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Beginner’s Care Package
Good Works, Evil Works #3
Fred R. Coulter
Before we get into the sermon I want to cover a few basic things, a few main
things that are very important for us to understand. Let’s first of all go to
John 14, because here is a promise that Jesus Christ gave to us. And we will
have to see, how is this done? How does it work in our lives? Now this is really
quite an all-powerful, all encompassing statement. Now first of all, before you
can get to the condition to where this thing will take place…here in John 14, I
just want to summarize some basic things. Verse15, "If you love Me, keep My
commandments." Now that is a very basic, important thing. And I want to
emphasize that, though I may say - which is true - there is nothing that we as
individuals can do to compel God to give us eternal life. I’m not saying by any
means that we are not to keep the commandments of God. Keeping the commandments
of God show that you love Him, show that you are loyal to Him, show that
everything your response to God.
Now let’s drop down to verse 23. "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love Me, he will keep My words:..." So it goes more than just commandments. And
as we will see, as we’ve already seen, that commandment-keeping without the
right heart is as worthless as sinning with an ignorant heart. It really is. It
accomplishes nothing. That’s why when you get to Isaiah 1, He says, "The
sabbaths, the new moons, away with it, I can’t…" because their hearts aren’t
right with God. So here is the key of having our hearts right with God. And all
too many times we let other people come in-between us and God. And this is the
thing that cuts people off from God. So if you personally do this, "…If a man
love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come
unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My
sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.
These things have I spoken unto you, being
yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy
[Spirit] Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name,..." (vs. 23-26).
Now notice, "…he [or that is, it], shall teach you all things,..." But what
is the condition before that will take place? That you love God, that you keep
His commandments, and that you realize that this comes from God the Father. But
notice, it says, "…and he shalt teach you all things…" So this is why we want to
get into God’s Word so that it will teach us. Remember what it says about the
Words of Jesus? These are Spirit and these are truth, and these are spiritually
discerned.
Now let’s see how, then, we can let the Holy Spirit teach us all things. And
I think we’ve been experiencing in some degree some of what this says. It’s a
promise. God says that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. Now how is this
accomplished? It’s accomplished in two very basic ways; actually, three. I can
just mention 2 Timothy 2:15 (paraphrased), which says, "Study to show yourself
approved unto God, a workman rightly dividing the word of truth." Now that is a
very basic thing. Then the other thing is that God is able to use so that we can
understand God’s word and so God’s Spirit can teach us all things, we find back
here in Psalm 1. It has to do with the way that we are living, and it has to do
with the way the way that we are thinking. Because if the Holy Spirit is in our
minds - which it is - and if the Holy Spirit is to teach us all things - which
is a promise that it will - what are the ingredients that we need to put into
that formula? First of all, we saw that we have to love God. Next, we saw that
we have to study. Next we have here in Psalm 1 how we should walk, and also what
we need to put into our minds. In other words, what can we meditate on unless
there’s something there to meditate on? How can we think on God’s Word or think
on God unless we’ve studied God’s Word?
Psalm 1:1, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the
ungodly,..." And so that is part of the blessing that God gives. Sometimes it’s
not easy. Sometimes we may think it is not a blessing to walk in God’s ways just
because of circumstances that take place. But there is a blessing. And that’s
where faith comes in. That’s where faith comes in, that we walk by faith in
every circumstance. And I was explaining to this person I was talking to on the
phone, that that’s what we are really learning, that we are: a) saved by grace;
b) we have to walk in faith. And the more that you really study the Word of God,
the more you have to realize that you have to walk in faith, and that God’s Word
is true, and God’s Word is right; and God is there to back it up, to enforce it,
to carry it out; He is there to love us, He is there to watch over us; He is
merciful, He is gracious, He is longsuffering, as we will see today. So there is
a blessing that you don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
"...Nor standeth in the way of sinners,..." So there is the way of sinners.
But there is what that we are to follow? Who is the way? Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life. Here is the way of sinners. "...Nor sitteth in the seat of
the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD;..." Now I’ll
tell you one thing about the Law of the Lord. When you see the goodness of it,
the blessings of it, and the reason for it, then you are also going to
understand why God has to enforce the penalty of the breaking of the Law, as
well as give the blessing for the keeping of the Law. Meditates in the Law of
the Lord, "…and in His law doth he meditate day and night" (Psa. 1:1-2). Now
here’s the key: if you are loving God, studying His Word, meditating in His laws
and word, then the Holy Spirit can reveal whatever the Holy Spirit wants to
reveal to you. That’s why a skeptic out here can never understand God’s Word.
Because there’s a certain way to do it, and there’s a certain way that must be
done with God’s Spirit so it will activate in our minds.
Just like electricity. In order for these lights to work you must have
electricity. So in order for God’s Spirit to work in us we must also have the
components. So if we could say the electricity is likened to God Spirit, and you
cannot have the fan working, an electrical fan working without electricity;
likewise you cannot have the fan working without the components for the fan. You
can have the electricity, which is God’s Spirit, but unless you have the
components it isn’t going to work. So if we have God’s Spirit but we don’t study
and we don’t meditate and we don’t pray, then the components to be lead to all
things are not there. It doesn’t mean that God is rejecting us, God is putting
us aside. But it just means that we cannot grow in grace and knowledge as God
would have us grow in grace and knowledge unless we put these components
together. And if we do, then it’s no great thing, because we’re following what
God has said. And so we can’t go along and say, "Oh, how great scholar…" great
this, great that, great anything else. No, it just won’t be.
So I wanted to be sure and cover that. Now let’s read the rest of this first
Psalm here. "...In His law doth he meditate day and night." So there are a lot
of people who like to meditate. Unless you have something to meditate with, what
good is your meditation? Isn’t the whole object to have God’s Word written in
our heart and mind, our inward parts? Then we have the tools whereby God’s
Spirit can work with us, and work with anybody. Because you see, God’s Spirit is
not limited. We’ve heard it said in past time that only the ministers would be
the ones revealing knowledge. That is not true. Absolutely...God is the one Who
reveals knowledge. Can He reveal knowledge to anyone? Yes. Does that mean that
there need not be any teachers? No, because God’s Word says in Romans 10, "How
shall they hear unless a preacher be sent" (Rom. 10:14, paraphrased), and teach
the Word of God? So everything again, as we see, fits into a tremendous picture
that God is presenting for us.
And if we put it all together and rather than, as so many scholars do, they
take part of God’s Word and fight it with the other part of God’s Word. And they
never come to an understanding because they’re fighting God’s Word. That isn’t
what God wants us to do. He wants us to take all of it and to understand it in
the whole context. Then we can be led more and more of God’s Spirit into all
things. It says that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. And I think it’s
really tremendous that most of the opening prayers that we have for our Sabbath
services, we ask God’s Spirit to be here, to what? So that Christ will teach us.
It isn’t going to do any good if I teach you my thoughts, unless those thoughts
are anything but the thoughts of God, or the thoughts in God’s Word. So this is
how, then, this is able to happen. And it’s really a tremendous thing. And I
hope this week you can think on that and meditate on it and just…I don’t know
about you, I do a lot of driving, so it gives me a lot of time to think and to
just mull things over. And hopefully that with God’s Spirit we can come to
something to understand here.
Now, with that preface - and I know that’s an awful large preface to a sermon
- I want to present just a couple things here so that we can understand more
about God. Because there are certain things in the Bible which, to our own
minds, without God’s Spirit, are completely contradictory things because of a
limited knowledge of God. Now let’s go to 1 John 4. And I know this is a
scripture we all know of. But we need to reconcile this with Isaiah 45. So today
we are going to see how that God, Who is love, can also be God Who creates good
and evil. Because the logical conclusion would be - in the way that most people
understand God - is that if God is love, which it says so here in 1 John 4; and
we have it in two places. Verse 8, "He that loveth not knoweth not God;…" Isn’t
that an interesting statement? We just covered that. How do you understand
first? First you love God and keep His Word. "He that loveth not knoweth not
God; for God is love."
If God is love, how then can He create good and evil, if love is the opposite
of evil? Now we’re getting into...we’re really, brethren, getting into areas
that philosophers - and of course, they’re mostly Greeks - the Greek
philosophers…which Paul said the wisdom of man is the foolishness of God, and
the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man. So even the Greek
philosophers were not able to understand what we’re going to understand today.
And it’s like everything else. The key is very simple. Very simple. You’ve heard
of the simplicity of Christ? That’s part of it. The key is very simple. So God
is love. We know that.
Now let’s go to James 1, and here is something to also give us a little
understanding, give us something to think on. Because this tells us how then God
uses what He calls the creation of evil. God is not evil. But He has created
good, and He has created evil. Did He not in the Garden of Eden create the two
trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Yes He
did. Actually, you know what this will help us do when we come to a full
understanding of what we’re going through? This will help us to trust God more
and to put everything in His hands. Many times we get all upset because things
don’t work out the way we think that God should work them out. Now that’s, as
you know right now, a contradictory statement with the knowledge you have.
Things may not work out the way we think God should have them worked out. And
we’re going to see, then, how God will actually use what is an evil circumstance
and turn it for good.
But right here it says in James 1:13... now, let’s go back to verse 12 to
give us just a little greater understanding here. "Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation:..." Now there is a blessing for enduring
temptation and resisting evil. And this will lead automatically to the next
sermon on choice. You see how all these things fit together. We do have choices.
People in the world have choices. And I’m not so inclined to say that this world
is totally Satan’s world. It’s not totally Satan’s world. It is not totally
God’s world yet. But God is more involved in the world than perhaps we have
thought of in the past.
Just give you an example, during this recent hostage thing, what was it that
most people did, or said? What was it that was said to have been the greatest
comfort for the pilot? His faith in God; and what did he say carried him
through? Reading God’s Word. Did He pray? Yes. Did all of the hostages pray?
Yes. Did people pray and look to God who had not prayed and looked to God
before, maybe in a long, long time, if ever? Yes. Did God hear and answer their
prayers? Yes. Are they going to be in the kingdom of God? Has God called them
for salvation? Probably not at this point. But it falls into that category that
we discussed earlier, "He who is not against Me is with Me. And he who honors Me
I will honor." And so there are a lot of people out there who, though they have
not been called for salvation any more than ancient Israel was, but if they,
like ancient Israel, as we’ll see in a minute, have a certain amount of faith in
God, have a certain amount of trust in God, God will honor that. Now in the
confines of a very narrow interpretation of how God works with people, that
might seem somewhat unrealistic. But I think it is true. I think that that is
true.
Now let’s continue on here in verse 12. It says, "...for when he is tried, he
shall receive the crown of life,..." That means we’re all going to go through
trials. Now, are trials easy? No. Are trials in some cases evil to endure? Yes.
But what does it help us do? Draw close to God. How does God try us? He gives us
choices to choose good or to choose evil. He does not try us with evil alone.
God does not tempt any man with evil, as it says here. But He gives us the
choice to follow Him or not. That’s how the trial comes. And if you endure then
you shall receive the crown of life. As a matter fact, since Abraham endured -
you can go back and read Genesis 22 - the blessing of God to the descendants of
Abraham became irrevocable. God bound himself irrevocably from that point. He
could not change it, because of what Abraham did. Now it says, "...the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." Now notice again how
that love for God has got to be there. And in almost every circumstance, even
with the fires that we have here, what did it do for all those people living up
in the mountains? They prayed. And they helped one another. So out of that
catastrophe good came. Now that’s a key that we’re going to see all the way
through.
Verse 13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: but every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (vs. 13-14). Now
this shows the operation of sin. It begins with lust, which is in the mind. And
who is the one who tries to accentuate and thrust lust into your mind even more
and more? Satan the devil, through the operation of the spirit of the power of
the air, through the operation of all the visual things that we have in today’s
society, along with all radio and television and everything all combined. So
we’re living in a tremendously intense time to live. Very intense, intense
mentally. There’s nowhere you can go without some kind of sound, or a sight, or
book, or record, or tape, or radio, or television, or movie, or a newspaper.
It’s very intense. I mean, you go back to the time of Jonah, his was not too
intense. He even sat down and let God create a gourd behind him, and then had a
worm chew it down just to teach him a lesson. Today God might do that on
television. It’d be entirely different. So it’s a very intense time.
So God does not tempt with evil, He tempts with choices. And the choice is to
obey God or not. But if your lusts get involved - and this is where people begin
falling, drawn away of his own lusts, begin thinking of his own way rather than
God’s way, and is enticed. So there is an ensnarement. There is an entrapment
that comes along. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (vs. 15). The wages of sin is
death.
Now let’s go back to Isaiah 45... no, let’s not go there yet. We’re going to
go to Ezekiel...not Ezekiel, Exodus 34, and then Numbers 14. Now again, you’re
going to notice that we are going over scriptures that we’ve gone over in the
past. But I don’t know about you, there’s a lot more meaning in every one of
these scriptures, though we’ve gone over them in the past. It’s like that
precept upon precept, or concept, or line upon line, all that together here.
Exodus 34:5, "And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and
proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and
proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God [now notice], merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty;..." And we will see, without repentance. So it must be
repentance. Without repentance, then, "...visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the
fourth generation" (Ex. 34:5-7).
And this was right at the time when God said to Moses, "Because these people
have sinned, let Me destroy them and I will continue My plan with you." And
Moses prevailed upon God so that He would change His mind. Now let’s go to
Numbers 14. God is merciful and kind and ready to forgive. Before we go to
Numbers 14, let’s go to Psalm 86. And whenever you feel down and kind of bad,
and you’ve sinned, and just wonder, "Well, am I worth it?" Or, "Is God even
interested in me anymore?" whatever, as long as you are not turning your back on
God, as long as you are seeking God, well then, go to Him. He’ll forgive. We can
look get examples - one of the best examples in the Bible is Manasseh. And you
read the indictment against Manasseh. What an evil, evil, evil person he was.
And for how long? Fifty-five years. Now most of us here aren’t anywhere near
that age. Well, maybe one is, two are. Three? I’m not. I was 51 this past week.
Anyway, remember this: listen to this prayer beginning in Psalm 86:1 "Bow
down Thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy." And part of
the understanding of God and how great God is, is that you realize how weak and
puny and infinitesimal and needy that we are of God. "Preserve my soul; for I
am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee." There’s got
to be that trust. And you can’t have faith without trust. "Be merciful unto
me,..." And isn’t that what we just read, that God said that His name is
gracious, and merciful, and longsuffering? Has all those meanings. "Be merciful
unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto Thee daily. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant: for
unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For Thou, Lord, art
good, and ready to forgive;..." (Psa. 89:1-5). Ready to forgive. And you can tie
that in with what Jesus said about forgiving your brother: seven times seven?
No, seven times seventy. You can tie that in with what Jesus said, that to whom
sins you forgive they are forgiven. God is interested in forgiveness. And this
is the key to understanding how God can be good, how God can be holy and loving
and merciful and kind, and yet at the same time execute vengeance, bring about
wrath, and create evil against the wicked.
Now we can understand both concepts. You are good and ready to forgive, "…and
plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my
prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications" (vs. 5-6). Now he was
weeping, crying unto God. That’s why God puts us in circumstances, that
sometimes the only thing we can do is just go to God and weep and cry and say,
"God, I’m here," and maybe open the Bible to Psalm 86 and read and study and
pray about that as you go along. God will answer. I absolutely guarantee. Not
because I can guarantee it, but because God has already guaranteed it. So my
guarantee is not on me, but on the Word of God, that He will hear and that He
will forgive. "In the day of my trouble..." And how many of those hostages said,
"We prayed. We sat there and prayed." And I imagine after they saw that guy
beaten up and kicked and killed, everyone was praying, "Oh God, save me. Oh God,
that is terrible. We are in their hands. Deliver us from their hands." And
that’s one of those episodes that one of those times we can ask God, "Well how
involved were the angels in working this thing out? What happened?" Because even
changed old Assad’s mind. You know, president Assad of Syria? He’s the most
blockheaded, hard-headed, stubborn, unresilient person in the world. Even He was
changed.
"In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for Thou wilt answer me"
(vs. 7). Now we could, for the sake of the sermon…I don’t want to go through the
whole Psalm. It is an absolute tremendous Psalm. Let’s just drop down to verse
15. "But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy
upon me; give Thy strength unto Thy servant, and save the son of Thine handmaid"
(vs. 15-16). Quite a tremendous and moving, moving, moving Psalm.
Now let’s go back to Numbers 14. Let’s just keep in mind what the children of
Israel had done, what they had gone through, what they had done to God. And
remember that the cloud was there every day, the pillar of fire every night.
They didn’t need streetlights, depend on PG&E, and all that sort of stuff. Here
in numbers 14, let’s just do a little review here. Verse 1, "And all the
congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept all that
night." That was after they sent the spies into the land. This was after a year
and a half in the wilderness. Now you think a year and a half in the wilderness
would have been enough for anybody. They were ready at the second fall during
the Feast of Tabernacles time, I’m sure, to go into the land. Because they came
out at Passover time. The second Passover they finished the tabernacle of the
congregation, everything was ready to go. Then here at this time, now, they were
ready to go into the Promised Land. So he sent in the spies, they brought back
the grapes. They told…Joshua and Caleb told how great God would be, what a fine
land it is. And the other ones came back and said, "Oh, no, they’re giants!" So
all the people wept and cried all night. See, they didn’t have faith in God.
They did not have faith in God that He would deliver them.
"And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and
the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of
Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD
brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword,..." Now, accusing God, then,
when God has given all this mercy, and all this graciousness; and see sometimes
God will judge us back with the judgment we judge God. This is not what God
said. He said, "I’ve done it for your good. I’ve done it so that you can have a
land flowing in milk and honey, for blessing, for everything that you want." So
they turned that all around backwards. "...That our wives and our children
should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said
one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses
and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the
children of Israel" (vs. 2-5). I guess so. Bow down, put your face right to the
ground. "Oh God, what a terrible situation this is."
Now let’s go to verse 15. Moses prayed to God and he said, "Now, you know
God, what if the Egyptians hear this? And they’ll say that You’re really not a
God, You couldn’t really bring them out of the land. They got stuck in the
desert and You couldn’t do it." And so verse 15, "Now if Thou shalt kill
all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of
Thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into
the land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the
wilderness. And now, I beseech Thee, let the power of my LORD be great,
according as Thou hast spoken, saying,..." So he referred back to this time when
he heard God say, "...The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy,
forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity..." (vs. 15-18), and so forth.
He says, verse 19, "Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people
according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this
people, from Egypt even until now. And the LORD said, I have pardoned according
to thy word: [So He forgave] But as truly as I live, all the earth shall
be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen My
glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt..." That must have been awesome, to
see all that going on. "...And in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these
ten times,..." You know, God really endured a lot with those people. "...These
ten times, and have not hearken to My voice; surely they shall not see the land
which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see
it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him,..." Very
interesting, isn’t it? Another spirit, another attitude. "...And hath followed
Me fully, him will I bring into the land..." (vs. 19-24), and so forth; and then
we know that Joshua…and then God gave their own judgment. He said, "Because you
said I would kill your children, [He said] therefore your children are going
into the land." And He said, "For the number of days that the land was being
spied out will be a year for a day for your rebellion against God." So here
again, we have the execution of judgment. Now, if you’re going to execute
judgment it isn’t going to appear nice.
Ok, let’s go back to Isaiah 45 now. And let’s once again just review this
scripture. Isaiah 45:7, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace,
and create evil:..." And it means it is created. Why does God create evil? And
for what purpose? And in doing so, why is God still holy and righteous and good
and true, and why is He not in the same category as Satan the devil? Now I don’t
think you’ve ever heard anyone ask the question straight that way. Because we
know that Satan is evil. We know that he is wicked, and he brings evil upon
people, isn’t that correct? But he also appears as an angel of light, and isn’t
that correct? All right, we will see an example here as to why God brings the
evil.
Let’s go to Exodus - not Exodus, Ezekiel. Sorry, I’m getting Ezekiel and
Exodus all mixed up today. Let’s go to Ezekiel 14, let’s begin right here in
verse 1. "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up
their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before
their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?" (Ezek. 14:1-3). Now here
again, God looks to the heart. I want to emphasize that over, and over again,
that here they are coming, trying to be religious, trying to be nice, but their
heart is evil. That’s why those in the New Testament worship God in what? In
spirit and in truth. Didn’t it say of Caleb He was what? He was of another
spirit. He had the right attitude, the right spirit to God. So here they all
come.
"Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every
man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth
the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet;
I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his
idols;..." So God has to answer back, kind in kind. Because why? If you don’t
answer back kind in kind, then who is greater, God or man? Righteousness or sin?
So God has to answer kind in kind. "…That I may take the house of Israel in
their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent,..."
(vs. 4-6). That’s why God brings evil, so there can be repentance. The key:
REPENT.
The difference between the evil that God creates and brings and what Satan
does is this: one, God sends the evil as a correction for their sins. And if
they will not repent, the wages of sin is what? Death. So God carries out His
word. If God doesn’t carry out His word, God is no longer God. Isn’t that true?
So therefore, He will execute the wicked. And to the wicked that is an evil
thing. To God, He is giving them a chance to repent, which is a good thing, and
to eliminate the wicked if they won’t repent. Now I’m very thankful that is
true. I’m very thankful that people like Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Mao
Tse-tung - and we could probably go on down the line of all human, great,
whatever - that they died so that evil can stop.
Now they have also found that this law works. When there is a recession
(happens every time - they can prove it by statistics), and if you are out of
work, to you that is evil. And it’s hard. And it’s tough. And it’s difficult -
on the nation, on the people. But you know what happens? Stealings goes way
down. You think you would be the other way around. Adultery goes way down. Why?
Because people in their hardship stop the sinning. Keep that in mind. So here it
is, "...Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your
faces from all your abominations" (vs. 6). And there’s another sermon that we
need to get into some time, and that is, what are all the abominations to God?
That which is a blessing to man may be an abomination to God.
Now let’s go to verse 12, and let’s see what it says that God is going to do.
But notice why He brings it. Notice why He brings the evil. "The word of the
LORD came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me..."
Just hold your place right there, because we’re going to look at another
scripture to show you how actively God is involved in the world. It will be in
the book of Jeremiah. We’ll find it in it in Jeremiah 18. Let’s just begin in
verse 1. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go
down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words." Now
lots of times God likes to have sort of a graphic, on the spot lesson. "Then I
went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he
made it again another vessel,..." (Jer. 18:1-4). He just took that, you know, if
you seen that, you can just take a wad of clay and if it’s no good, then you
just mash it all up and you put it on the wheel and you make a new one.
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