Isaiah Lesson 17

Yeah, the Honorable, the Right Reverend Jeff Kleeberg. Boo. You didn't record that, did you?

Oh yeah. Officer Laskin, would you open us in prayer?

Father, Lord, we come to you as your soldiers. We know that in this world today, there are obstacles and there are oppositions, and it comes from this major rebellion under the leadership of Satan. But Lord, you've given us your word, your special revelation, and you give us your Holy Spirit that gives us insight and understanding.

And now you've given us this time to come together to open your word, to learn from you, to hear what you have to say. Pray that you would anoint Pastor Jeff as he leads us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Providence in Suffering and the Eternal Weight of Glory

You all see that it's snowing outside? Beautiful. Snow, of course, can be beautiful, but snow can also be dangerous. About 30 years ago, my aunt was driving with her three kids. She was in Idaho on a snowy day, and a drunk driver speeding down the highway crossed the median and collided into their car head on.

In that accident, my aunt Tilly and my cousin Janet were killed, and the two boys survived it, David and John. Did God ordain that accident to take place? Yes. If God did not ordain that accident to take place, there was no purpose in it.

If God was subjected to the free will of the devil, of a drunkard, and could not prevent this thing from happening, then the thing itself was purposeless. But if God's word is true, let every man be a liar, then 2 Corinthians 4 .17 explains this.

For this light, momentary affliction. Now, does this affliction feel light in any way, shape, or form? No, it doesn't feel light at all. But the Bible describes it that way for a reason. Paul says, this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. My cousin David was devastated by the loss of his mother and his sister.

But he grew up to be a man of God. He raised his children in the church. He was a devoted man and is a devoted man of God. Put them through Christian school, and all of them continue to walk with the Lord.

The younger brother, John, still bears a scar across his forehead, and you could see that when you see him now. He's about maybe five years my senior, and he is the pastor of a church in Idaho, preaching the gospel, teaching the word of God.

God has purposes. I don't know how that accident played out in their lives, or what eternal purposes God accomplished through such a horrible thing. But somehow, God ordained even the bad thing that happened for good purposes.

And in the eternal weight of glory, we will see how what happened on that snowy day 30 years ago bore fruit for all of eternity. There is some weight of glory in eternity that's attached to that thing.

It's not just something that God wished didn't happen, but the thing itself accomplished something for all eternity. That's what 2 Corinthians 4, 17, and 18 teach us. So when you see horrible things happen, it's very hard for us to understand.

But the teaching of compatibilism helps us to get there. So look at your main idea on your notes this morning. Compatibilism, that's a big theological word, but I think it helps us to understand the relationship between God's sovereignty and human will.

Compatibilism, and I cite three Bible references there, which we're gonna get to, is the biblical teaching that God has determined absolutely everything that ever comes to pass. And I put that in bold and uppercase letters and underlined.

And each person has a real creaturely will. And I referenced three scriptures to go with that. So let's unpack this definition a little bit using the Bible. Compatibilism, I cite three passages of scripture.

Today's passage, Isaiah chapter 10, is the first, and we're gonna go through that quickly. I'm sorry, in depth. We also quickly would make reference to John 6, 35 to 47. In John 6, 35 to 47, Jesus is teaching about the issue of salvation.

He has turned bread and multiplied it and fed the 5 ,000, and the people have flocked to him on account of that miracle. But in John 6, 35 through 47, we see two realities concurrently. One is the sovereignty of God, but two is the real creaturely will.

Now, I say the word creaturely. A creature is a living thing that's made by God. It doesn't have eternal existence. It has an existence that derives from God. So I am a creature, you are a creature. The deer that you see in the field, those are creatures.

Creatures can have a will, and the human will made in the image of God is very important. It's part of the ability to make choices. This is a very real gift from the creator to creatures, particularly in this case, human beings, okay?

Now, why do you suppose I like to use the term creaturely will and not free will? Very good, Kimberly, our will is limited by our nature. I'll say it into the microphone because we don't want to miss that.

What do you mean by that? Our will is limited by our nature. So Kimberly uses the example that I can't just by my will choose to fly. It's not within my nature to flap my arms and take off flying. Rather, my will is limited in that sense.

It's not absolutely free. Now, what is the nature of the human will? Jesus says, we can turn to it, John 8, John chapter eight, verse 34, somewhere in there.

John 8, 34. Who's my first reader? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Truly, truly, in other words, unless you want to argue with Jesus, you will accept that this is the case. Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The nature of the human will is not free. Let me say that again.

We do not have free will, not in the absolute sense. We have a real will, we make real volitional choices, but our nature is not free. Our nature is bound in sin. We are born dead in our trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2 .1.

And so Jesus describes the Jewish people here who do not accept him as slaves, and they object to that. They say, we are offspring of Abraham. We've never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free?

They believe themselves to be free moral agents, not recognizing that their will is bound in sin. Okay? So I use the term creaturely will rather than free will. In fact, the only biblical place where we see the term free will is in the free will offerings of Leviticus.

Those are over against the prescribed offerings that must be brought. These are volitional offerings that can be brought above and beyond. But it's not a teaching on the nature of the human will, per se.

The Bible in no place has a didactic passage of scripture that teaches human free will. The author could have taught that. And you would think if you listen to apologists today who answer the problem of evil and always appeal to free will, you would think that the Bible was replete with teachings on free will, but it's not there.

In fact, the Bible teaches the boundedness, the binding of the will. We're not free, we are slaves to sin. So I use the term creaturely will. Now, John chapter six, verses 35 to 47. Notice the sovereignty of God and the will, the real creaturely will of men.

Verse 35, Jesus said to them, "'I am the bread of life. "'Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, "'and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'". The command to repent and believe the good news implies that a human being has a will, a real will to respond to the call of God.

What does it say in verse 35? "'Whoever comes.'". To come, to respond to that call is a real decision. It's volitional, it involves the will, something beyond the will as well, as God quickens the heart.

But it does involve the will on the part of the man. Do you see that? But keep reading. "'But I said to you that you have seen me "'and yet do not believe. "'All that the Father gives me will come to me, "'and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.'".

There in verse 37, you see the sovereignty of God. You see that it's not incompatible with the human needing to come, but it is compatible with verse 35. You'll see the same dynamic again in verse 39.

This is the will of him who sent me. Whose will is at issue in verse 39? Look at that context there. God's will. Is God's will free? Does God have free will? Absolutely, his will is absolutely free. That the Bible teaches, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Jumping ahead to verse 44. "'No one can come to me "'unless the Father who sent me draws him.'". Nobody can come. Why can't they come? Because their will is bound in sin. They don't want to. It's not part of their nature to desire to come.

But those who are drawn by the Father. Now, this kind of effectual drawing results in the certain end of being raised up. Look at verse 44. And I will raise him up on the last day. The same one who is effectually drawn by God will be raised up.

It is a certainty. That's why we call it the effectual call in this verse. Now, getting a little bit in the weeds here. Right now, I'm just wanting you to see the big idea of compatibilism. By compatible, I mean the two things go together.

It's a both and, not an either or. There is a real human will that must respond to God. And God has determined and predestined the things that occur on earth. The clearest place that I know to go to in the scripture to explain this dynamic is Acts chapter four, verses 27 and 28.

And then Isaiah 10 is another great one as we go through that. But let's look at Acts chapter four, verse 27 and 28. This is the prayer of the church under persecution. And in verse 27, you have the human will, the real creaturely will of four groups of people conspiring together to do the most evil thing that has ever been done in the history of the world.

This is worse than drunk driving. This is worse than child abuse. This is worse than the most horrifying evil you could imagine. This is the murder, even though Jesus gives his life willingly, so in that sense, it's not murder, it's a sacrifice.

But the conspiring to kill, and it is murder, the conspiring to kill the perfect innocent lamb of God, Jesus, the son of God, to murder him. Look at verse 27. And then in verse 28, that is somehow compatible, there's our word, compatibilism, compatible with God's predestined plan, okay?

So let's read it. Who would like to read 27 and then 28? We'll be somebody else. Rich, you got 27. Okay, stop right there. I said four groups or individuals. What is the purpose of each person? What is their will?

What are they doing in this decision? Let's start with the first one. Herod. What's Herod's interest in this? Why? A threat. Herod feels that Jesus is a threat to his kingdom. How about Pontius Pilate?

What's his desire? What's his will doing in this instance? Remember, he washes his hand, what? Keeping the peace, keeping Roman peace. He doesn't want any attention drawn from the empire. He just wants to wash his hands of it.

That's his will, right? Self-interest, okay? What is the will of the Gentiles? Who are the Gentiles in this equation? They're the Roman soldiers at Pontius's disposal who crucify him and what is their will?

I don't know that they even care. What's that, John? They're just doing their job. These are Roman soldiers. They're looking out for themselves. They're commanded to do this. They take the order. They do what they're told to do, okay?

What is the will, the human willfulness of the people of Israel? Status quo, okay? Probably also a, yeah, status quo, keep things. There's probably also a mob mentality of, hey, let's get this guy. They were for him just days before, but now everybody's turned against him and now, hey, he's not the Messiah.

He's not delivering us and the more things go bad for him, oh, what a pretender, and they just, they wanna kill, they're filled with rage. Yeah, very good, so disappointment. All right, so we see that there's human willfulness.

They are really doing what they want to do according to their nature, amen? Everybody's nature is real, creaturely will, okay? That's there in the text. Now, look at verse 28 and my reader would be,.

Laurie, let that hit you.

To do whatever your hand and your plan or your purpose had predestined, that's a dirty word in a lot of circles, but it's a biblical word, just here in the text, to take place, you see that? God has a plan and a purpose.

Some call it his decree. Before the creation of the world, he has decreed what would take place, including the killing of his only son. His decree is that exhaustive, okay? So these two teachings, one, that we have a sovereign God, and by sovereign, I don't just mean that he's Lord and he rules like an ordinary king on Earth does.

I mean that he's the Lord of heaven who is ordaining and in control of even the flight of the sparrow, and when the sparrow flaps his wings for the last time and falls to the ground, it was on the very second that God had ordained from before the foundation of the world.

Remember that teaching that Jesus gave us on that? He cares for every bite of food that the sparrow will eat through the course of its life, and even the very hairs on your head are numbered. So when mine start to turn gray a little bit in the beard, God, it's not just happening by the ordinary course of nature that God set into place.

He knew at any given point in time how many hairs would be on my head. Everything is under his control, and that does not conflict with human will, yes. Sovereignty refers to God's rule, and providence is specifically the outworking of that in history.

So by providence, God is providentially bringing everything to pass. Sovereignty just refers to, the word reveals kind of like his rule over all the world. So, but a lot of times we use that term to refer to predestination, but generally it's his rule, yeah.

Yeah. Yes, it's part and parcel of his plan. Yeah, our will is instrumental to his decree. It's a secondary cause. So the two fit together, they're not against each other. All right, let's establish each one quickly by three verses, and then we're getting into our text.

So three verses that prove that absolutely everything is under his control, because many people teach that there are certain things that he can't control, okay? There's some things that fall outside of the purview of God's control, but the scripture says in Proverbs 16 .33, I'm just gonna kind of quote these quickly so we can move along, you can study it more later.

Proverbs 16 .33, the casting of the lot into the lap, and it's every decision is from the Lord. Can you think of a more random act than the casting of a lot into the lap? Isn't that definitionally what it is, to cast lots?

And yet we're told in Proverbs 16 .33, the exact words, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord, every decision. Turn, if you will, quickly to Daniel 4 .35. Nebuchadnezzar learned this after his humility, when he was humiliated, I should say, by God, crawling around like an animal.

As he emerges from that, in Daniel 4 .35, even he knows this now. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he, God, does according to his will, there's a lot in the scripture about God's will, his free will, according to his free will, among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

That includes people and their actions. And none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? None can stay his hand, it's God who does these things. And then there's that absolute statement in Ephesians 1 .11, which is a picture of our salvation from predestination, Ephesians 1 .4, to the accomplishment of that redemption in his blood, and then finally, the sealing, the electing, the sealing of those who come to faith in real time.

Well, verse 11, Ephesians 1 .11 says explicitly, in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Now, there was a more specific application of his will. When we talk about predestination, we often refer to the final destiny of the elect versus the unregenerate, those who would be reprobate in hell forever.

We talk about predestination in that way. And that's part of what you see in verse five, it says that. That's how we're adopted according to his predestined will. But predestination is a bigger general principle.

Not only does he predestine who will go to heaven and to hell, according to verse five, but verse 11 says, we've obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works, how many things?

All things, it says. According to the counsel of his will. He doesn't have a counselor at his right side telling him what he should do. It's the wisdom, the counsel of his own will, his own desire that he then works out in real time.

Rich? Yeah, Proverbs 19 .21. Okay, and then moving on to the second major point here, that man has a real creaturely will. Joshua 24 .15. You guys remember this? Joshua's gathering the children of Israel and he has lived righteously and he says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

But what's implied in that? Look at Joshua 24 .15. It says, and if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. Did you catch that? He is calling them to exercise their will, which means they have a will.

It's real, it's creature. As creatures, they need to make a choice. Choose whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fathers that they served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He's making a volitional choice, a real choice. So there's a teaching there. Ezekiel 18, the entire chapter really is about this subject, about the real creaturely will.

I'll just read, I guess, the last verse of Ezekiel 18. But if you just read through the whole thing, you'll find it consistently taught that people must make real choices. So in Ezekiel 18, the last verse sums up this way.

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord. So turn and live. The call to the human will is to repent of sin, believe, turn to God, and live. It's a real offer. The offer of our gospel to the world is a real, genuine offer, being given to people who need to respond to that and will be held responsible for the choices that they make.

Mark 115, the call of the gospel is a command. Repent and believe. Repent and believe the good news, Mark 115. That's an appeal to the will. So it's not mutually exclusive, it's a both and. There is a real will that's bound in sin and we are called to exercise that will according to his command.

All right, so today we are doing verses one to 15 of chapter 10. And it's gonna flow and just underscore this big point. So John, would you mind reading for us Isaiah chapter 10, verses one to 15.

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil and that they may make the fatherless their prey.

What will you do on the day of punishment in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help and where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain.

For all this, his anger has not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.

Judah's Guilt and God's Anger in Isaiah 10:1-4

Okay, and let's stop just there and we'll go passage by passage. In verses one to four, the guiltiness of Israel and Judah is what stokes God's anger. So if God has ordained everything, according to the counsel of his wealth, which is what Ephesians 111 says, why does he still find fault?

Well, that was the objector's question in Romans nine as the objector in that passage didn't want to believe that as Paul hypothetically imposes that question. But God is sovereign over all those things and doesn't have to answer to man.

Here's what we know from scripture. God holds people responsible for sin. God never authors sin and evil, but the sin and evil that comes through the instrument, God holds the instrument responsible for those things.

Why? Because their will is real. They are making willful choices against God. So this is the compatibilism again, okay? So there's a sense in which God has created evil. Now that sounds wrong, right? If you don't like it, go argue with Isaiah because in chapter 45, verse seven, he uses that exact language.

I create good, I create raw. Raw is evil or bad. The calamities. Job knew the same thing. Job chapter two, I think it's verse 15, he says, shall we accept good from God's hand and not raw? What is that word?

Ha-raw in the Hebrew. It means evil or bad or calamity. So there's a sense in God's overarching providential plan that this includes the evil of the world. This includes the drunk driver that takes out your family member, okay?

That's part of God's providential plan. But God holds the sinner responsible for sin. That's compatibilism. So when God has a burning righteous indignation and hatred for sin, he is just in that anger.

That's what you see in verses one to four. He is angry. In fact, his anger is not even turned away when he judges. There's gonna be an ongoing judgment. And then finally, it's only propitiated in his own son.

For all this, his anger is not turned away. His hand is stretched out still. They're responsible. In this part of the text, it's not Assyria that he's referring to. Note this. Who's he angry with? Judah, Israel.

Yeah, his own people. The anger that he has is against his own people because of their responsible willfulness against God and what they're called to do.

Assyria as the Rod of God's Anger

Now look at verse five. And John. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger. The staff in their hands is my fury.

Very important to parse these words carefully. It says, ah, Assyria. In this verse, does God pronounce judgment against Assyria? No, he doesn't. Pay close attention. The rod of my anger. The staff in their hands is my fury.

Very good. In this verse, now later he's gonna judge Assyria, but notice very carefully here, Assyria is the rod. God has fury and he's holding a nation, an empire. A horrible empire. Now we need to stop and think about this for a second.

All right. The rod that he's using strings people up on their walls. These people skin their enemies and hang their skins on the wall. This is the most barbarous people in the history of the world up until this time.

The Assyrians are wicked. This is why Jonah didn't wanna go there. It was too much. But in this verse, this is the rod of God's anger. So here we're seeing this compatibilism again. The willfulness of the Assyrian is a sinful hatred towards their fellow man, but God is wielding Assyria as his tool.

The instrument, that's the important word. They're an instrument. So a rod is an instrument, not a cause. Okay.

Next, verse six. Against a godless nation, I send him. Against the people of my wrath, I command him to take spoil and seize plunder, to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Wow. Did you feel that?

Who's doing it?

Who's the cause in this passage? God. He sends them, right? Who are the people of his wrath? Israel, his own people. Yeah, that's what it's saying. Against, he calls his own people godless. God calls them godless, because they don't follow their God.

It says to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. And the horror of the Assyrian assault on Israel. History records it. It was devastating. Verse seven, through 11.

But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think, but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations, not a few. For he says, are not my commanders all kings? Is not Calno like Tarshimish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?

Acts 4 .27. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, the Gentiles, all conspiring against God's anointed one, the Lord Jesus. To kill him, to crucify him. The wickedness in their heart, that was their intentions, their real creaturely will.

To do whatever God's hand and plan predestined to occur must take place. Acts 4 .27 and 28. In the same way, you have a sovereign God in the previous verses that we just read. He is wielding a wicked nation for his purpose of judgment.

That's God's purpose. Look at verse seven. But he does not so intend. There is the real creaturely will of the Assyrian. There is a real desire, a nature, that is coming from the nature of the Assyrian, which is a wicked, depraved human nature, in the intentions of the wicked Assyrian heart.

What is it? His heart does not so think. He doesn't think he's a tool and an instrument of Yahweh. He thinks Yahweh is a minor God, like the other gods that they trampled. He has no regard for God. What does he think?

It's in his heart to what? Destroy, and to cut nations, not a few. Cut off nations, not a few. What does he say? Are not my commanders all kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad?

Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria. See, he looks at his track record of conquering all the other nations, which worship idols.

And he says, Jerusalem's the same to me. Jerusalem, Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images? They ran roughshod over the north, and they're sure they're gonna conquer Jerusalem.

Now, by the way, do they ever make it and conquer Jerusalem? No. That Jerusalem gets neck deep in a Syrian onslaught, but Hezekiah prays, this is the 37th chapter, I think, and God sends an angel of the Lord that kills 185 ,000 Assyrians, so they never actually get Jerusalem.

But in his heart, this is about the will, the thinking. Okay, so John, would you read for me now verse 12?

When the Lord has finished all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria with a boastful look in his eyes.

Okay? The heart is the seat of the human will and is not free. So in this verse, look at the heart. He will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

Here we get a glimpse of the king's heart. Way back there in Assyria, sitting there in Nineveh, prideful, as you could imagine, arrogant, thinks he is the greatest thing on the planet, probably considers himself a god.

That's where his will is at, his will to crush. But God will punish him. Verses 13 and 14.

For he says, by the strength of my hand I have done it, by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I remove the boundaries of peoples and plunder their treasures. Like a bull, I bring down those who sit on thrones.

My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples. And as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth. And there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.

God would say to the Assyrian king, have I not ordained it, that you would turn fortified cities into piles of stone? In the mind of the Assyrian king, he is ultimately determinative, right? He's the one who does these things, he conquers.

Look how he thinks, by the strength of my hand. You see, the human will thinks itself ultimately determinative. Humanity loves free will as a concept. Man wants to be free, wants to be the one in control, believes himself to be powerful, wants to be in the place of God.

We'll look at that in verse 15. But look here again at the my's and the I's in 13 and 14. By the strength of my hand. Who's done it? I have done it. And by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I remove the boundaries of peoples and plunder their treasures.

Like a bull, I bring down those who sit on thrones. You seeing the idea here? The my's and the I's. My hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples. And as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth.

And there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped. Rich, yeah. And that's in my notes here for verse 15. So yeah, very similar. And this idea of humans being the center of the world, because of the fall, people are born into the world with a man-centered mindset.

Man-centered. Picture a baby. The baby is the center of the universe in the mind of the baby. He wants what he wants. And he's cute and lovable, and God has even built that cuteness in so that mothers and fathers would care for the vulnerable.

But he's very self-centered. And even children are very self-centered. That self-centered, man-centeredness needs to be disciplined out of them by the rod. Not always the physical rod, but by the discipline of a father, especially, but also mothers.

Yeah. It gets worse, not better. Yeah. So the concept, though, of man-centeredness is just built in. The Bible always holds a God-centered lens, that God is the free actor in the universe. He is the one with whom we have to do, and we are but creatures.

We're limited physically. We can't flap our wings and fly. We're limited in our volition. We can't even tame our own tongues, James 3. Who can tame it? Are we so central as we think we are? No. See, the Bible presents a very God-centered worldview, with him as ultimately determinative.

Having a decree, being in charge, having everything under his control. And we hate that concept. So even in the church, I've always said that Christians are born again as Arminians. Meaning we, well, not always, but it tends to be the case that we're born into the world, and we're born again with the center of thinking that, well, I really made a good decision when I trusted Christ.

When I trusted Christ. When I repented, that was good. But we mature into Calvinism. Not because John Calvin taught Ephesians 1 .11, but because Ephesians 1 .11 taught John Calvin. We mature into a God-centered worldview where we recognize our own limitation, and God is the one who's ultimately free.

Ultimately, there's never a case where God's will is bound, and ours is free. Was God bound by the decision, the will of that drunk driver? Could have given him a heart attack like that. He could have caused that drunk driver to go off the road and hit a tree, and die in judgment.

God could have done that. He was absolutely free to do that. God was not bound to honor the free choices of the drunk driver, no. He had a purpose, an eternal weight of glory attached to the decision that God made to allow the sinful man to do what he did in the very circumstance that he did.

And all of you can think of instances in your life where you've suffered greatly, unjustly at the hands of other people. Will you identify yourself as a victim, which is the man-centered worldview, a victim of people, or will you look to the one with whom you have to do?

Even when bad things happen in the world, and we're rattled by political situations, will you take on the victim mindset, which is ultimately man-centeredness, or will you always look to God? He never allows anything to happen except for what he allows for his purpose.

The Axe, the Saw, and the Limits of Human Pride

So look at verse 15, and we'll be finishing up here.

John. Shall the axe boast over him who use it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it, as if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood? Wow.

God referring to him who wields Assyria as his instrument of judgment, and yet the instrument thinks he's the one lifting God. It says, shall the axe boast over him who use it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

The king of Assyria doesn't get it. He doesn't know he's been used by God to judge according to God's purposes. But ultimately, we're gonna see next week that God will also punish Assyria. It says, as if a rod should wield him who lifts it.

Got that backwards. The rod doesn't lift up the man to make him fly up in the air, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood. So herein, I think, is the second best place to go to teach the doctrine of compatibilism.