Ruth's Sustaining God (Part 2)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio, with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

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So my God the King, my God is King, Elimelech, leaves the house of Red to go to Moab, and he takes

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Naomi, and her name's sweet, it means my joy or my pleasant one. And let's go south to Moab, associated with Sodom.

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Where's a good place to raise kids? Let's go to Sodom. Now, I don't know what this guy's thinking, because he's thinking wrongly, and the writer wants you to know that.

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But even naming the kids, how do you name kids? Remember, the first kid on our block who got married and had a kid, he named his son

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Luke. I thought that was pretty crazy, because he named him after Luke Skywalker.

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I think Luke's a great name, obviously, but I've named Luke after Luke, the Gentile physician. How do you name your kids?

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What does this mean? Melon means weak or sick, to be sterile, to be weak.

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And chilean means to fail, to pine, to sin, or to be annihilated.

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I mean, let's go with, I'll take my wife, my pleasant one, my joyful one.

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I'm my god, the king, and let's go down there, and let's take weak and snively down there.

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Don't forget sneezy, happy, and dopey. Now, the reader who's insightful reads the next part, they were

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Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. 1

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Samuel 17, David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named

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Jesse. Ah, it's a clue, somehow this must be related. Where's David's genealogy?

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Well, it's written by Samuel, now writing Ruth, so we can see that he has the rights to be the king, and this is making sense.

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The noble clan, the Ephrathites, there's a connection with David. And they went into the country of Moab and remained there.

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The food's dying out, and now their line is dying out. Look at verse 3. Where's David's line going to be?

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Where's the son of David, where's the ultimate redeemer going to come from? But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died.

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There's a curse, most think, the Jewish traditionalists think. This is out of judgment of God, I agree.

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And she was left with her two sons. These took, these lifted, these carried.

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Every time you see that word took, Moabite wives are took wives, it's always wrong.

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Don't take Canaanite wives, don't take Philistine wives, don't take Agagite wives, don't take

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Moabite wives. They just took them. I don't care what the Bible says about Jews marrying

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Jews, just take them. See all the pragmatism here. Everyone's doing what is what?

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Right in their own eyes. You know, shouldn't you have thought, hey,

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I think I probably should go back to the promised land and repent, and we know God's faithful and just to forgive us our sins when we confess.

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They took these wives, the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both

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Malon and Chilion died, so now the husband dies, now the sons die, so the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

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Orpah means back of the neck, our stiff neck, where we get the mane of a horse.

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And Ruth means friend or to water abundantly, to be saturated. It's a variety of different ways to translate

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Ruth. But Malon, sickly and snively they died.

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God's not blessing here. God blesses with milk and with honey and with produce and with wine and with oil and with children.

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And what's the opposite? These guys are going south, and the bad news is there's no government for welfare, there's no

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Obamacare. I guess there's always prostitution.

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A double curse, widows, childless, no social security, no food stamps.

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The fruitful land has turned into a barren land. The fruitful wombs have turned into barren wombs. Where's the heir?

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Where's the future? Where's David the king? Where's the son of David? Now to tie this together, let me ask you some questions, because this is very relevant truth and I don't want you to miss it.

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So let's tie a few things together and stop at the end of verse five. Question one, so we can see the relevancy of Ruth and the

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God of Ruth. Let me ask you some questions. Question number one. Aren't you glad that God's grace overpowers sin and rebellion?

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I could put it this way. Aren't you glad that God's grace overpowers your sin, my sin, and rebellion?

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How could David emerge from these dark days? Men and women rebelling in the face of God.

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What do you think God should do? What would you do if you were God? Let me read you Ian Duguid, he said in his commentary. In fact, were it not for the mercy and power of the

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Lord, all of us would end up like Elimelech, Melon, and Chilion. Dead and buried without trace and without memory.

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The victims of our own bad decisions and foolish choices. Ever made a bad decision or a foolish choice?

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Left to ourselves, Duguid says, we would fall away in an instant. Fortunately for us, however,

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God's grace transcends our rebellion and not only leaves the door open for us to retrace our steps, but stirs our heart to see our folly and the welcoming arms that await our return.

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How can it be that in this cesspool of a spiritual condition, something good can come out of it?

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Why don't you turn to Romans chapter 8, verse 28, and I want to just remind you of this verse that you know.

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But if I was going to put a template onto Ruth, chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4,

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I want you to make sure you get that God is sovereign over everything. I know you know the verse, I hope you just don't throw it out to people who are hurting, although you can certainly talk about who

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God is, but I want you to just camp on this verse for a minute, that the God of Ruth, the

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God in the days of the judges, is still the Lord that we serve now and even bad things that happen,

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God gets glory and God's in charge of them. So Ruth, then into Romans, Romans 8, 28.

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ESV says, Now think about this.

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Romans 8, verse 26, I don't know how to pray. Do you always know how to pray? He says in Romans 8, 26, we don't always know how to pray.

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I don't know how to pray always. Ever got down on your knees, I just don't know what to say. I don't know what to do.

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I don't know. That's why we're glad we have the Spirit of God who prays. But what we do know is

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Romans 8, 28. That's why we have to walk by faith and not by sight. I see the world, I see the chaos,

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I see the cesspool, and now I have to override my mind with gospel truth. I know that God causes all these things to work out.

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I don't see it in my life, but I trust Him because A, it's true, and I see Him do it in Ruth.

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I've seen Him do it with Joseph in Genesis 37 to 50. Say, yeah, but I don't feel like it's happening.

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Well, that's why it says we know. This isn't emotional, this isn't conjecturing, this isn't wavering.

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I know. I understand it fully to be true because it's a biblical truth. It's a biblical work.

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I've said many times that I had a second blessing and it wasn't speaking in tongues. My second blessing was this, that God causes all things to work together for good.

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All things. Sin, Satan, suffering, sickness, everything.

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You say, well, I don't necessarily see it. You can't see it from looking at Ruth 1 to 5 either. In chapter 1.

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How can this happen? An all -comprehensive plan of God. Is there one detail in your life right now that God isn't sovereign over?

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Is there one issue in your life right now that this God of Ruth chapter 1, there's a cesspool,

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Ruth chapter 4, David emerges? Yeah, but you know what? When Paul wrote this, he was an armchair quarterback.

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He didn't know what he was talking about. You don't know what I've been through. Two years before Paul wrote

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Romans, he wrote these verses. In far more labors and far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death, five times

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I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.

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Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I've spent in the deep. I've been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the

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Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren, and I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and then there's the concern for the churches.

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Two years later, Paul writes, and I know God works all these things together for good. He causes them.

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And when I read Ruth, here's what I want to say to myself, and now I'll say it to you. Why am

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I killing myself with care? Why do I worry? Why am I anxious? Why am

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I trying to run the universe? Why am I trying to control things? Why am I so down when bad things happen?

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I never think to myself often enough, or I don't think to myself often enough. I need to walk by faith and not by sight.

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Rutherford said, Let not the Lord's dealings seem harsh, rough, or unfathomably, because it is unpleasant.

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When the Lord's blessed will bloweth across your desires, it is best in humility to strike sail to Him, and be willing to be led any way our

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Lord pleases. You know not what the Lord is working out of this, but you shall know it hereafter.

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Question two. Aren't you glad that circumstances and people are not ultimately sovereign over you?

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Aren't you glad that circumstances and people are not ultimately sovereign over you? It's March 30th, 1981.

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President Reagan is shot. Vice President Bush is not around. A military commander is at the

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White House. He used to be the leader of NATO. He's the Secretary of State.

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You probably know his name. Here's what he said. Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the President, the

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Vice President, and the State Secretary. In that order, and should the President decide he wants to transfer the helm to the

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Vice President, he will do so. He has not done that yet. As of now, what's the next line?

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I am in control here. I am in control here in the White House.

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Who said that? Alexander Haig. I'm in charge.

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Here's what I ask myself, and I'm going to ask you. Do you have any Alexander Haigs in your life? I mean,

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I'm sure he's probably a fine fellow. Was a fine fellow. How about do you have any difficult people in your life?

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Anybody hard to get along with? Any enemies? Anybody have any enemies here? Any adversaries?

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Think about difficult spouses, unbelieving spouses, unbelieving kids, unbelieving parents. The point of Ruth is, don't miss it, you have to walk by faith and not by sight.

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In him, Colossians 1, all things hold together, including that enemy, including that adversary.

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You are never at the mercy, ultimately, of any person or circumstance. As for you, you meant evil against me,

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Joseph said, but God meant it for what? Good. It doesn't take very long if you're older to just flash back a little bit and remember that situation where that person burned you and slandered you and attacked you, or this person did this, that, or the other, and you're just like, it just knocks the wind out of you.

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Ephesians 1 says, he works all things after the counsel of his own will. And when you watch the people in Ruth, the account of Ruth, you're going to say, it's true.

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Heidelberg Catechism, question 28. What does it profit to know that God has created and by his providence still upholds all things?

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So you go, well, you know what? Okay, God's sovereign. Does it do me any good? How does this flesh itself out?

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What does it profit? And then the answer is incredible, that we may be patient in adversity.

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When you're going through adversity and you know God is sovereign, it should bolster your patience because you know

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God is giving you these things. God is sovereign over these things. Patient in adversity.

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Thankful in prosperity. When you have good things, who gives them to you? Whatever good you have, it's the good providence of God.

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The tough times are the bitter providences, but the good times are the sweet providences. Catechism goes on.

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And for what is future? So if you know providence of God, if you see God's sovereign invisible hand, how do

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I deal with the future? How do we deal with 2014? Have good confidence in our faithful God that no creature shall separate us from his love since all creatures are so in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move.

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You think about every person in your life, every friend, enemy, adversary, foe, those are all included.

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Half the time I think I should probably go back to singing children's songs to myself to remember who God is.

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He's got the whole world in his hands, right? Except for that guy who's after me. Except for that bad person who hurt me in the past.

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Except for this other person. He's got the whole world in his hands. I can just remember singing those songs to my kids.

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He's got the little bitty babies in his hands. I mean, if I'm not careful when it comes to providence,

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I'm thinking, I'm speaking, I'm discussing God's my king,

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Alimelech, and then I'm worried and I'm fretful and I'm full of anxiety and I look at the world just like a pagan does and I say to myself, the way

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I'm going to see the world is the way I want to see the world and everything's right in my eyes versus, wait a second,

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I need to turn that telescope around and look out of the lens. Providence keeps me from despair.

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Think about it. Genesis 50 is true. Let me just change it. When Joseph said, God meant it for good,

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Romans chapter 8, God means your enemies for good. God means your adversaries for good. God means those people in your life that have dogged you and hurt you and upset you.

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He's meant it for good. Well, I don't see it. Well, that's when you have to walk by faith and you can see it in Ruth, though.

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Dark days, David. Dark days, a Redeemer. Dark days, eventually, Jesus Christ.

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God's sovereign, not in spite of opposition, but by means of opposition, through these people.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion. He does according to His will among the host of heaven.

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Sovereign over people. Sovereign over presidents. Sovereign over bosses. Sovereign over spouses. Sovereign over enemies.

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Question three. Aren't you glad that God has written the last chapter of your redemption?

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Aren't you glad that God has written the last chapter of your redemption?

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So, Ruth chapter 1, it's all happening. Chaos. Moral depravity.

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But it was as good as done, chapter 4, where David would come through Boaz and Ruth.

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And for us, if you go back to Romans chapter 8, let me tell you, if you're a

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Christian, something about the last chapter of your life. This is true for every

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Christian, for every person who has seen the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus, the representative substitute who has been raised from the dead and trusts in Him, has repented and believes in that great atonement.

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Here's how I would depict the last chapter of your life. This is the last line of your life.

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And they lived happily ever after. Once upon a time, they lived happily ever after.

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How can I say that? Say, you don't know what's happened in my life. I mean, if you just knew me a little bit more, you'd probably ask this question.

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You know, in eternity past, the triune God got together and decided that for whatever reason, to be glorified, let's choose

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Abendroth. In time, Jesus then lives for me and dies for me and was raised for me.

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And then in 1989, the Spirit of God regenerated me, but, you know, some of the sins that guy's committed,

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I, God, feel like I better repent. I need to repent from choosing that guy because he's obviously made a mess of himself.

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Is that how God works? Does God repent when He calls a sinner?

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I don't know what's going to happen because how can my life be happily ever after? That's the very end.

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That's eternity future. When I've got all these sins. And the answer is it's all God. Take a look at Romans 8 .29.

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We forget Romans 8 .29 when we read 8 .28, but they're connected. See the first word, for?

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We're going to see that no merit of our own, but grace and the imputation of Christ's perfect righteousness to our account.

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We're going to see it's all of God's work. There's a happily ever after. I'll telegraph it for you. Verse 30 ends with what?

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Glorified. Here we're going to see in these two verses from eternity past to future showing you the finish line.

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Here's the finish line. And not just because you have adversaries and enemies and bad situations.

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It's because you're an enemy. I'm an enemy left to ourselves before God because of our sinful attitude.

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But He has the last word. How can everything work together for good? Answer? Verse 29.

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Pastorally, Paul writes, for those whom he foreknew that he loved ahead of time, he also predestined, carved out to be conformed to the image of his son.

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It's all God's work in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Now this is the wrong number, but let me just pick a number.

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One billion people are the amount of the elect. And whom he predestined one billion, he also called one billion.

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And those whom he called one billion, he also justified one billion. And those whom he justified the one billion, he'll also glorify all of them except Abendroth.

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He also glorified. Past tense. Paul's writing, he's not even glorified yet, but he knows it's as good as done.

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When God predetermines to set his love on you in eternity past for knowledge, it's going to end with glorification.

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He's not going to repent of it, in spite of me. What's missing in this verse?

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Sanctification. This is a done deal. My sanctification doesn't rely ultimately on my faithfulness because if it did,

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I'd never make it. So here's my question this morning, Bethlehem Bible Church. Knowing that God's sovereign over every circumstance and every person and every molecule and every atom, and if he sets his love on you in eternity past, you are going to live happily ever after.

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You'll be glorified. What's the response? What do you say? Does it mean anything?

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Verse 31. What then shall we say to these things?

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What shall we say to these things? Okay, put your name in there. What do you say? Jack, Steve, Jill, Jane.

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What do you say? Well, come see, come saw.

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What do you say to these things? So when you see your circumstances and people and the situations through the lens of the sovereignty of God, that's really what we're after here, aren't we?

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Paul referring to the sovereignty of God in salvation referred to in verses 28, 29, 30.

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What do we say to the sovereignty of God in salvation? What do we say?

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If God is for us, who can be against us?

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Will my enemy be too great? Will the past be too much? Is my unbelieving spouse thwarting?

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Are my kids? What shall we say to these things?

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You've got to say something, and it's not an academic exercise. God should be against me, but he's for me, and he's working everything for good.

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He even takes my sin, Satan, works righteousness, enemies. If God is for us, who's against us?

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There's nobody on par with God. There's going to be an enemy, but of no comparison. And exactly how is

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God for us? To what extent? Verse 32. We'll have to end here. He who did not spare his own son.

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Sounds like Abraham, you have not withheld your son. He didn't spare his son, but gave him up for us all.

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Now, were you an enemy when God had his son die for you? I was. If God loves his enemies, what does he do with his children?

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But God gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

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Will God do less for his children than he did for his enemies? And he freely and generously giving out of grace, all because of Christ Jesus.

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Think about that, great Redeemer. I love Spurgeon's words. It is finished, there is nothing for you to do.

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It is finished, you don't have to bleed. It is finished, you don't have to weep.

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It is finished, God the Holy Spirit need not delay because of your unworthiness, nor need you delay because of your helplessness.

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It is finished, come and welcome. It is finished, this is the believers conquering word.

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It is finished. No wonder William Cooper said, ever since by faith

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I saw the stream, thy flowing wound supply. Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.

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Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. When you read the book of Ruth, I want you to say to yourself, the

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God who can turn the barren land and the barren womb into David and the son of David is the same

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God I serve. And my hope is in Christ Jesus alone.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

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We are located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.