Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to Thy precious feet. Oh, the pure delight of a single
hour that before Thy throne I spend When I kneel in prayer and with
Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend Draw me nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to thy precious bleeding side. There are depths of love that
I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights
of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Thank you, fellow. The title of my message this
morning, using this as my text, is, A Man Considers God. A man considers God. Now a man cannot consider God,
truly, or consider the true and living God, unless God has given
him life in Jesus Christ. It's impossible. Scripture declares
that God is not in all the thoughts of fallen man. That he wants
no God for himself. He seeks no God. Asks for no
God. But here we find a man named
Agur thinking about and considering God. would do us all well to
spend some time considering God because doing so brings about
a true and real result in our lives and in our hearts. Scripture
says can a man by searching find out God? And of course the answer
is no. The answer is no. A great theologian
T.T. Shields, a man from Canada, he
said a man would sooner empty the Atlantic Ocean with a teacup
then he would find out God. In this text is a man. Some say
he was Solomon speaking to his sons. Others say that he was
an oracle or a spiritual teacher. The two mentioned were his students.
Still others say that he was a common man without learning,
but a man who had tasted the grace of God. And what we know
for sure is that he is speaking of things that are, as Job and
David said, too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high. I cannot attain to it," David
said. Agur is a man who is considering God, contemplating, meditating
upon God, and voicing his meditation. And if any man is given the grace
to do so, he will immediately find out some things about himself.
If you truly contemplate God Almighty, the sovereign ruler
of this universe, who rules with absolute sway over everything
and everyone in this world, you will come to some conclusions
about yourself. I know that in this day men and
women have a low opinion of God. All you have to do is listen
to Him. He's been reduced to a beggar at the sacred sovereign
door of free will. The result of that is man has
a high estimation of himself and a very low estimation of
God. And one wonders why anyone would even say they trust and
worship such a diminutive deity. But such is never, and I say
never, the case when a man truly considers God as He is revealed
in the Scriptures in Jesus Christ alone. The words of men who have
been made to consider God tell the tale. David said as he looked
at the handiwork of God, the sun, moon, and stars, the planets
and such, he said, What is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou visitest him? What is man that
thou takest knowledge of him? for the Son of Man that Thou
makest to count of Him. Job said, I have heard of Thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth Thee.
Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. So foolish was I and ignorant,
David said. I was a beast before Thee. Isaiah said, Woe is me. I am
undone. Because I'm a man of unclean
lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,
for mine eyes have seen the Lord, the King, the Lord of hosts."
Simon Peter said, Depart from me. He said to Christ, Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man. This is the result of a man considering
the true and living God. When a man is truly given to
consider God, his first and singular response is to catch a glimpse
of his own ruin, his own depravity, his own unworthiness, and his
own uselessness. And this is always the case,
without exception. This is the reaction of this
man, Agur, as he considered God. He says in verse 2, Surely, truly,
I am more brutish than any man. and have not the understanding
of man. I neither have learned wisdom,
nor have the knowledge of the Holy, or the Holy One." These
words are a confession of his low and correct estimation of
himself. He sees who God is and counts
himself as a brute and a beast, not even a human being, but a
brute and a beast. And this is not empty and vain
humility. It is a comparative understanding
as he declares that what he sees in God can never be said of any
brutish beast. The thoughts and ways of God
so high and so lofty, so separate and far from the reach of even
the thoughts of man that comparatively he counts himself having neither
ability nor wherewithal or even to be in the arena of humanity. A beast. A brutish beast. The attributes that he mentions
in the following declaration emphatically deny that any creature
can attain to them. Here a man whose words express
so much understanding sees himself as void of knowledge. One of
those strange dilemmas of being a child of God. It's the case
of every true sinner who's tasted of the grace of God. The Lord
has given His people unction. Scripture says they know everything. They know all things. Scripture
says they have the mind of Jesus Christ. Scripture says He has
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Scripture says
wisdom is justified in her children or the elect. Christ has been
made to be their wisdom. And yet the believer knows that
he knows not yet. as he ought to know. He's always
wanting more. He considers and contemplates
the Lord Jesus Christ. These questions that this man
asks reveals what or rather who he wants to know. Who has gathered
the wind in his feet? Who has gathered the waters in
a garment? Who has established the ends of the earth? What's
his name? What's his son's name if you
can tell? This is the language. The quest for this knowledge
will affirm his, or rather inform his existence for the remainder
of his days on earth. Find me an old saint that's been
looking at Christ for 50 years. You'll find a man who's still
looking. Wants to see more about Him. Wants to find out more about
Him. I read an illustration once.
I think it was Spurgeon who wrote it. The days when the Christians
were fed to the lions in the arenas for the Romans to enjoy.
A Christian was tossed out and the lion was let loose and the
lion started slowly toward the man. And he stood there in terror
and fear. And as the lion opened its huge
maw and was about to take a hold of the man's head, the man passed
out in fear. And then he woke up and he saw
the lion laying beside him with his head crushed. And he looked
up There was one walking out of the Coliseum with a bruised
heel. And he spent his life saying, I want to know that man. I want
to know Him. And this is what this man is
seeking to find out and to consider in these days. Who is my Lord? Have you ever
asked that question? Who is Jesus Christ? Who is my
Savior? Who has ascended to heaven and
descended? Who has ascended to heaven and
descended? Christ has, and only Christ has. When he was talking to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3, he actually said that of himself. In John chapter 3, verse 13,
he said, And no man hath ascended up to heaven, But He that came
down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven, now
He was saying He had come down from heaven, He ascended back
to heaven, and He is in heaven while He was sitting there on
earth talking to this man. What is ascended? In order to
ascend you must have rights of ascension. You must have earned
the right to ascend. Now we, if we are here when the
Lord comes, will be caught up, but we want to ascend. Jesus
Christ ascended of His own power. because he had accomplished the
work of salvation. He alone ascended. He alone descended. There's nobody else in all of
history. And this man says, who is that? Who in the world, in
all the world, has ascended and descended? No one but Jesus Christ
and Him alone. He descended on a mission and
He ascended having accomplished that mission. He came down to
earth to die in the room instead of His people, to secure and
procure their redemption and salvation, and He did that. And having done that, He ascended
to the right hand of the Father, having finished the work that
He came to do. And God honored Him, because He was obedient
even unto death. God has given Him a name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory.
This man said, Who has ascended? And who has descended? This man
knows who Jesus Christ is. And he wants to know more about
him. He said, who has gathered the
wind in his fist? Who has gathered the wind in
his fist? You ever tried to hold air and you don't? Don't work
very well. But here he talks of one who
has the wind in his fist, or the winds in his control. The
wind is in his control. We know the wind, according to
the Word of God, is symbolic of the Holy Spirit in that same
chapter in John chapter 3. That's how he talked about the
Holy Spirit to Nicodemus. He said, Marvel not that I said
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Born of the Spirit. So he talks
about the wind. Well, does the Lord control the Spirit? The
Lord is the Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit. When
He talked to His disciples in John chapter 14, promising the
coming of the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He
said in John chapter 14, In verse 16, he says, And I will
pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter. That
means He was the Comforter while He was here on earth. And when
He left, He will send another Comforter that He may abide with
you. Who is that Comforter? Even the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth
Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth in you, and He shall
be in you. I will not leave you, Comfortless I will come to you
now. How is he gonna come to you?
He is the Holy Spirit He's God the Father God the Son and God
the Holy Ghost in him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily
He's the fullness of the Godhead and like the wind he goeth where
he listeth accomplishing all that he intends and who can withhold
him not me Not you any more than we can stand out and make the
wind stop The Lord said I think it was Nebuchadnezzar who said
in Daniel chapter 4 verse 35 speaking of the dominion of the
Lord. He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stop him
or stay his hand or hold him back. None can stay him. None can stop him in his way.
He holdeth the winds in his fist. One day the disciples went out
on a boat And the Lord went to the back of the boat and lay
down, went to sleep, took a nap. All of a sudden, a great and
boisterous wind began to blow. And the ship was tossed and began
to take on water. The disciples woke up, cried,
and said, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Don't you
know the wind is really bad? If we're going to sink, it's
most going to sink. He stood up and said, to the wind, peace
be still. And the wind stopped. laid down
his feet like a puppy dog, and at sea turned to glass. Who holds
the wind in his fist? I want to know. That's what this
man said. I want to know who holds the
wind in his fist. Who's that gathered the water
in the garments? Who says to the ocean and to
the waves, hither shalt thou come and no further? Hither shalt
thou come. Who holds the water? Our Lord
said He holds the earth in a balance. He holds the mountains in His
hands. He weighs them in His hands.
He created all things and controls all things. Over in Job chapter
26, Job chapter 26 verse 8 it says
this, He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds. The cloud
is rent under them. Always amazing. I loved to fly.
I loved to fly since I was a little boy. My dad had a J-3 Cub. My dad and my uncle and grandpa
owned it. We used to fly. And when I went into service,
I flew an old C-130s and C-141s. And we'd fly 36,000 feet up way
up, way up in the sky. Fly right through those clouds
like they weren't nothing. Just right through. And they
were full of water. full of water. He must water
ways. Pick up a gallon sometime. They told me when I had my heart
attack, you can't pick up a gallon. Weighs too much. Told me I couldn't
pick up a gallon of milk until that stent healed itself or whatever.
Don't pick up weight. Don't do that. His clouds hold
the water and yet they float through the air. They float through
the air. How much does a cloud weigh?
I wonder if you could weigh a cloud. Who has gathered the waters I want to know. That's what he
said. I want to know who he is. Well,
he is the water. His word is the water. And he
is the water of life. He's the living word and the
singular subject of the written word. He alone will slake the
thirst. Remember at the Feast of Tabernacles
after that offered 890 some sacrifices. That place was one bloody mess.
The blood was running down and it was flowing toward the Pool
of Siloam. And all them priests had finished
their work. They had put all those sacrifices
on the altar. People were folding up their
tents and getting ready to go home. The Lord stood up. He said, is anybody out there thirsty?
They said the priest, after they had done all the blood, they
would take a bucket of water and wash off The altar, maybe
it was when they washed that blood down. Our Lord stood up
and said, anybody thirsty? Come to Me and drink. Come to Me and drink. And if
you drink this water out of your bellies, you'll flow rivers of
living water. I'll slake your thirst. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Come to the water of life. Come
without money. and drink if you're thirsty,
if you're thirsty. He said to the woman at the well,
and this is what this fellow wants to know. He said, if you knew, if you knew the gift of God and
who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst
have asked Him, and He would have given thee living water.
Christ alone has gathered the waters in a garment. Who has established the ends
of the earth? I'd like to know that. Who has established the
boundaries? Who made this globe and made
it work like it works? And it works really well. It
works really well. It's done well for a long time,
and it's going to go on until God's finished with it. You can
count on that. And men might think they have something to
do with changing it, or if they want to, but man is a pismire.
That's a little old ant. You step off this earth and go
to the moon, you can't see a person down here. Even with a telescope,
you can't see a person. What is man? What is man? Who has established the ends
of the earth? Who did that? Who did that? Who is it that
before him the nations are a drop of the bucket? Sands of the balance. That includes this nation, too.
We're a drop of the bucket, not a drop in the bucket. We don't
want that drop in the bucket, because we're going to drink
that. But the drop of the bucket, that that drops off the bottom
of the bucket when you haul it out of the well, you ain't worried
about that, are you? Oh, no, I lost a drop of the bucket.
No, it don't bother you. What's your interest is in the
bucket. He said the nations aren't even to be accounted, like drawing
up that Fresh water out of that well and you draw it up and there
it is and you see one drop fall down. Who cares about that? Sands
of the balance. Dust on the scales. You don't
even wipe it off because it doesn't weigh anything. This is the measure
that God has. He has established the ends of
the earth. The ends of the earth. He said
this in Job chapter 38 verse 4. He said, where was thou when
I laid the foundations of the earth? He's rebuking Job, because
Job's got a little uppity about his situation. Where was thou
when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have
understanding. You tell me. Where were you?
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath
stretched the line in it? Who hath set the boundaries of
things? He has established the end of all things from the beginning.
That's how it's described in chapters 46 and verses 9 and
10 of the book of Isaiah. It says He declared the end from
the beginning. That meant when He started this
thing, this whole thing called human history, this thing called
time and tide, when He started this thing, He had already established
how it was going to end. and then he started it. And Providence
is bringing all things to their appointed end. He alone establishes
the ends of the earth. In fact, he says of himself,
I am the beginning and I am the end. He's established your end,
established my end. He has. One of his days may be
today. Who knows? I might be gone from
this earth. Whatever day it is, and I don't
know what it is, and whatever instrument it's going to be that
will put me in that place, belongs to Him who's established the
ends of the earth. He's established your end. You believe that? You believe that? Not only that, for His children,
He's established their end, and giving them a life that will
never end. That will never end. He is our beginning and our end. Christ alone. David said it this
way, whom have I in heaven with thee? And whom on earth do I
desire with thee? And this fellow says, what's
his name? I want to know his name. What's
his name? If you know his name, now truly,
and I'm not just talking about signs that say Jesus is Lord
and Jesus loves you. If you know His name, which has
to do with who He is and the authority that He has. If you
know His name, if you know His name, you know what salvation
is. If you know His name, He is the doctrine or the teaching
of God. Scripture says there is no other
name, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. His name is the doctrine or the
teaching of salvation. Why call Him Jesus? We say that
name. I had friends in service named
Jesus, you know, and before I knew how to speak Spanish, I called
them Jesus, but they understood what I was saying. Jesus. Jesus. Why call Him that? Because, this
is what God said, you call Him that name because He shall S-H-A-L-L-E
shall save His people from their sins. Now that's why you call
Him Jesus. So if you know His name, you know that He is the
Savior of men. And listen to me, He is not the
Savior of unsaved men. You hear me? You can't be a Savior
of unsaved men. You can only be a Savior of somebody
saved. He is the Savior. So if you know
His name, if you know His title, He's the Christ, the Christ,
the anointed of God. Anointed for what? Anointed for
the task of saving His people from their sins. He's the anointed
of God. for that task. That's why we
are called Christians, or why the early church people were
called Christians. It was a sign, a name of derision. Because all they talked about
was Jesus Christ. All they preached was Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And so they started to call them
Christians or Christians. These people that I talk all
the time about, that's why we're not called Lordians or Jesusians. We're called Christians because
our theme and our message is singular and absolute. And if
people ask us, what is our salvation? We say Jesus Christ. The Christ
of God is our salvation. He was anointed for that. So
if you know what that name means. He said, what's his name? and his title is LORD. Now he
was always LORD in the Old Testament when the first time you see in
Genesis chapter 3 when you see, or chapter 2, when you see the
word L-O-R-D in all caps, that's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ LORD
Jehovah. He was always LORD, but how is
it that he's said to have become LORD? He became LORD of the living
and the dead by his death and his burial and his resurrection.
That's how he became. Lord as a human being as low
as God. He was always Lord as a human
being He earned the right to be called Lord and to be bad,
too For what he did on the cross. He's the Lord and what does that
mean? That means? He came to save his people he
was anointed for the job and he has the power to do it and
He has the power to do it. He will get the job done. We
do not serve this namby-pamby, weak and puny Jesus who stands
at the door of man's heart and knocks and begs. That's not the
Jesus Christ of Scripture. He's Jesus who will save His
people from their sin. He's Christ the anointed for
that task. He's the Lord who has power to
perform it. And what He has power to perform,
He performs for He does as He pleases in heaven and earth and
all the deep places. What's His name? What's his name? We can rest assured that his
name assures us the outcome of his mission has never been in
doubt. His name guarantees his unqualified success in the mission
he came to do. And it says, what's his son's
name? I want to know that. This is an interesting thing.
If thou canst tell, what's his son's name? Can this be that
he is both father and son? Yes, he is. Is He Father, Son,
and Spirit? Yes, He is. Is He the Written
Word and the Living Word? Yes, He is. Can such a marvel
be? He is the Triune Godhead, the
Trinity. He's all God, all the time. All God, all the time. He has
ascended up to heaven and descended He has gathered the wind in His
fist. He has bound the waters in a garment. He has established
the ends of the earth. His name is God. His son's name
is God. And He has spoken, and every
word that He has spoken is pure. He's a shield to those who trust
Him. He's all of this. Don't think you have a say in
His matters. You don't. He doesn't give account of His
matters, and you're just clay. and the clay has no say. If you think for a moment that
somehow you have a say in his matters, listen very carefully. You're a liar. That's what this
text says. You're a liar. God will prove
you a liar. His word is pure. Do not add
to it. Do not take from it. It is pure. Consider him. Consider Him, truly consider
Him, and you'll find out what you are. That's for sure. Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity, that passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delights in mercy, saith the Scripture. Father,
bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.