who have been mentioned on our
prayer list. We'll observe the Lord's table
after this morning's message, and then we'll have dinner, but
no afternoon service. Okay. Anybody else got any other announcements
they'd know about? We got a leak in the roof we're gonna have
to fix. Do what? Oh yeah, we'll have
to have a business meeting. We'll wait until the first Wednesday
night of the year. Hymn number 475. Redeemed how
I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed
through His His child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. ? And so happy in Jesus ? No
language my rapture can tell ? I know that the light of his
presence ? With me doth continually dwell ? Redeemed, redeemed ?
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed Redeemed His child and
forever I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the
day long I sing for I cannot be silent His love is the theme
of my song Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever
I am I know I shall see in His beauty The King in whose law
I delight ? Lovingly guardeth my footsteps ? ? And giveth me
songs in the night ? ? Redeemed, redeemed ? ? Redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb ? ? Redeemed, redeemed ? ? His child and forever
I am ? after scripture reading and prayer
we will sing hymn number 326, more about Jesus. If you have
your Bibles turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 16, 2 Samuel 16, the
title of my message today is, Orneriness Ordained. Orneriness Ordained. 2 Samuel 16 beginning with verse
5, And when King David came to Beorim,
behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of
Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth
and cursed as he came. And he cast stones at David and
all the servants of the king of David, and all the people
and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou
bloody man, Thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee
all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast
reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the
kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art
taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. And said
Abishai, the son of Zeriah, unto the king, Why should this dead
dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and take off his head. And the king said, What have
I to do with you, you sons of Zoriah? So let him curse, because
the Lord, because the Lord said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore
hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and
all the servants, Behold, my son, which came forth from my
bowels, seeketh my life. How much more
now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him. may be that the Lord will look
on my affliction and the Lord will require me good of this
cursing this day require me good of this cursing this day as David
said his men went by the way Shimei went along on the hillside
over against him and cursed as he went threw stones at him and
cast dust the king and all the people that were with him came
weary and professed themselves there let us pray Our Father,
we thank you for your word, for the honesty of it, for the integrity
of it. We thank you that it's been here
for more than 3,000 years. We pass off this earth in a few
days, and it will be here to sustain your people until you
come again. We're thankful it is a light
unto our feet and a lamp unto our path. We're thankful that
you have given your children spiritual understanding, that
they can read this book and understand what it means, and rejoice in
it. We pray for those who are sick,
those who are going through trial, pray for brother Bruce Crabtree
who lost his wife Jo, pray you'd be with him, strengthen him,
help him Lord. Help us today as we gather here,
as we hear the gospel, we rejoice in Jesus Christ as we worship
the Lord. And as we partake the Lord's
table this afternoon and in our time of fellowship around the
table this evening, we ask, Lord, you'd be with us. Show us mercy
and grace. Give us joy in each other's presence. Cause us to love one another
and love you supremely. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Hymn number 326. More about Jesus would I know. More of his grace to others show. ? More of His saving fullness
see ? More of His love who died for me ? More, more about Jesus
? More, more about Jesus ? More of His saving fullness see More
of his love who died for me More about Jesus let me learn More
of his holy will discern Spirit of God my teacher be Showing
the things of Christ to me More More about Jesus More, more about
Jesus More of His saving fullness see More of His love who died
for me More about Jesus in His Word Holy communion with my Lord,
hearing His voice in every line, making each faithful saying mine. More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus More of His saving fullness seemed More of
His love who died for me ? More about Jesus ? Riches and
glory all is all ? More of his kingdom sure increase ? More
of his coming prince of peace ? More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness seen. More of His love who died for
me. I'm going to ask Stephen to stand
and receive the alphabet some more, please. Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Christ. Our blessed Savior, the unspeakable
gift that you have given to your children, and with him have freely
given them all things. We know that we have received
all things that are good at thy hand. We've earned nothing except
the wages of sin. All of our salvation from pole
to pole, from beginning to end, from Alpha to Omega, is by your
grace and by your mercy. Let us not boast as if we have
not received these things, And as we return them unto thee,
let us do so with joy and hilarity in our heart. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen. you Well, we're glad to see Wanda
back, who, from all reports, had enough shingles to cover
the church. Put a new roof on it, which we need because we
got a leak. Has your mom had her first radiation
treatment yet? She's had all five. Oh, really? How's she doing? She seems to
be doing pretty decent. Good. I mean, it's not real noticeable
yet as far as what it's doing. Yeah. Yeah, she took them real
well. Well, good, I'm glad for that. Remember, Inez in your
prayers, she's got a benign brain tumor about the size of a golf
ball that they're trying to shrink with radiation, so remember her
in your prayers. I heard, I read about that, yeah.
I read about that. That's a weird time we live in,
isn't it? It used to be when I first came
here, people didn't shoot each other. One brother got mad at
another brother in the loop and took out a shotgun and shot a
hole in his refrigerator. That's my kind of violence. Blow
up that blank refrigerator, you know. Second Samuel, Chapter 16. If
you're reading along with me, this is a great story. A great
story, a true lesson in the concept of trusting God. David is fleeing
from Absalom, his son, who has rebelled against him. Absalom
has gained a large army. Of course, we know the end of
Absalom. He'll be hung from his beautiful
hair in a tree and be shot with three darts through the heart.
David will reign because David is the king that the Lord has
ordained since the beginning. The people got Saul. They voted
for Saul. They wanted Saul because he was
head and shoulders above everybody else and was a fine looking fellow.
And he was as evil as they come. And as weak. Now he's dead. Absalom is trying to take the
throne from his daddy David. And out comes this fellow named
Shimei. Throwing rocks and dust and cussing. cussing David up
one side, calling him a bloody man, saying Absalom's going to
put you out of business, you're a nobody, you're a nothing, all
the blood of the house of Saul's on your head, and he had nothing
to do with the death of Saul. God did, but David didn't. In fact, David mourned Saul according
to chapter 1 and verse 12 of this same book. But David's response to this
man was, Well, just let him cuss. God told him to. I said, Well,
what? But that's what he said. And
he said, Maybe God is using this, using my tears, bringing me to
tears, bringing me to sorrow and affliction, because He has
something else planned for me that's good. Like all that fill the pages
of this book, there is an obvious undercurrent of the overriding
principle of the sovereign providence of God in all things. We don't know what the providence
of God is. We are disturbed by what goes around us, but we are
bound to circumstance, and our eyes are almost always horizontal
and rarely vertical. And we're moved by what happens
around us, and we fail to understand that nothing happens that is not for the good of God's
people and for the glory of His name's sake." That's what he
said. We know all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. David's
response in allowing Shimei to curse him and hurl stony missiles
at him have stymied many because of the apparent association of
God with sin. This fellow was cussing the king,
you see. And men in general, and sometimes
theologians so-called, have difficulty with the idea that God has anything
at all to do with sin. This comes from the common concept
that there are two opposing forces in the world. They are often
referred to in terms such as good and evil, Satan and God,
sin and God, and any reasonable person knows this is true. There
is good and evil in the world. The problem is that men, when
they talk about these things like God and Satan, for want
of spiritual understanding, put these forces on equal footing.
They may give lip service to the way it will all end. They
say God is going to win, God is going to be victorious, but
their actions and their beliefs betray their error. They hang
salvation on their imagined free will. in account that blessings
come because they are able to join forces with the God side
to defeat Satan or overcome sin. That's what they say. Now, this makes sin and all that
opposes God to have equal power and standing, and the deciding
factor will be man, with man being the deciding factor on
how things turn out. This is today's theology. This is today's theology. Thus
sometimes God is victorious and sometimes He's not, they say.
Sometimes He's thwarted and defeated. A prime example of that, Billy
Graham gave an example, what he thought was a clever, cute
example of what election was. He said, God cast a vote for
us, Satan cast a vote for us, and we cast the deciding vote. Now, who's the power in that
whole situation? Man is, not God and not Satan. And it's because
he put Satan and God on equal footing. Let me tell you something
about Satan. Don't mess with him. He's handled people like
us for a long time. He can mess up your head real
good. We're never told in Scripture to study Satan. Never. We're
never told to study his wiles. We say we know his wiles, and
that's because our spirit understands it. But Satan is a creature. whom God created! He's an ANGEL! Now, He WANTED to be God! That
example is given in Isaiah 14. He said, I will ascend to the
most high throne! I will be like the great God!
I will run the show! And God said, I'll put you in
hell! Now, who's got the power there? God does! Satan is God's Let
me tell you something else about Satan. God uses him for the good
of his people. He said to Peter, Satan has desired
you and he might sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you,
your faith won't fail you. And Satan did sift him pretty
good. He denied the Lord three times that night. He got sifted
pretty good, but his faith didn't fail. Men think, theologians think,
religion thinks that man is the deciding factor of how things
will turn out. Thus sometimes God is victorious
and sometimes He's not. Now such look at this act of
Shimei and the words of David. and are unable to reconcile this,
that this sin, this rebellious ornery act of Shimei was bidden
by God or actually caused by God. They just can't get their
head around that. The reason is quite simple. They
don't know God from a goose. and they refuse to acknowledge
him as God. People say they believe God and
believe in God, and they do, but they refuse to acknowledge
him as God, because if he's God, he runs the show and does all
things according to the counsel of his own will. An old friend
of mine, Doc Stone, many years ago, sat down with his old daddy
on the hillside. Doc Stone was a premier guitarist,
Gibson guitarist. He was on the posters. He played
in all, with all the big bands, tremendous guitarist. sit down
with his old dad on a hillside outside of Tennessee, outside
of Nashville one day. He thought he'd impress his daddy.
He said, Daddy, God is in all of this. And his daddy said, No. All this
is in God. All this is in God. The abominable
idiocy that God is in all things gives rise to the inordinate
affections that permeate the world in this day and has filled
the minds of vacuous philosophers, hatched down through the ages.
It produces a sentimental reverence for all things inanimate and
gives all things animate, or even vegetable or mineral, some
kind of deity or spiritual significance. But that comes at the expense
of diminishing God to be just one of many things in a world
where all things are deemed spiritual. That's the way people talk today.
Everything's spiritual. I'm a spiritual person. Define
that, please. Well, I have deep thoughts. Please. Apes have deep thoughts. I've
watched their eyes. To diminish God on any level is to deny Him
altogether, for Scripture says, for by Him and through Him and
to Him are all things. Romans 11, 32. Shimei sinned,
a great sin. He was crass, open, ornery, and
rebellious, and he disobeyed the command of God. For in Exodus
20, 28 it says, you shall not curse the king. Same it said
in Ecclesiastes 10, 20, you shall not curse the king. And at the
exact time he was appointed to do so, that's what he did. I've used this tactic many times,
and people look at me and say, I don't believe in God. I look
at my watch and say, you said that right on time. At the exact
time you're supposed to say that, because I believe that's so.
Jimmy and I chose to believe that David was the culprit, and
he was appointed to think that way. God put the thought in his
head. Note also that Shimei felt he
was able to understand God's dealings with David. Natural
men look at others in dire circumstances and conclude that God is judging
them. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in hospital rooms
and had some jack-legged preacher come in there and say, well,
you know, if you was living right, this wouldn't happen to you. Let me tell you something. What
that preacher is actually saying is, I'm living right. I'm a righteous
man. That's what he's actually saying.
because it ain't happening to me. Religion makes hay of this error
and uses it to control men. The fact is that the chastisement
that David endured were from the hand of the love of God to
bring David to an expected end. There is no doubt that David
suffered pains of conscience, bouts where he applied to the
flesh and almost constantly in remembrance that the course of
his life was had taken was oftentimes a product of his own sinful doing. But in this glowing moment, he
acknowledges that he knows that all of this was according to
divine appointment. The Lord has said to him, as
Abishai said, let me cut his head off. The Lord has said unto
him, curse David. The Lord told Jimeon to do that.
David saw every circumstance in God. Oh, to do that. Oh, to live like that. Oh, to
have our vision so filled with Christ that we see everything
in Him. I know this, if I saw things
like God saw things, I wouldn't be unhappy about anything.
I really wouldn't, because it's all ordained and taken care of.
Abishai's response was much like Peter's when Judas betrayed Christ
and drew out his sword. They, like we, live upon the
surface most of the time and react rather than consider that
God is sovereign over all things. I've got that problem. There
has not been a nanosecond in the history of the universe when
the Almighty has vacated His throne, not one. We are prone
to curse second causes. And when we do, we're actually
setting circumstance on equal footing with God's sovereign
providence, and they're not. Time, tide, and circumstance
are merely revelations of God's sovereign purpose. Would to God
that we all might live in this sweet place, but our flesh will
have nothing of it. We look at Shimei and feel that
the only proper thing to do is remove his head. Cut that fella's
head off. Cut his head off. Judas sinned
horribly against our Lord, being appointed as a measure in the
Father's cup. That's what the Lord said. Let's
do something about Judas, they said. He said, No, he's part
of the cup that God has given me. This is part of the cup that
God has given me. Shimei's cursing was sin, and
it was appointed for David's good and for the glory of God. What would it be if we lived
like that, if we saw it like that? This episode is a revelation
of the fact that God is sovereign over all things, overseeing and
uses the foulest of men and their foul motives to accomplish His
appointed end. Our reaction to the circumstance
reveals the thoughts of our hearts, and that, too, is by appointment.
David's thoughts towards God are revealed in his response
toward the sins of Shimei, how he felt about God. Does this
make sin acceptable in God's eyes? No, sin is sin. Of course
not. It merely teaches us the truth
that sin does not fall outside the purview of God's sovereign
will and providence. When James wanted to prove his
faith by his works, he didn't actually appoint to his works
He appointed to a woman who lied for God, Rahab the harlot. Rahab is in the line of Jesus
Christ, great-grandmother or so, a Gentile woman, a whore. In fact, she's named that throughout
scripture. You say, well, when you get staved, you know, everything
changes. Not everything changes. Your
flesh don't change. Your old wicked heart don't change.
I'm going to have to give you a new harp, but that old one
still hangs around. Rahab is called Rahab the harlot
all the way to Revelation. All the way to the Revelation.
Now, she's called that by God. Why? So we will remember that
that's what we are. We are saints by the grace of
God and sinners by nature, and that's the way it will always
be. The vile and wicked plots of All of us nailed Christ to
the cross. We are all guilty of hatred toward
Christ and hateful desires to rip Him from His throne in our
rebellion and acting according to the dictates of our personal
depravity. We were like marionettes unknown
to God, unknown to us, having our strings pulled to make us
dance to the appointed place and time when we did all that,
where God would be fully and rightfully glorified, and that's
what he said. He was delivered by the determinate counsel of
God, and ye have taken and slain with wicked end. Of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, both Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles
gathered together for to do whatsoever God had aforeordained to be done.
What happened on Calvary? Just what was supposed to happen
on Calvary, exactly, precisely, by the numbers and succinctly
in just a few hours. I'm not big on religious denominational
confessions, but the Westminster Confession
got it right on this subject, stating, God's providence extended
itself to all sins of angels and men, and then not and that
not by mere permission, but such as hath joined with it a most
wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing
in a manifold disposition unto his holy ends, yet so as the
sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not
from God." How can that be? Only if you're God. We couldn't
do that. You see, the perfection and holiness
of God is no more tainted by directing the activities of evil
men than the sunbeam is tainted as it falls on and lights up
and illuminates a dunghill. Shimei's hateful heart belonged
to him alone, but it was God's sovereign work that hatred should
be as a guided missile to find its mark on David. That was God's
business. and land precisely on his target.
It is my desire, and much more here of late, that God may give
me eyes to see his sovereign hand in all things, and hope
in God, for he worketh all things for good to them that love him,
to them who are called according to his purpose. Expect your life,
if you are a child of God, to be one of tribulation, to be
hated by the world, Marvel not that they hated you,
they hated me first, Christ said. Don't be amazed. And the next
time someone does you ill, don't say, well, I'll get you
down the road. Say praise God from whom all
blessings flow. Thank you for calling me a lousy
so-and-so. Because you really don't know
half the story. You don't know how bad I am. Thank God. She and me, I cursed
David. David, she let him curse. God
bid him to do so. What a wondrous thing. That day,
2,000 years ago, as we gathered in the courtyard to try and crucify
him, crucify him. his blood be on our heads will
not have this man to reign over us we were full of sin and hatred
and god used it to save our wretched souls to him be glory forever
and ever amen alright we'll receive the lord's table now let me just take a count here
for a moment because I've only got 25 cups here. I only have three left. Two. I always count here. Let us pray. Father, bless you
and thank you for mercy and grace in Jesus Christ and thank you
for the opportunity to take this table and play you bless the
elements Help us, Lord, to see what this means. In Christ's
name, amen. And the table of the Lord was instituted by our Lord on
the night of the Passover, the Passover which He said to His
disciples, I will look forward to this Passover, this night,
to institute this table. Now this table represents the
body and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now it is an actual body and
blood, it's bread, unleavened bread, without leaven, which
shows it doesn't have the sin of the Pharisee. And it's wine,
which cannot spoil, can only turn to vinegar, and is a purifier.
These elements were used, and our Lord took these elements,
actual unleavened bread, and broke it and handed it to his
disciples, and said, take it, this is my body. Now he used
his body to do that, so this bread does not become his body,
either physically or spiritually it is representative of something
he was about to do for his disciples and that was to die in the room
instead and he took the wine and again he said the wine this
wine is the new testament in my blood but it wasn't his blood
because he wasn't yet bleeding he wasn't on the cross of Calvary
yet but he said this is representative of what I'm going to do well
what was he going to do by giving his body and his blood he was
going to redeem his people from their sin he was going to redeem
them to pay the price that was due God for their sin debt which
was death and so this element that we take partake of the Lord's
table and it's for believers who can know and understand what
Christ did Paul said that you can discern and understand the
body and blood of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ paid that debt that
we owe with His body and His blood. And for you who are believers,
you know that body and that blood represents one thing, His death. And so our Lord, when He inspired
Paul to illuminate the meaning of the Lord's table, He said,
On the night our Lord took bread, He break it and gave it to His
disciples to take eat, this is my body do this in remembrance
of me and he took the cup said this cup is the new covenant
or new testament in my blood or his death he said as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup you show one thing you do show forth my death until
I come again so if you're a believer partake of this table If you're
not a believer, don't. There's no shame in not taking
the table. The Lord said, Let a man examine himself, and so
let him eat. And so let him eat. But this table was given for
those who can discern the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And
if you can do that, join with us. Join with us. Sinners are welcome at this table.
Sinners saved by grace. Take of this table and rejoice
in the death That settled all the sin question between you
and God. One thing. Now we'll take up the table,
gentlemen. Those glasses sometimes are a
little sticky, so we might have to wiggle them a little bit to
get them out of that thing. Word of God said on the night
our Lord was betrayed, shortly before he was betrayed with a
kiss of a friend, he took bread and he break it and gave it to
his disciples. He said, take, eat, this is my
body broken for you. from the same night he took the
covenant after he had blessed it. He said, this cup, this wine,
is the new testament or new covenant in my blood. That's how the new
covenant was ratified, by his blood. This cup is the new testament
in my blood. As you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you do show forth my death until I come again. Do this And the scriptural record is
they stood and they sang a hymn. So let's stand together. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust God's sweetest
frame, but only lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Now for those of you who have
not had the Lord's Table with us before, we have a custom here
at Sequoyah. And you know, traditions and
customs don't mean a whole lot, but it just means something does.
We usually tell each other, And we love each other and hug each
other and then we'll go eat. God bless you.