Proverbs 16, 4, the Lord made all things for himself, yea,
even the wicked for the day of judgment, perhaps. But I think
our translators got it right when they translated it as they
did. The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. You wonder what's happening in
our nation and this world in which we live in this day. The
rulers of every nation, so far as I can determine, are utterly
ungodly, reprobate men and women. Do you know of any exceptions?
I don't know of a one. I don't know of a one. Why did
God make them? Why has God put them where they
are? We'll soon have an election. It looks like we're going to
have a choice between one of two godless, reprobate people. Why? Why? Oh, God, why? The cause of this
day of evil in which God sends judgment upon a world of godless
people who despise him. The Lord has made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for this
evil day. A man's heart deviseth his way. Some of you can remember events
in your lives. You, uh, oh man, you had things
planned out. Ah, here's what I'm going to
do. Here's what I'm going to do. A man's heart deviseth his
way. Hang on. Let's see what happens.
But the Lord directeth his steps. What does that mean? That means
you pick your foot up and put it down. It's God who picks it
up and puts it down. That's exactly what it means.
God directs your steps, not you. God directs your steps, not your
parents. God directs your steps, not society.
God directs his steps. Oh, brother, don't act... You
talk like we're just robots. That's an insult to robots. We are God's creatures and God
does with us as he will. That includes you and me, yours
and mine, and that's what's right because God did it. We say whatever God does is right,
and that's true. But the fact is, whatever you
see, whatever is done is right because God did it. The lot is
cast into the lap. You play Monopoly or In a game
of dice, and you roll the dice, you don't think anything, man.
You, ah, 7 come 11. Say, what did I say? 7 come 11.
I've never played craps, man. 7 come 11. Is that what it is?
I don't know what it is. They roll the dice, and they're
just crying for a lucky roll. God rolls the dice. You roll
the dice, and God determines the outcome. The lot is cast
into the lap, but the Lord disposes of it. The king's heart is in
the hand of the Lord. Like rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. Got home, Shelby and I had such
a good time, we decided to stay an extra day, so we didn't get
home until late Thursday. We planned to get home in time to
mow, and it was raining, so we didn't mow Thursday. So Friday
we worked here in the office and planned to mow in the evening.
About five o'clock she said, it looks like it's going to rain.
I said, maybe we can beat the rain. So we got out and made
two or three laps, and all of a sudden the rain came. So we
just mowed the whole yard in the rain, and I got my hose out
and got done. She used to clean up stuff, and
I was down at the patio, and I had a hose, just squirting
water here and there, wherever I'd see some grass, wash it off
the driveway, and just not great work. Nothing too strenuous. What's that talking about? Well,
you're just directing water where you want it. That's strenuous
work compared with the ease by which God directs the king's
heart. Like rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. Remember the former things, God
says. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. There is none like
me. None of the gods men make are
like me. None of the gods men imagine
are like me. You've got sons and daughters
and neighbors and mothers and fathers worshiping or going through
religious motions and religious houses like this one all over
the country where they worship a God who's not at all like this.
And they will tell you, their rock is not like our rock. And
the Lord God tells you, their God is not like me. There's none
like me. Well, what's the difference?
Declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. And I
will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east. Somehow or another, somehow or
another, I think, I think if I were going to train a bird
to carry food to a prophet, I wouldn't use a raven. I just wouldn't
trust him to carry the food. But God calls a raven to feed
his prophets. I think if I were going to raise
up a ruler to deliver my people out of his own land, out of his
own bondage, out of his own captivity, I would raise up one who knew
me. But he doesn't. He said, I call
a man that executes my counsel from a far country. His name's
Cyrus. He didn't know my name. Yay,
I've spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I purposed it. I will also do it. God deliberately
does things. Contrary to reason, and contrary
to nature, and contrary to the way we would do them, contrary
to the way we think they might possibly be accomplished. Brother
Lindsey did a great job dealing with Moses and Pharaoh's daughter
this morning. Who would ever have imagined?
Who would ever have imagined? You're right, brother. It's hilarious.
It's hilarious to watch God manipulate the prince of darkness according
to his will. Who did God choose to preserve
Moses and feed him and train him until he was a grown man?
The fellow who tried to kill him. God deliberately does things
exactly opposite of what we might think, exactly opposite of what
we would decide, exactly opposite of how we would determine, so
that we may learn that it is God who does the work and not
us. He has his way in the army of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? When the apostle
Paul considered all the wondrous work of God's providence. He
begins in chapter 8 verse 28 and goes all the way through
the end of chapter 11 and tells about God's providence. Oh, God's
providence, God's providence, God's providence. He sent the
law to Israel and he gave Israel his law and his word and his
prophets for 2,000 years. And they despised his word but
preserved it. They despised his worship, but
preserved it. They would not bow to his son,
but through that nation, God preserved the lineage through
which he would bring his son into the world. And when his
son came, they despised him and nailed him to a tree. And still
God sent the apostles to preach beginning at Jerusalem and then
to all the world. And they would not bow. They
would not believe. So God cast them off, that he
might send his word to you and me. that he might gather his
elect, his Israel, from among the Gentiles. And when Paul gets
done considering all that, this is how he sums it up. Oh, the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. You're not going to figure God
out. You're not going to figure out
what he's going to do or even what he has done. You can't get
it to balance with your puny brain. Your brain's just not
big enough to hold it. His ways are past finding out. How's that? For who hath known
the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?
or who at first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. God's not in debt to you, me,
or anybody else. For of him, and through him, and to him are
all things. Oh, God teach me to know this. Oh God, inscribe this upon my
hard heart. Make me to understand this revelation
of your grace, of him. That's the source, Skip, of everything. That's the source. That's the
source. And through him, that's the means
by which it's done. That's the means. Well, but the
devil did that. Well, he did, but I think I remember,
matter of fact, we had been reading the last several days in the
book of Job. There was a gathering of the sons of God, the angels
of God came to appear before the Lord, and Satan came with
them to give report, to give an account. You ever been called
into the supervisor's office at work? They generally don't
call you in except for you to give an account. They come in
for you to give an account of what you're expected to do, of
what you're required to do. The sons of God came before the
Lord and Satan. And the Lord took up a question
with Satan. It wasn't Satan who took up the
question, the Lord took up a question with Satan. He said, have you
considered my servant Job? Have you thought about Job? He said, what you been doing?
He said, I've been going up and down and through the earth. And
he said, have you considered my servant Job? There's none
like him, a perfect man, one who fears God and excuses evil. Satan says he does it because
of what he gets from you. And God says, go see, go see. Job's in your hands, Job's in
your hands. And God destroyed his sons and
his daughters. and his wealth. And the sons of God came to give
report to the Lord again. And Satan came with them. And
he said, where have you been, devil? He said, I've been going
to and fro in the earth. He said, do you consider my servant
Job? There's none like him, a perfect man, one who fears God and eschews
evil. And Satan said, I told you, Job
serves you what he get out of you. He said, you let me put
my hands on his body, I'll fix it, he'll cuss you. And the Lord
said, tell you what you can do. You can do anything you want
to to him, but don't touch his life. And Satan smoked Job with
boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. and he
scraped himself with a piece of broken clay pot. And his wife
said, Job, curse God and die. And Job responded, woman, you
talk like one of the foolish women. You talk like somebody
who doesn't know God. Have we not received good at
the hand of the Lord? And shall we not receive evil?
But wait a minute, Satan did that. Job knew through him. and of him are all things. He said, the Lord gave, and the
Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And in all this, Job sinned not with his lips, but he bowed his
head and worshiped. I need to learn this, and you
do. Don't get angry at the second
causes of anything. Don't let the second causes disturb
you too much. Satan and men are in God's hands. And Satan and men and all the
devils of hell and all the enemies of your soul can do nothing except
that which is ordered of God for your good. Ah, look at you, Bobby Esteson.
I know a little bit about your whole life. There sits your daughter.
The heartaches and the joys. And your contrariness, too. Why all this? Why all this? Because God set his heart on
you before the world was. And God ordered the right way,
the right way, to bring you to your desired haven in everlasting
glory. He led them by the right way. Have you ever, in reading the
Old Testament, gotten a map out and watched how the children
of Israel went from Egypt to Canaan? Do that this afternoon. If you don't have time this afternoon,
tomorrow. Just get a map out and watch
how Israel went from Egypt to Canaan. Here's Egypt, here's
Canaan. Here they go. For 40 years. For 40 years. It took them 40 years to make
a three-day journey. And this is what God said. We
read it in Psalm 107. He led them in the right way. In the right way. Here I am. I'll be 67 years old
in just a few days. 66, excuse me, I get it wrong
every time. 66 in just a few days. And I'm headed to glory. Before ever I drew my first breath,
God ordered my last to be at his side in heaven. And for 66 years, oh, it has
been a confusing, sometimes troublesome, sometimes
painful, Often dark, dark, dark way. Dark way. Dark way. This way and that. That way and that. This way and
that. The right way. I wouldn't change a breath if
I had it in my power to do so. Brother Dodd, don't you have
any regrets? I have great regrets of the evil I've done, the hurt
I've caused, the injury I've performed to many. Great regret. Great regret. I have no regrets. for anything I've experienced. It's all been good for it brought
me to my Savior's feet and continually does. This is God's adorable
providence. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Oh, may God, the Holy Spirit,
inscribe upon our hearts, not just the words of this blessed
text, but the message of the text. We have before us here
four things to which I'll call your teaching just briefly, and
we'll come back to it another day, the Lord willing. Here is
a delightful, delightful, delightful persuasion. We know. Here is a divine providence. We know that all things work
together for good. Here's a designated people. We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called. And here is a declared purpose.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called. according to his purpose. First, our text speaks of a delightful
persuasion. We know. We know. This is a knowledge beyond speculation,
theory, doctrine, or even sound judgment. It is the knowledge
of a confident, assured persuasion based upon fact and experience. We know. All true believers know. What's the basis of that knowledge?
We know these things by the revelation of God's word. They're stated plainly in the
book. They're just stated plainly in
the book. No evil shall happen to the just.
Read the 91st Psalm. The Lord God says, 10,000 shall
fall at your right hand, but no plague shall come nigh thy
dwelling. Now wait just a minute. Wait just a minute. Brother Don,
you've had cancer. You were born with a defective
heart valve. You've been in hospital and had pneumonia three times. What do you mean, no evil shall
come nigh thy dwelling? What's he talking about? There's
nothing evil about that. There's nothing evil about that.
He'll give his angels charge over you so that you'll not dash
your foot against the stone. I've been walking around for
a year and a half with a foot that feels like somebody took
a sledgehammer and mashed it. Just mashed it. Well, how can
that be so? It hadn't hurt anything. It hadn't
hurt anything. No, it hadn't hurt a thing. Nothing. How can you say that? No injury's
been done to me. No injury has been done to me.
I'm in the process of this tabernacle of clay being dissolved by the
appointment and hand of God. And when it's dissolved, we have
a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. Are we talking about injury?
Are we talking about plague? Oh, we're talking about destruction?
Oh, no, no, no, no. God, my Father, orders all things
for me. He orders them exactly as His
Word declares He would order them. The Lord God made a covenant
for me with the beast of the field and the fowls of heaven,
with creeping things of the ground. He's broken the bow and the sword
and the battle out of the earth, and He causes me to lie down
in safety. We know these things by the teaching
of God's word and by the anointing of God, the Holy Spirit, that
unction of the Holy One who causes us to know all things so that
we, being born of God, have the mind of Christ. We know the wisdom
and goodness of God's adorable providence because we've experienced
it. I have, since I was a teenager,
been enamored with God's providence. I just, I can't tell you how
enamored I was when first, when first I read about it, look,
when first I heard about it from the mouth of a preacher. Oh,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. I learned to
recite the verse, and I learned to, I call it to mind often as
just a boy, just a teenager. Shortly after God saved me, I
was excited about it, but I didn't know much about it. It was all
theory. It was all conjecture. It was
all information I got by fact of revelation. I got by fact
of revelation from God in my heart, but I didn't have much
experience. Ralph Barnard used to say, we
only believe what we experience. And he was exactly right. Thank you, my God. I'm beginning
to believe in God's adorable providence. I experience it every
day. Every day. We see God do things and we respond
to them as if we're shocked. How God just, He takes something
that you thought was just gonna be horrible, and man, look how
good this turned out. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Why
didn't I expect it to start with? God does everything right. He
does everything well. He does everything for me, everything. And we have this knowledge that
teaches us about God's providence, this divine providence. All things work together, together
for good so that God has this great piece of machinery by which
he rules the world. and all things in it in such
minute detail that he says the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. With such great power that all
the elements of the world are under his control, God created
the heavens and the earth out of nothing. The Lord God brought Israel to
the Red Sea. Man, what a barrier. Here they
are. They're running to get away from
Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Pharaoh and his armies are behind
them. They just commanded them to leave Egypt. And then they
got together and said, no, we're going to go kill them. And they're
behind them, breathing down their neck. And mountains on both sides
of them. And they began to murmur and
complain. And Moses said, stand still. Watch God work. And he stretched out his staff
and stepped into the waters of the Red Sea. And by the order of God, the
Red Sea made two walls on both sides for the children of Israel
and God dried up the mud in the depths of the sea and Israel
marched through the waters exactly according to God's purpose and
God's providence. They came to the River Jordan
and the Lord God made a wall out of the waters again and then
marched across the waters. The Lord God sent flies and frogs
and lice to Egypt to deliver his people. The Lord has his
way in the whirlwind and the clouds of the dust of his feet.
He governs everything. He governs all men. He governs
all devils so that everything does his will all the time, everywhere. Let us then learn as believers
to speak like Eli. When difficulty comes and you
get report that your sons, that you didn't correct. And because you didn't correct
them, they're going to hell. That's what God told Eli. He
said, because you spoiled your boys, they're going to hell.
It's your fault. No escaping that. And his two
sons died in battle and went to hell. And the Lord brought
the report to Eli. And Eli responded, it is the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. I just read a note I made years
ago, years ago. Brother Todd and I were so sick.
Doctors thought he was going to die and we did too. We first went over to see him
at the hospital. Matter of fact, I got a call
that morning. We were headed down to Cherokee for conference.
Got a call. Todd was in the hospital, and
his vital signs dropping. And got a call, said, if you want
to see Brother Todd, you're going to have to come today. And so
Brother Mahan, myself, and our wives went over to the hospital,
visited Brother Todd. They said, he wants to see you.
And we visited a little while, and then was As you can imagine,
it's devastated, it's devastated. But before we left, she said
this to me. How can I be disturbed by this? God did it. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. This is our God, this is his
providence. And then the apostle speaks of
a designated people. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. All things work together for
good, but not to everybody, not to everybody. that Red Sea that
the children of Israel walked across drowned the Egyptian armies. All things don't work together
for good to everybody. For the reprobates, all things,
while they may appear to be blessings in time, are but the work of
God to seal your destruction. We have two boys raised in the
same house in Luke 15. And they came of age, and the
younger son said to his daddy, he said, daddy, I'm a grown man
now, give me what's coming to me. I don't want to wait for
you to die to get my inheritance. And his father gave his sons
all his living. And that boy took off. He took
off. Oh, if you could read all that
that boy did. He wasted his substance with
riotous living. Lost everything. Lost everything. Reduced that rich boy by his
riotous living was reduced to feeding pigs for a living and
trying to live off the husk, but no man would even give him
the husk. And then that other boy, he got his living too. He
stayed at home. He never caused his daddy a tear.
He never cussed his daddy. He never lost his temper with
his daddy. He worked the fields for his daddy. He was his daddy's
boy. I mean, he was his daddy's boy.
Why such an arrangement for two boys raised the same way? Because
that boy who stayed home. That boy who stayed home, his
name is Esau. And God hated him. And everything he had only hardened
his heart in rebellion till he wound up in hell. That other
boy, his name's Jacob. And God loved him. And I have often said the only
way he could ever have been brought to his father in repentance was
through this path. And that's true. Whatever the
way is in which God leads you, that's the only way you could
have gone. Only way. But only way you could have gone
because God so ordained it, it was the right way. And God loved
Jacob. And God stripped him and broke
him and made him to see himself nothing. And he came back with
his head between his legs, bowing, and cried, oh, my father, I'm
not fit to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants
and I'll be most happy and obliged. And the father ran and fell on
his neck and kissed him and said, welcome home, boy. God's providence is good. God's providence is good. Who
are these people for whom all things work together for good?
Them that love God. Now lest you try to get something
out of that to make your head swell, I'll tell you who those
people are who love God. They are those who are loved
of God from everlasting. We love Him because He first
loved us. Those who love God are those who were redeemed by
Christ at Calvary. All things work together for
good to them who are the called. Called by God from darkness to
light. Called by God from death to life. Called by God. Called. Oh, I know that everything in
all of history has been performed by God just for me. And I know that everything from
this second forward shall be performed by God just for me. How do you know? I've been called.
And I know I've been called because I believe God. That call gives
us faith in Christ our Redeemer. What's the purpose in all this?
God declares his purpose. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. His purpose is that all of those
he loved from everlasting and chose and redeemed and called
at last be conformed to the image of his son. by His grace in the
new birth, and by His grace in resurrection glory, made exactly
like His Son. And so God orders the universe
to accomplish this purpose. I've told you in the past about
my dear friend, Brother Tom DiGiorno. I had some visitors yesterday
who reminded me of telling you the story. Tom DeJarnett was
a prisoner at Chillicothe, Ohio. He was a black man. I corresponded
with him, oh, almost every week for many, many, many years. As
he got older, it got to be about once a month. And I haven't heard
from him now in 10, maybe 12, 15 years. I can't remember. I
presume the Lord's taken him. He had caught his wife in bed
with another man and killed him. So he was in prison. He was a
professional boxer. He got out of prison early, and
the same thing happened again, and he killed another man and
put in prison for the rest of his life. And he was in Chillicothe,
Ohio, where the Mayhem was asked to go up there and preach one
week. And Henry went up to preach, had chapel service. I can picture
him telling the story right now when he told me about Tom. This
has been a long time ago. This has been my soul, 40 years
ago. He said he's this big bruiser
of a black man who came just marching up to me at the service.
He said he was about six foot two, huge, and I didn't know
what to expect. He said, got about two or three
feet from me, and I saw tears running down his cheeks. And
the man reached out and lunged for me and grabbed me. He said,
you're the man who told me about my savior. He'd been listening
to Henry on radio, television. And he told Henry, he said, I
thank God for this prison here in Chillicothe, Ohio. If I hadn't
been here, I would have never known God, his grace, or his
son. Explain that, preacher. Well,
if Brother Tom is seated in glory, when you get there, ask him about
it. He'll explain it to you. This is God's adorable providence. Let us worship him and live in
expectation of him yet leading us in the right way to our desired
haven. And he will.