All Things For Good: Chap. 3 Pt. 2

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November 18, 2021

The Puritan Thomas Watson's book, All Things For Good, walks through Romans 8:28 showing us how all of God's attributes work for our good. This does not mean that difficulties, trials, and affliction will be avoided, but however will work for our benefit. Join us as we go through the second chapter on God's affliction.

All Things For Good: Chap. 3 Pt. 3

00:14: So, last week we began Chapter 3 in this small book by Thomas Watson, All Things For Good.
00:21: And Chapter 3, the chapter is about why all things work for good.
00:27: And so we started that last week and we're going to continue this week. Last week we discussed the grand reason why all things work for good is the near and dear interest which
00:39: God has in his people. And we talked about the new covenant that we have, we talked about the different relationships we have, the analogies of relationships that we have to the
00:50: Lord. He is our physician, he's our father, he's our husband, he's our friend, and he's the head, we think of Christ as the head of the body.
01:00: And so we discussed all those and now today, this evening, we're going to be going further and the number two is, the vision that he has here is inferences from the proposition that all things work for good.
01:15: So things that we learn from the fact that all things work for good. Number one, if all things work for good, hence learn that there is a providence.
01:27: Things do not work by themselves, but God sets them working for good. God is the great disposer of all events and issues.
01:34: He sets everything working. His kingdom rules over all. It is meant of his providential kingdom.
01:41: Things in the world are not governed by second causes, by the counsels of men, by the stars and planets, but by divine providence.
01:49: Providence is the queen and governess of the world. There are three things in providence,
01:55: God's foreknowing, God's determining, and God's directing all things to their proper outcomes.
02:01: Whatever things do work in the world, God sets them working. We read in the first chapter of Ezekiel, and I don't necessarily agree with his interpretation here, but we read in the first chapter of Ezekiel of wheels and eyes in the wheels and the moving of the wheels.
02:17: The wheels are the whole universe, the eyes in the wheels are God's providence, and the moving of the wheels is the hand of providence turning all things here below.
02:25: That which is by some called chance is nothing else but the result of God's providence.
02:34: Learn to adore God's providence. Providence has an influence upon all things here below.
02:40: God's providence mingles the ingredients and makes up the whole compound. We'll come back to that in a second.
02:49: And just by way of reminder, as we go through this, feel free to ask questions, make comments, interact.
02:57: It always helps to flesh out some of these things. And I know that you're thinking about it, so I feel better and make sure that you're fully understanding it.
03:06: So he says that all things work for good, and they do learn that there is a providence, that there is a providence that is ruling all this, and God is behind that providence, obviously.
03:21: It is God's providence. His kingdom rules over all. And so he talks about God's foreknowing and God's determining and God's directing all things to their proper abode.
03:32: He mentions about Ezekiel, and it's interesting. I tried looking at it and trying to see how
03:39: I felt about that. And he's not, I wouldn't say he's entirely incorrect, but, you know, it's hard when you get into some of these prophetic books and some of the symbolism there and what is it actually meaning.
03:54: I was looking at another commentator and he was talking about that chariot and the wheels beneath the living creatures and the
04:01: Lord is above them. And he says the mobility of the wheels suggests the omnipresence of God, the eyes, his omniscience, the elevated position, his omnipotence, his all -powerfulness.
04:12: So there's certainly that idea behind it if you want to see it, you know, when he gets very specific on how he thinks each component of the wheel and what it represents.
04:25: But the fact is, it does demonstrate that God is sovereign over all his creation and he does have the knowledge, he has the determining factor in his ordination of all things, his decree of all things, and directing all those things to come about.
04:46: That's providence. So he's not entirely off, you know, we just nitpick over certain things.
04:52: So I don't know how you guys feel about that. Any questions about that part? His main point there was that, just to understand, this isn't, he says, that which is by some called chance.
05:06: There's no such thing as chance. There's no such thing as coincidence. It is the Lord's providence in all things, right?
05:14: He's sovereign over all things. I hear providence, what it means.
05:21: It's a reference to how God controls the world, you know, how he conducts things in the world.
05:29: He mentioned, up here, three things in providence, God's foreknowing,
05:35: God's determining, and God's directing all things to their proper abode. So we talk about God's foreknowledge, he knows everything.
05:44: We talk about God's determination or his decree. He decrees all those things which come to pass.
05:51: And that's, you know, we're kind of distinguishing it as categories, but, like, it's really, it's all wrapped up in one.
06:01: His foreknowledge is wrapped up in his decree. He knows all things because he has decreed all things.
06:07: There are people who would look and say, oh, you know, God looks down the corridors of time and then he decrees.
06:14: And we would staunchly say, no, that would be incorrect. God does not learn, you know, like we learn.
06:20: His knowledge is perfect. He does not react like we would react to things.
06:27: He decrees those things and he works through a number of different causes, second causes.
06:35: He works through free moral agents, in one sense, free. You know, we hold to the 1689
06:43: London Baptist Confession, and if you look to the confession and you go to one of the early chapters, it says God's decree and it kind of spells it out.
06:50: But it's basically how he governs the world. Does that make sense?
06:58: He's omnipresent. He is everywhere, right? You know, Paul was talking about one of the pagan philosophers, you know, the poets who says, you know, in him we live and move and have our being.
07:10: And he was attributing it to a false god, but Paul says, yes, the creator, in him we do live and move and have our being.
07:17: He is all in all and he is everywhere. So omnipresent is he's everywhere.
07:23: Omnipotent is he's all powerful. He can do whatsoever he desires, right?
07:29: And omniscient is he knows all things. And so God is, he's omni, he's everything.
07:37: He's all in all. Does that make sense? Okay, very good. So we're learning that he has providence and we should adore providence because what this is saying is the, you know, the title of the book where he's expounding on one verse in Romans 8,
07:56: Romans 8, 28, that all things work for good for those who love God and providence is how
08:03: God makes all things work for good. His ordering of all those things that whatsoever comes to pass, he uses them for our good.
08:12: The first chapter was talking about the good things that work for our good. The second chapter that we covered over a number of weeks was talking about the worst things, affliction and temptation and desertion.
08:24: Those things he uses for good and now he's talking about the why and the how. Any other questions?
08:32: Okay. Number two, it says, observe the happy condition of every child of God.
08:38: All things work for his good, the best and worst things. Unto the upright arises light in darkness.
08:48: The dark cloudy providences of God have some sunshine in them.
08:54: What a blessed condition a true, my screen is much darker than yours.
09:01: What a blessed condition is a true believer in. When he dies, he goes to God and while he lives, everything shall do him good.
09:09: Affliction is for his good. What hurt does the fire to the coal, to the gold? It only purifies it.
09:15: What hurt does the winnowing fan do to the grain? It only separates the chaff from it. God never uses his staff, but to beat out the dust.
09:24: Affliction does that which the word many times will not. It opens the ear to discipline. When God lays men upon their backs, then they look up into heaven.
09:33: God smiting his people is like the musician striking upon the violin, which makes it put forth a melodious sound.
09:41: How much good comes to the saints by affliction. Like bruised flowers, when they are pounded and broken, they send forth their sweetest smell.
09:52: Affliction is a bitter root, but it bears sweet fruit. It yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
09:59: Affliction is the highway to heaven. Though it be flinty and thorny, yet it is the best way.
10:05: Poverty shall starve our sins. Sickness shall make grace more helpful. Reproach shall cause the spirit of God and of glory to rest upon us.
10:14: Death shall stop the bottle of tears and open the gate of paradise. A believer's dying day is his ascension day to glory.
10:23: Hence it is the saints have put their afflictions in the inventory of their riches.
10:29: A child of God say, if I had not been afflicted, I would have been destroyed. If my health and estate had not been lost, my soul had been lost.
10:48: OK. So it says observe the happy condition of every child of God. That is not talking about their emotional state.
10:57: Keep in mind when the Puritans talk about some of their languages a little bit different than ours.
11:03: But when he's talking about the happy condition of them, he's talking about their reality. Their happy circumstances and the fact that everything works for good, the best and worst things.
11:13: He says even the dark, cloudy providences have sunshine in them. Psalm 112, 4, the
11:21: ESV says, light dawns in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
11:27: And so Thomas Watson makes the point that when we die, we go to God. The thing some people fear the most, right?
11:35: They'll go to extreme measures to do anything they can to preserve their life, even at the expense of others.
11:44: The believer says, when I die, I go to be with Christ. And that's far better, right?
11:50: But even when we are living, everything that we have happened to us is working for our good.
11:56: Affliction is for our good. Those difficult circumstances is for our good. He says, how does fire hurt gold?
12:02: It just brings out the purity of it. It gets rid of that which isn't good. And the same for the grain.
12:09: You know, when God is using his staff, when he is giving us chastening, discipline, it's only for our benefit.
12:16: He makes a mention of affliction does that which the word many times will not. It opens the ear to discipline.
12:23: You know, sometimes the Lord is communicating to us and he has communicated in softer, gentler ways.
12:29: It's right there in the word of God. It might have been in the counsel or admonishment of a friend.
12:35: And if we don't hear that, sometimes the Lord brings about consequences for our actions. And then, all of a sudden, we're paying more attention.
12:43: So even in that difficulty, God is working for good because he's sanctifying us. He's helping us to finally hear him and understand and respond the way we ought to.
12:54: Questions or comments about that? No? Fairly straightforward.
13:00: And we kind of talked about this when he's talking about the various things about affliction.
13:08: This was covered a lot in the second chapter when we went through affliction and how it works for our good.
13:16: So that's probably pretty familiar. So number three, see then what an encouragement there is to become godly.
13:25: All things shall work for good. Oh, that this may induce men to fall in love with piety.
13:30: Can there be a greater lodestone to piety? Can anything more prevail with us to be good than this, that all things shall work for our good?
13:38: Piety is the true magic stone which turns everything into gold. Take the sourest part of religion, the suffering part, and there is comfort in it.
13:47: God sweetens suffering with joy. He candies our wormwood with sugar. Oh, how may this bribe us to godliness.
13:55: Acquaint now yourself with God and be at peace. Therefore, good shall come unto you.
14:02: No man did ever come off a loser by his acquaintance with God. By this, good shall come unto you, abundance of good, the sweet distillations of grace, the hidden manna.
14:13: Yes, everything shall work for good. Oh, then get acquaintance with God. Espouse his interest.
14:30: It says all things work for good. It goes, what an incentive there it is, therefore, to love holiness, talking about piety, holiness, godliness.
14:41: If those things, if that's working for our good, how much more we want to be good.
14:47: But it's also, when he brings up that passage from Job, the
14:54: ESV says, agree now with God. Agree with God and be at peace. Thereby, good will come to you.
15:00: So again, the way he's using here is as opposed to, it's not off to get familiar with God, to know
15:10: God. You will be at peace if you understand, and good will come to you. But he says there's so many good things that come from it.
15:19: The holier we are when we grow in sanctification, we become holier.
15:25: When we conform more and more to the image of Christ, when we're in agreement with God, and when we're progressing in our understanding and happiness and joy as we see all things are working for good.
15:35: So this should encourage you to want to grow in your sanctification.
15:41: Because if you're growing in your sanctification, your mind frame, your understanding of life and all that's involved is going to be in agreement with God, with his word, what he says.
15:52: And you're going to see this, you're going to understand it, you're going to embrace it, and you're going to be happier for it.
16:00: Much more good will come to you, especially when you're understanding things truly and you'll be able to rejoice.
16:08: So it's encouragement to us to become more holy and recognize the benefits that come from being holy.
16:14: Additionally, and I wonder how many people would realize this, maybe it's harder in this day and age, but it's a means by which to witness, you know, to explain how things work in God's economy.
16:26: If someone sees you going through a difficult time and, you know, your circumstances are clearly humanly difficult, you know, you're sick, you're suffering, you had a death in the family, you had a financial loss, it could be any number of things, but you seem to be at peace, or you seem to even be joyful, even in difficult circumstances.
16:54: Well, how is that? And you can explain, I know that the Lord is using this for good.
16:59: And it's another contact point where we can talk about the glory of God, the goodness of God, that even in our difficulties, we have peace, we have, we can even have joy, and that's something that's just strange.
17:16: That's strange to a world that doesn't put their trust in God. They're only finding happiness in their circumstances.
17:24: And so when things are good, they're happy. When things are bad, how can anyone be happy, right?
17:30: And so when we recognize that God is using this for good and we're able to share that with others, it's another point of being able to witness.
17:39: Make sense? Okay. Any questions or comments? No? After a while I saw that hand, and she was just scratching her head.
17:50: I'm like, nope. Okay, it says number four, notice the miserable condition of wicked men.
17:59: To those who are godly, evil things work for good. To those who are evil, good things work for hurt.
18:08: Temporal good things work for hurt to the wicked. Riches and prosperity are not benefits, but snares to them.
18:15: Worldly things are given to the wicked as Michael was given to David for a snare. The vulture is said to draw sickness from a perfume.
18:23: So do the wicked get hurt from the sweet perfume of prosperity. Their mercies are like poisoned bread.
18:29: Their tables are sumptuously spread, but there is a hook under the bait. Let their table become a snare.
18:35: All their enjoyments are like Israel's quail, which were sauced with the wrath of God. Pride and luxury are the twin offspring of prosperity.
18:47: You are wax and fat. Then he forsook God. Riches are not only like the spider's web, unprofitable, but like the cockatrice's egg, pernicious.
18:58: Riches kept for the hurt of the owner. The common mercies wicked men have are not lodestones to draw them nearer to God, but millstones to sink them deeper in hell.
19:10: Their delicious dainties are like Haman's banquet. After all their lordly feasting, death will bring in the bill, and they must pay it in hell.
19:19: That was very serious. A couple of, when it talks about luxury there, it's not talking about luxury the way we think.
19:31: I mean, you're thinking of prosperity, you think of luxury. But an archaic definition of luxury actually was referenced as a lechery or lust.
19:41: So you think about pride and luxury in his terminology. Well, we still understand pride now.
19:48: And you could say self -confidence and self -indulgence. These things that are, you know, humanly speaking, good things.
19:55: It's good to be rich. It's good to be prosperous. You know, if you understand those blessings properly, that those things are tools, they're resources to use for God's glory.
20:09: But for the wicked, they're a snare. It says worldly things are given to the wicked as Michael was given to David.
20:16: So if you're familiar with that account where, not that David was wicked, but the idea was that Michael, Saul's daughter, was given to David as a wife.
20:28: And he was hoping that she would be a snare to him. Does anyone know why Michael might have been a snare to David under those circumstances?
20:38: Who knows? First Samuel. OK. No one?
20:46: No one wants to? All right. Try to give you something. Michael was
20:52: Saul's daughter. And David was a poor shepherd, right, who was rising through the ranks in the military and having all sorts of favor with God and with man.
21:06: But he said, I don't have anything to offer as a bride price, any sort of dowry or anything like that.
21:13: And he goes, well, just get me 100 foreskins of the Philistines and avenge me on the
21:19: Philistines. And so he has to go and kill 100 Philistines, and he brought him 200 instead.
21:26: Not to mention, just sometimes when you get caught up in the domestic duties of life, your attitude towards warfare and stuff can change.
21:38: Also, Michael, as we know, was not extraordinarily faithful to the
21:44: Lord. When David had to run and flee, she used a household idol, it sounds like, a household image she put in there.
21:53: So maybe it was a statue, maybe it was an idol of sorts that she had, and she put it in the bed to pretend it was him.
21:59: And of course, later on, she despised him when he was dancing before the Lord, and she ended up being barren for the rest of her life for her attitude towards God, towards David.
22:10: And so Michael was given as a snare. That's really a lot more information than you need to know for this.
22:16: I'm just trying to give you something to think about, but I don't want to leave you hanging. So yes, so good things can be a snare to those who are wicked.
22:26: Anything that you would actually think would be a benefit to them ends up being something that God uses to judge them later on because he's shown them grace, he's shown them kindness, and instead of being thankful, they use it and they turn it into more sin.
22:41: Any questions or comments about that? Yeah?
22:55: Yeah? Exactly. Yeah? No? No, there's times where it seems like the wicked are prospering, right?
23:06: And we see that even in the Psalms at times where the psalmist is decrying this, like, how long are they going to get away with this?
23:13: And Lord, won't you wake up? Won't you act? One psalmist says, my foot almost slipped.
23:21: But then he went to the house of the Lord and he recognized what their end was going to be. But in the meantime, yeah, it sure seems like they're having their day and they're having everything that they could possibly want.
23:32: Haman thought he had everything. You know, he was the king's right -hand man. And, oh, look, the queen thinks
23:38: I'm wonderful and invited me to the feast, just me and the king. And the next thing you know, he's getting hung on his gallows.
23:45: The bill will come and they will have to pay it. But sometimes it goes on for a while.
23:51: Go ahead. Also, David was anointed king, but for many years.
23:56: And he did get to sit at the king's table with King Saul on occasion.
24:01: But all those years in the caves and running and in the city of the Philistines and pretending to have to be mad.
24:09: He was anointed king, but he wasn't given the luxuries for a long time. Right.
24:14: Yeah, I mean, and keep in mind when I talk about the luxuries here, we're talking about for the wicked, it's a snare.
24:21: He was saying that there are certain things that are good. But if you don't have the right attitude, if you don't love the
24:29: Lord, it's to your destruction. But those things can.
24:35: We have to be careful that it doesn't cause us to go astray. This was the warning to Israel. Right.
24:40: You're going to have all this prosperity. You're going to have houses you didn't build and vineyards you didn't plant. And he goes, and you're going to forget me.
24:47: And that's what they did. They started thinking, I accomplished all this on my own. You know, and they did not give glory to God.
24:54: They did not have a thankful attitude towards God. And it was used towards their, to their detriment because they had become wicked.
25:05: But yeah. Next one. Spiritual good things work for hurt to the wicked.
25:12: From the flower of heavenly blessings, they suck poison. He says the ministers of God work for their hurt.
25:20: The same wind that blows one ship to the haven blows another ship upon a rock. The same breath in the ministry that blows a godly man to heaven blows a profane center to hell.
25:31: They who come with the word of life in their mouths, yet too many are a saver of death. Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy.
25:39: The prophet was sent upon a sad message to preach their funeral sermon. Wicked men are worse for preaching.
25:46: They hate him who rebukes. Sinners grow more resolved in sin. Let God say what he will.
25:52: They will do what they desire. As for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto you.
25:59: The word preached is not healing, but hardening. And how dreadful is this for men to be sunk to hell with sermons.
26:08: He's got a few things to say here. Prayer, well, he's got a few different, so I'll take it a piece at a time.
26:21: We talked about, mentioned this on Sunday, Justin talking about the divisiveness of Christ, the divisiveness of the word.
26:33: And he says that here, you know, the same wind blows one ship to the haven, one to the rock.
26:41: The sermon can bring one person to heaven. It saves them and sends the other person to hell.
26:48: It just hardens their heart. Paul says in Corinthians that, you know, we're the aroma of Christ, of Christ to God, among those who are perishing and those who are being saved.
27:00: He says to one, we're the fragrance of death to death, and to the other, life to life.
27:06: Same message, same Christ, same truth. And yet for some, it's what saves them.
27:13: It's the power of God. And for others, this blessed, glorious good news only hardens their heart more, makes them more resolved in their sin, and sends them to hell with greater punishment because they are responsible for the truth which they have been exposed to.
27:37: You know, James talks about not becoming teachers because we'll incur a stricter judgment.
27:43: And the reality is, was it Francis Schaeffer who said that sometimes being a witness to someone is one of the worst things you can do for them because you take the top off their house, you know.
27:55: And so they're fat, dumb, and happy inside and everything's fine. Now you take the roof off and they're exposed to the truth and all the elements and all of the world and you can't put that roof back on.
28:06: They're stuck with that knowledge. I mean, the fact of the matter is, they're image bearers and they're going to be responsible to the
28:12: Creator regardless. But those who have been exposed to the Gospel, who have heard the good news, who have heard the preaching, they're even more responsible because they have heard the truth.
28:22: They've received even more blessing which for them turned into a curse. Continuing on in that same vein, spiritual good things working for hurt to the wicked.
28:37: He says prayer works for their hurt. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. A wicked man is in a great strain.
28:44: If he prays not, he sins. If he prays, he sins. Let his prayer become sin.
28:50: It were a sad judgment if all the food a man ate should breed diseases in the body. And so it is with a wicked man.
28:57: That prayer which should do him good works for his hurt. He prays against sin and sins against his prayer.
29:05: His duties are tainted with atheism and fly -blown with hypocrisy. God abhors them.
29:10: The plowing of the wicked is sin. And so prayer is working to their hurt. They're told to call upon the name of the
29:17: Lord but they can't do it. In their flesh, they can't do it rightly. And it's actually further rebellion.
29:24: He says it's atheism and it's hypocrisy. And they're sinning even in what they do.
29:32: And so, again, they're experiencing these things to their hurt.
29:38: He says the Lord's Supper works for their hurt. You cannot eat of the Lord's table and the table of devils.
29:44: Do not provoke the Lord to jealousy. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Some professors kept their idle feast yet would come to the
29:52: Lord's table. The apostle says, do you provoke the Lord to wrath? Profane people feast with their sins yet will come to feast at the
30:00: Lord's table. This is to provoke God to wrath. To a sinner, there is death in the cup. He eats and drinks his own damnation.
30:08: Thus the Lord's Supper works for hurt to impenitent sinners. After the sop, the devil enters.
30:13: And, of course, that's referring to Jesus and Judas. Thank you.
30:19: Where Judas, he says, I'll dip the bread in and whoever I give it to, that's the one who's going to betray me.
30:26: And so Judas takes what Jesus gave him to eat, a sign of closeness and communion and relationship.
30:33: And he eats it and the devil enters into him. And he goes out and, of course, betrays
30:39: Christ and ends up dying by his own hand. And spending eternity in hell.
30:45: And so we've also, every Lord's Day when we partake of the supper, we fence the table and we say, be careful of not examining yourself and eating and drinking judgment to yourself.
30:57: You know, if we examine ourselves, we will not have to be judged. But if we don't, the Lord will judge us.
31:04: Questions or comments about that before we go to our last one here? It says
31:12: Christ himself works for the hurt to desperate sinners. He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
31:19: He is so through the depravity of men's hearts. For instead of believing in him, they are offended at him.
31:25: The sun, though in its own nature, pure and pleasant, yet is hurtful to sore eyes. Jesus Christ is set for the fall as the rising of many.
31:35: Sinners stumble at a savior and pluck death from the tree of life. As strong medicines recover some patients, but destroy others.
31:43: So the blood of Christ, though to some it is medicine, to others it is condemnation. Here is the unparalleled misery of such as live and die in sin.
31:54: The best things work for their hurt. Cordials themselves kill. And so, of course, we've talked about cordials before.
32:02: And that's to be used as medicine, something to help the body, to cheer the body.
32:09: And here is the best medicine for us, the only medicine for us in Christ. And yet he's a stumbling block, he's a rock of offense.
32:19: He was quoting there from Luke, talking about that he was going to be appointed, or he was appointed for the fall and rising of many there in Israel and around the world.
32:29: So the medicine of salvation, but for some they have a fatal allergic reaction to it. And so even
32:35: Christ, who is the very, very best, the only begotten, he works to the hurt of them who are wicked, who reject him.
32:47: Any questions or comments on all of this? No? Erica's like, got nothing for you.
32:56: That's okay. Erica's always pulling everyone's weight around here. She's like, I'm sorry, I let you down. That's okay.
33:03: No, that's all right. Hopefully all this is clear. I mean, when you're going through this, we're in Chapter 3, and so some of this stuff is a little bit repetitive.
33:15: And it's just further entrenching these things in our mind and making it clear. We'll talk about next time just the fact that one of the things we struggle with the most as believers is unbelief and impatience.
33:31: We're very prone to be discontent with our circumstances. We want other things.
33:37: We want things to be different. We want other things. And if we're like that, we're showing that we don't really believe this verse.
33:47: Because if we believed it, our actions would be more in line with what we profess we believe.
33:53: Our thoughts, our beliefs drive our actions. And so if we're seeing that, we're recognizing we're struggling with unbelief.
34:00: And so he's writing this whole book to expound on this verse and to explain all the different angles, all the different approaches to looking at it so that it will be firm in our minds, entrenched in our thought processes.
34:16: It's our filter to look at our circumstances and say, ah, this is working for my good.
34:21: Ah, this is working for my good. And to take comfort in that and to thank God and to bless God, to rejoice.
34:27: And it will change how we view life and how we respond to life.
34:34: And it can change. It will grow us in our sanctification, and it will make us more effective in being a witness of Christ to others.
34:40: Zach? I have a question. I don't know if I'm going to be able to ask this right.
34:46: So before it said that God doesn't listen to sinners prayers, right?
34:56: That we all sin. Okay. I don't understand.
35:01: Is that the confusion? Yeah, I mean, we all still sin. Like, does it mean like people that are just like hypocrites?
35:09: Or does he listen to people that sin on accident? Like, I don't get it.
35:15: I gotcha. No, that's a good question. So yeah, everyone's a sinner, right?
35:21: We're all guilty, and even those who have come to Christ and recognizing him as Lord, as Savior, and looking to him for the forgiveness of our sins, we still struggle with the flesh.
35:32: We still sin every day. But our identity now is in Christ. So while we sin, we are in Christ.
35:41: And so he hears our prayers, and he's pleased to answer our prayers. And when it comes to the wicked, those who are not in Christ, when it says he doesn't hear or he doesn't listen,
35:52: I mean, keep in mind he's explaining something when he says it.
35:57: It's not like he's like, I can't hear you. It's like, well, I can hear Chris because he's believed on Christ, and I can hear his prayers.
36:05: And this person over here is just like, I see their mouth moving. They're just muted. He hears their prayers, and he's sometimes even merciful to answer the prayers in the affirmative and give them what they've asked for.
36:18: But when he's doing that, first of all, the person who is in rebellion against God has no right to expect
36:26: God to answer their prayers, and they should understand that. But the person who receives that positive answer, that affirmative answer, maybe they were asking for healing for themselves or someone else, or they're asking for circumstances to turn this way or that, if they pray to God and God answers their prayers, they should be having thankfulness in their heart, and they should be looking to submit themselves to the one who has saved them in their moment of desperation and given them the desires of their heart.
37:01: If they refuse to do so, if they just say, okay, thanks, like the foxhole prayer, like, oh,
37:08: Lord, if you save me out of this, I swear I'll live my whole life for you. I'll do whatever it takes.
37:14: And then the crisis passes. They live, and they go home, and they forget all about God. All they've done is they got their life for a time being, but they have greater wrath being stored up for them.
37:25: So the Lord hears their prayers in one sense, but he's under no obligation to pray.
37:32: And if they're asking God for anything and refusing to submit to him, to recognize him as Lord and to act in a way accordingly with that, all they're doing is storing up more wrath for themselves.
37:49: You know, it's more sin on their behalf to actually ask something of God and get it and not love
37:57: God the way he tells them to love God. Does that make sense? Alex? I wanted to just add to that that in the
38:05: Bible, in Romans, it also talks about the concept that we don't know how to properly pray to God necessarily, even in our
38:14: Christian state. So the Spirit of God actually takes our words, which we stumble over our words, we pray incorrectly, and actually makes them presentable to God.
38:27: So the Spirit kind of interprets or is the mediator to present the prayers to the
38:33: Father, basically. And a person who's outside of Christ wouldn't have that mediator aspect to ever speak on his behalf, not on God's behalf.
38:45: Cool. Yep. Anyone else? Mike? I was thinking of James.
38:52: You know, it says, if anybody likes wisdom, let him ask God. But if he asks with doubting, you know, he's a double -minded man.
39:01: So like, when a sinner prays, it's really a matter of the heart of God that sees people's hearts.
39:09: And if they're not sincere, if they're not praying according to his will, he's not going to answer their prayer.
39:17: But if he is, and he's doing it with humility, then
39:23: God will be a sinner, you know. I think... Oh, sorry.
39:29: Have you had this before? No, no, no. I think Zach's question is, why is one...
39:35: So let's just, for example, you have two people that are unsafe. And one person prays, save me.
39:42: And he gets saved instantaneously. And the other person prays, save me. And it's fully or denied for a time, whatever that means.
39:50: What is the... I think Zach is asking, how does that... What's the change that happens that God hears one pray,
39:57: Lord, you know, I got tons of bills, I can't pay them. And God provides. And the other one prays the same prayer, but goes bankrupt, and he is a
40:06: Christian. So I think Zach... So Zach's question, what is the minutia in that? And we're talking specifically about salvation and the changing of the heart.
40:15: So God, in His providence, in His sovereignty, says, okay, I'm going to save Zach.
40:21: Okay? He's my child. Christ specifically died for him. Right?
40:28: Foreknowing, providence, and all those other good things that God has in His sovereignty. Zach's going to get saved. But being
40:34: Mike, I don't get saved. And God's perfectly just to leave me unsaved because I'm wicked and evil.
40:40: And yet, He changes Zach's heart from a heart of stone, and wickedness, and evilness, and the enemy of God.
40:46: He makes him a child of God and changes his heart to part of flesh. Now Zach wants to follow Christ. He wants to do things.
40:52: Now he's a child of the King. Right? Because we know that God, He was slain before the foundation of the world.
40:58: And in Romans 8, the golden chain explains how we were called and saved and justified and born again.
41:06: Now, being a child in Christ, God will hear Zach's prayer because he's a child of the
41:12: King of Christ specifically by Zach. I think that's the key that Zach's trying to zoom in on.
41:19: Maybe I'm being a little bit more exact in how that's happening because now Zach's a child and I'm not. And we can pray for the same thing.
41:25: I hate the Lord. I need some finances. And now I'm left to go try and tell Him He broke me. It could work the other way.
41:30: It forces Zach to be on his knees and come close to Christ and be more holy and more sanctified.
41:37: But his prayers are being answered because God's purpose is to conform us to His Son. I think that's a determining factor,
41:44: Zach, that the exact same prayer is answered when one is not. Either you're in Christ or you're out of Christ.
41:51: Being in Christ is entirely different. And your prayers are answered specifically to what you need, not what you want.
41:58: And I think that's what Zach is trying to get at. He's trying to understand why one and one are not.
42:04: So that's really important. Differentiate the two kingdoms. That's a good...
42:10: Oh, I got everyone going now. Go ahead. Well, when
42:16: I read your question, Zach, I was thinking about how are we defining a sinner?
42:23: So, like, although Christians may still sin, their desires should now be changed where they don't want to sin?
42:32: Yeah, that's kind of where I was... Yeah, exactly. How do you define a sinner?
42:38: Like, we all still sin. I guess, like you're saying, a sinner would be somebody that's just a hypocrite that's not really following the commandments.
42:45: And kind of just like praying to Jesus. It's like praying to Jesus, but not...
42:51: But their heart is not changed. There's no repentance. It's just... They give lip service to God.
42:57: They might show up on Sunday or whenever, and they go through the motions, but their lives aren't different.
43:04: Their heart's not different. They don't have a desire to follow God. So, yeah, we're talking about each one sins, but who are those who are in Christ?
43:14: And all of their prayers will be answered in accordance with their need. Sometimes, all the time,
43:20: God knows exactly what we need. So sometimes our requests are answered yes or no, but it's for our best.
43:30: We're the one who's outside of Christ. And keep in mind, when it talks about that, we see that in Psalms and Proverbs.
43:39: This is talking to the people of Israel. These are talking about the people who know Yahweh, the coming and keeping
43:44: God, and yet not all of them truly believe in Him and love Him.
43:50: And so even though they're born Jewish, and they may be circumcised, and they may partake in the feasts and the festivals and all these different things, it's all external.
43:59: There's no heart change. They still have no love for God in their heart, and so they're identified by their sin and not by their
44:06: Savior. Sarah? Yeah, I was just going to say, the key comes down to the heart, like God's Spirit, like, for the unbeliever, they don't have the
44:15: Spirit of God. Their heart is not changed. But once God changes their heart, they are able to call upon the
44:21: Lord and be saved, because God's Spirit has worked in their heart, and now their prayers can be heard in the sense that you were talking about.
44:28: And for the believer, like if they're praying about circumstances, not about salvation, God does all things for good, such as providence, whether He answers their question yes or no, it's for their good.
44:41: Erica? I was also thinking about how there can be somebody who goes to church who, you know, takes communion, but if they don't have, like, they could be apostates.
44:55: Like, their hearts could be deceiving them, where they think that they're Christians, but like, we don't label a Christian by somebody who goes to church.
45:02: We label a Christian by, you know, well, God knows the heart. We can't really say who's not a
45:07: Christian, who's saved, who's not saved. I mean, this, you know, ultimately
45:12: God knows the heart, and we don't, I mean, we do try to discern as best we can by the fruit. I mean, that's what we're told.
45:20: That's a weighty matter. Is that helping? It's a good question. Yeah, no, that, like, that was all very, very helpful.
45:28: Excellent. Very good. All right, so we finally got some questions, some interaction, and now we're done.
45:37: Done. Like, you guys are one step ahead. All right.
45:43: What's that? Okay. Questions, yeah. So it's now you.
45:51: It's on you. It's a question that wasn't. All right.
45:57: Well, thank you very much. I hope this has been helpful. We will pick it up again next week. So we'll just close in prayer to close this portion, and then we'll spend our time in prayer and praise.