Introduction to The Godhead: God’s Decrees to His Creation | Steve Benson

been going through a sound doctrine

series.

We've been looking at the godhead

uh individually, but we can't

we can't do that. We have to look at

them as united, the father, son, the

holy spirit. We don't have three gods.

We only have one.

And as we look at the godhead, we've

seen

things specific to the father,

specific to the son and specific

to the holy spirit.

And um it's been good to look at God, at

least for me, I think

that helps us with everything else. If

we look at God, if we don't have a great

God, then things become impossible. But

if we see our great God, then with him

all things are possible.

Open your Bibles if you would to Luke

Luke 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19.

We've been looking at the decrees of

God. Last week was kind of an

introduction to that. And uh this

morning I want to look at they they fall

into four basic categories. the decrees

of God. You probably already know this.

You just didn't know. There were all

categories, but we have creation. We're

going to look at that this morning. And

and those that are geared toward the

children of God.

You know, God God created a world. He

said he'd take care of it. God created

man. He said he would take care of us.

So, those are two great decrees that

we're going to look at at this morning.

And, you know, we uh I want to start in

Luke so we can see in chapter 19.

You know, there were times that Jesus

would say, you know, hey, this is going

to come to pass. You know, he'd remind

his apostles, you know, how many things

had they seen, you know, and heard from

him. But he would say, "Hey, you know,

this is going to come to pass." And

that's what he did with the cross. And

you know, even the apostles struggled

with that. You know, Peter got a hold of

him and rebuked him and said, "Not so,

Lord." You know, so sometimes when God

makes a decree or he says something, um,

you know, they're not always creature

comfort comfortable, you know. So, we

got to listen to God and know what he

says. And when he says something is

going to come to pass, then you know

that we say, you know, we agree to that

because we're believers. You know, we

know that we study the word of God. And

here in Luke chapter 19, here was here

Luke 19 · chapter mention

is a situation like that.

And you know, when you know, God says

he's going to take care of his creation.

God says he's going to take care of his

creatures. you know, he he can move

anything and everything he wants to

accomplish that. And here this is the

the uh the triumphant entry

of Jesus into the um to Jerusalem. This

is, you know, this has usually been our

our Easter or our resurrection or our

crucifixion sometimes,

uh, you know, prelude to what Jesus went

through.

But here in verse 28,

we can see, and when he had thus spoken,

so that's the thing. When God speaks,

then we should listen and expect what he

says

to come to pass.

And even apostles, you know, we're had

to learn that. So, this is something

that we have to learn as well. You know,

if you're not real familiar with the

Bible, I when I got saved, I was not

familiar with the Bible, but it's like,

wow, man. This God said it. This is the

way it is.

And that is really comforting for

believers.

So God has promised to take care of his

creation. And you know when I was

unsaved, I didn't have very much

theology. I believe God existed.

You know, I was that's the way I argued

if if it came up, you know, anyone

brought it up, you know, whatever crowd

I was in, I believe God existed. I

couldn't tell you much more than that.

But to me, he was there. I saw him in

creation. There was just so much going

on.

And then when, you know, I grew up, I

graduated 1980

and I grew up in the 70s.

So that's, you know, I grew up in the

70s, graduated in in the spring of 80.

So I spent my time in the 70s. And, you

know, they were still doing, you know,

kids today do, you know, active shooter

drills. Well, when I was going to

school, we did nuclear bomb

drills

>> and they'd pull the alarm everybody in

the basement. And I grew up with that.

So, you know, I was in my mind I was

like, well, I don't think God is going

to let Russia or anyone destroy this

planet that he made, you know. So, that

was sort of comforting for me when we

did those things. And somehow that

brought me peace. Well, then I got saved

and now here I have all this in the word

of God that God's going to take care of

creation.

Doesn't matter who gets the nuke. You

know, he's going to he's going to work

out his will.

And that's what the apostles needed to

learn. That's what the disciples needed

to learn. This is what we need to learn.

So that's why we want to look at these

decrees that you know God has promised

to take care of creation. God has

promised to take care of his children.

And here we see that you know what Jesus

said came to pass. You know that's the

whole point of this. He said go into the

village

opposite you and enter in and you'll

find a colt tied up. You know even the

animals answer to Jesus.

You know, he knows about this little

cult. He knows where it's at. He knows

who to send. He knows who owns it. You

know, he knows that it's not going to

buck him off when he gets on it. You

know, he all these things Jesus already

knows.

On which never a man set. How does he

know that? He's God.

And loose him and bring him to me. And

if any man ask you why, you know, we get

that a lot too, don't we? Why are you

guys doing this? Why do you guys go to

church on Sunday?

Well, the Lord Jesus said for us to. And

he said a lot more. But he's our he he's

the he's our uh he's our spokesman. He's

our teacher. You know, we learn from

him. He's our instructor and everything

he says is going to come to pass. That's

just what we have to tell everyone wants

to know. you know what you know what's

going on with the you know you you

getting this donkey

and they were sent on their way and they

found even as he said unto them

there it is you know he oh wow there's

that colt there's that colt that never a

man sat on and hey by the way guy we're

going to steal your coat no he just said

the Lord has need of it

and you know we're not given much more

you what happened to him afterwards and

all that, you know, we'll find out in

heaven, I guess. But the lesson here

that Luke wants us to get is everything

Jesus said came to pass. So when we

study the word of God, we want to know

that everything he says is going to come

to pass.

Then he says, uh, they brought him to

Jesus. They cast their garments upon the

colt and they set Jesus upon it and he

went his way and they spread their

clothes in the way. And we can learn

some more here too. He said, "And when

he was come near and they descended the

mount of olives, the whole multitude of

disciples began to rejoice to praise God

with a loud voice

and you know all the mighty works that

they had seen." So he here we have the

son of God riding on a mule, riding on a

donkey, riding on a colt,

and that you know everything he said has

come to pass and and here he is going

into to Jerusalem. But look at verse 39.

Now read verse 38. Blessed be the king

who cometh in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the

highest. Well, that that's us now. We've

got this peace. We uh we have this glory

in the highest because we know Jesus not

as king. Uh we'll know him someday as

king, but for now we know him as savior

and head of the church and lord of all.

But look at the reaction. Verse 39. And

the Pharisees from among the multitudes

said, "Master, rebuke your disciples."

So they, you know, what what Jesus says

and does uh doesn't go over very well in

the world and and even in the religious

world, the Pharisee. But look what he

says. Tell them this. I tell you, if

these should hold their peace, the

stones would immediately cry out.

Jesus has power over the stones. Jesus

has power over the the the little cult,

you know. So everything he says then we

need to go and do it.

And even if we don't do it, he said he

was going to get the stones to cry out.

So anyway, that's kind of an

introduction to what we're going to look

at this morning. And you know, the the

birth

of Jesus. We've looked at the life of

Jesus. We've looked at We haven't looked

at the death death yet. We will.

And and his resurrection and his

ascension, all those wonderful things.

Everything he said he was going to do,

he's done. He's not going to stop now.

So, you know, we need to continue to

trust him. He said down in there, I tell

you.

So, that's what we have in the word of

God. We have Jesus saying, I told you

this was going to come to pass.

just like these things did as well. So

there there are four realms of God's

decrees. I mentioned two the creation

and his and his children. We fall in

that category. And then we have we have

uh election and the judgment of everyone

else that is not saved. Those are the

main decrees that that God has given us.

Now turn back to Psalm 119 verse 90.

Psalms 119:90

And that's that's what we do. We just

our faith, you know, says, you know,

whatever God says, I don't know how

impossible we might think it is, but is

going to come to pass whatever he says.

And that's what we need to know. That's

trust. That's faith. That's comfort.

you know that nobody's going to fire a

nuke on us, you know, without

God saying it's okay.

And in Psalm 119

and verse 90,

thy faithfulness

is unto all generation.

Thou has established the earth and it

abides. There we have two in the same

verse. God says he's going to take care

of creation. God says he's going to take

care of his children. And you know

that's just to the point here. We have

to see both of these. You know, Paul

said a similar thing in Acts,

remembering when he went to Athens and

everything that was going on there. the

the idolatry and the unbelievers and

the, you know, the unchurched, the

ungodly people, you know, the uh the

filthy people as the Jews thought.

You know, Paul says, "Hey, you guys can

come now. God's provided a savior." Turn

to Psalm 104.

And you know these psalms, many of these

psalms are, you know, they're the Jews

wrote them and and a lot of them are,

you know, Moses and David and all these

guys that God used to write these psalms

because they saw that they saw God

taking care of creation. They saw God

taking care of his children. And now

here we are in the church age, you know,

now God,

he's I don't want to say he didn't take

good care of them then, but now we're in

Christ, you know. So now we're right

where God wants us to be. And God has

given us his righteousness. God has

given everything that Christ is to us.

That's Ephesians chapter 1. We don't

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

have to look anywhere else. What a great

provision.

And here in Psalm 104

and then verse three,

you want to talk about God, okay? Who

laid the beams of his chambers in the

waters. You know, there are rivers in

the waters. Have you ever seen overhead

view? Sometimes you can just see those

rivers run right through the ocean.

Well, here Psalm they, you know, the

Psalmist knew this about God. He can he

can put a he can put a river in the

water.

You know, everything answers to him.

Every drop of water answers to its

creator.

And you stretch out the heavens

like a curtain. And this is one of those

psalms. This is the a psalm of praise

for God and his creation.

And uh look over in verse 11 if you

will.

Just read this whole thing, but I don't

want to get us slowed down too much. We

got more to look at. But verse 11, he

says

they give drink to every beast of the

field. Okay, now we're talking, we're

still talking about these rivers. We're

still talking about the water,

you know, and

animals can't survive without it, you

know. I know we have some deserts. I

know, you know, there are places where

the the water is pretty scarce,

but that's the rare part of the earth

and there's a purpose in that as well.

But everywhere else,

the water, he says, he waters the hills

from his chambers. The earth is

satisfied,

the fruit of your works. So whatever if

you plant a seed, you can count on God

to send the rain, send the sunshine

so that your garden will do well. He

causes the grass to grow for the cattle.

Well, I never thought of that before.

My grass has been growing pretty rapidly

this summer with all the rain that we've

had.

But you go out west, they don't have

fences up out there. You know, they have

these roaming ranging animals out there

and you know the a lot of it is owned by

the federal government and there are

thousands of cattle just roaming the

fields

eating the grass that God brought up for

him.

So, we can see God's cre, you know,

taking care of creation and he set the

seasons. And we're about ready to change

season. And, you know, I like that. And

look down at verse 23. He said, "Man

goeth forth unto his work and to his

labor until the evening." We can't get

out of that one, but that's good. We

need to do things. But God has designed

it that way.

And uh you know we need to see his hand

in these things. Oh Lord, how manifold

are your works. I mean it doesn't

compare. We compare what we can do to

what he can do.

There's no there's no comparison. We're

creatures. He's the creator.

And then he says here in wisdom

you made them all.

So, when you see a creature, you see an

animal out there and you're blown away

by its instincts. We got a big We got a

whole bunch of hummingbirds at the house

right now. We have hummingbird fights

every night about dark. It's hilarious.

But who made those little hummingbirds

like that?

Oh, the wisdom of God. He did it all.

The earth. And that's not just the not

just the hummingbirds. It's everything

else.

We see the fullness

of his riches. So this is the God who

that we serve. In verse 27, these all

wait upon you

every morning. The whole earth weighs on

the sun

and they're perfect. You know, God God's

creation is perfect. We came along and

ruined it. We'll talk about that later.

But God said it's good. Everything he

did was good

and in heaven and in the earth. So if

you're amazed by this earth, you're

going to be a little more amazed when we

get to heaven.

You know this Jesus said this what you

see here is is pales in comparison

for what I am preparing for you.

So we have to believe that that the

Jesus said go get that coat for me. You

know it's the same Jesus that said I go

to prepare a place for you and if I go I

will return again and bring you to

myself.

Psalm 107.

Psalm 107

Psalms 107:25

verse 25.

For he commands

and raises the stormy wind which lift up

the waves thereof. You ever been in a

storm?

There's not a not a drop of water, not a

raindrop, not a not a bowl of lightning,

not a particle of dust that does not

answer to God. He's the creator.

Even the storms.

I love to sit on a porch and watch those

things and the lightning. I just don't

want to get struck.

But it's incredible when a bolt of

lightning comes out of the sky. We We

can't even measure it. Anything we set

out there to try to measure it just gets

blown to smitherines.

You know, we uh can't do things like God

can do. But that's okay because we can

trust him.

And then he says there that they mount

up to the heavens. They go down again

into the depths. Their soul is melted

because of trouble. But we know God will

take care of us. And then uh verse 29,

he makes the storm a calm so that the

waves thereof are still. Is that what he

did? Is that what Jesus did when he was

with the uh apostles in the boat? Sure

enough, they they said, "Wow, even the

wind. Obey this man."

Yeah. Every particle in this universe

answers to him.

He made it. It belongs to him. He's the

owner.

And you know, these things, you know,

and our sin is caused us a problem. But

that's okay. We're going to look at

election. We're going to look at the

other things that God has ordained as

well. Go to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

You know the Bible question, you know,

why did God allow evil?

Well, that that says that, you know, God

could have prevented it.

So he didn't

that's his sovereignty you know that's

his you know he that's his call that's

above our pay grade

but we have the one who allowed evil

into the world has come to our rescue

and that's what we need to see and as we

look at sin

um sin did not originate in the universe

verse when God got done, he said, "It is

good. It's it's the devil's pride that

raised up in heaven and and he got

kicked out and he came to the Garden of

Eden and Adam and Eve joined in." So, we

have some of God's creatures in

rebellion to him.

you know, he he could have just

destroyed everything, you know, and not

chose to do this, but God's wisdom, you

know, we're going to look at that, you

know, next time. I mean, that's that's

the answer to our problem. And we cannot

trace sin back to him.

You know, it's it sin is traced back to

Lucifer. Sin is traced back to Adam and

Eve, but not God. God is, as we seen,

Jesus says, uh, he's the sinless one.

So, God is sinless. And here, James

helps us in chapter one with this very

thing. He says in verse 13, "Let no man

say when he is tempted," you guys

remember Flip Wilson,

I do, some of you do.

Well, he said, "The devil made me do

it." That was his, you know, and that's,

you know, that that that's the truth.

That's, you know, he can't say God made

me do it.

No one can say God made me do it when

they sin. God is sinless.

God is perfect. God is holy. You know,

um what comes to us is God's deliverance

from

sin and temptation.

So verse 14, he says, "Every man is

tempted when he is drawn away after his

own lust and entice." So Flip Wilson,

you know, he he was only partly right.

You know, we have our own lust. We have

our own enticing. We have our own

ability to sin.

And God's dealt with that as well.

Then when lust has conceived, it brings

forth sin.

And when sin is finished, it brings

forth death. You can put 100% of the

time

because that's what happens 100% of the

time. That's why James says, "Don't air,

my brothers." So even Christians, we got

to beware.

Every good gift and every perfect gift

is from above. It comes down. Here's

God. He's not a tempter. He's You can't

tempt God to sin. He doesn't tempt you

to sin. He's not involved in sin. in any

way in this universe.

And he has this perfect gift from above

that comes down from the father of

light. God's not darkness. He's light

with whom there is no variableness

neither shadow of turning. God will

never change. God won't even think about

changing. So whatever he says is going

to come to pass. You know, God's word is

like him. It's on the line. You know, I

may promise you something and, you know,

something may come up and we it doesn't

get pulled off or I don't get there when

I was supposed to. We're

uh circumstances can get in our way, but

never with God.

Are there any circumstances

that'll get in his way, even sin?

We can count on God. And he says here of

his own will

not yours

is. We're going to look at that next

week. This is election.

God's will not our will

come to our rescue. And he's given us

the word of truth that we should be a

kind of first fruits of his creatures

creatures. So God's he's doing something

with his creatures here. He's he's come

to our rescue with a gift.

And he goes on to say, we ought to be

swift to hear and the wrath of man

doesn't work the righteousness of God.

All these wonderful things down through

here that he says, you know. So

here we see in James what is true

throughout the Bible that when we look

at salvation and we look at you know

this God who's taking care of creation

this God who is taking care of his

children the same God has now um has a

will and he is willed that uh some

should not perish

and that is us. But at the same time

though, man is 100% responsible to God.

You know, you know, even after we're

saved, we're we're we're even more

responsible to God.

But unsaved people, they're responsible

to God, too.

You know, that's his that's his fourth

area of decrees.

You know, everything is going to go

everyone's going to go back to God.

Everything is going to go back to God.

And we are 100% responsible for all of

our actions

all the way to death. You know, that's

what Hebrews says. You know, then death

comes, then the judgment.

So, we're fallen creatures

and we need this good God, this great

God to come to our rescue. And

he does.

And you know outside of the cross you

know Jesus was sinless but there you

know he didn't become sinless or I mean

sinful at the cross he was always

sinless. That's what brought him out of

the grave. That was a great penalty he

paid. Turn to Hebrews chapter nine.

But sin has not you know you know the it

affect the angels. It's affected the

human race. We need to understand evil

and sin but in no way has it affected

God.

And here in Hebrews chapter 9 except at

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

the cross

here in Hebrews 9

verse three

and chapter nine's it's a really good

chapter. It's on the new it's on the new

covenant. This is why the Galatians were

wrong, you know, about what they were

trying to do.

There's no merit theology in our in our

soarology.

You know, what we believe about the

gospel. It's a gift from God. He decided

to give it to us. We didn't deserve it.

We can't earn it. And that's what people

are doing that are trying to climb up

some other way.

You know, God has made a way. Come his

way. Don't be trying to climb up your

way. You're going to you're going to run

into all kinds of problems. And that's

what the Bible says. That's what Jesus

said. So whether it's for good or for

bad, we can believe everything that's in

this book. God doesn't lie.

But here in Hebrews chapter 9,

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

you know, the the the law and the Old

Testament are there to help us to learn

what sin is and how holy God is.

You know, we we need that. We we don't

accidentally know what's right and wrong

uh on our own. We're fallen beings. We

can't even define what's good and wrong.

That's how that's why we all fall short

of the glory of God. We don't even know

what it is. we're we're done,

you know, because of what Adam did.

But God's made a way. And here in

Hebrews chapter nine, here is that way.

And in verse three,

and after the second veil of the

tabernacle,

which was called the holiest of all.

Well, you know, that's what we're

talking about. You know, we're down

here. He's up there and he's in his holy

holy heaven,

you know, and God is everywhere,

but he's going to set up a throne and

it's already been set up and his son is

sitting there

and he has sacrificed himself. That's

the atonement, unlimited atonement.

We'll look at that, too.

But he shed his there's no other way

that we can get in to God's presence

than through his son. And that's what

this whole chapter talks about. I don't

want to read it all. We don't have time.

Go if you will in verse 11. Christ, he

become a high priest of good things. We

don't have to rely on the Old Testament

priest. We don't have to rely on any

priest on this earth. I'm sorry priest.

You don't have a job on this earth.

you've been unemployed.

But we have one who has sat down in

heaven at the right hand of his father

who who has done all these great things

for his people.

So, you know, this is the these are the

decrees of God, you know, creation

and and and his children. That's who we

are. I'm not a Jew. I'm a Gentile. I

don't need to go back and become a Jew

in order to go to heaven. Jesus took

care of all that. He fulfilled it all.

And now I'm in him and I can't be taken

out of him.

He's my high priest now. You know,

that's why I don't need one on the

earth. I got one in heaven.

And it says here, the more perfect

tabernacle. See, that's what we're

talking about. Flaws and perfection.

We have flaws. The earth has flaws

because of sin and because of us.

Heaven's spotless

because God is spotless.

Heaven is holy because God is holy. And

that's what it says. Not made with

hands. We didn't send a construction

crew up to heaven to build a place for

God. That's quite the opposite.

He's built a place for us.

And that's his creation. That's his care

for his children. He even lets unsaved

people enjoy life. You know, it's all

going to come to an end someday, by the

way.

But for now, enjoy

like Paul says, you know, eat and drink

and be merry, but tomorrow you're going

to die sometime. We're going to die. So,

we need to get ready for death

because on the other side of the grave

is this holy God who's going to everyone

every particle of this earth answers to

him.

And then he so we can so we can

understand the depth of this. He he says

in verse 12 here, neither by the blood

of goats or calves.

You know, have have any of you ever, you

know, sinned a great sin? you don't have

to hold hold your hand up

or you know done something very

disappointing

you know we don't have to call pastor I

did it again you get me a calf ready I'm

on my way you know that can't do

anything you know it it was there for a

picture that it takes blood

to pay for our sin sinless blood now

it's Christ you know he he's more

perfect he's perfected

a a more perfect way. We are going to go

into the presence of God when we die. We

don't need anything. Don't let anyone

sell you that. You don't need anything

else. If you have Christ, you're ready

to die. You're ready to go to heaven.

You're ready to go into the presence of

God because

of what he's done. He's obtained. He did

it. You didn't. I didn't. We can't do it

together. He did it.

He obtained eternal redemption

for us. And then the writer of Hebrews

reminds us,

if I would have called pastor and said,

"Get get the bowl ready. I'm on my He

would have said, "Would you go read uh

Hebrews chapter 9:13? The blood of bulls

and goats, the ashes of a he

sprinkling of the unclean. They they

sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,

the outward part of us. That sinful part

of it.

But what about the inside?

You know, I got sins inside too, not

just on the outside. Our sin problem is

great."

But he says there, "How much more shall

the blood of Christ who through the

eternal spirit," we got the whole

trinity involved in our in our

redemption and and this atonement

that God made for us

and purge your conscience from the dead

works to serve the living God. And for

this cause, he is the mediator,

you know. So, okay, I get it. Jesus died

for my sins are all paid for. But I'm

still on the earth. I'm still sinning. I

still have bad thoughts. I still say

things I shouldn't say. I still do

things I shouldn't do. I'm a Christian.

But you know this problem exists. Well,

now I have Jesus, my mediator. I can go

to him. Now he's here between me and God

to help me uh prepare for death as well.

And that's what this says. By means of

debt

um for the redemption of the

transgressions. That's me. I'm I'm the

transgressor

and Jesus is my savior and my great high

priest. He shed his blood for me. So I

come through him. That's how I come to

God.

And and then he says here and that we

are under the first testament that they

who are called mighty here it is receive

you mean it's a promise

all this is a promise yes it's just a

promise

eternal inheritance then he goes on here

now over there in verse 22 he sums it up

for us and almost all things.

Uh, the law had been purged with blood.

You know, they sinned. They had a

sacrifice. Man, that would wake you up

to your sinning, wouldn't it? Well, what

Jesus did for us ought to wake us up to

our sinning as well. It cost him his

death. He says there's no good thing in

sin. He says, "Go the other way and

follow me."

That's what we want to do. Without the

shedding of blood, there is no

forgiveness. So if Jesus hadn't come to

earth and did what he did, then we're

all

no one can save themselves.

So we come to God through him. And the

old way was the, you know, so we would

know about sin. That's like, you know,

oh, I I just, you know, yeah, I'm a

sinful man, you know, I want to be like

Peter.

Yes, Lord, I am a sinful man. You know,

and then we can ask God for his mercy.

You know, we're not on on our merit. We

don't get saved and then we stand on our

own. That's not how this works. We stand

on the merit of Jesus. That's why God

can give and forgive us there in in 1

1 John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1.

So, to catch us up a little bit here,

the creation of man,

you know, God knew evil was coming and

God let it happen. Didn't take him by

surprise. He's not worried about it. He

overcome it. And he comes to this earth

and overcome it through his son. And

Jesus died for every sinner. We turn

back to chapter

Hebrews

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

You know, that's what Hebrews says. An

angel didn't come and die for us. That

wouldn't have done us any good.

It's the son of God that come and died

for us. And he said these things. I

mean, he's, you know, whatever he said

about all this, we we need to listen.

This is the truth.

And here in Hebrews chapter 2

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

and verse 9, we see Jesus who was made a

little lower

than the angels for the suffering of

death. What? Why did God die? He had

Well, we're going to be saved. He had

to.

But God knew he could resolve this sin

problem.

And resolve it he did by the grace of

God. And Jesus tasted death for every

man. Now, we'll look at that later when

we look at the atonement. But you know

this is uh

you know God he justifies us. That's the

word. You know that's what the that's

what's so important for us to see that

you know God now come to our rescue. God

now has made provision for us.

And you know God let sin into this

world. And it started in heaven, not on

the earth. But he got it out of his

presence. He got it out of his presence

up there and it come to earth, you know,

and and has infiltrated the human race.

And look at this world. I mean, is it

can it get any worse? And every time I

say that, it does.

You know, we're just on a we're just the

world is on the final spin.

And we got something great waiting on us

cuz we got a redeemer to come to earth.

We're not going to die with them. We're

going to die and go to heaven. There's

nothing between us and God now. We

worship him. We praise him. We pray to

him.

There's nothing between us and God now.

And you know what? God's guilty of

nothing.

Jesus told him, "What are you going to

convict me of? I'm sinless. Don't Don't

try to blame me."

And that's what we run into when we try

to blame God for sin or blame God for

anything. He's perfect. His ways are

perfect.

Everything he's ever done, everything he

ever will do is perfect. Who can lay

anything to the charge of God's elect?

No one.

And at the same time, we can say there's

what what good is there in sin? No.

Nothing. We saw what James said.

Nothing. Zero good comes out of sin.

And God has made a way for us. Uh turn

back to Psalm 78.

You know, these things should this, you

know, what God has done for us and is

doing for us should cause us to worship

and praise him. That's why we're here.

Psalm 78

and verse 29.

Psalm 78:29.

Psalms 78:29

So they did eat and they were they were

filled for he gave them their own

desire.

Let's say that about the unsaved. Man,

they're doing pretty good out here in

spite of all this. God's good to them.

It's not going to end well.

But the goodness of God

has been given to them. They go their

way. They do whatever they want to do.

They're responsible, not God. Oh,

they'll answer back to God. That's what

this book says. And all this is good.

I'm running out of time. It says in

verse 38, "But he being full of

compassion forgave their iniquity."

That's God. Come, he'll forgive your

iniquity. He He'll forgive your sin, but

you got to come to him on his ter.

And that's what we who study the Bible

and have the Bible, this is what we've

learned. Look at verse 42.

They remember Donna's hand. That's the

unsaved.

It's not good luck. There's no such

thing as luck.

But you know, God blesses them even.

And like I said, they're going to be

accountable.

They're going to be accountable for even

the blessings that God gave them. Why

didn't you come? You know, why didn't

you go? Why didn't you listen? And now

Psalm 106.

So, you know, this is the fourth.

I'm not going to go into it. We'll go

into it more next week. But, you know,

just for reference, this is the fourth

the fourth thing about this. The fourth

category of these decrees

is uh people are responsible for their

action. Every one of them.

And here in Psalm 106 and verse1 15.

And guess what? God does it, you know,

while we're living our life. You know,

we make we decide, right? We have a

little bit of room to decide. I mean, we

can't say, you know, I'll see you

tomorrow because we don't know what the

Lord's going to do. We have we have that

sovereignty and and that and that uh

providence over us, but we know God does

everything good for us,

you know, cuz cuz we're in Christ, but

not so with the, you know, these people

get pretty comfortable with everything

God gives them, you know, and then they

curse him all the way to their death.

That's sad.

But God knows what people are going to

do with his grace,

you know, before he gives it to them.

It's everywhere. And here in uh verse

15,

and he gave them their request and he

sent but he sent leanness to the soul.

Gave them what they wanted, but it

didn't go the way they thought.

So we see the sovereignty of God, the

providence of God is just in everything.

you know, and and every person and it's

like Paul told the uh the Athenians in

in Acts, you know what,

guys, the wrath of God is about to come

out of the heavens. Will you please get

on your knees and repent and believe?

But many don't.

And that brings us to uh the the

concurrence of God.

You know, we have that throughout the

Bible.

And you know, the only human being that

could do whatever he wanted to do was

Jesus.

Rest of us are creatures. You know, we

had to everything has to pass through

the sovereignty of God. Everything has

to pass through the providence of God.

So, we know whatever we get is from him.

And Job said, "The Lord gives, the Lord

takes away, and blessed be the name of

the Lord."

So, wherever we're at, um, as believers,

God is is with us. And in this, turn to

Genesis chapter 50.

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

We have a lot of examples in the Bible

of the concurrence of God.

Maybe you never heard that word before,

but it just means that you know God

God's he's he's he's unaffected by what

people are doing. He's unaffected by

sin. He's unaffected by uh the

consequences and the wages of it. And

he's even blessing those who are

ultimately going to die in it.

And here in in Genesis chapter 50,

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

you guys knew this one.

Read the book of Genesis and see what

all uh Joseph went through. It's

incredible.

Like, man, I don't want to be that guy.

I don't like being the elect. I don't

like being the chosen.

The world doesn't like me.

There's nothing they can do to us that

God can't overrule.

And if you don't do it now, he'll do it

later when we get to heaven. That's his

that's him. That's his that's who he is.

And here in verse 15, when Joseph's

brethren,

you some of us have had problems with

our families, but it's not new.

It's not new at all. Joseph went through

it. And it seems like,

you know, God's children, Jesus told us

we were. He say, he said, "You follow

me." It's not going to be a vacation,

but we follow. And then he's there for

us. That's the amazing thing. Now, we

can say, "Lord, can you help me with

this or help me with that? They they're

g, you know, they're going to do

something to me, Daniel. They're gonna

throw me in the fire."

And the Lord said, 'Don't worry, I'll be

there with you. You know, God can

control whether fire is hot or not.

God can decide if fire can consume a

bush or not.

God is in control of fire even.

And the lions,

no lion, don't don't eat

Daniel.

But here we see Joseph

And they sent a messenger, your father

did uh command before he died.

And so shall we say, Joseph,

uh forgive, I pray thee now, the

trespasses of your brethren. That's hard

to do.

But if you're a child of God, you can do

it. And God wants us to do it.

And we want to forgive everyone's

trespasses. We want to forgive them of

their sins. We don't want to hold that

against them. You know, they're they're

uh you know, yeah, they're responsible

for their choices and we want the best,

not the worst for them, but you know,

they're on their own. They're going to

answer for themselves.

And he says, "Forgive them the trespass

of their servants of God and of his of

your father." and Joseph, he wept when

they spoke to him. What a story. This is

one of the greatest stories in the

Bible. It's all about the concurrent the

concurrence of God. No matter what the

unsaved, the devil does to us, God is in

charge and they can't lay a finger on us

without his permission. That's how great

God is. Next week we're going to look at

an election and and the all these people

are gonna, you know, answer to God. You

know, he says so. So, let's rest in him

and let's pray.

Uh our Lord and our Savior Jesus, we

thank you for this uh opportunity to be

in your word

to learn these great things about you.

And we weren't there when you sent the

apostles after the cult

and they saw these things come to pass.

But someday we're going to be in heaven

with you. And you said, "I told you so."

And we're going to see our mansions that

you have made for us. And this is an

amazing thing that God can uh save

sinners and then reward them for their

service.

uh in spite of all this sin that we

carry around and that we fight. You're a

great God. You're a good God. You're a

loving God, a kind God, a merciful God

as Jonah found out. And we thank you for

that mercy in Jesus name. Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world.

As we go from this