Episode Transcript
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Let's turn to Aphesians chapter one.
Knew and hear God's Word From this letter
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the Apostle Paul. Phesians chapter one
versus three through fourteen. Blessed be the
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God and father of our Lord,
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
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Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, even as he chose us
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in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be wholly and
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blameless before him. In love,
he predestined us for adoption as sons through
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Jesus Christ, according to the purpose
of his will, to the praise of
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his glorious grace with which he has
blessed us in the beloved. In Him,
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we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
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to the riches of His grace which
he lavished upon us in all wisdom and
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insight, making known to us the
mystery of his will, according to his
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purpose, which he set forth in
Christ as a plan for the fullness of
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time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
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In Him, we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined according to
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the purpose of him who works all
things according to the counsel of his will,
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so that we, who were the
first to hope in Christ, might
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be, to the praise of his
glory, in him, you also,
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when you heard the word of truth, the God Hospital of your salvation and
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believed in him. We're sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, who is the
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guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire
possession of it, to the praise of
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his glory. Amen, please be
seated. One of the things that we
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come to understand, I don't see
how we could come to any other understanding,
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is that our salvation is one hundred
percent completely found in Christ and in
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Christ alone. This passage is so
clear on this point. In Him,
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in him, in him, in
him, all the way through. Well,
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blessed be the God and father of
our Lord, Jesus Christ, who
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has blessed us in Christ. And
it just keeps falling out from there.
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This passage is all about setting before
our eyes, before our minds, before
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our hearts, the greatness of God
in saving us. It's a way for
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us to understand who we are as
a people, as a church, as
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individual Christians, and it's really important
because it affects everything in our lives.
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We don't always go to the most
fundamental and foundational things of existence. Right
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when you're going to the grocery store
to grab some serial early in the morning
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or when you are, I don't
know, mowing that we don't have laws
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here. Huh, watering the rocks, whatever it is you're doing, you're
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you not often thinking about, or
maybe some of you aren't thinking about,
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the great metaphysical realities of the world, but the fact is we're nevertheless always
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relying on them. They are the
foundational things. Why are we here?
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What is happening? What are we
doing? How are all these things falling
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out? Even that language of falling
out is a way that we're trying to
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express how things happen. Right,
some things seem very orderly. Right you
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can look up at the stars in
the sky, you can study music or
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how plants grow, and you can
you can see how orderly they are,
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in fact so orderly that you can
predict certain things about them, anticipate things.
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And then other things feel very,
very random, very unpredictable. The
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wind is a good example of that. Why this leaf falls off the tree
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and not that leaf, for this
hair and not that hair? These kinds
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of things seemed by chance. Jesus
even uses this language, I believe,
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in the parable the Good Samaritan,
when he says by chance somebody was going
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along the road. There's this way
in which we perceive things as this,
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kind of in a way that is
unpredictable. Our lives are unpredictable and feel
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a bit random, and indeed they
are from our perspective. But what's going
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on behind the scenes? Right?
This is the question that is fundamental to
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who we are, of everything that
we do, and especially is true when
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we think about the most essential questions, not just why did that leaf fall
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on or that one, but why
am I saved? How is it that
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I know God? How can I
know him? How can I know of
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these things? Well, what Paul
does here is he glorifies God, and
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it's a great model for us to
follow, for us to glorify him in
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the same ways and for the same
reasons indeed, because it's not just Paul
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Glorifying God, but God using his
servant to glorify himself. This is wonderful
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to meditate on. I'm thinking in
particular verses eleven and twelve. This evening
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I'll read them to you again in
him, that is, in Christ,
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we have obtained an inheritance, or
it could be translated we have been appointed
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for a something, having been predestined
according to the purpose of him who works
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all things, things according to the
counsel of his will, so that we,
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who were the first to hope in
Christ, might be to the praise
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of his glory. Now Paul is
talking about a very particular select group of
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people, namely we who were first
to hope in Christ. He's talking about
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he's time out Jews like him,
people that have heard the message about the
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Messiah, a promised and now delivered
and is now and they are now believing
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on him, trusting in him.
Now that message that has come to this
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small group of of Jews will go
out into the world and even came to
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the Ephesians, as he will go
on to say. He says in him,
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verse thirteen, in Him, you
also, when you heard the word
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of truth, the gospel of your
salvation and believed in him, were sealed
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with the promised Holy Spirit. So
there's a distinction, right, he says
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there's a distinction between the Gospel that
first came to US Jews and the Gospel
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that went out to you gentiles.
However, there's a unity there. It's
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the same salvation, the same faith, the same Holy Spirit. We,
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who first heard in him, who
were first to hope in Christ, were
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so not for our own pride but
to the praise of his glory. And
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the same thing for you, as
he uses that same phrase at the end
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of verse fourteen, in you to
to the praise of his glory. God
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does these things in us. But
again, going back to the beginning,
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why? What is the reason for
all of this? Now, when people
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think about the reason behind things,
they give various answers. Right, fate
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is one, luck is another,
a chance, a random chance or some
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kind of mechanical imagery, is another. Sometimes, if it's not a blind
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faith or a power or luck or
something like that, the the things of
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this world are ascribed to a person, a God. And if it's a
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God, well then you have to
answer this questionable. Which God is it?
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The God of the Bible, Father, son and Holy Spirit, all
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who are mentioned here in this passage? Blessed be the God of our father
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and our Lord, Jesus Christ.
In Him we were saved and we were
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received the promised Holy Spirit. Is
it this God that is in control of
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everything, as Paul says, or
is it Zeus or artemis or or goddess
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named to k? To K can
be translated luck or fortune. There are
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a lot of Greek ascript inscriptions that
we read in Ephesus, more various business
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transactions and things happen in these these
relationships and these things that were done,
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we're often dedicated to to K in
dedication to the goddess luck. We call
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her lady luck. Right in the
dedication to luck, we are doing such
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and such a thing, or such
and such a person is honored, that
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kind of thing. It was important
part of their society, just as it
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is ours. It's in our language, this language of luck, of chance,
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of fate. In fact, at
the end of Ephesians we read about
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a man named Tikkus, tic Acus, the beloved brother. This is in
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six twenty one, the beloved brother
and Faithful Minister in the Lord will tell
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you everything, tick a kisses lucky. That's his name. Lucky will tell
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you, or fortunate will tell you. That's that's what tikkus means. It
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means lucky. He's named after this
Goddess Eutachus in Acts Chapter Twenty, who
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falls out of the window. He's
named good luck, like the good news,
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the the AU on Gillion, right, the Gospel. Here it's you,
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Tickius, right, you to K
good luck. He's named good luck.
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You name your children after her?
Right, you name your children after
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her. Are you write documents in
her name? You, she's a part
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of our society, right, because
she's important. At least she was to
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the Ephesians and I think still still
today. Now, a lot of times
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we use good luck and phrases like
that merely as a way to say I
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wish good things for you or I
desire good things for you. But it's
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not always as innocuous as that,
is it? Sometimes we really truly are
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relying on something other than God to
provide things for us. That the ways
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in which we think about these things
are also helpfully seen in even when we
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think of something beyond just a luck
or fate. Zeus, for example.
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You can see the contrast between God
of the Bible here Zeus, and I
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believe it's in the Iliad, when
hector of Troy is killed by Achilles,
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Zeus, who is called the father
of all Gods and men, ends up
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saying, after Hector is of destroyed
by Achilles. He says it was sealed
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by the faiths. He's sort of
sorrowful, like what could I do right?
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I want you to have that in
your mind. I'm telling you that
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because notice the contrast between Zeus,
who's supposedly the father of all gods and
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men, who's supposedly all powerful,
and yet is mourning at sort of something
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that happened, feeling frustrated, as
though there's nothing he can do. Compare
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that to the the god of the
Ephesian Christians. In Him we have obtained
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an inheritance, having been predestined according
to the purpose of the fates, know,
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according to the purpose of him who
works all things according to the council
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of his will. There's actually lots
of different words here used for will.
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It's emphasizing, Paul's emphasizing again and
again and again, that God does what
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he wants to do. It's according
to his purpose, according to the Council
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of his will. If you want
to get something done in your life,
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it's probably not that easy. Right, if you want to have a business
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that sells widget x, right,
you need to come up with a get
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the right people on your team and
you need to come up with a business
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proposal and various manufacturing process season.
You might have the greatest plan, but
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does that mean it will be executed
by your employees, by your manufacturers,
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by your delivers? Now there's all
kinds of things that can frustrate that process
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and and make it difficult. Now
compare that, on that human way in
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which we desire to have our plans
accomplished, to the sovereign power of God,
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who predestines us according to his purpose, who works all things according to
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the counsel of his will. There's
no problem for God, there's no obstacle.
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That's why Jesu this can say,
as we read earlier, the gates
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of hell will not prevail against the
church. Nothing can stop it, nothing
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can stop him. This is an
important question. Who controls the world,
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the events in our lives? Is
it random? Do Things Happen by chance?
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Are they predetermined? And if they're
predetermined, are they predetermined by a
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Godlike Zeus, who rings his hands
when he gets stuck by the faiths?
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Or is it pretty predetermined by God? Who Does the determining, does the
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planning and does the acting? Want
to take you to a important example of
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this in the book of Daniel this
is Daniel. Chapter Four. I want
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you to see how this plays out
in the life of people, of this
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king, in particular, Nobuchadnezzar,
this great King of Babylon, has Daniel
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in his power. He's his servant. He has this terrible dream, which
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does disturbs him. He calls a
magicians and people can't interpret. Eventually Daniel
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comes and Dany says, you don't
want me to interpret this, and Nebuchad
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as it says he yes, I
do, and then Daniel says okay,
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and then he interprets the dream.
Then the this thing that he dreams not
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by accident, right, a vision
that's given to him by God and interpretation
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that's given him by God. All
things about things in the future then fall
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out, of course, according to
God's plan. So in Verse Twenty Eight
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of Chapter Four we read this.
All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the
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end of twelve months. He was
walking on the roof of the Royal Palace
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of Babylon, and the king answered
and said, is not this great Babylon,
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which I have built by my mighty
power as a royal residence and for
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the glory of My Majesty right.
I like I'm always struck by that.
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Him on the roof right. He's
not sort of sitting somewhere in the palace,
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he's out on the roof right,
looking at it all. He's got
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some perspective on this. He thinks
and he looks out on this great kingdom
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and he says, man, I've
done a good job, I am so
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proud of myself. And it's more
than that. It's more than priding himself,
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he says, which I have built
with my mighty power as a royal
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residence and for the glory of My
Majesty. He's almost and maybe not even
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almost. I'd have to look into
this more, but it seems to me
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anyway that he's using temple language here, the kind of language that would typically
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belong to a God where his glory
is housed in this space. This is
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the way that Nebuchadnezzar's talking. Well
then, verse thirty one, while the
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words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from Heaven,
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Oh King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it
is spoken. The Kingdom has departed from
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you and you shall be driven from
among men and your dwelling shall be with
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the beasts of the field. God's
going to humble him, and you shall
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be made to eat like a eat
grass like an ox, and seven periods
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of time shall pass over you until
you know the most high, or,
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sorry, you until you know that
the most high rules the Kingdom of men
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and gives it to whom he will. Immediately. The word was fulfilled against
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Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among
men and ate grass like an ox,
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and his body was wet with the
dew of heaven till his hair grew as
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long as eagles feathers and his nails
were like birds clause. At the end
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of the days, I nebuchadnezzar.
He's reporting this here now. Lifted my
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eyes to heaven and my reason return
to me, and I blessed the most
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high and praised and honored him,
who lives forever, for his dominion is
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from is an everlasting dominion and his
kingdom endures from generation to generation. All
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the inhabitants of the earth are accounted
as nothing, and he does according to
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his will among the host of Heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth,
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and no one can stay his hand
or say to him, what have you
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done then, verse thirty seven.
Now I nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and
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honor the King of Heaven, for
all his works are right and his ways
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are just, and those who walk
in pride he is able to humble.
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Nebuchadnezzar gets it now. He can't
stand on his roof and say, look
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at all I have done, I've
created for a house, for the my
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majesty to think of himself as a
God, as in control of everything,
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is powerful over everything. And you
know, you could think, well,
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of course he thought this way,
he was a king. All kings things
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think this way, and indeed that
if you read proverbs, they often remind
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us that with power and authority and
wealth often comes this danger of pride.
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I'm yet, at the same time, I think it's fair to say that
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each of us have our own little
domains and, no matter how small they
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are, no matter how tiny and
insignificant they may be, we also stand
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on our rooftop, so to speak, and and and proclaim the glory of
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Our Name. So when we're thinking
about to whom does praise belong, we
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have to think about this. What's
controlling things. Who is controlling things?
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Why are things the way that we
are? And one of the ways we
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struggle is we think that they are
because of us. And a passage like
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Daniel, for a passage like Jonah
that we looked at this morning, a
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passage like this, in effusions all
of them, and throughout the Scriptures,
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God humbles us, as I like
to say, pulls the rug out on
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our self righteousness and leaves us a
little wobbly for a little bit, sometimes
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more than a little bit, until
we learn this lesson, that we cannot
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pride ourselves in our salvation, but
in him and in him alone. It's
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his kingdom that's being built, not
ours. There's another application of this which
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all close with. It's not just
when we're strong that we need to remember
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who God is and that all things
happen according to the counsel of his will
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and the power of his decisions and
his plan, but it's when we're weak
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too, when we're weak too,
it's often tempting to say, well,
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this is just my lat in life, this is just how things are going
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to be. I guess this is
how things are to be discouraged, to
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lose hope and forget that God has
said you are my child, if we
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are born of him, James says
you, you don't receive because you don't
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ask. In our weakness, we
forget to go to the one who is
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supreme in all things and instead we
we think about luck or faith or chance
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or some power or ourselves. If
only I could get myself out of this.
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I can't get myself out of this, but if only I could,
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but I can't, and on and
on, weak circle. Meanwhile, the
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scriptures declare to us that in God
we have salvation, that he is truly
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powerful. There's so many ways in
which the scriptures prove this to us,
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and I hope it's not even something
that needs to be proved. But if
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you think about the comparisons between let's
say Zeus or Artemis or to K or
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faith or luck and God, even
the descriptions that the people who serve those
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gods give don't compare to this descriptions
that we have of God in the Bible.
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Even homer himself admits that Zeus has
his struggles. Right, the Bible
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never speaks this way of God.
Instead, it records his deeds throughout history,
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of false God after false God being
put up as a challenge to him
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and failing of army after army,
depending on their strength and their power,
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of great kings like Nebuchadnezzar standing up
and declaring their majesty and over and over
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and again, humbled, humbled,
humbled, destroyed humbled. God proves this
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again and again and again. Now
the world is particularly inclined to disbelieve this
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when they see Jesus hanging on the
Cross and they say, where is your
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power now? Oh, call down
if you're a great king, they said
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to Jesus, why don't you call
down the angels and Save you? Where
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is your power? Where is your
strength? No, we have you now.
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But of course they didn't have him. Jesus rose from the dead exactly
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as he had planned to do,
from all eternity. He didn't react to
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a bad situation. He went to
the cross willingly, silently, the scriptures
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say. Jesus wasn't rushing around and
trying to figure out, what can I
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do to get out of this situation? Maybe you should go talk to the
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scribes and Pharisees. I'll talk to
this guy or not. None of that.
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There's no political maneuvering. That's what
they were doing. They're sort of
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pulling together false witnesses and trying to
find the best way to pay off Judas
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and this and that. Instead,
Jesus, through the whole thing, is
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obviously in control and he goes to
the Cross and control and when he rises
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from the dead, he rises in
control, with power and authority and with
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my declaring literal victory over death.
That's our king, and that's why the
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scriptures say that we who die in
him also live in him and that we
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are blessed when we are blessed in
Christ, because we are blessed in the
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God of the universe who controls the
stars and the seas and kings and us
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in him. Not In fate,
not in chance, not in luck,
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not in our ideas or our wishes
or some God here or some here,
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but in Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
who is the son of the Living God.
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In Him we have obtained something special, and so we aren't prideful people.
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We are a humble people, a
servant people, but at the same
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time a glorious people. We experiencing
a lot of heat this time of year.
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Just like the sun beats down on
the walls and warms them up and
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then causes them to radiate this heat. At the end of the day,
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God does the same thing in us. He shines his glory on us,
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he brings the radiance of the light
of the glory of God into our lives
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in Christ and he warms us up
and then we radiate that glory now and
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for all eternity. And that's why
is a happy, warm wall. We
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can be happy and pleased and praise
God, but ultimately it's not our glory,
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but it's his. Praise be to
God. Let's pray
