How often have you been watching
the news on television after some great tragedy, as men refer
to them, has occurred? And both religious people and
irreligious people raise a question by which God's name is blasphemed
and dishonored. If there is a God in heaven,
How do you explain the evil that's in the world? If God is good,
how can there be such disease and pestilence, starvation, war
and crime? How can these things exist in
a world ruled by a God who is good? Is there any explanation
for the existence of evil given in the word of God? Any real
explanation? how often our own minds at times
challenge God's very rule when we see evil around us. Better
than 30 years ago, I was preaching here one Sunday morning on God's
great providence, Romans chapter eight, verse 28. And there was
a preacher visiting who professed to believe the gospel of God's
grace. As he walked out the door, he said to his daughter, How
can this be the will of God? Referring to a great difficulty
he'd experienced in his life. Why did the Lord God allow sin
to enter into his creation and mar it? Why would a holy God
permit sin to exist? Did he merely allow it? Did he merely permit it, or did
he decree it, predestine it, and order it, and ordain it for
a good purpose? Either one of two things must
be so. Either he could not prevent it,
which is absolutely absurd, or he was determined to overrule
it and use it for good. You got one of those two options.
Either God could not prevent evil or God ordered it so that
he might use it for the greater good of his people and the greater
glory of his name. Certainly we know he could have
prevented it. He prevented Abimelech, a pagan
king who didn't even know him, from committing great transgression
with Abraham's wife, Sarah, when he wanted to do so. God stopped
him dead in his tracks. And he could certainly have prevented
evil from coming into this world. What does God say about the matter
then? James tells us this plainly. The wrath of man worketh not
the righteousness of God. that no one misunderstand anything
I have to say this evening. Man's wrath does not work God's
righteousness. So there's no excuse for ungodliness,
no excuse for sin, and that evil that men do, they are responsible
for. That evil that men do, they must
suffer the consequences for in this world or in the world to
come, and sometimes both. David, God's servant, committed
great evil. He committed great evil in the
matter of Uriah the Hittite. And the scriptures tell us plainly
that the thing David did displeased the Lord. David's acceptance
wasn't changed. David's righteousness wasn't
changed. David's salvation wasn't hindered in any way. But the
thing David did displeased the Lord. And to show his displeasure,
God killed the son to be born to David and Bathsheba. And he
calls the sword to constantly abide upon David's house as it
does to this very day. God shows his displeasure of
evil. Does that mean that God doesn't
order, decree, ordain, rule, and overrule all evil? Oh no. God speaks very plainly in his
word. Let me show you just four scriptures
as I move to our text. Let's begin in Amos chapter three.
Amos chapter three. The scriptures clearly assert
God's absolute total control of all evil. The scriptures display
plainly God's wisdom and grace in using evil to accomplish the
redemption of his people. Amos 3, verse 6, the last sentence
in the verse, it's a question, a question that is its own answer. Shall there be evil in the city
and the Lord hath not done it. Shall there be evil in the city? And the Lord hath not done it. The answer is so obvious that
it's not even given. The question is its own answer. If evil comes, it too is that
which is brought to pass by God's hand of providence. Isaiah chapter
45, Isaiah chapter 45, verse five. God's describing himself. He's
describing himself as God incomparable to anything that men call gods. He describes himself as the only
Lord God. All that men make and claim to
be gods cannot be compared to him. And here is the excellence
of his being as God. Isaiah 45 verse 5, I am the Lord
and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee though thou has
not known me that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the West that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and
there is none else. Now listen to how he describes
his singularity as God. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. Now, it doesn't matter what definition
you give to peace and evil. God says, I make peace and create
evil. That's God's declaration of his
solitariness as God. I, the Lord, do all these things. Look in Proverbs chapter 16.
Proverbs 16 and verse 4. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Perhaps the wise man is referring
here to the day of judgment. God's made all things for himself,
even the wicked for the day of judgment when he will be glorified
in their everlasting destruction by his justice. Perhaps he is
saying more. I'm sure he is. The Lord hath
made all things for himself, even the crazy Muslim terrorist
for the day of evil. Even the rapist and the murderer
for the day of evil. Even the oppressing army for
the day of evil. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. Even the men who cried, crucify
him, crucify him, let his blood be on us and our children. And
they slaughtered God's darling son in their hatred of God. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Now here's our text. Psalm 76,
verse 10. Psalm 76, verse 10. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee. The remainder of wrath wilt thou
restrain. The wrath of man shall praise
thee. That's our subject tonight. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. The remainder of wrath
wilt thou restrain. The evil that is in man, the evil that is in all things, is
absolutely controlled by our God. The evil deeds of men God
sovereignly overrules and makes to work for His praise. And the
evil designs and desires and intentions of men, which God
will not use for His praise and the good of His people, He will
not allow men to perform. Oh, what a consolation for our
souls. The evil that men do God rules
for the good of his people and the glory of his name. The evil
that men would do that God will not use for our good and his
glory, God will not permit them to perform. Do you see how great
our God is? With great sovereignty and infinite
wisdom, he ordained that sin and evil and wrath enter into
his creation and mar it, that he might overrule it to show
forth the great glory and magnificence of his own holy being and the
great glory and magnificence of his grace in the accomplishment
of our redemption. Thomas Matten made this observation. I thought it was so good, it's
worth reading to you. God many times gets up in the
world on Satan's shoulders. God many times gets up in the
world on Satan's shoulders. When matters are raveled and
disordered, he can find out the right end of the thread and how
to disentangle us again. And when we have spoiled a business,
he can dispose it for good and make it an advantage, make advantage
of those things which seem to obscure the glory of his name. Now let me give you some illustrations
of what our text declares. The wrath of man shall praise
thee. Illustrations given to us in
the book of God over and over again. There was a man by the
name of Job. perfect and upright. No man like
him in all the earth in his day. This man, Job, the object of
God's mercy, love, and grace. And the Lord God sent Satan to
afflict Job. He didn't just permit Satan to
go. God's the one who instigated
the thing. Read the first two chapters of Job. God's the one
who challenged Satan. Satan didn't challenge God. God
challenged Satan. And he said, all right, you go
and you do what you want to Job, but you can't hurt him. You can
take away his children, you can take away his wealth, you can
take away his name, you can take away his health, but don't touch
his life. And in doing so, God made Job a greater man than he
could ever otherwise have been. God ordained Joseph's brothers
who hated him. What they did, they did because
they hated him. What they did, they did because of malice in
their hearts. What they did, they did because they just couldn't
stand the idea of Joseph being favored of God. They hated him. But God ordained that his brothers
sell him into Egyptian slavery. You remember in Genesis chapter
50 when the whole thing was brought to its culmination and Joseph's
father and his brothers were all gathered with all their wives
and children into Egypt. The old man's dead and the brothers
thought surely Joseph's gonna kill us now and they hatched
a plan they lied to him again They said they said our father
said for you not to not to visit this thing on us Our father told
us what we died now you you forgive your brethren and Joseph knew
better But Joseph said to his brethren as for you You thought
it for evil but God for good As it has come to pass in this
day, I am in the place of God to save much people alive. Had
they not sold their brother, Had they not sold him into slavery,
they wanted to kill him, but God overruled that. So they sold
him into slavery, but then Israel would never have been brought
down to Egypt. Had they not sold him into slavery, Israel would
never have dwelt in Egypt for 400 years as God told Abraham
they must. Had they not sold Joseph into
Egyptian bondage, The Lord God would never have delivered his
people in Israel by which he showed forth his glory. Had Joseph's
brothers not sold him into slavery, Israel wouldn't have gone into
Egypt. Moses would never have been raised
up a deliverer. The Passover would never have
been kept. And Israel would never have crossed the Red Sea. We're
told that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. over and over and over
again, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. So that Pharaoh, every
time Moses would come in and bring a word from God and bring
a terrible plague on Egypt, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. He first
pretended to repent, then he hardened his heart and afflict
the children of God even more, persecute the church of God even
more. And God hardened Pharaoh's heart and hardened Pharaoh's
heart and hardened Pharaoh's heart and hardened Pharaoh's
heart for one reason, that I might show my glory in you. And he
did. Listen to this. God said, in
very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for to show
in thee my power and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. And then in chapter 18 of Exodus,
Aaron said, now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods.
Now I know the Lord, he alone is God, for in the thing wherein
they dealt proudly, he was above them. And God foreordained that
the Jews and the Romans with vehement hatred for the Lord
Jesus, with vehement hatred for the Son of God, crucify his darling
son at Calvary. He ordained that he be put to
death by the hands of those wicked men for the accomplishment of
redemption. You're familiar with the text.
Our Lord Jesus, Peter says, was delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And you, you men have taken
him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. Now for the past four
weeks, I've been talking to you. about the manifold wisdom of
God. Tonight, and I presume probably next Sunday night, I'll be dealing
with this same subject. I want you to see the wisdom
of God in the use of evil for the accomplishment of our redemption.
How can it be wise? How can God's wisdom be displayed
in all the evil that takes place in this world? Let me make five
plain statements. I will be brief, but I want to
be as pointed as possible. Number one, God's greatest dishonor
has been made the occasion of his greatest glory. Sin. God's greatest dishonor
has been by God's wisdom made the occasion of his greatest
glory. What could be more dishonoring to God than sin? Sin is enmity
against God. Sin is contempt for God. Brother Scott Richardson put
it this way, sin is an attempt by man to rape God himself and
rob him of his glory. Sin. Nothing more dishonors God
than sin. Man, by his sin and rebellion,
dishonors his maker. But God's eternal purpose of
grace in Christ so wisely and sovereignly overrules man's sin
that it provides the background for the greatest possible manifestation
of God's glory. Jonathan Edwards, that brilliant
instrument of God in the Great Awakening, wrote, Sin, the greatest
evil, is made an occasion of the greatest good. How can that
be? Well, just think a little bit.
Had there been no fall, there would always have been the possibility
of a fall. Had sin never entered into the
world, God could never have entered human flesh. Had there been no
sin, Christ could never have redeemed us. Had there been no
sin, the mercy, love, and grace of God as we know them could
never have been known. Had there been no sin, there
would have been no adoption of children. Had there been no sin,
there would have been no saving grace. Where sin abounded, the
scripture says, grace did much more abound. Had there been no
sin, there would have been no song of praise to the Lamb as
we read it in Revelation chapter 5. Sin, the greatest possible
evil, the greatest possible dishonor done to God by God's wisdom had
become the occasion of his greatest glory. Sin attempts to dethrone
God. but it has instead given God
opportunity to show forth his greatness as God and enthrone
his son in human flesh as the redeemer and savior of sinners.
Man by sin slights and despises God, but God in forgiving sin
shows himself glorious. David prayed like this, for thy
name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. What an argument for mercy. For
thy name's sake, Lord, for thy name's sake, for the glory of
your name, for the honor of your name, for the exaltation of your
name, pardon my sin. And here's my reason for seeking
pardon. It is great. And the pardon of
my great sin shows forth your great glory and your great honor.
Sin is contempt for the authority and law of God. But God, in redeeming
us from sin by Christ, gives greater honor to his law than
could ever have been given to his law had every man in the
universe kept it. Listen to this. The Lord is well-pleased
for Christ's righteousness sake. The Lord is well-pleased for
his righteousness sake. because he will magnify the law
and make it honorable. The Lord Jesus, by his obedience
to the law, by his fulfilling the law, by his satisfying the
law as the sinner's substitute, magnifies and makes the law more
honorable than it could ever have been had there been no sin
by which the law was broken. Man, by his sin, shows his enmity
against the holiness of God. But man's sin gives the blackest
possible background for the greatest possible revelation of God's
holiness. How can we know that God is holy, that God is holy? How can we see really that God
is holy? How can we see that? Here is
the background of our sin. Laid on God's darling son so
that Christ was made sin. Oh, the blackness! Oh, the blackness! Oh, the horror! Sin! But here is the dazzling light
of God's glory! Christ died for our sins under
the holy justice of God. When God found sin on his son,
he cried, awake, O sword against the man that is my fellow, smite
and slay the shepherd. And by the sacrifice of God's
son, we see God's holiness as we could never have seen it otherwise. Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. All right, here's the second
thing. We see the wisdom of God in our
redemption by Christ and that those attributes of God which
seem to require the destruction of sinners are most clearly revealed
in the salvation of sinners. Justice, holiness, and truth. Justice, holiness, and truth. Demand the destruction of every
sinner. Justice, holiness, and truth. Demand the destruction of every
sinner. The great and holy God declares
himself to be one that will by no means clear the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children and the children's children under
the third and fourth generation. The justice of God requires that
sin be punished as it deserves. Justice says, the soul that said
it, it shall die. And our sin deserves punishment,
everlasting punishment for the satisfaction of justice, which
we can never satisfy. So the wages of sin is death. That's what we deserve. No man
deserves grace. No man deserves mercy. No man
deserves to be spared. Not you, not me, not your children,
not mine, not your parents, not mine. The wages of sin is death
and God's justice demands that the sinner die. God sent his
son to die in the stead of sinners. And when he died for us, we died
in him and we were given the wages of sin. The holiness of
God cannot bear to look upon sin. Demands that the sinner
be forever banished from him. The holiness of God is such that
he says he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He hates
all workers of iniquity. The wicked shall not stand in
his presence. Who can stand in the presence
of his indignation, of his holy justice? None can, none can. When the Lord Jesus was made
sin for us, God pulled darkness over the earth, and God turned
His back on His own Son. God abandoned His Son in justice. And when He did, God Almighty
in His justice abandoned all His people in His Son for the
saving of our souls. He poured out His wrath upon
His Son. He banished us in His Son from
His presence by the sacrifice of His Son. And by the resurrection
of His Son, He declares us to be justified and without sin
for which we were banished from Him. Truth, the truth of God
demands the eternal death to be executed upon the sinner. God said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. That means, Charlie Meadows,
you've got to die. There's no getting around it,
no escaping it. God said, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Not the father die for the son
or the son for the father. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. You cannot escape death unless
God violates his own law and ceases to be true. And he's not
going to do that. Well, how then can this man sit
here as a believer accepted of God in Christ? Because in Christ
we died, and God shows his great wisdom in the redemption of our
souls. Through the substitutionary sacrifice
of his darling son in the place of his people, justice is vindicated,
holiness is maintained, and truth is uncompromised. By mercy and
by truth, the scriptures tell us in Proverbs 16, 6, iniquity
is purged. By mercy and by truth. Mercy sends God's son to die
in our stead. Truth purges our iniquities because
God stands true and all the world liars before him. Number three,
not only are these attributes consistent with our redemption,
But the justice, holiness, and truth of God now demand the eternal
salvation of every sinner for whom Christ died. Now, please
be sure you understand what I'm saying. I had been reading some
history, and just last night I read confession statement of
faith in the local church back in the late 1700s over in Lexington. And the pastor who wrote the
confession, who principally drafted it, said he believed in particular
redemption. But we will not allow that to
bar us from communion with people who deny this. Oh, what a compromise. What a compromise. Understand,
we believe, according to this word, in particular, effectual
redemption. We believe that Jesus Christ,
by his death upon the cursed tree, fully, effectually accomplished
the redemption of all for whom he died, and that every sinner
for whom he died must forever be saved by the grace of God. To say otherwise is to trample
underfoot the Son of God. to declare that the blood of
Jesus Christ is an unholy, common thing. It is to deny the very
Godhead of Jesus Christ. Yes, anyone who denies the efficacy
of Christ-accomplished redemption, we cannot, we cannot embrace
as our brethren and fellowship with. Oh, no, that bars fellowship
as much as doing Hail Marys and worshiping the Pope. That's absurd. That's absurd. This is vital
to the gospel. The scriptures tell us plainly
that the Lord Jesus, by his death, saved his people. By His death,
He saved His people. I don't mean by His death, He
just guaranteed it, though that's certain. I don't mean by His
death, He just made sure that His people would be saved, though
that's certain. I mean to say, as the scriptures
say, by His death, Jesus Christ saved His people. With His own
blood, Hebrews 9 verse 12, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained. having gotten in his hand eternal
redemption for us. The scriptures tell us Christ,
his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness. Now
watch this. By whose stripes ye were When he died, we were healed. When he bore the stripes of God's
wrath and justice, we were healed by his death. To suggest otherwise
is to deny the very glory of God in the accomplishment of
redemption. The justice of God, having been
satisfied by the blood of Christ, demands that every redeemed sinner
be saved. Yes, our salvation is as much
a work of justice as it is of grace. Justice demands, as does
grace, that every sinner for whom Christ died be with him
in glory. What else would make any sense? If you have a debt, a great debt,
and you're fearful of losing everything because of the debt.
You're going to have to file bankruptcy. You're going to lose
your house. You're going to lose your property. Everything's going to be gone.
And someone steps in and pays the debt. Someone steps in and
pays the debt. No law in the land can take anything
from you because of your debt. The debt's been satisfied. You
understand that? The debt's been satisfied. Jesus
Christ took our debt. and made it his. And he satisfied
the debt. That means the law can never
condemn. The holiness of God, having been
honored and maintained by Christ, demands the salvation of all
for whom Christ lived and died upon the earth. By the obedience
of one shall many be justified. By the obedience of one, many
are made righteous. The truth of God demands that
every sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus be saved by God's
grace. Mercy and truth meet together
in him. Righteousness and peace kiss
each other in him, so that now we believe on Christ with reference
to righteousness. We confess Christ with reference
to salvation, and that salvation is ours. We believe him so that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, whosoever believes
on the Son of God shall be saved. Number four, we see the wisdom
of God in his purpose of redemption by Christ and that those attributes
of God would seem to require our destruction, appear most
glorious in our salvation. I realize I'm repeating myself
a little here, but I'm doing so deliberately. Not only do
God's attributes demand the salvation of his people for whom Christ
died, but those attributes that seem to demand the death of his
people now show themselves most glorious in the saving of his
people. Justice is infinitely more glorious
in our redemption by Christ than it could ever have been if all
mankind suffered the wrath of God forever in hell. Hell. Hell is eternal. Oh, what a word. Eternal. Eternity, eternity. How can we
begin to measure eternity? How can we begin to think about
eternity? Ambrose Dudley made this observation. He said, if a little bird were
to fly down to the earth and carry off one grain of sand at
a time until he has carried the whole
earth away. Eternity would only have begun. Eternity. Oh, eternity. Men suffer the wrath of God forever
in hell because man can never satisfy divine justice. The sufferings of all men can
never satisfy divine justice. But here is one man who is God,
infinite God in human flesh, who took on himself our sins
and takes the sword of justice. and pulls it into his holy soul
until justice is swallowed up in him and justice is satisfied. Now I see that God is just. Now I see the justice of God
satisfied and magnified. The majesty of God is more evident
in the salvation of sinners by Christ than it could be where
all the world cast into hell. Turn back to Lamentations chapter
one. Look at this very familiar text of scripture with it one
more time. It is one thing for the king
of the universe to punish such worms as we are, but for God
to punish his own darling son, the greatest man ever to live,
the only truly great man ever to live, the perfect man, when
sin was found in him, is to proclaim the majesty of God's infinite
being. Listen to our Savior. Lamentations
1 verse 12. Is it nothing to you? All ye
that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger. From above hath he sent fire
into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. He hath spread
a net for my feet. He hath turned me back. He hath
made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by His hand. They are wreathed and come upon
my neck. He hath made my strength to fall. The Lord hath delivered
me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up." Christ's
sufferings for us were of infinite value. They are infinitely effectual,
infinitely satisfactory to divine justice. And Christ's sufferings
warn sinners more than they could possibly be warned in any other
way of the dreadful majesty of God, whom we must meet in judgment. This one who punished his sin
with all the fury of his wrath, punished his son with all the
fury of his wrath, when sin was made his, will punish you. Fifth. Here's the wisdom of God. Redemption
by the Lord Jesus is so magnificent, so sufficient a way of salvation
that it's altogether consistent with all the attributes of God
for God to save the very chief of sinners by his darling sword. Here is the glory of God. God
saves sinners, like Don Fortner and Alan Kidby, by Jesus Christ
the Lord. That's his glory. That's his
glory. Read the seventh verse of Ephesians
2. He's going to show us to be instruments
by which God's glory is seen in all the universe in that day
when he makes up his jewels. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Look at Romans chapter
5, and I'll wrap this up. Romans chapter 5. For great sinners, there is great
grace from the great God by Christ our Redeemer. Romans 5, verse
20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Isn't that wonderful? Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. His grace is sovereign. It's boundless, it's free. His
grace is immutable. It never changes and cannot be
changed. And His grace is sufficient. Sufficient for me and sufficient
for you who trust Him. If we confess our sin because
Christ died under the penalty of sin, fulfilling every demand
of God for us, magnifying God, honoring God in all things. God
is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And God, the triune Jehovah, will be indescribably, indescribably,
indescribably more highly honored in all the universe by the salvation
of sinners through Christ than it could have if sin had never
entered his creation. This is the wisdom of God and
the grace of God. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee. and the remainder of wrath wilt
thou restrain. Amen. Number 233 in your hymn book. care.