A God, with Us!
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Does man have free will? How does that coincide with God’s Providence? Are we consistent? Are we conflicted? CH: discussion over free will and how election appears to disqualify free will.
Intro
Intro
Consistently inconsistent
Churches are inconsistent
As people we are inconsistent
POLDARK: Decision to smuggle and risk jail
Speech - we talk as if we have done things and made decisions without God
conduct - We act as if we are our own king and follower of our own rules
Reminded of this inconsistency yesterday.
Four fold state of man:
before the fall - able to sin and not sin
after the fall - unable to not sin
after Christ - able to sin and not sin
Glorified - unable to sin
Free will: We have free will, to chose certain things
Not Salvation
Kelly: We have the choice to get up and choose our cereal every morning but not when, how or if we come to Christ.
God provides the drawing and provides the faith to believe in Jesus.
Stephen: preparing to challenge the leaders in the church with rejecting the same Gospel that was presented in OT and throughout history.
Drama
Drama
Understanding the OT helps us see man’s inconsistency, but more importantly God’s consistency.
Jospeh
Thrown into a pit and sold into slavery
How does understanding God’s providence help us live a consistent life as Christians?
Doctrine (Providence)
Doctrine (Providence)
God is with his people
He governs situations and circumstances
Both believers and unbelievers
Hardened Pharaohs heart
Softened
He chooses his people
Chose Jacob and rejected Esau
but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
Hardened Pharaohs heart
As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Rom 3
Softened
God works the same in OT as the NT
Providence of God is consistent throughout Scripture and the world
Illus: God who never changes has promised us his faithful presence.
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
Jesus reminds us:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
App: We must cling to the promise given us that God is with us . . .
God places his people where he wants them to be
Story of Joseph
Pharoah
Josephs’ Family - Jacob and 12 sons
Become Israel and God’s people promised to Abraham
Illus: Paul as an instrument of God
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
God tells Ananias to go and meet with Saul because he will be an instrument of God
App: God places us where he desires for the work of his kingdom.
Where are you in life and how is God using you? How are you ministering to fellow believers? How are you engaged with kingdom building?
God uses his people for his glory
The building of a church
The spreading of the Gospel
Redeeming people = glorifying Him
The best way to glorify God is by being an instrument of salvation
God limits man’s involvement
Jacob died
This places the emphasis on God’s Work
Illus: Joseph as a type of Christ who was rejected by man
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Doxology
Doxology
We need to recognize our complete inconsistency
We need to place our faith in God’s consistency
reassures us of God’s fulfilled promises in Christ
Live in the grace
Reminds us of God’s involvement in the life of his people
Be in God’s word and be reminded of his consistency - His providence
The importance for the OT in the life of the unbeliever
One cannot understand the gospel without knowing the OT
The gospel makes no sense without knowing the law and our sin
Conclusion
Conclusion
Stephen uses Joseph and his history to show that God has been with his people and that the high priests are now rejecting the God whom their fathers trusted and believed
How many of us are guilty of not trusting in God’s providence?
The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition Chapter V. of Providence
GOD, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,b from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge,e and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.g
Illus: Rob Roy McGregor - what do you thirst for?
Left to ourselves we would thirst for many things?
But, because of God’s grace we can live in that grace and actually thirst for righteousness.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Once we recognize our inconsistency we an then fall on our knees and thank God for his consistency.
He stablished a covenant to save his people
He has done so by working faith in you
Let us thirst for righteousness and trust in the providence of God as we live this life as people of God. Let us faithfully walk knowing it isn’t up to me, but it is the Father, the Son, and HS who will use me for his Kingdom no matter the circumstances I have gotten myself into.
Let us live in his grace and mercy.
