Proverbs 16, verses one through four. Hear now the word of Almighty God. The preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Thus far the reading of God's inspired word. May the Lord bless us in the reading and hearing of it, and now in the preaching and hearing of his inspired word. Let's pray toward that end. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this word of God. Thank you for your rule over the spirit, over the tongue, and even over the wicked. We pray that as we consider your word, that it may be profitable unto us, that we would hope in your word of promise, that we would tremble at your threats, and that we would keep your commandments. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Proverbs 16, we will consider the topic foreordained to everlasting death. We looked last time at God's predestination to life from Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 through 34. God prepared a kingdom, an inheritance for his sheep of eternal life even before the foundation of the world. We saw that though the works of the saints will come forth as fruits and evidences of hidden predestination, yet the kingdom stood prepared from before the world was founded. It was in the perfect tense. God prepared this kingdom and it continues in the same state of preparation for his sheep from eternity to eternity. We saw our duty to rejoice in God's eternal mercies, in his gracious testament, in his adopting his people as sons by Christ Jesus, and in our everlasting inheritance. Now then, Proverbs 16, starting at verse one, the preparations of the heart in man. Man prepares his thoughts, his will. He purposes inside of himself what he will say, but notice the answer of the tongue, where's it from? It's from the Lord. Now, if there were anything more free to man than his speech, well, tell me what it is, because I'm not sure. Many people think they can say whatever they want. Their freedom is expressed by their words. They choose every word they say, but do they? God rules over the tongue of man. It's from the Lord. Verse two. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes. This is how we tend to judge ourselves, leniently, with mercy. We prepare our thoughts. God directs our speech. We seek to judge our ways. And yet God weighs the spirits, he says. Verse two. the real power of judgment, the sovereign right to judge all things, as the sovereign rule over the most free actions of men, so the right to judge is vested in God Himself. He weighs the balances of your thoughts, of your intentions, of your immaterial part, of your spirits. Verse 3, Commit thy works unto the Lord, This is the same word for Gilgal, the rolling away of the reproach. Roll your works unto the Lord. Put them in his safekeeping. Roll them into his area because he can bear them. You can't. So roll them unto him. commit them to His care. All that you do or intend to do by prayer and by a serious purpose, by a commitment of your mind, will, and affections, give them over to His sovereign care and providence, and thy thoughts shall be established. Your heart and your mind, as Paul uses the analogy, shall be garrisoned about in Christ Jesus. They will be guarded by God himself. As God rules over the tongue, so he sovereignly judges the spirit, so he sovereignly rules over our works. And now there's something else that God sovereignly rules over, which is what we call the crescendo of this little passage. The Lord hath made, he says. Please open if you would to Numbers chapter 23, verse 23, concerning this word made. Numbers 23, verse 23, page 181 of your Pew Bibles. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, Neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, what hath God wrought? There's our word, made, wrought. This is the workmanship of God. Israel is his new creation, his special creation, the workmanship of his hand. Please turn to Psalm 44, verse one. Page 612 of your Pew Bibles, concerning the making of God, the workmanship of God. Psalm 44, to the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Mashil. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days in the times of old. Psalm 64 verse 9. The work, what is wrought by God, what is made by God, it's the same in Hebrew. Psalm 64 verse 9. All and all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God, for they shall wisely consider of his doing. Psalm 74 verse 12 concerning this work of God. Page 628. Psalm 74 verse 12. For God is my King of old. What? working salvation in the midst of the earth. God made his new creation Israel. God did works in our father's days. God works salvation and you know what else God works? All things for himself. Please turn back to Proverbs. Proverbs 16, page 680. Proverbs 16 verse 4, The LORD hath made all things for Himself. He has wrought all things, He has worked all things. It is His deed, it is His doing, just as the work of salvation wrought by our God of old in the midst of the earth, so the LORD hath made all things for Himself. Jerome translates this universa, the universe, all things universally. Panta ta erga, each and every one of his works, the Septuagint translates it. All things are the Lord's work, His making. So our salvation, so His sovereign making of the whole universe, the entirety of those things that have been made that do exist or shall be hereafter are for God Himself, for His own glory, for His own pleasure, for His own purposes. Now note, In verse four, the Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even. Gam is the Hebrew. Brown drivers Briggs in their lexicon say that this phrase introduces a climax. That's where things come to the finish. This is the finish of this section. This is the finish of this verse. This is the main point to take out of this. Yea, even what did God make for himself? emphasizing, they go on in their lexicon, an extreme, an aggravated case. The climax, in this rhetorical style, emphasizing an extreme, an aggravated case. Well, yeah, sure, God works salvation, right? Yeah, we like that. God made the beautiful birds, and the trees, and the rivers, all things bright and beautiful. The Lord God made them all. Guess what else He made? All things for Himself. Yay, here's the climax. Here's the kicker. Here's the punchline. Here's the crescendo. Here's what you really need to take away from this, Solomon says. There's something you don't think God made, but He made it for Himself. Yeah, but, no, no yeah buts. Yay, even. The crescendo, the outlier, the aggravated case. Here's the climax. Yay, even the wicked or the ungodly, the irreverent. The Hebrew word means someone who's committed a crime and they deserve to be punished, even that guy. Ha-asebes. Sebe is one who is godly, who fears God. Ha means not. So the Septuagint calls him Ha-asebes, the ungodly one. Rasha in Hebrew, that wicked criminal. Jerome uses the word impium, the impious, the one who doesn't fear God at all. This wicked man is likewise one of God's works. And why did he make him? Why did God make this wicked criminal who deserves to be punished, who does not fear God? God made him for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil, with regard to that day of destruction. In view of that coming evil upon the sons of wrath, he made him for that purpose. Now this phrase, the day of evil, is used elsewhere. Let's open to Jeremiah 17. He speaks of this day of evil. A day of suffering. A day of punishment. Jeremiah 17, page 782 of your Pew Bibles. Starting there at verse 15. Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee, neither have I desired the woeful day thou knowest. That which came out of my lips was right before thee. Be not a terror unto me. Thou art my hope in the day of evil. Jeremiah is talking to God. God, I didn't haste after this office, you gave it to me. Your word is in my mouth. And when the day of terror comes, when this evil day comes, O LORD, don't bring me into judgment and terrorize me. Verse 18. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded. Let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed. Bring upon them what? The day of evil. And what else is that day? Destroy them with double destruction. Now kids, when you destroy something, it's absolutely gone. What is double destruction then? Well, where are men destroyed with a second death? Where are they destroyed forevermore? Well, that's hell. He's praying to God, those who have persecuted me as your prophet, when you bring that evil day, don't terrorize me, God, terrorize them. And bring upon them in that day of evil, that day of destruction, twofold destruction, one in their body, one in their spirit, make it everlasting. That's what he's talking about, the day of evil. God has formed for himself all things. He sovereignly rules the tongue of man and what he speaks. He judges all the ways of man, even the inmost thought of his spirit. If you commit your works unto Him, He will bring your thoughts to pass. And He made all things for Himself. And just in case you missed the point, here's the outlier that you think, well, God didn't make Him. He had nothing to do with that. That's all His doing. Nope. Not right. Not correct. Wrong answer. Even that impious criminal, upon whom double destruction will come, God made him for himself. God has made the wicked, the godless, the impious, the criminal. He's made them for himself for that evil day, for that day of destruction, that second death. God made them for that. Please open to Job, chapter 21. The holy man, Job, whose patience is commended to us. Job, chapter 21, page 575 of your Pew Bibles. Verse 30. We'll start at verse 29. They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. Here God has a waiting tank for the wicked. They're kept there. They're reserved under the fires of judgment, as Peter puts it. He saves them up for the day of his wrath, when finally he'll pour it all out upon them. He keeps them with that day in view. The day of evil is a day of destruction and wrath. Romans 9, verse 22. Please open to Romans 9, 22, page 1141 of your Pew Bibles. If you let your mind think and dwell upon these things, you might begin to tremble, and that's a good thing. You might have chills down your spine when you think of this. God has made the wicked for the day of evil, the day of wrath, the day of destruction. Oh, God have mercy. Yes, that's the point. Romans 9 verse 22. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? Who did that? Who fitted them? The potter, the potter did that. He's the one who endured with his long suffering. They deserve to be destroyed a long time ago, but he was patient with them, but they will be destroyed. Mark it down. They will be destroyed. They are suited to that very purpose. That's why God made them. First Thessalonians chapter five, page 1193. It is a comfort to those who are persecuted, as the Thessalonians were, to understand that God has a purpose for your enemies as well as for you. If you don't have that knowledge, it doesn't make a lot of sense. If it's universalism and God wants everybody to be saved, it doesn't make a lot of sense. How do they get away with this? Well, they don't, actually. They'll have to pay. So the Thessalonians are encouraged with this thought of Christ coming in vengeance in chapter one, when flaming fires against their adversaries that persecute them. But notice here, chapter five, verse nine. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wait a second, time out, Paul. God hasn't appointed anybody to wrath, don't you understand? Yes, he has actually. Paul says, God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2, page 1223. This is no unique Pauline doctrine, as the theologically challenged call it. 1 Peter 2, verse 7. unto you therefore which believe he is precious." Ah, you see? The glorious Jesus Christ, precious to the saints. Thanks for being so positive, Peter. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto they appointed themselves right no they were appointed that's passive done to them not by them but ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Here Peter says, you know those people who rejected Christ and crucified him? The master builders who rejected that precious cornerstone? The chief builders who said, no, we don't want anything to do with that. That's the Lord's doing, Isaiah said. They were appointed to disobedience. They were appointed to that offense, but you are a chosen generation. God has elected you. 2 Peter 2, verse 9. Yea, even Solomon says, you might think this isn't the case, but you better mark it down. This is the case too. 2 Peter 2 verse 9, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment, to be punished. That's a purpose clause. Why does God reserve these wicked people? Well, he's going to punish them, that's his intention. So he holds them in a tank, he holds them in chains and reserves and saves them up for what? Destruction. so that they might be punished on that day of wrath, on that day of evil, on that day of disaster and judgment coming down, the day of which Jeremiah spoke, the day of which Job spoke, the day of which Solomon spoke, that evil day. Jude verse four, page 1234. You know, Pastor, you shouldn't talk about these things. I mean, maybe it's in the Bible. Well, why shouldn't I talk about it if it's in the Bible? Shouldn't we talk about it if it's in the Bible? Some people believe it, but they just don't want you to say it. Shh. Not that part. Shh. Well, here it is. For there are certain men crept in unawares. Men didn't know what was going on. These heretics come in. They're teaching all this filth. Nobody saw this coming. Well, not quite. These men crept in unawares, unawares to us, not unawares to God, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Men were surprised. Where'd this come from? How'd he get in here? Who let him teach? Who laid hands on this guy? You think God was surprised by this? No. He wrote it down beforehand. He ordered it. It's part of His decree. That these false teachers, ungodly men, would be condemned for their sins. Yea, even them. Even the irreverent, godless, impious criminals deserve to be punished, reserved unto judgment. Even them the Lord hath made for Himself. I note then this doctrine. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, Some men and angels are foreordained to everlasting death by the decree of God for the manifestation of his glory. Some men and angels are foreordained to everlasting death. This is from our confession of faith. Chapter three, paragraph three. Let me explain. God's sovereign power includes the making of wicked men unto the day of evil. They are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, Romans 9.22. The wicked man is reserved to the day of wrath, Job 21.30. God has not appointed us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation by Christ's death for us, therefore others are appointed. 1 Thessalonians 5, 9 and 10. Some are appointed to disobedience to stumble at Christ, the chief cornerstone. 1 Peter 2, 8. And are reserved unto judgment by God himself, just as much as the godly are delivered from temptation. 2 Peter 2, 9. Some are written before unto this condemnation, ordained of old to that end. These are the ungodly men, Jude four. Note though, that though all of this is true, it is the wicked that are ordained to the day of evil. It is ungodly men who turn the grace of God into licentious that are before ordained to destruction. God, in his great wisdom, has suitably designed both the ends and the means to the end. He has designed their destruction. But note, they will follow all the means that make to that very end, and they will desire to follow those means to that very end. God does not decree and say, therefore, because I've decreed your destruction, you're condemned on that grounds. No, they will be condemned for their sins, for their wickedness, which they loved and they would not repent of, though their conscience said, you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't keep doing that. They kept doing it. You see, ungodly men. Wicked men, impious men, who do not render to God what is his due. Though they are responsible to God to obey his commandments, to heed his warnings in the gospel, yet they are not condemned by the bare decree of God, but condemned for their sins. William Perkins comments. He said, we do not hear set down any absolute decree of damnation as though we should think that there are any that are condemned by the mere and alone will of God without any cause inherent in such as are to be condemned. It is the wicked that God has prepared for the day of destruction to be for their sins inflicted upon them. For unto the decree of God itself there are certain means for the execution thereof, annexed and subordinated. Here's the decree. God adds the means and subordinates them to the accomplishment of his decree. Brethren, in exhortation, I urge you to seriously consider these texts. Let these fearful judgments overtake you. If you feel like you're drowning under the water here, that's good. You might cry to God for help. This is the God with whom we have to deal. This God is a consuming fire, he says. He is a sovereign Lord. He's not the pet God that men want to worship and hold him by a leash and lead him about so that he does whatever they want. This is not the God that actually exists. This is the God that exists, the God who decrees and makes all things for himself. Yea, even those things you wish he never did. This God has done whatsoever he hath pleased. This God could have said, all of you sons of Adam are doomed to be for your sins inflicted, but did he? No, that's the thing that should make us tremble. Look at these judgments of God. What am I different from that man? How am I different from Pharaoh or Esau? Well, I'm not. I deserve his same end. And yet, has God given me that end? No. We must shudder, we must marvel, we must fear at this, tremble at such a sovereign decree that waits on none and accomplishes His will through all, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. We should have our sins paid back to our face. We should have our grievous sins visited with destruction. Our rejection of God's voice should harden our hearts incurably. But has that happened? No, praise the Lord it has not happened. And do not begin to tempt the Lord and say, well, let me just see how far I can go down the road of turning your grace into lasciviousness before you smack me. No. Stay far away from that. Don't go close to that. Don't act like Esau or Pharaoh and say, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Give me that bowl of pottage. I don't care about my inheritance. I'm hungry. Just give me some food. Have you come then in exhortation? Have you come to the knowledge of Christ? Do you trust in his blood, in his merits, in his mediation? Well then, hear the words of the apostle. God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice that you have been chosen in him. shudder at the decree of reprobation, and yet marvel at the decree of election that God chose any that God chose you. Fear His justice, rejoice in His grace, tremble at the second death, and welcome everlasting life. Amen. Thus far the exposition of Proverbs 16, verses 1 through 4.