So I do want to encourage you to be a part of
the closing crusade meeting tonight and to take
someone with you that needs the Lord. And I want
to encourage you to get there just a little bit
early tonight, too. Although there's overflow
outside, I don't think it's going to be the best
night to be out there. So you might want to get
there a few minutes early. We're going to open
our Bibles together to the book of Jeremiah.
the 32nd chapter, where we're continuing to study
about Jeremiah's view of God in this prayer that
he offers to the Lord. Not only in his prayer
to God, but in God's response back to him, we
learn a great deal about God. That's important
for us, as we're going to see today. In Jeremiah
chapter 32, we have looked at verses 17 and 18.
And today we're going just to get into verse
19, but I'm going to back up into verse 18 to
catch some of the flow. Where he says, Oh great
and mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his name,
great in counsel. Great in counsel. And now turn
to the New Testament please, to the book of Ephesians.
and the first chapter where we see a New Testament
counterpart to what we just read briefly in Jeremiah
in Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 9.
God made known to us the mystery of His will
according to His kind intention which He purposed
in Christ with a view to an administration suitable
to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing
up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens
and things upon the earth, in him also we have
obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to his purpose, who works all things
after the counsel of his will." Today we look
at this idea that God is mighty in counsel. Anyone
with any sense or any reason can see that we
do not live in a world that is random, that is
left to chance. Now recognize that some people
view life as a big chance. Some people view investing
as gambling. And we have a whole so -called industry.
that is springing up around our country, around
the idea of gambling, randomness, chance. I think
that that is popular not only because people
like to take risks and because it raises money
for the state, at least the state thinks it does,
but I think it's popular because The idea of
randomness and chance is the whole philosophy
of existence in our culture. We have lost in
our culture the idea that there is purpose to
life. We need to get that back in our hearts.
We who are God's people can lose that as well.
We need to come back to the understanding that
the Word of God gives us, that the universe is
ordered, that it is predictable, that it is constructed
on laws and principles. We need to come back
to what the Bible teaches us, that intelligence
designed us. And not only us, but all of nature
around us. We sometimes imagine that history
is left to the arbitrary whims of people, or
as it were, the roll of the dice on the table
of possibilities. The average person builds his
life around this idea that there is a lady luck
or a father fortune who are more real to them
than the sovereign God who has decreed, in fact,
the events of life. So what I want to talk to
you about this morning is developing a biblical
philosophy of life. Developing a way of looking
at life that is thoroughly grounded in theology
and what the Bible says to us about God. To do
that, we have to strip away some of the stuff
we get from our culture. Where the idea of randomness
and accident and chance are constantly bombarding
us. We have to strip that away and replace it
with what the Bible teaches that life is ordered
by a sovereign God. Now because of our culture's
view that life is random, there is a lot of anxiety
in our culture. And the whole new religion has
been built up around it, and new priests. The
religion is called psychology. I'm not knocking
on psychology, don't misunderstand me, but I'm
talking about, well let's just term it psychology
-ism. Where psychology has become the religion
of people. And the new priesthood are the psychologists
and psychiatrists. of our culture. If people
have problems, that's the religion and that's
the priesthood that they seek out. Not God in
His Word. Someone has poked a little fun at this
new religion by imagining this psychiatric hotline.
Don't you like voicemail? Me neither. But it's
one of those evils we kind of get into in our
culture because of the pace of things and to
try to make things convenient I guess Well, here
is a here's a psychiatric hotline it answers
saying hello Welcome to the psychiatric hotline
If you are obsessive compulsive, please press
one repeatedly If you are codependent please
ask someone to press 2 for you. If you have multiple
personalities, please press 3, 4, 5, and 6. If
you are paranoid delusional, we know who you
are and what you want, so just stay on the line
until we can trace the call. If you're schizophrenic,
listen carefully and a little voice will tell
you which number to press. If you're manic depressive,
it doesn't matter which number you press. No
one will answer anyway. That pokes a little fun
at some of the cycle babble that we hear in the
jargon of our culture. Yes, this is a troubled
age and there are many reasons for anxiety when
people don't know Christ especially. But the
answer is not found in this new religion. It's
found in God. revelation to us in the Scriptures
of what He's like. And the way God reveals Himself
is that He is a sovereign God. Now if you will
get a hold of this, it will fill your life with
wonder, humility, peace, joy, and contentment.
Well, that's not bad. In fact, if you could get
that from a psychologist or a psychiatrist, he
would be a wealthy man very fast. If one of these
modern gurus could write a book guaranteeing
that you would have wonder in your life, humility,
peace, joy, and contentment, he would make a
fabulous amount of money. His book would be on
the New York Times bestsellers list as number
one. But I want to tell you something this morning.
The Bible will give you exactly that. If you
understand what it says to you about God, those
things will mark your life and fit you for heaven.
The Bible affirms that we live in a universe
that is created and ordered by a sovereign God
who has already determined the course of its
history and has appointed the final day of judgment
already. The time is set for the final judgment.
Now in light of that, you and I have a choice
to make. I hope that you will see this morning
that the most important decision you can make
is to bring your life in the direction of what
God's purpose is. Because you see, when we're
born into this world, we're going the other direction.
We're going against God. That's what sin is all
about. And it takes a lot of different expressions
in our lives, but it means going against God,
going counter to what God wants. So the most
important thing we can do is to bring our lives
in the direction that God is moving. And when
we do that, we will find wonder, humility, peace,
joy and contentment in our lives. I want to think
briefly about a definition of God's purpose.
Jeremiah said God is mighty in counsel. That
word counsel means advice. But by implication
it means not only advice, it means what comes
out of the advice. A plan. It means that God
is mighty in His design. God has taken counsel
with Himself. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And
out of that counsel they have as the Trinity,
God has devised the plan, the purpose. God's
purpose, theologians call his decree, not degree,
but decree, D -E -C -R -E -E. You will see that
term used here and there if you read the books
regarding theology or the Bible. The decree of
God. It refers to God's purpose that governs
everything. The Westminster Shorter Confession
states it this way very succinctly, the decrees
of God are his eternal purpose according to the
counsel of his will whereby for his own glory,
here's the key phrase, He has foreordained whatsoever
comes to pass. The purpose of God. Jeremiah is
expressing in his prayer faith that God is directing
the history of Judah. That's where he's living,
remember, and right now as he's... He's offering
up this prayer. The Babylonians have surrounded
the capital city of Jerusalem. The rest of the
land is gone. It's under their control. Their
vast army has surrounded the city of Jerusalem.
They are beginning to build siege mounts up against
the walls, and eventually will take the city.
God has already told Jeremiah this, and he has
told the people. They didn't like it very well,
but he's told them. Now in the midst of this
pressure and this anxiety, if you want to put
it that way, Jeremiah is praying and he calls
God great in his purpose. He is reminding himself
in his prayer that God has already established
the track on which the wheels of history must
turn. God's already laid out the road. And history
will move in that direction. And yet, when God
does this, it is important to understand that
He is never removing responsibility from man
for his decisions. You see, if you took that
point to the extreme, that God has already charted
the course for history. You might go to the point
of saying, well that means then that God has
authored sin. And it does not mean that. God
is not the author of sin. Man is still responsible
for his choices. But that doesn't mean that God
is the victim of what man chooses. Now, this
presents a certain difficulty. to our minds.
We don't fully understand how these two lines
of truth come together. It's called an antinomy.
That is, an apparent contradiction. It's not
really, but it seems so in our minds. How is
it that God has decreed everything that's going
to happen and yet man is held responsible for
his moral choices? In response to that, there
are some theologians who have called themselves
evangelicals, who are creating a new idea about
God is very dangerous. Clark Pinnock is an example
of that, who in the past has written some very
fine books, but now has turned toward a kind
of theology that is off base, it's not biblical.
There's a book that he has co -authored with
some others called The Openness of God. Which
says no in fact God really isn't sovereign after
all and God doesn't know What an individual is
going to choose whether he would choose right
or wrong and then God has to To direct things
after that person has made his choice. God doesn't
know what he's going to do in advance And God
is not all -powerful God is not sovereign And
that is not biblical theology, I'm sorry to say.
And so there are some great minds who have been
in the mainstream of evangelicalism who, because
of this apparent contradiction, have gone aside
to false teaching. Now we have to confess our
humility before this whole idea. We don't understand
it fully. But the Bible presents both truths
side by side. God is absolutely sovereign and
he has determined exactly what's going to happen
in history. But in doing that, he has also left
man with a responsibility for his own choices.
We see this illustrated in a writing of a contemporary
of Jeremiah. His name is Habakkuk. But I'd like
you to turn there. It's one of the minor prophets
in the Old Testament. Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk.
Now just to save myself some time, I wrote down
the page number so if you have a Ryrie study
Bible, it's 1 ,398. Otherwise, you're on your
own. In this book of Habakkuk. Now, Habakkuk,
as I said, is a contemporary of Jeremiah. They're
living at the same time, the same situation.
The Babylonians are threatening. He calls them
the Chaldeans. They went by both names. Now look
in verse 6. God is speaking now through Habakkuk,
Jeremiah's friend. And he says, behold, I am
raising up the Chaldeans. That's the Babylonians,
the same... evil people who were at the gates
of Jerusalem, that fierce and impetuous people
who marched throughout the earth to seize dwelling
places which are not theirs. They had fearsome
armies, these Babylonians. There were worse ones
after them, but they were the fiercest army known
in human history up to that point. And notice
what God says, I am raising up the Chaldeans.
They did not appear by accident in human history.
They didn't come onto the stage just stumbling
in. God says, I have raised them up because God
had a purpose for them. And among their purposes
was the destruction and the captivity of Jerusalem
and Judah because of its sin. God's own people.
Remember last week we said God disciplines nations.
by other nations That's one way he does it But
now having said that God is the one who is doing
this look down in verse 11 He explains in these
intervening verses what they're going to do with
their horses and so on and how they will come
in and and take them take the Israelites but
verse 11 says then they will sweep through like
the wind and pass on but They will be held guilty.
Those whose strength is their God. You see what
I'm saying here? In verse 6, God says, I am raising
them up and they are going to discipline my people
because of their disobedience to me. But God
says they are responsible for what they're doing
and I will hold them guilty. Jeremiah said similar
things about a number of other nations as well
as the Babylonians. Do you see that illustration?
Peter says the same thing really in Acts chapter
2 when he talks on the day of Pentecost to the
people there gathered at the temple among them
those who had crucified Christ. And he speaks
about the fact that Christ was delivered up by
the predeterminate counsel and the foreknowledge
of God. He says, this didn't happen by accident.
God had determined ahead of time what would happen
to Jesus. But then he turns to these people and
says, whom you by your wicked hands have slain.
And he goes on to indict them because of their
crime against Christ. You see, God had determined
what would happen. but they were responsible
for the choice they made to reject Him and to
crucify Him. See my point? When we talk about
a definition of God's mighty purpose, it means
that God has in His sovereignty declared ahead
of time where everything is going. But along
the way, each of us is held responsible to God
for the choices that we make. God is not responsible
for our sins. Now, I want you to turn to Ephesians
chapter 1, which is a second part of our text,
because it elaborates a bit upon God's purpose.
I want to talk about its character. And in doing
this, I'm just going to go very quickly through
several statements describing God's decree, God's
purpose. First of all, it's a single plan. I
think the best way to understand it is not that
God has many different purposes, although that's
true on level B, the sub -level, but level A
is that there is one overarching purpose of God.
He says here in verse 11, according to the purpose,
according to His purpose who works all things
after the counsel of His will. Notice those words,
by the way. We see predestined, verse 11, purpose,
counsel, will. Each of those words has a different
shade of meaning, but all of them are talking
about the same thing that we're talking about
this morning, that God has sovereignly determined
the things that are going to take place, not
only in history, but in your life and mine. He's
already determined it. And He works all things
in the direction of the purpose, the counsel
of His will. We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. I don't
care what happens to you. I don't care how small
the incident or how life -changing it may be.
Your life is ordered by a sovereign God. And
the fact that it's raining today is not because
Paul was not a good meteorologist. It's because
God wanted it to rain today. Now, don't tell
him I said that. He's not sitting here right
now. Because I want to give them a hard time
in the next service again, but that's the truth
If you have a flat tire going home from church
today get out of your car and say praise God
He's working out his purpose in my life That
seems a little silly doesn't it but I'm telling
you everything that happens to you comes to you
through sovereign hands God is mighty in His
purpose. And every little piece of it all relates
to God's overarching purpose. The first statement
is, it's a single plan. Number two, this plan
was formed in eternity past. Before the universe
even existed, God put this all together. He knew
you. He ordered your life. He knew the moment
you were going to be born. He knows the moment
you're going to die. Before He even spoke the
world into existence, He determined to save you
if you're a child of God. That's what it says
in verse 4. He chose you in Christ before the
world was even created. He knew you and chose
you. You say, well did God choose the fall of
Adam? God made provision in His purpose for the
fall of Adam. That doesn't mean that God's responsible
for Adam's sin. Adam is responsible for it. Now
we get back to that mystery, that intenamy. But
God made provision for what he knew Adam would
do. God knew Adam would fall. Just as God knows
that if you had been in Adam's shoes, you would
have done the very same thing Adam did. God made
provision for the fall in his purpose before
he even created the world. He made provision
before he created the world for the Son of the
Trinity to come into the world as a human being
and to die as a sacrifice because of the sin
of the Adam who had not yet been created so that
that child of Adam who's sitting in Grace Church,
Roseville today could be saved from his sin.
Before God created the world, all of this was
already established, and then God carried it
out. God's decree, His purpose, included the
creation and the maintenance of the universe,
the appointment of times and boundaries for the
world's nations, the length of human life, the
manner of our death. God's decree includes the
family and marriage, the propagation of children,
human government, the choice of Israel and her
future blessings. the creation of the church,
which unites Jew and Gentile in one body, all
of this. And God's ultimate purpose in verse
10 is defined as the summing up of all things
in Christ. In other words, all of these events
take place in human history. And just as though
we were doing our arithmetic this morning, God
says I'm drawing the line. I'm going to add up
everything and it's all going to add up to Jesus
Christ. I'm going to sum up everything in him.
Another way to look at it is that all these events
are gathered together and everything is going
to be under the lordship of Jesus Christ. He
says whether those things be on earth, visible
things, or whether they be in the heavens, the
invisible to us. angels, demons, the invisible
things we can't see. He says everything is going
to be under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Everything
is heading toward Jesus Christ's kingdom, for
He will rule over the entire universe, which
will be in submission to Him. Now the third statement
I want to make about God's purpose is that it
is mysterious. As I've said, there are aspects
of it that we cannot reconcile in our minds.
We can't begin to comprehend it. But just because
we can't understand it, we dare not deny it or
try to explain it away as some of these theologians
are doing. If we could get our little pea -sized
brains around what God is doing, it would mean
we're bigger than God. So it should surprise
none of us that God is doing things that we can't
understand. If we could understand it, then we
would have created God. But He's the Creator,
and He's good enough to let us in on some of
the things He's doing, even though we can't possibly
begin to understand what they all mean. Number
four, God's plan is all wise. That's because
the God who has decreed it is all wise. In Romans
9, 10, and 11, Paul presents to us part of God's
purpose related to Israel and the church. And
when he's done explaining this to us, revealing
it to us by the Spirit of God, he concludes by
praising the wisdom. and the knowledge of God.
Who can fathom, He says, what God is doing? It's
all wise. Number five, it's free. What I mean
by that is not that it doesn't cost anything.
What I mean is that God does exactly what pleases
Him. It's free. God has counseled with no one
else. He didn't consult a psychologist to find
out what he ought to do. He didn't write Dear
Abby and get her advice, or you or me either.
God has determined what he's going to do and
he has consulted no one except himself in doing
it. He is independent of everything and everyone
else. That's why he's holy. He's above and beyond
everything and that's why Isaiah cried out, woe
is me when he saw the holiness of God. He saw
how different God is than we are. He does not
adjust his plan according to human events, but
human events rather follow in the course that
he has ordered. Number six, we understand God's
purpose conveniently as having two aspects. God's
decreed will, His directive will, and God's permissive
will. God's directive will is what He has ordered.
God's permissive will is what He allows to, He
brings to pass through secondary causes. And
finally, God's purpose is all for His own glory.
That's the seventh statement I want to make.
Here in Ephesians chapter 1, you see the phrase
a number of times, to the praise of His glory,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, to the
praise of His glory. That, my friend, is the
reason that we're here. That's the reason we've
been saved. Did you know that? We in this culture
that is so concerned about self -esteem have
begun to see salvation as something that God
did for our benefit. And we're the center of
it. Well, my friend, it is to our benefit. Praise
God for that. But let me tell you something.
He is the center of it. It is all for the glory
of God, not man's glory. The focus of salvation
is not man, it's God. And when God saves us,
we bring Him the glory for what He's done. Now
I began by saying that if you could get a hold
of what I'm talking about this morning and make
a difference in your life, and I used five words
to describe the difference. Let me explain how
it works. I said it would bring wonder to your
life. If you could see how mighty God is in His
purpose. Here's why I say that. Because it brings
into focus the centrality of God and His glory.
And it reminds us that even our choice of salvation
was settled before eternity passed. And we just
have to wonder at this and be in awe of it. We
sing that chorus, our God is in what? Awesome.
And that word is kind of a slang word these days.
It's too bad because that word really ought to
be reserved for God. We are struck with awe at
what God is doing. It will fill our lives, secondly,
with humility. Why? Because it abases our pride
and our tendency to think of ourselves as able
to run our own lives. We're not. We're not. And
when we try to do it, we're going to turn the
ship of our lives into the stream against the
flow of God's purpose, and we will head to the
rocks. So how much better to get out into the
flow of things and steer our ship in the direction
that God is heading everything? Thirdly, it will
bring peace to your life because When we observe
the tumultuous events in our world and our own
lives for that matter, we can know that God is
governing all things. God is governing. If the
Babylonians knock down the walls and enter into
the city and destroy it and take captives away,
we still know that God is in control. And if
the walls of your life fall down flat and and
you're carried away captive as it were by circumstances
you can't control. Listen, God's in control.
Therefore you can be at peace deep in your heart
even though outwardly your life may be filled
with turmoil because of what we're talking about
today. I said it would bring you joy and I say
that because this all -wise and all -powerful
ruler who is mighty in purpose is our Heavenly
Father and our friends who loves us and who is
for us and not against us. That's why we can
have joy. And I said you could have contentment.
And I say that because God will care for you
and satisfy you with what He knows is for your
good and for His glory. So you can be content
in life. if you understand that God is mighty
in purpose. And so you and I are left with a
choice to make at the end. To accept what the
Bible says and to adjust our philosophy of life
according to what the Bible says about God or
to live in the misery and the ruin of the ideas
of our current culture. And when we understand
what the Bible says about God, we can then choose
to turn our lives in the direction that God is
moving. And that's what I want to ask you to
do this morning. You say, well, I'm going to
go the other way. Well, my friend, you can do
that. God gives you that freedom. You are also
responsible for that choice. And He's appointed
the day of judgment when He will deal with you.
Or, by His grace, you can make the decision to
say, yes, I'm going to turn in the direction
God wants me to go in. And when you do that,
you will know blessing in life. You will know
these qualities we just talked about. And when
life comes to an end, you'll enter into the presence
of the Lord and be rewarded, welcomed by your
Father. Will you do that this morning? Will you
submit to Christ's Lordship? You say, well, I'm
not sure what God's wanting for me. I'm not sure
what direction He's heading. Well, we all have
big question marks in our lives, don't we? Well,
we have a Lord who sees right through the question
marks that we have, and He knows where things
are heading. So we can say in advance, Lord,
I don't know that I'm trusting You. That's important
for some of you here this morning to read. Because
your lives have been heading toward danger. And
that ship is moving toward the rocks. And it's
time to adjust the rudder. And to bring yourself
in the direction of what God wants in your life.
Let's bow together in prayer. Almighty God, we
worship you today as the one who is mighty in
purpose in your decree. And we have just touched
on this vast topic that you have revealed to
us in your Word. God, write it on our hearts.
However difficult it may be for us to understand,
write it on our hearts that we may believe it
and live in the light of it. And may each of
us be surrendered to your Lordship today for
whatever that may mean for us. With our heads
bowed and our eyes closed, I wonder if there's
someone here who would say, Pastor, God has spoken
to my heart this morning and I know that I need
Christ as my Savior. I've been resisting what
God has wanted to do in my life. I've known I've
needed the Lord, but I've put it off. I've had
excuse after excuse. Today, I want to trust Christ.
Maybe you've been down to hear Billy Graham this
week and you didn't go forward, you can make
a decision there, but today you're ready to do
it. I want to ask you just to lift your hand
where you are and say by that lifted hand, just
be saying from your heart, today I am receiving
Christ as my Savior. Is there one here this morning?
Is there one? God helped you to do the right
thing. Is there a believer here today who's trusted
Christ that your life has been moving in the
wrong direction? And by your lifted hand you
would say today I am freshly coming back to this
point of Christ Worship. I don't want my life
to be going in the wrong direction. I don't want
to be going against what God has purposed. I
want God's will in my life. And even though I
may not understand it, by faith I am committing
myself to it. And I'm submitting to Jesus Christ
as Lord. Would you lift your hand? God bless
you. Yes, thank you. God bless you. Anyone else?
Yes. I don't know what that may mean for you.
God knows you perhaps have an idea. But you're
doing the right thing right now, making that
commitment. Anyone else? Let's stand together,
please. And with our heads bowed, I'd like for
us to sing a chorus, Have Thine Own Way. Let's
sing it from our hearts to the Lord. Lord, I
pray that waiting yielded and still might be
words describing the heart of each of us as we
leave here this morning. And may we know that
we rest in sovereign hands. And may the fruit
of our lives be changed by that assurance. May
your grace and peace be upon all of you in Jesus'
name. Amen.