Hidden Wisdom of God: Revealed

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:08.550 And let's give our attention to God's word. Yet among the mature we do 2 00:00:08.789 --> 00:00:14.429 in part wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of 3 00:00:14.470 --> 00:00:19.429 the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away, but we 4 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:24.899 impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the age. 5 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:28.739 Is For our glory. None of the rulers of the age understood this, 6 00:00:28.899 --> 00:00:33.060 for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. 7 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:52.200 Amen. You may be seated. So, as we consider last time, 8 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:59.320 Paul is speaking in a context in which his speaking is being challenged. I'm 9 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:02.079 he speaking in a context in which people are looking at him and saying, 10 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:08.069 what's so impressive about that guy? His knees shake, his hands tremble, 11 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:12.829 his speech is not that big of a deal. It's true. Is letters 12 00:01:12.870 --> 00:01:18.469 are weighty and there's some good at them, but we want somebody impressive to 13 00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:25.459 follow. Paul wasn't that man. Indeed, in many ways, the Gospel 14 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:30.980 that he declared wasn't meeting the standards of much of the world either. You 15 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:36.650 remember what he said earlier. He said that the Cross of Christ is folly 16 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:42.250 to the Greeks, a stumbling block to the Jews. They wanted something else. 17 00:01:42.329 --> 00:01:45.489 They wanted wisdom, as they saw it. They wanted signs of power, 18 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:52.000 as they saw it, and the gory body of Christ hanging on the 19 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:57.760 cross that we just sung about is not either of those things. As they 20 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:02.750 saw it, there were important people in the world in Jesus's Day and in 21 00:02:02.870 --> 00:02:08.189 Paul's Day as well, and in Corinth who were telling them that this wisdom 22 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:12.949 that you're speaking about, this gospel that you preach, doesn't look like wisdom. 23 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:17.620 It doesn't look like wisdom, looks like foolishness, it doesn't look like 24 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:23.379 power, it looks like weakness, that this mission that you're on as a 25 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:29.099 church to go and proclaim these things and the people that you are sending and 26 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:34.969 the people that you are gathering, none of it's very impressive. And maybe 27 00:02:35.129 --> 00:02:38.889 it's not just wisdom clothed in foolishness, but it is in fact foolishness and 28 00:02:39.009 --> 00:02:43.969 weakness. And so Paul takes a moment here in these verses that we read 29 00:02:44.009 --> 00:02:46.919 this morning, Second Corinthians or first Corinthians, to six through eight, to 30 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:52.719 get really clear with us about something. He wants us to understand that the 31 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:58.439 gospel of Jesus is not foolishness and it is not weakness. It is, 32 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:05.310 in fact, truly powerful and the very wisdom of God. That's what it 33 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:09.110 is, despite the way it often looks and despite the way it is often 34 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:15.340 attacked. In this passage, Jesus tells us, through his impossible that he 35 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:21.379 does indeed give wisdom, but it's of a certain kind. It's different than 36 00:03:21.419 --> 00:03:23.300 what we usually experience in this world. It's different, with the than what 37 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:30.009 the rulers of this age expect. Now, of course, the world thinks 38 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:34.810 that God's revelation is not wisdom, and you, I am sure, have 39 00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:38.169 experienced this. You know this. For those of you who have been Christians 40 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:44.439 for even a little bit, you know something about who Jesus is and what 41 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:46.439 he said and what he's done, and you also know that if you say 42 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:51.719 that, in certain places, people are going to at least ignore you, 43 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.669 maybe laugh at you. You might even get in trouble, at least in 44 00:03:55.750 --> 00:04:01.909 their eyes and in their hearts, if not even more specific consequences, and 45 00:04:02.069 --> 00:04:08.909 that hesitation that you feel about should I really say this here, a sense 46 00:04:08.990 --> 00:04:13.340 of a little bit of embarrassment, of is anybody really going to believe this? 47 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:18.259 That is that comes and that's based in this sense of the weakness of 48 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:24.490 the Gospel, the apparent arrant weakness of the Gospel. So I'm going to 49 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:30.930 tell this guy that this man was the son of God and he was crucified 50 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:35.329 on a cross and because of that, somehow my sins are forgiven. They're 51 00:04:35.370 --> 00:04:40.160 just not going to believe it. They're just not going to believe that. 52 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:43.160 In these are the things that we tell ourselves and honestly, it's often true. 53 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.720 People often don't believe it, they don't accept and hear those things. 54 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:49.279 Of course many do as well, but we understand. But we feel that 55 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:56.389 hesitation because we know how people perceive it, and some people are very explicit 56 00:04:56.430 --> 00:05:00.110 about this. They they go around and they make fun of Christians and they 57 00:05:00.110 --> 00:05:05.110 accuse Christians of not being team players, of not being part of the culture, 58 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:09.620 of not moving things forward, of not being a part of the moment 59 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:15.740 of history, but being tied with foolish myths and speculations and things like that. 60 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:23.209 The World Thinks that the Gospel, just centered in the cross of Christ, 61 00:05:23.449 --> 00:05:27.209 is foolishness, when Paul's proof for this, as he says, if 62 00:05:27.290 --> 00:05:33.370 they hadn't thoughts so they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory if they understood 63 00:05:33.370 --> 00:05:36.279 him to be the power of God, the wisdom of God, the Lord 64 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:42.079 of Glory. They would not have done this, and they did, because 65 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:46.480 that's the world that we live in now. Why do they think that? 66 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:50.949 I think it's helpful to meditate on this for a moment. Why does the 67 00:05:51.110 --> 00:05:58.509 world not think about the Cross of Christ as we do? Well, part 68 00:05:58.589 --> 00:06:03.579 of it is that Jesus does everything upside down. He says, lose your 69 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:10.300 life to gain your life. Think of others as more important than yourselves, 70 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:14.660 to use a line from a him. Let goods and kindred go this mortal 71 00:06:14.779 --> 00:06:20.850 life. Also, he spends time with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. 72 00:06:20.889 --> 00:06:29.649 He chooses unimportant people to do work that he considers important and great. The 73 00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:32.319 Gospel that we preach is that the son of God was sent into the world 74 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:38.240 by the father in order to save sinners from their sins through the death on 75 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:44.360 the cross, and this message is something that no other religion even comes close 76 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:48.550 to proclaiming. It's a message that neither rides high above the history of the 77 00:06:48.709 --> 00:06:56.589 world and some kind of spiritual abstraction or pithy sayings, nor is it tied 78 00:06:56.750 --> 00:07:00.589 to this world in something, in a way that human beings could accomplish it 79 00:07:00.829 --> 00:07:04.899 if they would just set their minds to it. Now, the Gospel that 80 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:11.699 we preach, that we proclaim that we hold to, is God above the 81 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:18.050 world, in the world, and that's a very humble thing. The Lord 82 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:25.449 of Glory being born in a manger is a humble thing. The Lord of 83 00:07:25.569 --> 00:07:30.399 Glory calling a tax collector to be one of his main disciples is a humble 84 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:34.920 thing. Dying on a cross is a humble thing. And even after his 85 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:40.240 resurrection from the dead, Jesus doesn't go around Zapping people with lasers. He 86 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:47.269 eats fish. That's breakfast with his disciples. These are humble things. Now, 87 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:51.629 we're not discounting here the healing of the paralytic, the healing the healing 88 00:07:51.709 --> 00:07:56.589 of the blind and other lame or the feeding of the five thousand, or 89 00:07:56.589 --> 00:08:00.579 the turning of the water into wine or walking on water or raising the dead. 90 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:05.220 We're not discounting any of that. Those things are full of much glory, 91 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:07.339 even as the Earth would, as this age would, perceive them. 92 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:11.889 We're just saying that those things were done by the son of God in human 93 00:08:13.009 --> 00:08:22.250 flesh who is frequently homeless and despised by anyone who was important. But the 94 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:26.759 thing that the world really doesn't like about this upside down nature of the Gospel 95 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:33.279 is that it turns them upside down. It's not that the logic of the 96 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:39.639 Gospel is ill logical or incoherent. Are you can't understand it. You can 97 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:46.070 understand it. It fits together, it makes sense. It's not confusing in 98 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:54.629 that sense. An average person of average mind or less than average mind can 99 00:08:54.779 --> 00:09:01.899 understand what the Bible says about the Gospel. That's not the problem. God 100 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:09.580 doesn't speak nonsense and people believe way stranger things than the things that the Bible 101 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:15.690 proclaims. The problem is that it's different, and the problem is is that 102 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:20.850 it undermines the values of this world, it's aspirations, it's notions of what's 103 00:09:20.889 --> 00:09:28.879 important and what's what's wisdom and what's powerful. It turns people's lives upside down 104 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:35.159 and that's what they're afraid of. Think about the rulers at Jesus time right. 105 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:39.029 They were afraid of what he was going to do. All these people 106 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:43.269 are following him. They didn't rejoice in that fact, as we might. 107 00:09:43.509 --> 00:09:48.350 They felt threatened by that fact because it threatened their way of life, it 108 00:09:48.509 --> 00:09:50.830 threatened what they thought was important, what they thought was valuable. They it 109 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:56.779 threatened their sense of importance and meaning in this world. Let me put it 110 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:03.899 this way. There's nothing like being told that the son of God, the 111 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:09.370 son of God, had to take on human flesh and die on a cross 112 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:13.529 in order to knock you off your high horse, that that's what it took, 113 00:10:15.809 --> 00:10:18.769 and that you have nothing to bring to God to earn his favor, 114 00:10:20.850 --> 00:10:24.559 that you only have your own righteousness and that if you stay in that unrighteousness, 115 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.919 you have nothing but death before you, and that the only way to 116 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:35.509 freedom is to accept this crucified Lord, to Deny Yourself, pick up your 117 00:10:35.549 --> 00:10:43.509 cross and follow him. What is left of human ambition after that? What's 118 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:48.269 left? What? What possible thing could you say? Well, I'll just 119 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:54.980 do this or do that, or we're left with nothing. If we look 120 00:10:56.019 --> 00:10:58.580 at the Cross of Christ and we see the Lord there as he truly is, 121 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:07.409 we are left with nothing to stand before God except our sins, or 122 00:11:07.450 --> 00:11:13.570 the forgiveness of our sins through this crucified one. So this is why so 123 00:11:13.769 --> 00:11:18.370 called important people of this world, the rulers of this age will tell you 124 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.399 that faith isn't power clothed in weakness, it's just weakness. They'll tell you 125 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.720 that the mission of the Church, the message of the Church, is not 126 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:33.230 wisdom clothed in foolishness, it's just foolishness, and that's because they're threatened by 127 00:11:33.269 --> 00:11:39.629 it, as they should be, as they should be. And so what 128 00:11:39.830 --> 00:11:45.509 Paul does in this passage is he is exposing the lie and revealing the truth. 129 00:11:46.549 --> 00:11:52.500 The Gospel is powerful, the Cross is true wisdom, and he tells 130 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:58.419 us this because we need to know it. This age and the rulers of 131 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:03.970 this age are doomed to pass away. If we tie our cart to that 132 00:12:05.210 --> 00:12:11.049 horse, we are doomed to pass away along with them. And even if 133 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:15.960 you don't think of yourself as a ruler of this age, which a very 134 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.559 high thing to say, I suppose, I imagine that most of us don't 135 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.399 say that kind of thing, but we are all tempted to believe the lies 136 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:28.840 that this age tells us. These accusations, in these lies, they are 137 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.990 temptations for us and we need to know the truth about the Bible. We 138 00:12:33.149 --> 00:12:37.549 need to know the truth about its power and its wisdom of the Gospel so 139 00:12:37.710 --> 00:12:43.190 that we can be courageous, bold and stand strong. As we've seen, 140 00:12:43.309 --> 00:12:48.139 the world lies to protect itself. It also lies because it doesn't want you 141 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:52.100 to follow Christ, it doesn't want you to serve Christ, and when you 142 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:54.940 don't, it will call you obstinate, ridiculous, not a team player, 143 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:01.250 disruptive, rebellious and worse, and in some serious cases, the world will 144 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:07.330 sometime times make you make a choice. They will tell you you either stop 145 00:13:07.529 --> 00:13:11.490 following Jesus, believing in Him, obeying him, worshiping him, telling others 146 00:13:11.529 --> 00:13:18.440 about him, or suffer the consequences. Lose the job, not marry the 147 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.519 girl, have disruptions in your family, go to prison, even die. 148 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:30.110 Whatever it is, there consequences. Think about Paul. Paul was esteemed, 149 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:33.110 Paul was doing very well in his circles. Paul had a certain measure of 150 00:13:33.190 --> 00:13:39.429 power, and now he's getting beaten wherever he goes. He faces all kinds 151 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:43.700 of dangers and here among his own church he's now getting any accolades. They're 152 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:50.659 all saying, why aren't you more like Apollos? He speaks nicer. But 153 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:56.370 we must not give up. We must be bold and go forward like David 154 00:13:56.490 --> 00:14:01.809 on the battlefield or esther over her people. We need to be ready to 155 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:05.970 put our lives on the line for the truth of the Lord, knowing that 156 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:11.080 it is powerful, that it is true wisdom, that the lies are the 157 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.440 lies. And that's not what we believe. And we do so because of 158 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:22.440 what Paul says here. He says that the wisdom of the world will pass 159 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:28.470 away, but not the wisdom of God. The world may call the God 160 00:14:28.789 --> 00:14:35.789 usbo foolishness, but beloved, it doesn't mean that that's true. Somebody can 161 00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:41.179 say I'm twenty feet tall, that doesn't make it true. And so we 162 00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:48.299 can't get rattled simply when people say stuff. We must stand firm in what 163 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:56.649 God says, in what God has revealed. So here's what's clear. That 164 00:14:56.850 --> 00:15:05.090 Jesus Christ and him crucified is the wisdom of God. Think about the world 165 00:15:05.169 --> 00:15:09.759 for a moment. It's all puffed up about itself, but is it really 166 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:16.759 delivering on its promises? Go to go to Bookman's and look at the Diet 167 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.029 self or the business shelf or the pick any shelf in there, and what 168 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:26.710 will you find? Fat after fat after fat, old books that were once 169 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:33.509 best sellers and everybody was talking about and now it's gone. But we're and 170 00:15:33.590 --> 00:15:35.539 in some ways they're the same thing over and over. The world keeps telling 171 00:15:35.580 --> 00:15:41.340 us the same things over and over and there's some truth to them sometimes, 172 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:48.899 but largely it's empty promises. The world wants to deliver utopia to us and 173 00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:58.169 it never comes. Generation after generation after generation it never comes. Everybody talks 174 00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:02.090 about how Babil the tower is going to be so great and then it falls 175 00:16:02.210 --> 00:16:08.960 down again. This world under the sun is this repeating cycle, over and 176 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:15.120 over and over, a vanity? We ought not to trust in it. 177 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:22.789 But consider that in contrast that with Jesus Christ. He comes into the world 178 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:27.190 to save sinners from their sin. He goes to the cross, he dies 179 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:34.899 and then he raises from the dead. He ascends, he is seen ascending 180 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:38.899 into the heavens, where he now sits at the right hand of God, 181 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:44.539 interceding for us, protecting us, keeping us, and then he sends this 182 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:48.970 message out into the world and millions of people of every tribe and tongue and 183 00:16:49.049 --> 00:16:57.289 nation come to believe him. He promises US eternal life and he has delivered 184 00:16:57.529 --> 00:17:04.839 on that promise. Think about the wisdom of God from the way that Paul 185 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:11.880 Talks about it here. He says, excuse me, he says not the 186 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.750 we impart the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the 187 00:17:18.950 --> 00:17:25.630 ages for our glory. Something has been and revealed that was planned for a 188 00:17:25.829 --> 00:17:30.819 long time, and there's wisdom in that. So first and considering the Cross 189 00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:33.660 of Christ. Just a moment ago I had you consider its power and its 190 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:40.500 effectiveness and I want you to consider it's planning, the the will of God 191 00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:47.170 and perfectly meshing all of these things together. Sometimes you and I will fall 192 00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:52.369 into the right decision, but it wasn't really because we planned it to be 193 00:17:52.569 --> 00:17:57.569 that way. True Wisdom, really excellent wisdom, however, is knowing the 194 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:03.559 means and the end and everything is perfectly matched up together. Think about a 195 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:11.039 skill, maybe something really simple, like hanging a curtain Rod. You know 196 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.990 exactly the tools you need, you have all your materials, you're not overspending, 197 00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:18.430 you're not underspending. You put it up, you drill the holes, 198 00:18:18.670 --> 00:18:23.150 you put it in, you hang the curtain on. It's beautiful. Now. 199 00:18:23.390 --> 00:18:29.019 I suppose some of you can do that. I cannot. I make 200 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:33.660 multiple trips to the hardware store. The thing is crooked, it ends up 201 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:37.180 falling down after, you know, a few months. This is not wisdom, 202 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:41.369 this is not well, the wise hanging of a curtain right now. 203 00:18:41.410 --> 00:18:45.849 You this is a silly example, but you can apply this to anything right, 204 00:18:45.130 --> 00:18:51.089 having all the resources perfectly matched, perfectly executed, all right there, 205 00:18:51.130 --> 00:18:52.730 in the right place, at the right time, for the right amount of 206 00:18:52.769 --> 00:18:56.720 mine at money, with the right amount of energy spent, involving the right 207 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:00.039 number of people, everything perfectly, and then it does its intended thing. 208 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:07.839 That's that's wisdom. Now I can't even get you know, a curtain Rod 209 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.869 Right. You have, I imagine your struggles and other departments as well. 210 00:19:14.230 --> 00:19:21.109 Now consider what God does with the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ. 211 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:26.980 We're fools struggle to do the right thing and pull it off in some way. 212 00:19:27.299 --> 00:19:33.579 Think about what God did. The scriptures say he planned this salvation of 213 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:41.210 his people. He planned this salvation of his people before the ages, before 214 00:19:41.410 --> 00:19:48.210 the ages, for our glory. He determined exactly how he would use each 215 00:19:48.369 --> 00:19:53.319 and every person individually in human history to accomplish that end. He overcomes every 216 00:19:53.400 --> 00:20:06.319 single obstacle, including death itself, using resources that don't even exist except for 217 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:11.150 his making them and he does it through both very ordinary and normal ways and 218 00:20:11.230 --> 00:20:18.789 totally unnormal or whatever that word is, and extraordinary ways, just to prove 219 00:20:18.990 --> 00:20:25.460 his wisdom, just so that we would look at the Cross and marvel at 220 00:20:25.579 --> 00:20:30.779 the wisdom of God, just stand back and marvel at it. So in 221 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:33.500 the world, you know, strets around and says that's not wisdom, we 222 00:20:33.539 --> 00:20:38.609 would just look at them and scoff. I don't know what you're talking about. 223 00:20:40.369 --> 00:20:45.970 The Lord plants this before the ages for my glory. Every birth, 224 00:20:47.089 --> 00:20:51.119 every king, every movement of every planet, every army, every angel, 225 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:56.480 led up to this moment, the moment of the crucifixion of his son, 226 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:04.750 in which the Lord of Glory was crucified for our salvation. This demonstrates to 227 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:11.549 us the real wisdom of God and it reveals to us the knowledge and his 228 00:21:11.710 --> 00:21:17.150 plan and his will for our salvation, a will that draws together all the 229 00:21:17.309 --> 00:21:22.579 events and the diversity of the world into a single, coherent and very true 230 00:21:22.700 --> 00:21:29.779 story, a story which he even then uses to change people's hearts, to 231 00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:36.170 lay aside their sin and cling to Jesus Christ, a miracle of miracles. 232 00:21:38.690 --> 00:21:44.490 Love of this world can't see past its own nose. Just pick up a 233 00:21:44.769 --> 00:21:49.079 newspaper, it's not that hard to recognize this. But in the gospel of 234 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:55.200 Jesus Christ, in the revelation of the wisdom of God give God gives to 235 00:21:55.279 --> 00:22:00.480 us a telescope to see far out into things that are not yet and a 236 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:06.829 microscope to see way down to the details of history, and he gives us 237 00:22:06.910 --> 00:22:11.309 meaning, not only an ability to see and understand the beginning in the end 238 00:22:11.349 --> 00:22:15.299 and how all the parts fit together, but he helps us to see how 239 00:22:15.460 --> 00:22:22.180 we fit into that, how all this was done for our glory, reflecting 240 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:27.420 and Lee and and and redounding back to his glory. He gives us meaning, 241 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:32.849 brothers as sisters. He gives us comfort for this life and the next. 242 00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:36.490 In his power and in his wisdom, he gives us hope because of 243 00:22:36.609 --> 00:22:40.769 these things, in the midst of grief and sin. He gives us strength 244 00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:45.759 for times of weakness and he allows us to stand strong when the world would 245 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:52.799 accuse us and the devil would try to foolish so put your faith not in 246 00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:57.279 the rulers of this age, because if you do, you'll be doomed right 247 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:03.150 along with them, but put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 248 00:23:03.309 --> 00:23:07.990 you will be glorified right along with him. Let's pray and ask that God 249 00:23:08.029 --> 00:23:10.269 would do these things among us