1689 LBCF Chapter 5 "Of Divine Providence"

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Well, welcome to Bible study. It's a blessing. See everybody tonight. Let me get this guy going here to you
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Well, we are gonna be in chapter 5 of the 1689 lash. I do not have Let me check here.
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I will get some more of those books in the future and get one to you. But yeah I'm sure you can share.
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Yeah, that'll work That'll definitely work So we're gonna be in chapter 5 tonight last week.
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We covered chapter 4 we were in The wonderful chapter of God's creation and we looked at Genesis 1 through 3
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So would anybody like to start us off with a word of prayer before? we
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Look at chapter 5 Carl.
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Thank you So chapter 5 of the 1689,
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I think what we're gonna see in this tonight is probably a little bit of a Rehash, maybe not a rehash is the right word but Going over again some of the things and that we already discussed in chapter 3
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These things these each one of these chapters. I don't know if we remember from last week, but from chapter 4
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What I put forth was that God has not left his creation without him being involved in his creation, right?
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So God has decreed something God has his creation There's a specific point when he created something and so from that now we look at chapter 5 which
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I think is having to deal with how God sustains all things that the Providence God providing all the means and everything along those lines
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And in fact, we'll see some more language of the first cause and the second cause here in this chapter but what
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Maya was what I was thinking of doing tonight was just reading each one of these paragraphs discussion
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Looking at Bible verses, of course as we as we always should be and whatnot And then just this might bring up more detail from that chapter 3 text that we're in Would anybody like to volunteer to read paragraph 1 of chapter 5
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Shepherd wants to is that you volunteering me to read it? Okay. I'll read it. Let's read this
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Yep, all I'm told, huh? Because by default he is not able to read that so a Paragraph 1
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God the good creator of all things in his infinite power and wisdom upholds directs
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Arranges and governs all creatures and things from the greatest to the least by his perfectly wise and holy
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Providence to the purpose for which they were created He governs according to his infallible foreknowledge and the free unchangeable council of his own will his
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Providence Leads to the praise of the glory of his wisdom power justice infinite goodness and mercy
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That is paragraph 1 what are some things that you guys see in that that immediately stand out to you or something that that Has taken your mind captive in this paragraph
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We What we can perceive and what
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God is It's impossible in my judgment that We are capable
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Humans are not capable of the quality We see in God we know
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Right Right Incomprehensible That's right.
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That's right Yeah, and I think that's what this is laying out Continually as I already said
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I think this is just kind of going into maybe a little bit more detail of how decree and creation unfold right because in the next chapter the very next chapter that we have is the fall right and so again, what we taught discuss and what
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I think that we see every single Sunday as we come and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ is That the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his death his life has always been planning, right?
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That's always been the plan was to redeem fallen mankind through his son
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Jesus Christ the eternal Son Jesus Christ and so I I Think what is taking place because it set us off with decree
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It talked then God has a purpose in this creation and now we're talking about this this word providence
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God providing everything God's seeing to everything and then in chapter six, we'll see the fall of mankind and then from there
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We're gonna see Christ as the mediator. So we're gonna see those things a Very purposeful way that this confession as the
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West Minister and the Savoy have laid out for us. Very very purposeful Is there anything else that you guys would see in this?
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Paragraph that would Help enlighten somebody on on this topic or anything that you would see that you want to make a mention of Okay, yep
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Right, right, so yeah that that that to me would mean that when we look
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To even Christ and his crucifixion that's major event the greatest of all events we could say
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God Directed that God had a plan in that God Decreed that but then in all those little those little those little actions that came about to bring about that whether it was
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Judas Betraying him whether it was the the cloth of the priest as he tore his robe all those things that took place
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It was all governed there, right and that extends to even Me as a sinner coming to know
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Christ, right? Like it's still being governed in those ways God's still providing those things in those ways
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I think it's remarkable considering that Yeah Yeah, yep
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And I I think stepping off of that I'd go back to what what Don said like this gives us a greater emphasis on why we should have faith in God, because in a
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God that's painted in the way that Scripture has painted us here, right, that this gives us a great trust that God does have purpose in all things, and that there is reason, and that there's something that's going to come about, and that He's faithful, right?
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Like if God didn't sustain all things, if He didn't hold all creation in the hollow of His hand, there would be some thinking in the back of the mind, how can
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He hold me secure in my salvation if He can't hold all things in security in their position, right?
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This just magnifies, as Don has already said, reminded us of the saying of Carl, that this is incomprehensible.
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This is so great for us to even be thinking about. Yeah. Yep.
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Yep. Right. Right.
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Yep. Yep. There it is.
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Yeah, absolutely. Jonathan, what are you thinking on this paragraph? If you bring up Satan falling right now.
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I'm just kidding. I think the same as Carl.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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Yep. It has. I think what Carl said about that word comfort, that this kind of a thinking, this kind of a theological stance brings,
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I saw something on Facebook. I shared it on Facebook as well, but it was in the days of Reformation.
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Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake during a reign of Queen Mary for the preaching and proclaiming of the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.
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After being sentenced to his trial, Latimer thanked God for giving him a death that would glorify his
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God. When he was being executed, Latimer encouraged Ridley in their final moment saying, play the man,
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Mr. Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.
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And so I think there's even comfort in maybe even in the moment of severe distress too, that God has arranged this and he's sustaining it.
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This is how the plan is going to be, and this is my part. That's right.
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Yeah, let's do it. Let this glorify our God, right? I think if you walk into a trial of some kind or a persecution of some kind or whatever the situation is, that should affect the way that you behave in that situation, right?
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If you didn't have a trust in a sovereign God and you were being burned at the stake, I don't think you could utter words like that, right?
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This is going to glorify our God, right? That would be a difficult thing, I think, for a person that doesn't have this kind of a theological stance to have him say such a thing.
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I would remind us, let's go to Genesis 50 real fast, just on this paragraph.
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This is not a scripture that's in this text. We've actually read, I think, almost each one of these scriptures.
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I know through preaching and through Bible study in the last several months, we've read each one of these scriptures that are listed here in paragraph one.
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But I want to remind us, and I think Rick said it excellently a couple weeks ago when we were in the decree of God, and just want to remind us of what
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Rick said. So correct me if I quote you incorrectly, Rick. When we look at Genesis 50, we'll read, let's read verse 17 just to 21.
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Let's read verse 17 of 21. So just pausing right there, these brothers are, this is an admittance to what they did was absolutely sin, right?
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So we don't have to just go to that text and assume that it was sin to sell his brother into slavery. They even recognize that it was sin, that they were sinning against God in their actions.
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It was evil that they did. They meant it for evil. It was intentionality to break God's law.
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And it says, As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day to keep many people alive.
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So now do not be afraid. I will provide, provide, that's an interesting word when we talk about providence, provide for you and your little ones.
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And he comforted them and spoke to their heart. And so the same exact actions that those brothers were committing, evil, and those exact same actions
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God had decreed to happen, good, right? That's what, that's, that's what these theologians, that's what we are even doing today when we even read over this, this confession is that we're trying to rationalize these things together.
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And, and the reality of it, I think we have to say, according to scripture, God has created some for honorable use, some for destruction.
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And in those things, God has never been being able to be accused of sin. He's never able to be held culpable for our actions.
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We're always held culpable for them. As we see the brothers, they meant that for evil, but in every little thing in there, every little thing in there,
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I go back to what Patty said, the least of the greatest of things, right? These very little things that happen in Joseph's life, it was all being meant for good from God's perspective.
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Even him being sold into slavery, even the sinful actions of the brothers, meant for good.
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And you could even go on, I think R .C. Sproul would also say that he would then go through several examples in the
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Old Testament of, of what seemingly looks to appear as random, and all these seemingly appearing random events such as this is what brings about Christ.
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That's what brings about our salvation. And so of course, God is meaning, has purpose in things, and is bringing something together that is for his own glory.
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And again, this is a mystery according to the last, or no, it's according to the last verse, or the last paragraph of chapter three, that this is a high mystery.
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And it's hard for us to rationalize these things, but we have to approach it with prudence and special care. And I think the special care in there is, we need to teach what the
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Bible says, and not need to feel like we need to defend these things. Reading that, though, reading that God meant these evil actions that the brothers committed, that they were held accountable for,
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God meant it for good. Let's read paragraph two here of chapter five. "...all things come to pass unchangeably and certainly in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God," we'll come back to that here in a moment, "...who
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is the first cause. Thus nothing happens to anyone by chance or outside of God's providence, yet by the same providence
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God arranges all things to occur according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or in response to other causes."
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Very interesting first, very interesting paragraph, excuse me. So, when we look at Genesis 50, what we just read there in verse 20, what is this, what this confession has done, it's used biblical language, like God causing all things, right, so it uses that word cause.
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What does cause, how would we define cause? I think we talked about this a little bit in chapter three. How do we define what cause is?
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Jonathan's thinking about it. He's like, I wrote it down deep in the memory bank, and I'm searching it right now. Yeah.
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So, causality is the thinking that it has to be something that affects something to come to pass, right?
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So, this Bible, the page, to have it be turned,
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I have to act in flipping a page, right? There's a cause that's making it take place, right?
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If I stood back, unless the air comes and blows over a page, that page is never going to turn, right?
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But if the page turned because of the air in here, what was the cause? The air moving it, right? And so that's what, when we think about cause, we think about the action bringing about something.
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And so what is being said in here is an order of events that's being talked about.
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Who was the one that sold the brother into slavery? Who was the one that sold Joseph into slavery? The brothers were, right?
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They were the cause. They acted in that. There was the deliberate, the intentionality to commit sin, and that's what caused it.
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But what came first, God decreeing that they would sell their brother into slavery or them selling him into slavery?
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The decree came first, right? So, again, cause, it wouldn't have happened unless God had decreed it to happen, right?
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So there's cause, and so now you have two causes that are taking place. And so that's the language that's being used here. God is the first cause because in order of events, he declares the end from the beginning.
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But then we are still taking place and doing those things, and therefore the term second cause that we would see even in this paragraph.
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There's a lot of rationality out there and analogies to try to describe this effect. If you were to take your hand and put it over a boiling pot of water and it was to burn you, what caused the burn?
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The steam, right? Okay, so what we could say is the most proximate cause was the steam, right?
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That that was the proximate cause that burned our hand. But was not the water sitting on the boiler part of the cause as well?
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So that was the distant cause in this. And so this, again, I don't think this does, it's incomprehensible, right?
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But that's an analogy I've heard talk about God's creation and his providence that he's like the heating of the water, but then the steam is that which is accountable for the burn, right?
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I was sitting here smiling. Yes. Is that just the air blowing? Yep. I immediately thought that's what the cause of the cause was, that water pushing the turbine downstream of the electricity.
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Right. That was the first cause. Yep. One of the other downstream causes.
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That wouldn't happen without gravity, but gravity would. Yep. Right.
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Yeah, that's the thinking that's being put forth in here, is that first cause, second cause language. And it's, again, it's just trying to rationalize how these things work together, right?
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And that's great. Yeah, no, the first cause was the turbine. Well, then there's a whole bunch of other causes that are involved in that.
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And that's what this paragraph says, that it says that according to the nature of the second causes, so what is the nature of the secondary causes that that's talking about is our sin nature, right?
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That we're dead in our sins and trespasses. We're by nature children of wrath. That's going to make our leaning always to that to commit sin.
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So that's the nature of secondary causes. And it says either necessarily, freely, or in response to other causes.
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So it even mentions there might be the assumption that if we're the secondary causes, there's other causes involved to bring about what that first cause, the decree, was.
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Again, God is sovereign over all those things, and therefore he's providential in all things.
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That's what this text is talking about, that he's providing the bringing about of something, the sustaining of something.
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I think it's remarkable. Is there anything else before we go to paragraph three that you would want to mention here in paragraph two that you think is interesting?
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Okay. That's right, first cause.
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So I love that, the proverb in there, because it takes something that seems to be the most random.
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Like I remember being in middle school, because again, I dropped out of high school, so I can't have that many stories from high school.
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But when I was in middle school, I remember a lot of the math questions involving chance and percentages, right?
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And it was almost always tied to somebody rules a die, what is the chance of these things, right?
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But we just read that if you spent your whole life and you were just rolling dice to try to figure out those statistics, who was the one that determined the landing of that die in your lap?
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God was, right? So the most random thing in life, a die, a dice, dice a lot, is cast into the lap.
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God is still sovereign over it. Like, remarkable, the dust moat that's floating through the air right now.
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There's not many, because we have wonderful ladies that help clean the church. But the dust that's even in the air, sovereignly controlled by God.
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Really? Pacific is a very deep ocean.
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It doesn't create surface high temperatures. Really? Cause hurricanes.
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Where did it come from? Hmm. Where did it happen? It came on shore.
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Today? This morning. This morning, really? Very day. Really? Yes, and it came on shore of southern
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Mexico, and it dissipated slowly up north, northern Mexico.
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That's remarkable. But it appeared from nowhere. That's remarkable. There were meteorologists on this afternoon.
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I didn't make this up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were saying that they were going to study the conditions as to how this happened.
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Yeah, interesting. And these are like our national meteorologists.
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The guys didn't know them. It's remarkable.
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To me, yeah. That actually brings up another place here.
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Let me flip here and see if I can find what I'm thinking of. Genesis 22. This is, again, not a reference in here, but you talk about a hurricane coming out of nowhere, right?
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Genesis 22 in the topic of providence, I think we have to think about this word in here.
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I own a book that I really, really like. It's a really thick book, and it's called Providence, so it's pertinent to the
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Bible study tonight. But in that book, they put forth that providence means
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God seeing to something. God will see it done. God will see to it is the idea of what providence is.
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Genesis 22, let's read verse 7 and on.
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It says, Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said,
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Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said,
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God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
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So the two of them walked on together. You talk about comfort and courage and what providence brings.
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Here you have Isaac. I don't see a lamb anywhere. The Lord will provide. And they walked on, right? That carried them on.
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The Lord will provide. God will see to it that he will for himself have a lamb.
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That's what that word in Hebrew, from my understanding, from my study. I don't know Hebrew at all, so I don't think that's my definite definition, but that's what
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I've read in the book. And so God will see to it. God will see that it's done. Then they came to a place which
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God had told him, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son
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Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. There's speculation that's done in here at the age of Isaac.
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I would actually put forth that he was a lot older than a lot of people put in their minds. I think that actually he would probably—anyway, that's all speculation, but older.
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And so you think, did Abraham have to wrestle him, or didn't he just, right? You think that he tackled him and bound him up, right?
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Regardless, I'm almost looking at it that even the confidence that Abraham had or the confidence that Isaac had, if there was any confidence, it was tied directly to the
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Lord providing something, right? The Lord will provide. That was the confidence in that. And it says that, so he bound his son
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Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took his knife to slay his son. But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said,
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Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am. And he said, do not stretch out your hand against the boy and do nothing to him, for I know that you fear
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God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And I'd pause there. I think the angel of the
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Lord, this word in here, I think this is talking about actually the angel of Yahweh that this text is seen often in the
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Old Testament as being the second person of the Trinity. This very well could be the word himself,
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Jesus Christ, before he is incarnate, speaking in this text. The messenger of Yahweh, the angel of Yahweh.
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And so you could almost think if that is the case, here's the word, the pre -incarnate son,
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Jesus Christ, that he himself will be the lamb that will die. He's saying, stop,
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Abraham. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by his horns.
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And Abraham went and took the ram and offered up a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place,
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Yahweh will provide. As it is said this day in the Mount of Yahweh, it will be provided.
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That is the same area to which Christ himself would be crucified. Remarkable. When you think about, did
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Abraham look at that and be like, ah, this is where Jesus one day will be crucified? Or was it that God had providence and through his decree all things were coming together for this glorious thing to take place?
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That's remarkable. So I think like what Don just said, that out of nowhere, here's this hurricane. Well, out of nowhere, here's a lamb that's caught in the thicket.
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Here's a perfect offering, right? The Lord will provide. Remarkable.
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Paragraph three, let's look at this. In his ordinary providence, God makes use of means, though he is free to work apart from them, beyond them, and contrary to them at his pleasure.
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So what do you guys think about that? What is that trying to reconcile in this paragraph?
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Because it's all throughout the Bible, what this is talking about. The children of Israel were begging for meat. They were tired of eating manna.
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And they prayed that God would provide meat. So quail flew in from nowhere and descended on the camp.
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So they had meat. God will provide. Yep. God's providence,
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God uses means, and even in his means, he's able to do that which is contrary to those means and bring about something.
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You see that all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament as well. I love that.
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I almost think you could imagine that the people that are writing this document, whether it be the Westminster, the Savoy, or the 1689, are thinking in the back of their minds as they're writing paragraph one and paragraph two, okay,
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I can see somebody trying to argue right now. Why is it that God says some things in the
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Old Testament that seem to be contrary to what we just wrote in paragraph two and one? And so this is what paragraph three is.
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God is free because he's the most free of anybody that he can act in his providence against those very means that he decreed for them to be there in the first place.
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Just remarkable. Just remarkable. Right. Right.
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Right. Were you? Right. Right.
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Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yep.
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Yep. Yep. You can.
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Yeah. There it is. Comprehensible or incomprehensible.
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Yeah. Okay. Okay. Right. Absolutely.
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Right. Right. Right. Absolutely.
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Right. I love it. Any other thoughts on that? These are all places
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I didn't have in the back of my mind that I thought we were going to discuss. I love this. Same thing with scripture.
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Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
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Absolutely. Tyler, you got anything back there? On this?
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No? Okay. I love it. Yeah, you got to be here two weeks in a row in order to speak.
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Well, let's read paragraph four. We're trucking right along. I think this is all creating great dialogue. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God are so thoroughly demonstrated in His providence that His sovereign plan includes even the first fall.
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So, like we started off with this Bible study, included the very first fall.
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And every other sinful action, both of angels and humans, God's providence over sinful actions does not occur by simple permission.
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Instead, God most wisely and powerfully limits and in other ways arranges and governs sinful actions.
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Through a complex arrangement of methods, I think we could agree with that,
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He governs sinful actions to accomplish His perfectly holy purpose.
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Yet, He does this in such a way that the sinfulness of their actions arise only from the creature and not from God.
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Because God is altogether holy and righteous. He can neither originate nor approve of sin.
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See, I think this paragraph is a great one that lays the doctrine on the table. The card's on the table and walks away and says, this is what
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Scripture says. Like, this is the way I'm going to argue it. It's a mystery.
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I can't rationalize these things. But it calls it complex, right? It's not a simple thing, but it can be stated simply.
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It can be stated scripturally. God has decreed all things, yet He is not able to be accused of sin.
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We can't look at the potter and say, why did you create me like this? There's that doctrine. We have to lay the cards on the table, walk away, and let them lay where they lay.
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I almost think about Genesis 50 without turning back there. And it's okay, because we all in our theological sanctified walk that we're in, some of us could be held culpable to doing this in Genesis 50.
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I know several people outside of our church that have done this and fallen into this error.
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But what they meant for evil, God used for good. There's an inserting of a different word in there.
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Have any of us ever heard somebody do that in Genesis 50? Yeah. It almost seems like what they're trying to paint is that God is like on a bowling alley, how you can have the bumpers come up for the kids.
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You see, when we mess up, when the kid throws that hard left ball, God's that bumper that will bump it back so it gets down the lane in the general area of where God wants things to end up, right?
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What we meant for evil, God uses and rearranges and bumpers into the end goal, and it's ultimately good.
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Is that what that teaches in Genesis 50? No, it's the exact same word. It's the meant.
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The meant that was just said, that they meant it for evil. The meaning, the intention behind their hearts, the evil transgression, it was meant for evil.
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That same exact Hebrew word is used, God meant for good. Interesting.
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So God's not merely the bumpers. There's something far greater than that.
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That analogy definitely does not do the Scripture justice. But what is also the
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Christian's conclusion? He does this in such a way that he can never be held culpable of violation or sin or wrongdoing.
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And why is that? Well, what did chapter 2 teach us? God is holy, that he's outside of us in these ways, that there's no shadow or shifting shadow in his character or being, that he is holy, holy, holy, right?
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So, of course, there's no sin that exists in there. There's no ability for us to accuse him of sin that exists in the being of God.
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And so that's why we have to just state simple doctrine of decree, providence, and God's not held culpable for it.
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Any thoughts, questions? This is all stuff we covered in chapter 3, I think, that we discussed anyway.
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Psalm 50, 21, one of the references, These things you have done, and I have been silent. You thought that I was like yourself, but now
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I rebuke you and lay charge before you. Romans chapter 2, it says that we try to make
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God into that of a man or a four -footed beast or a creaking, crawling animal or a winged animal of the air.
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We try to bring God down to what we exist in in creation, and God is completely outside of those things.
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And so it's okay to say, I don't know how this intimately works, but I do know what
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Scripture says. One of the scriptural helps on this is
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Genesis 50, 20, which we've already read. You guys want to keep on reading paragraph 5?
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Paragraph 5, let's do it. The perfectly wise, righteous, and gracious God often allows
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His own children for a time to experience a variety of temptations and the sinfulness of their own hearts.
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He does this to chastise them for their former sins or to make them aware of hidden strength of the corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts so that they may be humbled.
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He also does this to lead them to a closer and more constant dependence on Him to sustain them to make them more cautious about all future circumstances that may lead to sin and for other just and holy purposes.
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So whatever happens to any of His elect happens by His appointment for His glory and for their good.
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Hmm. Romans 8, 28. Let's go to that text and read that. Romans 8, 28.
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What kind of translations do we have in the room right now? I've got an LSB, which is essentially an NASB, but updated.
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Is there an ESV or an NIV out there? Or a King James version?
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ESV? New King James? Yeah, let's just look at each one of those three. ESV and New King James.
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Read Romans 8, 28 in this. My text, my LSB translation would read, and we know that for those who love
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God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. Jake, what does yours say?
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Same exact wording, exactly? Cool. I like it. Patty, what does yours say? Same exact thing.
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Okay, I like it. Is there any—what translation do you have? Read yours, please.
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Romans 8, 28. We know that God causes all things to work together for good.
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So that one, that did do it a little bit differently in there, right?
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So the difference in this, and we know that for those who love
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God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose, and yours said that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love
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Him or those that are called according to His purpose, is I think how that directly is translated or quoted in there.
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The point of that that it's bringing up in the scriptural help that's even in this is that God—we can look at everything in our life and say that it ultimately is bringing about something that is good in us, right?
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When we think about us being shaped more and more like Christ, if that is how
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God is bringing about something, is it wrong for God to bring about those things in our lives?
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And we could think of a multitude of things, whether it's death or hardship or a hate for sin or something along those lines.
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It's ultimately being used for us to rely more on Christ and become more of His image -bearing, more sanctified in Him.
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That's what this paragraph is trying to teach, and that's what Romans 8 .28, that all things, they work together for good.
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There's a good that's in it. And so this is, again, and I keep on cautioning us about this, if we remove
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God's sovereignty in the midst of anything, it takes away a purpose in there that's just happening, and there's randomness, and there's no hope or true hope in it.
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It's almost like taking an atheistic stance on something in life, and that's not good.
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It's not like we can look and say God is void in that situation or there is no ultimate help or hope or bringing about something in something.
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It all is working together. It's all purposeful. It's all intentional. It's all something is greater happening in there.
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I can promise you from my experience, and I don't like relying on experiences to justify theology, but I think we can see this theologically.
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So I can tell us that in my experience, when somebody is suffering, reminding them of God's sovereignty is actually very comforting to know
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God is doing something, and it just happened to me.
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There's something that's greater that's going to come about from this, that there's good in it. That's comforting, and it's a challenge to try to walk somebody across this bridge when it happens, but there's good in it.
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There's something ultimately coming about in it. Don, do you have something to say on that? I see you shaking your head in agreeance with that.
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The thing that at the moment of something, of a crisis occurs in your life, it's awfully hard.
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It's awfully hard to say, Oh, I know there's a good thing. This is leading to something good.
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It's awfully hard to do that. Yeah. I've had good people, but nothing.
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God never tempts you beyond what you're capable of handling.
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That's wonderful to hear that. Yeah. At the time when you're struggling with why did this happen, and you have to believe that if you love
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God and you're trying your best to walk with God and serve
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God as best you can, when things happen that you don't understand, it's awfully hard to say,
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Oh, I know there's something good. Very hard. Very, very good. Very, very hard.
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I feel like we teach on that a lot on Sunday mornings. I feel like there's a book in the
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Bible that is very pertinent to that right there. Right. Maybe we should go through that sometime. It's called
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Job, I think. What's a job? Yeah.
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I just think the story of Job and just those friends that are sitting there, I don't know.
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I would hope that I would answer in a better way than the friends. Maybe I would be answering in just a silly way as the friends.
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I think it shows that our encouragement shouldn't come just from secular philosophy or words that are just meaningless and void of actual attachment to a hope in God, but I think our words should be very, very closely tied and fettered to the word of God.
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That, I think, is the only encouragement that somebody can have, especially in the life of Job.
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Again, it's hard because Job, there's no scripture written at that point. There's no, hey, turn to Genesis 20 with me,
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Job. There's none of that yet. It would have most likely been a lot of relying on oral tradition to try to encourage somebody in that day, which would have added a whole depth of difficulty in trying to communicate that I would only imagine.
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Again, I'm thankful I live today, and we can open up God's word and know that it's inspired and whatnot.
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Anything else that we see in here? Anything else that we want to talk about in paragraph five? Yes? Right.
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I love it. Yeah. Let's look at paragraph six now.
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God as the righteous judge, sometimes blind.
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Let me pause here. Paragraph five, what was that mostly talking about in there? Believers, right?
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It was mostly talking about us having faith. Now, as we see in Romans, it establishes believers.
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Where are they destined to? Eternal glory, right? And now it's turning its attention to those that have been destined for wrath.
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God as the righteous judge, sometimes blinds and hardens wicked and ungodly people because of their sins.
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He withholds His grace from them, but which they could have been enlightened in their understanding and had their hearts renewed.
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Not only that, but sometimes He also takes away the gift they already had and exposes them to situations that their corrupt nature turn into opportunities for sin.
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Moreover, He gives them over to the lust of their own lust, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan.
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So that they harden themselves in response to the same influences that God uses to soften others.
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What are some things that stand out to us in this paragraph? Yeah. What do you think on that,
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Jonathan? Or is that just mind -blowing right there? Yeah.
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I think we could maybe in a situation that you've experienced of trying to talk to somebody about, hey,
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I don't want you to curse around me. And all of a sudden now cursing is strengthened and it's there more, right?
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But if you said something like that to me, the very exact same words, I might stop cursing, right?
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So sometimes God has destined and His providence allows sinful actions that show and exposes the intention of their heart more and more, right?
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That's one example of something like that. I think that's a practical example that we could see. In my mind it was taking me to several places.
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I think Pharaoh's heart being hardened, right? That's seen very clearly in the Scripture that God is the one that hardens
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Pharaoh's heart. Also, I think something else that came to my mind is Daniel and the experience he had with Nebuchadnezzar.
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How many times did Daniel talk to Nebuchadnezzar about the visions, right? And it seems that Nebuchadnezzar hears something great.
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It almost sounds like he has a proclamation of faith several times in that book where he's like, ah, yes, your
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God is above every other God and let the people never blaspheme the
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God of Daniel, right? There's these sayings and then the very next page you flip over in the verse he says he builds a statue to himself, right?
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There's very interesting things. I think any one of us would like to look at something like that and say, man, if I had a vision and Daniel was there and interpreted it to me,
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I would fall on my knees and submit to God. There are cases that we can think of in Scripture where that does happen, but in the case of Nebuchadnezzar that doesn't happen, right?
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At first anyway. There's almost a hardening that happens there, a more wickedness.
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Oh, Daniel, you said that the statue is a representation of the kingdom, so you're telling me I should build a statue made of myself in the city square.
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No, that's not what I said, right? But that's what he applies from that text.
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That's crazy. So Nebuchadnezzar is hardened. His sinful actions are exposed.
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The intents of his hearts were made known to people in that day. And I would even say that might be maybe the passive take on that, that Nebuchadnezzar's heart was being hardened in himself.
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But then would we not say that God was the one that absolutely caused him to go and eat like the beast of the field, right?
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So was that God hardening Nebuchadnezzar in there in that language? Yeah, God was the one that did that right there.
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And so I would say he was maybe more active in that case rather than passive in the other case, not saying that God's hand was off that situation, but it seems that there was more intentionality with putting the thumb on Nebuchadnezzar right there.
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Nope, not going to happen, right? He eats like a beast of the field.
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And then what is the final? In fact, let's go to Daniel. I haven't read that in a while, so I feel like I'm misrepresenting it.
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But Daniel 5, I believe that is Daniel 5.
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No, Daniel 4, excuse me. So after all these experiences that Nebuchadnezzar sees the working of God through his prophet
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Daniel and him turning his back to the advice and the words of Daniel and continually admitting sin, the king
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Nebuchadnezzar is made like the beast of the field. In verse 32 it says, And you will be driven away from mankind, and your place of habitation will be with the beast of the field.
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You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you know that the
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Most High is the powerful ruler over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever he wishes.
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That number seven came up again. I just want to point that out, right? What have we been seeing over and over again in the book of Job, even in creation, this use of sevens, right?
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So just take note of that. So he used to eat like this beast of the field for seven periods of time.
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Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was accomplished, and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle.
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And his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws.
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God would never violate my free will. How many people have said that throughout history?
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God would never limit me, or God would never take away my ability, right?
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That's a lie, because what does God do to Nebuchadnezzar? He took that stuff away, right?
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Sorry, Nebuchadnezzar, you're going to eat like a cow. I think that's remarkable to think about.
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But then what was that bringing about? Verse 37, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, so after he can now talk and he stands,
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Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are true, and his ways—
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What ways is he talking about in there? The ways that just brought him to the beast of the field, right?
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That's the ways he's talking about. All his ways are just, and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.
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So he's admitting, God is the one that did this to me, and I praise him for it.
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Again, this is teaching God's sovereignty, God's providence. Anything that anybody wants to say on this paragraph here in paragraph 6, or anything even there in Daniel, something that stands out to us, we are two minutes away from concluding
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Bible study tonight. Paragraph 7,
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The providence of God in a general way includes all creatures, but in a special way takes care of his church and arranges all things to its good.
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So that's just putting forth that Romans 8, 28 text in just simple, straightforward language, right?
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God has decreed the ends before the beginning, so he governs all things, but there's a very peculiar way that he governs his bride.
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There's a very peculiar way in that. He chastises, restrains, teaches, disciplines the bride in a particular way that's beyond that of the rest of creation.
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When we look at this whole thing, we have a minute left for tonight. What are some standing out points in this whole chapter that we see?
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Is there something in here that's beyond that of chapter 3 of God's decree that we noted when we were there?
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Anything that is a good final proclamation to the bride before we leave for the night?
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Tyler, I'm going to put you on the spot. What was your favorite thing from that chapter? The whole thing?
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You like the whole thing? Paragraph 1 to 7? Love it. Yep. Yep.
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I think it's holy and purpose. I just shut my computer, which
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I had it up on. Let me see if I can pull it back up, too. I think it's just paragraph 1 right there is what you're referencing,
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I think. Paragraph 4.
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Mm -hmm. Yeah.
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I love it. Jonathan, what was your favorite part? Yep. Okay.
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Yeah. Yeah, love it.
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Yep. That thing, right? Yep.
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It's interesting. I love it. Well, Brother Don, would you mind praying us out for the evening?
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I just... Yeah. I praise God for His magnificence.
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And truly, if we can come to Him in spirit and in truth, and just realize that coming to God in the name of Jesus for His sacrifice in blood and being able to come to God in spirit and in truth, the absolute, it is immeasurable.
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And I just thank God for what He has given us. Mm -hmm. Amen to that.
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Well, you mind if Shepard prays us out for the evening? Let's let Shepard pray us out.
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And I'll finish it afterwards. So go ahead and pray, bud. Lord, our God dear and our
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God fair in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, let's pray again. Lord God, thank you again just so much for your word,
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Lord. As we have crossed from Old Testament to New Testament tonight, we've seen the continuity of the teaching of your sovereignty and providence and all things,
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Lord. And so, God, may we echo the words of Nebuchadnezzar, and we look at our past sin and we say,
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Lord, you've humbled the proud, Lord, that you've brought about something that is glorious that I could never ever bring about on my own.
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Lord God, I would ask that as we get ready for next Wednesday in Chapter 6 and the fall of man, that we would be thinking about that providence, especially in light of that first sin of Adam that caused all of us to fall with him,
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Lord. God, make us ready for this Lord's Day as we celebrate your resurrection. Keep us safe through your providence,
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Lord. I would ask you that would be according to your will. Keep us safe this week. Keep us in a place of glorifying and worshiping you as the
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King of kings as you are and not as what we wish you to be, Lord, but as what you've declared yourself to be sufficiently in your word,
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Lord. God, we ask this in the holy name, Jesus Christ, as Brother Don has said, who died for us,
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Lord. We thank you for that. Amen. Thank you again for Bible study.