Blessed service. We had a good
reading in the back. Prayer. Bobby had such a good
reading. God spoke to my heart as he read.
The reading out here with Mark and the song Diane played and
the song Judy sang, the song we sung. Now if the Lord will
enable me, I want to preach to you from Isaiah chapter 9, chapter
45 and verse 9. Isaiah 45 and verse 9. This 45th chapter of Isaiah is,
above all else, a declaration of God's absolute sovereignty. Now, I stress that word absolute. It is a declaration of God's
total, universal absolute dominion over all his creation, everything. Our text, verse 9, is a warning
to all who would dare to rebel against God, this great and glorious
sovereign. The Lord God himself is speaking,
and this is his declaration. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Woe unto him that striveth with
his Maker. Isaac Watts wrote a hymn a long
time ago that expresses what I want to convey this evening.
Let me read it to you. It's not in any of our modern
hymn books. Keep silence, all created things, and wait your
Maker's nod. My soul stands trembling while
she sings the honors of her God. Life, death, hell, and worlds
unknown hang on his firm decree. He sets on no precarious throne
of borrow's leave to be. Chained to his throne a volume
lies with all the fates of men, with every angel's form and size
drawn by the eternal pen. His providence unfolds the book
and makes his counsel shine. Each opening leaf in every stroke
fulfills some bright design. Here he exalts neglected worms
to sectors in a crown, and then the following page he turns and
treads the monarch down. Not Gabriel asks the reason why,
nor God the reason gives, nor dares the favored angel pry between
the folded leaves. My God, I would not long to see
my fate with curious eyes. What gloomy lines are writ for
me, or what bright scenes may rise? In thy fair book of life
and grace may I but find my name recorded in some humble place
beneath my Lord the Lamb. Now this is what I want to convey.
Sooner or later, all people will be made to bow to and to acknowledge
God's absolute sovereignty. You and I will be made to bow
to and acknowledge God's total sovereignty either by the hand
of his grace causing us to fall down and worship him or by the
hand of his stern rod in judgment causing us to be astonished before
him as we are cast away from his presence into everlasting
destruction. Now, I want us this evening to
recognize what the Lord God is teaching in this passage. In
the scriptures, there's an illustration of this. You don't need to turn
to HN if you want to. It's in Daniel 4. Daniel chapter
4. There's a man by the name of
Nebuchadnezzar. A man who was a great, great,
great man in his day. King in Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar
was a man whom God had chosen, in whom he was determined to
show himself to be God. Not only was he determined to
show himself to be God by what he did with Nebuchadnezzar, but
he was determined that Nebuchadnezzar himself should be made to understand
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and gives
it to whomsoever he will. Nebuchadnezzar would be made
to understand that the heavens do rule. Well, one night after
Nebuchadnezzar heard that declaration by Daniel the Puppet, He looked
out over Babylon, the great city Babylon. And he said, look at
this great kingdom that I have built. While the word was in
his mouth, God struck him with insanity. So that Nebuchadnezzar
spent his days like a beast out in the field. And when God got
done with him, this is what Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel 4, 34. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth. are reputed as
nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Verse 37. Now I,
Nebuchadnezzar, praise, and extol, and honor the King of heaven,
all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment. And those
that walk in pride he's able to abase. Now what I'm saying
as I preach this message to you is that sooner or later, everybody
here is going to learn what Nebuchadnezzar learned. You're either going
to learn it in God's good mercy and grace, him causing you, by
his graceful, or you will learn it in God's terrible judgment,
him causing you, as you are astonished before him, to bow down before
his throne and acknowledge his glorious sovereignty, even as
you're destroyed by him. Now I want us tonight to begin
in this 45th chapter of Isaiah with verse 5 to what the Lord
says in verse 9. First, in verse 5, the Lord God
declares, and this is written 200 years, some suggest even
300 years before Cyrus was ever king in Persia, but it's written
to Cyrus, and it says, I am the Lord. There is none else. There is no God beside me. No God alone with me. No God
other than me. I alone in God. And here's the
proof of it. I girded thee. I girded thee. I gave you life. I gave you being. I gave you strength. I put you
where you are. I set you on your throne. I put
the robe of a king on you and the crown of a king on your head.
I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." Now, what is that
verse saying? This is a declaration of God's
absolute sovereignty, both over individual men and over nations. You and I will never get a right
view of life, or of history, or of world events, either past
things to come. until we understand that God
Almighty is the sovereign ruler of everything. Now, in this fifth
verse, he is telling us that he rules all the affairs of individual
men. Here is just a man one man among
many, a man chosen of God for a specific purpose, a man sent
of God to accomplish a specific feat, a man who never knew God,
who never heard the name of God, who was raised in a pagan household,
but a man whom God chose to be delivered of his people. And
so the Lord God calls his pagan parents to call his name Cyrus.
The Lord God calls him to be exalted to a king, to be king
over a pagan kingdom, in a pagan empire, in a pagan generation,
a kingdom with which God's name was a stranger. God's name was
not known among them, but God ruled them. God ruled them. Just
as much as he ruled in setting David on the throne. Just as
much as he ruled in giving the children of Israel David's sons
to be rulers over them after David had deceased. Just as much
as he ruled in setting his own son upon the throne of glory.
You understand that? Cyrus was seated upon his throne
because God put him there. Cyrus was made king in Babylon
because God put him there. Now you can apply that everywhere
you want to apply it. That applies to every individual
person. Everybody. I mean, there's not
a man or a woman, there's not a creature on this earth, there's
not a particle of anything in God's creation that is not under
the absolute rule and total dominion of God Almighty. He does with
his own what he will. He does with his own what he
will. And we are his own. You and me. This universe is
his own. He made it. He rules it, he disposes
of it as he will. Preacher, are you saying that
God Almighty is the one who brings to pass every single event in
every man's life? That's what I'm saying. Are you
saying that God Almighty is the one who brings every man into
the world, guides his steps all the days of his life, puts him
where he will have him, and disposes of him when he will dispose of
him? That's what I'm saying. You and me. Every man. More than that, all the affairs
of all nations are ruled by God absolutely. All of them. All of them. was king in Persia. He was king in what is now modern
Iran. He was sent by God to be victor
over Babylon, both of them pagan kingdoms. Both of them pagan
realms. But he was sent of God to do
God's bidding. Because God had a people in Babylon
whom God was determined to deliver. And what I'm telling you in this
day and age in which we live, The Lord God Almighty has established
every ruler in this world in his particular realm. Everyone
of them. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about the local
mayor, or whether you're talking about the Queen of England, or
whether you're talking about the President of the United States.
God Almighty has established every ruler in his particular
realm throughout the world. Even over the little African
tribes down in the heart of Africa and over the great nations of
the earth. God's established them all. And he rules those
nations. He rules them exactly according
to his will. He raises up kings and he puts
down kings. He raises up nations and he puts
down nations for the saving of his people. That's God's purpose
in this world. The scriptures are so very plain.
The Lord God declares, I've given Egypt for you, Ethiopia and Saba
for you. He said, I give men for thee
and people for thy life. God Almighty rules this world
and disposes of this world for the saving of his people. Now
look at verse six. That they may know. Who? Well read on. That they may know
from the rising of the sun, over in the East, and from the West. That is, everybody upon this
planet that we call Earth may know that there is none beside
me, I am Jehovah, and beside me there's none else. I'm God
and nobody else. This is the reason why God does
what he does, in the way he does it, in the exercise of his universal
sovereignty, that he might be glorified alone as God by all
his creatures. And he will be. Now you can mark
it down. Turn to Revelation chapter 4.
Revelation the fourth chapter. Being can like it or not like
it. They can rejoice in it or despise
it, that doesn't change anything. God Almighty has created this
world, he rules this world and he disposes of this world so
that everybody in the world will glorify him as God. One way or
the other, everybody will. The Lord says concerning Pharaoh,
even for this same purpose have I raised thee up. that I might
show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth." So does God have his way? Go try to find a place
on this earth where folks haven't heard of Pharaoh. Go try to find
a place on this earth where folks haven't heard how that God dumped
Pharaoh and the army in the Red Sea. God raised Pharaoh up and
God raised you up. God raised Pharaoh up and God
raised me up. God raised us up that he and
us, his name might be declared. that everybody might know that
he's God. Look what Revelation 4 verse
11 says. This is the praise of God's saints
in heaven. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power. Why? For thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. Look at
verse 7. The Lord God declares, I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. You can't You can't say that
God does those things. No, God said that, didn't it? You read it right there, didn't
you? I didn't say it, God said it, I'm just reading it to you.
As God Almighty is sovereign over all men, and sovereign over
all nations, so the Lord God is totally sovereign over all
the affairs of providence and grace. All of it. All of it. Now you might ask me to explain
how that God has glorified himself in what's going on in Ireland
or in America or in Moscow. You might ask me to explain it.
I say, I don't know. I don't know. You might ask me to explain
how on earth things like the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler
and things like the the horrible atrocities of Joseph Stalin and
such things as those horrible, horrible deeds of Mussolini.
How those things could be used of God for his glory and the
glory of his people, I don't know. I don't know. But I absolutely
know they are. I know they are. And I know they're
as much ordered of God and ruled of God as anything in this world. What does he say? Our God is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased in heaven, in earth, and in all deep places. He does
what he will. Listen to what he says. I formed
the light. What light? Natural light. God
said let there be light, and there was light. God promised
Moses, until the end of time, there shall never cease to be
sea time that harvests light and darkness. I form the light. That's God's work. He forms moral
light. You read the second chapter of
Romans, verse 15, and you'll find out that every man is born
in this world with a God consciousness and with a moral awareness of
God's law stamped upon his heart so that even the pagan, the heathen,
who've never heard God's name know the difference between right
and wrong. They know that you ought not take a man's life.
They know that you ought not commit adultery. They know you
ought not steal. It's written on a man's conscience
by nature. God creates moral light and God
creates spiritual light. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. If you've got any spiritual light,
God gave it to you because you were born in darkness. And I
create darkness. Oh, that's another story. Everybody in the world who claims
any knowledge of God will gladly tell you that God creates the
light. But God doesn't have anything to do with darkness. God says,
I create darkness. You know what he said? Is that
what the text says? and create darkness. He creates
darkness by withdrawing the sun or by causing what we call a
solar eclipse so that the moon is set in a path against the
sun and the sun is hidden and so God creates darkness. He creates
darkness in men by removing their sight. Men are born many times
with good vision but God takes their sight, he takes their eyes
and creates darkness. He creates moral darkness by
withdrawing from retrograde men and women the very light of nature.
That's what Romans 1 is all about. That's what's going on in our
society. The Lord God has given men not only the light of nature,
the light of reason, and the light of conscience. He's given
the light of His Word, but men have rejected the light that
God's given and the chosen darkness and God has withdrawn from men
the very light of nature so that now Men in the name of morality
promote homosexuality, and abortion, and fornication, and all manner
of evil because God's withdrawn the light. And you listen to
the news commentators, and you listen to the politicians, and
you listen to fellows who are supposed to be intellectuals,
and educators, and philosophers, and they're just as serious as
they can be. And they stand and speak of promoting
morality while being tolerant of every perversion under the
sun. What's the matter? You say, well how on earth can
a man think like that? How can a man reason like that?
He ain't got any reason. God has taken away the light. And that's the forerunner of
eternal damnation. God withdraws the light of the
gospel of his grace for men. He creates darkness in men and
in nations by withdrawing the light of the gospel so that men
are blinded, blinded, blinded, and the light that was in them
is turned into darkness. Our Lord Jesus speaks to his
church and he says, you take heed. I'll come take your candle
away. I'll take your candle away. I'll
remove your candle out of its place. That's a word from God
to us. That's a word from God to Grace
Church in Danville, Kentucky, to you and to me. You take heed
how you deal with God's gospel. Take heed how you deal with God's
blessings. He will take away the life that
he's given. He'll do it. He'll do it. You
read your history book and you find out about it. Then God says,
I make peace. I make peace. That's my work. He's the one who makes peace
between God and man through the blood of his dear son. He's the
one who makes peace between men and men. You take a man who is raised a blatant racist,
and a man who has been raised to be a black and let them both
meet in Jesus Christ in their hearts of peace. You take a man who has been raised
in the upper crust of society with everything given him and
been taught to look down on folks who didn't have so much as he
has, and you take another one who'd been raised on the other
side of the tracks on the lower side of town, who'd been jerked
up by the hair of the head, had nothing all his life long, and
both of them meet at the foot of the cross. God gives him peace. Their hearts are united. I make
peace. I make peace. He is the one who
gives peace in the heart, so that he speaks to the conscience
and declares that the guilt of sin has been removed by the blood
of Christ. He is the one who gives peace
in his churches, so that the church of Christ in the world
walks together in the unity of the Spirit. He's the one who
gives peace in homes. He's the one who gives peace
in the world. And he says, and I create evil. But there it is in the text.
Now I have seen men ignorantly declare that this statement is
a declaration that God creates the evil of sin. That's horrendous. He is not talking about the evil
of sin. Sin is not God's work. Read James
1.13. James 1.13 says the man's tempted. Don't let him say I'm tempted
of God. God cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempted be any
man. Sin doesn't come from God. Sin is man's perversion of God's
work. Do you understand that? Sin is
what we've done with what God's given us. Sin is our perversion
of God's work. Well, what's he talking about
then when he says I create evil? He is declaring that all the
afflictions All the adversities, all the calamities, all the providential
punishments of man's sin, all the providential displays of
judgment are the works of his hands. All of them. Let's look
in the scriptures. Turn to Job chapter 2. Job chapter
2. Verse 10. Job's wife said to
him, won't you cuss God and die? But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of the Lord? And shall we not receive evil?
What's he talking about? He just walked away from ten
graves. That's what he's talking about. He had just lost his health,
his family. He'd lost his wealth. He'd lost
everything he had. He even lost his name and reputation.
And he said we've received evil from the hands of God. And he
spoke right, for the scripture tells us that in all this did
not Job sin with his lips. The prophet Amos says, shall
there be evil in the city? And the Lord has not done it.
Shall there be evil in this world and God hasn't done it? That
which comes to pass in the acts of God's providential judgment
and warnings of judgment to come is the hand of God. It's the
hand of God. Someone said the other day, they said that accident, she was lucky.
Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. What
happened with Jenny yesterday? Honey, there wasn't anything
but luck in it. God Almighty brought it to pass. Both the
accident and your preservation in it. It's a hand of God. It's a hand of God. But that
girl worked so hard for that car. Worked for it, paid for
it with her own money. And now she got stuck in the
scratches. God's hand. God's hand. He said, I make peace. I plead evil. It's his hand. It's his hand. And then he says, I the Lord
do all these things. I told you last week that the
Persians, the Iranians, over whom Cyrus was to reign, had
a pagan notion. that there were two origins in
the world. Two first causes in the world. A God of good and a God of evil. A God of light and a God of darkness. And when good things happened,
they said the good God did that. And when bad things happened,
they said the bad God did that. God said, Silas, don't you understand
something? I did it. I did it. I did it
all. There's no God besides me. He
was telling Cyrus, even before this pagan philosopher was ever
raised up to promote his heresy concerning dualism in the world,
he was telling Cyrus, listen, there's just one God, and I'm
in charge of everything. I control the whole world. Look at verse 8. Drop down, ye
heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation, and let
righteousness spring up together, I the Lord have created it. As all good and all evil in providence
comes from the hand of God, so all grace and salvation is the
work of his hands. God is sovereign over all men,
sovereign in all world events, and sovereign in the exercise
of his grace. Verse 8 is a prophetic declaration
of the saving redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the Lord our righteousness. The Lord God says, drop down,
O ye heavens. Drop down from heaven to earth.
That's where Christ came from. This is where he came to. He
brought in an everlasting righteousness. The Lord speaks and says, pour
down righteousness. Let the heavens pour down righteousness. Jesus Christ finished His work
and brought in an everlasting righteousness by His obedience
to God and by His sacrifice on our behalf. And when He finished
His work, salvation and righteousness sprang up together. And he took
his seat on the right hand of God. There he is, seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high, salvation and righteousness. It's spoken of in Psalm 85 in
just this way. Back in Psalm 85 in verse 7. This is the same kind of prophecy
speaking here. The psalmist says, Show us thy
mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Here's God's answer,
verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together,
where? In the cross of Christ. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other, where? In the cross of Christ.
Truth shall spring out of the earth, that is, justice springs
out of the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. God smiles
at what he's done, for in Christ Jesus, God and man are reconciled
together. The Lord Jesus Christ is this
great Savior. who is the accomplisher of righteousness
and salvation. And the Lord speaks and says,
I, the Lord, have created it. A good commentary on that particular
sentence is Jonah 2 verse 9, salvations of the Lord. I've
done it! I've done it! Righteousness and
salvation, mercy and truth, this is my work, my work alone. Now
the absolute sovereignty of God, as it has been declared here,
is a matter of indisputable fact. It is so manifestly revealed
in the scriptures, and attested to in the history of the world,
that no man can fail to recognize it as a matter of indisputable
fact. So we'll put you there, atheists
all over the world, skeptics everywhere. No, I take exception. I take exception. There are no
such things as atheists. No such thing. There are folks
who claim to be atheists. Paul describes them well. He
says they hold the truth in unrighteousness. They go around and cry, no God,
no God, no God. I don't believe in God. There's
no God in heaven. And what they're doing is they're
holding down the truth. They suppress what they cannot
deny in their own consciences and in their own hearts. And
I challenge you this day, try yourself to forget that God is. God's being, his glory as God
cannot be denied by his creatures. Can't be. Men hold down the truth. They suppress the truth. That
being the case, every man, every man, you who believe not, and
all the rest of the world, every man who refuses to bow to the
rule of God Almighty as he's revealed in Jesus Christ, is
a blatant deceiver of his own heart and his own conscience.
For he walks contrary to what his heart tells him to so. He
walks contrary to what his conscience will not let him deny. He walks
contrary to that which his own mind declares continually must
be so. But he can't erase it. He cannot
erase the facts from his mind. If there's a God in heaven, who
could? If there's a God in heaven, why,
what fool would imagine otherwise? Nobody but a rebel against God.
If there's a God in heaven who created and upholds this world. Bob Ponce said that God's in
charge of this world. He rules this world. If there's
not someone in absolute control of the universe, nothing in this
world makes any sense. And we ought to all be insane.
We ought to all be walking around pulling our hair, wondering what's
going to happen next. But I'm telling you, what you
know to be so in your heart, God Almighty rules this world.
He rules it. And yet, despite all that men
know, facts that cannot be denied, men and women are still found
fighting against God. And some of you, sitting here
tonight, are found fighting against God. For this text stands as a warning.
Woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Let me ask one question, answer
it, and then make a statement, and I'll send you home. Are you striving against God?
Are you striving against God? Perhaps you think, well, it's
impossible to strive against God. But the fact is, men and
women do it all the time. You see, the issue that God has
with man is his Godhead. That's his issue. That's the
issue. The issue between God and man
doesn't have a thing on earth to do with all the taboos that
the religious world promotes. It doesn't have anything to do
with that. The issue between God and man is just one thing.
Will you bow to him and acknowledge him as God? Rightfully God? Or will you resist his dominion?
That's the issue. Now bow to him you will. The
issue's already been settled, as far as God's concerned, it's
going to be settled in your heart, either now, or it's a day of
judgment, but it's going to be settled. You see, the great characteristic
difference between the believer and the unbeliever is just this. The believer bows to God. The unbeliever strives against
God. The believer has surrendered
to the rule of Christ. The unbeliever kicks against
the rule of Christ. For the believer, the issue of
lordship has been settled. For the unbeliever, it's an issue
that's yet unresolved. For some of you, it's still unresolved. It's not a matter of whether
or not you want to go to heaven when you die. That's not the
issue. Is there anybody here who has
any intention of going to hell? Anybody? Any child or any old
man who has the intention of going to hell when you die? Anybody?
Well, the issue is not whether or not you want to be saved.
That's not the issue. The issue is not whether or not you want
to be accepted of God when you die. That's not the issue. The
issue is who's going to rule your life. That's the issue. To strive against God is to resist
his will. God's revealed his will in the
gospel, hasn't he? He commands all men everywhere to repent.
That's his will. God's commandment is that you
believe on his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the book.
God revealed his will. You know what it is. But men everywhere respond like
Pharaoh. Say, well, who's the Lord that
I should obey his voice? Like Pharaoh, you're going to
find out. When I was a boy, a young man, God began to deal with my
soul in such a way that I was aware of him doing something
to me. I just had one problem. I just had one problem. It wasn't
that I wasn't terrified of hell, I was scared to death of going
to hell. I was scared to death of God. It wasn't that I wasn't
miserable with my life. I'd made myself, my parents,
my sisters, everybody who knew me, everybody I was associated
with, I'd made hell for everybody I knew on this earth. Life was
miserable for me. I would have taken my own life
had it not been for just the fact I scared to death of going
to hell. I know what misery is. But the problem was one thing.
Jesus Christ demanded that I bow to his rule and take his yoke. And I would not do so. Oh, but
thank God he made me willing in the day of his power. That's the issue with you. It's
not, do you believe in Jesus? Will you bow to him? It's not,
do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Believing hymns
to bow to him. It's not words on your lips.
It's not repeating phrases. It's bowing to the rule of Christ. What you gonna do? Come on. What you gonna do? You gonna
bow to him or you gonna spit in his face? What you gonna do? Describe against God to resist
his will. Even though the issue has been
settled for you and me who believe, it's one we have to continue
to deal with every day, every day, every day. Every day we
must bring ourselves in subjection under the rule of Jesus Christ
again. Every day. Every day. God's revealed
his will. He revealed it. He opened his
word. There it is. There it is. I don't get into this silly business
of counseling a whole lot. You folks know I'm When you need
me, I'm there. But when it comes to deciding
what's right and what's wrong, my building will tell you that.
It's right here in the book. Right here it is. If I do what
I ought to do, preaching, I've told you what's right and what's
wrong. I've told you what God's will is. I've preached it to
you plain and plain. Now the issue is you're going to bow
to it or you're going to rebel against it. You're going to surrender or
you're going to resist. That's it. That's it. You see, all disobedience
for believers is just a matter of unbelief. That's all. Obedience
to God is a matter of faith. It's a matter of faith. If you
have a chance, I guess this has been illustrate and pick on Rex
today, but if you have a chance in your business, you can kindly
fudge and cheat a fellow out of $200 or $300 here, $200 or
$300 there, and you can get by with it. and you're faced with the same.
Reckon I ought to take that? Well, you know you ought to.
Well, what am I going to do? Well, I sure could use 300 extra
dollars this week if you can believe God. It's just that simple. Or you can fight against Him.
You can resist Him. It's just that simple. Trust in the Lord
with all your heart. In all your ways, acknowledge
Him. Lean not into your own understanding, but acknowledge Him. You'll do
it. To strive against God is to murmur
at his procedents. I was watching an interview the
other night about Annette Funicello. I guess every boy born since
1950 grew up with a crush on Annette Funicello. I plead guilty. Always interested in what's going
on with Annette. Well, this news reporter Asked her, said, she's
got this multiple sclerosis. He said, I know you're a very
religious woman, a practicing Catholic. He said, do you ever
ask why me? And I hear fellas ask that like,
well, you know, you're so special, why me? I sure would like to
hear somebody say, why not me? Why not me? To strive against
God is to resist and rebel against His providence. Don't be found
fighting against God. Submit yourselves to the Lord. Humble yourselves unto the hand
of God. He resists the proud, but gives
grace to the humble. To strive against God is to dispute
His right to be gracious to whom He will be gracious. The Lord
God Almighty chose to whom He would be gracious and passed
by us. He redeemed his chosen ones,
and left others unredeemed. He sends his gospel to some,
and he hides it from others. Read the 11th chapter of Matthew.
He pours out his spirit upon some who hear the word, and others
he leaves in their blindness, and in their blindness, and in
their hardness. He has mercy to some, and he
has no mercy for others. He has mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will, he hardens. You see, grace belongs to God. He gives it to whom he will.
Now, you can fight against God if you want to, but your resistance
to God is not going to alter his purpose. To strive against
God is to reject and despise the gospel of his grace. Oh, our great and glorious God,
This august sovereign of the universe invites, commands, and
rules sinners to come to him through Jesus Christ and be reconciled
to God. But like those described in the
parable, we look upon any consideration to be a justifiable excuse for
pushing God out of our lives. Why, I bought five years of divorce,
had me excuse. I got a good time out. to the
biopsy without tying him down. I brought me a piece of ground
and I got him to sit. Well, you fooled my piece of ground. He
hadn't even looked at it. Brother Cameron Davis said, the
only one honest in the bunch was the third one. He said, I've
married a wife and I can't come. I'm just in, Betts, you won't
let me come. You fooled who? We find every excuse in the world
for not obeying God. and justified. It's called resisting
and striving against your maker. God won't tolerate it. He won't
tolerate it. You think God's gonna wink at
it? I wouldn't tolerate it. When
my daughter was six months old, she found out quick what the
word no meant. If I said no and she did anyway, she got caught.
That's all there was to it. It's been that way all her life.
And I'm just mad. When God speaks and you rebel,
you're striving against your maker. And that's foolishness. To strive against God is the
height of sin and falling. It's the height of sin and falling. Nothing in all the world is more
sinful and nothing is more foolishly absurd. Shall a man strive against
his maker? What could be more arrogantly,
impudent, and presumptuous? Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
hasteneth it, What, makest thou as I have no hands? Will unto
him that saith to his father, What begettest thou? Or to the
woman, what hast thou brought forth? Look at you, I wouldn't
be what I am if you hadn't made me that way. I wouldn't be the
kind of man I am if I hadn't had such a lousy daddy. I wouldn't
be the kind of woman I am if I hadn't had such a lousy mama.
Sound familiar to you? Sounds like the whole generation
in which we live. All your problems caused by mama
and daddy. Quit bringing it on, that's your
problem here. Your problem is you, what you are, what you chose. You've been striving against
God all your life. It's time you give up your arms
against him and lay down your weapons and bow to his throne.
What could be more blatantly foolish? A man striving against
God. I tried to do it so many of y'all
would notice. This time of the year, it's flies getting kind
of slow. Little while ago, I just killed that one. There you go. He's a fly. He has a better shot striving
against me than I have against God. Strive against God? To strive against God is most
certainly ruinous. Few in his anger. into everlasting
destruction. And yet this great, great God,
glorious in his sovereignty, absolute in his might and power,
is infinitely gracious beyond description. Listen to what he
says. In Jeremiah 18, he sent Jeremiah
down to the potter's house. And he said, now Jeremiah, you
go down and watch what the potter does. And the potter had a vessel,
he made of clay. And the vessel that he made,
he marred in his hands and he made it again another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make it. And then God explained
to Jeremiah what was happening. He says in verse six, O house
of Israel, cannot I do with you as with this potter? God says,
can I do with you just like the potter does with the clay? I
can do whatever I want to with you. You're clay in my hands.
I'm the potter. Now look at what it says in verse
eight. If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from
their evil, that is, God says, I said to the nation, I want
to destroy you. But they repent, they turn from their evil. I
will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. God said to you, I want to crush
you in my anger. You're children of wrath deserving
of eternal condemnation. Hell is your everlasting portion.
But you turn to him in repentance and faith. You look to God's
dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and bow to his rule. The Lord
God says, I'll turn away from you to do you evil, and I'll
turn to you to do you good. This great, great, glorious doctrine
against whom you strive in vain, invites sinners to trust him,
and declares himself to be gracious to all who trust him. God help
you to trust him. Amen.