I adore God's character, his wisdom, his grace, his goodness,
mercy, his love, his justice, his truth, his faithfulness. All of these marvelous attributes
of God get bigger and bigger and bigger as I meditate upon
them and study them. and as I walk in the experience
of them. And among those attributes of
God that I find simply astounding, none is greater, more majestic,
more wondrous, more mysterious to me than the wisdom of God. Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Ephesians chapter one. I have for the last several weeks
been preaching to you on what Paul calls the manifold wisdom
of God. Tonight, as God the Spirit will
enable me, I want to show you something of the wisdom and prudence
of grace. That's my subject. The wisdom
and prudence of grace. Our text is Ephesians 1 verses
8 and 9. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us, in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
had purposed in himself. The opening word of our text,
wherein, refers us back to verse seven, and the riches of God's
boundless free grace in Christ, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. Wisdom refers to God's infinite
knowledge. Prudence refers to the great,
infinitely great skill by which God accomplishes his wise purpose
of grace in making known to us the mystery of his will. In these
two verses, God the Holy Spirit tells us that our God has, by
his spirit, abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, in
all brilliance and skill, in all knowledge and insight, in
all his infinite holy being, revealing to us the mystery of
his will. The mystery of his will, which
God the Spirit has made known to us, is the revelation and
experience of his grace, giving us faith in Christ. This is our
the will of God is our eternal election, our eternal redemption,
our eternal salvation by Christ Jesus, that which he had purposed
in himself. The mystery of his will. is all
that Paul declares in verses 3 through 7. Let's read these
marvelous, marvelous declarations again. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The only way
we could ever know that God blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ at one time from eternity before
ever the world was is if God made it known to us. You can't
know this except by divine revelation. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. We know our election because
God, the Holy Spirit, revealed it to us, giving us faith in
Christ. His purpose in choosing us is that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. These things, the mystery of
God's will, the mystery of divine predestination, the mystery of
election, the mystery of God's purpose. These things are to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath, not is,
not shall, but hath made us accepted in the beloved. Our acceptance
in Christ is a matter of eternal acceptance. Eternal approval. Eternal favor. Eternal delight. The God of glory holds with eternal
delight all his chosen in Christ Jesus the Lord. Immutable favor. Immutable acceptance. It never
varies. This he reveals to us when he
gives us faith in Christ Jesus. Read on. to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace. By indescribable
brilliance and skill, the Lord God, the God of all grace, makes
known to sinners the mystery of his will in the blessed experience
of saving grace. Ah, wondrous mercy. God makes known to sinners the
mystery of his will with wisdom and prudence. Our Lord Jesus
says in John 15, 15, I have called you friends for all things that
I have heard of my father, I have made known to you. God's everlasting
love for us, his eternal purpose of grace toward us. Even the
redemption of our souls by Christ Jesus are secret things known
only to God until they're made known to us in the revelation
of his grace. Giving us faith in Christ, he
gives us the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. When faith is given, God will
give you faith in Christ He will bring to light in your soul What
God has done for you from eternity turn to 2nd Timothy chapter 1
for a minute 2nd Timothy chapter 1 Look what Paul says here Verse 9 God hath saved us and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. That looks like Paul is
declaring to us here by divine inspiration that God saved us
from eternity. Does anybody read that any different
way? Is there any possibility of reading that another way?
Somebody said, but that's hard-shelled doctrine. It doesn't matter if
it's Buddhist doctrine. Just because the Pope says he
believes in the virgin birth doesn't make it a wrong doctrine.
This is what God says. God hath saved us and called
us. If you're saved now, If this
minute God drops faith in your soul, giving you the ability
to believe on his son, if right now he does so, God saved you
and called you with an holy calling, not according to something you
do, not according to your works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Well, what happens When God causes
a sinner to experience this, look at the next verse, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ,
who had abolished death and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. What happens when God gives us
faith in Christ? Nothing changes with regard to
God. Nothing changes with regard to
God's purpose. Nothing changes with regard to
God accepting us. Nothing changes with regard to
our eternal salvation, our eternal redemption, our eternal election,
God's sovereign predestination. Those things are done from eternity. What happens? God lets you in
on what he's doing. God causes you to know what he
has done and causes you to know what he's doing. What is God
doing in this world? With great wisdom and prudence,
he is saving his people, working out his purpose of grace given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And he brings it
to light in the experience of his grace in your soul by the
gospel when he gives you faith in Christ Jesus. This is what
happens in conversion. You have a beautiful picture
of it back in Genesis chapter one. Look back in the opening
verses of the Bible, the opening verses of the Bible. I get notes at least once a week,
usually daily from various people talking about creation and arguing
about creation. And yes, thank God he's the creator. If you've got trouble with that,
you've got trouble with God. God created this world. If you don't
understand that, you don't understand much. God created this world.
But Genesis chapters one, two and three are not written simply
to declare that God created the world. Genesis one, two and three
describe God's creation of the world, and they describe God's
new creation of grace in the experience of it in Christ Jesus.
Look at Genesis chapter one, verse one. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was the
earth became without form and void and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. This is exactly what happened
when God created man in his own image and in his own likeness.
And then the fall and darkness engulfed humanity. And when God
comes in grace, what's what he says here? And the spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. God said let there be
light and there was light when God comes to sinners in the saving
operations of his grace He commands the light to shine out of darkness
To shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Oh, what grace. God shines in the sinner's heart
and turns on the lights and causes darkness to be brought to light. And we're made the children of
light and not of darkness. Paul told the Thessalonians,
he said, we know your election. Beloved of God because God calls
the gospel to come to you not in word only but in demonstration
of the Holy Spirit and power Causing you to believe on his
son We know who God's elect are when they are given faith in
Christ and not until then our text back here in Ephesians 1
verses 8 and 9 and 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 toward us
in all wisdom and prudence. In a word, God not only saves
his elect in the only way we could be saved, But he saves
us in the very best way. His way is always the best way. So let me show you the obvious
wisdom and prudence of his grace. I said show, not explain. Explain
it? Never, never. We will spend eternity
diving into the depths and soaring into the heights of the wisdom
and prudence of God's infinite, boundless grace toward us in
Christ. All we can do is behold it and
rejoice. Only the all wise God could devise
and execute the sovereign purpose of his grace toward us in Christ
Jesus. the wisdom of God and bow to
him. Behold the prudence of God and
worship him. As you know, in the sweet experience
of his grace, that wisdom and prudence. Let me show it to you
in several things. I prepared this message and I
got done and I thought it seemed like I say these things repeatedly
all the time. I make no apology for doing so.
I make no apology. These are things that we need
to have our hearts fixed upon continually. First, God's choice
of his son to be our redeemer displays infinite wisdom. Turn back to Jeremiah chapter
31. Jeremiah chapter 31. I could
go many places for this. Turn back to Jeremiah chapter
31. When we read in the scriptures
about God keeping records, and we read about the books, things
like that, you do understand that God doesn't need books,
don't you? You do understand God doesn't need to, like I do,
if I don't write things down, I forget them in a hurry. If
I don't write them, sometimes I write them down and just make
a brief note and I wonder, what did I write that for? I have
to write things down to remember them. Not God. He doesn't need
to write things down to remember them. But he speaks of himself
as writing things down in a book to remember them, to communicate
with us something of what he does in language we can understand. And God doesn't need to make
plans. God doesn't need to make plans.
He doesn't need to devise things. He doesn't need to work things
out. We can only think in what logic we have in logical terms. We can only think of one thing
succeeding another. And so God reveals himself to
us in language that we can understand. So when Scripture speaks about
God making a covenant, I don't understand. I don't pretend to
understand. the hidden mysteries of the covenant
of grace, the proposals and agreements and owes of the triune God. I
know that God doesn't need to make plans. I know that God doesn't
need to devise or work out anything in his infinite mind. He knows
everything at once. Larry, we can't even we can't
even think about that. God knows everything. wants eternally God knows Everything
at once eternally, but I do know that he made a covenant look
here Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 31 Behold the days come
saith the Lord That I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah. I Now we understand
that this house of Israel and Judah is talking about God's
elect, his church, the Israel of God. We know that because
the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, by the inspiration
of God the Holy Spirit in the book of Hebrews, tells us this
is talking about us. He says, I make a new covenant.
This new covenant was made in eternity. It is revealed in time. It's called the new covenant,
though it was that which preceded the old covenant. It is new all
the time, newly revealed and newly experienced. I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, Although
I was in husband unto them saith the Lord But this shall be the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts
I will write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they
shall be my people I'll put my law in their hearts He'll give
us a new heart a new nature make us holy creatures in Christ Jesus
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every
man his brother say know the Lord For they shall all know
me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the
Lord How will they know me for I will forgive their iniquity
and I will remember their sin no more There was a covenant
made God the father made proposals to his son for the accomplishment
of our redemption in that covenant Psalm 2 verse 8 he says ask of
me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance and John
10 our Savior speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd laying down
his life in obedience to the father's command and And our
savior voluntarily accepted the terms and conditions of the covenant. And he bowed himself to his father's
will and said, Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh, my God. And when he agreed to the covenant,
the father trusted the son struck hands with our charity and redemption's
work was done from eternity. God, the father proposed the
conditions upon which redemption must be accomplished. God, the
son pledged himself to meet those conditions and God, the Holy
Spirit promised to effectually apply all the blessings of grace
earned by Christ to his elect. Now, remember, I'm talking to
you about things that took place before the world began when no
one existed but God. When God dwelt alone in the ineffable
glory of his own being, In those great eternal councils of grace,
God set his heart upon his own dear son, chose him to be the
person who would perform the great work of redemption. He
set him forth, foreordained him as our redeemer and accepted
him as such. Christ, the redeemer of God's
own choosing, is he in whom the father is well pleased. Therefore,
he's called God's elect. When the Lord God set his eye
on his son, choosing him to save his elect, he said with regard
to all his elect, deliver him from going down to the pit. For
I have found a ransom. I've laid help upon one that
is mighty. I've exalted one chosen out of the people. Christ Jesus
shows the wisdom of God and the prudence of God as our redeemer
in every way. He is in every way. fit to be
our Redeemer and the only one who could be. The Redeemer must
be one who is God. The Redeemer must be one who
is infinitely holy, with infinite ability, and he must be one dear
to God. How often Scripture speaks of
God giving his only begotten Son, his well-beloved Son, Were
he not dear to God, God would not place infinite value upon
his work. Our Redeemer is that person dear
to God, for he is himself God the Son. And the Redeemer himself
is full of infinite love and grace for his people. The love and grace of Christ. for his people. Can best be described, I think,
perhaps, as it was described by those who beheld him at Lazarus'
tomb. Behold how he loved him. Oh, behold the incarnate Christ,
in all his glorious being, in all the wondrous operations of
his grace, And behold how he loved us. Behold how he loved
us. Did you ever observe how the
love of God is spoken of in past tense? In past tense. He loved us with everlasting
love. And the love never varies. It
never changes. never changes in its objects,
never changes in its purpose, never varies in its warmth, never
varies in its dedication, never varies in its determination,
never varies in its commitment. God loved us with an everlasting
love. God the Son loved us with an
everlasting love. He alone could make atonement
for our sins. No man could do it. No angel
could do it. No creature could do it. All
the sacrifices offered in the law could not do it. Only God
the Son could make atonement for us. Who but the infinitely
wise God could have thought to make Christ our Redeemer? Had
God asked the heavenly angels whom he would create, where can
ransom be found? None could ever have found the
Redeemer we must have. Had God asked men, where can
ransom be found? None could ever find a ransom.
But God so loved the world of his elect that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. That's the revelation of the
wisdom of God in the choice of our Redeemer. Next, God's wisdom. is displayed in his determination
to accomplish redemption by substitution. God determined that his son,
the Lord Jesus, must have the sins of his people made his,
that he must take our guilt upon himself, that he must suffer
as our substitute the utter extremity of the law's punishment to the
full satisfaction of justice. And he looked upon his son as
the lamb, the substitute slain for our sins from eternity. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Wondrous grace. The works were
finished from the foundation of the world. Pastor, would you explain how
the works can be finished from the foundation of the world and
be accomplished in time? And be brought to culmination
in eternity? No, sir, I can't explain that.
I just cannot explain that. All I know is what God says in
His Word. And what God says in His Word
is that the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
we were saved from eternity. The works are brought to pass
in time on this earthly stage by which God shows forth his
glory in the redemption of his people. And the works are culminated
in the blessed experience of resurrection glory when we're
at last raised with Christ from the dead. Third, the incarnation,
the marvelous incarnation of Christ shows us the manifold
wisdom of God. A virgin shall conceive. A virgin shall conceive. Unto us a son is given. Unto us a child is born. God shows his great wisdom in
sending his son into the world in our flesh, in our nature. Making him truly a man Truly
one of us turn to Hebrews chapter 2 The word was made flesh and
dwelt among us The Son of God became the Son of Man God became
one of us He who is the eternal Jehovah became Jehovah's Servant
The infinite, omnipotent God became a finite, feeble mortal. He who is the eternal spirit
was born of a woman. The immortal God became flesh
and blood. God, independent, self-sufficient,
all-sufficient, stood in need of food and clothing and shelter
and rest. He needed food and clothing and
shelter and rest as much as any of us. God who owns all things
became a man who owned nothing. He had not where to lay his head
at night. He who upholds all things by
the word of his power lived upon the charity of men. God who knows
all things eternally at once as a man had to learn how to
walk, and talk, and read, and write. When I wrote that down, and I
looked over it again last night, and looked over it again this
morning, and looked over it again this afternoon, I thought, maybe I
ought not say that. Folks won't understand that.
But that's exactly what the book teaches. Our Savior, as a man,
He who is God, had to learn how to walk. and he had to learn
how to talk, and he had to learn how to read, had to learn how
to write. He who wrote the law and gave
it to Moses on Mount Sinai became subject to the law and perfectly
obeyed the law as a man. The holy son of God came under
the obligation and sentence of the law as a guilty sinner when
he was made sin for us. He who is life was made to die. God is infinitely, immutably,
unchangeably happy. And yet as a man, he was made
to suffer sorrow, pain, and torment as no man ever suffered. He who is the object of God's
perfect love. He who is the object of God's
perfect love eternally was made the object of God's unmitigating
wrath when he was made sin for us. The great sovereign of heaven
and earth became a worm. He said, I'm a worm and no man. The lowest of worms, a maggot.
I'm a worm and no man. The eternal God died as our substitute. Well might the sun in darkness
hide and shut his glories in when God the mighty maker died
for me and all my sin. No man can even grasp the reality
of the incarnation, much less understand it or explain it.
But God, in infinite wisdom, purposed it before the world
began and brought it to pass in time. God, the Holy Spirit. Formed in a virgin's womb. That holy thing. Called Jesus
Christ. The man. God, the Holy Spirit
formed in the Virgin's womb, that holy thing called the firstborn
who breaks the womb. God, the Holy Spirit formed in
the Virgin's womb without the aid of a man, the God man, our
Savior, to redeem and save his people. Fourth, we see the wisdom
of God in the life of our Savior. What is the purpose and meaning
of our Lord's earthly life? He lived in this world in perfect
submission and faith Toward God as a man. I had you turn to Hebrews
to look at verse 10 For it became him It was necessary for him
it behooved him For whom are all things and by whom are all
things? bringing many sons to glory to
make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings How
is Christ made perfect? Made perfect through suffering
but wait, he's the perfect God. He's the perfect man, but he
can't became the perfect complete Captain of our salvation by the
things he suffered now watch this for both he that sanctified
and they who are sanctified by All of one one body One being
really and truly one for which calls God's darling son is Not ashamed
to look on Don Fortner and call me his brother He doesn't blush
to call us his brethren verse 17 Wherefore in all things it
behooved him it became him it was necessary for him to be made
like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and Faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people For in that he himself has suffered
being tempted. He is able to succor them that
are tempted Our Savior endured all the trials,
temptations, sorrows, weaknesses of manhood so that he might be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Brother David, back in the office
just a moment ago, praying for Sally, for Brother Donnie Bell,
And he said, Lord, we don't know what they need. And we don't. I look at you and your difficulties,
your trials, your heartaches. And I'm aware of so much, so
much that some of you don't even know I'm aware of, the pains
you go through. And I don't know what you need.
I don't know how to pray his heart. I don't know. But he who
is your Redeemer knows what you feel for he's felt it. He lived in this world. He lived
by faith in God in perfect obedience to the Father's will for us and
by his obedience to God You and I are made ourselves righteous,
and he who fulfilled and obeyed all things for God is moved by
that which moves us, touched by that which touches us, and
able to succor them that are tempted. The only difference
between his life and ours is that he is the only man ever
to live without sin. He endured all the temptations
and trials and heartaches that man could endure while he walked
on this earth. In the wilderness of temptation,
in the garden of Gethsemane, upon Golgotha's cruel hill, he
endured it all so that he feels with empathy what we feel. He feels with empathy what we
experience. But how can he know what I feel
in the experience of guilt and shame when he never knew sin? He who did know sin and could
not sin when he was made sin was utterly overwhelmed with
guilt and shame, knowing himself to be the holy one of God, yet
utterly overwhelmed with guilt and shame. So that he said what
you and I often feel and might say in private, but wouldn't
say in public, I cannot look up How can a man like me look up
to God in heaven? He who redeemed us is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. And oh, what wisdom is made manifest,
what prudence revealed in the sacrificial death of God's darling
son. He who is the fountain of life
was put to death. The supreme judge of the world
arrested, tried, condemned, and put to death by maggots. The
creator of the world crucified by his own creatures. The God
of glory beaten, spit upon, mocked by vile men. He who is infinite
good died by indescribable cruelty. But when he did, He satisfied
the justice of God. He put away our sins and he perfected
forever them that are sanctified. By his one sacrifice for sin,
he perfected forever them that are sanctified. And then we see
the wisdom of God made evident in our Savior's exaltation. Look
at Philippians 2, Philippians chapter 2. after describing our Savior's
humiliation, his humbling himself, his emptying himself, becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The apostle
says, wherefore, verse 9, God also hath highly exalted him
and given him a name which is above every creature, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth. and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Divine wisdom saw that it was
needful and expedient that he who died upon the cross should
be raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the majesty
on high as supreme governor of the universe. And by his exaltation,
God assures us of the certain salvation of all his elect. By
his exaltation, the Lord God comforts us with the knowledge
of his good providence. He who loved me and gave himself
for me set yonder on the throne of universal monarchy. And he controls the thoughts
of every man. He controls the deeds of every
devil. He who loved me and gave himself
for me rules the universe absolutely. Let my heart then be quiet all
the time. How could things be better? How
could they possibly be better? He who loves me and gave himself
for me rules all things. With him seated at the right
hand of the majesty on high, with the full knowledge of my
personal guilt and my personal depravity and my personal corruption, I am able to look up and call
God my father with the absolute assurance of complete perpetual
pardon. Christ is my advocate. He's seated
on the right hand of the majesty on high, his exaltation, his
glory, is the promise of exaltation and glory to every believer,
the pledge of his and our final triumph when every knee shall
bow to him. Now. What about the prudence
of his grace? The skill. The insight displayed
in the riches of his grace. Oh, how God abounds toward us
in grace, in the prudence of his grace, making known to us
the mystery of his will. By the preaching of the cross,
God's pleased to make known what he has done. And we come and
proclaim the word of his grace to sinners. By the providence
of his hand, Our God displays his infinite prudence, insights,
and skill. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. We read in Psalm 104 this morning,
he walks on the wings of the wind. He does everything exactly right,
exactly on time, exactly according to schedule, exactly according
to his purpose for the saving of his own. Don't you find it amazing that
when the Apostle Paul wanted to go over here and preach the
gospel, The needy sinners over there. God said no you can't
go over there. God just shut the door Did you
shut the door? It's happened many times and
in our experience as a church you you start to move in one
direction God just stops No, you can't go there. I make plans
to go. God just stopped. No, you can't go there for whatever
reason you can't go there and it sends him to a place called
Philippi and as he was on his there at Philippi, as was his
custom, on Saturday, he sought out some folks who worshipped,
and he said, found out there was a group of women who met
down by the seaside and read the scriptures on Saturdays.
And he went down there, and there was a woman by the name of Lydia,
who happened to be in Philippi, a business, a seller of purple,
whose heart the Lord opened. And after God was pleased to
speak mightily by the word of His grace, an uproar took place,
and Paul and Silas were thrown in jail, thrown in jail at Philippi. If they had been allowed to go
down yonder, it wouldn't have happened. They're thrown in jail at Philippi. How can that be good? There's
a crusty old Roman soldier who'd been put into almost retirement,
whose business it was to keep the jail. It was one of those
for whom God made a covenant before the world was. And said,
I'll be your God and you shall be my child. And now the time
of love had come and God spoke life to that jailer. Apostle
Paul sailed into Malta. The ship was wrecked. Another
ship. set sail St. Port and sailed
into the sign of the piracy and Paul, his ship, wrecked. And
they came to shore, some swimming, some on broken pieces of the
ship. And on this heathen island, Paul is out with other folks
gathering wood, throws it on fire. When he did, he was bitten
by an asp, deadly poisonous snake. And everybody watching him said,
well, he's going to die. Because everybody had been bit by one
of those snakes that died. Frank Paul just shook it off
like he had had just a slight little sweat be stinging him.
He just shook it off and nothing happened. And folks saw that
and bowed down and worshipped him as though he were a god.
Why the shipwreck? Why the snake bite? There was
a chieftain there. an object of God's grace, for
whom the time of mercy had come, who must be called. God's wisdom. Oh, wonder what he's doing tonight. Wonder where he is sending someone
tonight. Wonder how he's, wonder why he
brought you here. Wonder how come? Wonder how come?
I started attending church at 16 years old. Well, there's a
rather attractive gal I wanted to date. I sat down back about
where Susan's sitting in a large auditorium. And over a period of time, I'd heard
the gospel repeatedly. Sunday school teachers faithfully
teaching it. And one day I heard the preacher preaching the word
of God's grace. And you know, I can't even remember
that girl's name. I remember what she looked like. Shelby
asked me the other day. I said, I don't remember. I don't
remember who she was. What happened? Why? Why start going? Why would Don
Fortner start attending church? Why? Oh, he's seeking the Lord. No, no. I'm seeking that girl. No, I wasn't interested in the
Lord. But bless God, he was interested in me. And the time of love had come.
And in his great skill with all the affairs of the universe,
he brings to pass his purpose of grace to shine in my heart
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of his son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. great wisdom and prudence. God slays that he may make alive. He wounds that he may heal. He creates thirst so that he
may give water to the thirsty. He strips that he may clothe.
He empties that he may feel. He imprisons that he may set
the prisoner free. He abases that he may exalt,
he condemns, that he may pardon. This is the wisdom of God. And oh, what wisdom and prudence
he displays in the way he preserves his own. Don't you often think to yourself, Were it his purpose, Rex, God
could rid us of all the influence of evil in us and around us right
now. He could do it as easily right
now as he shall in the day when we leave this world and we're
raised again in the likeness of Christ. But he leaves us here
in a warfare. in a state of war with ourselves so that we constantly do battle
with our own depraved natures. We sleep and our hearts wake. The Savior speaks and we refuse
to listen, but he won't leave us alone. He puts his hand in
by the hold of the door Moves our hearts to him We rise up
to seek him and the locks drop with a sweet smelling burr of
his grace And we seek him and can't find him and seek him and
can't find him until at last we find it And when we find him
he brings us to his banqueting house and places over us his
banner of love And with every such experience With every such
experience keeps us looking to himself, keeps us aware of our
need of him, and causes us to know more fully than we could
ever otherwise know that many waters cannot quench his love. And the floods of our sins can
never overflow it. And he declares to us again and
again, my grace is sufficient for thee. In all this he hath
abounded toward us. In all wisdom and prudence hath
he made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. O may God make you to know. the mystery of His will, in the
sweet experience of His grace, as only He can, for Christ's
sake. Amen.