Creation by Divine Fiat

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I'd like for you to take out your Bibles, and if you don't have one, we have one for you.
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In the seat in front of you, there should be a blue Bible, and it will be the same Bible out of which I will be reading.
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So I would invite you to take out your Bible and turn with me to Genesis chapter 1.
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A few weeks ago, I introduced you to a phrase that I hope that you remember, but I will not have my feelings hurt if you do not, because I understand how easy it is to forget things from week to week.
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But a few weeks ago, I introduced you to a phrase, and I'm going to use the whiteboard today because I want to all the time, but today I think it's particularly important.
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Maybe one day it will just become a permanent fixture, which is fine with me, as long as it's fine with everyone else.
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But we're going to look at a phrase that we looked at a few weeks ago, and I'm going to introduce you to a new phrase.
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Now this is Latin, so don't let that scare you, and I'm not doing this to simply confuse anyone.
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It's an important phrase for you to know.
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The phrase that we learned a few weeks ago was the phrase, ex nihilo.
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Ex nihilo in Latin means out of nothing.
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Ex is where we get the idea of exit, to go out of.
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Nihilo means nothing.
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When we discuss creation, we need to understand that when God created the universe, when He created the world, when He created all things, He did not use material formerly from something else.
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He didn't create the world, what we would call ex materia, or out of some existing material, but He created the world out of nothing, thus the phrase ex nihilo.
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Well, today I want to introduce you to a new word, and it is the word that is in your bulletin.
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It's the title of today's sermon.
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It is the word fiat, the word fiat.
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In Latin, fiat means let there be.
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So we're going to read our scripture this morning, and we're going to hear this word come up in the text.
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Let us stand together because we give honor and reverence to the word of God by standing.
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We're going to read Genesis 1 to 3.
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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
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The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
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And God said, let there be light.
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And there was light.
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May God add his blessing to the reading and to the hearing of his word.
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May he write its eternal truths upon our heart, and may he keep me from error as I preach.
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You may be seated.
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Did we see where the word fiat is translated into English there? Did we see where that word came in? It is in verse 3 and it comes again in verse 6.
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In verse 3, it says, let there be light.
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And then in verse 6, it says, let there be an expanse or the word is firmament.
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This phrase fiat is the divine command of God, God's command.
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You hear better if you're not talking, just so you know.
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Listen, give me this time, give the word of God this time.
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Amen.
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What we're going to see today is we are going to see three implications of this word fiat.
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Three things that we learn from this statement, let there be.
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Now, I didn't put the word, I didn't put the outline in the bulletin.
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I didn't put the outline in the in the screens today.
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So if you do want to take notes, you might want to listen clearly.
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I'm going to give you the three things that we learn from this.
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Number one, we learn about the phenomenal power of God.
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Number two, we learn that creation was a supernatural act.
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And number three, we learn about God's ability to perform his will.
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So three things, God's power, creation is supernatural.
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And God has the power to accomplish his purpose or his will.
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So let's look at the first thing.
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We're going to look at creation by divine fiat tells us of the phenomenal power of God.
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The fact that God can speak everything into existence is a revelation of his almighty power.
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No one else can do that.
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You can't speak and make things happen.
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Now, I know there's some crazy people out there that will tell you you can't.
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There are there are people that are called word faith, and they'll say all you have to do is speak and things will be.
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I'll tell you, that's garbage theology.
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That's not biblical theology.
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That is based on a very false understanding of one particular passage, which says that life and death are in the power of the tongue.
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You may have heard that verse and you may have heard that verse used to to tell you that your words have the power to create.
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Well, here's what that verse means.
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Life and death are in the power of the tongue.
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You, with your words, do have the power to build someone up or tear them down.
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You have the power to encourage or the power to discourage.
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Very simple.
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But you do not have the power to say, let there be a mountain and there's a mountain.
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You don't have the power to say, let there be a world and there be a world.
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And you certainly don't have the power to say, let there be light.
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And there is light, that is a power that belongs only to Almighty God.
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And that is why when we get to this passage where it says, let there be, we are learning through the simple act of seeing this happen about the phenomenal power of Almighty God.
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We sing about it.
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We sang about it twice this morning.
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We preach about it.
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But I want to stress to you, we don't understand it.
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We do not understand the power of God.
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In fact, according to Google, you know what the word God's power is Googled over six thousand times a month.
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Just the phrase God's power six thousand times.
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Because we don't know, but we want to know.
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People want to search it out.
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And most of us think about God's power in what I would call anthropomorphic terms.
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Anthropomorphism simply means when we ascribe man's qualities to God.
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When we talk about God's eyes, God's ears, God's heart, that is an anthropomorphism.
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That's ascribing something that man has to God so that we can better understand him.
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God doesn't have eyes, he's a spirit.
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God doesn't have ears like we do.
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God doesn't look like us.
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But we ascribe to him things so that we can understand him.
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And when we talk about omnipotence, what does omnipotence mean? All power.
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Even that really is an anthropomorphism, because all we're saying is we have some power and we know what power is and we know what power looks like.
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And God's just got all of it.
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And that's really what we mean when we say omnipotent.
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But that's not really an understanding of the power of God, because the power of God is not just quantitatively different, more.
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It's qualitatively different.
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It's not the same.
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I want to read to you a quote from Stephen Charnock.
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He says this.
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The infinite purity of his will may resolve as holiness is the beauty of all God's attributes.
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Power is what gives life and action to all the perfections of his divine nature.
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How vain would be the eternal counsels if power did not step in to execute them.
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Without power, his mercy would be pity.
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His promises an empty sound, his threatenings a mere scarecrow.
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God's power is like himself.
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It's infinite, eternal, incomprehensible.
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It can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature.
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See, that's not like our power.
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That's nothing like our power.
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That's a different quality of power.
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And we previously noted that God is self-existent.
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Remember we talked about that several weeks ago? That God has being in himself.
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You don't.
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God has to give you the ability to be, right? And God can take away your ability to be.
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Because being doesn't belong to you.
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Being belongs to God.
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And God gives you the power to exist.
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He could take away your power to exist because the existence that you have is from God.
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That is God's self-existence.
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Well, I want to add a thought today that power is also something that belongs solely and completely to God.
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And is in him as part of his nature.
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Psalm 62.11, you may want to write that down.
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It says, Once God has spoken twice, I have heard it, that power belongs to God.
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Charles Spurgeon said this, God's power is like himself, self-existent and self-sustained.
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The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the omnipotent one.
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He sits on no buttressed throne.
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He leans on no assisting arm.
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His courts is not maintained by his courtiers, nor does it borrow its splendor from his creatures.
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He is himself the great central source and originator of all power.
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A.W.
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Pink goes on to say, Not a creature in the entire universe has an atom of power save what God delegates.
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You don't have any power that God didn't give to you.
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You may think yourself quite independent.
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You are not.
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In fact, if God were to remove his hand from you right now and take away all power from you, you would not just shrivel up and die.
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You would cease to be.
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For the very power of existence that you possess is not from you.
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And it didn't come from your parents and it didn't come from their parents.
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But your power of existence came from Almighty God and he upholds you by his power.
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Pink goes on to say, God's power is not acquired, nor does it depend upon any recognition by any other authority.
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It belongs to him inherently.
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God has power inherent in himself.
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You have power on loan from God.
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That's the difference.
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God's power is in his nature.
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Yours is on loan from him.
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This is why Paul tells us, And by the way, what power am I talking about? The power to live, breathe, move? Paul says, In him we live and move and have our existence or our being.
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That's Acts 17, 28.
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In God, in Christ, we have the ability to do these things.
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And outside of him we would not.
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We see the power of God expressed throughout the Scripture.
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In fact, do you know what one of the names that's given to God in Scripture? One of the names, The Almighty.
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The Almighty.
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Now, God is often called Almighty God.
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But sometimes he's not.
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Sometimes it's not Almighty God.
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Sometimes it's just The Almighty.
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That describes his power.
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That describes who he is.
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That describes his nature.
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He is God.
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He is The Almighty.
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In fact, if you read Job.
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Job is one of the most interesting books of Scripture.
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It's a very, very interesting book.
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And one of the things you'll note from the book of Job.
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Is that God is often simply described as The Almighty.
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Not called God or Lord.
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But The Almighty.
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And think about what Job's going through.
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Job's going through the loss of everything, Destroying of everything.
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And what does Job say? Though he slain me, Yet will I trust in him.
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Why? Because he's The Almighty.
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And you get to the end of Job.
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And Job is having this conversation with God.
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And what does God say to Job? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world? Demonstrating the difference between God and man.
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Where were you? This is echoed by Paul in Romans 9.
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When somebody objects to the sovereignty of God.
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And the ability of God to make a choice according to his sovereign will.
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And Paul says, Who are you, oh man? To answer back to God.
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Will he who is formed, say to him who formed him, Why have you done this? Who are you? I tell you, There's a lot of churches this morning that you could go to That would be lifting you up and telling you how great you are.
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We have a much different program here.
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We're going to tell you how great God is.
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Because that's really the difference.
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I'm not here to build you up.
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I'm here to break you down at the foot of the cross So that you realize that you stand guilty before a holy God.
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And there is nothing inside yourself, There is no power inside of yourself to save you.
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The only power that can save you Is the blood of Christ, the God-man who came And gave himself on Calvary's cross.
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That's it.
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I'm not here to build you up.
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I'm here to show you Where you are at the foot of the cross.
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So that you will see that, as John the Baptist said, For him to increase, we have to decrease.
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It's like a teeter-totter.
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The more I lift myself, the more he goes down.
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The more he goes up, the more I go down.
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It's very simple.
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The power of God Is a subject that could take us Weeks and even longer To really exhaust.
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But I do want to make a few other quick comments on this first point.
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Because when you think about God speaking things into existence, Think about that power.
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I got to thinking this week about the fact that the universe Is bigger than anything we can imagine.
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You ever thought about The fact that the earth feels pretty big to you? Like if you go to the Grand Canyon, You ever been there? I've never been there, but I've seen photographs.
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But I imagine if you stand on the precipice of one of those drops And you look out at a drop that falls several thousand feet below your feet That you would look down at that and you'd feel pretty small.
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I've been in large fields in the mountains.
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I go up to the Smokies often on vacation.
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It's one of my favorite places in the whole world is to go up to Tennessee.
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And I see those beautiful mountains.
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And I remember one night I was driving.
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We got to the mountains and it was at night.
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We'd driven all through the day and got there at night.
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And I saw someone had put lights up the side of the mountain.
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And it was like spotlights that went up the side of the mountain.
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But it sort of rose out of the ground Because as I'm coming toward it, it's getting higher and higher.
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And it's almost like War of the Worlds type thing.
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I just see this giant thing that's coming up out of the earth.
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And it's a mountain.
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And I never felt so small in my whole life.
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I never felt so just tiny.
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I'm a big guy.
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But that mountain made me feel really little.
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And you know that mountain is nothing compared to the world.
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It's a small dot on the globe.
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And yet you can take 1,000...
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Well, actually, no, excuse me.
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You can take 1,300 of our earths.
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And you can put them inside Jupiter.
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And you can take 1,000 Jupiters and put them inside our sun.
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And you can take 700 of our suns And put them inside of a red giant.
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It's a larger sun than our own.
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So you know what that tells me? That tells me that God's power is so much greater than I can imagine.
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Because I can't imagine something 1,300 times the earth, 1,000 times bigger than that, and 700 times bigger than that.
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And yet God and His power is greater than all of that.
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And John Piper said it best.
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He says, God made the universe so big and us so small to say something about Himself.
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Because it tells us how great He is.
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This is why the Bible says the heavens declare the glories of God.
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Atheists will tell you the big universe proves that God doesn't exist because nothing could make something so big.
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And God says, oh, nay, nay.
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I am here and I am not silent.
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And I did create this universe.
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And my handprints are all over it.
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Amen.
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So when we say God spoke the world into existence, this is speaking about the power of God.
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Number two.
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By saying God spoke the world into existence, by saying divine fiat creation, we're also saying that Genesis chapter 1 is supernatural.
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Now what do I mean by that? Well, in the weeks to come we're going to look at Genesis 1 more closely.
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And one of the things that we're going to see is that many people try to apply naturalistic explanations to Genesis 1.
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And what they often fail to realize is that Genesis 1 is not describing a natural event.
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So if you try to apply naturalistic limitations to an unnatural, supernatural, miraculous event, it's not going to make sense.
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We make a mistake when we try to apply naturalistic explanations to supernatural events.
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I'll give you an example.
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I'll give you a couple of examples, actually.
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You remember in the Old Covenant, Old Testament scriptures, where the people of God ate bread from heaven? It was called manna.
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Manna.
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You know there's a naturalistic explanation for that? There are people who believe that it wasn't really bread from heaven, but what it was was a naturally occurring cocoon of parasitic beetles that just happens to happen to fall in arid countries or arid climates.
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I don't know about you, but that's harder for me to believe than just to simply say God gave them manna.
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Now, that is one explanation.
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But again, here's my point.
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The more you try to force-fit naturalistic explanations into the miracles of Scripture, the further you get from a biblical worldview.
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Because what you're trying to do is you're trying to find some way that God didn't have to be involved.
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You're trying to find some way for God to not have to have done it and it to have been done another way.
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For instance, the burning bush.
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That wasn't a burning bush, Pastor.
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That was an acacia bush that was over a volcanic vent.
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It makes perfect sense, if you don't believe in miracles.
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But what about the parting of the Red Sea? Oh no, Pastor, it's not the parting of the Red Sea.
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What you don't understand is that was a very dry time of year.
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And it was a time when the water had receded and the people of Israel were able to walk over it and it was very safe for them to do so because the waters had receded so far.
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You know, there's several problems with that.
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Number one, the text says the water stood as a heap on both sides.
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And one thing I know about water is this.
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Water don't stand up.
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You pour water out, try to get it to stand up.
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It don't stand up.
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Not naturally.
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And it also says they walked across on dry ground.
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They didn't walk across on muddy, you know, ankle deep water.
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But the best part of the story is right behind them was the whole Egyptian army.
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And the whole Egyptian army drowned in three inches of water, apparently.
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If that's all that was there.
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You see, the natural explanation breaks down when you actually go to the text and see what it says.
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Probably the best one is when you get to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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And what do people try to do? Oh, Jesus didn't really die on the cross.
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He just fainted.
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They call that the swoon theory.
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He just fainted on the cross and when he fainted on the cross they pulled him down.
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They figured he was dead, but hey, they weren't scientific.
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They didn't know how to kill people.
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If there was one thing Romans knew how to do, it was kill a man.
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They were real good at it.
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But apparently they weren't scientific enough.
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And so they put him in a cold, dank tomb.
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And that wet, cool tomb revived him and healed his wounds.
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And three days later he was able to come out and convince people that he had risen from the dead.
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What's my Greek word for that? Baloney.
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That's what that is.
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It's baloney.
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But that's the reality.
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They come up with a naturalistic explanation and in an attempt to try to force fit naturalism into a supernatural event, they abandon the biblical narrative.
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They abandon the biblical worldview.
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And then they wonder why we're not going with them.
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They say, pastor, you're unscientific.
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My response is very simple to that.
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Science is great.
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Science has done so many things to provide explanations for how the world operates and how God created the world and the laws that God created to govern the world.
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And there's so much we do learn from science.
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And science has given us everything from better medications to better surgical techniques to iPhones.
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I don't know why I jumped to that.
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But you understand, there's all kinds of things that science has done well.
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But one thing that science doesn't account for is the supernatural.
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And the Bible is clear that we live in a world that was created supernaturally.
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Because I'm going to tell you something.
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God spoke and it was.
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That's supernatural.
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He didn't collect all the elements and begin digging out here and digging out here.
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He spoke and it was.
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That's an act of miracle.
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That's supernatural.
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And that's why Johannes Kepler, the great astronomer, said this.
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He said, my job as a scientist is to try to think God's thoughts after him.
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I'm not trying to disprove God.
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I'm not trying to say God doesn't exist.
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And I'm not trying to fit God into my scientific paradigm.
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What I'm trying to do is learn what God has done and think like God thinks.
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So one of the things we have to think about if we're going to think like God thinks is that God does things that do not require our understanding of natural law to be fit into it.
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And the creation of the world is that.
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In a couple of weeks, we're going to talk about how long those six days were.
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And I might surprise you with my answer when we get there.
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But the only way my answer works is if it's a miracle.
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That's it.
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Oh, you all want to know so bad, don't you? Come back next week.
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I believe it was six literal days.
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Therefore, it's miraculous.
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There's no other way.
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It has to be a miracle for that to happen.
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When it comes to creation, there are just some things that science can't answer the question.
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And honestly, we don't need it.
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We have the word of God.
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This is not to say that we should be against science, but we do understand that God is not bound by any naturalistic law.
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God is above everything.
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Third thing, and this is where I want to start really pointing back to us and you particularly, is with this third thought.
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The first thought, again, was creation by divine fiat tells us God is all-powerful.
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Creation by divine fiat tells us God created the world supernaturally.
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But the third thing, and this is, like I said, I think this should hit us all close to home.
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Creation by divine fiat, God spoke and it happened, tells us about God's ability to accomplish His purpose.
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You say, why does that matter, Pastor? Well, I know a lot of people, and I myself, I would never exclude myself from this.
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A lot of people have trouble with worry, and with doubt, and with struggling with the issues of life.
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And maybe some of you came in today and you're dealing with something in your life that's very hard.
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Or maybe you're looking forward to something in your life that you have no answers for.
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Maybe you are really having difficulty with faith today.
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Might I challenge you with this one simple thought.
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The God who spoke all things into existence has also decreed your end from the beginning of your life.
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So if you're having a difficult day today, know that this is the day that the Lord has made.
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And we should rejoice and be glad in it because He is sovereign over it.
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Can I take you somewhere else in Scripture just for a moment? We'll end in this place so you don't have to hold your place in Genesis.
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We're going to go over to Romans chapter 8.
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One of my favorite passages of Scripture.
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We're going to look at Romans chapter 8.
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This is Paul giving great comfort and confidence to believers.
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Romans 8 verse 28.
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Now some of you may be able to quote this.
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But often times, here's how I hear it quoted.
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People say, God works all together for good.
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God works all together for good.
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And that's how most people quote it.
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But I want you to listen.
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We're going to read verses 28 to 30.
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And I want you to listen to what it actually says.
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And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
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For those who are called according to His purpose.
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For those whom He foreknew, He also has predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those whom He predestined, He also called.
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Those whom He called, He also justified.
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And those whom He justified, He also glorified.
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That is the promise of God to every believer.
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If you are a believer today, here is God's promise to you, and it's very simple.
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God will take everything in your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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And He will take everything in your life, and He will cause it to work together for your good.
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But I want to tell you there's a limitation.
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And the limitation is this.
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If you love Him and are called according to His purpose.
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Because I want to tell you something.
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There are people in this room today that don't love God.
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You say, who are you to judge me? I'm not judging you.
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I just know by virtue of statistical probability, that there are people who walked in here today that aren't saved.
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And if you walked in here today and you aren't saved, you have no right to claim the promise of Romans 8.28.
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If you walked in here today and you don't love the Lord, you have no reason to claim the promise of this passage.
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This promise is limited.
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Because I want to tell you, for the person who does not love the Lord, everything is not going to work out for his good.
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Everything is going to work out for his damnation.
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And what this world is, is hell, and it's going to become worse when he dies.
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Because he's going to go from hell to hell.
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You say, well, I have a pretty good life now.
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Well, guess what? All things will end in this life.
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And there's no U-Hauls on the back of hearses.
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You can't take it with you.
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You will one day face the God of this universe.
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And you'll face Him in one of two ways.
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You will either face Him, having received the Lord Jesus Christ, having His sacrifice paid for your sins, and you will stand before Him as one of His righteous people.
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Not because you are righteous, but because the righteousness of Christ has covered your sins, and you stand before having a righteousness, not of your own, but a righteousness which comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Paul tells us that.
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You will either stand clothed in righteousness of Christ alone, or you will stand clothed in your wickedness.
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And in your wickedness, God will reject you.
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He will say, I never knew you.
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And He will cast you into utter darkness forever and ever.
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And here's the thing that we know.
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If He had the power to call the world into existence by the word of His mouth, He has the power by the word of His mouth to send you to hell.
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But He also has the power to ensure that if you are His, all things will work together for your good.
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So the question becomes, do we really trust God? Do we really trust Him? We can say, yeah, we believe He made the world.
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He spoke the world into existence.
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But I'm telling you something.
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If you believe that, if you really believe God spoke the world into existence, that should affect the way you live every day.
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Because that should give you the confidence to say, He who spoke the world into existence will carry me through to the end.
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Because He who spoke the world into existence, and there was nothing that could stop Him from doing that, will also have nothing that stops Him from fulfilling His purpose in your life.
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Consider this for a moment.
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There is a passage in Psalm 121 that says this, I lift my eyes to the hills.
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From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
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Why did the psalmist say that? Because he looked at creation, he looked at the God who created all things, and he said, this is my helper.
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This is the one that stands in my defense.
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This is the one who walks each day beside me.
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This is the one who lives within me.
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And if I have that God who made heavens and earth, I can look at the hills and I can look at the mountains, and I can say, where does my help come from? It comes from you.
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And therefore I can live every single day, while the worries and the darts of the evil one try to plow against me, and I can say, my hope is not in me, and my hope is not in this world, but my hope is in the One who made me and this world.
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And I find my comfort in Him.
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Is that you today? Do you find your comfort in the Lord? Do you find your salvation in Him? There's no salvation in anyone else.
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Maybe your faith is misplaced this morning.
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Maybe you have placed your faith in yourself.
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Maybe you've placed your faith in your own power.
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Maybe you've placed your faith in your own money.
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Maybe you've placed your faith in some false god.
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Let me say this.
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There is only one whose power and majesty and might deserves our faith, and that is the God who made heaven and earth, who sent His Son to die, who provides salvation for all who believe on Him.
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Do you believe this morning that He created the world? Do you believe that He has saved you? If you don't, if you don't know that you're saved, if you come this morning and you doubt or you don't know or you don't care, let me challenge you today.
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Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Repent of your sins and turn to Him for there is no other salvation outside of Him.
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Let us pray.
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Father, I thank You for this opportunity to preach Your Word.
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I'm moved with a reminder, Lord, as I preach that Your power is unfathomable.
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And as we consider the amazing nature of Your power and all that is associated with it and the comfort that it should give and the peace that it should inspire, Lord, we are moved.
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We are moved.
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And Lord, now as we consider Your greatness, I pray for those who are here who don't know You.
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Lord, it is certain they are here.
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I pray that today Your Word would challenge their heart, that they would find themselves broken at the foot of the cross and that they would know that there is healing and fullness and salvation and forgiveness in no one else but the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And I pray this all in His name.
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Amen.