1 00:00:00,667 --> 00:00:05,708 [singing and clapping] 2 00:00:05,792 --> 00:00:10,292 Over the last 10 years I've been to Ethiopia, now 9 times. 3 00:00:10,333 --> 00:00:14,292 And it's just amazing to see Africa 4 00:00:14,333 --> 00:00:17,208 and the continent of Africa and the people of Africa 5 00:00:17,292 --> 00:00:19,500 and what Jesus is doing there. 6 00:00:19,583 --> 00:00:21,208 I just think that you just see 7 00:00:21,292 --> 00:00:28,125 a beautiful explosion of the love of Jesus, what he's doing there. 8 00:00:28,167 --> 00:00:31,125 To me, you can see it very clearly. 9 00:00:31,167 --> 00:00:32,708 Many times it just feels 10 00:00:32,792 --> 00:00:37,667 like we're serving the Ethiopian church. 11 00:00:37,750 --> 00:00:39,667 Actually I think it's just the opposite. 12 00:00:39,750 --> 00:00:44,000 I think that we will learn and we will grow more as a church 13 00:00:44,083 --> 00:00:47,667 by serving and loving on brothers and sisters. 14 00:00:47,750 --> 00:00:49,833 Jesus is building his church; 15 00:00:49,875 --> 00:00:54,125 he's absolutely building his church and we get to be a part of it. 16 00:00:54,167 --> 00:00:58,417 I think there's an opportunity to plant 1,000 churches in Ethiopia 17 00:00:58,500 --> 00:01:00,792 and 1,000 churches in India 18 00:01:00,833 --> 00:01:04,500 that we can directly be a part of over these next 15 years 19 00:01:04,542 --> 00:01:07,917 and to me that's just staggering to even pray about. 20 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:09,500 We're a family. 21 00:01:09,583 --> 00:01:12,500 Mars Hill Global is a family of people 22 00:01:12,542 --> 00:01:18,208 that are globally planting churches and making disciples 23 00:01:18,292 --> 00:01:22,125 and just a great opportunity for everyone around the world 24 00:01:22,167 --> 00:01:26,708 to be a part of what Jesus is doing through Mars Hill Church. 25 00:01:26,792 --> 00:01:28,083 Honestly, I don't know 26 00:01:28,167 --> 00:01:31,000 what Jesus is going to end up doing through Mars Hill Global, 27 00:01:31,083 --> 00:01:33,583 but I'm really excited to find out. 28 00:01:34,083 --> 00:01:41,500 [people singing] 29 00:01:43,958 --> 00:01:45,292 Howdy, Mars Hill. 30 00:01:45,333 --> 00:01:48,000 Pastor Mark here, really excited because I get to introduce you 31 00:01:48,042 --> 00:01:50,292 to a friend of mine, Dr. Bruce Ware, 32 00:01:50,333 --> 00:01:53,083 preaching at Mars Hill Church on whatever the Holy Spirit 33 00:01:53,167 --> 00:01:55,042 has laid on his heart. 34 00:01:55,125 --> 00:01:57,875 I've known him for many years, learned a ton from him. 35 00:01:57,958 --> 00:01:59,792 He actually has his master's degree 36 00:01:59,833 --> 00:02:01,500 from the University of Washington, 37 00:02:01,583 --> 00:02:04,333 in addition to a PhD in theology. 38 00:02:04,417 --> 00:02:08,042 And also a few of his relatives are members at various local 39 00:02:08,125 --> 00:02:11,417 Mars Hill churches, so he's come and taught for us before. 40 00:02:11,500 --> 00:02:12,833 We always love him. 41 00:02:12,917 --> 00:02:15,667 He's one of the best ReTrain profs we've ever had, 42 00:02:15,708 --> 00:02:18,542 and he's coming back to preach for another Sunday, 43 00:02:18,625 --> 00:02:22,042 as he's done this before, and I know you're going to love him. 44 00:02:22,125 --> 00:02:23,458 So, come, open your ears, 45 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:27,000 and see what he has to say to you. 46 00:02:34,708 --> 00:02:36,667 Well, good morning, Mars Hill. 47 00:02:36,708 --> 00:02:39,167 It's great to be with you and a real privilege. 48 00:02:39,208 --> 00:02:43,333 You know, from a distance, I've been watching this miracle, 49 00:02:43,375 --> 00:02:46,000 really, of what's taken place through the ministry of 50 00:02:46,042 --> 00:02:48,875 Mark Driscoll and those who are connected with him. 51 00:02:48,958 --> 00:02:51,750 And just marvel at the way in which God has blessed 52 00:02:51,833 --> 00:02:55,083 this movement as churches are growing, 53 00:02:55,167 --> 00:02:57,667 and churches are being planted, and other locations 54 00:02:57,708 --> 00:02:59,542 are spreading as well. 55 00:02:59,625 --> 00:03:02,167 And just want you to know that from Louisville, Kentucky, 56 00:03:02,208 --> 00:03:04,917 you have a friend, you know, that really does support you, 57 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,167 and love what's happening, rejoice with you 58 00:03:07,208 --> 00:03:09,833 at the very evident ways that God is at work, 59 00:03:09,917 --> 00:03:12,500 and so glad you're here at a place where you're taught 60 00:03:12,583 --> 00:03:14,958 regularly from the word of God and can grow. 61 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000 You know, people coming to faith in Christ and growing in Christ-- 62 00:03:18,083 --> 00:03:19,750 that's what it's all about, 63 00:03:19,833 --> 00:03:22,042 and we're grateful that Mars Hill is doing that, 64 00:03:22,125 --> 00:03:23,958 helping out in Seattle. 65 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,917 So, it's a pleasure to be with you, 66 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,333 and this morning it is really a delight to be able to unpack 67 00:03:29,375 --> 00:03:32,250 for you, and for my own heart as well, 68 00:03:32,333 --> 00:03:36,167 but unpack some truths about the greatness of the glory of God, 69 00:03:36,208 --> 00:03:38,833 that he really is the one who deserves 70 00:03:38,917 --> 00:03:41,458 ultimate praise and glory. 71 00:03:41,500 --> 00:03:43,875 Now, there's a sense in which we do honor others. 72 00:03:43,958 --> 00:03:47,500 We honor and even, in a sense, you might say we give glory 73 00:03:47,542 --> 00:03:49,667 to others in some sense. 74 00:03:49,708 --> 00:03:52,667 For example, as I just did with Mark Driscoll. I honor him, 75 00:03:52,750 --> 00:03:55,000 you know, in the work that he has done. 76 00:03:55,042 --> 00:03:57,750 But there's a sense in which that kind of honor pales 77 00:03:57,833 --> 00:04:02,833 in comparison to the absolute and ultimate honor and praise 78 00:04:02,917 --> 00:04:05,500 and glory that ought to go to God, 79 00:04:05,583 --> 00:04:08,750 that he ought to be the one who receives ultimate glory. 80 00:04:08,833 --> 00:04:11,833 And really, my sermon is to unpack some of the reasons why 81 00:04:11,875 --> 00:04:13,667 that is the case this morning. 82 00:04:13,708 --> 00:04:16,667 But I just--I'm aware of the fact, as we go into this, 83 00:04:16,708 --> 00:04:19,500 that it's very different from the culture in which we live. 84 00:04:19,583 --> 00:04:22,708 The culture in which we live is one in which we are encouraged 85 00:04:22,792 --> 00:04:26,333 to make much of us. But as you look at the Bible, 86 00:04:26,417 --> 00:04:29,625 there really is no encouragement to make much of us, 87 00:04:29,667 --> 00:04:32,250 but there is regular encouragement from beginning 88 00:04:32,333 --> 00:04:35,708 to end of the Bible to make much of God. 89 00:04:35,792 --> 00:04:37,167 And you know, there is 90 00:04:37,208 --> 00:04:41,042 an amazing, delicious, beautiful, glorious irony 91 00:04:41,125 --> 00:04:45,167 in this, in that if we live our lives with an endeavor 92 00:04:45,208 --> 00:04:47,292 to make much of us-- 93 00:04:47,333 --> 00:04:50,292 so we try to build up the abilities we have 94 00:04:50,333 --> 00:04:52,167 and the capabilities and the qualities 95 00:04:52,250 --> 00:04:53,875 and so on that we have-- 96 00:04:53,958 --> 00:04:56,083 we'll find it's pretty empty in the end, 97 00:04:56,167 --> 00:04:59,000 that it doesn't lead to true satisfaction and fulfillment 98 00:04:59,042 --> 00:05:00,500 as human beings. 99 00:05:00,583 --> 00:05:05,333 But, in contrast to that, if we learn to make much of God 100 00:05:05,375 --> 00:05:08,250 and are connected to him through Christ, 101 00:05:08,333 --> 00:05:11,917 we realize then that the one who has everything 102 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,208 fully in his own life, 103 00:05:14,292 --> 00:05:17,167 we're connected to through Christ so that he provides 104 00:05:17,208 --> 00:05:21,958 for us what we lack that he has in infinite abundance. 105 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,333 We then enter into--through making much of God-- 106 00:05:25,417 --> 00:05:29,042 we enter into a life of true human fulfillment, 107 00:05:29,125 --> 00:05:32,958 true satisfaction through knowing who God is. 108 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,750 So, I invite you this morning-- will you join me in endeavoring 109 00:05:36,833 --> 00:05:40,833 to make much of God as we look at the Scriptures together? 110 00:05:40,917 --> 00:05:42,625 You ready for that? 111 00:05:42,667 --> 00:05:45,333 Amen, OK, well, let's do that together. 112 00:05:45,417 --> 00:05:48,000 It's very clear, as one looks through the Bible, 113 00:05:48,042 --> 00:05:50,083 that one of the clearest, most forthright, 114 00:05:50,167 --> 00:05:53,583 most prominent themes in all of the Scriptures is this, 115 00:05:53,667 --> 00:05:56,833 that there is one and only one God. 116 00:05:56,917 --> 00:05:58,792 We are monotheists. 117 00:05:58,833 --> 00:06:02,333 We believe that there is only one God and that God 118 00:06:02,417 --> 00:06:06,708 is exclusively God-- there is no other God than he-- 119 00:06:06,792 --> 00:06:09,625 and that God is incomparably God-- 120 00:06:09,667 --> 00:06:12,750 "There is no one like me," declares the Lord. 121 00:06:12,833 --> 00:06:15,500 We find these statements repeated in the Scriptures. 122 00:06:15,583 --> 00:06:18,708 And let me just run through some of them with you to indicate 123 00:06:18,792 --> 00:06:20,250 the godness of God. 124 00:06:20,333 --> 00:06:23,333 There is no one like him; he is incomparable deity. 125 00:06:23,375 --> 00:06:27,167 And there is no other God; he is exclusive deity. 126 00:06:27,208 --> 00:06:30,542 Follow along on the screen and look at some of these passages 127 00:06:30,625 --> 00:06:33,667 that display this truth about God. 128 00:06:33,708 --> 00:06:36,375 Exodus 8:10, Moses says to Pharaoh, 129 00:11:25,500 --> 00:11:27,833 My, isn't it clear that the God of the Bible 130 00:11:27,917 --> 00:11:29,792 wants us to know he alone is God 131 00:11:29,833 --> 00:11:32,667 and there is no one that is like him? 132 00:11:32,750 --> 00:11:37,167 He alone is deserving of ultimate praise and honor 133 00:11:37,250 --> 00:11:38,833 and glory. 134 00:11:38,917 --> 00:11:40,542 Now why, why is that the case? 135 00:11:40,625 --> 00:11:42,750 Really, this message is to answer that question. 136 00:11:42,833 --> 00:11:46,667 Why should we be a people who wants with all of our hearts 137 00:11:46,750 --> 00:11:50,583 to give to God the glory that alone belongs to him? 138 00:11:50,667 --> 00:11:53,167 And there are many answers in the Bible, 139 00:11:53,250 --> 00:11:57,000 but I've picked what I think are three very central reasons for 140 00:11:57,042 --> 00:11:59,667 understanding the greatness of the glory of God-- 141 00:11:59,750 --> 00:12:04,042 the exclusivity, as it were, of his glory that far surpasses 142 00:12:04,125 --> 00:12:07,667 any glory we would give to anything else or anyone else. 143 00:12:07,708 --> 00:12:10,458 Three reasons in particular the Bible upholds. 144 00:12:10,500 --> 00:12:14,917 The first one is this: that God is exclusively God 145 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,458 and incomparably God who deserves ultimate glory because 146 00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:23,333 he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. 147 00:12:23,375 --> 00:12:26,542 He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. 148 00:12:26,625 --> 00:12:29,333 Look with me if you would please at Isaiah 40. 149 00:12:29,375 --> 00:12:31,667 You can look on the screen and follow there, 150 00:12:31,708 --> 00:12:33,750 and I'm just gonna read a short passage, 151 00:12:33,833 --> 00:12:35,833 verses 21-26 of Isaiah 40, 152 00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:50,167 My, what an amazing passage that highlights the supremacy of God 153 00:13:50,250 --> 00:13:53,667 and puts an emphasis here on God as Creator. 154 00:13:53,750 --> 00:13:56,958 Now, there are two things I want us to see in relation to 155 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,750 God as Creator that helps us understand why he alone deserves 156 00:14:00,833 --> 00:14:03,833 ultimate praise and honor and glory. 157 00:14:03,875 --> 00:14:06,750 And the first one is this: is that God, as Creator, 158 00:14:06,833 --> 00:14:10,625 then is independent of everything that he has made, 159 00:14:10,667 --> 00:14:12,750 while we, the creatures, 160 00:14:12,833 --> 00:14:15,542 are dependent upon him for everything. 161 00:14:15,625 --> 00:14:17,042 So, let me say that again: 162 00:14:17,125 --> 00:14:21,042 God, as Creator, is independent of all that he has made, 163 00:14:21,125 --> 00:14:22,958 whereas we, his creatures, 164 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,958 are dependent upon him for everything. 165 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,958 Let's take those two parts of that statement one at a time. 166 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,458 First of all, God's independence from all that he has made. 167 00:14:32,500 --> 00:14:36,458 It's so very clear, because God is eternal and existed prior to 168 00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:39,958 the universe, that the universe is not necessary for God 169 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,917 to be God. 170 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,458 He was God just fine, thank you, without a universe. 171 00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:48,667 So when he creates the universe, that does not indicate that 172 00:14:48,708 --> 00:14:52,375 somehow God receives something he needs because he didn't need 173 00:14:52,458 --> 00:14:54,667 the universe to be God prior. 174 00:14:54,750 --> 00:14:56,167 Do you see that? 175 00:14:56,250 --> 00:14:58,083 In fact, God is self-existent. 176 00:14:58,167 --> 00:15:00,458 Nothing brings him into existence. 177 00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:03,250 He is his own basis for existing eternally 178 00:15:03,333 --> 00:15:05,958 and he is self-sufficient. 179 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,333 That doctrine affirms of God that God possesses within 180 00:15:09,375 --> 00:15:13,667 himself, intrinsically and eternally, everything that 181 00:15:13,708 --> 00:15:18,458 is qualitatively good, and he does so in infinite measure. 182 00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:21,542 That is, anything you think of that is qualitatively good, 183 00:15:21,625 --> 00:15:25,917 any perfection, any attribute that we might think of that is 184 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,500 a good thing--things like righteousness and holiness 185 00:15:29,583 --> 00:15:33,333 wisdom and knowledge power and goodness-- 186 00:15:33,417 --> 00:15:37,500 these are possessed within God intrinsically. 187 00:15:37,583 --> 00:15:41,750 Nobody gives anything to God that he doesn't already possess 188 00:15:41,833 --> 00:15:47,167 because he is the possessor of everything that is good, 189 00:15:47,250 --> 00:15:48,833 and he possesses it eternally. 190 00:15:48,917 --> 00:15:51,667 So, when he creates the world, this is not, then, 191 00:15:51,750 --> 00:15:53,833 God creating a world that he needs. 192 00:15:53,917 --> 00:15:56,750 He doesn't need the world he made 193 00:15:56,833 --> 00:16:00,708 but rather is creating a world that displays, in physical, 194 00:16:00,792 --> 00:16:05,458 visible form, certain aspects of his own character. 195 00:16:05,500 --> 00:16:09,750 It is his wisdom, his knowledge, his power, 196 00:16:09,833 --> 00:16:14,167 his beauty put on display in creation in physical, 197 00:16:14,208 --> 00:16:16,125 visible form. 198 00:16:16,167 --> 00:16:18,333 This is why the heavens declare the glory 199 00:16:18,417 --> 00:16:20,542 not of the heavens, right? 200 00:16:20,625 --> 00:16:22,833 Because they don't account for why they are there. 201 00:16:22,917 --> 00:16:25,042 You can't point to the heavens themselves for why 202 00:16:25,125 --> 00:16:26,750 the heavens are there. 203 00:16:26,833 --> 00:16:29,500 Rather, the heavens declare the glory of God. 204 00:16:29,583 --> 00:16:30,958 Why? 205 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,208 Because it's God's wisdom, God's beauty, God's power, 206 00:16:34,292 --> 00:16:36,833 manifest in the created order. 207 00:16:36,917 --> 00:16:40,958 So, while it is the case that God does not depend upon 208 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:46,292 the creation he has made, he existed as God, fully as God, 209 00:16:46,333 --> 00:16:49,083 prior to creation, is independent of that 210 00:16:49,167 --> 00:16:51,250 created order, it's also then true-- 211 00:16:51,333 --> 00:16:53,333 the other side of the coin is this: 212 00:16:53,417 --> 00:16:56,333 that the creature, we included in that, 213 00:16:56,417 --> 00:17:00,167 are dependent upon him for--how much? 214 00:17:00,208 --> 00:17:02,542 Well, for everything. 215 00:17:02,625 --> 00:17:07,208 The way Paul puts it in Acts 17:25, he says, 216 00:17:07,292 --> 00:17:10,750 "God is not served by human hands as though he needed 217 00:17:10,833 --> 00:17:15,542 "anything, since he himself gives to all people life, 218 00:17:15,625 --> 00:17:18,750 and breath, and all things." 219 00:17:18,833 --> 00:17:21,333 Well, my goodness, if he gives all things to us, 220 00:17:21,417 --> 00:17:23,833 how much are we dependent upon him for? 221 00:17:23,875 --> 00:17:26,917 All things, for life and breath. 222 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:28,458 I mean, think of it. 223 00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:31,000 How many breaths have you taken just in the time 224 00:17:31,083 --> 00:17:32,833 that you've been seated here today? 225 00:17:32,917 --> 00:17:35,333 A lot, right? A lot. 226 00:17:35,375 --> 00:17:40,667 Every one of them, no exception, gift of God to you. 227 00:17:40,708 --> 00:17:43,333 He grants us breath by which we live. 228 00:17:43,417 --> 00:17:45,667 He grants us everything that we have. 229 00:17:45,750 --> 00:17:50,167 I mean, you realize, when you see this doctrine of God 230 00:17:50,208 --> 00:17:53,875 as Creator and what that entails about him being independent 231 00:17:53,958 --> 00:17:57,958 and us being dependent, you realize we depend upon him 232 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,333 for absolutely everything, and therefore we cannot take credit 233 00:18:02,375 --> 00:18:04,750 for anything we have. 234 00:18:04,833 --> 00:18:10,208 And you know, I often times think that we have really missed 235 00:18:10,292 --> 00:18:14,417 the mark here in our evangelical subculture in helping us 236 00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:18,250 understand the basis for our humility before God 237 00:18:18,333 --> 00:18:21,458 when we point only to the cross of Christ. 238 00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:24,667 And of course, it is right to point to the cross of Christ 239 00:18:24,708 --> 00:18:26,667 as a basis for our humility. 240 00:18:26,708 --> 00:18:29,833 I mean, what can we do to get rid of our own sin? 241 00:18:29,917 --> 00:18:31,250 And the answer is "nothing." 242 00:18:31,333 --> 00:18:34,417 Christ must do that for us, and therefore we are humble 243 00:18:34,500 --> 00:18:37,458 before him, accepting the gift that we could not make happen 244 00:18:37,500 --> 00:18:39,750 on our own. And that's altogether true. 245 00:18:39,833 --> 00:18:42,042 In fact, I'll talk more about God's redeeming work 246 00:18:42,125 --> 00:18:43,458 in a moment. 247 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:48,667 But more fundamental than God as Redeemer is God as Creator, 248 00:18:48,750 --> 00:18:52,792 right, where our very life and every quality that we have 249 00:18:52,833 --> 00:18:55,583 is given to us by our Creator. 250 00:18:55,667 --> 00:18:57,792 So, Paul will ask the question, for example, 251 00:18:57,833 --> 00:19:00,167 in 1 Corinthians 4:7, 252 00:19:00,208 --> 00:19:03,333 "What do you have that you've not received?" 253 00:19:03,375 --> 00:19:05,750 It's a rhetorical question, but what would the answer 254 00:19:05,833 --> 00:19:07,625 be if an answer was given? 255 00:19:07,667 --> 00:19:09,667 What do you have that you've not received? 256 00:19:09,708 --> 00:19:11,042 Nothing. 257 00:19:11,125 --> 00:19:14,833 In other words, anything and everything we have is gift. 258 00:19:14,917 --> 00:19:17,750 We received it, we haven't earned it, 259 00:19:17,833 --> 00:19:21,625 we don't have any right to it, it's been given to us. 260 00:19:21,667 --> 00:19:24,667 So then, Paul goes on to say, "So if you received it, 261 00:19:24,708 --> 00:19:27,208 why do you boast as if you've not received it?" 262 00:19:27,292 --> 00:19:29,833 Exactly, right? Exactly. 263 00:19:29,917 --> 00:19:33,250 So, humility before God is so very important, 264 00:19:33,333 --> 00:19:37,333 dependence upon him, understanding he is the one 265 00:19:37,417 --> 00:19:41,250 who is the source of every good thing that there is. 266 00:19:41,333 --> 00:19:45,500 Everything that is qualitatively good is in God 267 00:19:45,542 --> 00:19:50,875 and in nowhere else, no place else, no one else. 268 00:19:50,958 --> 00:19:55,500 So God alone deserves ultimate glory. 269 00:19:55,542 --> 00:19:58,875 Now, here's a second thing that follows from God as Creator, 270 00:19:58,958 --> 00:20:01,292 a second truth that I want us to see. 271 00:20:01,333 --> 00:20:04,667 Not only his independence from the world and our dependence 272 00:20:04,750 --> 00:20:08,875 upon him, but secondly, his ownership and rightful rulership 273 00:20:08,958 --> 00:20:12,333 over all that he has made--his ownership of and rightful 274 00:20:12,417 --> 00:20:15,500 rulership over everything that he has made. 275 00:20:15,542 --> 00:20:17,667 Now friends, this is good biblical theology. 276 00:20:17,750 --> 00:20:19,792 It goes like this. 277 00:20:19,833 --> 00:20:23,292 To create is to own and to own is to have 278 00:20:23,333 --> 00:20:25,500 rightful rulership over. 279 00:20:25,542 --> 00:20:28,083 Question: how much did God create? 280 00:20:28,167 --> 00:20:29,667 Everything. 281 00:20:29,708 --> 00:20:31,375 How much does he own? 282 00:20:31,458 --> 00:20:32,833 Everything. 283 00:20:32,917 --> 00:20:35,792 How much does he have rightful rulership over? 284 00:20:35,833 --> 00:20:37,792 Everything. 285 00:20:37,833 --> 00:20:42,167 Oh my goodness, it is so good to affirm that because we tend to 286 00:20:42,208 --> 00:20:45,000 think, don't we?, that we own that stuff, 287 00:20:45,083 --> 00:20:47,000 we have rights over it. 288 00:20:47,083 --> 00:20:48,792 We tend to think that way. 289 00:20:48,833 --> 00:20:51,375 Boy, Job--you know, it's amazing to me how Job 290 00:20:51,458 --> 00:20:54,208 had the understanding of God that he did. 291 00:20:54,292 --> 00:20:56,833 When everything was stripped away from his life, 292 00:20:56,875 --> 00:20:59,000 his very children taken from him, 293 00:20:59,083 --> 00:21:02,458 do you remember how he responded at the end of Job 1? 294 00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:04,875 He said, "Naked I have come from my mother's womb, 295 00:21:04,958 --> 00:21:07,000 "naked I will return. 296 00:21:07,042 --> 00:21:11,000 "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away. 297 00:21:11,042 --> 00:21:14,083 Blessed be the name of the Lord." 298 00:21:14,167 --> 00:21:18,375 He understood that he did not own these things that were taken 299 00:21:18,458 --> 00:21:19,958 from him. 300 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,083 They were God's to give and take as God so chooses. 301 00:21:24,167 --> 00:21:27,667 And we need to remember that we are not owners of anything. 302 00:21:27,750 --> 00:21:30,875 What's the biblical category for the way in which we have 303 00:21:30,958 --> 00:21:32,583 what we have? 304 00:21:32,667 --> 00:21:34,250 What's the category best for that? 305 00:21:34,333 --> 00:21:36,750 We are stewards. 306 00:21:36,833 --> 00:21:38,583 God is the owner. 307 00:21:38,667 --> 00:21:40,583 Those are two very different categories, aren't they? 308 00:21:40,667 --> 00:21:43,667 A steward of something is someone who manages 309 00:21:43,750 --> 00:21:46,583 someone else's property or goods. 310 00:21:46,667 --> 00:21:49,000 This is exactly who we are before God. 311 00:21:49,042 --> 00:21:52,083 So, he is Creator, he owns everything he made, 312 00:21:52,167 --> 00:21:55,250 and he has rightful rulership over all that he made. 313 00:21:55,333 --> 00:21:58,583 And so we, before him, must recognize the tremendous 314 00:21:58,667 --> 00:22:03,458 privilege we have of being stewards of what God gives us, 315 00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:06,333 and not begrudge the fact that he gives somebody else 316 00:22:06,417 --> 00:22:08,333 a little bit more, 317 00:22:08,375 --> 00:22:10,833 or not be prideful over the fact that he gives 318 00:22:10,917 --> 00:22:12,750 somebody a little bit less, right? 319 00:22:12,833 --> 00:22:15,667 Because God is the one who reigns over the giving 320 00:22:15,708 --> 00:22:18,500 and the taking because it's all his. 321 00:22:18,583 --> 00:22:24,250 So, I think in response to God as Creator over all things, 322 00:22:24,333 --> 00:22:26,333 and to understand who we are before him, 323 00:22:26,417 --> 00:22:29,542 that at least these two words really come to my mind 324 00:22:29,625 --> 00:22:32,417 in thinking of our proper response, then, 325 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:36,042 to this God who alone deserves glory as Creator. 326 00:22:36,125 --> 00:22:39,208 We are to be a people before him who are humble 327 00:22:39,292 --> 00:22:43,333 and dependent. Humble and dependent. 328 00:22:43,417 --> 00:22:47,042 We recognize he has the greatness and the glory, 329 00:22:47,125 --> 00:22:48,875 we don't. 330 00:22:48,958 --> 00:22:54,167 Anything we have, we have derivatively, right?, 331 00:22:54,250 --> 00:22:56,500 as he grants it to us. 332 00:22:56,542 --> 00:23:01,333 Everything that God has, he has intrinsically. 333 00:23:01,417 --> 00:23:06,000 He possesses it within his very nature as God. 334 00:23:06,083 --> 00:23:08,833 So yes, we are humble before him, 335 00:23:08,875 --> 00:23:12,458 recognizing true greatness where it is. 336 00:23:12,500 --> 00:23:14,667 That's in him, not in us. 337 00:23:14,708 --> 00:23:18,250 And we are dependent upon him, for everything he gives us, 338 00:23:18,333 --> 00:23:22,542 for life, and breath, and all things, as Paul says in Acts 17, 339 00:23:22,625 --> 00:23:26,250 and recognizing he gives and withholds as he chooses, 340 00:23:26,333 --> 00:23:29,417 as he knows best, and he has rights over that. 341 00:23:29,500 --> 00:23:33,167 So, dependent rather than--what? 342 00:23:33,208 --> 00:23:35,833 Entitled to things. 343 00:23:35,917 --> 00:23:39,750 It just destroys this notion of entitlement before God when we 344 00:23:39,833 --> 00:23:43,333 recognize our dependence upon him for everything he, 345 00:23:43,417 --> 00:23:46,292 in his mercy, grants us. 346 00:23:46,333 --> 00:23:49,167 OK, why should God be glorified above all else? 347 00:23:49,250 --> 00:23:50,667 He is Creator. 348 00:23:50,750 --> 00:23:54,042 Here's second--a second reason for that from the Scriptures. 349 00:23:54,125 --> 00:23:58,375 God is exclusively God and incomparably God, 350 00:23:58,458 --> 00:24:01,458 and therefore deserves the highest glory because he 351 00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:05,208 is the glorious Redeemer of his chosen people. 352 00:24:05,292 --> 00:24:08,542 He is the glorious Redeemer of his chosen people. 353 00:24:08,625 --> 00:24:11,917 Now my friends, I just want you to pause for a moment right here 354 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,542 and realize with me that this second point 355 00:24:17,625 --> 00:24:20,833 didn't have to be in the Bible. 356 00:24:20,917 --> 00:24:22,958 Here's what I mean by that: 357 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,167 God created us. We're dependent upon him. 358 00:24:25,208 --> 00:24:28,125 We owe him our allegiance. We owe him our worship. 359 00:24:28,167 --> 00:24:31,458 We owe him the adoration that he alone deserves, right? 360 00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:33,750 Because he's Creator, we owe that to him, 361 00:24:33,833 --> 00:24:37,333 but what did we do as his creatures? 362 00:24:37,417 --> 00:24:40,667 We rebelled against him and went our own way. 363 00:24:40,708 --> 00:24:43,958 We committed tyranny against the Most High, 364 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,750 and so we brought upon ourselves the just condemnation 365 00:24:48,833 --> 00:24:51,792 of our Creator God. 366 00:24:51,833 --> 00:24:56,375 And he could have said, "That's it," 367 00:24:56,458 --> 00:25:01,667 and consigned us all to an eternity away from him. 368 00:25:01,708 --> 00:25:04,042 Oh yes, he could have. 369 00:25:04,125 --> 00:25:06,958 But I am here to tell you something amazing, 370 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,708 and that is that this Creator God, 371 00:25:09,792 --> 00:25:14,750 who looks now upon us as sinners deserving judgment, 372 00:25:14,833 --> 00:25:19,917 designed a plan by which he could redeem us, 373 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,500 save us from our sin, and bring us back to himself so that we 374 00:25:25,583 --> 00:25:29,958 could, with him, then again experience the fullness of joy 375 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,750 we will only know because we are with the one who has it all. 376 00:25:34,833 --> 00:25:37,250 What did God do to accomplish this? 377 00:25:37,333 --> 00:25:43,208 Well, look with me at Isaiah, again, chapter 52 and 53, 378 00:25:43,292 --> 00:25:46,042 52 and 53. 379 00:25:46,125 --> 00:25:51,000 We'll begin in Isaiah 52, at verse 7-10, 380 00:25:51,042 --> 00:25:53,917 and then read on in chapter 53, 4-6. 381 00:27:29,958 --> 00:27:32,167 My friends, this is astonishing, amazing, 382 00:27:32,208 --> 00:27:36,042 that this God who is Creator, who did not need the world that 383 00:27:36,125 --> 00:27:39,917 he created, now looks at this world that he created with its 384 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,792 human population sinful, all sinned against him, 385 00:27:43,833 --> 00:27:50,000 turned away from him, and in his compassion devises a means 386 00:27:50,042 --> 00:27:53,083 by which we may be freed from our sin 387 00:27:53,167 --> 00:27:54,750 and brought back to him. 388 00:27:54,833 --> 00:27:56,250 You see, that has to happen. 389 00:27:56,333 --> 00:27:59,792 You understand why that is the case? Because God is holy. 390 00:27:59,833 --> 00:28:01,250 We've sung about it. 391 00:28:01,333 --> 00:28:04,625 He is holy and he--as the holy God that he is, 392 00:28:04,667 --> 00:28:08,958 he cannot have in his presence those who are sinful, 393 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,208 and yet he looks at us and we're all in our sin, 394 00:28:12,292 --> 00:28:17,333 and he cannot have us with him until sin is dealt with. 395 00:28:17,375 --> 00:28:21,250 But here's the next problem: if he gives to us the task of 396 00:28:21,333 --> 00:28:24,917 getting rid of our own sin, it will never happen. 397 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,667 There are no works we could do, there's no amount of 398 00:28:27,708 --> 00:28:30,958 church-going or good deeds that we can do that would rid us of 399 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,125 the sin of our lives that would qualify us now to be 400 00:28:34,167 --> 00:28:36,042 in the presence of God. 401 00:28:36,125 --> 00:28:38,250 So, what did God do? 402 00:28:38,333 --> 00:28:45,000 In his mercy, he sent his Son, no less than his own Son, 403 00:28:45,042 --> 00:28:50,000 to come and take on our human form and then bear our sin 404 00:28:50,042 --> 00:28:55,000 in his body on the cross, that he might pay for that sin, 405 00:28:55,042 --> 00:28:59,000 and that we, by faith and faith alone, 406 00:28:59,042 --> 00:29:03,708 might be brought back to him with sins forgiven, 407 00:29:03,792 --> 00:29:07,333 restored in fellowship to him, and enter into newness of life 408 00:29:07,417 --> 00:29:10,500 that will never ever end. 409 00:29:10,583 --> 00:29:15,333 What an incredible thing this God has done in giving his Son. 410 00:29:15,417 --> 00:29:18,167 And look at the ways in which this is expressed in 411 00:29:18,208 --> 00:29:23,667 Isaiah 53:4, "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, 412 00:29:23,708 --> 00:29:26,333 Our sorrows He carried." 413 00:29:26,417 --> 00:29:28,917 But now the second part of the verse. 414 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,917 If you were there on that day when Jesus was hung on a cross 415 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,042 between two thieves at Gethsemane, 416 00:29:36,125 --> 00:29:40,208 what would it look like to you when you see this beaten, 417 00:29:40,292 --> 00:29:43,667 bloodied man crucified on this cross? 418 00:29:43,750 --> 00:29:46,083 What would it look like to you? 419 00:29:46,167 --> 00:29:47,875 Here's what it would look like: 420 00:29:47,958 --> 00:29:52,250 Verse 4, second half, "Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, 421 00:29:52,333 --> 00:29:54,375 smitten of God, and afflicted." 422 00:29:54,458 --> 00:29:57,292 In other words, what he would look like is he's getting 423 00:29:57,333 --> 00:29:58,667 what he deserved. 424 00:29:58,750 --> 00:30:02,292 He is smitten of God and he's being judged for his own sin. 425 00:30:02,333 --> 00:30:07,500 That's what it looks like, but here's the truth, my friends. 426 00:30:07,542 --> 00:30:14,500 Verse 5, "But he was pierced through for our transgressions, 427 00:30:14,542 --> 00:30:18,250 he was crushed for our iniquities." 428 00:30:18,333 --> 00:30:19,667 Do you see it? 429 00:30:19,708 --> 00:30:22,500 On that cross, he was not getting what he deserved, 430 00:30:22,542 --> 00:30:29,458 he was getting what we deserved, and bore the sin of our lives 431 00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:32,875 and the penalty of that sin so that, by faith, 432 00:30:32,958 --> 00:30:37,500 we could be forgiven and be brought into newness of life and 433 00:30:37,542 --> 00:30:41,875 into fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit forever. 434 00:30:41,958 --> 00:30:45,500 It's an amazing work that God has done for us in Christ. 435 00:30:45,583 --> 00:30:49,583 And no other work of salvation is possible. 436 00:30:49,667 --> 00:30:53,375 That is, this is the only way to be saved is through what Christ 437 00:30:53,458 --> 00:30:55,583 has done for us. 438 00:30:55,667 --> 00:30:58,708 My friends, this is something I know is highly objectionable 439 00:30:58,792 --> 00:31:00,792 in the culture in which we live. 440 00:31:00,833 --> 00:31:03,500 It's an offense out there in the culture to proclaim Jesus 441 00:31:03,542 --> 00:31:08,667 is the only way to be saved, but it's true. 442 00:31:08,708 --> 00:31:12,458 And because it's true, we cannot shy away from it. 443 00:31:12,500 --> 00:31:17,542 Goodness, their destinies are at stake and our fidelity to God 444 00:31:17,625 --> 00:31:21,792 and Christ is at stake in whether or not we are faithful 445 00:31:21,833 --> 00:31:26,458 to the gospel message that Jesus is Savior of all 446 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:28,542 who believe in him. 447 00:31:28,625 --> 00:31:30,833 You know, by the way, ask yourself this question: 448 00:31:30,917 --> 00:31:33,667 How many saviors does a sinful world need? 449 00:31:33,708 --> 00:31:35,875 You just need one that works. 450 00:31:35,958 --> 00:31:37,500 Well, guess what? 451 00:31:37,542 --> 00:31:39,333 We've got one that works. 452 00:31:39,417 --> 00:31:41,333 You don't need 18 or 20 of them. 453 00:31:41,417 --> 00:31:45,792 You just need one, and Jesus is that one Savior whose death 454 00:31:45,833 --> 00:31:50,333 on the cross paid the penalty of the sins of the world that 455 00:31:50,417 --> 00:31:53,667 anyone who believes might be brought into relationship 456 00:31:53,750 --> 00:31:55,250 with him. 457 00:31:55,333 --> 00:31:59,250 So indeed, God as Redeemer of his people took upon himself 458 00:31:59,333 --> 00:32:05,333 the cost of our salvation in his Son and paid the penalty for it. 459 00:32:05,375 --> 00:32:08,000 Now, one other point I want us to see in this, 460 00:32:08,083 --> 00:32:10,625 and this goes back to chapter 52. 461 00:32:10,667 --> 00:32:14,417 Look at verse 10 again of chapter 52. 462 00:32:14,500 --> 00:32:19,042 "The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, 463 00:32:19,125 --> 00:32:24,250 that the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God." 464 00:32:24,333 --> 00:32:27,417 Now, this is fascinating because you realize the main point of 465 00:32:27,500 --> 00:32:31,500 this prophecy in Isaiah 52 is a prophecy to Israel, 466 00:32:31,583 --> 00:32:37,250 the Old Testament people of God, that he would not, in the end, 467 00:32:37,333 --> 00:32:41,667 cast them away and judge them, that instead God, in the end, 468 00:32:41,708 --> 00:32:44,250 would save his people Israel. 469 00:32:44,333 --> 00:32:46,958 And so we realize this is a promise made to Israel, 470 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:51,167 and we, most of us in here anyway, are not Jewish. 471 00:32:51,208 --> 00:32:53,292 We are Gentiles. 472 00:32:53,333 --> 00:32:56,250 We are not that category of people to whom this promise 473 00:32:56,333 --> 00:33:01,333 was made, the Jewish people, and yet we, by faith in Christ, 474 00:33:01,375 --> 00:33:06,500 enter into the actual reality and the fullness of this promise 475 00:33:06,583 --> 00:33:08,542 that was made to Israel. 476 00:33:08,625 --> 00:33:12,167 We get in on that salvation that was promised to them 477 00:33:12,208 --> 00:33:17,333 through Christ who is the Son of David, 478 00:33:17,375 --> 00:33:18,750 King of Israel, 479 00:33:18,833 --> 00:33:21,458 the seed of Abraham, the Father of Israel. 480 00:33:21,500 --> 00:33:24,333 So, as we put our faith in Christ and come in him, 481 00:33:24,417 --> 00:33:28,625 we then enter into the very reality of those promises 482 00:33:28,667 --> 00:33:31,542 to Israel now coming to us Gentiles. 483 00:33:31,625 --> 00:33:33,417 So indeed, the power-- 484 00:33:33,500 --> 00:33:35,167 "The gospel is the power of God 485 00:33:35,208 --> 00:33:37,542 for salvation," Romans 1:16-17. 486 00:33:37,625 --> 00:33:39,542 It is the power of God for salvation 487 00:33:39,625 --> 00:33:41,167 to everyone who believes, 488 00:33:41,208 --> 00:33:44,375 to the Jew first, right? That's to whom the promises were given. 489 00:33:44,458 --> 00:33:47,083 To the Jew first, but also to the Gentiles. 490 00:33:47,167 --> 00:33:48,833 Praise be to God. 491 00:33:48,917 --> 00:33:52,000 Most of us wouldn't be here if that were not the case, 492 00:33:52,042 --> 00:33:55,250 but because the gospel is the gospel to the Gentiles, 493 00:33:55,333 --> 00:33:59,500 this means the mission's mandate is in place. 494 00:33:59,542 --> 00:34:03,750 The gospel must go forth to the nations of the world. 495 00:34:03,833 --> 00:34:08,333 My friends, I hope you feel a holy weight in hearing that. 496 00:34:08,417 --> 00:34:10,333 It's a holy weight. 497 00:34:10,417 --> 00:34:14,042 It's a glorious weight, but it is a weight that--because we 498 00:34:14,125 --> 00:34:17,250 realize what is at stake in whether we get the gospel 499 00:34:17,333 --> 00:34:18,958 out there to people or not. 500 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,042 In these nations of the world, the missionary enterprise is 501 00:34:22,125 --> 00:34:25,833 absolutely essential because people can be saved through 502 00:34:25,917 --> 00:34:29,667 Christ, but they must hear of Christ to be saved. 503 00:34:29,708 --> 00:34:32,167 Do you remember Paul's words in Romans 10? 504 00:34:32,208 --> 00:34:34,333 "Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord 505 00:34:34,417 --> 00:34:36,125 "will be saved, 506 00:34:36,167 --> 00:34:39,333 "but how shall they call upon him whom they have not believed, 507 00:34:39,375 --> 00:34:43,167 "and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard, 508 00:34:43,208 --> 00:34:46,167 "and how shall they hear unless someone speak, 509 00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:49,042 "and how shall they speak unless they are sent? 510 00:34:49,125 --> 00:34:52,375 How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings." 511 00:34:52,458 --> 00:34:56,292 So, my friends, I just encourage you to realize part of what it 512 00:34:56,333 --> 00:35:00,042 means to give glory to God alone as Redeemer, 513 00:35:00,125 --> 00:35:02,167 as the one who has redeemed his people, 514 00:35:02,208 --> 00:35:05,042 is to honor the gospel that he gave us, 515 00:35:05,125 --> 00:35:08,500 that is our responsibility to take to the nations, 516 00:35:08,583 --> 00:35:11,417 that people may hear and be saved. 517 00:35:11,500 --> 00:35:15,333 So indeed, God deserves ultimate glory, 518 00:35:15,417 --> 00:35:20,625 absolute praise from his people because he is Creator of them, 519 00:35:20,667 --> 00:35:23,750 and secondly, he is Redeemer of those people. 520 00:35:23,833 --> 00:35:28,708 And then, third and finally this morning, God is exclusively God, 521 00:35:28,792 --> 00:35:32,625 incomparably God, and through that deserves ultimate glory 522 00:35:32,667 --> 00:35:36,958 because he is the sovereign ruler over everything that 523 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,833 happens in heaven and earth, including sovereign ruler over 524 00:35:40,917 --> 00:35:42,833 good and evil. 525 00:35:42,917 --> 00:35:45,333 Now, look with me at a passage that we read 526 00:35:45,417 --> 00:35:47,000 a little bit of earlier, 527 00:35:47,042 --> 00:35:53,292 Isaiah chapter 44 and 45, 44 and 45. 528 00:35:53,333 --> 00:35:57,542 I'll begin reading in chapter 44 at verse 24 529 00:35:57,625 --> 00:36:01,292 and read up until 45:7. 530 00:38:23,625 --> 00:38:25,500 Well, my friends, this is an amazing passage 531 00:38:25,583 --> 00:38:27,250 that indicates the sovereignty of God, 532 00:38:27,333 --> 00:38:29,833 his sovereign rulership over all things 533 00:38:29,917 --> 00:38:31,333 in heaven and earth. 534 00:38:31,417 --> 00:38:34,458 That includes everything good and everything evil. 535 00:38:34,500 --> 00:38:37,667 Now, a couple ways I want to unpack this from this passage. 536 00:38:37,708 --> 00:38:42,333 First of all, it's very clear that God reigns over both nature 537 00:38:42,375 --> 00:38:45,375 and nations. Nature and nations. 538 00:38:45,458 --> 00:38:48,333 This is, over the physical world that he has made. 539 00:38:48,417 --> 00:38:51,667 He reigns over natural law, he controls things that happen 540 00:38:51,708 --> 00:38:54,667 in nature, and he reigns over human beings 541 00:38:54,750 --> 00:38:57,667 as they make their plans among the nations of the world. 542 00:38:57,750 --> 00:38:59,292 Both of these are true. 543 00:38:59,333 --> 00:39:01,667 Now, his sovereignty over nature itself, 544 00:39:01,708 --> 00:39:05,333 look back with me at verse 24 of Isaiah 44 545 00:39:05,375 --> 00:39:08,208 where we read there that God is Creator, 546 00:39:08,292 --> 00:39:09,750 what we've thought about already. 547 00:39:09,833 --> 00:39:12,750 "I am the Lord, I'm the maker of all things, 548 00:39:12,833 --> 00:39:14,750 "Stretching out the heavens by Myself, 549 00:39:14,833 --> 00:39:16,750 Spreading out the earth all alone." 550 00:39:16,833 --> 00:39:19,000 So indeed, God made the heavens and the earth. 551 00:39:19,083 --> 00:39:21,000 He brought it into existence. 552 00:39:21,083 --> 00:39:23,250 But we believe, as Christian people, 553 00:39:23,333 --> 00:39:26,667 that when God created the world, he didn't leave at that point 554 00:39:26,708 --> 00:39:29,250 and just kind of let it run on his own, 555 00:39:29,333 --> 00:39:32,125 but rather he is intimately involved in everything that 556 00:39:32,167 --> 00:39:36,167 transpires in that created order among the things 557 00:39:36,208 --> 00:39:38,042 that happen in nature. 558 00:39:38,125 --> 00:39:41,417 So indeed, God is the one who brings the wind or withholds it. 559 00:39:41,500 --> 00:39:43,667 He's the one who causes the grass to grow, 560 00:39:43,708 --> 00:39:45,292 we read in Psalm 104. 561 00:39:45,333 --> 00:39:48,750 By the way, a great passage to look at to expand on this. 562 00:39:48,833 --> 00:39:51,542 God is the one who has ultimate control in nature. 563 00:39:51,625 --> 00:39:55,500 Now, one very little hint of that comes in verse 27, 564 00:39:55,542 --> 00:39:59,833 where we read, "It is I who says to the depth of the sea, 565 00:39:59,917 --> 00:40:01,292 "'Be dried up!' 566 00:40:01,333 --> 00:40:03,167 And I will make your rivers dry." 567 00:40:03,208 --> 00:40:05,667 Now, it's just an instance of the more general truth, 568 00:40:05,750 --> 00:40:08,583 and that is, God is the one who controls whether the water 569 00:40:08,667 --> 00:40:11,167 comes or not, whether floods come or not, 570 00:40:11,250 --> 00:40:13,958 whether tornadoes come or not. 571 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:18,167 You know, our younger daughter Rachel was at college 572 00:40:18,250 --> 00:40:21,083 during a time when a tornado hit their school, 573 00:40:21,167 --> 00:40:23,833 Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. 574 00:40:23,917 --> 00:40:25,750 Hit the school and the dormitories 575 00:40:25,833 --> 00:40:27,667 that were filled with students at the time-- 576 00:40:27,750 --> 00:40:31,500 the two-story dormitories were absolutely devastated, 577 00:40:31,542 --> 00:40:33,458 collapsed all the way to the ground. 578 00:40:33,500 --> 00:40:36,667 When workers got there-- emergency workers showed up-- 579 00:40:36,708 --> 00:40:39,875 they told the president to expect hundreds of deaths, 580 00:40:39,958 --> 00:40:41,500 and guess what they found? 581 00:40:41,542 --> 00:40:44,833 Not a single Union student died. 582 00:40:44,875 --> 00:40:47,708 With all of that debris collapsing down upon them, 583 00:40:47,792 --> 00:40:50,000 he protected every one of them in different ways. 584 00:40:50,083 --> 00:40:51,625 It was incredible. 585 00:40:51,667 --> 00:40:55,208 So, it was such a testimony to the fact that God brings 586 00:40:55,292 --> 00:40:57,417 the wind and he controls what happens within it. 587 00:40:57,500 --> 00:40:59,625 Every bit of it under the control of God. 588 00:40:59,667 --> 00:41:03,583 So indeed, it just is silly to say what some Christian people 589 00:41:03,667 --> 00:41:05,750 say when a natural disaster happens. 590 00:41:05,833 --> 00:41:08,167 "Oh, God had nothing to do with this." 591 00:41:08,250 --> 00:41:09,667 Here's my question. 592 00:41:09,750 --> 00:41:13,000 Do you believe that God is omnipotent, has all power? 593 00:41:13,042 --> 00:41:14,583 Well, of course. 594 00:41:14,667 --> 00:41:16,583 That's the teaching of the Bible very clearly, 595 00:41:16,667 --> 00:41:19,792 so that means that there is nothing that he chooses to do 596 00:41:19,833 --> 00:41:21,250 that he cannot do. 597 00:41:21,333 --> 00:41:23,083 No one can thwart him from accomplishing 598 00:41:23,167 --> 00:41:24,667 whatever he chooses. 599 00:41:24,708 --> 00:41:26,042 So, he is omnipotent. 600 00:41:26,125 --> 00:41:27,792 Second question, is he omniscient, 601 00:41:27,833 --> 00:41:29,667 does he know everything that's happening? 602 00:41:29,750 --> 00:41:33,083 Absolutely, so if he is omnipotent and omniscient, 603 00:41:33,167 --> 00:41:36,083 then how can you say he had nothing to do with this, 604 00:41:36,167 --> 00:41:38,875 because he knows exactly what's happening and he evidently 605 00:41:38,958 --> 00:41:44,167 chooses not to prevent what he could have, right? 606 00:41:44,208 --> 00:41:48,542 So for God to choose to permit what he could have prevented 607 00:41:48,625 --> 00:41:52,542 indicates he intentionally lets this happen. 608 00:41:52,625 --> 00:41:56,292 And honestly, I don't know any way you can get out of that 609 00:41:56,333 --> 00:41:59,042 as a Christian unless you deny the omnipotence of God 610 00:41:59,125 --> 00:42:01,000 or the omniscience of God. 611 00:42:01,083 --> 00:42:03,750 But if he knows everything and he's able to do something 612 00:42:03,833 --> 00:42:07,125 about it but chooses not to, then in the end, ultimately, 613 00:42:07,167 --> 00:42:09,958 he has control over whether it happens or not, 614 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,667 he has control over the direction it takes 615 00:42:12,708 --> 00:42:14,167 and the force of it. 616 00:42:14,208 --> 00:42:16,833 He has absolute control over everything that happens 617 00:42:16,917 --> 00:42:18,667 in nature. 618 00:42:18,708 --> 00:42:21,125 He also is in control of everything that happens 619 00:42:21,167 --> 00:42:22,667 in nations. 620 00:42:22,708 --> 00:42:26,042 Now, so much of this passage that I read to you has to do 621 00:42:26,125 --> 00:42:29,167 with a promise that God made to his people Israel, 622 00:42:29,208 --> 00:42:32,750 that he would bring them back to their own land, to Jerusalem, 623 00:42:32,833 --> 00:42:36,042 and rebuild it after they had been taken captive 624 00:42:36,125 --> 00:42:37,833 by the Babylonians. 625 00:42:37,917 --> 00:42:40,333 Now, the interesting thing is--or one interesting thing 626 00:42:40,375 --> 00:42:45,167 here is this, that this prophecy is written at least 150 years 627 00:42:45,208 --> 00:42:50,083 before the main figure of this passage was even born. 628 00:42:50,167 --> 00:42:52,167 He is named here Cyrus. 629 00:42:52,208 --> 00:42:53,792 Well, who is this Cyrus? 630 00:42:53,833 --> 00:42:57,583 You see it at the end of chapter 44, verse 28. 631 00:42:57,667 --> 00:43:01,125 "It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd! 632 00:43:01,167 --> 00:43:03,417 "'He will perform all of my desire.' 633 00:43:03,500 --> 00:43:06,125 "He declares of Jerusalem, 'She will be built,' 634 00:43:06,167 --> 00:43:08,833 And the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'" 635 00:43:08,875 --> 00:43:11,750 So, here is this promise that God will bring his people 636 00:43:11,833 --> 00:43:14,250 back to Jerusalem, they will rebuild the temple. 637 00:43:14,333 --> 00:43:16,250 This will take place under Cyrus. 638 00:43:16,333 --> 00:43:17,958 Who is Cyrus? 639 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:22,167 Well, he's the first king of the Medes and the Persians. 640 00:43:22,208 --> 00:43:28,250 But Isaiah is prophesying this in about 700 B.C. 641 00:43:28,333 --> 00:43:33,833 Cyrus takes over in 536 B.C., so 170 years later 642 00:43:33,917 --> 00:43:35,750 from the prophecy. 643 00:43:35,833 --> 00:43:39,625 Cyrus hadn't even been--was 150 years from being born 644 00:43:39,667 --> 00:43:41,333 when Isaiah made this. 645 00:43:41,417 --> 00:43:44,375 When Isaiah made this prophecy, the ascendant nation 646 00:43:44,458 --> 00:43:47,292 in the ancient Near East at this time was Assyria. 647 00:43:47,333 --> 00:43:49,375 So Assyria has to be brought down, 648 00:43:49,458 --> 00:43:51,250 Babylon takes the place of Assyria, 649 00:43:51,333 --> 00:43:54,458 Babylon becomes the prominent ascendant power in the ancient 650 00:43:54,500 --> 00:43:57,083 Near East, Babylon has to be brought down, 651 00:43:57,167 --> 00:44:01,417 so Medo-Persia can be brought up, and Cyrus can pronounce this 652 00:44:01,500 --> 00:44:04,333 decree by which the children of Israel come back, 653 00:44:04,375 --> 00:44:07,917 and it's fulfilled exactly as God predicts it. 654 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,667 Now, think what is involved in God bringing about 655 00:44:10,708 --> 00:44:12,042 what he predicts. 656 00:44:12,125 --> 00:44:14,417 He has to control, then, what happens with Assyria. 657 00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:16,958 He has to control what happens with Babylon. 658 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,417 He has to control what happens with Cyrus and with Medo-Persia. 659 00:44:20,500 --> 00:44:23,167 All of that has to be in the control of God. 660 00:44:23,208 --> 00:44:27,708 And notice God does not say, "It is I who says of Jerusalem, 661 00:44:27,792 --> 00:44:30,667 "'I hope she will be inhabited,' 662 00:44:30,708 --> 00:44:35,708 "or of Cyrus, 'I hope he cooperates with me 663 00:44:35,792 --> 00:44:38,333 so he'll do what I want him to do.'" 664 00:44:38,375 --> 00:44:40,917 No, this is not the language, my friends. 665 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:42,958 The language is, he says of Jerusalem, 666 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:46,667 "She shall be inhabited," and of Cyrus, 667 00:44:46,750 --> 00:44:50,292 "He will perform all of my desire." 668 00:44:50,333 --> 00:44:54,292 So, it is so clear God has control over what happens, 669 00:44:54,333 --> 00:44:58,250 over these nations of the world and the choices that people make 670 00:44:58,333 --> 00:45:01,167 so that his will is accomplished. 671 00:45:01,208 --> 00:45:04,333 Now, to bring this home a bit further, 672 00:45:04,417 --> 00:45:08,167 look with me at verse 7 of chapter 45. 673 00:45:08,208 --> 00:45:11,833 Isaiah 45:7, and I just want to say at the beginning of this, 674 00:45:11,917 --> 00:45:15,250 this is one of the areas that Christian people struggle with 675 00:45:15,333 --> 00:45:19,333 most deeply, when they come to these difficult teachings 676 00:45:19,417 --> 00:45:20,833 of Scripture. 677 00:45:20,917 --> 00:45:23,625 And I understand that because I struggled with them for many, 678 00:45:23,667 --> 00:45:27,958 many years, and I understand your struggle with them as well. 679 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:32,750 But I tell you, ultimately what brought me to accept this is 680 00:45:32,833 --> 00:45:36,667 simply the conviction, "This is the teaching of the Bible, 681 00:45:36,708 --> 00:45:39,458 "and if I think I know better, good grief, 682 00:45:39,500 --> 00:45:41,625 what does that say about me?" 683 00:45:41,667 --> 00:45:46,667 I mean, what arrogant pride do I have to think I know better than 684 00:45:46,750 --> 00:45:51,333 God, who declares to us here who he is. 685 00:45:51,417 --> 00:45:55,667 So, are you willing to accept God on the basis of what God 686 00:45:55,750 --> 00:45:57,750 says of himself? 687 00:45:57,833 --> 00:45:59,333 That's the question. 688 00:45:59,417 --> 00:46:02,208 Here's what he says, verse 7: "I am the Lord, 689 00:46:02,292 --> 00:46:04,125 "and there is no other, 690 00:46:04,167 --> 00:46:07,958 "The One forming light and creating darkness, 691 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:12,125 "The One causing well-being and creating calamity; 692 00:46:12,167 --> 00:46:16,500 I am the Lord who does all these things." 693 00:46:16,583 --> 00:46:21,250 So indeed, God has complete control over everything good. 694 00:46:21,333 --> 00:46:23,458 Oh my, we love that teaching. 695 00:46:23,500 --> 00:46:25,500 It is true and it is glorious. 696 00:46:25,583 --> 00:46:27,833 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, 697 00:46:27,917 --> 00:46:30,667 "from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation 698 00:46:30,708 --> 00:46:33,667 or shadow of turning," James 1:17. 699 00:46:33,708 --> 00:46:37,542 Indeed, God does control every good thing that happens, 700 00:46:37,625 --> 00:46:40,917 but this text and many other texts in the Bible also 701 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:44,792 indicate he has equal control over everything bad 702 00:46:44,833 --> 00:46:46,792 that takes place. 703 00:46:46,833 --> 00:46:50,792 Indeed, he is the one, ultimately, who has the say-so, 704 00:46:50,833 --> 00:46:54,833 as it were, of whether these bad things happen and to whom 705 00:46:54,917 --> 00:46:57,000 and in what manner, and the like. 706 00:46:57,042 --> 00:46:59,667 God is the one who ordains not only the good, 707 00:46:59,750 --> 00:47:01,833 but the bad as well. 708 00:47:01,875 --> 00:47:05,042 But my friends, a couple things we have to bear in mind here. 709 00:47:05,125 --> 00:47:08,250 The first thing is this: that even though God exercises 710 00:47:08,333 --> 00:47:11,750 complete control over both good and evil, 711 00:47:11,833 --> 00:47:18,250 God is good, and in no respect is he evil. 712 00:47:18,333 --> 00:47:21,458 My goodness, how important it is for us to affirm that, 713 00:47:21,500 --> 00:47:27,708 that God is not yin yang, right, as the God of Shintoism is. 714 00:47:27,792 --> 00:47:30,125 God is not light and darkness. 715 00:47:30,167 --> 00:47:33,708 God is good and not evil. 716 00:47:33,792 --> 00:47:36,750 He is light and not darkness. 717 00:47:36,833 --> 00:47:39,833 Do you remember 1 John 1:5, "In him is light 718 00:47:39,917 --> 00:47:42,917 and there is no darkness in him at all." 719 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:44,875 So, God is light, not darkness. 720 00:47:44,958 --> 00:47:46,875 God is good, not evil. 721 00:47:46,958 --> 00:47:49,958 Which brings me to my second point, because God is good, 722 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:55,792 he is light, then his control of evil would be for what purpose? 723 00:47:55,833 --> 00:48:00,667 For good purposes, that he will bring about only through 724 00:48:00,708 --> 00:48:02,917 the evil things that take place. 725 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:06,500 The supreme example of this in the Bible is what? 726 00:48:06,583 --> 00:48:08,458 The cross of Christ. 727 00:48:08,500 --> 00:48:09,958 It is so clear. 728 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:14,333 Think, for example, of the statement by Peter in Acts 2:23 729 00:48:14,417 --> 00:48:19,833 when he begins to explain what happened on the cross of Christ. 730 00:48:19,917 --> 00:48:22,833 He says, "This Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan"-- 731 00:48:22,917 --> 00:48:25,708 referring to Jesus--"Delivered up by the predetermined plan 732 00:48:25,792 --> 00:48:27,208 "and foreknowledge of God, 733 00:48:27,292 --> 00:48:30,125 "you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men 734 00:48:30,167 --> 00:48:31,708 and put him to death." 735 00:48:31,792 --> 00:48:33,167 OK, now think of that verse. 736 00:48:33,208 --> 00:48:34,667 Let me say it again. 737 00:48:34,708 --> 00:48:36,667 "This Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan 738 00:48:36,708 --> 00:48:38,042 "and foreknowledge of God, 739 00:48:38,125 --> 00:48:41,833 "you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men 740 00:48:41,917 --> 00:48:43,542 and put him to death." 741 00:48:43,625 --> 00:48:46,167 OK, question: how would you answer the question, 742 00:48:46,208 --> 00:48:49,833 how did Jesus get put on that cross? 743 00:48:49,917 --> 00:48:51,500 How did this happen? 744 00:48:51,542 --> 00:48:54,083 What's the biblical answer to that question? 745 00:48:54,167 --> 00:48:57,542 Well, it's complex, isn't it? 746 00:48:57,625 --> 00:49:00,042 Don't you have to say two things, not just one. 747 00:49:00,125 --> 00:49:03,750 You have to say--boy, you have to say God put him there. 748 00:49:03,833 --> 00:49:05,833 "Delivered up by the predetermined plan 749 00:49:05,917 --> 00:49:07,542 and foreknowledge of God." 750 00:49:07,625 --> 00:49:10,542 "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son," right? 751 00:49:10,625 --> 00:49:13,500 Was Jesus there on the cross because God put him there? 752 00:49:13,583 --> 00:49:15,000 Absolutely. 753 00:49:15,083 --> 00:49:17,333 This was the Father's design, we talked about earlier, 754 00:49:17,417 --> 00:49:20,833 to send his Son by which we would be redeemed of our sin. 755 00:49:20,875 --> 00:49:24,667 This was the design of the Father that his Son be crucified 756 00:49:24,708 --> 00:49:26,417 for our sin. 757 00:49:26,500 --> 00:49:28,458 But is that the only answer you give? 758 00:49:28,500 --> 00:49:30,958 How did Christ get there on that cross? 759 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:35,750 You also have to say wicked men put him there, don't you? 760 00:49:35,833 --> 00:49:37,667 "Delivered up by the predetermined plan 761 00:49:37,708 --> 00:49:39,167 "and foreknowledge of God, 762 00:49:39,208 --> 00:49:42,000 "you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men 763 00:49:42,083 --> 00:49:43,750 and put him to death." 764 00:49:43,833 --> 00:49:46,292 So, you realize, boy, the answer to that question 765 00:49:46,333 --> 00:49:48,000 involves two answers. 766 00:49:48,042 --> 00:49:50,542 God did it; men did it--wicked men did it. 767 00:49:50,625 --> 00:49:52,042 Now, get this further. 768 00:49:52,125 --> 00:49:56,000 God, in doing that, is praiseworthy, right? 769 00:49:56,042 --> 00:49:58,875 We praise him for our salvation in Christ. 770 00:49:58,958 --> 00:50:01,792 Men who did this are blameworthy. 771 00:50:01,833 --> 00:50:04,042 They are godless men, they are wicked men, 772 00:50:04,125 --> 00:50:06,792 and they are culpable for what they did. 773 00:50:06,833 --> 00:50:08,958 Now, one more thing I want you to see. 774 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:10,458 You've got this dual agency here. 775 00:50:10,500 --> 00:50:12,750 God did it; we did it; men did it. 776 00:50:12,833 --> 00:50:14,750 Now, the next question is this: 777 00:50:14,833 --> 00:50:18,083 is one of those two agencies ultimate? 778 00:50:18,167 --> 00:50:21,167 Does one have priority over the other? 779 00:50:21,250 --> 00:50:23,583 Ah, yes indeed. 780 00:50:23,667 --> 00:50:25,667 "Delivered up by the predetermined plan 781 00:50:25,750 --> 00:50:27,583 "and foreknowledge of God, 782 00:50:27,667 --> 00:50:30,292 you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men." 783 00:50:30,333 --> 00:50:34,667 Clearly, God's agency is ultimate so that they carry out 784 00:50:34,750 --> 00:50:40,792 what he designed they do and yet they bear full responsibility 785 00:50:40,833 --> 00:50:43,458 for the evil that they committed. 786 00:50:43,500 --> 00:50:45,167 Amazing, isn't it? 787 00:50:45,250 --> 00:50:48,500 So, that's one example of many examples in the Bible where you 788 00:50:48,542 --> 00:50:52,417 realize, yes, God exerts control over evil that takes place. 789 00:50:52,500 --> 00:50:56,667 But our confidence is this: because God is the one who 790 00:50:56,750 --> 00:50:58,917 controls it--let me stop there. 791 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:01,375 What if he weren't the one who controls it? 792 00:51:01,458 --> 00:51:04,333 What are the other options that we have? 793 00:51:04,417 --> 00:51:09,792 Satan, demons, evil people, forces of nature that are 794 00:51:09,833 --> 00:51:12,083 outside of the control of God. 795 00:51:12,167 --> 00:51:15,958 I mean, honestly, if that's the case, stay home and, you know, 796 00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:18,375 cover your--stay under your bed or something 797 00:51:18,458 --> 00:51:19,875 and hope for the best, 798 00:51:19,958 --> 00:51:22,750 because wow, what a scary world this would be if God 799 00:51:22,833 --> 00:51:26,167 is not the one in control of the evil that takes place. 800 00:51:26,250 --> 00:51:30,792 But because he is in control and he is good, his ways are right, 801 00:51:30,833 --> 00:51:35,083 he is just in all that he does, we can have strength 802 00:51:35,167 --> 00:51:40,667 of confidence and hope that God's purposes will not fail. 803 00:51:40,750 --> 00:51:43,875 Even though we read the paper, even though we see horrible 804 00:51:43,958 --> 00:51:48,167 things happening, we know God is in control and his purposes 805 00:51:48,250 --> 00:51:51,000 will be fulfilled in the end. 806 00:51:51,042 --> 00:51:54,083 So my friends, this should elicit from us-- 807 00:51:54,167 --> 00:51:56,375 when we think of God, 808 00:51:56,458 --> 00:51:59,583 God's glory as the sovereign ruler over all things, 809 00:51:59,667 --> 00:52:03,333 it should elicit from us tremendous hope and confidence 810 00:52:03,417 --> 00:52:06,417 because we realize who God is. 811 00:52:06,500 --> 00:52:08,708 So my friends, let me just summarize for us 812 00:52:08,792 --> 00:52:11,208 what we've looked at this morning: 813 00:52:11,292 --> 00:52:15,250 Why should God alone receive ultimate glory and praise? 814 00:52:15,333 --> 00:52:19,250 Because as Creator, he is independent of the world 815 00:52:19,333 --> 00:52:23,333 altogether, existing eternally as the self-existent 816 00:52:23,417 --> 00:52:26,042 and self-sufficient God that he is. 817 00:52:26,125 --> 00:52:29,750 We, as his creatures, are dependent upon him, 818 00:52:29,833 --> 00:52:33,833 and we owe to him everything we have because everything we have 819 00:52:33,917 --> 00:52:35,542 is a gift from him. 820 00:52:35,625 --> 00:52:40,208 So, our response to this God is one of humility and dependence 821 00:52:40,292 --> 00:52:42,417 before him. 822 00:52:42,500 --> 00:52:48,167 And then, this Creator God chose also to be amazing, 823 00:52:48,250 --> 00:52:50,000 the redeeming God. 824 00:52:50,042 --> 00:52:54,458 So, this redeeming God now in Christ has come to us so that 825 00:52:54,500 --> 00:52:58,833 his Son would bear our sin and receive the judgment of God 826 00:52:58,917 --> 00:53:03,542 against our sin in himself that by faith in Christ alone 827 00:53:03,625 --> 00:53:05,333 we might be saved. 828 00:53:05,375 --> 00:53:06,917 What a glorious thing. 829 00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:09,250 As we look at this redeeming act of God 830 00:53:09,333 --> 00:53:11,917 that is for all of the peoples of the world, 831 00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:16,042 we fall before him with a sense of trust 832 00:53:16,125 --> 00:53:20,458 and thankfulness for what God alone has done that 833 00:53:20,500 --> 00:53:22,708 we cannot contribute to. 834 00:53:22,792 --> 00:53:25,750 We trust him by what a heart of love he has. 835 00:53:25,833 --> 00:53:28,833 You know, sometimes I hear that Christian people struggle with 836 00:53:28,917 --> 00:53:32,958 whether or not God loves them, and my response is meditate upon 837 00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:35,042 1 John 4:10. 838 00:53:35,125 --> 00:53:38,917 "In this is love, not that we loved God, 839 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,667 "but that he loved us 840 00:53:41,708 --> 00:53:46,292 and gave his Son to be the propitiation"-- 841 00:53:46,333 --> 00:53:50,875 the satisfaction of his just wrath against our sin-- 842 00:53:50,958 --> 00:53:53,667 "the propitiation for our sins." 843 00:53:53,750 --> 00:53:56,458 So, boy, there is the love of God. 844 00:53:56,500 --> 00:53:58,167 Do you doubt his love? 845 00:53:58,250 --> 00:54:01,667 Look at the cross of Christ, the greatest display. 846 00:54:01,708 --> 00:54:03,500 Trust him. 847 00:54:03,583 --> 00:54:07,458 Be thankful to him for what he has done for you in Christ. 848 00:54:07,500 --> 00:54:10,958 And then finally, as we think of God as sovereign ruler, 849 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:14,917 and thereby he deserves ultimate glory as the sovereign ruler, 850 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:18,750 our hearts should be filled with hope and confidence knowing that 851 00:54:18,833 --> 00:54:24,958 God, who is alone infinitely wise, infinitely good, 852 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:28,833 infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely just, 853 00:54:28,917 --> 00:54:33,542 is the one who regulates what happens in the course of history 854 00:54:33,625 --> 00:54:37,333 and will bring, in the end, the fulfillment of his promises. 855 00:54:37,375 --> 00:54:43,333 What a great God God is and deserving alone of our 856 00:54:43,417 --> 00:54:49,667 ultimate dependence, our trust, and our hope in him. 857 00:54:49,708 --> 00:54:51,667 Let's pray together. 858 00:54:51,750 --> 00:54:54,292 Father, we thank you for the opportunity this morning 859 00:54:54,333 --> 00:54:59,667 to think together about some of the things that ground our 860 00:54:59,750 --> 00:55:06,333 confidence and our belief that you alone deserve ultimate 861 00:55:06,417 --> 00:55:09,542 praise and honor and glory. 862 00:55:09,625 --> 00:55:13,250 And we pray this morning you would help us in our own sinful, 863 00:55:13,333 --> 00:55:17,750 prideful tendency, to turn from self to you, 864 00:55:17,833 --> 00:55:20,333 to understand all that we have as a gift. 865 00:55:20,417 --> 00:55:23,542 We can't take credit for it, and you are the one who possesses 866 00:55:23,625 --> 00:55:28,000 within yourself everything that is worthy of praise. 867 00:55:28,083 --> 00:55:31,208 And so Lord God, we do praise you. 868 00:55:31,292 --> 00:55:35,250 We praise you for your role as Creator and Redeemer 869 00:55:35,333 --> 00:55:38,542 and Sovereign Ruler over all things, 870 00:55:38,625 --> 00:55:43,000 and pray that you would find our hearts inclined increasingly to 871 00:55:43,083 --> 00:55:47,667 know you in greater ways and to love and follow you with hearts 872 00:55:47,750 --> 00:55:51,958 that adore you and trust you and are dependent upon you. 873 00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:53,792 Do this good work in us, 874 00:55:53,833 --> 00:55:58,333 we pray in the name of our risen Savior, Jesus. Amen. 875 00:56:00,917 --> 00:56:03,833 Each year, over 10 million Mars Hill church sermons 876 00:56:03,917 --> 00:56:06,958 are downloaded worldwide for free. 877 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,542 This ministry is generously supported 878 00:56:09,625 --> 00:56:12,167 by Mars Hill church members and listeners like you. 879 00:56:12,250 --> 00:56:15,750 If you'd like to support our efforts to preach Jesus to the world, 880 00:56:15,833 --> 00:56:18,750 Please consider making a tax-deductible donation 881 00:56:18,833 --> 00:56:21,667 by visiting marshill.com/give.