About six months ago I tried
to bring a message to you on the wisdom and prudence of God's
grace from Ephesians 1 verses 8 and 9. I want to take another
stab at it tonight. Wisdom and prudence is my subject. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 8
and 9. The subject and the text are
indescribably beyond my ability to comprehend, let alone expound. But that's no new thing with
me. I haven't yet preached a sermon with which I was at all pleased.
Maybe God will enable me tonight to speak by his spirit to your
heart that which is contained in our text. Wherein he hath
abounded toward us, in all wisdom and prudence." What an astounding
statement. All wisdom and prudence. God has abounded toward us in
all the work of His grace, revealing Christ in us, making known to
us the mystery of His will, giving us faith in Christ, The Lord
God reveals his secrets to us. And he does this, listen to the
language of scripture, in all wisdom and prudence. Can that be? All wisdom and prudence. Not all the wisdom and prudence
of the wisest, most skillful man. but in all the infinite,
immeasurable, indescribable, incomprehensible wisdom, and
all the prudence, the infinite, immeasurable, incomprehensible,
indescribable skill of the infinite God. With all the fullness of His
being, In all wisdom and prudence, God has abounded toward us in
grace, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, having
shown us that which He purposed from eternity. God comes to sinners
in the mighty saving operations of His grace. And when He gives
a sinner faith in Christ, He causes that sinner to know things
that were hidden in secret, known only to God beforehand. That which was God's eternal
purpose, the good pleasure of His will before the world began. When God comes to a sinner and
gives him faith in Christ, He causes that sinner to understand
that he's God's child. chosen of God, redeemed by the
precious blood of His darling Son, an heir of God, joint heir
with Jesus Christ, one saved by God's almighty grace according
to the riches of His grace, and this according to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself. By indescribable brilliance,
with infinite skill, the Lord God, the God of all grace, makes
known to sinners the mystery of His will and the blessed experience
of His saving grace in Christ Jesus. God causes the light to shine
out of darkness, shining in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that when faith is given,
when faith is given, the mystery is revealed. When faith is given,
the mystery is revealed. I do not mean by that, and Paul
does not mean, the Spirit of God does not intend for us to
understand that when a person is given faith in Christ, they
understand everything. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We will
for eternity, in the endless ages of eternity, if I can use
such redundant language. We shall forever continue to
increase in the knowledge of God and His will and His grace,
His greatness and His glory. But when God gives faith in Christ,
He causes the chosen sinner to know His purpose from eternity
to save that sinner. God chose me. God redeemed me. My name is written in heaven.
How can you know that? I believe the Son of God. And that's all. And that's all.
Brother Rex made a statement in his prayer. I wrote it down. Very good statement. There's
no such thing as a typical saint. Except for two things. Just two
things. All of them know themselves sinners. In all of them, trust God's Son. Those two things are typical
of every saint. God has made known the mystery
of his will with wisdom and skill. God alone possesses, revealing
to us that we're his, the objects of his grace. If that doesn't
astound you, if that doesn't overwhelm your mind, if that
doesn't cause you to cry, oh God, teach me of your grace,
of your son, of your salvation. God, oh God, take hold of my
heart and my life. I don't know what will. That's
what happens in conversion. Our text tells us that The sovereign
work of God in redemption and grace is the exercise of infinite
wisdom and prudence, infinite knowledge and insight, infinite
brilliance and skill. God's grace abounds to us in
wisdom and in prudence. Now let me just state again the
things I said to you just a few months ago. Only the all-wise
God could devise and execute His purpose of grace in the saving
of our souls. And in every aspect of this great
salvation, in every aspect of this great grace, the Lord God
heaps upon us. He heaps upon us His grace. according to His purpose, according
to His good pleasure, in infinite wisdom that only God possesses. Wisdom beyond the reach of mortal
man, with infinite prudence, with brilliance and skill, only
God possesses. In the incarnation of our dear
Savior, I want you to look at some scripture with me, Hebrews
chapter 2. choice of His Son to be our Redeemer, the Lord
God displays infinite wisdom. Let me talk to you about the
wisdom of God first. I don't pretend to understand
the deep, deep mysteries of the covenant of grace. Brother Todd
Niberton and I talked for a good while this week one day about
this covenant of grace. There are lots of debate and
lots of folks like to debate points of theology about God's
covenant. Some say that no such thing as
covenant grace. And others defend covenant grace
and make the covenant to be what it is not. In the word of God,
the very same word translated covenant and testament. The very
same word is translated covenant and testament in our King James
translation. And the King James translation,
what you have in your hand, I've repeated to you many, many times,
in my opinion, is the best translation available in English language
to anyone. The King James translators conscientiously,
conscientiously translated the scriptures in their context. And often a word can be used
in different ways. It can be translated differently
and in perfect legitimacy. In the Word of God, every time
this word that's translated covenant is translated covenant. It is
obvious that it's speaking about a covenant transaction. A covenant
transaction is a compact, an agreement, a contract between
two or more people. But the same word is often translated
testament. A testament is simply a decree.
A testament is simply an order. A testament is simply a purpose.
If you should have a last will in testament, and I recommend
that you do, We don't have anything, got some insurance, and when
we die, we had it drawn up legally, everything goes to our daughter.
And if I die before she ever does, everything goes to her.
If she dies before I do, everything goes to me. And you do that so
the government won't get hold of all of it. That's your testament. That's your decree. That's your
purpose with your goods. And everywhere in the word of
God, The word is translated testament. It is obvious that it was the
intention of the Holy Spirit to speak of it that way. Well,
which is it then? Is it God's purpose? God's testament? God's decree? Or God's covenant? Yes, that's what it is. That's
what it is. God condescends to speak to us
in human terms. so that we can get some handle
on who he is and what he does in language we can understand.
Let me see if I can be clear. The scripture speaks of the hand
of the Lord. But Larry, God's a spirit. He doesn't have hands.
It speaks of the eye of the Lord. But God's a spirit. He doesn't
have eyes. It speaks of God's heart. But God's a spirit. He doesn't have a heart. It speaks
of the mind of the Lord. But God's a spirit. He doesn't
have a brain. God's Spirit, pure, eternal, incomprehensible Spirit,
but He condescends to speak to us in human terms so we get some
idea of what He does. He speaks of His sovereign purpose
of grace, His testament as a covenant, a covenant ordered in all things
and sure, an everlasting covenant A covenant of grace, a covenant
of peace, a covenant of peace and grace, a covenant of love
made between the three persons of the triune Godhead, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. A covenant in which three persons
in one eternal Godhead covenanted, contracted, compacted themselves
together saying, this I will do on this term. on this condition. And the covenant stands all together
on the agreement of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
God the Father in His purpose, God the Son in His purchase,
and God the Holy Spirit in the power of His grace applying salvation
to us. But the covenant comes to us
very much as a testament, as a will. preacher I knew years ago, Brother
Dusty Rhodes, preached a sermon that a lot of us got to know
pretty well. He said, the title of the message was, The Reading
of the Will. The Reading of the Will. Let
me tell you what God does when He saves a sinner. God by His
Spirit reads out His will to you. God, by His Spirit, reads
out His will to you, causing you to know that He's named you
an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. Now, God's
great wisdom is seen clearly in the choice of our Redeemer
to be our Savior. Specifically, God's wisdom is
seen in our Savior's marvelous, marvelous work of substitution. and his determination to accomplish
redemption by a substitute. God determined that his son,
the Lord Jesus, must have the sins of his people made his. That his own darling son must
bear the guilt of sin personally. what words? He hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. God in infinite wisdom in order
to save our souls determined that His Son, His own darling
Son must be made sin and must bear the guilt of sin personally
and He cries from the cross, Thou knowest My guiltiness, O
God. My iniquities are not hidden
from thee. They're more than the hairs of
my head, so that I'm not able to look up. Jesus Christ, when
he hung upon the cursed tree, bearing our sins in his own body
on the tree, hung there with a consciousness of personal guilt. soul. Can that be? Can that be? I stand before God tonight knowing my sin, my corruption,
my depravity, the evil of my heart with a consciousness of
personal righteousness. righteousness really is mine. And when he who knew no sin was
made sin for us, knowing himself the righteous Lamb of God, the
Holy One who could not sin, our Savior was made sin and bear
a personal consciousness of guilt before God. And thereby he was
made to suffer the utter extremity of the law's penalty to the full
satisfaction of God's infinite justice. Now, our Savior's glorious
incarnation is the means by which God, in infinite wisdom, determined
to accomplish this. The Lord Jesus, God's Son, the
Word was made flesh dwelt among us for what purpose why did the
Son of God come here assume our nature become one of us why did
he do this why did God step into humanity because this is the
only way God could save sinners and only God could devise such
a way look here in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10 for it became him the word is
it behooved him it was necessary for him for whom are all things
and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory watch
this now to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings Christ was the captain of our salvation from eternity
he stood forth in the covenant of grace and assumed all responsibility
for our souls But He is made perfect through the things He
suffered. That is, He is made to be the
perfect Savior, the perfect Redeemer, through the things He suffered.
For both He that sanctifieth, He who makes holy, and those
who are sanctified, those who are made holy, are all of one. Our Savior prayed. Brother Lynch has been working
on this now for weeks. That the world may know they
are one even as we are one that the world may know that I am
in them and they are in me that the world may know that I and
my people are one both he that sanctified he who made us holy
and those who are made holy those who are sanctified are all of
one one person one body for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren. The Son of God never blushes. He's never embarrassed to call
us his people, his brothers, his sisters in Christ. Back in the office before We
came out here, we were chatting a little bit about the men identified. Brother Rex was telling us he
was going to read about Samson. What a man he was. You read his
life. All that's recorded about his
life. Now there are some figures who stand out in Scripture whose
lives seem to be remarkable for the good they did. Not Samson. Not Samson. He was a mighty judge in Israel,
but ruthless. Ruthless. And yet the Lord Jesus calls him his brother with no
embarrassment, with no shame. With no embarrassment, with no
shame. Because Samson in Christ is holy,
sanctified, righteous. Only infinite wisdom could accomplish
this by the doing and dying of God's darling son, the captain
of our salvation, made a perfect savior through the things he
suffered. Here stands in front of you a
man. There have been times in my life
when my sisters rightly were ashamed to call me their brother. And I'm ashamed that so. But
there's never been a time and never shall be a time when God's
darling son shall be ashamed to call me his because in him
And by Him, in union with Him, with Him, I am sanctified, holy,
and righteous. I use the term before God, and
that's right. But more than that, in Him, with
Him, by Him, in union with Him, I am holy, righteous, sanctified
he made me so." Read on, Hebrews 2 verse 17, I'm sorry, Hebrews
chapter 2. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him, what a strong word, it behooved him, it was necessary for him,
he must be made behooved him to be made like unto his brethren
for this purpose, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people." In order for Christ to be our Mediator
and to accomplish the work of a Mediator represented in the
high priest in Israel, Our Lord Jesus to be our High Priest,
our Mediator, to be able to lay hold of God and lay hold of man
and bring the two together in perfect symmetry. In no way, in no way, in no way
giving approval to man in his fallen state and sin. and in
no way marring God's holiness, justice, and truth. The Savior
must become one of us, that he might, by suffering and death,
make reconciliation for the people. What's this? For in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted, he is able also to succor, to
help with passion and compassion them that are tempted. Our Savior
endured all the trials, temptations, and sorrows of manhood in this
world so that He might be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He knows all the emotions of manhood. All of them. All of them. The only difference
between Him and us is that He knew no sin. He's holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. Our Lord Jesus lived
in this world. He lived by faith in God. He
lived in submission to the Father's will. He was tempted and tried
in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, and on the cross. By his obedience
unto God for us, he worked out a perfect righteousness, and
he did it under more severe temptations and conflicts than we've ever
known. Perfectly obedient. But our Savior, though He knew no sin, was made
sin for us. And He who could not sin, who
did no sin, I repeat, knows all the emotions of the human heart. touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. Do you know how painful it is to be betrayed
by a trusted friend? He knows that. Do you know how
painful it is to watch friends suffer bereavement? Our Lord
wept with Mary and Martha at Lazarus' tomb. He knows that.
Do you know what it is to be hungry? Our Lord knew that. You know what it is to be so
tired you can't hardly sleep? Our Savior knew that. Do you
know what it is to have consciousness of guilt before God? Our Savior knew that too. When
He who knew no sin was made sin for us. Oh, what wisdom is displayed
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be sure you understand
what happened at Calvary. Be sure you know the meaning
of Christ's death as our substitute. I've told you many times, these
four words identify what happened at Calvary. Sovereignty, substitution,
satisfaction, and success. Our Savior died by His own purpose,
voluntarily. He went up to Calvary. the sovereign
redeemer to purchase our souls at the price of his own life's
blood. He died as a substitute in the room and stead of his
people, his covenant people. He died for his people, God's
elect, all the sheep trusted to his hands. And when he died,
he made complete satisfaction to divine justice. so that justice
could ask for no more. Justice could ask for no more. And whatever he did, whatever
his purpose, whatever his intention, he was totally, perfectly, absolutely
successful. That means that every sinner
for whom Jesus Christ died at Calvary shall be with him in
glory. And God in infinite wisdom saw
that it was needful and expedient for him who died upon the cross
to be raised from the dead and seated at his old right hand,
the hand of majesty on high as the supreme governor of the universe. He who died and rose again sits
in glory with all power given to him over all flesh. that he
should give eternal life to as many as the father gave him.
What does that mean? Look yonder to Calvary and understand
that he who died for his people has complete control of the universe. He'll save every one of them.
He'll save every one of them. I don't know. I don't know. I'll
deal with this a little bit in just a minute, but I don't know
the intricate mysteries of providence. Don't pretend to. But I know
that whatever is going on in this world is being accomplished
by the hand of our Redeemer, the hands pierced by cruel nails
on the cursed tree when Christ was made sin for us. That means
since Christ sits on the throne of glory, All things shall indeed
and do indeed work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. He raises up
kings and treads them down. He raises up nations and tears
them down. He sends famine and bounty, pestilence
and health, war and peace. all over the world for one purpose. Even as He judges men for their
sin, His purpose is the saving of His people. Oh, how peaceful
we ought to be then in this troubling, troubling world. Our Redeemer
rules. If He is seated on the throne
of glory, if He is raised from the dead, it'll be no problem
for God to raise us from the dead. and our Savior who sits
on the throne of sovereign monarchy shall prevail at last and triumph
over all things. His exaltation is the pledge
of final triumph so that every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. By means of this great scheme
of redemption God has achieved the highest
possible ambition of his soul. The highest possible ambition
of his heart. God has achieved the highest
ambition of his being. And that is the preeminence and
glory of his darling son. God's given him preeminence in
all things and over all things. So trust Him. Adore Him. Bow to Him. Commit yourself to
Him. Now, let me speak for just a
minute or two about the prudence of God's grace. Prudence. Oh, how prudent God is in the
sacrifice of His darling Son for the accomplishment of redemption.
Paul said, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom which God before the world, ordained before the
world for our glory. Christ is the wisdom of God and
the power of God. We preach Christ, the wisdom
of God and the power of God, so that proclaiming Christ, we
proclaim to sinners everywhere, God's great wisdom in the saving
of souls. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Behold the Christ of God. How
can God save a weak, helpless, feeble sinner like you, like
me? Behold the power of God in the
resurrected, exalted Christ and in his providence. Oh, what a
display of prudence, of skill. Don't you love to read illustration
after illustration of God's providence? Or how God works things to accomplish
His purpose in the saving of His people? There was a man named
Paul, an apostle, who desired to go over to this place and
preach. He had a great burden for these
folks, and the Holy Ghost said, no, you can't go there. He kept
trying to go to him. God kept getting in his way,
throwing up walls. You can't go there. Rather, he
sends him to a place called Philippi. And being his custom, Paul, on
the Sabbath day, sought out some folks who worship God. And somebody
told him, said, there's a group of old Jewish women who gather
by shore down here every Sabbath day. They do something, read
scripture, something or other. And Paul went down and listened to
those women read. I wonder if I'd have done that.
He went down there and listened to a bunch of women in a Bible
study by the shore. And as they read, he opened to
them the Scriptures. And there happened to be in the
group a businesswoman named Lydia, just happened to be there, for
whom the time of love had come, and God called her by His grace.
And then there was a great tumult in the city. and Paul and Silas
were arrested and thrown in jail. Oh, what good can come of this? Hang on, we'll see. In just a
little while, there's a Philippian jailer who cries out to them,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And they baptized him.
How? Arranged by God's prudence, his
great providence. Paul came at last going to Rome. He was determined to go to Rome.
And there was shipwrecked. Why on earth would God cause
that ship to wreck, be broken to pieces? There was another
ship who left the same port at the same time and sailed without
a ruffle. But not Paul's ship. His ship
is smashed to pieces. And the fellows came to shore,
some swimming, some on broken pieces of the ship, and there
was a heathen king there. And they were making a fire. And Paul was going around like
other folks and gathering some wood, put some wood on fire,
and he got bit by a very poisonous viper. And they said, well, he's
done something wrong. He's going to die. He shook it
off. And they said, he's a god. Paul
said, no, but I'll tell you who he is. And God was pleased to
call out his chosen. How did God arrange that? He
calls that heathen through his superstitions to imagine that
this man was first a criminal and then that he was a God so
that Paul could tell him who is God. God moves in a mysterious
way. His wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. This is God Our Savior. There was a man by the name of
Onesimus. I'm forever getting Onesimus
and Philemon mixed up when I talk about him, so if I get them mixed
up, you'll understand. He was servant to Philemon. And he heard
Paul preach a lot of times. But you know, you hear and you
hear and you hear and you hear and you hear and you don't pay
any attention and you hear and you hear and you hear and you
just, oh, I wish I didn't have to listen to that preacher. But
he was servant in Philemon's house, so he had to listen. Every
time Paul came to town, he had to listen to that fella preach.
And he couldn't stand it, and he'd listen, and he'd listen,
and he'd listen. And finally, one day, he had had enough of
being a servant, and he stole his master's goods and ran away
to Rome, and there hid himself among the vagabonds of Rome.
But he did it at the luckiest possible time. People talk about luck. No such
thing as luck. We talk about purpose and providence. Exactly according to the purpose
and pleasure and prudence of God. Onesimus runs away and is
caught and is thrown in jail just about the time Paul arrives. And somehow or another God brought
them together in prison. And now Onesimus couldn't stand
to hear what Paul had preached to him is anxious to hear it
because the time of mercy has come when Onesimus must be called. God arranges everything in infinite
prudence for the saving of our souls. For each of you who believe God,
I would encourage you to Look over your life's history and
search out things that are evident tokens of special providence. My family is of German stock,
both sides. Germans are known for lots of
things for which they like to claim nobility, and that's all
right, I reckon. But man alive, their history, cruel, hard, barbaric people. Oh, what a history. And God preserved the nation. God preserved them through all
the years of their checkered history and preserved a chosen
seed in the German And 1950, my grandfather, who
was a farmer who'd just dealt in a lot of money all his life
and wound up being a tenant farmer. He couldn't hold on two cents,
but he wound up being a tenant farmer. And my mother and dad,
two people who had no regard for God, living down southeastern North
Carolina, and she conceived and brought forth a son. And here
he stands. And all my life, all my life,
until the day God saved me by his grace, I flirted with hell
and ran as rapidly to hell as I could with my fist in God's
face. But oh, how he blocked up the
way and stopped me in my mad plans, arrested me in my mad
dash to hell, and stopped me time and time and time and time
again from death or imprisonment, which I was caught in, until
the time came when he would call me by his grace. Oh, how God abounds to sinners. infinite wisdom and in infinite prudence, skill
in great mercy. Turn back to Psalm 107. I'll
just read it to you and I'll quit. Maybe it may be better
to just read about God's prudence than for me to talk about it. It takes both The providence
of God and the purpose of God. Both the purchase of God and
the power of God to save our souls. Providence alone, judgment,
and things that happen in men's lives, that doesn't produce repentance. You know that. You know that.
When I was a boy, I used to get in trouble, and I'd get punished.
Man, I'd get beat at home, at school. One time I got tied up
in a chair, because I wouldn't sit up like the teacher said.
Took a jump rope and tied me up. I was in fourth grade. And
that was the teacher I liked. She was pretty. But she tied
me up. And there I sat, tied like a fella being kidnapped,
tied there. And because I wouldn't behave. And I'll tell you what I was
thinking the whole time. She said, I guess you'll sit up in
there. I was thinking, I'm still standing inside. Because it wouldn't
break. It wouldn't break. No, no, no.
Judgment doesn't break anything. But God in His providence fixes it. So that the time of
love, when He will call you by His grace, through all the intricate
details of your life, right now, right now, right now, now He's
ready to hear the Word. Now he's ready to receive the
word. Now he's prepared to receive grace. Look at it. Psalm 107. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the
enemy and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from
the west and from the north and from the south. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. Verse 10, such as sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
because they rebelled against the words of God and contend
the counsel of the Most High. Therefore, he brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down and there was
none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and break
their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness. and for his works, his wonderful
works, to the children of men. For he hath broken the gates
of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Fools, because
of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Have you proved that often enough? Their soul abhorreth all manner
of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their
distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered
them from their destructions. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. How marvelous and good is our
God in infinite wisdom. in infinite wisdom and in infinite
prudence. And He's devised a means by which you and I are preserved and sweetly forced
ever to look to Christ our Redeemer. For He's left us here in this
present state with these hearts of flesh and
sin with which we struggle day by day and hour by hour and
moment by moment. And we cry like the apostle,
oh God, Take this messenger, Satan, from me. Take from me
this thorn in the flesh. Oh, God, deliver me. Oh, God, keep me from the evil
that's in me. And he continually declares to
us, live with it. My grace is sufficient for thee.
My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And in your weakness,
you will find the strength of my grace sufficient for you. And by this warfare in our souls,
by this struggle in our souls, we're continually compelled. And we wouldn't do it if we weren't
compelled to. We're continually compelled by
overwhelming wisdom and prudence. to look to Christ our Savior
as our only wisdom, our only righteousness, our only sanctification,
our only redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth.
Let him glory in the Lord. Amen.