1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,440 video won't get boring in a couple weeks. So we are here. We are in this new sermon 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:15,000 series for the new year. Nineteen of you have written prompts in the month of October of 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:23,040 questions or thoughts or different aspects of either the faith or the Bible that you 4 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:28,040 guys have submitted. Okay? And initially I was like this is going to be really, really 5 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:34,480 exciting. By about the eighth one I was like oh no, this was not at all what I thought 6 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:42,460 it was going to be but true to my word I am going to preach on these things as they really 7 00:00:42,460 --> 00:00:47,400 pertain to you guys and to all of us. A lot of them had a lot to do with stuff that we 8 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,920 talk about pretty much every day. So there's going to be kind of mini sermon series in 9 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:56,640 this series. There will be two this week, then one that will be different, then two 10 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:01,200 and then one and then we'll already be at Lent which is crazy. But we're going to cover 11 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:07,640 a lot. Now those that did submit stuff on apocalyptic and end times, first of all thank 12 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:12,840 you for that. That is going to be covered in the Revelation sermon series in the fall. 13 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:19,560 Okay? So we have the sermon series Hail to the Victor starting on Labor Day. And so that 14 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,840 those will be hit then. So if I'm not touching those during this sermon series please understand 15 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:30,920 I will save those, we will get to those and we will talk about them. But some of these 16 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:36,760 questions were written very broadly and I'm going to do my best. Some of these questions 17 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:43,480 were written extremely specifically to the point where, and I'm just going to put a disclaimer 18 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:48,440 out there, some of you wrote these expecting a certain answer directly the way you would 19 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:54,800 answer them and I love you but I'm not going to do that. Because any question that's asked 20 00:01:54,800 --> 00:02:00,040 when you already have a formulaic answer in your mind isn't actually a real question. 21 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,480 It is a statement. And so we're going to work with all of these. We're going to dive into 22 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:11,520 or say most of them. Some of them I just, it was, there are no answers. But most of 23 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,240 them there were and we're going to talk about that. We're going to show a lot of grace and 24 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,480 we're going to dive into God's word which is exactly what we want to do especially in 25 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:25,960 the New Year. So in the beginning of service I asked the question or I brought up the word 26 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:31,360 sovereignty and why in my opinion we love it but there are aspects of us and we're going 27 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,080 to break it down this week and next week of why we actually might hate that word. So I 28 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,840 want to start off before reading a couple definitions just to see a couple people's 29 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:47,960 thoughts. How do we feel about the word sovereign? Just the word sovereign. How do we feel about 30 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:56,200 that word? Any emotions or thoughts come to mind when you hear the word sovereign? It's 31 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:01,200 not a word we use a lot but in reformed circles it's a tenet of our belief system believe 32 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:09,520 it or not. That God's sovereignty if you will is a central belief of Munster Church. It 33 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:15,120 is a central belief of Pastor Jim Holland owner. It is a central belief of my guess 34 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:23,200 that many of you if not all of you whether you know it or not. So with that said but 35 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:29,600 before we do all of this I want to pause because I completely overlooked a great aspect of 36 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,840 the service so let's pause. Hit the pause of this. We have a new family that we're welcoming 37 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:39,760 today and I got so excited to dive into God's word that I forgot them and this is the second 38 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:44,440 time I forgot them. I forgot them in the month of December and I'm truly sorry for that but 39 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,400 we want to welcome the Molinar family to the church. So where are the Molinars? Sometimes 40 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,840 they're in the back. They're back there. Can you guys just stand really quick? Let's welcome 41 00:03:53,840 --> 00:04:03,520 the Molinar family. So I'm going to say they're very unique in the sense of they're one of 42 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,360 the only ones that they have. Half of them are wearing sunglasses in their pictures so 43 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,400 that's very very they're very cool family. So we welcome the Molinars. We thank you so 44 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:16,040 much. We praise God that he has brought you to the fellowship so after service please 45 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:22,040 go over and meet the Molinars. Don't let them skip out too quick and we just thank you so 46 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,000 much for being a part of that and now can I get back to preaching? Is that okay? Very 47 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:34,600 good. Alright. Sovereignty. Let's get back to that. Sovereignty. Any thoughts? It's 48 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:44,480 a big word. Yes. Power. Overall. Okay good. We're kind of building it. Let's look at a 49 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:51,160 kind of a basic definition of sovereignty. In political theory the ultimate overseer 50 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:57,440 or authority in the decision making process over a of a state and in the maintenance of 51 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:04,080 order. The authority of a state to govern itself or another state. Example a national 52 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:09,800 sovereignty. Then obviously when we get into a different definition more on the faith side 53 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:17,080 of things. The sovereignty of God is the same as the lordship of God. For God is the sovereign 54 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:22,840 kind of the sovereign over all creation. The major components of God's lordship are his 55 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:32,600 control authority and covenantal presence. So this understanding of lordship is kind 56 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,320 of tied and linked to sovereignty. There's another definition that I like kind of more 57 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:42,040 about the sovereignty of God and it comes to us from the gospel coalition. The sovereignty 58 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:49,000 of God is the fact. I love that. The fact that he is the lord over creation as sovereign. 59 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:55,760 He exercises his rule. This rule is exercised through God's authority as king. His control 60 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:02,920 over all things and his presence with his covenantal people and throughout his creation. 61 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:13,080 So now I ask you how are we doing with this word sovereign? So very big absolutely. Anyone 62 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:21,040 else? Huh? It's a tug of war. So you're already feeling the tension and I didn't even tell 63 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:26,040 Lisa to say that but there is a tension here. I'm already feeling it from you because I 64 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:35,080 feel it also inside myself that there is a supreme being that is lord over every aspect 65 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:43,920 of your life. He is lord of how your fingernails grow. He is lord over all of the things of 66 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:51,920 earth being created. He is lord over every blade of grass, every baby born, everything 67 00:06:51,920 --> 00:07:00,000 of everything. And I think it's clear why there are times that that is an amazing comfort. 68 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:04,160 I remember three years ago when my sister, when we were saying goodbye to my sister as 69 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:10,880 she was dying from cancer. People asked how I was doing and that was kind of a dumb question 70 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:18,200 but it was, one of the things that brought me comfort was the fact that God was sovereign. 71 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,920 And I really had to work through that and saying that out loud talking about a 36 year 72 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:28,480 old that was dying, it's really weird but the fact that God was sovereign, the fact 73 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:35,960 that God had a plan and though I long for my sister to be still with her kids and her 74 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:42,880 husband Paul and be there down in Alabama and still be the aunt to my boys, yes I long 75 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:48,880 for that though he found a wonderful girl and Lindsay is a great mother to my niece 76 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:54,560 and nephews and all of those things. There was a sovereign plan there but now you also 77 00:07:54,560 --> 00:08:02,760 get a taste of why we also hate it. That if we're honest we actually hate it because more 78 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:07,480 of a secular individual or humanist or maybe even believers, how in the world could you 79 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:13,800 be okay with a sovereign God who has a plan if you will that your sister would be gone 80 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:21,400 from this earth at the age of 36. Now you see the tension, there has to be. Right, my 81 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:27,840 wife is a NICU nurse and unfortunately in that department of the hospital death is a 82 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:34,920 part of it. That there are babies that are born and it's called incompatible with life, 83 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:41,480 that is kind of a phrase that is used. How in the world could a sovereign God allow for 84 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:48,840 that? I'll enter about four of you that ask questions along these lines. That I could 85 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:55,980 feel the tension in your questions, that this idea of being sovereign, this idea of claiming 86 00:08:55,980 --> 00:09:03,960 because when you claim that Jesus is Lord of your life, you are subscribing to the sovereignty 87 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:08,360 of God and this has nothing to do with free will predestination though we're going to 88 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:15,040 get to a little bit of that. That there is a being that is over every jot and tittle 89 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,800 of your life, if you don't know that's the dot on the I and the cross of the T, right? 90 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:31,600 Every aspect of your life is overseen by a sovereign God and for me that brought comfort. 91 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,980 Now there are also days that it doesn't. There are also days that I go, God I thought you 92 00:09:36,980 --> 00:09:43,400 said you were in control after certain situations or conversations or whatever. Like God you're 93 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:49,080 in control and you're letting this happen? What in the world? What kind of sovereign 94 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:54,080 are you? I find myself asking that. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Maybe you're better 95 00:09:54,080 --> 00:10:00,000 believers than I but there's an aspect of God's sovereignty that we should just kind 96 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:08,400 of fall back in and be comforted yet we don't for a lot of the time. Colossians writes it 97 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:13,400 this way and this is probably biblically one of the best descriptions of God's sovereignty. 98 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:20,520 It comes to us from Colossians chapter one. He is the image, nope we don't have a slide 99 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:26,000 for that. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of our all creation. For 100 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:33,280 by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones 101 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:39,660 or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. 102 00:10:39,660 --> 00:10:46,200 He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, 103 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:52,680 the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead that in everything he might 104 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:58,880 be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him 105 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:05,000 to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by his 106 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:14,000 blood shed on the cross. That can never be said of any one of us. That is said of Christ, 107 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:22,480 that is said of the Godhead, that is said of the sovereignty, lordship of God. And 108 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:30,400 so it makes total sense why some of your prompts that you gave me just had built in angst. 109 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:36,480 Because how do we as a fallible group of people, meaning fallen, meaning sinners, meaning error 110 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:43,720 prone, how do we make sense of that? How do we live that out? Especially with a human's 111 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:53,920 thirst and almost demand for answers. When something is uncertain we strive for it, right? 112 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,960 When we split, and again I am going to be way over my skis on this, like in the world 113 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:03,960 of chemistry, you know, when they split, they thought the atom was the smallest thing and 114 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:08,160 then I don't know, at some point they split it open and it was a whole world in there, 115 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:13,720 right? Any science first, is that somewhat accurate? Jess, you don't know, don't shake 116 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,400 your head. Jeremiah, is that somewhat accurate? You are a math guy. So yeah, you know, like 117 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:29,920 all of these things that we desire, we demand to know, yet at the end of sovereignty is 118 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:36,600 we won't know fully, ever. Here on earth we will never fully know because there is this 119 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:45,200 aspect of faith. It takes faith to believe in a sovereign God. It does. I mean it takes 120 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:49,800 faith to believe in God anyway, right? If you are in a different world religion or maybe 121 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,880 you go back to the Egyptians where they had hundreds of gods, it took faith but their 122 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:58,120 faith was duty, their faith was sacrifice, their faith were all of these things. Well 123 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:03,000 if I do all of these things that means I believe. That is not the Christian faith. That is not 124 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:08,880 a sovereign God. There is a belief that God is in control and then that is what it is 125 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:16,600 all about. Yet in 2024 if we are going to turn the mirror on ourselves, we love to have 126 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:24,680 control. We love it. For a lot of us we actually make an idol of control. Whether you are a 127 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:29,280 business owner, a mother, a father, or the oldest child, right? Birth order, they like 128 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:35,840 to be the one in control. We long for it. When things are going our way we want to make 129 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:40,920 sense of it. And more times than not we want to make sense of it the way we make sense 130 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:49,840 of things. But that is not how sovereignty works. Because the aspect of God's sovereignty 131 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:59,640 ultimately takes faith that He is God and we are not. That God's plan is the plan, always 132 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:04,400 will be the plan, and there is no other plan greater than God's plan. And as believers 133 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:11,720 we submit our lives to that. Yet the believer that submits to it and then takes it back, 134 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:15,640 puts it in God's hands but then takes it out, or says, you know, God you are in control, 135 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:21,960 but then demands to control the situations, there is that tension and there is that rub. 136 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,280 And unfortunately the church in the history of the church has taken that understanding 137 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:32,240 of God's sovereignty and they try to humanize it. We do this all the time. It is one of 138 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,840 the reasons why we have thousands of denominations. Is A, we don't play well in the sandbox with 139 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,920 each other and at the same time when there is one degree difference that we don't like, 140 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,920 this goes bigger than pews or chairs, right, that we take it and we go, then we are going 141 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:50,360 to start our own belief system. This one aspect of God we are going to take it and we are 142 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:56,400 going to run with it. Free will, predestination, right, sacramental theology, all of these 143 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:01,680 things, all of these things of God, all of these things of the scriptures that we hold 144 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:11,960 to, we then take and we run with it. Things like baptism, right. Here we hold a sacrament 145 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:18,160 of baptism is for the household. You go to Steve DeWitt's church, right, he is a wonderful 146 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:23,280 man of God, Bethel on Broadway, over there in Crown Point, they hold to more of a Baptist 147 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:33,640 theology, more of a free will theology of I choose Christ, right, and then I am baptized. 148 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,480 Friends if you are going to get into like a shooting match over that, you are doing 149 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:42,280 it in vain. One is just emphasizing one aspect of the relationship with God where the other 150 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:48,080 is referencing more the covenant aspect of God. Kingdom, covenant. It is the same sovereign 151 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:56,280 God. And so when we understand these things and the angst that comes from them, the things 152 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:02,760 that we need to first and foremost stand on is that God is in control in God's wisdom. 153 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:09,640 He saved you. He saved me because there was sin. Well, one of the first prompts, and I 154 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:15,420 knew that I knew that I knew I was going to get this, if God was so good, why would he 155 00:16:15,420 --> 00:16:21,840 let sin? First of all, that is not a complete sentence, even I know that. But why would 156 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:29,200 he allow sin in the world? Why in the world would there be a fall? If God created everything 157 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:37,720 good then why the fall? The easy answer is I wasn't there. I don't know. But we trusted 158 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:42,480 in God's word is there. But there you have a couple camps. And now we are going to get 159 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:47,040 a little nerdy. And if you knew the person that wrote this, you would understand that 160 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:53,600 it is a little nerdy. But you know who you are. There is these two words that have plagued 161 00:16:53,600 --> 00:17:03,440 Reformed theology in its debate. It is superlapsarianism and infralapsarianism. You are all now better 162 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:10,620 because you know that. When you get to Bible trivia at the bar and you say superlapsarianism, 163 00:17:10,620 --> 00:17:16,480 you will get your mozzarella sticks. I want to go to whatever bar is doing that and having 164 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:21,800 that level of reformed trivia night. That would be fantastic. But these actually mean 165 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:29,320 something. There are actually 100 year olds debates over these understandings. So first 166 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:34,440 and foremost, the question that they are trying to splice, remember how I talked about different 167 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:39,280 denominations, different kind of thoughts of theology and faith, they take one aspect 168 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,560 of the Bible and they just camp in it for years and years and years. The question is 169 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:50,720 this, did God elect to save or condemn prior to the fall of man or was it after the fall 170 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:59,320 of man? Prior supra, after infra. So did this all happen, did God create, knowing that they 171 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:06,840 were going to fall and the salvation was going to come supra or supalapsarianism or was it 172 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:15,600 more in the after? Now I think we all can agree, who cares? But at the same time, there 173 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:22,160 are people, there are denominations and some that are very prevalent in this area that 174 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:27,920 make this a kind of be all end all to their theology. Because the way that they then bring 175 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:33,600 this down in their understanding of God's sovereignty in my understanding is more of 176 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:40,520 a manipulation of what they do and don't want to do in their faith. So this understanding 177 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:49,080 that God did something, that God saves, was it then, before or was it after? I think, 178 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:53,000 though it's non-selfitic and I'm going to call it that, this is a non-selfitic question 179 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:58,200 but a lot of our debates are, that there's actually a missional understanding to the 180 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:04,680 answer. That you can actually turn a word like supralapsarianism or infralapsarianism, 181 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:10,520 it's just fun to say, actually into a missional document. Because one of the things you have 182 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:17,840 to understand is that one of those stances is missional and one of them really isn't. 183 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:22,440 That there's an understanding if you take supralapsarianism, meaning God before the 184 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:29,400 creation of the world said he was going to save, that actually takes the idea of evangelizing 185 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:37,200 off the table. That God's already chosen those that are going to be saved and chosen those 186 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:43,920 that are called reprobates or those that are going to hell. That's a rough doctrine. Sitting 187 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:49,920 in that doctrine as a flawed human being that I love a sovereign God who before the beginning 188 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:57,560 of the world chose to save some and chose to condemn some, that's a really tough doctrine. 189 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:02,800 I've studied this in seminary for years but that's a tough doctrine, that's a tough pill 190 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:08,960 to swallow. Especially when you walk that out into denominations today that say there's 191 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:16,480 no need to outreach. There's no need to evangelize. Though it's littered in the New Testament 192 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:21,880 that we're supposed to do it, they hold to a fact of God already has his elect and who 193 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:31,240 am I to speak into it? I call that spiritually irresponsible and spiritually lazy because 194 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:36,200 I think Jesus is missional. That's where I land more in the infralapsarianism and so 195 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:43,440 does Munster Church in the fact of there was a mercy understanding of God. That God's attribute 196 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:50,760 of mercy shows up right in the beginning. Sin enters the world, God comes down to Adam 197 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:57,040 and Eve, he is looking for his creation, the one created in his image, though flawed and 198 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,760 right there he says and this is going to happen. Though there's consequence, though there's 199 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:10,040 curse, this is going to happen. There will come a savior. And so one of the things we 200 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:18,600 have to understand is that the infralapsarianism highlights the mercy of God. That God's attribute 201 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:25,960 of mercy is just that. In his mercy he is sovereign, in his mercy he has shown you what 202 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:36,480 is good, in his mercy he has declared his providence over you. That when you are a believer 203 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:44,200 God's attributes are for you. He is showing you what to do. And so if God is going to 204 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:53,640 offer mercy and grace in our lives we ought to do the same. And why wouldn't we? We look 205 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:57,760 at the state of the world today and we are going to get to a lot of the culture questions 206 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:05,400 in a couple of weeks. You look at the culture today, does it not need the mercy of God? 207 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:09,520 Some would say it needs the judgment of God and there are days I feel that way too. And 208 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:14,840 believe me it's going to come. But God is also merciful. That God is also giving those 209 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:19,560 opportunities. God is giving the opportunities for you to go and bring your faith to someone 210 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:25,000 that doesn't have it. And maybe that's part of your story. That someone who was of faith 211 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:30,480 brought you into an understanding of faith and God worked in your heart and showed you 212 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:38,120 that he is sovereign, he is good and you can trust it. And you can take it to the bank. 213 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:43,440 But that's the other aspect. That's the other aspect of God's sovereignty and his 214 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:52,320 providence that we really, really struggle with. I'm chosen by God? If we are really 215 00:22:52,320 --> 00:23:00,440 honest we don't deserve that. And if I'm being really honest you don't. And neither do I. 216 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:11,920 I am chosen? I am elected to be in God's family? Yes. And don't look a gift horse in the mouth. 217 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:16,880 A lot of times we struggle with that word election and for a lot of times it really 218 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:22,520 gives reform people a black eye because we throw that word election around in a pompous 219 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:29,420 way. Like we're a varsity of faith. You're JV. That's not even a thing. But understanding 220 00:23:29,420 --> 00:23:36,520 that we are elect sometimes we idol worship the fact that we are elected by God. I don't 221 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:41,560 think that's what he had in mind. I don't think God said I have chosen you from the 222 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,840 beginning of the world. I have chosen you to stand over judgment of everybody, cast 223 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:55,480 all the stones and be jerks. No. The exact opposite. Die to yourself. Die to all that 224 00:23:55,480 --> 00:24:02,200 junk and serve others. Sometimes serving is showing people the way of Christ. It's showing 225 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:07,280 them the truths of God's word. We can do it with a bullhorn or we can do it with a cup 226 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:15,040 of coffee. There is choice in that. But this understanding that God has elected I'm going 227 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:19,200 to lean into our confessions as we close. And again we're closing kind of more of it 228 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:26,000 to be continued. Canons of Dort, first head of doctrine, article 7 states this. And so 229 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:32,920 God decreed to give Christ those chosen for salvation and to call and draw them effectively 230 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:38,120 into Christ's fellowship through the word and spirit. In other words God decreed to 231 00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:45,480 grant them true faith in Christ to justify them, to sanctify them and finally after powerfully 232 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:52,120 preserving them in the fellowship of the son to glorify them. God did all of this in order 233 00:24:52,120 --> 00:25:01,480 to demonstrate his mercy to the praise of the riches of God's glorious grace. As scripture 234 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:07,600 says God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy and 235 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:14,200 blameless before him with love. He predestined us whom he adopted as his children through 236 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:20,200 Jesus Christ in himself according to the good will or the good pleasure of his will to the 237 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:28,240 praise of his glorious grace by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved. 238 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:34,840 That's Ephesians. And elsewhere those who he predestined he also called and those whom 239 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:42,600 he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified. There is a 240 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:50,080 lot in there but one of the things that I want to give you January 7th 2024 is that 241 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:58,720 you have been chosen by God. That God has chosen you. Yes even you who don't think 242 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:03,920 that who does not think that you can be loved. Those that think I'm too screwed up for this. 243 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,940 I'm too broken. I'm too hurt. I know I'm going to cheat on God again tomorrow. All of those 244 00:26:08,940 --> 00:26:20,040 feelings all of those angst does not waver God's providential love for you. Why? He created 245 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:31,520 you in his image and God is not a masochist. God does not hate himself. God hates sin. 246 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:38,000 So when God calls us to himself part of that calling process is a reaping. Part of that 247 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:45,800 calling process is removing the sin from our life. And if we are being honest we love sin 248 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:53,760 and some of us it's really attached and that's going to hurt. That pruning is going to be 249 00:26:53,760 --> 00:27:01,080 a process. That pruning is going to take time. But God's providence does not waver. God's 250 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:08,080 sovereignty is there for you. I liken it to some of the videos. You guys already know 251 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:13,160 I'm weird so it's fine. But all the creative when all of my boys had loose teeth I kind 252 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:19,280 of YouTube creative ways of getting the tooth out. I did. And there are a lot of different 253 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:25,240 ones and I think we've done remote control cars. We've tied that and please don't call 254 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:31,200 me PCFS they're fine. But I've seen some that I mean and these kids are terrified. There's 255 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:36,080 one where they're in like the woods which is super strange. But he tied it to a golf 256 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:42,360 ball. The dad did. And he's getting ready to hit the golf ball. And the boy is screaming 257 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:48,120 bloody murder. Right? He's like call 911 somebody. Like you know if he would have said I don't 258 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:52,000 know this man I think the video would have taken a very weird turn. But it was his dad 259 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:57,880 and he's freaking out. He is sobbing. He is so scared. And what I love is the dad's like 260 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,760 it's going to be fine. Like he knows it's going to be fine. Now I'm sure there's a little 261 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:07,560 part in the dad's mind like it better be fine. But understand he takes that whack of that 262 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:15,760 ball and the tooth and all of a sudden you just hear this like freak out into a laughter. 263 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:24,360 That though it was scary, though they was terrified, when it was done he was fine. He 264 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:32,400 laughed it off. And he gave Jim Holland on our sermon illustration. Is that not representative 265 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:38,120 of a lot of our lives of faith? This is so scary I don't want to give up the life that 266 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,400 I had before. I don't want to dive in. I know God's got his providence and his sovereignty 267 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:49,240 in this golf ball. Weird image. But you understand. And God is just going to whack this ball and 268 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:53,320 go this is what your life is going to be. Your life is going to be providential. Your 269 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:58,960 life is going to be something I sacrifice for to love you so you ought to love others. 270 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:09,760 This is the life of the believer. And we are so scared. Wait this is it? Wait my job is 271 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:19,200 to love others in a very real way. I don't have the burden of being judgmental anymore 272 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,760 because if we are being honest and we are going to get to this in a couple of weeks, 273 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,980 a lot of us love to be judgmental but that takes a lot of work. Because you better be 274 00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:33,680 perfect if you are going to do it. But then all of a sudden the realization that God has 275 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:41,400 been, God is, God always will be God doesn't become so scary. And though it doesn't make 276 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:48,680 sense and I at that time 34 year old mind, why my 36 year old sister of three who had 277 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:54,280 three kids under 10 was going to go into glory and my nephews and nieces aren't going to 278 00:29:54,280 --> 00:30:00,440 have their biological mother anymore. There was something comforting in the fact that 279 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:07,960 God was in control. So I don't know what it is for you today. I don't know what it is 280 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:16,480 for you in 2024. You know what 2024 may be your year and it may be just like every other 281 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:25,800 year you have had. But I think we can go into it going huh God is sovereign? I think 2024 282 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:34,080 is going to be okay. I think we are going to make it. And guess what? If in 2024 your 283 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:38,840 number is done or your number is called, your days are over, your table is prepared, the 284 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:48,680 room prepared, guess what? You get to live in God's glory forever and ever. Amen. That 285 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:54,540 is what a design is now thinking about. That is what the design, Archie design is now planning 286 00:30:54,540 --> 00:31:01,800 and preparing for. That is why when I talk to an Ellie design, she has no fear. Though 287 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:09,760 she will be sad, she completely understands. There is something about God's sovereignty 288 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:14,840 and his providence. So I leave you with this thought and it comes to us from Lord's Day 289 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:21,600 10, question and answer 27. And again this is the to be continued. What do we do or what 290 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,680 do we understand by the providence of God? Here at this Munster Church, the almighty and 291 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:33,400 ever present power of God by which God upholds as with his hand heaven and earth and all 292 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:40,200 creatures and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean 293 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:48,940 years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact 294 00:31:48,940 --> 00:32:01,120 come to us not by chance. If your years are going to be done by chance, that stinks. It 295 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:21,440 is not done by chance but by his fatherly hand.