Please turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. As you're turning there, I just want to say it is good to be here with you all this morning. We've been on vacation for the last three weeks. As Pastor Kurt said, we went to Chilliwack just over nine years ago, and I think it was prior to our departure for Chilliwack that I preached here. And after I preached, Pastor Blackburn gave me two books on preaching, and he had underlined several portions of one of the particular books. And though he never said it, I surmised that his intention was to call me to not be all over the place. And I thank God for that instruction, though he never voiced it, but I have found it in various books on preaching and over nine years of preaching on a consecutive basis. Hopefully I've learned something in terms of not being all over the place. However, I do want to say that I don't get out much. I preach in Chilliwack. I don't preach anywhere else. So sometimes all of the experiences and all of the things that I may be going through might come out in the midst of a 40 minute sermon. So if indeed I'm all over the place this morning, you can email your former pastor and tell him that the brother certainly hasn't learned anything in nine years. Well, Proverbs chapter one, I'll just begin reading in verse one and then I'll introduce the subject of our consideration this morning. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Well, here in the first section of the book of Proverbs, Solomon introduces the purpose for the Proverbs in verses two to six. We just read it so that we may be wise, so that we may be knowledgeable, so that we may deal justly, so that we may increase in our learning. Solomon is written to give us a book of practical wisdom for everyday life so that we may think God's thoughts after him and that we may live in a manner consistent with those particular thoughts. And then in verse seven, Solomon sets forth the necessary prerequisite to true wisdom. The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is that thing which is most needful for proper biblical wisdom and the application of God's truth in all of life. In our church in Chilliwack, we are doing some themes from the book of Proverbs. And this morning we're going to consider the doctrine of God or theology proper from the book of Proverbs. And I believe it will take us in to this evening as well. So I'll just pray and ask God to bless our study and then we'll get to it. Our Father, we thank you for this opportunity to gather together with open Bibles. We thank you for the Holy Scripture. We thank you that it is given by inspiration of God, that it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And we pray that you would thoroughly equip us unto every good work. Help us to have a right view of God. Help us to see you in your majesty and in your excellence. Help us, God, to behold the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who is God incarnate, that one enthroned on high, of whom we just sang. And we pray, Father, that you would forgive us of all sin and all iniquity and anything that would block up our proper understanding of the word of God. We pray for the ministry of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would give him in a full measure, God, and that you would give us grace to receive what you would have for us. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, the Westminster Shorter Catechism and I noticed the Baptist Catechism number eight says, What is God? God is spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable. It is being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. Those are what we call the attributes of God. We attribute something to God. We say something specifically about his character. If we were describing our wives or we were just describing our husbands, we might say he's a good looking fellow. He's about yay tall before he came to Southern California and he was eating all these in and out burgers. He used to be a bit slimmer, but now his suit fits him very tightly. We attribute something about someone based on our knowledge of them. And the Bible sets forth a whole lot about who God is and what we are to believe concerning him. This morning, we'll take up three of his attributes. And this evening, God willing, will take up two more. The first that I want to consider from the book of Proverbs is the fact that God is omniscient. God is omniscient. That means that God knows all things all the time. Children, God is not like you. He doesn't have to go to school. He doesn't have to have a pen and a paper to take notes. He doesn't have to listen to lectures. He doesn't have to try to learn something or try to commit it to memory. God is omniscient. He knows all things all the time. There has never been a time when God did not know everything. And God knows it exhaustively. He knows everything about anything there is to know. And we find this in the book of Proverbs. Notice in chapter two, verses five and six. Chapter two, verses five and six. After Solomon tells his son the benefits of applying himself to wisdom, he then goes on in verses five and six to say, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God for the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. God himself is the giver of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. This is why the psalmist in Psalm 119 can say that the law of the Lord has made me wiser than my instructors. Because if we attain knowledge from God most high, all of the PhDs, all of the learning of this world, all of the humanistic ungodly thought that is put up against what we know, we can humble them. We can put them to shame. We can do, as Peter says, silence the foolishness of wicked man. A child who knows that Westminster's shorter catechism answer concerning God being spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable knows a whole lot more than the most learned men in our universities that do not fear Jehovah. God is omniscient, and because of that, we are to seek our wisdom, our knowledge, and our understanding from Him. In Proverbs 3, verses 19 and 20, Proverbs 3, verses 19 and 20, the Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth. By understanding, He established the heavens. Again, the catechism, what is God's? What is the work of creation? The work of creation is God's making all things out of nothing by the word of his power in six days and all very good. Today, people want to deny six day creation. Today, people want to deny the power and supremacy of God. Solomon, however, tells us that the Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. God spoke and it came into being. We go on in verse 20 and we see that providence is according to His wisdom and knowledge. By His knowledge, the depths were broken up and clouds dropped down the dew. The clouds putting dew on your yards. The clouds putting rain on your yards is from God in His perfect providence. It is according to His wisdom and knowledge that He does these things. God is knowledgeable with reference to the moral activities of man. Turn over to Proverbs chapter five for just a moment. Proverbs chapter five. There is a sermon in Proverbs five that I entitled the three hours to maintaining sexual purity, the three hours to maintaining sexual purity. In Proverbs five, eight, we read, remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house. That's the first door. Don't be in a place you ought not to be. Don't go into a place where there is temptation. Don't pray to God, lead me not into temptation and then wander into a place where there is great wickedness. Notice the wisdom of our brother. Do not go near the door of her house. Doesn't say anything about her bedroom. Avoid the door at all costs. Don't go astray even for a moment. The second R is found in verse 18. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth. Love your wife. Love your husband. The light in them. Enjoy what all God's Word says concerning the marriage bed in that context that he says you are to enjoy. And then the third R is found in verse 21. Remember, though the word is not indicated there, it says for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he ponders all his paths. God is omniscient, not simply in terms that we go to him for wisdom and understanding and knowledge, but God is omniscient in terms of our moral conduct. God knows what we are thinking. God knows what we are doing. God knows everything about us intimately. This is why the psalmist says, try me, search me, because the psalmist is mindful of the fact that he will not investigate his heart as exhaustively as the Lord God can. The Lord is omniscient. He beholds the good and the evil. Proverbs 15 and verse three. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Well, what do we learn from the omniscience of God? I've already mentioned it, but I want to highlight it again. We are to seek wisdom and knowledge and understanding from the Lord. J. C. Ryle has that excellent little track. Do you recall the prayer? And all throughout it, he says, Do you pray? There's another one on reading the Scriptures. Do you read your Bible? Do you search these things out? Are you familiar with the truth of God's holy word? Are you going to him daily in terms of John 17, 17? When the Lord Christ prayed, sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. I don't think it's any shock to anyone in this room that we live in a day and age of biblical illiteracy. When men cannot define the doctrine of justification, where people can't open their Bibles and highlight to the Jehovah's Witness at their doorstep that Jesus Christ is almighty God. We live in a day and age where biblical literacy is not the thing that predominates. And brethren, may I submit that it is even true in our reformed churches. It's very easy to say those are minions, those evangelicals, those charismatics, those people out here. Do you know what your pastors are not going to give an account? for those people. They will give an account for your soul. Let them do so with joy and not with grief. Be students of Holy Scripture. Seek the Lord God of all knowledge of wisdom and understanding. Seek those those nuggets from his hand. Don't absent yourself from the place of public worship. One of the things that has intrigued me about the church of Christ is the benefit of it in our ethical life. You know, it's not just a place where Christians go to get their batteries charged. You know, have you ever heard that you Christians go there once a week, you do your thing and then you come out and you're better? Well, no. First and foremost, we go to worship the God of heaven and earth. That's the primary purpose for which we are here this morning. The worship of the triune God. But you know, secondarily, there is the benefit and the blessing of seeing the brethren and the fellowship of the saints. But consider in Psalm 73, you needn't turn there unless you want to. Asaph says God is good. God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. That's the proposition with which he begins the song. And then he says, but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And then if I could give it in a bit of a more modern translation, essentially what Asaph is saying, I looked around me and I saw the people of God with the worst jobs. I looked around me and I saw the people of God having the most trials, the most difficulties. I looked around me and I saw the wicked just prospering. They had the best jobs, the best cars, the best houses. There was no pain in their life. There was no trial in their life. There was no tribulation in their life. You know what changed Asaph's perspective? You know what changed that man of God from going the route of a beast? It was the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, if I had said I will speak thus, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end. It wasn't until I got a God word perspective on the world below. It wasn't until I understood biblical doctrinal theology, who God is and whose sinners are with reference to him. If you absent yourself from the house of God, it's not just going to be that you don't know more Bible. It could be the very thing that preserves your soul from death. And I believe we don't look at the church that way. Remember, years ago, since Pastor Blackburn isn't here, I can mention him again. He was the one instrumental in helping the church in Palmdale become constituted. And I remember that the brother at our constituting service preached something on the centrality of the church in Christ's redemptive plan. That sermon hit a few of us very hard, not hard in a bad way, but hard in a good way, because we saw just how precious the church is in the sight of God. We saw how significant it is. And in a day and age that is blooded with churches, I don't know that we value her as we ought. Brethren, do not absent yourself from private devotion, from family devotion or from ecclesiastical or church devotion, seeking wisdom, knowledge and understanding from God through his word and prayer. A second thing we learn from the omniscience of God, we've covered it briefly. We are to use the omniscience of God as a goad to our consciences to flee from sin. You know, the fear of God is a great motivator. Proverbs 521 Proverbs 521. Remember, for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he ponders all his paths. Watson on this said, Would men go after strange flesh if they believed God was a spectator of their wickedness and would make them do penance in hell for it? We are to understand that God sees us so that we will flee from sin. Theology proper is absolutely necessary so that we will be holy, so that we will be righteous, so that we will flee and run and hide from sin. What does the Bible tell us of the foolish man? He foresees evil and he keeps going. The prudent sees it. And what does he do? He hides. You know, one of the things that we like to do when we come to Southern California is go to Magic Mountain. And we went there a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that all the big rides, which is just about every ride that they have, all the big rides, just as you get up to the front, there's an exit gate. In fact, my wife and daughter exited. They didn't want to go on a particular ride. You stand in the line. You get to that point. There's the gate. I'm going to go out that. Now, I must admit, it didn't come up this time, but in time past, I might have thought to myself, what a chicken. I can't believe you're afraid. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older and I don't think that way anymore. Probably my sons, if pressed, would have said, oh, they chickened out. That's our that's our interpretation of someone using the exit gate at a big ride. But with reference to sin, if we aren't finding the exit gate with reference to sin, if we are not running through it with reference to sin, if we are not fleeing evil, God says, then we are the fool. We have two beautiful illustrations of this principle in Genesis 39, Genesis chapter 39, and then in the in the book of Job. I'm sure you're all familiar. You're not learning anything new this morning, but I just want to illustrate how the omniscience of God, the all knowing vision or view of God ought to affect ethical righteousness in the lives of his people. Genesis thirty nine will pick up in verse seven. It came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph and she said, why with me? But he refused and said to his master's wife, Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How, then, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Yes, there is that horizontal righteousness in Joseph. Yes, he wants to be a man of integrity in Potiphar's house. Much has been committed to him, and he wants to exercise a righteous stewardship in Potiphar's house, but also the reality that God is watching him. God does not go on vacation. God does not take a holiday. God does not wink at our sin. God does not take no notice. And this ought to promote in us the reality of what we're considering. The omniscience of God ought to cause men in the 21st century in a sin saturated culture like Southern California or like Southern British Columbia to say, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Too many men are going the way of all flesh in this area. Too many men are not remembering theology proper. Too many men are keeping it here, but not letting it flesh itself out here. Too many men are not engaged in moral constraint. Brother, how many men have to continue to fall before we go? Wait a minute. Theology proper should promote the fear of God and a righteousness in our lives. It gets tiring, brethren, to read a pastor after pastor after pastor. Just since I've been gone for nine years, men that I look to as fathers in Israel before going to Chilliwack, I've had to communicate to our church on how these men did not operate in terms of Joseph. And then I know my own wayward heart. Come now, fount of every blessing to my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. But what does he go on to say? Prone to wander, prone to leave the God that I love. Are we to look at this and say Joseph must have had great moral constraint. He was just a better man than the rest of us. No, he took the stuff I'm trying to preach here and he put it into practice. How, then, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her to lie with her or to be with her. It wasn't a one time deal. It wasn't just this one thought. Wow, God is watching. I better stop. No, he continued day by day. And then Job thirty one illustrates the same principle that knowing that God is omniscient ought to produce in us a righteousness and a holiness and Job thirty one verses one to four. I have made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a young woman? We often cite that verse, we memorize that verse, we pray, God, help me to keep this covenant. Notice the motivation. Notice the reason. Notice the driving force for this covenant that Job had made for what is the allotment of God from above and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high. Is it not destruction for the wicked and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does he not see my ways and count all my steps? Job makes this covenant with his eyes because he's mindful of the omniscience of God. He's mindful that wherever he goes, the Lord is with him, that wherever he goes, God is present. God is not. God is a consuming fire. But brethren, we are to learn also With reference to the omniscience of God, and I believe at least in my own life and in our church in Chilliwack, we need to understand that God not only looks upon the evil, but upon the good. How do we parent our children? God's watching you sin. God's going to get you. I can say this in Southern California, when I was growing up, there was a TV show on and it was called Maud. And if you remember Maud's classic statement, God will get you for that. Guilt manipulation at its finest. I believe as reformed Baptists, sometimes we can fall into guilt manipulation at its finest. God's going to get you for that. Haven't I just outlined that? Haven't we seen that in Proverbs 5 verse 21? Haven't we seen that in Genesis 39 and in Job 31? But Proverbs 15 3 says he beholds the good. Recently, we've gone through the letters to the churches in Asia Minor and Revelation chapters two and three. And one of the things that has been so encouraging to me is Christ not only condemns for what the churches are doing wrong, but he commends them for what they're doing right. We need to understand that and we need to see that God isn't just about getting us when we fail, but God is there for us, looking upon us and pleased with us. Now, that's an amazing concept to me that will will touch on, God willing, this evening. The fact that the Bible tells us God is angry with the wicked every day doesn't surprise me one bit. The fact that the Bible tells me that the Lord raided hell out of heaven onto Sodom and Gomorrah, that doesn't surprise me. The fact that God punishes sinners in hell does not surprise me. What surprises me in our Bible is that God delights in the upright, that God rejoices in his children to do them good. That God knows our frame, that he pities us and he sees that we are but dust. Psalm 103. And I want to encourage you here this morning. We often have a proper view of sin and our sin and we get buried by it. Now, I'm not trying to let anybody out of a hole that they ought to be in. But at the same time, Where is our no condemnation found? Not in our performance, not in our law-keeping, not in our perfectness, not in our uprightness. But our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that we have our status. And in Christ, God is pleased with us. That Christ enthroned, that Christ glorified, that Christ who we read of in Revelation 1, who is in the midst of the lampstands, lays his hand upon John, tells him, do not be afraid, lifts him up and then uses him to preach to the seven churches. And again, I know your works. I see what you've done is good to the church in Ephesus. You have tested those who say they're apostles and are not. Jesus is saying good job in that to the degree that you're following Christ, to the degree that you're serving God as a church. Praise him, delight in him and know that he rejoices in that. Brethren, we miss that sometimes he not only sees the bad, but he sees the good also. The second attribute I want to consider is the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God. If you had to ask a Calvinist, what is your favorite attribute? Probably we'd all say sovereignty, right? Sometimes sovereign, we talk sovereign as if sovereign, all we ever can say, sovereign, right? People meet us and they say, boy, you really talk a lot about the sovereignty of God. Amen, because the Bible talks a lot about the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign in the lives of his people. Proverbs chapter three, verses five and six, a familiar passage. Hopefully all of us have committed this to memory. Proverbs chapter three, I'm sorry, verses five and six, the sovereignty of God in the lives of his people. Proverbs three, five, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths in all your ways, in everything from the little to the big. I believe it was Jerome in the early church who said that God is not concerned with cockroaches. God is not concerned with the little things. God is not in the details. God most certainly is in the details. God upholds and sustains everything by the word of his power, be it a cockroach or an image bearer of God rather than that ought to produce great joy and comfort in the lives of his people. Then nothing happens apart from our father's will that when we sing him ninety four, I believe whatever my God ordains is right. We can sing it and mean it and enjoy it. Proverbs chapter. 16 and verse one, God is sovereign in the lives of all people. Proverbs 16 and verse one, the preparations of the heart belong to man. But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Proverbs 16, verse two, all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. Verse four, the Lord has made all for himself. Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. Proverbs 16 and verse nine, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his step. That's not only the Christian man. That is all men everywhere. Proverbs 21 in verse one, teach us that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. God holds the king's heart in his hand. We've considered the civil magistrate in their role with reference to the book of Proverbs. And one of the things that we notice with reference to Proverbs 21, one is that this forbids a lazy indifference to the civil magistrate. It's encouraging to come in here and hear your your pastor praying for the civil authority, because so many times as Christians, I think we're far more holy than God and don't want to spend the time praying for such worldly things. Well, Paul tells us in first Timothy chapter two. First of all, Timothy, with reference to the church of the living God and how you are to conduct yourself. He doesn't say you have to be the best preacher. He doesn't say you have to be the most handsome. He doesn't say you have to have the most programs. He says, first of all, I exhort. That prayers, supplications, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men. And then he says for kings and all who are in authority. Lazy indifference is forbidden by the word of God with reference to the role of the magistrate. But a second thing I believe we learn here in verse one of chapter twenty one is that there is a great deal of encouragement. You probably know people that are conservative politically that are not Christians. You probably know people that are conservative politically that are not Christians. Are they happy people with what they see around them? Are they strong and vibrant and earnest? Or oftentimes are they bitter and upset? Every other word is those liberals. Well, we understand, again, from Revelation chapter one in verse five, that right now Jesus Christ is the ruler over the kings of the earth. We understand the implications of Matthew 28, 18 to 20. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. We understand the implications of Ephesians chapter one, that Christ is overall for his church. There is great encouragement and understanding that the magistrates heart is in the hand of our God. He sovereignly turns it like the rivers of waters. And we can multiply some text, but I don't want to, as I said to the brothers, wage war against the people of God. You ever go to one of those places and say, well, today, brethren, we're going to consider ten points, ten points. We're humans. We go, wait a minute, ten points. I won't be out here till two. I don't want to abuse anyone here. But there are a whole host of other passages in the scripture in the book of Proverbs that highlight the sovereignty of God. I just want to draw a few lines of practical application. First of all, we must realize that nothing happens apart from God's sovereign will. Doesn't really even need to be said, but I must say it. And I don't believe any of us have any difficulty with that proposition when everything is going well. We understand that blessing comes from the hand of God. We understand that job promotions. We understand that family peace. We understand that all of these blessings come from God. But just for a moment, introduce something that upsets our life and then we become like those who have no faith. Where is God? Why has God abandoned me? Why has God left me to myself? Paul is serious in Romans 828. We like that text in our Christian greeting cards, and we like that text on our fridge magnets. But it's high time for the people of God going through difficulties, trouble and travail to get that text into their hearts. If you've not read Watson's All Things for Good, I highly commend it to you. A divine cordial. Romans 8, 28, even the bad things work for good. And again, it's difficult for us to understand that, isn't it? We've got a lot of bad things happen over the last nine years in Chilliwack. And I look and I say, wait a minute, God, why aren't you blessing? Why is Chilliwack still unconverted? What's going on here? But, you know, through those nine years, all of the difficulties I have found, what one author has said, grace grows best in winter. Spurgeon says that the sailboat goes further in the tempest than when the sea is calm. And that is Christ's way with his disciples. We all want the crown right now, but it's the cross that precedes that. It's Christ's own pattern with his disciples. It's Christ's own instruction when the sons of Zebedee are vying for position, when they want to be seated at his right hand. And Jesus says, you don't know the baptism I have to undergo. You don't know the cup that I have to drink. Then he assures them you will know something of it. And the rest of our Bible affirms that Jesus was absolutely correct. John is exiled on the island of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Christ. James gets his head lopped off, according to Acts chapter 12. That's the way of Christ. And God uses the hard times in our lives to get rid of all the dross. We are stubborn people. We are hard people. And it's the fires of affliction that the Lord uses to burn those things on. Now, if you're here in trial right now, you're saying, well, that's easier to say when you're on the other edge of it. I got to go back on Tuesday and I don't know what I'm going back to. I left with something I thought was finished, but it isn't. To be quite candid, I don't want to go back. The people in Palmdale were so nice to us. Our children have friends their age, they're they're all say, let's move back, let's move back. I got enough in me to say, let's move back. You know, it is difficult when you're going through the fires of affliction to see these promises. But, you know, brethren, that's when we need the most. You know, it's an amazing thing in Romans chapter eight, that passage I've alluded to that God works all things for good. It's amazing what precedes that. Verse thirty five. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I'm sorry. What follows after it? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for your sake. We are killed all day long. We are accounted a sheet for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Notice what the apostle does not do. The apostle does not deny those things in the Christian life. The apostle does not say if you've endured these things, you have no faith. If you've gone through these kinds of trials, you need to grow in your faith. If you don't know something of the higher Christian life, the victorious Christian life, if you haven't sailed over all of these troubles, then you've got big problems. That's not what Paul says. He affirms all these things within the life of the Christian. And he says, yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. In his own experience, according to 2nd Corinthians 11, he himself had gone through these things. He himself had felt the Roman rod. He himself had felt the Jewish whip. He saw stoning to his own person. He spent a night and a day in the deep. He was in perils. all over the place. He was in all kinds of trouble. And in Chapter 12 of Second Corinthians, he says, Yet I gladly boast in infirmity. That's grace, brethren. That's the sovereign grace of God. That's being cleansed in the blood of Jesus and understanding this doctrine of God's sovereignty as it is meant to be. We are not to go out into the battlefield of theological debate and primarily use these texts to beat people up. We can do that, but that's not their primary purpose. You know, as Calvinists, Romans nine, Ephesians one sovereignty of God, you're wrong. Arminianism is wrong. But when we get into trial, do we feed our souls? Do we suck the sweetness out of these gospel flowers? This view of the sovereignty of God ought to produce humility in God's people, humility in God's people. Job forty two. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You asked, who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said I will question you and you shall answer me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. There ought to be no such thing as a proud Christian. There is, but there ought not to be. We ought to understand the doctrine and the sovereignty of God and be led with Job to say, I have heard of you by the hearing of the eye. I have I have heard of you rather by the hearing of the ear. I've come into contact with theology. I have heard some good things out of the confession of faith. I have read Raymond or I have read Burkoff or I have read Hodge. I have read those systematics. I have filled my mind with great lofty thoughts of God. But there needs to be that. But now my eyes sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent and dust and ashes. Humility before this sovereign God, this doctrine as well. The sovereignty of God must produce praise and worship. This doctrine of God's sovereignty must produce praise and worship often thought as reformed Baptists, people ought to see us really applying Psalm 122. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. They should see us not speeding, but running if possible to get to where God's word is preached. What is it that promotes worship? God. The cross of Jesus Christ, what is it that draws from us a joyful singing and praising of God? It's understanding who he is. After discoursing and writing in Romans nine through eleven on God's sovereignty, on God's sovereignty, specifically displayed in the salvation of sinners, Paul is led in Romans eleven three eleven thirty three to say, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. And it intrigues me there that Paul is talking about the things that are revealed. He's talking about revelation, and he says how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out we haven't begun to scratch or even contemplate the secret things of the Lord. Not that we should, but we need to know that they are there. Paul says who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. See, this doctrine of God's sovereignty in the salvation of sinners did not produce some cold intellectual theologian. It produced a white hot worshiper of the living and true God. One man has well said, God is not simply a great sight, the object of speculative curiosity. The revelation of his glory and the whole theological process which legitimately follows from it is holy ground. I don't want anyone here to go away saying this brother disparages theology proper. This brother says we ought not to read Burkoff. We ought not to read Raymond. We ought not to read Hodge. We ought not to attend to the confession of faith. We ought to just be in love with God. No, this brother is suggesting that the doctrine you find in those men which accurately reflects the doctrine of the word of God ought to promote such worship and such praise of this God. That you go on, as this man says, we cannot stand as superiors over God or his word. We may not coldly and detachedly analyze and collate the great self-revealing deeds and utterances of Jehovah. We may not theologize without emotion and commitment. The doctrine must thrill and exhilarate. It must humble and cast down. Theology has lost its way. And indeed, its very soul, if it cannot say with John, I fell at his feet as dead. Sometimes I believe we fall prey to an either or mentality. You ever been to the restaurant? Would you like the soup or the salad? Well, I'd like the salad, please. We approach our Christianity that way. Would you like to be doctrinally solid, dotting your eyes, crossing your T's and be full of a proper understanding of God? Or do you want to be those those charismatic? And I'm not saying in terms of the gifts, just vibrant, lively, happy, emotion filled people you pick either or what is it? The Bible teaches us, brethren, we have both. And the Bible teaches it's not about the soup or the salad. It's both. It's not about the heart or the head. They're all blessedly combined in Christ to serve, to praise, to honor and to glorify him. That's what this quote, I believe, is trying to communicate. Well, we'll stop there and take up the last three this evening. I do want to mention if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ today, if you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior, there's no better place to be. than to be in him, not having a righteousness of your own, which is from the law, but that righteousness, which is from God through faith in Christ. That's the beauty of the Christian gospel. It's not what can I do to save my guilty soul? It's what Christ has done at the cross to save sinners. You know, we hear that gospel preaching today that says, come and accept Jesus into your heart. Or right where you are, except Jesus into your heart. You know, the glory of the Christian gospel is not that men are accepting Jesus. It's that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself. God accepts sinners. God receives sinners. In fact, the Pharisees and the scribes of Jesus day use that as a complaint about Jesus. Luke 15. This man receives sinners and eats with them. I love that passage of Holy Scripture. I probably said that nine years ago when I preached here. Luke 15, verse two, those scribes and those Pharisees did not know it, but they were preaching the gospel. This man receives sinners and eats with them. Now you have to understand that verse one says all the sinners drew near to him to hear him. All the sinners would have heard the scribes and the Pharisees say, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Now, I would ask the question, what did the sinners do at that point? They probably turned to Jesus with both ears, wondering what he was going to say. Is Jesus going to be like the scribes and the Pharisees and say, No, I don't. I can't stand them. They're filthy. They're gross. I want nothing to do with them whatsoever. That's not what Jesus does. Jesus says, Yes, I do receive sinners. And he says it was three parables. He says, I receive sinners like a shepherd who, when one of his sheep wanders off, he doesn't just count his losses, but he leaves the ninety nine safe ones. He goes and he finds that one lost. He picks it up and he goes back home. What rejoicing that the sinners are going great. You're like that, Jesus. If you don't know Christ today, I'm telling you, he's like that. Christ goes on to say, I receive sinners like a woman who has ten coins, but she loses one and then she looks for it. It's not like us. We just, oh, I lost some money. I'll write it off. Whatever. She moves furniture. She sweeps floors. She diligently and heartily searches for that coin. Then what does she do? She calls for a party. I am rejoicing. If you don't know Christ today, that's the way he is. With this idea that Christ, I'll tell you, all right, if I have to. That's not our Lord Jesus. That is the exact opposite of what Jesus is teaching. Remember, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Jesus says, yeah, like that shepherd. Yeah, like that woman. And yeah, like that man who had two sons and one of the sons takes the share of his inheritance and he goes out and he wastes it. We need to be very cautious in our reform Baptist circles, having been at it for nine years now, I feel like I can almost say that. What would be the temptation if we knew that father and his two sons? I submit that the temptation in our hearts would be what kind of a father has he been? Didn't he have family devotions with his children? Why is that son taking his share of the inheritance and leaving? Certainly there's been parental error involved. I'm not trying to excuse parental error. I am not trying to excuse lazy indifference on the part of parenting. I am, however, reminding all of us that Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. God is sovereign. And there are parents who have faithfully parented and nevertheless, their children have departed. We want to blame them. We want to weigh them down with more guilt and more shame. It's not enough that children are gone in the world. We're there to tell them that if they would have been better parents were functional, pay those sprinklers or we can be. So when it rises up for us to judge a parent in this condition, let us remember that in Luke 15, the parent is God, the father. And how does Jesus say he receives sinners? I'm like that father who, as Spurgeon said, looked into the telescope of love. And while the son was a long way off, the father ran to him. I read that first time I read that, maybe I didn't think this, but I could see myself thinking he's going to run to him and he is going to let him have it. Right. He's going to give it to him, good, it's going to spank him, he's going to chase it in, he's going to reprove him, he's going to discipline, he's going to ground him, he's going to take away any privileges he might have ever had. He says he falls on him and he kisses him, not just once, but repeatedly he orders that they slay the fatted calf. I love that statement. And in light of Peter, the people for the ethical treatment of animals, Jesus condoned the eating of veal. Now, I'm not necessarily endorsing all of the manner in which they raise veal, but in principle, it's not wicked. Slay the fatted calf. Put a ring on his finger. Put a robe on him. Get the smell of pig off him. My son who was lost is found. My son who was dead is now alive. Who are we in that big parable? Because it goes on to say that the other son said, I've been with you all these years and you've never done that for me. What's Jesus saying? This other brother is the scribes and the Pharisees who are complaining that I'm here to receive sinners and eat with them. If you don't know this Christ, he does receive that way. That's the only way he can receive no strings attached, believe on him and you will be saved. I don't care if you're eighty, if you're eight, if you don't know Christ today, come and he will give you rest. Well, let us pray and ask God to take these things and apply them in our hearts. Our father, we thank you that you are omniscient. We thank you that you are sovereign and we thank you that you've ordained the Lord Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the father except through him. I pray for any and all who do not know Jesus savingly in this place. I pray that you'd open their eyes and their hearts to behold the God of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ, who receives sinners and eats with them and help us as Christians, God, to take these attributes, to put them deep into our hearts. And may they indeed be a help to holiness, to righteousness and to praise and worship. And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.