Providence and the Decree of God

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We're on week two of, and this is really the final week because this was just a two-part series on the question of the sovereignty of God.
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As we mentioned last week, it sort of all began with a question a person had, you know, or actually a challenge that was made that God isn't in control of everything.
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And I responded to that, the person who came into the church making that accusation, making that statement.
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I said, no, God is in control of everything and that led to somewhat of a brief exchange but it certainly led me to want to take this issue to the scripture, address it from the scripture and to be able to simply point out the fact that the Bible is not unclear on this issue.
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The Bible is, I would say, absolutely crystal clear.
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But there are questions that people have and particularly what I have found is the primary questions deal with the question of how meticulous is God's oversight.
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And so that's really the question.
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Nobody that I know of who is a quote-unquote Bible-believing Christian would say that God doesn't have some control, right? I mean, even the guy last week, you know, of course he controls some things, just not everything.
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You know, so I don't know anyone who would say God has no control.
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But where it begins to have the greatest difficulty for most people is when you start talking about the level in which God is acting in the world or the level in which God is guiding and directing the world.
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And so I wanted to start tonight by sort of defining some terms.
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We didn't do this last week.
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We did talk about Calvinism, Arminianism, Molinism and Open Theism.
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That was kind of the four focuses of last week.
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But tonight I wanted to find some terms for you because these are terms that are often thrown around when we're discussing the sovereignty of God.
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The first one is the biggie, and that is the word predestination, okay? The second one is the word providence.
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The third one is the word decree.
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Did I say hand go up? Okay, I thought I said hand go up.
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There are some other words that we're going to deal with, but we're going to start with these three questions.
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All three of these words are biblical words.
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I always love it when I hear somebody say, well, predestination isn't in the Bible.
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Predestination is in the Bible.
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It's not only in the Bible.
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It's in the Bible several times.
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Six specific passages in the New Testament use the word predestination without any shame.
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The word predestination in the English specifically deals with the destination.
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And what is the root of the word destination? Destiny, right? So oftentimes when you think about predestination, we kind of can narrow it down to a destiny.
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Okay, that's sort of the root of this.
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But we know that the Bible wasn't written in English.
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The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, a little Aramaic peppered in there, but for the most part, Hebrew and Greek.
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In the Greek, the word here for predestination is similar to the English word, but the Greek word is prohoretso.
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Prohoretso is the root of that is where we get the word horizon.
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Horetso, the point of ending.
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You think about when you look out at the horizon, it's where the earth stops and the universe begins.
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That's the horizon.
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That's the end point.
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So that's sort of the idea of predestination is the end, is the destiny.
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It's where you're going.
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Okay.
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And so oftentimes the word predestination is used in regard to everyday events.
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What was that predestined? What was that predestined? What was that predestined? Typically in the Bible, when you're addressing the word predestination, you're addressing the end goal of whatever is being discussed.
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So, for instance, you could say that the cross was predestined to occur because that's what the Bible says.
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Acts chapter four, Pontius Pilate, the Romans, the Jews were all gathered together to do what God's hand had predestined to take place.
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Very clearly, that's what it says.
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It's no ambiguity.
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This was the end result.
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God predestined that the cross would happen.
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And so all of these other things happened to bring about that.
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Okay.
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The destiny or the horizon, the end result was the cross.
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All right.
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You can talk about the predestination of the believer to heaven.
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Right.
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That's the goal.
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That's the end.
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That's where you're headed.
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So that's the horizon.
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That's the end point.
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That's the destiny.
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So that is the oftentimes the way it's used in Romans chapter eight.
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For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
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You say, now, wait, that didn't say go into heaven.
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You're right.
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Our predestination, according to Romans eight, is to be conformed to Christ.
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But in that conformity, it says for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
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For whom he predestined, he called.
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Whom he called, he justified.
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Whom he justified, he glorified.
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So what's the end result of being conformed to Christ? Glorification.
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We're going to be glorified.
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That's the end goal.
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Christ, when he came out of the tomb, had a glorified body.
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When you come out of the tomb, when Christ returns and you are given your new body, guess what kind you're going to have? A glorified body.
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You're going to have a body different than the one you have now.
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I don't know all the particulars and I can't give you the scope or the schematic of what your new body is going to be like.
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I don't know if you're going to look like you, just a better version.
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I don't know.
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But I know it's going to be new.
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I often wonder about things like scars.
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You know, Jesus had scars.
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He said to Thomas, feel my hands, feel my side, see that it is I, myself.
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You know, but I wonder about all the scars on his back.
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You know, because Jesus was beaten to a pulp.
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You know, I've often wondered how he looked in his glorified body.
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Did he just maintain the nail marks and the side piercing mark as a way of identifying what he did on our behalf? Don't know, it doesn't say.
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It's an interesting question.
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Like I said, I've got a big scar on my leg about that long.
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I fell off of a dock when I was a kid and I was down at my mom's house and Stark fell off of a dock, cut my leg wide open and I never got it stitched properly.
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So it's just this long scar on my leg.
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I wonder if it's going to be there.
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I tend to think not.
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I wonder about tattoos.
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I imagine not.
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That's a type of scar.
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If you think about it, a tattoo is a scar.
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So my point being, if we think about predestination, we're thinking about where we're going, the destiny.
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That's the focal idea of predestination.
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And it's often confused with providence.
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OK, providence and the way that that word is typically used is in regard to God's watch care over the world.
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Think about the passage which says, if a man does not provide for his family, he is what? Worse than an unbeliever.
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That's what the Apostle Paul says.
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He says, if a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat.
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If he doesn't provide for his family, he's worse than an unbeliever.
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Right.
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So that's providence that the father is supposed to provide for the family.
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He's supposed to provide a certain amount of watch care over the family.
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He's supposed to make sure they eat, have a place to live.
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That's his job.
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So providence has the idea of watch care.
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God is governing the world.
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He's watching over the world and he is bringing about his will in the world with everything that's going on.
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We talk about providential oversight.
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Maybe you've heard that term or he providentially led.
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How many of you have heard the person say, it was a divine appointment? You ever heard somebody say that? I ran into this person today.
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I never met him before in my life, but they needed to hear about Jesus.
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And I shared with them Jesus.
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And that was a divine appointment.
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Well, that's typically that what they're saying is they're talking about providence.
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God provided an opportunity today for me to meet a person that I never would have met otherwise.
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I always say my wife meeting, me meeting my wife was a divine appointment.
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There was so much that could have kept that from happening.
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I met my wife, what I would say by accident almost.
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Our fathers worked together and her father wanted me to teach her how to do a magic trick for a performing arts class because she was an athlete and I was a magician.
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In high school, I worked as a magician.
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And so our fathers met at work, talked about us and introduced us in a very odd way for a very odd reason.
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And it's 30 or 20 years later, she still don't know no magic tricks.
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You know, Don, we talked about this last night, how we met our wives and how you met your wife.
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Very, you know, you could call it chance, right? But it's not chance.
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Nothing happens by chance.
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And that's the whole point.
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The idea that it was chance that you met your wife.
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Not a chance, not a chance that it was chance, but it is a great story.
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So we have the providence is God's watch care or you might say his governing, his governing of the world.
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OK, but then you hear the word decree.
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This often creates a lot of confusion in people's hearts, because if you read the the the writings of like the Westminster Confession, which was written by early reformers, and it is it stands today as one of the most influential documents in Christian history outside of Scripture, the Westminster Confession of Faith.
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It's used by the Anglicans.
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It's used by the Presbyterians.
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It's a solid theological treatise.
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And it says that God has decreed whatsoever will come to pass.
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Use the word decree, you know, so a decree is what? What do you think of a decree? A decree is an edict, right? It's a determination from the king of what will be or what will not be.
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It's a what we would say a sovereign decision.
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It's a sovereign decision, a decree.
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Remember in the Scripture, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus.
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That all the world shall be there be a census taken of all the world.
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Remember that story in Luke? And that's how that's how Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
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I did a sermon a few years ago called the two decrees.
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I said the reason why Caesar Augustus made a decree that all the world should be counted was because God in eternity past made a decree that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
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Because Jesus wasn't a Bethlehemite, he was a Nazarene.
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But he was born in Bethlehem because God had made a decree and he had promised that in Micah that out of Bethlehem the child would come, not out of Nazareth.
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So God made a decree before Caesar made a decree.
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All right, so that's sort of how this all comes about.
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When we talk about predestination, we're talking usually particularly about the destination or the event, whatever it is, that's the focal point.
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This is something that has been predestined.
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The joke among Calvinists is, well, I didn't have a choice.
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I was predestined to be a Calvinist.
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But that's where that word really has its meaning and focus.
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Providence is the watch care, the governing, the day-to-day watch care.
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Are things predestined throughout the day? Well, yes, but that's a different way of looking at it.
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We're talking about how does God manage the world.
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And then the decree is God's sovereign decision over what does and does not take place.
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And where this becomes the biggest issue for most people is how meticulous is providence and how all-encompassing is God's decree.
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Predestination by itself lends itself to a whole other discussion.
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That lends itself to a whole other argument, if you will.
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But when we sort of eliminate one and say, okay, we're not really talking about predestination.
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We're talking about God's management of the world.
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We're talking about His sovereignty.
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We're talking about His decree and His providential governing of the world.
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So is predestination part of that? Yes, but is predestination the focal point? Not yet, because we're talking about how meticulous.
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You know, again, if you turn left rather than right, did God have control over that decision? There are people who say, no, He didn't have control because that decision didn't matter.
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God doesn't control things that don't matter.
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That's the argument.
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If it doesn't have any eternal consequence, God's not involved.
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But I challenge that by asking, what in the world have you ever done that didn't have a consequence for something else? How many of you know that there have been times where you turned left, and had you turned right, you would have been in an automobile accident and be dead today? How many of you know that there have been times where if you would have been five minutes earlier or five minutes later? I know people, I know them personally, people who missed work on 9-11, who worked at the World Trade Center, who didn't go in that day.
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But 3,000 did go in, you know? And I often hear people say, well, wasn't it great that God held back that person from going to work? I say, well, yeah, it was great, but was God not in control of the other 3,000? See, that's where you really have to start being honest.
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Because I hear people say, well, God is involved when there's blessing, but God's not involved when there's trouble.
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And I say, well, how do we make that determination? A.W.
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Pink said this, and if you've never read anything by Pink, I encourage you to.
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Pink wrote The Sovereignty of God, books on several different theological subjects.
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A.W.
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Pink said this, he said, the sovereignty of God, what do we mean? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the Godhood of God.
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To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is God.
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And when you start saying, well, God didn't have control of this, or He wasn't involved with this, or He didn't have any oversight over this, we start saying, well, God's really not the God of that.
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And that's sort of the focus of this lesson.
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I want to read to you, I brought books with me, whole books.
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I didn't photocopy, I brought the whole books.
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I'm not going to read the whole book to you.
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But these are two books that I would recommend.
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This one is older than anyone in the room.
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Not the book itself, I'm sure it's a reprint.
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But this book was written by James Pettigrew Boyce.
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It is the first systematic theology used by the Southern Baptist Convention.
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It was responsible for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and what they taught.
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And it is called The Abstract of Systematic Theology.
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It's the book I always use when people say that Baptists weren't Calvinists.
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I say, uh-huh, I get the book.
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No doubt.
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But this one here is a little bit more of a contemporary book.
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This is Concise Theology by J.I.
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Packer.
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Concise Theology is a really easy read.
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It's a great coffee table book.
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It's great to kind of set, because it's two or three pages per subject.
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So it's certainly something that you could easily read.
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But I'm going to read to you from this one first.
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On the subject of Providence.
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The verse he uses is Proverbs 16.33.
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If you'd like to turn in your Bibles to Proverbs 16.33, I think this would be a good place to start.
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Proverbs 16.33.
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And it reads such.
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I'll give everybody a chance to get there.
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Proverbs 16.33.
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The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from whom? The Lord.
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Now what is the lot? Well, at this particular time in history, it was a small stone that was used to make decisions.
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It was almost like a dice.
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A modern day dice.
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Like if you roll a dice, if you say, okay, if it rolls odds, we're going to do this.
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If it rolls evens, we're going to do this.
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That's the way some people make decisions.
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They sort of roll the dice.
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Right? And this is the contemporary form of a die would be the lot.
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And it says in the text, it says the lot is cast into the lap.
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That's the way they would do it.
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They would use a little piece of cloth, and they would shake it in their hand, and they would pour it out on their lap, and their lap would sort of be like the table, almost like playing Yahtzee.
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You know what Yahtzee is.
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And they would put it down, and that would sort of help them make decisions.
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In fact, how many of you remember a man named Matthias? Matthias was the man who was chosen to replace Judas.
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There were two who were up for the job.
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One of them's name, my son is named after the unchosen disciple.
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His name was Justice.
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You know that? If you look at the Scripture, there was two men that were up for the position, Justice and Matthias.
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And that's where we got the name because God sovereignly oversaw what? A lot.
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They threw the lot, and Matthias was chosen.
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Now do you think anybody in that room had this verse on their mind? I think it would be on my mind.
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They said, you know what, we don't know who to choose.
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Both these men have been with Jesus from the beginning.
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Both these men have impeccable credentials.
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They're both disciples.
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They're both godly men.
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But we've got to have somebody to fill the place of Judas.
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It's a 12-man team, not an 11-man team.
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We go out two by two.
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We've got to have this.
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Who are we going to put in his place? We've got two men.
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Let's let God decide.
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Now you might say, well, that doesn't sound like really a spiritual thought because if we were going to maybe put a new roof on this place, we wouldn't say, okay, we're going to roll the dice and see if we should put a new roof on this place.
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But at the end of the day, I'm not encouraging us to do that, but at the end of the day, that's what they did.
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They trusted that God had a decision that they couldn't come to, so they allowed God to make the decision.
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And they trusted, I'm sure, in this passage.
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I'm going to read to you what Packer says.
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God's work of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.
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That's actually not Packer.
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That's a quote from the Westminster Confession.
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Now comes Packer.
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If creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the Creator, according to His will, keeps all creatures in being, involves Himself in all events, and directs all things to their appointed end.
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The model is of a purposive, personal management with total hands-on control.
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God is in complete control of the world.
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His hand may not be seen, but His rule is absolute.
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You see? What's Packer saying? He's saying, look, God expressed a certain type of creative energy in creating the world.
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But God didn't just create the world and spin it like a top and let it go.
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God created the world, and He keeps it going.
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Remember what the Apostle Paul says? In Him we live and move and have our being.
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In Him we live.
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In Him we move.
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In Him we have our being.
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God is involved with everything.
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He's involved in the world, and He is purposefully leading it to His end.
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He's got a purpose for it.
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And so the hardest part is to say, for anyone to say, well, but God's not involved with this.
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Well, how is God involved with everything else but not that? He goes on to say this, Some have restricted God's providence to foreknowledge without control, or upholding without intervention, or general oversight without concern for details.
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But the testimony to providence, as formulated above, is overwhelming.
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And He gives passage of Scripture after passage of Scripture after passage of Scripture.
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And I'd be happy to photocopy this for anybody who'd like to look at it.
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But He goes on and on and on and on, demonstrating God's providential oversight in the world.
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And so, I just like the way that Packer enunciates this.
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He says, look, God's rule is absolute.
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God's rule is absolute over all things.
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And this is what the Bible teaches, and it's clear.
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And people will say, well, and I like one of the parts that he said.
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He said, well, God's sort of general rule, but not particular.
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You know, God's sort of, He's ruling over everything, but He's not particularly involved with the little things.
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But, as I said last week, the little things make up the big things.
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And I hate to use this example again, but I'm going to use it again because it's the best example I know.
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One nail can cause a nation to fall.
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It's because it's one nail in the shoe of the horse.
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It's one shoe that causes the horse to fall.
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It's one horse that causes the battle to be lost.
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It's one battle that causes the nation to fall.
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It can come down.
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We talked last night a little bit about the butterfly effect.
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I don't know if you're familiar with that.
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It's a philosophical idea.
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It's sort of a scientific idea of how one small thing in one area can affect something really big in another area.
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The idea is if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it can cause a typhoon in China.
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I don't know how that works, and I'm not making that argument.
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But the idea is that everything is sort of connected.
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And my life and your life, we've been brought together for a reason, and we're connected, and God's working this out for His glory and for a purpose.
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And that's what I want to now turn to the writings of Beuys.
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Again, remember, this was a long time ago.
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But I like his pastoral way of writing because he's dealing with the decree.
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And if you do happen to want to get a copy of this, I encourage you to read the chapter on the decree of God from the Abstract of Systematic Theology by James Pettigrew Beuys.
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If you read the chapter on the decree of God, it is so helpful.
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But I just want to read to you a small portion.
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The term decree is liable to some misapprehension and objection because it conveys the idea of an edict or some compulsory determination.
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What word did you use? I said, what is a decree? You said an edict, right? So people tend to look at the word.
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If I say, God has decreed all things that shall come to pass, when I quote the confession, I say, God has decreed all things whatsoever shall come to pass, people say, well, that's an edict from God, and people tend to look at it that way.
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But here's what he says.
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He says, here's another way to say it.
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I'm paraphrasing him now.
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He says, what if I said God has a purpose for everything? Would that make it feel better? What if I said God has a plan for everything? I don't know any self-respecting Southern Baptist that would say God doesn't have a plan.
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Right? They don't like this word.
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So I love the fact that he says if you don't like this word, use this word or this word because they all mean the same thing.
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God's got a purpose.
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He's got a plan.
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He's made a decree.
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It's going to be this way and not this way because that's His plan.
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He said, if you don't like the word, change the word.
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If the word bothers you, call it something else, but it's the same thing.
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Because he goes on to say this.
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He said, the mere use of these words will remove from many some difficulties and prejudices which make them unwilling to accept this doctrine.
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They perceive that in the creation, preservation, and government of the world, God must have had a plan, and that that plan must have been just, wise, and holy, tending both to His glory and the happiness of His creatures.
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They recognize that a man who has no purpose, no aim, especially in important matters, and who cannot and does not devise the means by which to carry out his purpose, is without wisdom and capacity, and is unworthy of his nature.
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Consequently, they readily believe and admit that the more comprehensive and at the same time the more definite is the plan of God, the more worthy it is of infinite wisdom.
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Indeed, they are compelled to the conclusion that God cannot be what He is without formatting, or forming rather, such a purpose or plan.
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So he's like, you know, if you believe God is who He is, you believe He has a plan.
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If you trust at all in what the Bible says, you believe God's working this out.
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But how is He working it out? He's working it out by being involved in everything.
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And that's the point that we have to recognize.
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I want to quote one more, or actually I have two more quotes from the book.
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Because I said something last week, and I'm not saying, well, I said it and Boyce said it, so it must be right, you know, two or more gathered.
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No, no, no, I'm not making that argument.
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But I do like it when I see something that's, you know, several decades old, over a hundred years old.
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I like seeing a guy who I can agree with, and say, this is pretty much what I said.
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Because last week I said this, if God knows it for certain, it can't change.
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Remember I said that? I said that's how we know.
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Like if I said, if God knows tomorrow, I'm going to fall down a flight of stairs.
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If God knows it for certain, it cannot change.
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Right? Well, this is the way he puts it.
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Things which are known by God as future, must certainly be future.
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A determination or decree to bring them to pass, and even their actual existence, does not make them more certain.
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Let me bring it down maybe a little simpler.
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He said, if God knows it's going to happen, whether it's a decree or not, if He knows it's going to happen, it's certain.
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Whether He decreed it, whether He planned it, whether He purposed it, if He knows it, it's certain.
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See, this is where a lot of people have issues.
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They'll say, well, I don't know if my...
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Because we'll talk about the date of our death.
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Is the date of our death certain? I say, absolutely.
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Because God knows exactly the day I'm going to die.
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Now, He also knows the means by which I'm going to die.
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He has also given me a brain that works, and from my perspective, I can do certain things that will seemingly prolong my life, and from my perspective, will prolong my life.
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If I'm cut wide open, and I'm gushing blood, and I let it go, I'm going to die.
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If I'm cut wide open, and I get stitched up, and it heals, maybe not.
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Right? So, from my perspective, there's something...
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This is a huge word.
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This is the one I didn't put up there yet.
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From my perspective, there is something called potentiality.
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Potentiality.
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God knows no such thing as potential.
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Meaning, God doesn't know what's going to potentially happen.
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God knows what's going to absolutely happen.
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I don't.
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So, I live in the world of potentiality.
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I say, okay, well, tomorrow, if I get up, and I eat a bowl full of sugar, and I do that for the next ten years, rather than fruit, and some kind of other healthy something, it's probably going to rot my teeth, and maybe my brain, and everything else, right? There's a potential that I have to choose.
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I have to look, and I do have the ability to make a choice.
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I can choose to eat a bowl full of sugar.
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I can choose to eat something healthy, fruit, or eggs, or something else, grits.
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I don't know if that's any healthier, but eggs and grits, I think, are pretty healthy.
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Maybe.
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But you understand, I live in a world of potentiality.
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God does not.
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God does not exist on the plane of the potential.
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God exists above that.
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And the hardest thing in the world that we need to come to the conclusion of is that we do not think like God.
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And God doesn't think like us.
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God doesn't behave like us.
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Praise the Lord.
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Amen.
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And God doesn't manage the world the way we would.
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Because we would manage the world according to potentiality, because that's all we have.
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God knows exactly the end from the beginning, because He's determined the end from the beginning.
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And that's really the passage that's going to be the focus of tonight.
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And we're going to go there in a moment.
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Because there is a passage that I don't want us to ever forget.
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And it's in Isaiah.
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So let's go ahead and we'll just turn there.
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Because I want to sort of begin to bring this to a close.
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All right.
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Good Isaiah 40...
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Hmm.
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I had it marked and now I don't.
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I know that it's...
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Well, good Isaiah 45.
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That's where we started last week.
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Isaiah 45, 5-7.
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Which is what we read last week.
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But now go to Isaiah 46, because that's where we were last week.
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Isaiah 45, 5-7.
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He says, I am the Lord, there is no other.
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Besides me there is no God.
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And he goes on to say that I form the light, create darkness, make well-being, create calamity.
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I am the Lord who does all these things.
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God is involved with everything.
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But then you go over to chapter 46.
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And he says in verse 8.
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Remember this and stand firm.
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Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
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Remember the former things of old.
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For I am God and there is no other.
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I am God and there is none like me.
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Declaring the end from the beginning.
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And from ancient times things not yet done.
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Saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.
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Calling a bird of prey from the east.
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The man of my counsel from a far country.
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I have spoken and I will bring it to pass.
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I have purposed and I will do it.
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God says I am God and there is none like me.
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Because I declare the end from the beginning.
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I spoke in ancient days about things not yet happening.
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I tell you when the bird is coming from the east and a man is coming from the west.
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I say all these things because I know it.
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With absolute knowledge.
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I don't wonder.
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Here is a thought for you.
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God has never had a moment where he learned anything.
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Because he who encompasses and possesses all knowledge must learn nothing.
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God doesn't have to learn anything.
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So that is why I know the Arminian doctrine of predestination is wrong.
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Well it is omniscient, yes.
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But Arminianism says that the reason why God knows you are going to be saved.
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Is he looked down the corridor of time.
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Saw what you were going to do.
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And chose you based on what you were going to do.
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That is the Arminian doctrine.
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Guess why that is wrong? Because God didn't know it until you were going to do it.
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God learned what you were going to do.
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And made a decision based on you.
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That is not how he works.
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God didn't learn anything.
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See that is.
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There is a lot there.
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That I haven't really got time to unpack.
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But I just love this passage.
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I love the fact that it says I will accomplish my purpose.
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And I want to end tonight.
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You were going to say something Dale were you? No.
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Okay.
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I want to end tonight with.
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I want to quote a pagan king.
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Yeah I do.
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Go with me to Daniel chapter 4.
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No.
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Nebuchadnezzar.
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Go to Daniel chapter 4.
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Nebuchadnezzar is actually quoted in scripture.
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With one of the greatest statements about the sovereignty of God in all the Bible.
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And you might say why would I listen to a pagan king? I will tell you why you should listen to this pagan king.
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Because this was stated.
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After God drove him mad.
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Let's read the story.
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Go up to verse 34.
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No I am sorry.
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I am sorry.
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My mistake.
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Verse 28.
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It says all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
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And that context is what had just happened.
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Daniel is interpreting his dreams and those things.
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All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
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And at the end of 12 months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.
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And the king answered.
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And says is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence.
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And for the glory of my majesty.
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So essentially what he is saying.
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Look at what I did.
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Babylon is the greatest of all kingdoms in the history of the world.
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And that is because of this guy.
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Who has got two thumbs and did it right.
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Me.
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You know he was just all about himself.
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Right.
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Verse 31.
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While the words were still in the king's mouth.
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There fell a voice from heaven.
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Oh King Nebuchadnezzar.
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To you it is spoken.
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The kingdom has departed from you.
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And you shall be driven from among men.
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And your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
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And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox.
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And seven periods of time shall pass over you.
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Until you know that the most high rules the kingdom of men.
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And gives it to whom he will.
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Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar.
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He was driven from among men.
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And ate grass like an ox.
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His body was wet with the dew of heaven.
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Till his hair grew as long as an eagle's feathers.
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And his nails were like birds claws.
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He had essentially.
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What we might say a modern expression.
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Something like schizophrenia.
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He went absolutely out of his mind.
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And he went and lived in the field.
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He looked like what you can imagine a crazy person would look like.
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Hair all down and matted and dirty.
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And wet from the dew of the ground.
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His fingernails were like claws.
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And he was eating grass like an ox.
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This was the great king.
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Who had all of this power.
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And what does the text say? It says.
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Until you know that the most high rules the kingdom of men.
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And he will give it to whom he will.
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Until you realize I am God and there is no other.
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You are going to be like this.
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You think you are God.
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You think you did all this.
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Well spend seven years in the field.
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Verse 34.
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At the end of the days.
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I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to heaven.
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Who is speaking? Nebuchadnezzar.
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This is a direct writing of Nebuchadnezzar.
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Daniel of course the writer.
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But this is Nebuchadnezzar's words.
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He says.
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I Nebuchadnezzar lifted my eyes to heaven.
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And my reason returned to me.
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And I blessed the most high.
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And praised and honored him who lives forever.
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For his dominion is an everlasting dominion.
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His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
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All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.
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And he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven.
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And among the inhabitants of the earth.
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And none can stay his hand or say to him.
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What have you done? God does what he wants folks.
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In heaven.
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He does what he wants on earth.
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And nobody can look at him and say.
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God you were wrong.
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No one can look at him and say.
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God you didn't do that right.
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Even the man who spent seven years in the field eating grass.
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I just love this passage.
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I've quoted this to so many unbelievers.
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I'm sorry.
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Let me back that up.
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I've quoted this to people who don't believe in God's sovereignty.
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Or don't believe in meticulous providence.
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I'll say.
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Look at what this says.
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You know what they always say.
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Well I'm not listening to him.
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He's a pagan king.
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You know what I say? I say this is probably the greatest moment in history.
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Where any man has had his eyes open to the providence of God.
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I don't care who said it.
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It's in the Bible.
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It's right.
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I don't care that it's a pagan king.
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He had his eyes opened to the meticulous providence of God.
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That God is the one who raises up kings.
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God is the one who raises up kingdoms.
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And God is the one who is in charge of this world.
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I know there's a ton of questions that we could go over.
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And I really wish we had time.
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I hope that was helpful.
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I hope that was a good addition to what we learned last week.
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And maybe, who knows, sometime later in the year.
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Or maybe at another time we'll go over more elaborate questions.
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Because there are a ton.
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There's a lot of questions that people have.
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Well, what about this? Or what about that? But ultimately, in my heart of hearts, I think the most important thing that we can remember is that God is God.
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And to be sovereign is to be God.
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And to not be sovereign is to not be God.
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Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
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I pray that this time of teaching has been helpful.
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I pray that it's been fruitful for your people.
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That it would be encouraging to them to trust in you.
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And though we'll always have questions, Lord, about how you do what you do, because we're not God and we don't have perfect knowledge of all things, we know that you do.
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We know that we can trust you.
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And we do.
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We place our faith and trust in you, through your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
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Amen.