The Unconverted “Believer” (22): The Mystery of God's Providence. 07/25/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Acts 26 So Agrippa said to Paul you have permission to speak for yourself

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Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I Consider myself fortunate that it is before you

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King Agrippa. I am going to make my defense today against all the accusation of the Jews Especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the

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Jews Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently My manner of life from my youth spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem is known by all the

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Jews They have known for a long time if they are willing to testify that according to the strictest party of our religion

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I have lived as a Pharisee and Now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers to which our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day and For this hope

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I am accused by Jews. Oh King Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

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I? Myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth and I did so in Jerusalem I not only locked up many of the

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Saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests but that when they were put to death

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I cast my vote against them and I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme and in raging fury against them

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I persecuted them even to foreign cities in This connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests at midday

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Oh King I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the Sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me and When we had all fallen to the ground,

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I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me?

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It is hard for you to kick against the goads And I said who are you Lord and the

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Lord said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting But rise and stand upon your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose

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To appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which

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I will appear to you Delivering you from people and from the

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Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and From the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness and place among those who are sanctified by faith in me

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Therefore Oh King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision but declared first to those in Damascus then in Jerusalem and Throughout all the region of Judea and also to the

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Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God Performing deeds and keeping with their repentance

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For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me to this day I Have had the help that comes from God and so I stand here testifying both too small and too great

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Saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said Would come to pass that the

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Christ must suffer and that by being the first to rise from the dead He would proclaim light to both our people and to the

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Gentiles And as he was saying these things in his defense Festus said with a loud voice

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Paul you were out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind

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But Paul said I am NOT out of my mind most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words

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For the king knows about these things and to him I speak boldly For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice for this has not been done in a quarter

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King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe and Agrippa said to Paul in a short time

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Would you persuade me to be a Christian and Paul said whether short or long? I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am except for these chains

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Then the king arose and the governor and burnis And those who were sitting with them and when they had withdrawn they said to one another

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This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment and Agrippa said to Festus This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar Let's pray our heavenly father we thank you for The scriptures

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We thank you for your spirit. We thank you that the spirit enables us to understand the scriptures and Lord, we thank you for its truth.

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We live in a world that is Exceedingly wicked and deceitful and it's hard to determine.

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What is the truth? but Lord God you are truth and your word is truth and So Lord, we thank you that we have your truth and that we can live it out to our lives

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And Lord, we pray that we would live lives that are consistent with our profession that we would walk in obedience to you

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That we would walk humbly that we would walk in wisdom that we would walk in the spirit we pray

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Lord that you would give us direction in all of these things and Lord as we open up the word and as we continue to worship you through the preaching of your word

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We pray that the spirit would be moving that the spirit would Take the words that we hear and implant them deep within our hearts.

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We pray Lord for understanding We pray Lord for application and we pray

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Lord that That this act of worship would be pleasing to you. Thank you Lord in Jesus name.

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Amen Well, let's turn to Romans 11

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And we'll give attention to several verses there Romans 11 33 to 36.

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I Thought of the word used to think of the words of King Agrippa to Paul Frequently going to seminary after slugging it out for years.

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I like the King James Translation Agrippa said to Paul much learning hath made thee mad and I Used to think of that quite a bit slugging it out through seminary for 11 years

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Well, let's begin to this morning by reading an exclamation of the Apostle Paul upon his consideration

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The manner in which God was working through history To bring about his sovereign purposes in the immediate context.

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He was Just amazed at the wisdom and power of God and what she was saving people all over the world

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He turned away from the Jews hardened them so that he could have mercy on the Gentiles But in having mercy on the

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Gentiles he'd caused Jews to become jealous and they too would come to Christ and this overwhelmed

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Paul and he expressed this praise to God in Romans 11 33

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To 36. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways?

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past finding out For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and It should be repaid to him

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For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever

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Amen This was Paul's reaction in response to his understanding and Recounting who

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God is and what God was doing in history in order to save his people from their sin People from throughout the whole world

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Jews and Gentiles both And so Paul rejoiced and praised God that God was in control of history that he's the sovereign

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Lord working out his purposes and So Paul gave forth his great expression of devotion to the glory of God for who he is and For all that God has done and for all that God will yet do in history

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Paul's declaration of the glory of God is an exuberant expression of praise reflecting his own amazement upon his contemplation of the wisdom and majesty of God That God would so order history in the manner that he is decreed from eternity that he had the power and that he had the power to bring it to realization

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He was overwhelmed and so he would Affirm as true the statement of the psalmist the counsel of the

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Lord stands forever the plans of his heart to all generations and This is what led

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Paul to express this wonder this word of praise Paul expressed himself with great emotion

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He was taken up with an overwhelming sense of wonder that God could devise could devise

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The course of history and then to carry out every detail of history to the accomplishing of his purpose

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So Paul confessed and celebrated God's wisdom and sovereignty and he attempted to lift up his readers as well lift his readers to the same measure of adoration that he felt and expressed

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Now in this Word this word of praise Paul expressed

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That God's ways are past finding out This is this speaks to the mystery of God's providential dealings in his world his ways are past finding out

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They're beyond our ability to fully comprehend God's Ways forward are certainly unknown to us that is into the future.

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It leads to any great detail and When we stand and look back on what

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God has done. We might be rightly amazed at the at the wisdom of God as we're struck with an awareness of our own ignorance and inability to have anticipated or understood what

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God was doing there's a mystery of God's providence into which we are incapable of Assessing determining

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Evaluating it's beyond our capacity to understand God's ways are past finding out

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Now the question we want to pose of course as we're in this series, how does this idea or this thought?

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Impinge on our subject the unconverted believer. Well in this way the point we wish to make is that It is not easy to assess rightly

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God's attitude or assessment of a person based on what takes place in his or her life

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God's way with his people are full of twists and turns and we are unable to clearly and fully assess how

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God regards us by what we experience within the working of his providence

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And yet we tend to do this don't wait Things are going good for me.

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God must be for me. Things are not going good for me. God must be against me That's how we think and what we're pointing out that this is wrong thinking

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Now Throughout our consideration of this important subject of the unconverted believer nominal

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Christianity We've shown that it's a difficult matter to demonstrate and convince many Who may presume they're

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Christians that they are still unconverted still in their sins and This is because they've convinced themselves and many have reinforced for them that they are saved but if and when the biblical record is carefully considered and these people are

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Analyzed in the light of the Word of God their profession and experience their claims

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Come into doubt perhaps and we may have reason to question the validity of their profession

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But more often than not they remained confirmed in their delusions Takes a work of God's grace to open the heart of a nominal

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Christian Who presumes that he is right with God?

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That's what God did to Paul, right He thought he was right with God until the

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Lord Jesus appeared to him as he recounted for us there in Acts 26

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One of the reasons for the steadfastness of these people in their false assurances They've drawn conclusions about their spiritual condition based on how they think

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God has been at work in their lives They've convinced themselves that God must be for them because of what they have seen and experienced

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And so one may think well because God has so clearly blessed me. I'm certain that I must be a true

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Christian On the other hand there are those who may be true

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Christians But they think that they must be numbered among the nominal Christians They're not say because they too have concluded from God's dealings with them that they could not be in God's favor

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They could not be true Christians or he wouldn't be dealing with me in this way

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And we would argue the problem is a failure to assess and evaluate rightly God's work in the lives of the people of the world.

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His ways are past finding out and You and I don't have the capacity the ability

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To make determinations apart from the Word of God as to what God is doing through the circumstances that fall out in our lives and And so all too often strangers to Christ wrongly believe that God is for them even while true

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Christians believe wrongly that God is against them and Again, the problem with both groups is that they're drawing wrong conclusions regarding God's dealings with them

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And so when we speak of God's work through history, we're referring to the matter of his providence Providence Providence speaks of God Working and accomplishing his purposes in history providence is a little different than God's sovereignty

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God's sovereignty speaks of his authority his ability to control all things providence speaks about what he's doing with his authority with his sovereignty

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The Westminster Shorter Catechism Addressed the matter of providence in this way question 11

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Right up there toward the beginning. What are God's works of providence answer? God's works of providence are his most holy wise and powerful

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Reserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions Notice that's not just Christians, but non -christian all people

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God is governing the world in his providence Many people wrongly think that God has just kind of set this world on its own and we're running about with our own free will

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Doing whatever we want to do and once in a while God intervenes He comes in and then he begins to work.

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I know the scriptures say God is controlling all things through history His work of providence

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Another reform catechism the Heidelberg catechism is more detailed in its definition What do you understand by the providence of God?

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Answer the almighty everywhere present power of God whereby as it were by his hand

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He still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures And so governs them that all that herbs and grass rain and drought

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Fruitful and barren years meat and drink health and sickness riches and poverty indeed all things come not by chance

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But by his fatherly hand God is sovereign and that sovereignty is shown forth in its providential governing of everything that takes place in history

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Our Baptist confession of faith of 1689 contains 33 articles which is a good summary of what the scriptures teach and It devotes one entire article to this subject of providence

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Article 5 And it contains in this article seven distinct paragraphs or statements about the biblical doctrine of Providence and so here is the first paragraph that defines and describes

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God's providence So in other words, just like the Westminster catechism Heidelberg catechism here is the

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Baptist confession of faith of 1689 God the good creator of all things and his infinite power and wisdom doth uphold direct

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Dispose and govern all creatures and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence to the end for the which they were created according on to his infallible foreknowledge and the free and Immutable or unchangeable counsel of his own will to the praise of the glory of his wisdom power justice infinite goodness and mercy

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Everything happens is according to God's Providence then the other six statements in That article on providence further explain and correct some wrong conclusions that are often

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Asserted objecting to this to this biblical teaching and so there is a paragraph that states that although God controls the evil that is

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Perpetrated by evil people God is not the chargeable author of their sin they are even though God is controlling them and of course the premier example of that is the crucifixion of Christ the

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Jewish leaders and the Gentiles with wicked hands took the Jesus Christ and crucified him and yet they did

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Exactly what God had foreordained that they would do They were responsible they were guilty, but God in his providence brought it to pass and so Those who commit sin we who commit sin we cannot certainly charge

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God with that nevertheless He governs us in our sin People alone are responsible for sin, although God accomplishes his purposes through them

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And so here's paragraph four of the article on God's providence The almighty power unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness of God so far manifests themselves in his providence

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That his determinant counsel extends itself Even to the first fall that's

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Adam and Eve and all other sinful actions both of angels and men He's in control of the devil and then and that not by a bare permission

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Just saying God lets it happen Which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth and otherwise orders and governs in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends yet so as the sinfulness of their acts proceeds only from the creatures and not from God Who being most holy and righteous neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin?

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And we would argue that is a perfectly consistent with what the Bible teaches us about the sovereignty of God and the providence of God and So the

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Holy Scriptures the Word of God declares the sovereignty of God and his providential dealings in history

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Isaiah 46 God declared that he purposed to save his people from bondage Talking about his deliverance of Jewish exiles from Babylon.

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So he would raise up a deliverer a pagan King King Cyrus of Persia and he would bring

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Cyrus down and enable Cyrus a pagan king to conquer Babylon thereby secure the release of his exiled people

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So here's the prophecy 200 years before the event Isaiah 46

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Remember the former things of old for I am God. There is no other I am God.

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There is none like me Declaring the end from the beginning All right, that's his decree

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His providence is the work in and out from ancient times things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand

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That's his decree. I will do all my pleasure. That's his providence

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Calling a bird of prey from the east now here the bird of prey is a metaphor for King Cyrus.

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God's calling him Calling a bird of prey from the east the man who executes my counsel from a far country

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Indeed I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it.

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I've decreed it It's going to take place. I'm gonna see that it comes to pass And so from God's perspective

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There are no accidents in the history of the world Which he governs and controls

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Every roll of the dice is decreed from eternity Now from our finite perspective we can't see it that way appears to be something of chance

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But to me that's one of the powerful reasons they don't gamble the Lord might cause me to win

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You know how the Lord gives well, but he's able to do it without a curse The Lord is sovereign in all these matters

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There are no accidents in the history of the world But a problem exists when we attempt to understand God's specific works of providence

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With respect to assessing precisely or many times even generally what God is doing and why he's doing it.

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We're at a loss Again his ways are past finding out

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Apart from the scriptures were incapable of Knowing the mind of God and just why and how he will accomplish his purposes as we observe the unfolding of events about us and This is why it is unwise and possibly very misleading to attempt to assess the reality or the quality of one's

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Relationship with God through Christ by analyzing what's happening in your life It doesn't work out that way

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The Holy Scriptures alone are to be our canon or rule By which all matters of one's relationship with God and Christ are to be assessed and measured

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So let's consider this matter of God's providence more carefully first by recognizing The difficulty to assess and interpret

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God's acts of providence The Word of God demonstrates our inability to know the ways of God Think about the entire story of Job if you're following along in our reading chart

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Bible reading chart We recently completed the book of Job were in Psalms now But Job the entire book illustrates this truth

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Job and his friends show us how wrong Well -intentioned people can be about what

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God is doing and why he is doing it None of them had it, right?

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The three friends of Job who came to comfort him in his affliction Assume that God's dealings with people revealed either his favor or disfavor toward them

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All of them thought it was the fault of Job or God wouldn't be dealing with him in this way

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They thought wrongly they could assess the mind of God through what they saw before their eyes.

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They all assumed Wrongly that they could assess the mind of God they assume they

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Mind or an attitude or a principle that was commonly referred to as a retribution principle

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Their assessment of God's ways was it in all cases at all times men reap in this life what they have sown

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This under this was their philosophy of the world in life Now many

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Christians think in this way the world doesn't anymore They don't see spiritual laws of you know, cause and effect that if you you know do something wrong, it's going to come back upon you

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Oh, yeah, you hear about Eastern philosophy and mysticism of karma that carries the idea of retribution principle the idea is that sin will always result and be seen in God's temporal judgment and Righteousness will always result and be seen in God's temporal blessing or protection

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His provision is abundance. And so here's a footnote from the Reformation study

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Bible That described the understanding of Job's friends, and I thought this was well stated

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The friends three friends speak in turn probably in order of seniority and Job responds to each contribution all the speakers accept a simplistic retribution principle

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Whereby God controls the world by punishing anyone who sins and rewards whoever does what is right?

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Job's friends however hold that the reverse is true. Whoever suffers has sinned and whoever is blessed is righteous as Such there is a one -to -one correspondence between sin and suffering since Job is suffering so greatly he has sinned greatly and At first they just hint at this but when

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Job fails to accept their analysis They become more open and ferocious in their attacks, though Ultimately, it's true that God punishes in penitent sinners and rewards those he mercifully declares to be righteous people

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Job's friends are in believing that every instance of suffering is an application of this principle and Again the what we're pointing out is that you cannot make right

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Assessments about God's dealings with you your relationship to him based upon what's falling out in your life and Toward the end of the story after God revealed himself to Job God spoke of Job's friends

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And so it was after the Lord had spoken these words to Job the Lord said to Eliphaz The oldest one my wrath is aroused against you and your two friends for you've not spoken to me

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What is right as my servant Job has many of the things there for three friends said were right and true

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They just made the wrong application in saying that they applied to Job because they didn't of course and the reader knows that Right from the beginning and then

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God counseled him now therefore take for yourself seven bulls seven rams go to my servant

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Job and Offer up for yourselves a burnt offering and my servant Job shall pray for you for I will accept him

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Lest I deal with you according to your folly Because you have not spoken of me.

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What is right as my servant Job has It was folly for them to make these assertions.

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This is how God regards you This is your relationship with God it's not good because this is what's happening in your life

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You can't do it that's a wrong Principle and so we should be careful and even cautious in our claims and assertions

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Because interpreting God's works of providence is a very difficult matter in Which it is quite easy to draw wrong conclusions about God's role and involvement and what has played out before us

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In fact because of our limited ability we should often not make claims or specific

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Assertions as to what God is doing when we observe what takes place before us We ought to be a little cautious about pronunciations

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Declarations this is what God's doing in your life or Even on a broader scale.

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We ought to be very careful or cautious. This is what God's doing in the world You know with this virus or this vaccine or we ought to be cautious We don't see things as God sees them

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God himself declared our inability to assess these secret dealings of His working in history

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Moses taught the people of Israel the secret things belong to the Lord. That's his working of providence

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But those things which are revealed that's the scriptures Belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of the law

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But it's a common it's common for people to promote maintain exclusively this

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Retribution principle in assessing how God regards and treats people the so -called health and wealth gospel

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You know, which is so popular in evangelicalism our promoters To a great degree of this fault.

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They hold to a retribution principle in every case They teach it if God has favor toward you that he will most certainly cause you to be healthy and prosperous and that he will

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Preserve you from adversity and difficulty. He will heal you of your sickness Restore your relationships if he has favor upon you

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Therefore if you fail to experience these blessings it reveals certainly you're out of God's favor

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It must be he must be punishing you for your sins or your for your faulty or defective faith or walk with him

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The health and wealth gospel guys would have been standing right next to Job's friends giving a hearty. Amen to their assessments and assertions

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It's they have the same philosophy in their understanding of the way God works

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But the truth is that the ways of providence are mysterious to us God does things at times when we do not expect it and in ways that we would have never

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Contemplated or predicted and even when they fall out we don't understand it and This is why the scriptures speak of God's providential dealings is past finding out

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Romans 11 33 and 34 Job 9 10 says the same thing.

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He does great things past finding out. Yes wonders without number So again

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Romans 11 33 how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out? Now this difficulty in assessing

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God's purposes and actions may be illustrated in our efforts to understand what God is Doing at this time in history in our in the life of our nation in the world

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When we consider the direction in which our world is moving the unrelenting virus and all the variants supposedly and all the various ways that people and their governments are prescribing even

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Demanding and then we consider the degradation of Christian thinking and changing morality

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Christians are all over the map and how they think we should react and respond and Again, the difficulty lies in our interpreting what we see and experience and then attempt to draw conclusions as to what

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God is doing We tend to pontificate We should be cautious about that We are generally not like the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times and knew what

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Israel ought to do Many times we don't have that kind of wisdom and therefore we should be careful even cautious in our claims and Assertions knowing that interpreting

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God's works of providence is a very difficult matter in which it is quite easy to draw wrong

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Conclusions about God's role and involvement of what if what is being played out before us

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We ought to be humble in these matters We should understand however that when the scriptures tell us that these great things of God's dealings are past finding out

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God is really speaking about our inability to know what it is God what

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God is presently doing and what he may be doing in the future We can with care and caution however

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Make some determinations of what God has been doing in the past After all within the context of our passage of Romans 11, that's what

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Paul did Paul revealed in a measure what God had been formally doing and in a measure what he was presently doing in blinding the

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Jews and and opening the eyes of the Gentiles to the gospel Indeed God's ways had been past finding out.

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Nobody had a clue that this is what God was doing But as God Accomplishes purposes

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God had revealed to Paul what it was He was doing and so God does all things in order to manifest his glory

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And so he does reveal to his people. This is what I've been doing and this is how I did it and it causes us to Not only be humble but wonder this is incredible.

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This is amazing And I imagine most of us could recount personal testimony in our lives

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That we can recount these these mysteries of Providence You know 20 years ago 30 years ago.

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We'd be clueless as to where we are today and where the Lord has brought us And so as we see

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God's acts of Providence played out before us in history we should acknowledge and recognize his glorious working

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Paul had come to known in a measure the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God His understanding was of such clarity and certainty that it resulted in him expressing his wonder and praise to God for doing what he was doing in the world and so while Careful not to make invalid assessments and draw wrong conclusions

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We may know with certainty the purpose of God in his specific works of Providence that he's done

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We're clueless as to what he's going to do in the future frankly Except you know the broad

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Aspect of history. We know the Lord's coming. He's going to set everything straight. Thank God new heaven a new earth

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But by the grace of God, we can acquire in a measure Understanding of his unsearchable ways that he has worked in his world and So let's consider next the possibility in a measure to assess and interpret

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God's acts of Providence There's a wonderful book classic

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Puritan book entitled the mystery of Providence written by John Flavel an

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English Puritan and By the way, I send out notes via email, you know Our sermon notes a

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PDF form and then word format every Sunday morning and this morning I attached a PDF file 222 pages of this book.

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It's it's attached to that email and If any of you want to receive those don't let me know

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I'll add your address Well, why did Flavel? Include the descriptive word in his title mystery the mystery of Providence Perhaps he did so for two reasons first in depicting

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Providence as mystery He was able to set forth the surpassing wisdom of God and his dealings wisdom that we may find impossible

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That we will find impossible to fully or truly understand while events unfold before us.

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It's a mystery and Second even for Christians using their Bibles. It may be with difficulty

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To discern and assess God's purposes even after the events occur The nature and purpose of labels book the mystery of Providence was to explain the nature of God's dealings the nature of his providential dealings in the world and more specifically among his people among Christians and Flavel sought to instruct

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Christians on how to understand God's will Through observing and meditating upon God's works of Providence.

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That's what Paul was doing in Romans 11 Obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen those words

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But here are a few words in the publishers introduction to the band or truth edition of labels book from 1963

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When John Flavel writes of the Providence of God, he does not simply deliver a lecture He writes in a thrilling way out of a full heart he knows from church history and from his own experience of the works of God on behalf of his people and Above all he knows the

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Word of God intimately and he knows how to apply it He shows how the hand of God may be discerned in our personal affairs

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Avoiding the extravagances of mysticism as well as the skepticism of unbelief His treatise is calculated to a base man

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Humble man and exalt God and yet to kindle faith and adoration in the heart of every child of God To learn of the

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Providence of God under the tuition of John Flavel will bring Christian believers into a sphere They never reckoned with before It will also we are confident shed light on the great concerns the present -day

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Evangelicals 1960s, how may we live a consecrated and victorious life?

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Let us first realize that everything does not depend on us Let us see what God has done and is doing for a spiritual good and then we may seek to work out what he's working

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In us and what of guidance let us learn that in an ultimate sense. We can never be outside the will of God Flavel would teach us that God's will for us is our duty to be found in his

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Word and moreover We should have a right attitude to all circumstances even the most adverse

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Finally, our Christian witness will not be crippled as many fear but quickened by a right apprehension of the sovereignty of God It's a classic book.

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And again, I sent a copy of it PDF form for those who receive our notes And so again what

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Paul had expressed in Romans 11 33 to 36 was that God's wisdom in his works of Providence were unsearchable

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Unsearchable are his judgments his ways past finding out but the fact that Paul had come to understand in a measure what

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God was doing It's clear For this is what resulted in him praising God for his surpassing wisdom and power

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Paul saw the glory of God and what God was doing through history and then he praised God for it

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And we cannot know precisely why God may do be doing what he's doing But in time as we look back upon his dealings, we may come to see his wisdom and power.

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Well, I get it now He was leading me and directing me even in those darkest of days

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When I thought I was abandoned by him We come to see his wisdom and power and having brought us through what we are experiencing

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So thirdly, let's consider God how God revealed himself in his ways in history, they're mysterious

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God reveals himself as all wise through his actions in history. Psalm 104 24.

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Oh Lord, how manifold are your works? That's Providence in wisdom. You made them all

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Well, how is the wisdom of God displayed through his actions? And first, of course, we know from the

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Scriptures the wisdom of God is shown is known to his work of creation We can have to go

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I recorded I think on Smithsonian channel or one of those channels that Series six or eight series on the on the ocean the deep blue It's just absolutely fascinating.

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The second episode is where they take a you know device and go down to some of the deepest trenches in the ocean and they show these creatures down there with all lit up Consuming one another and I'm tank, you know

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Mary and I are talking about no one in the history of the world ever saw these things until this generation

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We see them now, of course through the just tremendous technology, but you know, God created those for his own glory and They've been you know working and living and functioning

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You know since creation And his wisdom is revealed and it's incredible to me how they show forth this program and are silent with regard regard to God as Though you know and they talk about evolution how all these things, you know formed over the over the millennia.

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It's incredible But it reveals to us the glory of God. We see the glory of God in all of his works or we should

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His work of creation only in all wise God could have produced the world in which we live there's an order there's an interdependence and interrelation between all things that shows an infinitely wise

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God is Ordering the existence of all things Now we know that as Christians, but even non -christians will recognize it.

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I have a quote here from Albert Einstein who was no Christian And nevertheless he understood and concluded the universe betrays a designer who is still controlling the universe

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Einstein we're in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books and many different languages

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The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how it does not understand the languages in which they are written

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The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books But doesn't know what it is that it seems to me is the attitude of even the most intelligent being toward God We see a universe

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Marvelously arranged and obeyed in certain laws But only dimly understand those laws our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations

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That was a confession of Einstein He didn't understand he couldn't relate he couldn't comprehend the providence of God if we put that in Christian terms

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Again, this is not a faith statement of Einstein. It was a conclusion that he drew from his own observation and assessment of the universe

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No one could logically argue whether his conclusion was correct in the light of the evidence

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He observed but one cannot dismiss his statement as merely dictated by faith Generated from his religion because that wasn't there.

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It was a reasonable conclusion from the scientific observation of the universe there's a complexity and order an

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Orderly fashioning of all that exists that betrays an all -wise God who created and sustains things

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His Providence is revealed in his creation His wisdom and secondly a second work of God in which is unsearchable wisdom is displayed of course is bringing redemption to his people and Thomas Watson wrote a book on on on Providence All things were good

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I think is the title of it and he wrote these words He's my favorite Puritan Here was the masterpiece of divine wisdom to contrive a way to happiness between the sin of man and the justice of God We may cry out with the

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Apostle. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God quoting the verse from our passage

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This astonished men and angels if God had put us to find out a way of salvation When we were lost we could neither have had had a head to devise nor a heart to desire what

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God's infinite wisdom had found out for us No one could devise the way of salvation set forth in the

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Bible It's not it's not natural to human thinking and human ways

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Mercy had a mind to save sinners, but was loath that justice of God should be wronged

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It is a pity says mercy that such a noble creature as man should be made to be undone

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And yet God's justice must not be a loser What way then shall be found out?

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Angels cannot satisfy the wrong done to God's justice nor is it fit that one nature should sin that is man's human nature

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And another nature angelic nature suffer what then shall men be forever lost?

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Now while mercy was thus debating with itself what to do for the recovery of fallen man

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The wisdom of God stepped in and thus the Oracle spake let God become man let the second person in the

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Trinity become be incarnate and suffer and so for fitness he shall be man and For ability he shall be

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God and thus justice made he be satisfied in man saved Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God thus to make

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Justice and mercy to kiss each other great is this mystery God manifest in the flesh

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What wisdom was this that Christ should be made sin yet? No, sin that God should condemn the sin yet save the sinner here was wisdom to find out the way of salvation

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God's work of salvation reveals his unsearchable wisdom in the way. He chose people to be saved from their sin through faith

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Faith is a way of salvation that leaves the safe sinner humble and shows forth the Savior's glorious Faith enables all glory to be given to Jesus Christ and none to be assumed by the

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Christian. He can take no credit whatsoever The manner in which God produces faith in us betrays

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God's wisdom Faith is produced by his grace through hearing that is the hearing of the

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Word of God preached and this is foolishness in the mind Of the world, but it's incredible wisdom on the part of God And so he saves us through faith in a manner so that no flesh may glory in his presence

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You think about that? That's amazing You and I could have never devised such a thing

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Paul wrote of the spiritual life that was in him We have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us and So here

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God's wisdom is seen of that No flesh may glory in his presence in the manner of his application of salvation to his people

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It leaves us humble and grateful and loving And then third as we've already asserted the wisdom of God is displayed through God's works of providence not only did he create the world but he governs the world and God's governance reveals his wisdom.

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That's what our text in Romans 11 asserts The way God was bringing Jews and Gentiles both to salvation in a way that man could never have devised

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Now more specifically How does God's wisdom seen in the work of providence

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What are some unusual things that we may see that? Identify it as a work of God Well first God's wisdom is displayed and is bringing to pass great events by using what appears to be insignificant or inadequate means

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Numbers 21 we read of an incident in which Israel murmured against God and Moses complaining about God's dealings with them

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We read of it here People spoke against God against Moses. Why have you brought us out at Egypt to die in the wilderness?

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There's no food nor water our soul loathes this worthless bread speaking of manna. So the

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Lord sent fiery serpents poisonous snakes among the people they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died and Therefore the people came to Moses said we have sinned

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We've spoken against the Lord against you pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us

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So Moses prayed for the people and then the Lord said to Moses make a fiery serpent in other words brazen brass serpent put it on a pole and it shall be that everyone who's bitten when he looks at it shall

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Live and so Moses made a bronze serpent He put it on a pole and so it was if a serpent bit anyone when he looked at the bronze serpent

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He lived numbers 21 And so we see how God healed the people who'd been bitten by poisonous snakes using a bronze snake on a pole

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There was no direct connection Contact between the any of the persons bitten it not require them to do anything promise anything achieve anything they were told they were simply to look at this bronze serpent on this pole and Believing in God's provision.

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They would be saved from death and would be healed And so here again is the wisdom of God in that it brought glory to God But did not bring glory to Moses or anybody else

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Those who are dying did nothing meritorious or effectual to bring about their cure They would look in faith and in faith they were healed

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God and his wisdom brought about their deliverance so that he alone would be looked to and credited with their deliverance

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And of course as we read that account back in the book of Numbers we see of course

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It as a prophecy of the Lord Jesus hanging on his cross. In fact, it's declared as such in John's Gospel No one has ascended to heaven

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But he who came down from heaven that is the Son of Man who's in heaven and here it is And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness

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Even so the Son of Man be lifted up and whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life

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For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish

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But have everlasting life and so we're to look in faith to Christ crucified and will be healed of our sin that is damned us and Killing us and it's through faith and faith alone

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If we had time we don't and we could go back to the story of Naaman the Syrian he was a pagan

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He was a general in Syria He didn't know the God of Israel, but he had leprosy.

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Why did he have leprosy God caused him to have leprosy? It was a torment to him and so there was a young maiden girl in his household an

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Israelite taken captive It was God's providence that it allowed her to Community to be apparently pillaged and she was taken captive as a slave put into name and household was a servant girl to name his wife

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Only if my master were in Israel, there's a man there Elisha. He could heal him of his leprosy

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And so Damon went of course to Israel and first went to the king I came here to have you cleanse me of leprosy

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Who am I God that I'm going to cleanse you of leprosy you're trying to you know, trying to pick a fight with us

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And no, no, they found out Elisha and then Elisha told him to do something That was ridiculous go down to the

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Jordan River wash seven times. You'll be healed of your leprosy Elisha didn't even bother to come out and talk to the man in person.

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He stayed in his house and Naaman was initially offended You know, what is the

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Jordan compared to the rivers of Damascus? And then somebody appealed to him blessed if you would have asked you to do something very difficult and hard You would have been willing to do it

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You know, shouldn't you be willing to do this simple thing and he went down into the River Jordan He came out says his flesh was like that of a baby cleansed of leprosy and the result of course is he devoted himself to the

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God of Israel for the rest of his life again a relative a Thing of small means of Insignificance God uses to bring about this this wonderful work of Providence and that's common

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That's one of the mysteries of his Providence that has played out in our lives

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And again, you and I could probably recount some little incident some little thing that happened that set us on a course

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Maybe one day and we look back and we see had that not taken place and this wouldn't have happened or Had I gone that direction this would have happened and so God it is

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Providence uses small things and little things obscure things things that we would never recognize as the hand of God until we look back and see the outworking of it and So God is always at work.

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Nothing happens in your life That isn't in the Providence of God and some of those things have quite significance

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You and I might not recognize it or know it I think it'll probably be revealed to us when we stand before him one day

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But the Lord is always at work and it's mysterious But we may be thankful and grateful

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That he's we're just not, you know cast off into a sea of chaos, you know waves and wind but he is directing us and There the

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Bible is full of instances such as that God using small and insignificant things and people

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He chose David the youngest child. I mean after they paraded all the seven sons, you know of Jesse before Samuel Why there's nobody here that qualifies

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Well, I've got an eighth son Well, that was him. Of course destined to be the king of Israel an

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Insignificant person that God raised up and he does that with us to working among us

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God delights in bringing about his purposes through small insignificant things and people and Then secondly the wisdom of God is seen in God doing his work through ironic circumstances

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It's ironic How could God fulfill young Joseph's vision of his parents and his brothers bowing down before him?

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Well, God would send Joseph to Egypt First as a slave and then as a prisoner and then to become prime

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Minister and so as Thomas Watson wrote by Joseph's imprisonment

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God made way for his advancement For God to save in an ordinary way would not so much display his wisdom but when

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God goes strangely to work and saves in that very way in which we think he will destroy his wisdom shines forth in a most conspicuous manner and Again, we could perhaps look at our lives and see the irony of God's working out things

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I mean we thought that this this this was our this spelled our doom it's over and then the

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Lord brings it through brings us through and Actually is glorified and we too are sanctified through it

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We reading about it in Acts Acts 26 it was read today

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God would have Paul go to Rome and so God would have Paul arrested Maltreated by the

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Jews and drug before King Agrippa and King Agrippa wanted to take a bribe the

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Jewish leaders he kept him incarcerated want to get a get a bribe from Paul to let him loose and So Paul had to appeal to Caesar and this resulted of course in God taking

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Paul to Caesars household And there were even some of Caesars household that came to salvation through Jesus Christ And then thirdly the wisdom of God is seen in making great the greatest of evils to turn about for the good of his people

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Joseph's brothers Meant it evil their evil treatment of Joseph. It was cruel

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They were moved by evil, but God intended to turn that event out for the salvation of his family

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The worst possible thing that could be playing out in your life right now God may be intending to bring great glory to himself and deliverance to you

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Through that thing the look we are to entrust ourselves to the sovereignty of God and the wisdom of God We don't know the beginning from the end as he does and then of course the wisdom of God is seen in this that the sins of men shall carry out

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God's work and So God and his providence governs the fall of man

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Again, Thomas Watson the Lord permits sin, but he doesn't approve of it He has a hand in the action in which sin is but not in the sin of the action

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Clever as in the crucifying of Christ so far as it was a natural action God concurred if he had not given the

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Jews life and breath they could not have done it, but as it was a sinful action, so God abhorred it a musician plays upon a violin out of tune the music is the cause of the sound but the jarring and discord is from the

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Violin itself and so men's men's natural motion is from God But their sinful motion is from themselves when a man rides on a lame horse

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His riding is the cause why the horse goes but the lameness is from the horse itself

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Wearing is God's wisdom that the sins of men carry on his work yet. He has no hand in them

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And then the wisdom of God is seen and when God delivers people from helpless and hopeless situations

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And I'm sure again many of us could testify we were in a situation perhaps a financial situation

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There's no way out. It's over. I Can think of the day, you know when

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I didn't have rent back when Mary and I started the church. This was probably in 1980

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Didn't have the rent it was due that day and I knew I had friends I could call on it would be there in no

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Time I had a handful of friends. I could have but I put it before the Lord and I had a broken -down car

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Chevy celebrity that was had been totaled You and the engine wasn't running

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It was on the sidewalk and I was selling a car for a senior citizen a lady in her church

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And so she had a real nice car sitting in the drive in my driveway with for sale sign and some guy stopped

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He came up, what do you want for the car driveway because it had the for sale sign and I said well, you know, it was like $12 ,000.

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Yeah, I can't afford that. What do you want for the celebrity out there on the sidewalk? 350 bucks he was back within an hour, you know,

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I had the rib and that that played out You know Dozens and dozens dozens of times over the course of years

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Where God provided in when in situations where it was hopeless, but it was a testing and and the

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Lord Delivers and again, I'm not saying anything that you people haven't experienced yourselves

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This is God's work of providence He he carries on his work in ways that we could never foreseen or plan

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And then God's wisdom is seen in befooling wise men and in making their wisdom the means of their overthrow

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God take it the wise in their own craftiness That is when they think they're wise and they'll succeed by deceit and trickery

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God uncovers them and exposes them for the corrupt men. They are God hung

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Haman on his own gallows And You know, we see a lot of I think treachery and wickedness in government on a wide scale and international business

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Corruption and corporations and so many different ways. They're not going to get away with it The Lord's gonna bring it about there.

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God doesn't nobody gets away with anything in God's world And if they don't suffer the consequences in this life, they got a day of judgment that they will face

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The Lord is governing all things according to his providence and Paul concluded this by saying from him from God and through God and to God are all things to him be glory forever and ever

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Here Matthew Henry's comments and will close his comments on Paul's words He resolves all into the sovereignty of God verse 36 for of God and through him and to him are all things

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That is God is all in all All things in heaven and earth Especially those things which relate to our salvation the things which belong to our peace are from him by way of creation through him by way of providential influence that they may be to him in their final tendency and result of God as the spring and fountain of all through Christ God man is the conveyance to God as the ultimate end

01:02:35

These three included general all God's causal relations to his creatures of him as the first efficient cause

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Through him as the supreme directing cause to him as the ultimate final cause for the

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Lord hath made all Himself, I'll not complete that reading but that's there in your notes and we'll close with this thought again

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Drawing wrong conclusions about your relationship based upon what's happening to you Is not good

01:03:08

The church at Laodicea Thought they were quite quite right with God And of course the

01:03:15

Lord Jesus rebuked them in Declaring to them, of course, you know, you're rich.

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You're healthy. You're well, you think all is going Well for you that you have need of nothing, but you don't know that you're wretched and miserable poor blind and naked

01:03:33

Their circumstances didn't reveal to them the true Relationship they had with God on the other hand the

01:03:40

Lord Jesus turned about and he addressed the church at Smyrna And he and he said of them

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That I know where you live I know your works your tribulation your poverty

01:03:52

But in reality you're rich Jesus said I know the blasphemy of those who say they're Jews and are not but are the sin of God And Satan don't fear any of those things which you are about to suffer

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Indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison and you'll be tested. You'll have tribulation ten days

01:04:10

They couldn't draw a conclusion about their relationship with God based upon the things that were happening to them

01:04:17

But based upon what the Lord declared to them and it's the same with you and me

01:04:25

We are to relate to our God based upon faith by God's grace

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Grace and what God has promised us and assured us through Jesus Christ as our soul

01:04:37

Lord and Savior We come to him in faith Abandoning any trust in ourselves

01:04:44

Reliance upon ourselves and trusting Jesus Christ alone as our Lord and Savior and he takes it off our hands off our shoulders and we can leave it with him and Regardless of what comes down It doesn't matter

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We may have confidence that he has carried us through and we'll see us through Onto the glorious destiny that he has determined for each of us that are in Christ Jesus.

01:05:10

Amen But if you're out on out of Christ You know all the blessed so -called blessings that you think that you enjoy and receiving there

01:05:20

It's like Israel. It's like a table prepared, but it was a snare Just they just it fooled them into thinking they were okay when in reality they were under the wrath of God May the

01:05:34

Lord direct us according to his word and his ways and may he in a measure give his wisdom so that we can assert discern and Rejoice in his providential dealings with us.

01:05:45

Let's pray Thank you our Father for your word and for your working in our lives

01:05:51

Give us understanding our God and help us our Lord to express in faith the same doxology that Paul expressed in Romans 11

01:06:02

Glorifying you our God for who you are That you are a sovereign God and that you are governing your world and you are governing us in Providence We thank you our

01:06:13

God most of all that you have promised us Salvation eternal life in and through your son

01:06:19

Jesus Christ And it was through him and his work alone that this is secured for us and so we do look to Christ our

01:06:27

God and confess him alone as our only hope and Our basis of assurance for we pray in Jesus name.