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From Sabbath to Sabbath, actually from

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from day to day, as followers of Christ we spent

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quite a bit of our time reflecting on the many attributes of God.

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We're often reminded of the wonderful

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mercy of God, something we'll be marveling about for the rest of eternity.

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I don't know about you but I often catch myself looking forward to the justice of

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God. We talked about this in Sabbath school reading some of the Psalms.

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There's so much evil and corruption in this world but a day of judgment is

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coming. We could study about the incredible patience of God. I mean we

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wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be looking forward to eternity if we weren't for

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God's long-suffering. Or we could focus on the wonderful love of God. That would

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need to be a ten-part series if we wanted to just scratch the surface of

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God's love. Or we could consider the wrath of God. There's a lot of confusion

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about that. God is a God of love and of justice, so there's the wrath of

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God all through Scripture. We could study about the mighty power of God and

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spend lots of time focusing on that. But today I would like us to look at one

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particular attribute of God that maybe you haven't thought of as much but it's

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it's all through Scripture. I'd like to direct your thoughts this morning to God

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the Great Experimenter. Before we begin let's pray. Dear Lord as we open your

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word today we we pray for your Holy Spirit to attend us to help us to

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understand and also to to put into practice in our lives the principles

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that are there for us Lord. Thank you that you're a loving, merciful, long

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suffering God. You're the Great Experimenter and we pray for you to be

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with us now as we open your word in Jesus name. Amen. So God is actually in

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the business of conducting experiments. You know we're made in the image of God

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and and we certainly have this this need to be curious, to be inquisitive, to

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kind of experiment, to hypothesize, and then try to understand why things happen

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the way they do. That's just part of our existence but this idea of God being an

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experimenter that might seem a little strange because doesn't God know

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everything before it happens? Doesn't he know the end of from the beginning like

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it says in Isaiah 46? The purpose of doing an experiment is to find out the

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what and why but but God already knows. So let's let's go to God's Word and

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let's look at several examples of God as the Great Experimenter. Probably the best

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known is right there in the book of of Job. You already know that the book of

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Job attempts to answer the question why do bad things happen to good people?

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Summarizing the story, Job a righteous man is found in the beginning of I mean

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he's found a righteous man through no faith of his own. He finds himself in some very

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hard times. His children are killed, his property taken, I mean he loses everything

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and on top of all that he's inflicted with a very painful disease. The reason

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for Job's dilemma or for it being portrayed in the Bible is found right

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there in the very first chapter of the book. Of course Job wasn't privy to that

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chapter. He didn't know what was going on behind the scenes, at least in the

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beginning. Scholars believe by the way that Job was actually written by Moses,

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not by Job, and it was probably written before Genesis, maybe the very first book

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of the Bible. At any rate, Job wasn't present for this encounter between God

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and Lucifer that we find there in the chapter 1 of Job. We're going to pick up

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at verse 6 in chapter in Job 1. One day the angels came to present themselves

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before the Lord and Satan also came with them. Wow, is that not an eye-opener?

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The Lord said to Satan, where have you come from? God knew but you know he had

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to kind of get it on record. Satan answered the Lord from roaming throughout

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the earth, going back and forth on it. And boy he sure has been, you know he's all

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over the place, isn't he? And each of our trying to cause trouble with all of us.

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Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? So God's kind

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of introducing this possibility for an experiment here. Have you considered my

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servant Job? There's no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright, a man

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who fears God and shuns evil. Wouldn't you like that to be said of you?

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Satan comes back, you know, why is he doing this? Is he doing it for nothing?

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Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?

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You've blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread

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throughout the land. But now just stretch forth your hand and strike

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everything he has and let's see what he does then. Let's see if he doesn't curse

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you to your face. It's as though the curtain is pulled back on a

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heavenly stage and everything is revealed. The recorded account in Job 1

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gives us a behind-the-scenes look at this heavenly caucus that's taking

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place. As this curtain is pulled back, it's there where God is challenged to

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prove that his creatures love him for himself alone and not merely for what

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they can get from him. Think about it. How many times do you thank God for what

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he's done, but how many times do we praise him and thank him when things

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haven't gone our way? When there's nothing necessarily that's coming to

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your mind to thank him for. So Satan might have a point here. You know, he's

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proposing an experiment and he's basically saying, you know, why not rob

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Job of all his blessings and then let's see what happens. The amazing thing is

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that God accepts the challenge and he allows the experiment to take place as

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the whole universe looks on. It is as if this earth becomes a laboratory where

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one man, Job, is placed in a crucible to see whether faith will triumph over

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tragedy in a fallen world. Well, not too far into the experiment, Job's wife is

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used by Lucifer to try and push Job over the edge. She says in Job 2 verse 9, are

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you still maintaining your integrity? Just curse God and die. You can imagine

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the devil is cheering that on, wouldn't he, as Job's wife gives Job some advice.

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But before we rush the judgment about Job's wife, remember she just lost ten

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children too. She's just lost everything herself. She's expressing some grief but

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not in a very productive way. And Job comes back and says in verse 10, you're

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talking like a foolish woman. Shall we receive good at the hand of God and

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shall we not receive evil as well? Now that good that Job refers to in verse 10

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was all we were supposed to experience until we made that choice in the

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Garden of Eden. And since the rebellion, we have suffered the consequences of our

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choices. I mean life is all about choices and consequences. Choices and

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consequences. We've all made choices that we've had to suffer the consequences to,

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haven't we? I wouldn't need to get a hand raise on that one. We've enjoyed some of

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those consequences when we made some good choices and we've had to learn the

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hard way on some choices we've made and suffered those consequences as well.

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As we continue the story, after Job's wife leaves, who comes in? Now we've got

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his three friends. Maybe the wife didn't leave. Maybe she cheered them on because

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you know if you have friends like that who needs enemies. You remember what they

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started accusing Job of? Bad things don't happen like this to good

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people. Job, you must be doing something behind her back. You deserve what's

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coming. That's just a quick summary of kind of what they conclude. And so we

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usually end the story of Job somewhere about here saying, well Job stood up, you

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know, his faith was intact in the midst of all this. But I want us to go further

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into Job here. I want us to go to, oh there's the three, I'm sorry, there's his

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three friends. It took me an hour to make that painting work the way it did. So

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you've got to enjoy that for a minute, okay? That's a lot of Photoshop work. But

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now look at what Job says in chapter 30. This is after he's

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suffered the pain on himself. You know, that usually can break you down pretty

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quick when the boils came and he's in constant pain. But look at what he

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says in Job 30 verse 19. We don't usually go to this part of Job. Look what he says

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here about God being unfair. God has cast me into the mire and I have become like

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dust and ashes. I cry to you for help and you do not answer me. I stand and you

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only look at me God. You turn on me ruthlessly. You turn on me ruthlessly.

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With the might of your hand you attack me. Wow, Joe, why don't you tell us how

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you really feel? I mean Job's wavering in his faith a little bit or maybe he's

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just being real and candid with God. You think God can handle it when we

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struggle? When we wonder? He gave us that ability to wonder and to question and to

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think. The thing is Job hangs around for the answer and God does give him the

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answer. That was Job 30 in verse 38 and 39. God answers Job with 62 different

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questions in Job 38 and 39. I mean questions that neither Job nor you or I

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can fully answer with the implication that if you can't understand the ways

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of the universe that I created by the way then why do you think you can

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figure out me and why I am allowing things to happen the way they do? I mean

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questions like in chapter 38 verse 4, where were you when I laid the earth's

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foundation, Job? And where were you when I established the seashores? And have

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you explored the recesses or the trenches of the sea? By the way the

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Mariana Trench over in the Western Pacific is six times deeper than the

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Grand Canyon. In fact the Mariana Trench is deeper than Mount Everest is tall and

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it runs a 1,550 miles in length, seven miles down. And so you know he asked Job

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have you explored the trenches of the sea? And do you have any idea how large

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this earth is Job? And speak up Job if you have even the beginning of an answer.

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Do you know where the light comes from Job? We're still trying to understand

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light and how it works, how it can pierce the darkness, the lights of the

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heaven and so forth. Those are just a sampling of those 62 questions that God

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posed to Job, but as we stand back and take an overall look at this book of Job

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we find that this world is a lesson book, a laboratory. God did not precipitate this

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experiment, but he is allowing it to happen, allowing sin to run its course so

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everyone can see the horrific results of rebellion. You see God is all about free

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will and we and the whole universe is seeing how things have gone with this

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free will of ours. We're in the midst of a terrible experiment of rebellion which

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when it's over will provide an eternal safeguard for the universe so that this

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sin problem will never rise up again. Amen. Now in a court of law the lawyer

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will ask a bunch of questions, questions you already know the answers to but they

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got to get on record. You know that court recorder is recording a mile a

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minute and the witnesses answering the questions it's all getting established in

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that court setting. God knows all things. His understanding is infinite. His ways

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are so far above ours. He knows the end from the beginning, but for the sake of

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the universe who's watching and for our sakes since we too are watching there is

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a great controversy being played out. Satan and Jesus have been in a war. Satan

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and his angels they started this war and they were cast out of heaven and now

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this great controversy is right here raging on earth. So let's look at some

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some other examples in the Bible and build this case for God being the great

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experimenter. Let's go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 32 verse 31 where God

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withdrew from Hezekiah in order to what? To test him that he might know all that

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was in his heart. As if God didn't already know? You probably remember that

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Hezekiah got deathly sick. I mean to the point where they're telling him to get

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his house in order, but when Hezekiah prayed God chose to add years back to

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his life. In his sickness he had promised to walk in humility all the days, yet he

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became proud after his recovery to the point that he even showed off the holy

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treasures to the Babylonians who passed through and that's what they came after

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many years later and brought back to Babylon. You know the rest of that story

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in Daniel chapter 1, but he showed off all those treasures and he did

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not give God the glory for the miracles in his life and so God left Hezekiah to

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himself, we read, so that he would see his heart for what it was. How often do we

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cringe when trials come our way? You know generally when a trial comes my way I'm

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quick to pray for that trial to be removed when I probably should be

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praying Lord help me in this trial to grow closer to you and pray that in

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this trial you'll be glorified. Trials are a part of life. This

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sight of heaven, heaven is not fair and you're going to face difficulty, but it

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seems to be a necessary part of life for us to realize our helplessness and

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imperfections that are in the way of our eternal allegiance to him. Hezekiah

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needed to see that he was not so perfect as he thought he was. It's

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good for us to know ourselves, to know our weaknesses, to know our sinfulness so

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that we not become conceited or self-confident. Our need is to

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always live in dependence upon the divine creator, not to be sticking our

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fist up at God when things don't go our way, but to be trusting in the God who

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loves us. We don't know the capacity for corruption that exists in our hearts, nor

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what we would do if God left us to ourselves. Just as an experiment was

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going on in Hezekiah's heart, so with with ours today. Us humans are so quick

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to forget that it is through his grace, his power, that we're saved. So I asked a

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question, not what's in your wallet, but what's in your heart? Because you know

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by the way what's in your heart will determine what's in your wallet and

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where it goes, but sticking with this thought of what's in our

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heart, I think of Genesis 6 5. It grieves me to read this verse. God saw that the

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wickedness of man, that's mankind, that's you and me, was great and that every

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imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only what? Evil continually. Does what

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is in your natural heart and the evil you have the capacity to do, does it not

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drive you to your knees, to the foot of the cross? Now while we're still thinking

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about Genesis, let's look at another picture of God as the great creator, a

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great experimenter. In Genesis 18 verse 20, the Lord God said, because the outcry

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against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous, I'm

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going to go down and see whether they have done all together according to the

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outcry against it that has come to me and if not I will know. Again isn't that a

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strange statement on first look from the one who knows everything to need

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to come down and see? But God sends two angels as messengers to Sodom and

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Gomorrah because the lesson is really not for God's benefit. Obviously he knows. He

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sends these angels and they not only learn by watching, but the rest of the

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universe gets caught up in the experiment as well. See the rest of us

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need to see this and learn. And so here's another example in Genesis

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and this one, oh yeah he sent the angels down, there's your slide for that, I'm

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forgetting my slides, but as we continue with this theme of God the

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experiment, look at Genesis 22. After these things, God did what? He tested

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Abraham and he said to him, Abraham. Abraham said, here I am and here's the

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experiment. God asked, no actually he tells Abraham to take his only son, Isaac,

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the son that Seren Abraham had long for prayed for for decades, the son that the

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future of God's people rested upon and he tells Abraham to sacrifice him, to slit

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his throat on an altar. Abraham, I'm gonna take your son and lay him on the altar

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and take his life. You know if somebody came in today and said you know God has

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told me to take my child's life, I'm gonna kill him this afternoon, what would

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you do? I hope you would call the authorities. Abraham trusted God and he

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did what God told him to do. He took the knife, he's feeling for that

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carotid artery, he's ready to do what God has told him to do, but the angel of the

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Lord calls out to him from heaven in verse 11 and says, do not lay a hand on

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this boy, do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have

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not withheld from your son, you have withheld from me your son, your only son.

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So God tested, he experimented, he conducted an experiment on Abraham's

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faith. I would say Abraham passed the test wouldn't you? Here's another example

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of God the experimenter in Deuteronomy 8 verse 1 where it says, every

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commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you

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may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore

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to your fathers and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the

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way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and what? Test you to know

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what is in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. You see the

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experiment taking place? Again, God already knows before we do what we do. So

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who was the testing actually for? You know we're gonna jump down to verse 16

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and get the answer. Look at verse 16 of the same chapter. God fed you in the

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wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know that he might humble you

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that he might, here's the two words again, test you to do what? To do you good in

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the end. That's why God allows us to go through trials, through tests. That's why

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the experiments going on. He could have wrapped it all up in the Garden of Eden

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and that would have left us to have never existed. But instead he's performing

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this experiment. He's saying, whosoever will, I would love you to spend eternity

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with me. He always has this ultimate purpose to test us for good. So as we

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face tests today probably before the sun goes down and tomorrow and the next day

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it's for our good as we let God guide us, bless us, and fill us. There's also a

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bigger reason why God is allowing this experiment to go on. We find this being

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explained to us in Hebrews 12 where it talks about that great cloud of

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witnesses that's looking on the whole universe. It's looking on as we run this

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race called life. We have the privilege of vindicating the God of the universe in

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this great controversy that we're in the midst of. And we get to validate

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his trust and confidence in us as followers of him. By our lives surrendered

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to him we can bring glory to God the great experimenter. Now permit me to read

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to you just one paragraph from a book written for ministers. But I think it

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applies to all of us. In fact, doesn't Peter tell us we're all a part of the

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royal priesthood. The Lord Jesus is making experiments, experiments on human

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hearts through the exhibition of his mercy and abundant grace. He is

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affecting transformations so amazing that Satan with all his triumphant

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boasting with all his confederacy of evil untied against God and the laws of

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his government stands viewing them as a fortress impregnable to his sophistry

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and delusions. They are to him an incomprehensible mystery. I like that

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quote don't you? So are you a fortress impregnable? Are you an incomprehensible

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mystery to Satan or does he have your number? Does he know just what buttons

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to push and you go tumbling down every time? We can be this fortress impregnable,

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this incomprehensible mystery to Satan. I love giving Satan a bad day don't you?

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God will get us through if we're surrendered to Jesus so that when we're

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put to the test we'll say not I but Christ who lives within me. But you know

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about this time you might be tempted to say I don't know if I want to be the

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subject of an experiment. I mean anyone's experiment. Can I opt out of this whole

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thing? Well God could have ended the experiment at the garden couldn't he?

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That first garden you know called Eden. Where would that have left you and me if

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Adam and Eve had died in that garden that day? What was the warning? If they

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ate of the tree, death. But it was only because Jesus stepped in, Jesus the Lamb

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slain from the foundation of the world, that Adam and Eve didn't die immediately

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that same day. Yes they died the first death later on but it's the second death

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we have to be concerned about, the eternal death. God could have ended the

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experiment at that garden. He also could have ended it at another garden, the

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garden called Gethsemane. The humanity of the Son of God trembled in that trying

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hour. The awful moment had come, that moment which was to decide the destiny

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of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. Christ might

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even now refuse to drink the cup, a portion to guilty man. He didn't have to

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go through it did he? He prayed three times that it could pass from him, not

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because he was shrinking from his duty but because he didn't want to lose his

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eternal relationship with his father. He was giving up an eternal relationship

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for people who were spitting in his face. That's why he couldn't see beyond the

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portals of the tomb. He might wipe the bloody sweat from his brow and leave man

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to perish in his iniquity. He might say let the transgressor receive his penalty.

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He deserves it. I'll just go back to my father. The words that fall tremulously

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from the pale lips of Jesus are these, oh my father if this cup may not pass from

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me except I drink it, thy will be done. God in his love and foresight chose to

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take a very real risk with us and then for us for Jesus. He has given us a way

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out of this hopeless predicament and there's only one way. Jesus said I am the

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way, the truth and the life. He's given us this way out and if we choose the right

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way then we we have a victorious Savior. If we're following him then we have

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eternity to look forward to. Well all right if you don't want to be in God's

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experiment then your only other choice is to be Satan's guinea pig. Jesus said if

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you're not with me you're against me. So what's your choice? God tells us I have

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set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore please choose life.

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When a young person leaves home and you know does his thing and or her thing and

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and and doesn't follow God and has to be free man, who's guinea pig? Guinea pig

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is he or is she? When you start taking drugs and you're addicted and you're

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you're you're bound, you're entwined, you can't even make decisions for yourself

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anymore, you need help outside, is that freedom? That's not the experiment that

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God wants us to go through. That's what the devil does with us when we we choose

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to to walk away from God. Why not submit yourself to God's experiments? Because

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God's experiment results not in the destruction of the specimen but in its

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glorification, in its salvation. So we do have a have a choice. But remember when

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you give yourself over to God, he does not treat you like a throwaway. The devil

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sure does. When you play footsie with sin and get

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entwined, he desires to to sift you like wheat. He wants to devour you like a lion.

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Nothing would delight Satan more than to destroy you and your family. No wonder

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the family's being attacked today. That's the the core that God created along with

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the Sabbath. He created the family there in in the garden and he's doing a good

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job of, the devil's doing an awfully good job of convincing families to fall apart

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and not even be families. Change genders whenever they feel like it. 64 different

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varieties today. Nothing would delight Satan more than to to destroy this world

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before Jesus can even get back. He knows he has but a short time and so he's

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seeking to drag down as many as possible with them. Even the devil knows that we're

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vulnerable and easy prey to him when we're on our own. The question is do we

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know that? Even the devil knows that there's a way that seems right, just like

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that mouse seeing that big piece of cheese. There's a way that seems right

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but the end thereof are the ways of, I did that children's story right here

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Julie, where I would snap the mousetrap and it would ring and I thought that's a

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little too hard on the kids to be that graphic but that's how graphic it is. When

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we think we're going the right way, if we're not centered in God, we're gonna

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wander right into the devil's way. Even the devil knows that he has everything

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to offer, that God has everything to offer and that he has nothing to offer.

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The question is this morning do we know it? It sure doesn't seem like it

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sometimes and so even the devil knows that if we submit ourselves to God,

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resist the devil, he will flee from us. If we come near to God, he will come near

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to us. So that devil is pretty angry. He's going to make war, not have a

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picnic, they're going to make war with the remnant of God's seed, the last-day

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church. The final result of this testing, this grand experiment, is if we draw nigh

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to God, submit to his experiment, we'll experience peace and joy and happiness

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for eternity. As it was said there in Deuteronomy 8 16, God tests us that we

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might, he might do us good in the end. So God is the great experimenter. He wishes

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us no harm, just peace and happiness, internal life, but he can't

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force it on us and he's wanting to perform that experiment in your heart.

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In fact, he's in the process of performing experiments in lives of

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millions in the world today. It's taking place in every willing heart. The

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laboratory is planet earth. The experiment is one that will determine

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the destiny for each of us. An experiment is just about concluded. Jesus is about

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to come. Will you, will I be successful in this experiment that God is

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performing? Are we willing to come under the watch care of the great experimenter?

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Are we willing like the psalmist told us to to go under the eye of the

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microscope, to let God see everything, to come to him just as we are, and willing

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to be vulnerable with God, to be real with him so that he can begin to do his

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work within us? What tests have you experienced this week? What trials have

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come your way? With God's grace, did you pass the test? Or, refusing his power of

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grace, did you feel miserably? If that's the case, Jesus is there to kiss away our

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failings, to pick us up, and to get us back on the path again. He loves us with

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an everlasting love. And so to our scripture reading for this morning,

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consider it pure joy, James tells us, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

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because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And

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perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not

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lacking anything. See, God is on our side. He's ever looking out for us. When we

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willingly surrender to him, when we willingly surrender to him, we will never

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have anything to regret for having allowed the experiment to successfully

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take place. But the most important reason to participate in this experiment is not

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for our salvation. I've come to that point in my Christian experience, I'm not

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tooting a horn or anything, but there's times when I pray, Lord, I just want you

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to be glorified. If I get lost in the shuffle, it's what happens with you, God,

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you know, in the universe that you've made. I want you to be glorified in the

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end. That's going to be God's children's wishes in the last days, Revelation 12

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and 11. They love not their lives unto death. It's all about God. They have as

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their model death before dishonor, or the transgression of God's law. That's

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their model. And so the universe has been watching this experiment, this

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laboratory called Earth. And we're foreseen, we're also compassed about with

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so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which does

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so easily beset us, Paul says. Let us run with patience the race that is set

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before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the

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joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set

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down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such

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contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your

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minds. The universe is watching. Simply keep your eyes on him who will finish

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what he started in you, and the experiment will be a huge success. I can't close

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this message about God the Great Experimenter without talking about the

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greatest experiment of all, the biggest, the riskiest experiment of all. It was a

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33-year experiment, but it began to be planned actually thousands before,

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actually before the foundation of the world. When Jesus stepped forward and

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said, my blood for them, Father, let me go and take their place. If I had been the

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Father, I would have been too afraid of the risk. No, no, they're not worth it, son.

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Let's just let them blow themselves up. You know, they've made their choices. You

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mean too much to me. I can't let you go, but you know, God was in Christ reconciled

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the world. God the Father loved us as much as his only begotten Son that he

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gave up. And so Jesus was willing to be abused, to be tried, to be tested, to be

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crucified. Thank God, praise the Lord for the results of that experiment. It was a

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complete success. Jesus victoriously came out of the grave. As we, as we close this

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morning, as we look at this messed up world that we're living in, is there

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really any doubt that Jesus is not coming soon? No, and none too soon. I mean, the

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tragedies are multiplying around the world, from natural disasters to hatred

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of men going to an extreme, and all the accompanying results of this, this

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rebellion that's, that's running its course. The results of our rebellion has

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raked horrible results worldwide. We're clearly living in the last days, while

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men and women's hearts are failing for fear for what's coming, we're instructed

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to look up, lift up our heads. For our redemption, draweth nigh. The experiment is

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occurring on different levels on a global scale and in your hearts too. So

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God is waiting to finish the experiment, to show to the universe that his

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character can be perfectly reproduced in his people, and everyone can see that his

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way is the only way that makes sense in this universe. Imagine that day when the

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experiment will be complete and Jesus will say to all those who have faithfully

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vindicated his name, those who have faithfully put him above their own needs

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and desires, who've blubbed out their lives into death, to all those who have

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submitted themselves to be part of this grand experiment, Jesus will say, well

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done, thou good and faithful servant, enter now into the joy thy Lord. Come ye

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blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

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foundation of the world. And so our prayer until then should be, Father, Father

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lead me day by day. Complete your experiment on me. Help me to do thy will

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and vindicate and glorify you as this great controversy comes to a close.

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Don't pray, Lord take those those trials away, but rather pray, Lord let me

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glorify you in this trial, this experiment, this test. Lord may you be

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vindicated. It's not so much whether or not God is on our side. I hope you

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figured out a long time ago that he holds us by hand that won't let, won't

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let go. He's on our side. The question is, are we on his side? Have we chosen to

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follow him? We have an anchor, an anchor that will keep our souls sure and

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steadfast, till the billows roll. Quoting from Hebrews 6 19, this

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anchor is firm, secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

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They're in the most holy place where Jesus is pleading his blood for us. Only

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Jesus can get us through. Will your anchor hold? Jesus is not going anywhere.

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Are you clinging to him?