Proverbs 19 and verse 21. There are many devices, plans,
schemes, actions, thoughts in a man's heart. They're almost
endless. Nevertheless, the counsel... Now, first, right off the bat,
look at the... one's plural and one's singular.
There are many devices over and over, met with failure, miserable
failure, vain imagination. There are many devices in a man's
heart. Wakes up in the morning and says, I'm going to do this.
I don't care what God says, I'm doing this. Nevertheless, the
counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. That's immovable. That's the rock of Gibraltar.
And if you know Christ tonight, that's our rock, that's your
rock, because we are tossed. And even we as believers, we
plan things, we devise things. And if it's not according to
his will, it doesn't pan out. I heard somebody at the conference
make a comment. Somebody was going to get a paper,
you know, pick up the Sunday paper or the Monday paper and
said, I'm going to see what God has done. Because we don't know
what he's doing tomorrow, but we know what he's done. We look
back. But we know tomorrow He's doing
His good pleasure. So here we have, in this one
verse, we have the great contrast. We've got man and we've got God. We've got basically the candle
versus the sun. We've got a glass of water versus
the oceans. We've got the finite versus the
infinite. Perhaps there's never been a
greater and disproportionate gap than these two. One old writer
worded it this way. There's never been a greater
gap, a greater disproportion than this, the worm and his maker. The worm and his maker. It's
a gulf. It's a huge gap. So we have two
points, basically. We've got man and his devices,
and we've got God and His counsel. Here we behold man. There are
many devices in a man's heart. And they're not all bad, they're
not all evil, I'm not suggesting that, but I'm saying man in his
boasted free will, man in his boasted intellect, strength,
numbers, financial prowess, whatever you want to say, he thinks he's
the top of the food chain. Here we behold man in all his
wisdom and discernment and his creations, yet often very weak
and with many failures. Uncertainty abounds in the devices
of man and his heart. His imaginations often vain and
never at ease. When's enough? When is enough
enough? I saw on paper one, two lotteries,
didn't I? in Missouri, up by St. Louis. He's won twice. He's won a month or two, not
in paper, but it was online. Baldwin, Missouri, somewhere
up there. Never enough. It's never enough. Many devices in a man's heart.
Anxious care eats away upon man's desire and devices like a canker
or a disease. Never stable, never steady. Man's devices are many, plural,
the counsel of the Lord. That shall stand. It's one. The
counsel of the Lord is unified like the three in one. Man's
devices are many and often at odds. With God's counsel, it's
one, it's unified, it's rock solid, it's steadfast, it's sure.
Oftentimes we entertain ideas, man does, of lofty grandeur and
heady and high-minded speculation, yet we start to lose these thoughts
as we grow older and our inconsistencies begin to abound as we get up
in years. The funny thing is, when Melinda
and I talk and I talk to some other folks who are getting older,
they'll say something and then they can't remember what they
said that same hour, within that same hour. But, you know, look
at man in his prime. He thinks he's something. And
he has many devices in his heart. We can give many biblical examples
of this verse. But before I do that, today I
got a phone call from one of my friends, who I was trained
with. And he proceeded to tell me what
he was going to do. He was going to leave the company
after December. And he said, I don't like all
the stuff they're doing, so I'm leaving and I'm going to go do
this. He thought I might be interested. So he was telling me what he
was going to do. He's about 32 years old. He says, I'm going
to do this. He said, in 10 years, I'm going
to do this. He said, in another 10 years,
I'm going to do this. And he says, by the time I'm 55, I'm
going to retire well. He goes, but money's not everything.
But I should do pretty well. So 32 years old. His devices
and His thoughts. And there's nothing wrong with
planning ahead. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying, contrary
to God's will, and how you react to your will and my will getting
crossed shows that we're discontent or shows that we're not casting
our care upon Him. We have devices, our devices,
what we want, what we think we're going to do. And that was just
one example. He called today and I said, well,
you know, for Him, I hope that it succeeds. And I'm going to
take that idea and that thought and His proposal and I'm going
to stick it right back here in case I need it in six or eight
months. But that's even my device, that's
even my thought. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. We're not guaranteed tomorrow.
So further illustrations to drive the nail fast in this human abilities
coffin. You remember Joseph and his brethren?
His brethren, they wanted to kill him. They left him for dead. He got sold into slavery. And
then years later they met. Second in command. And they were
scared to death when he made himself known to them. And he
said, you did this for evil, but God meant it for good. The desire of, there are many
devices in a man's heart. They didn't like him. They didn't
like the coat of many colors. They didn't like the fact that
his daddy liked him more than the other siblings, all these
different things. So they devised a scheme, all
of them, against Joseph. They thought he was dead. And years later, there he is,
the Lord using him to supply their very needs for existence,
food and bread and water. The Tower of Babel. Oh, this
is religion today. The Tower of Babel. Man, through
cunning and craft and intellect, he's going to ascend to the throne
of God. We can do this and we can do
that. We can make steeples and churches.
We can make all sorts of religious artifacts and things. We can
do all sorts of things with our hands. We can do all sorts of
things. We can bow certain directions, certain times of the day. We
can rub beads. We can walk aisles. We can do
all these things to gain access to the throne of God, tower of
God, many devices in a man's heart. And God laughed at me. in derision,
confounded them and confused them and they just were scattered. Absalom, one of David's sons,
he was going to take that throne. I want to be the next king. And
if I got to kill dad to get it, I'm going to get it. And what
happened? The Lord thought otherwise. And
David, after many chases, fights, and struggles, he's going to
devise, Absalom's going to devise a way to usurp the kingdom, and
yet God saw otherwise, and David is restored to his proper position.
Minus the son, but he restored him to his proper position. Then you got this one called
Saul, Saul of Tarsus, later became Paul. In the book of Acts, chapter
9, we've looked at it before, you don't have to turn there
now, Saul, he's going about, the device in his heart was the
destruction of Christianity. I'm going to chase them all,
I'm going to chase them down, anyone who names the name of
Christ in this gospel, and I'm going to kill them. And he got
some of it done. But then, he got knocked off
his horse, and the Lord in Acts 9 said, Saul, you know, you're persecuting
me. He said specifically, it is hard for you to kick against
the pricks. You can't do it. Why? Your device
is to destroy Christianity. But my counsel is going to stand. Matter of fact, I'm going to
use you to build the church like it's never been built before.
You bet. You're going to be used to grow
the faith that you once tried to destroy. I could go on and
on. And even in this present hour,
man is trying to impose his puny, insignificant will over the sovereign
to no avail. There are many devices in a man's
heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. Secondly, the counsel of the
Lord, that shall stand. I don't know if I'll make any
comments, but we're going to look at these passages if you would. Proverbs
21 verse 30, just to turn one page over. Proverbs 21 and verse
30. The counsel of the Lord shall
stand. Look at this. There is no wisdom, nor understanding,
nor counsel against the Lord. It's not going to happen. Isaiah 43. Matt and I were talking
about this the other day, these Isaiah 40s. You want to just
revel in the sovereign grace of God, absolute predestinating
glory of our Redeemer, just start reading the Psalms or Isaiah
40 and go all the way through to 55. But look at Isaiah 43
and verse 13. Yeah, the Lord says before the
day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of
my hand I will work and who Shall let it I'll work and who's gonna
say you're not going to I'm gonna put my hand over here and who's
gonna move it nobody Isaiah 46 Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10, one
we're very familiar with. He says, remember the former
things of old for I am God. There is none else. I am God.
And there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and
from ancient times, the things that are not yet done saying
you have many devices in your heart, but my counsel shall stand. and I will do all my pleasure. Isaiah 45 and verse 9. Isaiah 45 and verse 9. Woe unto
him that strives with his maker. I don't care if you're the president
of the most powerful country in the world. Woe unto him that
strives with his Maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioned it, What makest thou or thy work? He hath no hands." Here's one that I hadn't seen
before. Look at Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. And then one more that I hadn't
seen before. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 37. Who is he that
says it comes to pass when the Lord commands it not? Who is he that says it's going
to happen when God says it's not? Who is he? Nobody. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, a tribe of
the old king, look at this is the kingdom I've made with my
hands in that very same hour, fam. He glorified himself. And then, oh, I can't think it
was a Herod, I can't remember who it was that gave a great
oratory. And they said, oh, this is the
voice of a God. And he didn't rebuke them. The Lord smote them. Worms. There's one God. There's one counsel. And it's
going to stand. Now look at this Job 23. Job
chapter 23. Verse 13, Job 23 and verse 13. But He, that is God, is in one
mind, and who can turn Him, and what His soul desires, even that
He does. Sometimes we can persuade people,
we can change their mind. And you can tell some of these
high-pressure sail techniques, You can persuade people and change
their mind and turn their thoughts, but you can tell that they're
not really comfortable with it. But one day, we thought evil
against the Lord. We devised many things in this
thing of salvation and redemption, and then He turned. He turned
us. He convinced us. And we weren't
upset. We were so thankful that He turned
it. Yes, indeed, all may appear cloudy, Here below, but up in
the heavens, it's all clear. I was reading, looking at some
of the stuff Lynn and I were talking about last night. I'm
not a, I really don't like to fly. You know, we've flown a
couple of times in these airlines, but I do remember this when we
were flying out from St. Louis to the Grand Canyon, or
out that way. The first time we went, it was
during the daytime. So I'm sitting there, I'm by the window, and
I'm seeing, you know, moving away from Lambert, My mind's
thinking we're going to drop out of the sky in a minute. And
we go up, we go up, and then you can't see nothing. It's clouds.
We go up. And then somewhere close over
by Vegas and those areas over there, we were above the cloud. And it looked like white, the
whitest, pillowy-est cotton candy. It was the purest I'd ever seen.
But I could not see the ground because it was solid. Son, and
it was the lightest, purest blue, it was so clear. It was so clear. Now, it might be cloudy down
here, but not in heaven. His counsel is clear. His counsel shall stand. With God and His mighty grace
and His counsel with the sons of men, all is calm and there's
no confusion. And only one can reign and we're
glad, right glad, that it is our God who is our Father, who
is our Redeemer, and who is our friend, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, that could be the end of it. Stop right there. But by
God's grace, I need help and you need help. We need to now
take this From what I understand, Ralph Barber used to say this
around Henry Mahan all the time. We need to get this stuff out
of our head and get it to our heart. Because if I just read
this verse, and you believe this, there's not anybody in here,
there's not anybody in here who does not believe this verse. Thomas, the apostle, He believed. He was a redeemed man. He believed
that Christ was God. He believed in the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Without question. But he said,
when they told him the good news of his resurrection, that only
God could raise from the dead, he said, I'm not going to believe
you unless I see. And I think, as in John, I was looking at
it before, as in the later part of John, and then He called Thomas
over and he said, see? And we don't know if Thomas actually
did that. He just said, go ahead and do it. We don't know if he
did. What we do know is that he bowed and said, my Lord and
my God. He came to a fuller understanding of the deity of Christ. And if
all's we have is, oh, I believe Romans 8, 28. Yeah, I could quote
it. I would never get that answer
wrong in Bible trivia. And that's what our issue is
oftentimes. We know that the desire, that there's many devices
in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand and we understand that. But tomorrow,
I'm gonna need to know this and I need comfort. And the only
way is if God takes these things and goes right here with it. So that's my prayer for you and
my prayer for myself, just like Thomas. that he would take this
verse and make it real to us like the gospel. Such news that
he is in control and that his counsel stands even over our
devices when they go astray. That news is so good. That counsel
is so cheerful and it's so peaceful. May we really, may He give us
a fully understanding. And Peter, I was talking to Melinda
and I were talking about this again this afternoon or this
evening here before we started. Peter, he knew because he was
with Christ that he was to preach the gospel. The gospel was not
just for the Jews, it was for the Gentiles. Christ had taught
him that and he understood that. He was with them for those so
many years. And in that scene in Acts, When
that blanket came down, he said, I'm not going to touch it, it's
unclean. He said, yeah it is. He realized that and he went
out and started preaching. He understood it, he was a believer.
There's many things in here we understand, but it's here. May
God take these verses, these passages, and just lower them
down. Because the world, devices just
keep coming. They keep coming. But his counsel,
His counsel shall stand. It's such good news. It's such
cheerful and a peaceful report. Sinners like you and I need such
a one who can and does call, quicken, and redeem. And you
add to this, he saves and regenerates those whom he loves. And he specifically
tells his people that my counsel shall stand and his counsel Nobody
can challenge it. There is no change in his mind.
One of his attributes is he's immutable. There's no change
in his mind, no change in his actions. Therefore, the scripture
says, and I believe it's a lamentation, therefore his sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Why? Because his counsel stands.
His counsel doesn't change. It's not hot one day or cold
the next. He is immutable just like his
counsel. And therefore, if he is for us,
Who can, devices and all, be against us? Nobody. Your situation may not
change at work, at home, neighborhood, your finances, all that stuff
might not change. But when he takes these principles,
these teachings, and they go from here to the head, and they
go down here, You say, well, as for me, my house, come what
may, we're going to serve the Lord. As I said, because the
vice is in all. If he's for us, nobody can be
against us. The guy came in the office, sat
down. How are you doing? You know, the veteran agent,
the one that's been there forever. And I don't say anything. I just
go about and do my business. Just do my thing. But due to
asking other people, he knows who's making what. So he says,
how you doing? Kind of quiet. I said, I'm doing
fine. Well, I mean, how you doing? How's your numbers? Well, they're
not good. But I can't prefabricate sales. And I can't beat myself
up about it. So I just keep doing my job.
Well, that's good. I'm just checking on you. You're doing okay. The
problem is, he could retire any time.