Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Foundational Principles about God’s Will │ Msg 111 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Foundational Principles about God’s Will │ Msg 111 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: During our time together. I want to turn our attention
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Speaker 1: to a subject that has been fascinating for me and
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Speaker 1: at times a real struggle. The longer I live, the
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Speaker 1: more I believe the two most profound subjects that can
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Speaker 1: be addressed in the Christian life are in this order,
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Speaker 1: prayer and the will of God. I want you to
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Speaker 1: always to bring your Bible with you. I want you
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Speaker 1: to have your notebook handy that has been very carefully prepared.
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Speaker 1: We've done a lot of dialoguing and emailing and telephone
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Speaker 1: conversations to prepare this notebook and these outlines. And you'll
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Speaker 1: really be a wash if you don't have both a
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Speaker 1: Bible and your notebook in your lap, and a penhandy
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Speaker 1: even to do nothing more than to write down the
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Speaker 1: scripture verse or passages that will be the best insights
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Speaker 1: you will have to carry with you in the days
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Speaker 1: that follow our time together. I know a lot less
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Speaker 1: about the will of God than I wish I knew.
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Speaker 1: I have never had a mentor, I have never had
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Speaker 1: a teacher. I have never had a pastor with whom
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Speaker 1: I was close who didn't admit that this is one
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Speaker 1: of those profound subjects. And yet, interestingly we will use
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Speaker 1: the words the will of God, or we hope God
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Speaker 1: will have his way in this or whatever, rather glibly.
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Speaker 1: But the deeper we dig into it, the more we
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Speaker 1: will realize how little we know. Someone has said that
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Speaker 1: an education is going from an unconscious to conscious awareness
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Speaker 1: of our ignorance. I think studying something like this means
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Speaker 1: we go from an unconscious to conscious awareness of how
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Speaker 1: little we really know of God's will. I think the
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Speaker 1: better we know it, the closer we walk. And perhaps
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Speaker 1: it may be that reason that explains why a walk
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Speaker 1: with our Lord is often inconsistent and more of a
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Speaker 1: struggle than a relief. So much of understanding this matter
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Speaker 1: is a matter of your will. I do not mean
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Speaker 1: this in any way to be overly critical or certainly
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Speaker 1: not insulting, but I think in most groups that I
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Speaker 1: speak to, and sometime in my own heart, many in
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Speaker 1: the group do not really want to do his will.
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Speaker 1: We say we do, of course, I think if I
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Speaker 1: ask you to write on yes or no on a
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Speaker 1: sheet of paper, I think everybody in this room would
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Speaker 1: write yes. I want to know his will. But doing
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Speaker 1: it is a whole another ballgame, because almost without exception,
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Speaker 1: it requires what we will look into a little more
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Speaker 1: in the next couple of days, not today, the whole
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Speaker 1: matter of risk and adjustment and change, and those words
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Speaker 1: make us nervous. We love the familiar, we love the comfortable,
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Speaker 1: We love getting our arms around this. And I think
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Speaker 1: the closer I walk with the Lord, the less my
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Speaker 1: arms get around my own life, and the more I
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Speaker 1: must abandon to him. And I don't mean that to
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Speaker 1: sound irresponsible or a rootless I just mean to give
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Speaker 1: him one's will, and to align one's will to his
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Speaker 1: will requires the abandonment of what I prefer, what I
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Speaker 1: would want or choose. But nevertheless we dig into it,
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Speaker 1: knowing that everything within us will at times resist doing
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Speaker 1: what He wants us to do. Some questions that I
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Speaker 1: want to answer during our times together on this subject
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Speaker 1: are what is God's will and what is it not?
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Speaker 1: What is it and what is it not? How can
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Speaker 1: we know it? And at the same time why do
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Speaker 1: we miss it? Another question I want to answer, how
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Speaker 1: did God reveal his will in biblical days? If there's
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Speaker 1: any difference, how does he do it today? How did
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Speaker 1: he How does he reveal his will? Another question? What
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Speaker 1: are some of the prerequisites for knowing his will? Are
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Speaker 1: there some ducks I need to get in a row
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Speaker 1: before I can really say I'm now ready to grasp
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Speaker 1: his will, to understand it and to accomplish it, or
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Speaker 1: to do it to fulfill it. Can I have the
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Speaker 1: assurance I am in his will? Or is it always
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Speaker 1: kind of up for grabs? Can I really know that
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Speaker 1: I'm doing His will? And if I can, how if
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Speaker 1: I'm not doing it? How do I know that? I
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Speaker 1: wish we could plumb the depths of all these questions,
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Speaker 1: but we hope to touch on most of them. Who
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Speaker 1: can help me discern God's will? Can anyone else add
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Speaker 1: any enlightenment to God's will for my life? I jokingly
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Speaker 1: say to people at times, it's easier for me to
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Speaker 1: know God's will for my wife than it is for
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Speaker 1: me to know God's will for my life. And we
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Speaker 1: say that with tongue in cheek. We you know, I
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Speaker 1: feel like we know what she ought to do, or
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Speaker 1: what he ought to do, or what my neighbor ought
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Speaker 1: to do, or what my friend ought to do. But
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Speaker 1: the tough thing is knowing and doing what I ought
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Speaker 1: to be doing. Who can help me discern that? Who
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Speaker 1: can I lean on? Rely on? Are there some examples
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Speaker 1: of those who walked in His will? And what are
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Speaker 1: those examples? And are there of those who strayed from
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Speaker 1: His will? And why did they do either? Why would
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Speaker 1: they do either? Is God's will ever a surprise? And
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Speaker 1: if it is, why would it surprise us? And in
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Speaker 1: all of this, I hope we're able to answer the
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Speaker 1: real throbbing questions that are in your mind as we
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Speaker 1: get into it. I want to include in my introductory
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Speaker 1: comments and admission which will sort of be a disclaimer.
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Speaker 1: This is how preachers save themselves from getting out on
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Speaker 1: a limb and being sought off by a hard set
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Speaker 1: of facts. Let me make this disclaimer. This subject is inscrutable.
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Speaker 1: One of my mentors used to say, one of our
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Speaker 1: problems as young theologians is trying to unscrew the inscrutable.
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Speaker 1: I will want you to know at times, I will say,
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Speaker 1: without reservation or hesitation, I do not know that answer.
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Speaker 1: It is a profound, unfathomable subject. Many of the points
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Speaker 1: that I will make, or that I will address will
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Speaker 1: defy a full human understanding. So don't let that trouble you, you
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Speaker 1: who are perfectionistic types and want to sweep every corner
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Speaker 1: clean and get every part of the subject covered and understood.
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Speaker 1: You will never ever be able to do that with
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Speaker 1: this subject. It is. It is one of those deep issues.
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Speaker 1: Let me show you from scripture and we'll be on
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Speaker 1: a safari through the scriptures all the way through this.
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Speaker 1: So don't just bring a new testament. You'll need to
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Speaker 1: bring a copy of the scriptures. Look at Job chapter nine,
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Speaker 1: which sounds a whole lot like a part out of
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Speaker 1: Daniel chapter four, which we'll look at some other time.
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Speaker 1: Job nine, verses one to twelve, he is answering a
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Speaker 1: man named Bill Dad chapter eight. One of these alleged
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Speaker 1: counselors came to bring our suffering friend Job a bit
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Speaker 1: of comfort. And I say that with tongue in cheek,
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Speaker 1: because really they came to accuse Job these as Job
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Speaker 1: says later on, Sorry comforters, Are you all sorry? Counselors?
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Speaker 1: Have you been? Here's one of those men that really
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Speaker 1: unloads on Job and Job answers in these twelve verses
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Speaker 1: of Job nine, almost you can almost picture him as
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Speaker 1: he throws his arms in the air, or as he
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Speaker 1: records these with deep imprint in his journal. Job answered,
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Speaker 1: in truth, I know that this is so, But how
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Speaker 1: can a man be in the right before God? If
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Speaker 1: one wished to dispute with him, meaning with God, he
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Speaker 1: could not answer him once in a thousand times. I
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Speaker 1: love passages like this, wise in heart and mighty in strength,
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Speaker 1: who has defied him God without harm? It is God
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Speaker 1: who removes the mountains. They know not how, but he
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Speaker 1: overturns them in his anger, who shakes the earth out
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Speaker 1: of its place, and its pillars tremble. You never have
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Speaker 1: to illustrate that to Californians. We've all felt that uneasy,
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Speaker 1: insecure feeling of the earth shaking beneath us. Who commands
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Speaker 1: the sun not to shine, and sets a seal upon
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Speaker 1: the stars, meaning putting them in a motion that continues
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Speaker 1: on since creation. Remarkable thought. We set our watches by
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Speaker 1: the stars. We do our best navigational work through the
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Speaker 1: stars still to this day. And he set a seal
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Speaker 1: upon them, who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples
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Speaker 1: down the waves of the sea. And speaking of the stars,
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Speaker 1: you love astronomy will appreciate this work this verse, who
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Speaker 1: makes the bear Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers
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Speaker 1: of the South, who does great things. Look at the
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Speaker 1: next word, unfathomable. Literally, until there is no searching out.
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Speaker 1: He does great things which can never be searched out.
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Speaker 1: You never can come to an end of the plan
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Speaker 1: and say finally I've got it, I've figured it out,
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Speaker 1: until we get to Heaven, when we will know as
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Speaker 1: we are known. My good friend Jay Kessler says, the
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Speaker 1: first sound we will hear from every throat when we
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Speaker 1: get to Heaven is oh, like now I see it. Now,
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Speaker 1: I realize why. Now it all unfolds before my eyes,
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Speaker 1: one great panorama of events. My mentor Race Edmund had
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Speaker 1: the best description of this as he talked about moving
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Speaker 1: from Earth to Heaven. We moved from the very restricted
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Speaker 1: and limited realm to this massive panorama of the whole scene.
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Speaker 1: And it will be good. It all will have worked
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Speaker 1: together for good, including the tragedies and the calamities, and
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Speaker 1: the heartaches, and the illnesses and diseases and what we
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Speaker 1: call premature death's terrible deformities and birth defects and congenital
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Speaker 1: illnesses and on and on. It will all unfold and
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Speaker 1: we will see his plan was right. But never until then.
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Speaker 1: That's job's point. He does great things until there is
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Speaker 1: no searching out and wondrous works without numbers. Were he
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Speaker 1: to pass by me, I would not see him. Were
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Speaker 1: he to move past me, I would not perceive him.
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Speaker 1: Were he to snatch away, who could restrain him? Who
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Speaker 1: could say to him? What art thou doing? Daniel four
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Speaker 1: thirty five. Nebuchadnezzar has come to an end of himself,
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Speaker 1: has been living in the field as a beast. His
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Speaker 1: fingernails have grown sharp and long, like an eagle's claus
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Speaker 1: And I imagine he looked insane, which he was for
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Speaker 1: that period of time, and he came finally to his senses.
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Speaker 1: And when he did, he declared, all the inhabitants of
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Speaker 1: the earth are as nothing. And he does according to
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Speaker 1: his will in the army of heaven and among the
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Speaker 1: inhabitants of the earth, and no one can stay his
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Speaker 1: hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Same question here?
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Speaker 1: What are you doing? A little child is snatched from
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Speaker 1: our home, and the first thought, in a wayward moment
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Speaker 1: is God, what are you doing to us? A wife
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Speaker 1: or husband takes a quick journey and his hit head
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Speaker 1: on by a car and is taken from our side,
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Speaker 1: and we say, what in the world is God up
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Speaker 1: to in this Our relationship was so close in her walker,
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Speaker 1: his life was so right and so needed. What are
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Speaker 1: you doing? It is unfathomable. So let's settle that one now,
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Speaker 1: so that you don't have to drop a note to
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Speaker 1: me and ask me to justify this thing that has happened.
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Speaker 1: I can't. I can't explain his plan. I can only
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Speaker 1: unfold from the scriptures how unfathomable it really is. Turn
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Speaker 1: from Job nine to p Number one thirty nine, still
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Speaker 1: dealing with the unfathomable nature of the will of God
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Speaker 1: Psalm one thirty nine. Oh Lord now has searched me
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Speaker 1: and known me. The word search means to dig into
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Speaker 1: something deeply. Oh Lord, you dig me. You know me.
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Speaker 1: You know when I sit down and when I rise up,
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Speaker 1: understand my thought. From Afar, that means before I ever
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Speaker 1: have it, you know it's on its way. You know
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Speaker 1: when it strikes my brain and what's going to come
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Speaker 1: as a result of it. You know it long before
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Speaker 1: I have the thought. This is describing a part of
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Speaker 1: the unfathomable nature of our God. You know it from Afar.
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Speaker 1: I love. The next expression, thou dost scrutinize my path
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Speaker 1: and my lying down. I don't know if you ever
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Speaker 1: bought for your children like we did at Christmas time,
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Speaker 1: an ant city, remember an ant city? Clear plastic plates
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Speaker 1: on each side of this sand filled ant city, and
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Speaker 1: you drop the little ants in there, you pull the
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Speaker 1: top on it, and then you watch them as they
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Speaker 1: move all around. You say, that's what they do underground.
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Speaker 1: For the first time, I've been able to understand how
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Speaker 1: they make their little paths, and before long, in a
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Speaker 1: few days, it's just a cobweb of trails and paths.
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Speaker 1: And in the same way, God scrutinizes our paths. As
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Speaker 1: it says in here, he is intimately acquainted with all
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Speaker 1: my ways. That's wonderful translation of that verse. Intimately acquainted.
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Speaker 1: I know Cynthia, but I am not intimately acquainted with
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Speaker 1: all her ways. That we've lived together over forty three years.
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Speaker 1: I know our son Kurt, whom all of you know,
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Speaker 1: and I have known him all of these years now
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Speaker 1: almost forty. But I am not intimately pleased. I'm announcing
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Speaker 1: that to the world, aren't you, Even though he looks
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Speaker 1: like he's twenty, I've known him all these years. I
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Speaker 1: am not intimately acquainted with all of his ways. God
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Speaker 1: is as close as I can know a friend and
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Speaker 1: spend all of that time. I'm never intimately acquainted with
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Speaker 1: all of his ways. God is with all of us individually.
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Speaker 1: Is that a marvelous thought? The number of our hairs
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Speaker 1: are known to him, which is a bigger challenge for
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Speaker 1: some than for others. Ah, the thoughts, the wayward thoughts,
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Speaker 1: the directions, the decisions, always, the motives, the words we
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Speaker 1: thought about saying but didn't often thankfully didn't. He knows those.
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Speaker 1: Now we're building toward a point even before there is
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Speaker 1: a word on my tongue. Oh Lord, help us know
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Speaker 1: it all. Talk about controlling. You have enclosed me behind,
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Speaker 1: and before you have laid your hand upon me. It's
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Speaker 1: a picture of being in an inescapable setting inside a
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Speaker 1: walled city and you can't get out, and he puts
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Speaker 1: his hand upon you, as if to say, it's okay
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Speaker 1: right here now. Look, such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
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Speaker 1: It is too high. I cannot attain to it wonderful.
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Speaker 1: How David would say that I may be your son,
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Speaker 1: and I may write your music, Lord, and I may
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Speaker 1: be the king of your people. But Lord, at this
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Speaker 1: point it is beyond me. It is too high. Why
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Speaker 1: in a family one child would go one direction and
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Speaker 1: one another? It's too high. I can't attain to it.
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Speaker 1: Why is it in a marriage this would dissolve in
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Speaker 1: six months and another marriage would last, as in the
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Speaker 1: case of our longtime friend, doctor John Wolvert, a marriage
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Speaker 1: for now sixty years. Why would one break up in
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Speaker 1: six months and one goes sixty years when all of
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Speaker 1: us are sinners, None of us deserve our partners or
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Speaker 1: such love. And why is it some would be called
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Speaker 1: to this area to serve in an obscure, difficult place
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Speaker 1: of service, and others would be able to serve in
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Speaker 1: this comfortable and delightful place, in an air conditioned building
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Speaker 1: with wonderful friends and support team, good churches. Why why
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Speaker 1: it's too high? I can attain to it. So let's
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Speaker 1: kind of settle it. I've got nine other passages I'd
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Speaker 1: love to turn to, but time doesn't allow. Let's put
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Speaker 1: this to bed right now. Let's understand, in all of
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Speaker 1: our searching and all of our study of the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: will never come to the place where it is now
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Speaker 1: completely clear, easily grasped or at least fully grasped so
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Speaker 1: that we can answer the questions some of it. Believe me,
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Speaker 1: men and women, you just take by faith the tensions
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Speaker 1: that I'm going to introduce to you right now. Some
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Speaker 1: of them will be for some of you really big struggles.
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Speaker 1: And if you get anchored on the tension, you won't
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Speaker 1: go further. Because you want to solve the decreative will
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Speaker 1: of God. You and millions others like you want to
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Speaker 1: know why his decrees were what they were, and what
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Speaker 1: right did he have to make that decision, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: Let's understand, he's the potter, we're the clay. He's the shepherd.
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Speaker 1: We're the sheep. He's the master, we're the servant. No
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Speaker 1: matter how educated, how high up, how long we walk
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Speaker 1: with him, how significant we may be in his plan,
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Speaker 1: if any of us could even claim any significance, none
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Speaker 1: of that qualifies us to even grasp the first particle
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Speaker 1: of why he does what he does, when he does it,
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Speaker 1: and how he does it. My ways are higher than
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Speaker 1: your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the
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Speaker 1: heavens are high above the earth, so are my thoughts
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Speaker 1: above yours. One more, finally, and then we'll move on
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Speaker 1: to this next part of the decreative will of God,
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Speaker 1: Romans Chapter eleven. Romans eleven two verses toward the end,
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Speaker 1: which I think forms the second major climax of the
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Speaker 1: Book of Romans. First one is at the end of
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Speaker 1: chapter eight. The next one is at the end of
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Speaker 1: chapter eleven, when he has just dealt with the whole
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Speaker 1: matter of Israel and God's plan for his people. Look
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Speaker 1: at eleven, thirty three and thirty four. Oh, the depth
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Speaker 1: of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
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Speaker 1: How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways? For
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Speaker 1: who has known the mind of the Lord, or who
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Speaker 1: became his counselor? I am not in any way attempting
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Speaker 1: to be God's counselor or to speak for him in
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Speaker 1: any sense of inspired vocal message. I'm just returning to
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Speaker 1: a passage or various passages of scripture and letting you
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Speaker 1: see from the scriptures these truths about God. What this
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Speaker 1: really is is a great study in theology, the study
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Speaker 1: of God. I love the story the little boy that
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Speaker 1: was given an assignment to draw anything you wanted to draw,
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Speaker 1: and he was sitting there and just working on a
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Speaker 1: little picture, and everybody else in the class had finished
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Speaker 1: their drawing, and the teacher walked back and looked over
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Speaker 1: his shoulder, and he was down here working on this
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Speaker 1: little drawing, etching it in. And she said, she said, honey,
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Speaker 1: what are you drawing? He says, I'm drawing a picture
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Speaker 1: of God. She said, well, you know, no one has
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Speaker 1: seen God at any time. Nobody knows what he looks like.
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Speaker 1: The little boy said, well, they will when I'm through. Well,
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Speaker 1: i'd love to think you see it all when I'm through,
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Speaker 1: but you won't see it all. You'll realize how enormous
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Speaker 1: is the greatness of your ignorance and your need then
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Speaker 1: to trust him and to let it be. Just let
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Speaker 1: it be. If his plan for you is a surprise
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Speaker 1: and and perhaps even humanly speaking, a disappointment, let it be.
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Speaker 1: Live with the disappointment, reconcile it, come to terms with it,
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Speaker 1: Let him have his way. Nothing is worse than existing
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Speaker 1: outside the nucleus of his will. We've all been there now.
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Speaker 1: I want to today really address two facets of God's will,
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Speaker 1: and the first would be what I would call his
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Speaker 1: sovereign decreed will, his decreative will. Isaiah chapter forty five.
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Speaker 1: Will help us get started there, Isaiah forty five. This
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Speaker 1: prophet has a eloquent way of setting the record straight.
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Speaker 1: This all has reference to the determined will of God,
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Speaker 1: which is not subject to change, which has never been altered,
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Speaker 1: which was put into motion as soon as God. However,
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Speaker 1: the Trinity or the Godhead determined the plan. Once it
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Speaker 1: was set in motion, it is running its course precisely
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Speaker 1: as arranged ahead of time in the mind of our
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Speaker 1: great God. And this decreed will of God is not
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Speaker 1: something that you need to concern yourself with in the
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Speaker 1: sense of trying to determine what it is ahead of time.
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Speaker 1: You can only know it after it's happened. This decreed
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Speaker 1: will of God is set and is not subject to change.
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Speaker 1: Isaiah forty five. Look at verses four through seven. For
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Speaker 1: the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel, my chosen one,
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Speaker 1: I have also called you by your name. I have
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Speaker 1: given you a title of honor, though you have not
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Speaker 1: known me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.
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Speaker 1: Watch closely. I am the Lord. There is no other
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Speaker 1: beside me. There is no God a subtle that one.
26:15
Speaker 1: Also in a world of multiplicity of religions. I saw
26:19
Speaker 1: a man get on the plane last night as we
26:21
Speaker 1: were making our way to southern California, and he had
26:24
Speaker 1: in his hand a very well worn thick paperback called
26:27
Speaker 1: all the Religions of the world. And I wanted to
26:31
Speaker 1: take him by the hand and introduce him to the
26:32
Speaker 1: one God who is the God of all and overall,
26:37
Speaker 1: and the one God that the Athenians tried their best
26:40
Speaker 1: to understand and finally erected a monument to the unknown God.
26:45
Speaker 1: And Paul said, that's the one you've missed, And in
26:49
Speaker 1: a masterful stroke of his homiletical genius, he turned to
26:53
Speaker 1: their one unknown God and s as, I'm here to
26:55
Speaker 1: introduce him to you. Isaiah is introducing to us and
27:00
Speaker 1: to the world at large, that there is one beside him.
27:04
Speaker 1: There is no one who is responsible for the decreed
27:08
Speaker 1: plan over this earth. There is no other God. I
27:12
Speaker 1: will gird you though you have not known me, that
27:15
Speaker 1: men may know from the rising to the setting of
27:18
Speaker 1: the sun, there is no one beside me. I am
27:21
Speaker 1: the Lord. There is no other. I think he's getting
27:23
Speaker 1: his point across, isn't he He's not through. I am
27:27
Speaker 1: the one forming light and creating darkness causing well being
27:31
Speaker 1: and creating calamity. Now live with that. Don't try to
27:35
Speaker 1: justify it. You don't want to send it as a
27:38
Speaker 1: love note to somebody that has just gone through one.
27:41
Speaker 1: But remember, it's not a surprise to God. This is
27:46
Speaker 1: part of the comfort you can have when going through
27:48
Speaker 1: a calamity or enduring it. This is I cannot explain it.
27:53
Speaker 1: I don't know why my house was washed away in
27:55
Speaker 1: this flood. I don't know why my friend was taken
27:58
Speaker 1: in that terrible drowning. I just know in the calamity,
28:01
Speaker 1: God has a plant. Either that or it isn't or
28:05
Speaker 1: he isn't God, and he's as surprise as we are,
28:09
Speaker 1: sitting on the edge of heaven wondering what's going to
28:12
Speaker 1: happen next. You know that's not our God. It's unfathomable
28:17
Speaker 1: to know why he wouldn't be involved in calamity. I
28:20
Speaker 1: just know Scripture states he is not surprised by it.
28:24
Speaker 1: It's all part of his plan. I am the Lord
28:32
Speaker 1: who does all these. Verse nine, Woe to the one
28:37
Speaker 1: who quarrels with his maker an earth, and were vessel
28:41
Speaker 1: among the vessels of earth? Will the clay say to
28:44
Speaker 1: the Potter, what are you doing or the thing you
28:48
Speaker 1: are making? Say he has no hands Verse twelve. It
28:58
Speaker 1: is I who made the earth created man upon it.
29:01
Speaker 1: I stretched out the heavens with my hands, and I
29:04
Speaker 1: ordained all their hosts, probably a reference to the starry
29:09
Speaker 1: to the stellar spaces. I ordained all their host I
29:13
Speaker 1: have aroused him in righteousness. I will make all his
29:17
Speaker 1: ways smooth. He will build my city, and will let
29:20
Speaker 1: my exiles go free without any payment or reward, says
29:24
Speaker 1: the Lord of hosts. This has reference to the determined
29:29
Speaker 1: decreed will of God. Let me give you several things
29:32
Speaker 1: about this decreed will of God. One it is absolute.
29:39
Speaker 1: It is absolute. Second, it is immutable. Learn that word
29:44
Speaker 1: I m m u tabl e means unchangeable. It is immutable.
29:52
Speaker 1: Three it is unconditional, for it is always in complete
30:02
Speaker 1: harmony with His plan and his nature. It is always
30:11
Speaker 1: in complete harmony with his plan and his nature, his
30:15
Speaker 1: overall scheme and his nature. In the long view, it
30:20
Speaker 1: will be holy, it will be just, it will be truth,
30:24
Speaker 1: it will be good, it will be righteous, and it
30:27
Speaker 1: will all work together toward those ends. Turn from Isaiah
30:38
Speaker 1: forty five back to Romans chapter eight I appreciate your
30:43
Speaker 1: patience and going from passage to passage, because this subject
30:48
Speaker 1: is not covered in just one little part or one
30:50
Speaker 1: chapter of the scriptures. It's woven through the tapestry of
30:54
Speaker 1: God's truth. Romans eight versus the very familiar verse twenty eight,
31:00
Speaker 1: but we usually leave out verse twenty nine. There are
31:02
Speaker 1: verses I feel sorry for. One is Romans eight twenty nine.
31:06
Speaker 1: One is wrong as John three seventeen. It's a great verse.
31:11
Speaker 1: Now there is Ephesians two ten. Everybody knows eight and nine,
31:14
Speaker 1: but there lies ten, which is a magnificent versus scripture.
31:18
Speaker 1: Here's Romans eight, twenty eight and twenty nine. We know
31:21
Speaker 1: that God causes all things to work together for good.
31:24
Speaker 1: Put in the margin decreed will of God. All things
31:28
Speaker 1: work together for good to those who love God, to
31:31
Speaker 1: those who are called according to His purpose. Here's the
31:34
Speaker 1: way the plan unfolds. For whom he foreknew, He also
31:38
Speaker 1: predestined to become conformed to the image of his son,
31:44
Speaker 1: that he might be the first born among many brethren,
31:47
Speaker 1: whom he predestined. These he called, whom he called, These
31:50
Speaker 1: he justified, whom he justified, these he also glorified. He's
31:56
Speaker 1: working away. He's chipping away in your life to cause
32:02
Speaker 1: you to take the form of his son, Jesus Christ
32:05
Speaker 1: in character. Someone asked a fine sculpture who was working
32:09
Speaker 1: on a lion's head with a big chunk of marble,
32:12
Speaker 1: how do you do it? You had a wonderful answer.
32:15
Speaker 1: I just chip away everything that doesn't look like a
32:17
Speaker 1: lion's head. Christ. I should say, God works away in
32:21
Speaker 1: our being and chips away everything that doesn't look like Christ.
32:26
Speaker 1: The impatience, the short temper, the drives that lead us
32:37
Speaker 1: wayward rather than toward our father, the haste rather than
32:43
Speaker 1: the gentleness. He's shaping us into his image. That's his
32:47
Speaker 1: predetermined plan, and he's committed to it. Nothing we can
32:51
Speaker 1: do will dissuade him from that plan. He stays at it.
32:57
Speaker 1: He knew when he sent the chimbers to China to
33:00
Speaker 1: get very specific that that was part of shaping them
33:04
Speaker 1: more into the image of Christ. And he knew when
33:07
Speaker 1: he left you here not going with them, that that
33:10
Speaker 1: was part of his plan and shaping you into the
33:13
Speaker 1: image of Christ. So it means you're not wrong for
33:17
Speaker 1: not having gone to China. It means they would have
33:19
Speaker 1: been wrong for not having gone. How do I know
33:22
Speaker 1: that was part of his decreed will? Because it's happened.
33:26
Speaker 1: I love the way Grant Howard writes on this in
33:29
Speaker 1: a book called Knowing God's Will and Doing It. Listen
33:32
Speaker 1: to doctor Howard's words, Can I know the determined will
33:36
Speaker 1: of God for my life? Yes? After it has occurred,
33:42
Speaker 1: you now know that God's determined will for your life
33:45
Speaker 1: was that you be born of certain parents in a
33:48
Speaker 1: certain location, under certain conditions, and that you be male
33:54
Speaker 1: or female. You now know that God determined for you
33:58
Speaker 1: to have certain features, certain experiences, certain teachers, certain interests,
34:10
Speaker 1: certain friends, a certain kind of education, and certain brothers
34:15
Speaker 1: or sisters, or perhaps to be an only child. In
34:19
Speaker 1: other words, everything that has happened in your life to
34:23
Speaker 1: this moment has been part of God's determined will for
34:27
Speaker 1: your life. It has happened because He has determined it
34:32
Speaker 1: to be. So I smiled because when I look into
34:35
Speaker 1: your faces, I can hear the breaks. Wait a minute,
34:40
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, I've got a question. I've got a question,
34:43
Speaker 1: So I get to ask mine first. Huh. We all
34:47
Speaker 1: have questions with this. I told you it was profound.
34:51
Speaker 1: I told you we couldn't understand. We want to be
34:53
Speaker 1: in charge. We want to say, oh, this is up
34:57
Speaker 1: to me. Wait a minute, who died and left you
35:00
Speaker 1: in charge? It's not up to you. You're the clay,
35:07
Speaker 1: He's the potter. Get over it. You're the slave. He's
35:12
Speaker 1: the master. Keept beyond it.
35:15
Speaker 2: Love it.
35:17
Speaker 1: It's in his hands. What a wonderful way to live.
35:20
Speaker 1: When I was serving as an intern Peninsulal Bible Church,
35:23
Speaker 1: I struggled with a sovereigny of God. Give Martin and
35:26
Speaker 1: I almost had fistfights over the sovereignty of God. And
35:30
Speaker 1: Cynthia finally said, if you too don't solve this, I'm
35:32
Speaker 1: living somewhere else until you too deal with his beginners
35:35
Speaker 1: living with us at the time. We fought, fought tooth
35:38
Speaker 1: and nail, and finally I surrendered, and I finally went
35:41
Speaker 1: to Ray and I said, Ray, I want you to
35:43
Speaker 1: know what I've learned this summer. I've learned to embrace
35:45
Speaker 1: the will of God. Tears just came into his eyes.
35:49
Speaker 1: He said, if you learn nothing else, that is the
35:51
Speaker 1: greatest thing I could have heard from you. God is
35:56
Speaker 1: sovereign over the affairs of our lives. Lives, Let it
36:01
Speaker 1: be rest in it. Grant Howard continues, if you'll just
36:08
Speaker 1: listen a bit more, what.
36:09
Speaker 2: About the future?
36:11
Speaker 1: Can I know any part of God's determined will for
36:14
Speaker 1: my life in the future. Your spiritual position and your
36:20
Speaker 1: eternal destiny are the only two things you can know
36:25
Speaker 1: with certainty. Your spiritual position and your eternal destiny are
36:33
Speaker 1: the only two things you can know with certainty. If
36:36
Speaker 1: you are in Christ now, you can know for certain
36:41
Speaker 1: you will remain in Christ at every moment in the future.
36:45
Speaker 1: Isn't that a great relief you have any idea? How
36:49
Speaker 1: many wander on this earth as Christians to them today,
36:54
Speaker 1: wondering if they'll still be there by tonight, wondering if
36:58
Speaker 1: they woke up in the morning and had said and
37:00
Speaker 1: as they did that previous evening? Are they What do
37:03
Speaker 1: they have to do now to come back to Christ?
37:06
Speaker 1: You can never be out of the one who has
37:09
Speaker 1: given you the gift of eternal life. You can know that.
37:14
Speaker 1: And I conclude this quotation with this paragraph. The remainder
37:19
Speaker 1: of your future is hidden from you until it happens.
37:23
Speaker 1: Your career, your marriage partner, your home location, your grades
37:28
Speaker 1: in school, your sicknesses, accidents, honors, travels, income, retirement are
37:34
Speaker 1: all part of God's determined will, but are not revealed
37:38
Speaker 1: ahead of time. Apart from your spiritual position and eternal destiny,
37:44
Speaker 1: all that will happen in your life cannot be predicted
37:47
Speaker 1: with absolute certainty. And all the people said a man
37:53
Speaker 1: who would have ever guessed five years ago you'd be
37:56
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing right now, or have experienced over
37:59
Speaker 1: the five years, But you've experienced not one of us. Now,
38:05
Speaker 1: I got news for you. In the next five years,
38:07
Speaker 1: it's going to be just as uncertain as an and
38:10
Speaker 1: as exciting, and full of risk and full of wonder.
38:17
Speaker 1: It is absolute, it is unconditional. It is in complete
38:22
Speaker 1: harmony with His nature and plan. It is immutable. Got
38:30
Speaker 1: room for a couple more Song one, p. Fifteen three.
38:38
Speaker 1: This is the verse Lilah Troutman quoted when she heard
38:42
Speaker 1: the words that her husband Dawson had drowned at Scroon Lake,
38:46
Speaker 1: and a friend from that boat from which he had
38:49
Speaker 1: dived to save the lives of two girls that had
38:51
Speaker 1: been thrown out of the boat, and then he drowned.
38:54
Speaker 1: That friend ran down that shoreline and found Lilah and said, Lylah,
38:58
Speaker 1: Dawson is gone. He's gone on And she quoted Psalm
39:01
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen to three. Our God is in
39:05
Speaker 1: the heavens. He does whatever he pleases that will save
39:09
Speaker 1: your bacon when the bottom drops out of your life.
39:15
Speaker 1: Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatever
39:18
Speaker 1: he has pleased. You wonder how far I'll go with this.
39:25
Speaker 1: I go as far as Acts two allows me to go.
39:28
Speaker 1: Look at Acts two, you talk about the ultimate statement,
39:34
Speaker 1: And all this time you thought Jesus was just thrown
39:37
Speaker 1: on a cross by Romans and Jews because they hated him. Oh,
39:41
Speaker 1: you need to be reminded that it was according to
39:43
Speaker 1: the determined will of God. At the Savior was nailed
39:47
Speaker 1: to the cross. Acts two twenty two. Peter speaks, Men
39:52
Speaker 1: of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a
39:58
Speaker 1: man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders
40:01
Speaker 1: and signs which performed through him in your myth, which
40:05
Speaker 1: God performed through him in your midst just as you
40:08
Speaker 1: yourselves know this man watch now delivered up by the
40:13
Speaker 1: predetermined plan and fore knowledge of God, You nailed to
40:20
Speaker 1: a cross by the hands of godless men and put
40:25
Speaker 1: him to death. You ever seen that verse before? Look
40:29
Speaker 1: at this by the predetermined plan and fore knowledge of God.
40:35
Speaker 1: He was nailed at that cross, men nailed into a cross.
40:40
Speaker 1: But it was exactly at the time, and in the place,
40:43
Speaker 1: and in the way God determined it. And what looked
40:48
Speaker 1: to the eleven faithful disciples as unfair and unjust and
40:53
Speaker 1: humanly speaking, it was all the above. God looked upon
40:58
Speaker 1: it and said, that is what I've planned. That's the
41:03
Speaker 1: mission that he came to accomplish. That's why he finally said,
41:08
Speaker 1: on the cross, it is finished. What was finished, the plan,
41:14
Speaker 1: the redemption plan, the payment for sin. And he slumped
41:22
Speaker 1: in death, look at the next verse, and God raised
41:29
Speaker 1: him up again, putting an end to the agony of death,
41:34
Speaker 1: since it was impossible for him to be held in
41:36
Speaker 1: its power. That's exactly what will happen beyond our death.
41:42
Speaker 1: He will raise us up by his grace, putting an
41:45
Speaker 1: end forever to the agony of death, since we will
41:48
Speaker 1: not be held by its power. Wonderful thought to claim
41:52
Speaker 1: at a graveside, isn't it? Now? All this, including God's nature,
41:59
Speaker 1: means that there are some things God cannot and will
42:02
Speaker 1: not do. Let's insert those thoughts right here, just a
42:07
Speaker 1: very few of them. God cannot and will not lie
42:13
Speaker 1: Numbers twenty three nineteen Hebrews six eighteen. God cannot and
42:20
Speaker 1: will not lie. Here's another one. God cannot and does
42:25
Speaker 1: not tempt anyone to sin. See that would be against
42:32
Speaker 1: his nature, that would be against his will. James one
42:35
Speaker 1: thirteen through fifteen. Let no one say when he is tempted,
42:38
Speaker 1: I'm tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil,
42:42
Speaker 1: neither tempts he any man. But everyone is tempted when
42:45
Speaker 1: he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.
42:49
Speaker 1: And lust when it is conceived, brings forth sin, and
42:52
Speaker 1: sin when it is finished brings forth death. Interesting use
42:56
Speaker 1: of the term by in James one thirteen. Let no
43:00
Speaker 1: one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted by God.
43:04
Speaker 1: The way James wrote it syntactically means indirectly. There were
43:10
Speaker 1: two ways he could have written it, I've been tempted
43:13
Speaker 1: directly by God. But he doesn't write that. He is
43:16
Speaker 1: an even more subtle expression, I've been tempted indirectly by God.
43:21
Speaker 1: That is the angle we like to take. Remember the
43:28
Speaker 1: first couple, Adam and Eve. The woman which you gave
43:33
Speaker 1: to me, she caused me to sin the woman, which
43:37
Speaker 1: you gave to me indirectly. Lord, you're the one. We've
43:43
Speaker 1: been doing it since then. Lord, if you hadn't given
43:47
Speaker 1: me this nature, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have checked
43:49
Speaker 1: into the Internet, and I wouldn't have gone to the
43:51
Speaker 1: chat room, and I wouldn't gotten involved in that with
43:54
Speaker 1: that woman. I mean, if you hadn't given me the
43:57
Speaker 1: time to do this, all of that's stuff is nonsensical.
44:03
Speaker 1: It's terrible theology. God cannot and does not and will
44:07
Speaker 1: not tempt us. He never solicits us into evil, has
44:11
Speaker 1: nothing to do with it. Strong words, here's another one
44:18
Speaker 1: two Timothy two thirteen. God cannot and does not deny himself.
44:25
Speaker 1: He will never contradict himself to make a point, unlike
44:31
Speaker 1: anyone else you've ever known. He is eternally consistent. So
44:37
Speaker 1: much for the decreative will of God. And I smile
44:40
Speaker 1: when I say that, because we haven't even scratched the
44:43
Speaker 1: veneer of the surface of this unfathomable subject. But let's
44:49
Speaker 1: understand where we start, just a little practical advice here.
44:55
Speaker 1: No one is frustrating God's plan one. No one who
45:02
Speaker 1: lets us down surprises God. No one who walks away
45:08
Speaker 1: from his or her responsibilities in any way causes God
45:12
Speaker 1: to wonder why his whole plan covers all of this.
45:16
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean we're not responsible. We'll deal with that in
45:19
Speaker 1: a few minutes. There's also the permissive will of God. Okay,
45:25
Speaker 1: this represents what God allows. God allowed Job to go
45:32
Speaker 1: through the suffering. Okay, Job one and two would be
45:36
Speaker 1: your reference and no need to turn to it. You
45:38
Speaker 1: all know the story like the back of your hand.
45:42
Speaker 1: Satan came accused Job of one of those guys that
45:46
Speaker 1: the Lord had so carefully protected, who wouldn't trust God.
45:49
Speaker 1: But you touch him, you touch his life, you touch
45:52
Speaker 1: his family, you touch his health. He'll curse you. The
45:55
Speaker 1: Lord said, I allow you to do that. I don't
45:58
Speaker 1: know why God did that, so don't ask me after
46:01
Speaker 1: it's over. What God, what was? How could God call
46:04
Speaker 1: that fair? I'm not God. From my perspective, it wasn't.
46:08
Speaker 1: But I'm the clay. He's the potter. What a magnificent
46:13
Speaker 1: example of patience Job has become in all our minds.
46:18
Speaker 1: Here's another one on the permissive will of God. Second, Peter,
46:21
Speaker 1: I want you to look at this one second Peter
46:23
Speaker 1: three nine, lest you think I'm the type of person
46:26
Speaker 1: that that is so determined in this that I have
46:30
Speaker 1: no concern for the lost. Look at tewod Peter three nine,
46:34
Speaker 1: God's concern for the lost. The Lord is not slow
46:42
Speaker 1: about his promise. I going a little too fast here
46:45
Speaker 1: second Peter three to nine. The Lord is not slow
46:48
Speaker 1: about his promise, as some count slowness, but his patient
46:52
Speaker 1: toward you. Now watch carefully. The New American Standard says,
46:57
Speaker 1: not wishing for any to perish, but for all to
47:03
Speaker 1: come to repentance. There's God's wish list. He would wish
47:08
Speaker 1: that all would come to him. But they all will not,
47:12
Speaker 1: and they all have not, and they all never will.
47:17
Speaker 1: Paul said, I've done all of these things that I might,
47:19
Speaker 1: by all means save some. Paul wanted to save them all.
47:24
Speaker 1: Every time I stand up in front of a group
47:26
Speaker 1: and I know the group is lost, my prayer is, Lord,
47:28
Speaker 1: bring everyone without Christ to yourself. But I'm a realist,
47:33
Speaker 1: and I know that some will choose not to. That's
47:37
Speaker 1: part of his plan. That's part of his plan. This
47:44
Speaker 1: is a tension, folks, This is tension here.
47:48
Speaker 2: If he's not.
47:48
Speaker 1: Wishing for any to perish, then why doesn't he save
47:51
Speaker 1: all of them. It's not his plan. If it were
47:55
Speaker 1: his plan that all be saved. You see, the old
48:00
Speaker 1: issue of evil emerges here and comes into play. And
48:05
Speaker 1: this is one of the unreconcilable difficulties in our theology.
48:10
Speaker 1: No one has ever been able to reconcile the battle
48:13
Speaker 1: between the determined will of God and the responsibility of humanity,
48:18
Speaker 1: the need to make Christ known to the world, knowing
48:21
Speaker 1: that the whole world won't believe. Charles Spurgeon put it
48:26
Speaker 1: very well, one of these great sovereign grace Baptists of yesteryear,
48:31
Speaker 1: one of my favorite colorful characters from Victorian England. He said,
48:35
Speaker 1: if God had put a white stripe up the back
48:40
Speaker 1: of every one of the elect, I'd spend my life
48:42
Speaker 1: in London going up and down the streets lifting up
48:45
Speaker 1: shirt tails. But because he said, whosoever will may come,
48:49
Speaker 1: I preach to them all. I wish I could tell
48:54
Speaker 1: by looking those who are elect, but I can't, so
48:58
Speaker 1: I preach to them all that Sunday I'll have a
49:02
Speaker 1: chance to speak to those thousands of marines and naval
49:06
Speaker 1: officers and army personnel and air force folks, and I'll
49:12
Speaker 1: have a chance to tell him all about Christ, but
49:15
Speaker 1: not all will believe. God wishes for none to perish,
49:20
Speaker 1: but for all to come to repentance. He does not
49:25
Speaker 1: cause sin, but he does permit it. He is not
49:29
Speaker 1: pleased with the yielding to temptation, but he uses even
49:33
Speaker 1: that to accomplish his purpose. That's where Gibb and I
49:37
Speaker 1: had such a battle. I thought God was so removed
49:40
Speaker 1: from the whole act of sin and all the issue
49:43
Speaker 1: of evil, that he just simply had nothing to do
49:46
Speaker 1: with it. But if that were true, he would be
49:48
Speaker 1: partially sovereign in It's like saying you're almost a father,
49:54
Speaker 1: or you're almost a man or a woman. Pharaoh's heart
49:59
Speaker 1: was hardened, according to Exodus four, verse twenty one, and
50:03
Speaker 1: God had a hand in it. Romans nine talks about
50:07
Speaker 1: the same thing. The hardened hearts of the kings are
50:11
Speaker 1: mentioned in Joshua eleventh, sixteen to twenty, and God had
50:15
Speaker 1: a hand in the hardening of those hearts. Look at
50:20
Speaker 1: Acts four. It just occurs to me. I didn't have
50:22
Speaker 1: that down, but Acts four to twenty seven I just
50:24
Speaker 1: was looking at this last week, at the seminary Acts
50:27
Speaker 1: four twenty seven to thirty one, well, it's a great section,
50:32
Speaker 1: this whole early part of Acts by It's just you
50:36
Speaker 1: got guys firing all around them, and they're ducking in there,
50:39
Speaker 1: walking out in the open, telling about dodging the bullets,
50:42
Speaker 1: and they're going back into their little place to get
50:44
Speaker 1: together and be encouraged. Back out and they're getting scourged
50:47
Speaker 1: and whipped and threatening, and they're back out preaching and
50:49
Speaker 1: they're brought back in. They're tortured, and they're imprisoned, and
50:53
Speaker 1: it's just back and forth. It's like a doll. You
50:55
Speaker 1: keep knocking down and keeps bouncing right back up. You
50:57
Speaker 1: knocking back down and keeps bouncing back up. This is
50:59
Speaker 1: one of those bouncing moments right here. Look at Acts
51:01
Speaker 1: four twenty seven. For truly, in this city there were
51:05
Speaker 1: gathered together against the Holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst annoyed,
51:09
Speaker 1: both Herod and Ponscious Pilot, along with the gentiles and
51:12
Speaker 1: the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and
51:16
Speaker 1: thy purpose predestined to occur. Look at that, What a
51:19
Speaker 1: great prayer. Lord, You used Poncious Pilot, you used Herod,
51:23
Speaker 1: You use those godless gentiles to carry out your purposes.
51:27
Speaker 1: And your plan, whatever it would be. And now Lord
51:30
Speaker 1: take note of their threats, and grant that thy bond
51:33
Speaker 1: servants may speak thy word with all confidence, while thou
51:36
Speaker 1: dost extend thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders
51:40
Speaker 1: take place through the name of thy holy Servant, Jesus.
51:43
Speaker 1: And when they had prayed, the place where they had filled,
51:46
Speaker 1: where they had gathered together, was shaken, and they were
51:48
Speaker 1: filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the
51:51
Speaker 1: Word of God with boldness. And the congregation of those
51:54
Speaker 1: who believed were of one heart and one soul. Not
51:56
Speaker 1: one of them claimed anything belonged to him was his own,
52:00
Speaker 1: but all things were common property to them. Not a
52:02
Speaker 1: great setting early church. Everybody was willing to give and
52:06
Speaker 1: take and express need and help another one out and
52:10
Speaker 1: not claim anything. It's just mine. Some folks just don't
52:14
Speaker 1: get it. They think in the Christian life, it's kind
52:17
Speaker 1: of like in the world, you kind of got to
52:18
Speaker 1: look out for Number one. Used to be a saying
52:22
Speaker 1: and we were in the inn Asian in the Marine Corps.
52:24
Speaker 1: He's a Itchi ban number one. Watch out for Itchi
52:28
Speaker 1: bon number one. You're not number one. We're all in
52:33
Speaker 1: the category of God's servants to do whatever he would
52:37
Speaker 1: like to do with us. Well, I was ministering recently
52:41
Speaker 1: I came across a cute story from Dave Talbot at
52:44
Speaker 1: Mount Herman. He said, you might use this sometime, and
52:49
Speaker 1: knowing me, I've gotten miles out of it since then.
52:52
Speaker 1: This husband who had kind of given up with this
52:57
Speaker 1: strong willed wife, and they were just at each other's
53:00
Speaker 1: throat for about four years, and finally they both said,
53:03
Speaker 1: we need counseling, we need help, and so they kind
53:06
Speaker 1: of well, she marches into it. He kind of SLINKs
53:09
Speaker 1: into the counselor's office and they sit down and counselor says, now,
53:14
Speaker 1: what seems to be the problem, and the guy kind
53:16
Speaker 1: of like a wimp, hangs his head. The woman starts
53:19
Speaker 1: in and for about forty five minutes, it's non stop
53:24
Speaker 1: this and that. We have problems here and problems there,
53:26
Speaker 1: And the counselor said, wait a minute. Forty five minutes,
53:29
Speaker 1: gets up, walks around. It's a stand up. A woman
53:32
Speaker 1: stands up and he passionately kisses her, hugs her, kisses
53:37
Speaker 1: her again, has her sit back down. He says to
53:43
Speaker 1: the man, this woman needs that. About twice a week,
53:48
Speaker 1: and the guy said, I guess I could bring her
53:49
Speaker 1: in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
53:53
Speaker 2: Get a life, Let it go.
54:14
Speaker 1: Some things in the scriptures are very clearly declared to
54:18
Speaker 1: be God's will. You don't even have to pray about them.
54:22
Speaker 1: Isn't that a relief? Did you know this? Some things
54:26
Speaker 1: are called the will of God? Why am I yelling?
54:30
Speaker 1: Look at first Thessalonians chapter four. I'm gonna show you
54:33
Speaker 1: what is the will of God. You don't even have
54:37
Speaker 1: to worry about it. This is the will of God,
54:40
Speaker 1: it says so first Theessalonians four, verse three. Now you
54:47
Speaker 1: can put her down, tell your kids, spread it far
54:51
Speaker 1: and wide among the Christian circle. The unsaved won't understand this.
54:55
Speaker 1: It's not their business. This is Christian truth. Don't try
54:59
Speaker 1: to make an unsaved live up to it. For this
55:02
Speaker 1: is the will of God. Your sanctification, that is that
55:07
Speaker 1: you abstain from sexual immorality. Any time a person engages
55:14
Speaker 1: in sexual immorality, mark it down. It was not the
55:19
Speaker 1: will of God. Its grounds for being fired from this
55:25
Speaker 1: organization and any Christian organization that has guts is another
55:31
Speaker 1: word for that, but I'll save that word for some
55:33
Speaker 1: other time this organization has guts. It is never the
55:39
Speaker 1: will of God that we be engaged in sexual immorality.
55:45
Speaker 1: Look at Chapter five, verse eighteen. In everything, give thanks.
55:50
Speaker 2: Now.
55:50
Speaker 1: You don't have to pray about this. Should I give
55:53
Speaker 1: thanks for that? No? No, you don't have to pray.
55:56
Speaker 1: This is God's will for you in Christ, Jesus. What
56:01
Speaker 1: to give thanks when? Every day for what? Whatever? You
56:09
Speaker 1: can't get around it? Now that I'm not going to
56:11
Speaker 1: let you walk around that one you mean my husband
56:16
Speaker 1: to do science, I give thanks, you know. Give thanks
56:19
Speaker 1: for the patience you learn just living with him. Give
56:23
Speaker 1: thanks for how God is going to work in his life.
56:28
Speaker 1: Give thanks First Peter two is another one. You don't
56:31
Speaker 1: have to pray about this, you know it's true. First Peter.
56:36
Speaker 1: We're in the world is first parity. It's first Peter.
56:38
Speaker 1: Chapter two, verse thirteen. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake
56:43
Speaker 1: to every human institution, whether a king as the one
56:47
Speaker 1: in authority or governors, is sent by Him for the
56:49
Speaker 1: punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
56:52
Speaker 1: For such is the will of God, that you, by
56:56
Speaker 1: doing right, may silence the ignorance of foolish men. The
57:00
Speaker 1: will of God. That's wonderful. I find relief in that
57:07
Speaker 1: I got a whole list of them. Doesn't come out
57:09
Speaker 1: this clearly, but these are basically a simple list. You
57:13
Speaker 1: just listen, obeying your parents Esian sixty one. Marrying another
57:20
Speaker 1: Christian second Corinthians six point fifteen, working at an occupation
57:28
Speaker 1: First Thessalonians four eleven and twelve, supporting one's family one
57:32
Speaker 1: Timothy five eight, giving to the Lord's work and to
57:36
Speaker 1: the poor second Corinthians eight and nine, Galatians two ten,
57:42
Speaker 1: Rearing children by God's standards Esian sixty four. Meditating in
57:47
Speaker 1: the scriptures Psalm one, verse two, praying first Thessalonians five seventeen,
57:53
Speaker 1: having a joyful latitude Verse Test five sixteen, Assembling for
57:58
Speaker 1: worship Hebrews ten twenty five, proclaiming Christ Acts one to eight,
58:03
Speaker 1: setting proper values Collisans three to two, having a spirit
58:07
Speaker 1: of gratitude Philippians four to six, displaying love as your
58:11
Speaker 1: lifestyle First Corinthians thirteen, Accepting people without prejudice James two
58:16
Speaker 1: one to ten. And the list is that's so limited. See,
58:20
Speaker 1: the better you get to know the word of God,
58:22
Speaker 1: the less confusing will be the will of God. Those
58:27
Speaker 1: who struggle the least with the will of God, or
58:29
Speaker 1: those are those who know the word of God best.
58:32
Speaker 1: That's why we just hammer away on the scriptures. The scriptures.
58:36
Speaker 1: The scriptures so much more valuable than my opinions are yours. Now.
58:44
Speaker 1: I want to close with three kind of quick statements,
58:48
Speaker 1: and then we'll use it as a lead into something
58:50
Speaker 1: that we will feel is far more relevant. The question
58:55
Speaker 1: now is how did God reveal his will in biblical times?
59:01
Speaker 1: Since it's different from how he reveals his will today,
59:05
Speaker 1: it's helpful to know how he used to reveal his will.
59:08
Speaker 1: I want to suggest three, and they represent maybe thirty
59:11
Speaker 1: possible ways, but these three are clearly verified in Scripture
59:15
Speaker 1: number one. He used miraculous events before there was a
59:22
Speaker 1: completed book of Scripture old a New Testament, before we
59:27
Speaker 1: had Genesis through revelation in our language, before there was
59:32
Speaker 1: a completed written revelation of the mind of God and
59:37
Speaker 1: the will of the Father, he used miracles. Examples the
59:43
Speaker 1: burning bush Exodus three one to ten. How did Moses
59:49
Speaker 1: know it was God giving him the message to go
59:54
Speaker 1: back to Egypt and to deliver God's people? The burning bush,
59:59
Speaker 1: the fact that a bush burn in the wilderness wasn't
1:00:01
Speaker 1: a miracle. That happens to this day. They catch on
1:00:05
Speaker 1: fire and they burn, but that one wouldn't go out.
1:00:09
Speaker 1: It burned and burned, And that's what caused Moses to
1:00:12
Speaker 1: turn and to stay and to listen and then finally
1:00:17
Speaker 1: get God's will. Another the Red Sea. How did Moses
1:00:22
Speaker 1: know he should go across the Red Sea? The Red
1:00:24
Speaker 1: Sea opened up pretty good way to know how he
1:00:31
Speaker 1: would walk across, And the bed of the sea was
1:00:34
Speaker 1: dry of all things. That's another part of the miracle,
1:00:38
Speaker 1: and it's continually referred to in the Old Testament as
1:00:42
Speaker 1: that miracle of the sea. We give you one more
1:00:47
Speaker 1: Judges six. The fleece that Gideon put out dew was
1:00:53
Speaker 1: on at one time, do was not on another time?
1:00:56
Speaker 1: Et cetera. How do the people know Peter should come
1:01:01
Speaker 1: out of prison? That that was God's will? God brought
1:01:04
Speaker 1: him out miraculously acts Chapter twelve, verses one to sixteen.
1:01:11
Speaker 1: So he did miraculous events. He does not now reveal
1:01:15
Speaker 1: his will through miraculous events. People feel they see a
1:01:20
Speaker 1: miracle every day. It's remarkable parking place at Nordstrom's Miracle
1:01:27
Speaker 1: Face of Jesus, and it Inchilada miracle. It's not a miracle.
1:01:34
Speaker 1: Miracles happened that much, they'd be called regulars. I have
1:01:39
Speaker 1: the Gary Richmond to thank for that line. They're miracles.
1:01:45
Speaker 1: Sometime he does miracles. He does in my lifetime. I
1:01:51
Speaker 1: probably could name two I've been aware of, and they
1:01:54
Speaker 1: were so obviously miracles of God no other explanation would work.
1:01:58
Speaker 1: And I've lived sixty three soon to be sixty four years.
1:02:01
Speaker 1: I'm not sure one of the two really was, but
1:02:04
Speaker 1: I'm sure one of them was. And I think he
1:02:06
Speaker 1: does miracles, and I certainly think he's able. He's God.
1:02:09
Speaker 1: He'd do whatever he pleases, but his standard method of
1:02:11
Speaker 1: doing it now is not through miracles. Please don't get
1:02:15
Speaker 1: caught up in that trap. Guard against looking for miracles
1:02:19
Speaker 1: to find God's will. You don't need them. When you do,
1:02:23
Speaker 1: you'll do one for you. And I've never found a
1:02:27
Speaker 1: big issue in my life that need to be solved
1:02:29
Speaker 1: with a miracle regarding his will. He did them, did
1:02:34
Speaker 1: it often because there weren't scriptures to turn to. Second,
1:02:38
Speaker 1: he spoke through visions and dreams. He spoke through visions
1:02:46
Speaker 1: and dreams. Of course, he had to do that. They
1:02:49
Speaker 1: couldn't study their bibles before they went to bed or
1:02:51
Speaker 1: when they got up in the morning. I'm reading in
1:02:54
Speaker 1: Genesis fifteen to one. After these things, the word of
1:02:57
Speaker 1: the Lord came to Abram in a vision fifteen one.
1:03:03
Speaker 1: Here's another one that dawns on me Genesis twenty two
1:03:05
Speaker 1: to one. It came about after these things. God tested
1:03:08
Speaker 1: Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here
1:03:13
Speaker 1: I am. God spoke to him. Pharaoh had a dream
1:03:18
Speaker 1: in Genesis forty one that Joseph interpreted. And it was
1:03:22
Speaker 1: through the vision of the and the dream and the
1:03:25
Speaker 1: interpretation of such that exodus that Egypt was preserved from
1:03:30
Speaker 1: this terrible drought. He saw it all coming in a vision,
1:03:35
Speaker 1: in a dream from an unsaved pharaoh. Remarkable huh. Acts
1:03:40
Speaker 1: ten ten through twenty three. Peter found a sheet coming
1:03:45
Speaker 1: down from heaven with all kinds of food on it,
1:03:48
Speaker 1: and among them was you know, ham sandwich, you know
1:03:52
Speaker 1: a little swind all paraphrase. There he saw things that
1:03:55
Speaker 1: were not allowed for Jews to eat. And God said eat.
1:03:59
Speaker 1: And he said, I can't eat.
1:04:00
Speaker 2: God said eat.
1:04:01
Speaker 1: Peter says I can't.
1:04:02
Speaker 2: He does eat.
1:04:04
Speaker 1: And through this vision of the sheet and the miraculous
1:04:08
Speaker 1: provision of this food. Peter discovered the grace of God
1:04:12
Speaker 1: as he was bridging the message of the Gospel to
1:04:14
Speaker 1: the gentiles. That's how he revealed his will. Now that's
1:04:19
Speaker 1: how we did it. Then I find people waiting for
1:04:22
Speaker 1: visions and relying on dreams. You should hear my dreams.
1:04:29
Speaker 1: I mean, if I went by my dreams, you would
1:04:31
Speaker 1: have one weird leader and insight for living. Sometime in
1:04:35
Speaker 1: the morning.
1:04:36
Speaker 2: I wake up. I'm just laughing.
1:04:37
Speaker 1: That was the silliest thing I've ever heard of. Cynthia's
1:04:40
Speaker 1: dreams are terrific. She has predictam my dreams. You know,
1:04:44
Speaker 1: I crack off when I hear her dreams, whatever may
1:04:47
Speaker 1: be the dream. Don't rely on dreams and visions. You
1:04:52
Speaker 1: don't need them. They did, then had to be here's
1:04:57
Speaker 1: another one. Here's another way. They knew revelation from the
1:05:02
Speaker 1: mouth of God. God spoke to prophets. How would that be?
1:05:10
Speaker 1: Whoa middle of the night, Amos do this? Isaiah say
1:05:18
Speaker 1: that Jeremiah go here? And they did. Usually Jonah didn't.
1:05:28
Speaker 1: God graciously came back another time and reminded him he
1:05:32
Speaker 1: didn't stutter plans the same The prophets spoke get this
1:05:38
Speaker 1: word as the very oracle O r A c l e.
1:05:43
Speaker 1: As the very oracle of God twod Peter one twenty one.
1:05:50
Speaker 1: God spoke through prophets who were moved along by the
1:05:55
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. The word pharaoh p h e, r, O
1:05:58
Speaker 1: and Greek has reference to being moved out of one's
1:06:01
Speaker 1: own power. It's a nautical term used for a ship
1:06:04
Speaker 1: that's lost its rudder, has no sail, and it's at
1:06:07
Speaker 1: the mercy of the waves and the wind and the
1:06:10
Speaker 1: current as it washes around the sea. It's moved along
1:06:14
Speaker 1: out of its own power. It's the word used in
1:06:16
Speaker 1: two Peter one twenty one. That's how God spoke. He
1:06:20
Speaker 1: moved them out of their own power. Well, that must
1:06:23
Speaker 1: have been fantastic, Wow, Samuel. Samuel remembered the story. Always
1:06:32
Speaker 1: wondered what God wanted to say to him. I just
1:06:34
Speaker 1: learned as a little kid. He just got woke up
1:06:36
Speaker 1: in the middle of night. He'd trot over to Eli.
1:06:38
Speaker 1: He'd say, must be a dream. They go back. Finally
1:06:41
Speaker 1: Eli says it's God. And God said to Samuel, I'm
1:06:45
Speaker 1: going to tell you something that will make the people
1:06:47
Speaker 1: of Israel their ears tingle. And he revealed to him
1:06:51
Speaker 1: Elia's fault as a father. Very tough. Revelation stories are
1:07:00
Speaker 1: full now. Prophets are no longer in existence. I don't
1:07:07
Speaker 1: care what they tell you on television. I don't care
1:07:10
Speaker 1: what the newspaper says. Quoting from John Stott, the Christian
1:07:17
Speaker 1: preacher is not a prophet. That is, he does not
1:07:21
Speaker 1: derive his message from God as a direct and original revelation.
1:07:27
Speaker 1: Of course, the word prophet is used today loosely by
1:07:30
Speaker 1: some people. It is not uncommon to hear a man
1:07:33
Speaker 1: who preaches with passion described as possessing prophetic fire, and
1:07:38
Speaker 1: a preacher who can discern the signs of the times,
1:07:41
Speaker 1: who sees the hand of God in the history of
1:07:43
Speaker 1: the day, seeks to interpret the significance of political and
1:07:47
Speaker 1: social trends, is sometimes said to be a prophet or
1:07:51
Speaker 1: to have prophetic insight. But I suggest this kind of
1:07:55
Speaker 1: use of the title of prophet is an improper use.
1:07:59
Speaker 1: What then, is a prophet? Listen carefully. The Old Testament
1:08:03
Speaker 1: regarded him as the immediate mouthpiece of God. When God
1:08:10
Speaker 1: anointed Aaron to speak the words of Moses to Pharaoh,
1:08:13
Speaker 1: he explained this arrangement in these words, see I make
1:08:19
Speaker 1: you as God to Pharaoh, and Erin, your brother, shall
1:08:25
Speaker 1: be your prophet Exodus seven, verses one and two. And
1:08:31
Speaker 1: again you shall speak to him Erin and put the
1:08:34
Speaker 1: words in his mouth. And I will be with your
1:08:37
Speaker 1: mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what
1:08:42
Speaker 1: you shall do. He shall speak for you to the people,
1:08:46
Speaker 1: and he shall be as a mouth for you, and
1:08:49
Speaker 1: you shall be to him as God Exodus four ten
1:08:54
Speaker 1: through seventeen. Stott continues, this makes it plain that the
1:08:59
Speaker 1: prophet was God, God's mouth through whom God spoke his
1:09:05
Speaker 1: words to man. The prophet spoke neither his own words
1:09:11
Speaker 1: nor in his own name. The essential characteristic of the
1:09:16
Speaker 1: prophet was that he spoke God's word. As Peter put it,
1:09:23
Speaker 1: no prophecy, that is, no true prophecy ever came by
1:09:29
Speaker 1: the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy
1:09:34
Speaker 1: Spirit spoke from God Tewod Peter one twenty one. The
1:09:40
Speaker 1: Christian preacher, therefore, is not a prophet. No original revelation
1:09:46
Speaker 1: is given to him. His task is to expound the
1:09:50
Speaker 1: revelation which has been given once for all. The last
1:09:56
Speaker 1: occurrence in the Bible of the formula the Word of
1:10:00
Speaker 1: God came unto refers to John the Baptizer Luke three
1:10:06
Speaker 1: verse two. I didn't know that until I read Scott's words.
1:10:10
Speaker 1: The last reference in the Bible of the formula the
1:10:14
Speaker 1: Word of God, the Word of God came unto refers
1:10:18
Speaker 1: to John the Baptizer Luke three to two. He was
1:10:22
Speaker 1: a true prophet. And then Scott concludes, now that the
1:10:27
Speaker 1: written word of God is available to us all, the
1:10:30
Speaker 1: word of God in prophetic utterance is no longer needed.
1:10:37
Speaker 1: The Word of God does not come to men today.
1:10:40
Speaker 1: It has come once and for all. Men must now
1:10:44
Speaker 1: come to it. This will save you days months of heartache.
1:10:53
Speaker 1: This would save many a preacher, many a difficult answer
1:10:57
Speaker 1: to a letter. When someone writes and said, the Lord
1:11:00
Speaker 1: told me to so, and so I confess to you.
1:11:05
Speaker 1: In my unguarded moments, I want to ask, was he
1:11:07
Speaker 1: a baritone or was he a base? You're telling me
1:11:13
Speaker 1: you heard his voice, and they say yes. I get
1:11:16
Speaker 1: even more scared. Have you exhausted his words so completely
1:11:22
Speaker 1: that you now must have a voice to guide you?
1:11:26
Speaker 2: Never?
1:11:28
Speaker 1: We have an inexhaustible source of truth.
1:11:32
Speaker 2: Go there.
1:11:34
Speaker 1: It will never contradict God's plan or God's nature. You
1:11:40
Speaker 1: can rely on it. It's come down through the centuries. God,
1:11:44
Speaker 1: who had sundry times in various manners spoken time passed
1:11:47
Speaker 1: under the fathers by the prophets, has in these last
1:11:50
Speaker 1: days Hebrews one to one says, has in these last
1:11:54
Speaker 1: days spoken unto us in his son son in a
1:11:59
Speaker 1: sokind of revelation. Tell me you found it in the scriptures,
1:12:05
Speaker 1: put it in the context in which it was given,
1:12:07
Speaker 1: and you've got my attention and my respect. Don't tell
1:12:10
Speaker 1: me about a night vision. Don't bring to me some dream.
1:12:15
Speaker 1: Don't talk to me about a voice, especially one you
1:12:19
Speaker 1: got in the middle of the night while standing in
1:12:21
Speaker 1: your kitchen two or three in the morning. Could have
1:12:25
Speaker 1: been a bad taco. You know who knows what it is?
1:12:28
Speaker 1: Maybe gas. Whatever I'm up to here with that kind
1:12:34
Speaker 1: of extra biblical revelation, you know why because no one
1:12:38
Speaker 1: can check it. It's your word against ours. I can
1:12:43
Speaker 1: check it in the scriptures. Show me that no one
1:12:46
Speaker 1: can check it. And second, it invariably leads you astray,
1:12:53
Speaker 1: It will invariably lead you away from the truth of God,
1:12:58
Speaker 1: your curiosity and your fascination. Well, we'll take over those
1:13:04
Speaker 1: who have a high high view of biblical revelation I
1:13:07
Speaker 1: find have a very low view of any kind of
1:13:10
Speaker 1: extra biblical revelation. Can God do it? Certainly, does God
1:13:16
Speaker 1: do it? I've not in my sixty three years found
1:13:18
Speaker 1: a time when He has that was reliable. Not once.
1:13:24
Speaker 1: I found more often than not people got into a
1:13:27
Speaker 1: lot of difficult trouble because they relied on extra biblical
1:13:30
Speaker 1: truth rather than on the word of God. Okay, here's
1:13:34
Speaker 1: a thought for you to wrestle with regarding tomorrow's time.
1:13:39
Speaker 1: How can we come to know God's will for our
1:13:43
Speaker 1: lives today? How can we come to know God's will
1:13:50
Speaker 1: for our lives today? Give some thought to that as
1:14:00
Speaker 1: you ponder this penetrating and profound subject, and we'll look
1:14:09
Speaker 1: at that along with other things next time. Like us
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Speaker 1: to bow our heads together, please close our eyes and
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Speaker 1: just sit quietly before our Lord. We're so grateful, our Father,
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Speaker 1: for your word that provides light. It's a lamp to
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Speaker 1: our feet and a light to our path. The very
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Speaker 1: entrance of your word brings light to our darkened minds.
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Speaker 1: We're grateful for your Holy Spirit who has been called
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Speaker 1: alongside to help, just as Jesus did in his earthly
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Speaker 1: ministry with his twelve We're grateful for your nature. Thank you, Father,
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Speaker 1: that you are consistent that no shadow caused by our
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Speaker 1: turning causes you to turn away or to change your determination.
1:15:15
Speaker 1: How reliable and trustworthy and secure you are. How we
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Speaker 1: need that in our day of vacillation and change and
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Speaker 1: semantic footwork done by professional people who make their living
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Speaker 1: spinning and turning situations to look like something else. You
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Speaker 1: talk straight, Lord. You've given us your book in black
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Speaker 1: and white, straight from your mind. You've inspired the recording
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Speaker 1: of it, you have protected the preservation of it, and
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Speaker 1: now you illumine the truth of it. For all this,
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Speaker 1: our Father, we would be awash, continually confused with all
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Speaker 1: kinds of voices who saw this, or heard that, or
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Speaker 1: felt these things or experienced something else. Bring us back
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Speaker 1: to home base, our Father, so that we simply spend
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Speaker 1: our days pleasing you, doing your wonderful will. Can now, Father,
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Speaker 1: I pray that we who get into this a deeper
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Speaker 1: I pray that we will be open and unguarded in
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Speaker 1: our availability and our willingness find us accessible and available,
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Speaker 1: wanting to do what you have planned for us to do.
1:16:52
Speaker 1: May there be little struggle by the time we have
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Speaker 1: finished this study, as you get our attention and lead
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Speaker 1: us in the way we ought to go. We will
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Speaker 1: trust you to guide aright. Take any part of this
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Speaker 1: teaching Lord that isn't truth, any part of it that's needless, unnecessary,
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Speaker 1: and remove it from our minds so that we're able
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Speaker 1: to focus our full attention on that which you would
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Speaker 1: have us know and do. In the dear name of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, I pray, and everybody said amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message, Foundational Principles about God's Will, was copyrighted
1:17:43
Speaker 3: in nineteen ninety eight, two thy and twenty twenty four,
1:17:46
Speaker 3: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four
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Speaker 3: by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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Speaker 3: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.