I invite you to turn back in
your Bibles this morning to the 23rd chapter of the book of Job,
Job chapter 23. I want to speak on this first
Sunday of the year 1991 on verse 13 and verse 14, primarily verse
13 of Job chapter 23. Let me read these two verses
to you at this time. But he is in one mind and who can turn him, and what
his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the
thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with
him." I thought a great deal about
the message for this morning and what the Lord would have
me to say to you at the beginning of this year. And I felt like
that the Lord led me to this portion of his word and I hope
today that this will provide the need of your heart as it
has provided my need in my study and preparation for this message
today. I want to talk about the infallibility
of God's purpose. The infallibility of God's purpose. It's wonderful to know that our
God is a God who has a purpose. He's a God that has a plan. One of the things that was greatly
needed in my early Christian life was to sit under the sound
of a preacher who knew the God of the Bible. I just simply did
not have that privilege, and therefore I did not come to understand
for a while that the God of the Bible is a God of purpose. Everybody that God calls, he
calls according to his purpose. We read in Romans chapter 8 and
verse 28 that, and we know that all things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. And then in 2 Timothy we read
where, who have saved us and called us, not according to our
work, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. The God of the Bible
is a God of purpose, and if you can learn that, it makes no difference
how old you are in the faith when you learn it, but may God
see to it that you learn it, that the God of the Bible is
a God of purpose. Now then, in beginning our message
this morning, we read here in our text, but he is in one mind,
and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. Now there are those in the religious
world today who would tell us, and they claim to represent the
God of the Bible, but we believe that The God of the Armenians
is a different God than the God of the Bible, and those who profess
to represent the God of the Bible tell us that the Lord is trying
and that he's striving to attain certain goals here in this world,
and they continue in their message to tell us that this God has
some plans which he wishes that he could realize, but that these
plans are dependent upon the will and upon the actions and
upon the cooperation of men. Now that's what we hear today
and about every radio broadcast, about every religious paper that
we pick up, about every sermon that we hear over the television
or over the radio. We're hearing that the God of
the Bible is a God that is trying to do something. He's a God that
wants to do something. He's a God that has this great
plan or great idea or scheme of things that He'd like to see
brought to pass, but He just simply is not able to do it because
man will not will it. Man will not, he will not act
on it, and man will not cooperate, therefore the hands of their
God is tied. Now frequently we hear people
speak of what God wants to do, God wants this and that and the
other, and God wants you to let Him save you. Now what a misrepresentation
of the God of the Bible is that God wants you to let Him save
you. Now such language reveals the
weakness or the impotence of their God. This language reveals
that their God is not the God of the Scripture, because what
the Scripture says about God and His ability to fulfill His
plans and realize His designs, we have here in our text this
morning, along with many other verses. He is in one mind, and
who can turn Him and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth,
says the Word of God. And it goes on to say in Isaiah
46 in verse 10 and 11, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
my pleasure. Yea, I have spoken it, and I
will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, and I will
also do it. Now the heathens said to David
on one occasion, they said to him, where is your God? In Psalm
115 verse 3, and his reply was, Our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Well, let those who
are deceived, let them continue to set forth and trust in their
feeble and powerless and anemic God, who requires human cooperation
in order to fulfill His purpose. But we'll believe this text,
we'll believe what the Word of God teaches overall, we'll believe
the whole tenor of Scripture, that the God of the Bible has
an infallible purpose, and He will most surely perform that
purpose. In Romans 3 and 4 it says, let
God be true and every man a liar. And that includes all preachers
who would disagree with the teaching of our text this morning and
with what the Word of God declares about the sovereign God of the
Bible. Now we've been taught by the
Spirit of God to bow to the sovereign power and acknowledge the unlimited
dominion of our God. We've been taught by God's Spirit
to do that. Now beloved, listen, this morning
we know that there are those in the world who have taken it
upon themselves to become messengers for God, who know nothing about
and who have never been tutored by God's Holy Spirit. Those whom
God teaches, He brings down. He brings them to a low place
where He can teach them and fill their hearts. He empties them
so He can teach them His precious and glorious truth. And what
a wonderful thing it is to have been brought to believe in the
unlimited dominion of our God and to be able to acknowledge
His absolute sovereignty in all things. Now we're fully persuaded
that what God is purposed to do shall be done. That was the
faith of Abraham. He was persuaded, the Bible said,
that what God promised he was able to do. Anything that God
said, I'm going to do, Abraham said, God's able to do it. He's
able to do it because he has unlimited power in heaven and
in earth. Now there is no power in heaven,
on earth, or in hell that can effectively resist or in any
way frustrate the eternal planned purpose of our God. It cannot
be done. He will do as He pleases. He
is in one mind, and the Scripture says, and who can turn Him? For I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places. Psalms 135 verse 5 and 6. The God of the Bible, the Lord
of hosts, hath purposed, and who shall disanul? Who shall
frustrate it? The God of the Bible, the Lord
of hosts, has purposed. And who shall frustrate His purpose? And His hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? Isaiah 14 and verse 27. Now on
this Sunday morning here, this first Sunday morning of the New
Year, I think it will do us a great deal of good to consider what
Job means here in this text of Scripture. It would be advantageous
to each one of our hearts. It will do us good this morning
to think upon the immutability of our God, of the infallibility
of this, our God's purpose. It will do us good because it
will enlighten and because it will establish our hearts in
the good old doctrines which lie at the very basis and the
foundation of our faith. Now concerning the character
of God, I think that most of the mistakes, the gross mistakes
that men make in theology and doctrine is because they're ignorant
of the character of the God of the Bible. I believe the root
And the foundation of all Aryan theology comes from ignorance
of the character and the attributes of God himself. Armenian theology
makes God to be less than He is, and the very basis and the
groundwork of Armenian theology, beloved, lies in attaching undue
importance to man and giving God second place rather than
the first place in their thinking. And this is why we have so many
people that are ignorant of the God of the Bible and His attributes. Let your mind dwell, listen to
me, let your mind dwell for a long time upon man as a free agent,
upon man as a responsible being, upon man not so much as being
under God's claims, as having claims upon God, and it won't
be long, beloved, before you will find springing up in your
mind a set of crude doctrines that are contrary to the whole
tenor of the Word of God. Now I'm telling you that if you
just give yourself over, as many have, to just dwelling upon and
thinking upon the creature rather than the Creator, After a while
you'll have this set of crude doctrines and you think you have
come to the truth and you'll be able to isolate a few texts
of scripture and say that that's what they're talking about and
you'll just be absolutely a hundred miles from the truth and you'll
be blind as a bat. And you'll be dumb as an ass
because you have missed the character of the God of the Bible. We must
come back to where, when we open this book, we're interested in
finding out who the God of the Bible is. And we must study to
know Him and quit thinking about or quit giving first place to
men. Brethren, a man will not go far
wrong in his doctrinal sentiments who thinks worthily about the
Creator, who stands in all of His adorable perfections, and
sees Him, that is the God of the Bible, sitting upon the throne
of His glory, doing all things according to the counsel of His
own will. Now, if you see the God of the
Bible in that position, you won't go far wrong in your doctrinal
sentiments. I mean, you'll be pretty close
on your doctrine. You'll know something about what
the Word of God stands for and teaches. Men receive false doctrine
because they do not have a clear understanding of the omnipotence
of the holiness and the immutability or sovereignty of the God of
the Bible. Now listen to me this morning.
Notice that the greatness and the importance and the power
of your religion The religion that you have depends entirely
upon the greatness and the glory and the power of your God. Now that's a true statement.
Number two, listen to this statement. The depth of a man's worship
depends upon the majesty and the greatness of the God that
he worships. And it's no wonder that we've
got all of these shallow worshipers in our day. They have no depth
of worship because their God is not a God of majesty and greatness. Their God is not a God of power
and immutability. Their God is a weak, anemic God,
and He needs to be helped along to find His way by sinful man. Such is not the case of the God
of the Bible. Number three, listen to this,
the strength of a man's faith depends upon the power and the
ability of the God that he believes. You will not find anybody who
is strong in faith that does not believe that the God of the
Bible, that there is nothing too hard for him. That he can
do whatever he will do, and it's not what God is able to do, it's
what he purposes to do that will determine what he does. And we
believe the God of the Bible because we know that he's a God
of holiness and he's a God that will always do right. He's too
holy not to do right and he's too righteous and holy to do
anything other than anything contrary to sound wisdom and
to righteousness. Now listen to this number four,
the peace. And the rest that a man enjoys
depends upon his confidence in the God who controls the flight
of an angel or a fly, the flash of lightning, or the glimmer
of a glow worm. Now if you want to rest in your
soul, if you want to have some peace, I mean bottom right here. Bottom on the God of the Bible
and the infallibility of His purpose. This God who controls
all things. Now then, some of us run around
in circles. Maybe we have this last week
until we become dizzy. They're thinking about some of
the things that's coming upon the world, listening to news
reports and listening to what's happening in the world and maybe
some of the problems in our own lives right in our own homes.
Everything's been moving around with us just like we've been
like a bunch of little children running around, spinning around
until we got dizzy and maybe we come in this place this morning
And maybe we felt that the very promises of God had moved as
if everything was a floating mass and there was nothing firm
and there was nothing fixed anymore. And we've just come into this
place this morning and we just don't know what we're going to
do with ourselves facing what we have to face. in this world
now listen to me we need this text brethren and I'm going to
get to it sooner or later if you'll just just bear with me
we're going to get to it but brother sister we need what this
text of scripture teaches this morning we need a good a good
grip on at the beginning at the outset of this year face with
what we're faced with we need to get a good grip on the immutability
of God and we need to stand still a while and know that the Lord
He is God, and if we do that, I believe that we'll be able
to persevere on as God's people ought to persevere, and that
we will have the ability to give off an effectual witness and
testimony to those around us in this coming year, even if
the mountains are reduced to nothing, and even if the world's
foundation is shaken. We'll be able to stand if we're
able to do that. Well, let's get to the text.
Now the text here in Job chapter 23 and verse 13 says, but he
is one mind. Now, we're going to take these
three clauses here, talk just a little bit about them. But
the text, first of all, I'd like to say may be regarded as teaching
a general truth. As teaching a general truth. Just look at this first clause
of the sentence, he is in one mind. He is in one mind. Now the fact that's taught here
is that in all the acts of God in providence that he has a fixed
and a settled purpose. Now that's what this scripture
here, that's what this clause is saying. Do you see that? That
in all the acts of God in providence that he has a fixed and a settled
purpose. That is a tremendous statement
and I doubt seriously that any of us have the intelligence or
the ability to immediately grasp how far-reaching that statement
is. He is in one mind. Now it's a very comforting thing
to us as God's children, as the elect of God, those who were
created in Christ Jesus. It's very comforting to know
that the Lord did not make us without a purpose. that He did
not put us in this world without a purpose. And that now in His
dealings with us, that He has the same wise and gracious end
to serve in His dealings with us. God has a purpose in our
lives. God has a purpose in putting
us here. God has a plan. God has a purpose. Now listen,
we suffer many trials in this world, many heartaches, many
disappointments. Many bereavements, many troubles
with human relationships. We have many problems with our
goods and many problems with our livelihood, making a livelihood
and so on and so forth. The people of God have many,
many crosses to bear and our crosses are as continual as our
lives. We are seldom long at ease. We
are born into sorrow, the Scripture teaches. And certainly it is
an inheritance of which we are never deprived. The people of
God are a poor and afflicted and tested people. And there
are people that experience much suffering in their lives. But now listen to me. This seems
to be the mark of the New Covenant. that God's people are attested
and despised and afflicted and tormented people. A people who
have, as it were, rocks in their bed. A people who have crooks
in their lot. People who are often discouraged
and cast down like the psalmist was. And he talked to himself
and said, My soul, why art thou so cast down? And it was because
he was an afflicted man. He was chastened every day. He
was a tested man. But he was in God's world. and
the God of the Bible had absolute dominion and control over every
one of his circumstances and over every one of his situations.
And beloved, it will reconcile us to our griefs, to our burdens
and sorrows to know that they serve some end, that they serve
God's end, that there is a purpose, that there is a cause. And this
cause is God's eternal, infallible purpose. That God has put us
here, that God's dealing with us, and that our trials, our
difficulties, our ups and downs, and the difficulties of life,
that all of these, that they're under the control and the dominion
of our loving Heavenly Father. And that they serve His eternal
purpose. Now he is still carrying out,
he still has one great purpose, none of these things come by
chance to us, none of these things happen to us out of order, but
everything comes to us according to his own purpose of his own
will and answers the purpose of his own great mind. That's
why they happen. That's why these things fall
out to us. That's why we experience what we do here in this world. He is of one mind and he has
a settled purpose in all of the acts of providence. Nothing happens
that is not part of the divine scheme. to gather up all in one,
all that falls out to us, along with all the calamities, all
the devastations of war, and all the devastations of storm,
and all of the decay of nations, and the decay and depravity of
the race of man, all the things that happen in this world from
the beginning to the end, all of this have only been co-workers
with God. They have only fit in to that
purpose, that one purpose of this God of the Bible. Now as
one white writer put it, they're just slaves compelled to tug
the galley of the divine purpose across the sea of time. That's what all these things
are that's happening in the world. Now it's very enlightening And
I know we hear from so many corners, we hear so many questions raised
about why this? Why that? Why something else?
Why does all these things happen that are happening around the
world and happening down our street and happening somewhere
else? Why are all these things happening? Surely this thing
is out of control. Well, I'm here to tell you this
morning that this thing is not out of control. I'm here to tell
you this morning that the God of the Bible from every evil
has brought good. And the more the evil has accumulated,
the more has God glorified Himself in bringing out at last His grand,
His everlasting design. God is going to bring out His
purpose and accomplish His purpose. Let happen what will. Now this
I take, beloved, is the first lesson, the first general lesson
of this text. That is, that every event of
providence, in every event of providence, God has a purpose. And I want to make this clear,
He has one purpose. He has a purpose. From generation
to generation, from the beginning, He has had a purpose. One purpose. Now, beloved, all
history is but one. It's His story. It's His story
from the beginning unto the end. There are many scenes, but it
is one drama, if you please. There are many pages, but it's
one book. There are many leaves, but they
are one tree. There is one purpose. There are
many provinces, yes, and there be lords, many, and there be
rulers, many, yet is there but one empire, and God is the only
potentate in that empire. This is the thing that I want
to settle with you this morning. The God of the Bible runs this
world. He runs this world. Now, O come,
let us worship and bow down before Him, for the Lord is a great
God. and a great king above all gods. Could you say amen to that? Amen, amen. Now second, if you
will, I want you to notice the second clause of this sentence. Who can turn him? He is in one
mind. Who can turn him? Now then, here we are taught
the doctrine that the purpose of God is unchanged. It is unchanged. Now we showed
you first that he has a purpose and the second shows that it
is incapable of change. That the purpose of God cannot
be, it cannot be changed. Now beloved, we do not suppose
that God has ever had to take down his book and to make an
erasure or an amendment to his book. God has never had to do
that. Now we hear sometimes from certain
preachers and theologians that the fall, that it took God by
surprise, that he didn't really, wasn't prepared for any such
event as the fall in the Garden of Eden. And Adam fell in the
garden and God was so surprised that he had to hurry and skelter
around and find some way to deal with the fact that man had disobeyed
him and rebelled and fell in the garden. Now, beloved, it's
terrible for anyone to think that way. It is not true. God,
the God of the Bible, Before man ever was created, the God
of the Bible had already made provisions in the everlasting
covenant for the redemption of His people in and through Christ. Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. I mean, before we were ever shackled
in chains, the Lord Jesus Christ was bound to deliver us. Before salvation was necessary,
the God of the Bible had already fixed up an eternal salvation
for His elect in the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no such thing.
Known unto God are all of His works from the beginning of the
world. The whole was written there from
the beginning. He knew it all. Therein anything
ever took God by surprise. God has always known what He
was going to do. And God has been doing what He
purposed to do from the beginning. Now what He intended the great
picture to be, that it shall be in the end. And you can mark
that down. I mean, you can go to the bank
with that. And in the end, God shall exhibit the whole. He shall
elicit both from men and angels tremendous shouts of praise while
they say, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty,
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints, thou only. are
holy. All nations shall come and worship
before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. The God of
the Bible will bring to pass his own glorious purpose and
have the praise of men and angels when it is finally, ultimately
revealed in the whole. Now where we have thought and
many times and I'm sure that there's not one of us here that
has not at times questioned the government of God. and said,
the government of the Lord is wrong. Well, beloved, where we
question the government of the Lord, we question it because
we're so short-sighted. We question it because we see
nothing but, I mean, but what the flesh sees, and it's only
when we have the eye of faith can we grasp the God of the Bible
and His truth, and believe Him, and believe what He said, and
have comfort from it. And there are many, many times
when just seeing what we do and looking with our own mental judgment,
we call the situation and say, God's made a mistake. God's made
a mistake. This is not right. This is not
the way it ought to be. But when things appear to be
most wrong, they're right. If it be His will, if it be that
which He has brought to pass. Now, beloved, listen. Where we
have thought His government wrong, there shall it prove most right. Most right. And when you Look
at us. We sit on the judgment throne
and we tell God, you made a mistake in letting this happen in my
life. You made a mistake in letting that happen in my life. You made
a mistake in all of this. God, why? God, why? Well, it's only because we're
such short-sighted creatures and God did not make us to be
happy with an inquiring mind of unbelief. You can never be
happy if you don't believe God. You'll never be established unless
you believe in the God of the Bible. And that from generation
to generation, He's working His purpose, everything is coming
together, and eventually God will bring it to pass and show
that His judgments and His government is right. That is right. Now then, when we dream that
He's forgotten to be good, There shall the goodness of God be
most clear. Because our minds are natural
and because they're so contrary to the truth, they're so contrary
to the things of God, they understand not the things of the Spirit
of God. Therefore, much is foolishness to us. But we shall discover
that the Lord's goodness is good. That His goodness, that when
we thought it had been forgotten, that God was not going to be
gracious anymore. that that's when he was being
the best, and that's when he was being the most good toward
us. Now it's a very sweet consolation
to the mind of the child of God who studies these matters that
God has never changed in any degree from his purpose, that
he's never changed. And the result will be, notwithstanding
everything to the contrary, that just precisely in every job intent
of what he foreknew and what he foreordained, it will be. It should be. What he foreordained
it should be, never varied, is his plan. He don't change, he
doesn't get out in the middle of the stream and then change
his plan. He doesn't do that. He's got, he's of one mind and
who can turn him. Albert Barnes made a God who
has no plan. but who did everything haphazardly. It is a matter of rejoicing that
he has one great purpose which extends through all ages and
embraces all things for then everything falls into its proper
place and has its appropriate bearing on other events. Isn't that a marvelous statement?
It is. It's a true statement. It's a
statement that just simply puts it all in a nutshell, what we've
been trying to say here this morning. So then, why should
we murmur at the purpose or the degrees of God? Why should we
do that? It's a matter of joy. that God
does execute all his purpose for it's all good and it's all
wise and it would be a calamity if all of the good purpose of
God was not fulfilled. Now can you bring yourself to
say amen to that? Amen? Beloved, it would be a
calamity if God did not execute all of His purpose. Praise God! He cannot be turned. He won't give up on it. He's
going to fulfill His purpose. Now thirdly then, let's go on.
This text also teaches a third thing in the third clause. While God had a purpose, and
that purpose has never changed, the third clause teaches us that
this purpose is sure to be effected. And let me explain what I think
that means. What His soul desireth, that
He doeth. What His soul desireth, that
he doeth. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. He is Lord both in the
arms of heaven and in the armies of earth. Now he made the world
out of nothing. This God, of whom the text says,
that what his soul desireth, that he doeth. This God made
the world out of nothing, and there was no resistance there. No resistance. This God of the
Bible said, let there be light, and there was light, and there
was no resistance. No resistance. He said providence
be and providence shall be and when you come to see the end
as well as the beginning you will find that there was no resistance
there either. God does what his soul desireth. Now you found out some things
here this morning that this thing is not just out here floating
around. that God's running this show and that He is wise enough,
big enough, powerful enough to pass His end in the matter. Now it's a wonderful thing how
God affects His purpose while, as we're told often, that the
creature is free. Oh, somebody said what? You know,
now wait a minute preacher, you can't, you can't let God run
this thing because man is free, you know. Well, we know that
man's got legs and he's got arms and we know he's got a brain
and we know he can read books and we know that he's got a will.
We know that he has. But we know that God also has
a will, and we know that God is freer than any man, and we
know that the will of God will prevail. Now, we know that a
man cannot will to do anything that's contrary to his nature.
Man is in bondage to sin, and his nature is biased toward evil,
and he cannot and he will not. His inability is in the realm
of the spiritual. He cannot, he will not come to
God. Because he doesn't have the spiritual
ability to come, and unless God does for him what must be done
for him, and that is unless God brings him to life and regeneration,
he will never come to Christ! The sinner is dead in sin and
God chooses to bring all of His elect unto Himself by doing for
them what they cannot do in and of themselves. He gives them
life and that life reaches out to Jesus Christ and that life
embraces Christ. But here we have the sinner out
here in the world And we are told he's free, and we're told
he's responsible, and there's an element of truth in all of
that. However, his freedom is restricted by his nature, and
is restricted by what he can will, and that is that he can
only will sin, and he can only will evil. It would not be a
miracle for God to affect his purpose if he were dealing with
fence posts and rocks and granite and trees. Somebody said, well
God could then, he could see to it that everything works out
like he wants it to in the end. But as long as man is out here
running around without a rope around his neck, he's not going
to be able to do that. Well listen, now the miracle
of miracles is that the creature, while we'll say that he is free
and he's loose, foot out here in the world and yet Beloved
we want to say that the divine purpose as God Willed it it stands
It stands now. Let me say a little about this
man walks without a rope around his neck Yet he walks in the
very steps which God ordains that he walk in and He walks
in the very steps that God ordains that He will. We read concerning
the deliverance up of the Lord Jesus Christ that He was delivered
up by the determined counsel of God. He was slain by wicked
men and that they only did on the cross what the determined
counsel of God had foreordained that they do. This, beloved,
is an example of what I'm trying to say. Men do what the divine
purpose intends as though manacles had bound them to the spot even
though they don't have a rope around their neck. They do it.
Now this is the miracle of this thing. Now listen, man chooses
his own way by his own will. He chooses sin or by divine grace
he chooses right. Yet in his choice, God sets a
sovereign on his throne, not disturbing but still overruling
and proving himself to be able to deal as well with free creatures
as with creatures without freedom. God just is able to do it one
way or the other. Say what you will. Now God is
as well able to affect his purpose when he has endowed men with
thought, when he has endowed them with reason, when he has
endowed them with judgment as he has when he would deal, if
he was dealing with rocks and trees. Now this is difficult
to fathom, but God can do it. My consciousness, now listen
to this, my consciousness teaches me that man does as he wills. But my faith teaches me that
God does as He wills, and these two are not contrary the one
to the other, and yet I cannot tell you how it is. I will not
reject the responsibility of the sinner. I will not reject
what men call a will, that man has a will, he does have it.
But I, and I will not reject predestination, I will not reject
decree and foreordination, I just simply believe that the two work
together in harmony. And that the God of the Bible
is able to make it so. Now then, I cannot tell how God
will affect His end in everything. I can wonder, and I can admire,
and I can say with the Scripture, O the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out. Behold, how great
is our God. God is great. O Lord, how great
are Thy works, and Thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man
knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this. But the God
of the Bible is great. Now then, my friends, do not
think for a minute. Let's kind of put this together
and close this out. Do not think for a moment that
God has in any way lost control of His world. Don't think that
God has lost control of His creation, that anything can happen against
His will. Don't for one moment believe
that. Worship the God of the Bible. There's no such thing.
And I've told you this before, but I wanted this morning, first
Sunday of 1991, I wanted you to hear it again. There's no
such thing as luck. There's no such thing as chance.
There's no such thing as accident. As far as God is concerned, these
are words that originated in the minds of men to describe
what was going on in a world they did not understand. Now
you've got to face that. Men who just came on the scene.
They just got here. You say, well Preacher, I've
been here 50 years. Well, you might have been here 50 years,
but you just got here. This thing, I mean, this thing
stretches, what I'm talking about, stretches from old eternity,
I mean, clear through eternity future. This, beloved, listen,
we're just Johnny-come-latelies. And we invented these terms,
luck, chance, accident. but not with God, not with the
God of the Bible. There's no such thing. The Bible
declares that of Him and through Him and to Him are all things
to whom be glory forever. Romans 11 and 36. And again Ephesians
1 and 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. Tremendous verses,
are they not? Now listen to me. In 1775, there
was a man by the name of A.T. Ball that wrote these words. And I close with these words.
I want you to listen to them because we're in kind of a, we're
in a very difficult and cloudy and a very, very gloomy period
of time in America. We may go to war with some of
the same, Mr. Some of the Same, Mr. Whatever-His-Name-Is. I call him Some of the Same.
But anyway, we are facing some very difficult and serious times,
and only God knows what will be the repercussions of a war
in the Middle East, what will happen as far as finances is
concerned, economics, We're looking down the barrel of some difficult
situations, I believe, and I haven't seen anybody yet that had the
answers. We know that God has the answers, but these things,
this thing that this man said, what he said, very appropriate
at this time, and I want you to listen to what he said. He
wrote, he said, national matters at present carry a very gloomy
outlook. Now this was in 1775. But it is in things civil, as
in things spiritual, God is on the throne. Now listen to the
way he explains this. Considered in myself, I'm a most
unworthy and sinful creature. Considered in Christ, I am without
fault before God's throne. Now consider the state of public
affairs. As they are in themselves, hardly
anything is more cloudy and unfavorable. But consider them in the light
of God's purpose and providence and whatever is, is right. Is right. This is my comfort. This is my comfort. And if you're
in Christ, may it be yours that the God of the Bible is on the
throne and that all things considered, if it's considered in the light
of what we've taught here this morning, then this is our comfort. God's on the throne and it's
right. However it affects us, however
it affects our relatives, however it affects our jobs, however
it affects where we live, however it affects our world, it's right. It's right. God's on the phone.
Is this all right? Is this too much God for you
all? No, I don't think it is. Most of you say amen. I know
you have said amen in your heart to what we preached here this
morning. because we believe this truth. This is the anchor of
our souls. Not that we're not a tribe people, tested people,
tribe to the very foundation, week by week, but God is on the
throne and we trust Him and wait on Him and we believe Him. May
the Lord add His blessing this morning to the message. We're going to have a