Let us open our Bibles this evening
to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 29. And my text this evening will
be verse 29. Last Sunday evening I spoke to
us about God's providence. And I define God's providence
as the day-by-day working out of God's eternal purpose. God's
eternal decree is worked out day-by-day, and this we refer
to as God's providence. And I called our attention last
time to God's providence in the lives of two apostles, that is,
James and Peter, and we saw in Acts chapter 12 that Peter was
delivered while James was killed. The same God had worked out in
his providence that one of his apostles should be taken out
of this world and one should remain. And I made the point
that in life we witness and experience many things in God's providence
because it is the day by day working out of His purpose. We experience many things in
God's providence that we can never explain. We cannot possibly
explain or understand. And in answering the question
that many of us have when things happen, Why? I said, we cannot
answer that. But the best answer is found
here in Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29, where Moses said, The secret
things belong unto the Lord our God. The secret things belong
unto the Lord our God. The Lord Jesus told his disciples,
What I do, thou understandest, or knowest not now. What I do
thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Hereafter in heaven we may know
the reason for those things, those many things that have so
perplexed us, that have baffled us in this life, the many things
that we cannot possibly understand. We may then in the afterlife
know the needs be. what the need was for the many
tears and disappointments and hurts that God's people experience
in this world. Believing the secret things.
Notice it says the secret things belong unto the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children forever that we may do all the
words of this law. leaving the secret things this
past week, I thought, well, it would be good for us to look
at several things that are revealed. The secret things belong unto
God, and they will remain secret for the time being. But there
are things, this text tells us, which are revealed unto us and
to our children. You notice I said several of
the things. And here is something that should
be evident to all of us. Even the things which are revealed,
and we will look at some of them tonight. But even these things
that are revealed unto us and unto our children, there are
things that are secret even about them. For instance, the Trinity. The Trinity. The truth of the
Trinity is revealed to us in the Word of God. An honest person
cannot read the Scriptures and not see that the attributes of
deity are given to each person in the Godhead. That is, the
Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit
is eternal. And yet, very clearly, there's
one God. Now this is revealed unto us,
isn't it? This is one of those things that
is revealed unto us and unto our children. But at the same
time, there's that which is secret even about this, because it is
beyond our ability to understand it. We believe it because it
is revealed to us in the Word of God. And there are many other
examples which I could give. But let's look tonight at these
four truths that are revealed to us and to our children. And they are revealed to us in
the Word of God. The first thing that I mention
is that God is absolutely sovereign in all things. This is revealed to us. Now if
we listen to modern day religion, we would never hear this. But this is something that is
revealed to us and to our children in the Word of God. That the
God of the Bible, the God who we worship tonight, is absolutely
sovereign in all things. Now there are many passages of
Scripture that we could look at, but let's turn to these.
Let's look first in Isaiah chapter 45. In Isaiah chapter 45. And I remember this about the
prophecy of Isaiah. For several chapters here in
the 40s, 44, 45, and so on, in several of these chapters, the
nation of Israel at this time when the prophecies were given,
they had fallen into idolatry. And so God challenges them. He challenges the people of Israel. to have their God, their gods
that they were worshiping, these idols, to appear and to show
themselves to be God, to be a God. He challenges them. And of course
that cannot be done. That's just not possible because
they are not gods. And he tells us that one of the
ways that he shows himself to be God, to be almighty, to be
sovereign in all things as he tells things that are going to
take place before they take place. And I'm not talking about a week
or two, I'm talking about a couple of centuries. In this case, here
in Isaiah chapter 45, he is speaking to the nation of Israel about
a man who would be born over 200 years in the future. And his name is Cyrus. and he
would be the ruler of Persia. And God is telling the nation
of Israel, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus. Now God had anointed this man,
this man Cyrus. God had raised him up to be king,
and he was going to do what God had purposed in eternity. And God had purpose to do what
He would do using this man. And we will see here as we read
on. This man didn't know God. He didn't know that he was serving
God. God is absolutely sovereign in
all things and yet men are responsible beings. The fact of God's sovereignty
doesn't mean that man is not responsible. The Scriptures are
very clear that God is absolutely sovereign in all things, and
men, yes, men are responsible unto God for our actions, for
our choices, and everything else. And yet God is absolutely sovereign
in all things. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before
him. and I will loose the loins of
kings to open before him the two leaved gates. Now I believe
that refers to Belshazzar. You remember he was a Babylonian
king and that night he was in his salon where they were having
that big shindig, you know, and they sent and got the vessels
that they had brought out of the temple in Jerusalem to drink
their drinks out of and praise their gods. And that's when that
hand began to write on the wall. And you remember what this man
began to do? He began to shake. You've heard
of shaking in your boots? This man began to shake in his
boots because he didn't realize it, but at that very time that
he was celebrating God was taking the kingdom from him. The kingdom
of Babylon was being transferred into the hands of the Persians,
the Medes and the Persians. And that's what this verse is
declaring. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight.
I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the
bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures
of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest
know that I, the Lord, which call thee by name, am the God
of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name,
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. Now,
I don't know who named this man, his mother or his dad. God named him. God named him. And his mother or his dad, whichever
one gave him his name, they just found it in their heart. Let's
call this boy Cyrus. That sounds like a good name.
I've always wanted to name my boy Cyrus, not realizing he was
doing or she was doing exactly what God had determined should
be done over 200 years before. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee. Now notice, though thou hast
not known me. Cyrus didn't know God. What was
he doing? He was doing probably what most
of those kings were doing. He was trying to have more territory
to rule over more people, to conquer more nations. In other
words, his motive may have been covetousness, self-aggrandizement,
whatever. But at the same time, he was
doing exactly what God had determined he should do. Isn't it wonderful
to worship a God like this? Isn't it? I mean, the average
so-called God today, he's an object more of pity than of worship. Not this God. Not our God. Not
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is sovereign
in all things. 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 notice this. I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. Now again, let's remind ourselves
the evil here is not moral evil. God cannot be tempted with sin,
neither tempteth he any man. God is holy. This evil here,
of course, is what we would call calamities, disasters, things
of that nature. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. And there's a verse in the prophecy
of Amos, one of the minor prophets, and he asks this question for
God. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city? Now, they would
blow a trumpet to alert people of danger of an invading army. Can a trumpet be blown in the
city and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city,
and the Lord hath not done it? Can there? No. No. I would call our attention also
another example in 1 Kings chapter 13. We won't go there, but God
sent this prophet from Judah. to the nation of Israel. This
is just after the kingdom had been divided, and the first king
of Israel was a man by the name of Jeroboam, and he was a wicked
man. And the thing about this king
is, you follow the history of the nation of Israel, and king
after king after king, even though sometimes it would be a man's
son who reigned, and then his son, and then someone would kill
the kings and a new king would come. But as long as that kingdom
existed, until God carried them away into captivity, every king
that came to the throne could not and did not depart from the
sins of that first king, Jeroboam. He was a wicked man. I know he
made two altars. I think one in Bethel and one
in Dan. Two calves. And said, here's
your gods. two golden calves. Here's your
gods. And one day God sent a prophet
from Judah to him in Israel. And that prophet told him that
the day would come when God would raise up a king and he would
offer the bones of his prophets upon his altar. And you know
how long it was before that took place? 350 years. And he told him the name
of the king, Josiah, Josiah. Now, Josiah was the son of Manasseh,
who started off as a very wicked king himself in Judah. But Josiah
was a godly man, and he fulfilled that prophecy. But the greatest
of all of these examples, I believe, we find in Acts. in this prayer
of the apostles shortly after the coming of the Holy Spirit
and the preaching of the gospel. But in Acts chapter 4, we read this prayer in verse
24. When the religious leaders there,
the Jews, had let Peter and John go, it says, And being let go,
verse 23, they went to their own company, and reported all
that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when
they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one
accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and
earth and the sea and all that in them is. They didn't believe
in evolution, these apostles of our Lord. They didn't believe
in the Big Bang Theory. No, they accredited the God that
they worship, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the
Creator of all things and also the Governor. Notice next. who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people
imagine vain things? How foolish. This is Psalm 2,
isn't it? All the leaders, they gather
themselves together and they shake their fist in the face
of God. How foolish. We're not going
to have this man to reign over us. We're just not going to do
it. Well, we'll see about that. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together. Now that includes everyone. Think
about it. Gentiles, Jews, and governors. Everyone. Gathered together,
but notice, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determine
before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that
signs and wonders may be done by thy name of thy Holy Child,
or thy Holy One, Jesus. When we say that God is sovereign
in all things, Actually, we are only confessing that God is God. That's all we're doing. We're
just confessing that God is God. Anything called God who is not
absolutely sovereign in all things is nothing other than an image,
the imagination of the thoughts of men. God is sovereign in creation
as well as providence and in salvation. Now, I was told just
a couple of weeks ago a young boy in the second grade in the
Conroe Independent School District. In one of their schools, I don't
know which one, elementary school, he came home and he had an assignment
to read the book and to give his reflections on the book.
And so he started reading the book and came in to his mother
and said, Mother, this isn't true. This book, this isn't true. This is a lie. She said, Well,
what do you mean? He said, well, this book, the
book was about a camel, a camel. But the author of the book said
that Allah created the camel. And this boy said, this isn't
true. Of course, his mother wrote a note back to the school and
the teacher said, well, you may be assured it will be removed
from the school library. But make no mistake about it. The God of the Muslims, who is
called Allah, is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's not. I don't care how many
religious leaders, and there's a bunch of them in our day, who
want to believe that we all worship the same God. That's not true. That's not true. Allah, for one
thing, is not a merciful God. And if there were any other reason
to know that Allah is not our God, we know that the God of
the Bible is a God who is rich in mercy. Here's a second thing
that is revealed unto us, that men have a fallen nature, or
a man is a fallen creature. The Scripture says in Genesis
1 that God created man in His own image. And if He created
man in His own image, and He did, and God is holy, that means
that man was created holy. Let me ask you something. Do
you think that a holy being... Let me say that again. I want
to make sure everyone understands. Do you think that a holy being
would get so high on drugs that she would help her boyfriend
beat her three-year-old child to death. Does that sound like
a holy being? Do you think a holy being would
enslave others to exploit them for personal gain? Does that
sound like a holy being? Do you think a holy being would
swear under oath to tell the truth and then lie and perjure
himself? The answer to all of those questions,
and you know we could ask many others, but the answer to all
of them is no, a resounding no. Something has happened. God created
man a holy being in His image. But do these actions that I've
just mentioned, do they sound like actions of holy beings? Well, of course not. Yet man
was created in the holy image of God. What happened? What happened? Well, Solomon said it like this
after searching out the matter. Remember in the book of Ecclesiastes,
Solomon, who is known for his wisdom, he sought things out
and came to conclusions, but everything is under the sun.
That's important when you read the book of Ecclesiastes. But
he did find this out. By his searching, he said, Lo,
this only have I found. that God made man upright, but
they sought out many inventions. Many inventions. It is revealed
unto us and unto our children. We're talking about some things
that are revealed unto us. Number one, that God is absolutely
sovereign. Number two, that man is a fallen
creature. It is revealed unto us that the
holy Adam, the first man whom God created in his image, that
he was the representative man. He was the head of all men who
come into this world by the natural process. Every person who is
born in this world and has a father, a human father and mother, that
he represented all of us. saying that because we know the
Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. And so He was not included
in that covenant that God made with Adam. Adam did not represent
Him because He is not of His posterity. He is born of the
virgin. He has a Father, but His Father
is God. And that body that was prepared
to him was prepared to him by the Holy Spirit. Adam disobeyed
God. He represented you. He represented
me. He disobeyed God. And he not
only brought ruin upon himself, and he did, but he also brought
ruin upon all of his descendants. does not tell us how man has
become the sinful creature that he is. But God tells us, God
reveals this to us in His Word, that we were shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did our mothers conceive us. We are fallen creatures,
which means that we come into this world spiritually dead and
depraved. We are born estranged from our
Creator, we are born enmity against God. Now, that's revealed to
us. Here's the third thing that God
has revealed unto us. God has purposed for His glory
to save many of Adam's fallen race. Now before I go on, let me remind
us of what I mean when I say that God has purposed to save
many of Adam's fallen race. What does it mean to save? You know, we hear these words,
sometimes we use them over and over, and we don't really stop
to think about, well, what does a preacher mean when he says,
saved? What does it mean when we sing
that hymn, saved, saved? Thank God I'm saved. Well, let
me try to go over this for just a moment. There are consequences. I just finished saying that we
are all born in sin. There are consequences. to be
born in sin, to be born a sinner. Now, some of these consequences
are these. We are slaves to Satan. We're born in slavery. Every one of us, we're slaves
to Satan. You say, well, show me that.
All right, look with me, if you will, in 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, and beginning with verse 24,
the apostle writing to this preacher said, And the servant of the
Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach,
patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
And that's what a person does who's lost. He opposes himself. He opposes that good, that gospel
that could help him, that would help him. He opposes himself. He fights against the truth.
in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God,
peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, and that, now notice, that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him
at his will. That is, at the devil's will.
They're taken captive. So, one thing that we need to
to be reminded of, there are consequences of having been born
sinners. The wages of sin is death. We've come into this world first
as slaves to Satan, and here's something else. We come into
this world cursed by the law of God, because the law of God
curses everyone who does not continue to do all things that
are written in the law. Something else, we are born in
sin, we are under the power of sin. You know, Paul in Romans
chapter 5, he speaks of two great powers, sin and grace. And both are powerful. Sin, we're
born under the power of sin. Someone said, well, I can quit
sinning any time I want to. Yeah. That's just like the man
who said, I can quit smoking any time I want to. I've already
quit three times today. Yeah, you can quit anytime you
want to. The drunkard, he says, I can
quit drinking anytime I want to. Yeah. Well, many of them,
they're under the power of sin, and they can't quit. They're
enslaved to sin. And not only that, but lastly,
we are born liable. to eternal death. That is, to
being separated from God for eternity. There are others, but when we
speak of being saved, we mean delivered. Delivered from all
of these consequences that I have just mentioned when we are born
in sin. We are delivered from the power
of Satan. from the curse of the law, from
the power of sin, and we are delivered from the liability
to eternal death. Now, here are several truths
revealed to us about this purpose of God to save, that is, to deliver
us from these consequences. First, God of His own pleasure
chose those in Christ that He purposed to save. He chose those
in Christ He purposed to save. And I think of a number of scriptures
that come to my mind, but let's look at a few. Let's turn to
Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 and beginning
with verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And notice, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy. He didn't choose anyone because
they were holy. He chose us that we might, or
that we should be holy. and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. Let me read another one to us
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And verses 13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Notice, it's never apart
from sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. In other
words, the same God who ordained the end has also ordained the
means to the end. And the means to the end here,
he has chosen us unto salvation, sanctification of the Spirit,
the new birth, and belief of the truth. We believe the gospel. And Paul says that in the next
verse, doesn't he? Whereunto he called you by our
gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And another one that I would
think of is in Acts chapter 13, verse 48, when the Jews got all
disturbed because they saw the Gentiles were anxious to hear
this gospel. They were jealous. And Paul says this. Verse 48, I think I said verse
38, but verse 48, And when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. So, in this purpose of God to
save many of Adam's fallen race, to deliver from the slavery of
Satan, from the curse of the law, from the power of sin and
the liability to eternal death, first of all, God chose those
whom he would save. Number two, God of his great
love provided the one to deliver those whom he had chosen. God
so loved, the scripture said. He so loved that he gave his
only begotten son to be the deliverer. He in one person is both God
and man. The Word was made flesh. Now
this is another one of those things that is revealed. That the man Christ Jesus, he
is the express image of the Father. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. That's revealed unto us. But
how that can be? How in one person? He might be
both God and man. Now, these two natures might
be joined in this one person. What did Paul say? Great. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Yes, this is revealed unto us,
but it's not revealed as to how this might happen, how this might
be. He is one person, and he's both God and man. Now, listen
carefully. The one who is both God and man
had to conquer Satan. I said that we are born in servitude
or slavery to Satan. Now, the only way, and our Lord
said, the only way that anyone can be delivered from the dominion
of this strong man, that is the devil, then this strong man,
he has to first be overcome, and then his goods will be spoiled. It was at the cross. When he
was coming to the cross, he said this, ìNow is the judgment of
this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And it was at the cross that
that very first promise that was given way back yonder in
the Garden of Eden that the seed of the woman would crush or bruise
the head of the serpent. It was at the cross that he spoiled
Satan. He overcame Satan. He was cast
out. And this one who is both God
and man has to remove the curse of God's law. How could he do
that? He found us under the curse of
his holy law, and he substituted himself to be made a curse for
us. I remember many years ago there
was a comedian here in the States, way before any of your time,
very popular. But this was reported of him,
that when he was in the hospital at the end of his life, someone
went to see him and he had a Bible. And they asked him what he was
doing and he said, I'm looking for a loophole. I'm looking for
a loophole. Well, if there's any loophole,
it's this, that Christ substituted himself in our place. And God
punished our sins just like he said he would, but he punished
them in our substitute. And we are delivered from the
curse of the law. Now the third thing, this one
who is both God and man has to deliver us from the power of
sin. How does he do that? He sends His Holy Spirit and
gives us a new birth. We're born again, and the Spirit
of God comes to live within us, and we are given a new nature.
The Spirit of God who now lives in us, and this is what we find
out. Now, I never knew this until
it had already happened, and I doubt that you did either.
Did you know that I died when Christ died? Did you know that? Did you know tonight, if you
are a child of God, that you died when Christ died? Paul said,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but the Son of God that liveth in me. He delivers us from the
power of sin by regenerating us. And we repent of our sins
and we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We died. In Romans 6,
Paul said that sin shall not have dominion over you. And the
reason is, is because you've died to sin. Died in Christ,
mystically, all of his people, all who were chosen in him. All
that he represented. When he died, we died. When He
was buried, we were buried. When He arose, we arose. When
He ascended, we ascended. When He sat down at the right
hand of God the Father, we sat down in heaven. We're seated
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. You take your body, now understand
it like this. You take your body and suppose
someone tries to drown you. And they just put you in the
water, but your head is above water. They'll never drown you,
will they? They'll never drown you. Why?
Because you've got to get your head under water to drown. And
our head is Christ! And we'll never be drowned. We'll
never be lost. Why? Because our head, mystically,
He is our head. We're members of His body. And
we're seated with him in the heavens. And number four, this
one who is both God and man has to deliver us from the liability
of eternal death. And how does he do that? By giving
us eternal life. He said, Concerning his sheep,
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. Now here's the
last thing that is revealed to us, that God has purposed that
this gospel be preached in all the world and that whosoever,
and yes you heard me right, that whosoever believeth shall be
saved. That's God's purpose. That's
been revealed unto us. One preacher said it like this.
Only God knows who His elect are. I'm called to preach to
whosoever will hear, to whosoever will believe, and to whosoever
will come. And God told Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. Therefore, he said, we must conclude,
whosoever will is whosoever God wills. God has revealed unto
us that his gospel is to be preached in all the world, and whosoever
will, whosoever will come, whosoever will believe has everlasting
life. I pray that the Lord would bless
this message to us this evening. Let us sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.