Biblical Counseling - God's Sovereign Will

We have this topic of God's will, God's sovereign will. One of the ways we've been portraying it, and you have it on the front page of your handout as well, is this diagram here that has three circles. The outer circle representing God's sovereign will. And going through God's sovereign will, some of the things that people wrestle with Have you ever known anybody, maybe you yourself have been there, struggle with the idea of God's just sovereign and that's it? Ever had anybody teach that? God's sovereign. He makes all the choices. You don't get to really, you know, if you make a choice, it's really just kind of a subjective sense that you're making a choice. But in fact, God's just making all the choices.

Ever hear that? Yeah. I had trouble with that at first. You had trouble with that first, yeah. The idea of God's sovereignty is sometimes presented and sometimes thought of as God just makes all the choices and our subjective sense of making a choice is really just that. And in fact, so the teaching goes, you don't really make any choices, God makes them all. Yeah, this is sometimes called, and actually it would be termed hardline or hyper-Calvinism, the idea that it's just pedal to the metal Calvinism, God is sovereign down to the last, you know, piece of dust and the last molecule, and you don't have a choice.

Okay? That's not what we teach here, but some churches teach that. major schools of thought, you know, colleges, seminaries. Isn't that a way for us to make an excuse for ourselves? Well, there are some problems with that, and you bring up a good point. That kind of thinking can be an excuse for, you know, hey, I'm not making decisions, God's making them, right? So that, yeah, that's a good point.

And what are some other problems with that kind of thinking? Yeah, Tom? You're not going to experience true liberty in Christ. Okay, not going to experience true liberty in Christ. Yeah. There is a kind of an imprisoning with that thinking. Yeah? Gary? Would that indicate no free will? Yeah, we really don't have any choice. We're just locked in. I may think I'm making decisions, but I'm not. Yeah?

Yeah, there can be a sense of whatever happens is God's will. This is one of the things that has been typical of a lot of Islam, Islamic belief. You know, if you got your head chopped off, that was God's will. And that was even carried out. Robert E. Lee was known for regularly saying in the midst of the battlefield, God's will, God's will. Isn't that interesting? So there can be a sense of fatalism locked into it. Here's something else.

If God has already chosen those who are going to be saved, and nobody is going to be saved that He hasn't chosen, and nobody is going to be lost that He has chosen, why bother telling people the gospel? It's not going to make any difference. He's going to save who he's going to save, right? So there can be a dis-motivation, an undermining of the motivation for telling people the gospel.

So, real interesting, when you press that idea of God's sovereignty all the way up against the wall, it can be disconcerting, problematic, it can be an excuse, it can be disheartening, it can be dismotivating. What we find instead as we go through scripture is that scripture clearly lays out God's sovereignty and what we'll be taking a look at today are what are some of the realms in which God has declared that he is sovereign and no one is going to change it. And in fact, that's a good thing. And what are the areas in which he has said, though he is sovereign, that he has given us a realm of choosing? See, as a human being, believe it or not, there are simply choices I cannot make. If I say, you know, I'm going to be on the planet Pluto by noontime, Okay?

You'd probably be thinking, well, Vern's off his rocker, right? Okay? Why? What's the problem with that? Yeah, somehow it's not a planet or something, you know. Nonetheless, it is some orb floating out there. And the reality is, no matter what I might think I'm going to do, I am not going to be able to choose to go to Pluto by noontime. It ain't happening. People are not free to make every single hypothetically possible choice. Something else. Every human being makes a choice according to their nature or natures. For the believer, natures. One of the examples we give out is if If you see a crocodile, you do not expect that crocodile to be perched up on a limb chirping. You just don't expect that of a crocodile. Why? It's not the crocodile's nature. It's just not going to happen.

So every human being makes choices within the nature. We've talked previously about God's will, and certainly don't want to revisit every part of it. But one of the things we want to look at is, as we look at God's sovereignty, there is a realm in which God has determined things to be, or knows that certain things are going to happen, and that's the way it is. But that does not exclude our making choices and our being responsible for those choices. Because God has created the universe and created us in such a way that he can maintain his sovereignty, all the while giving us the opportunity to make choices within certain constraints.

I cannot make a choice outside of the nature or natures that I have. I cannot make a choice outside of that which is even possible. Isn't that where the self-will is broken? You may make a choice and think it's the right choice, but yet later on found out it was not according to God's will.

Yeah, we'll talk about that next in terms of our choices. Because right now we're covering God's sovereignty, and you're correct. It is possible for us to make a choice, an act of will, contrary to God's ultimate will. Yes, God has designed the universe to be that way. But today we'll be looking just at God's sovereign will. We have at the bottom of page 16 here this title, God's Plan for the Ages. One of the things that we look at here is there are, while we certainly have a great number of choices to make in life, there are certain things that God says are going to be before he's done with this world and this planet. What are some of the things that are going to happen in the future based on what we know the Bible says?

The world is going to be increasingly worse off, okay? And so we should crank up the anxiety knob or how do we respond to that? The world is going to be increasingly worse off. It is something that we just see Scripture says that's the way it's going to be. Bad men will go from bad to worse. It's one of the things that Paul writes. Good. Any other thoughts? What else is going to happen that the Lord has said, this is what's going to happen. This is how it's going to turn out. Christ's second coming. Absolute fact of history yet to happen. History yet to take place. Absolutely. It's not a 99.9% chance. Absolute future event. And you and I will be with him. Okay? Alright? And we can count on that too. Alright, what else? Good.

The Tribulation. A seven year period of great tribulation on the earth. Every believer from the time of the church will be taken out before that. That tribulation could be over and done seven years from today. And the Lord's coming happens seven years from today. What else? The tribulation, seven years, the Lord's coming, followed by a thousand year reign, followed by the end of this present heavens and earth.

This present heavens and earth, here where we're standing right now, could be all over and done, melted in, vaporized within 1,007 years from today. We know those are future events. We know the certainty of the events. What we don't know is what? Why? When? We can say it could be that this present heavens and earth will be all done, wound up, completed within 1,007 years. But we cannot say it will be. The events are absolutely certain. The timing of those events, unknown to us, at least when it all initiates. We are not given that information.

The Lord knows. There will come a time, and this follows as we've outlined before, there will come a time when the father will say to the son, go get your bride. That will start the clock. That will start the clock. But I don't think we'll be watching clocks. Don't think we'll be watching clocks. All right. Now, let's look at page 17 there. Is there anything that God doesn't know? That God just kind of throws up His hands about? No. God knows everything. Does that mean that God predetermines everything? Are those the same thing? Yes? No? Yeah? What's that?

He knows everything. He doesn't predetermine everything. He knows everything, but he doesn't predetermine everything. To know that it's going to happen doesn't mean that he causes and determines everything to happen. Let me give you, for instance, that you might be able to relate to.

Ever been in a situation where you hear the car tires go screech? And then right after that there's this bang. You ever hear that? You may even have been there on the scene. I have. You hear this? That's really bad. Alright. What happened is as soon as you start hearing the tires screech, you have a sense of uh-oh. You may even have seen it. and seeing he's not going to be able to stop in time. Bang, okay. You had a sense of foreknowledge, didn't you, when that took place. You see the tires, you know, starting to smoke and the car making all this noise at the wheels.

You see, no, he's not going to start, you know, stop in time. Did you make it happen? No. So knowing that something is going to take place is not the same as determining every little jot and tittle. God knows everything. He does not determine everything. One of the things that is part of the middle of section on page 17 is that we are sovereignly saved. What did we do to get saved?

What's that? What? She says believe. Can you believe it? That's all? I mean, how can that be? That just sounds too simple. Believed? Yeah. Believed. That's all. Now, do you get credit for believing? Does that get you credit? Is that spiritual brownie points? Faith is not a work. You get no credit for it. It's the one thing that you can do, but you get no credit for it. Why no credit for it? Why don't we get credit for believing?

You're believing something that's already happened. How did it happen? What's that? Yeah, it wasn't anything I did, see. It is faith in what God has done. It is faith in what God has accomplished, not what I have accomplished. So all faith is, and it's the one thing we can do that's not a work. It is nothing for which we get credit. It's the one thing we can do, but it is entirely dependent upon what God has done and is doing and will do entirely. Right? So that's it. It's that simple. we are sovereignly saved, all we did is believe. And by the way, when you believed, is that just because you're so good that you just, man, I believed. Is that the way it works?

Yeah, it's not me, right? It is not to my credit. How did I, and I'm speaking not just of me, but how did I, speaking editorially, come to a place of believing? Did that just happen because I'm just so smart and sharp? What took place? The person heard.

There is a drawing of the Holy Spirit. This is John chapter 16. There's a drawing of the Holy Spirit upon that person to come to a place of belief. There's a work of the Holy Spirit. for each one who comes to believe. It is a ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unbeliever. We talk about believers having the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Conviction regarding sin and righteousness and judgment. That's the Holy Spirit's work upon the heart of the unbeliever. then that believing means something because of what the Lord has done, not because of what we've done, not because faith is a work. It isn't. Not because we get credit for having done that. God does the crediting. If we look at our salvation, our salvation is all of God. All we do is believe what God has done and is doing and will do. As we talk with people about, because our context here is biblical counseling, as we talk with people, it is a great comfort to be able to tell people, if you believed, and it's not a work, you don't get credit for it, if you believed, God does all the saving.

And is there any reverse gear in this salvation thing. The transmission has no reverse. There is no whoops. There is no whoops in this thing. God doesn't, you know, say, well, you know, we tried. We gave it our best try. We gave it the old college try, right? He doesn't say that. I'm not sure what to take of that. One of the passages we've looked at repeatedly that's a real lockdown one is John 1028. I won't go into the details of it here, but let me just say it quickly. That's where Jesus says of his sheep, those who are of his flock, he says, I'm constantly giving them life. He says they shall never perish, which by the way is a is a middle voice.

They will never lose their salvation of their own doing. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. And the next verse says, my father gave them to me and no one will snatch them out of his hand. It can't be lost by my doing. I can't ooze. I can't even will that I be unsaved. And no external Entity, no external action is going to take me out of the Lord's hands. Neither the Father nor the Son. Both have me and each one here who believes in his hand. There's no one doing it. The church at Corinth was a messed up church. He was about to spend well over a dozen chapters telling them how they've got to get this straight and that straight and this other thing straight. Tells him in chapter three, you're fleshly.

But before he even gets through saying, hi, my name's Paul. Greetings to all you there. He says you've been sanctified, made holy. And he gives the present tense. Excuse me, perfect tense. Perfect tense means you've been completely sanctified. You've messed up, fleshly people. You've been completely sanctified in your position entirely. And the perfect tense implies permanence. Then he goes on to tell them what they have to get straight. But not before he's told them, you are already made entirely holy in your position in Christ.

And that's not going to come undone. Isn't that great news? And at the end of that, about verses 8 and 9, he says, God is faithful. He will do it. He's going to carry this out. What great assurance. Wonderful. And as we counsel with people, how tremendous that is to be able to share with them the certainty and the permanence of our salvation.

I can't blow it. I can't get on a positional banana peel and slip out the door accidentally. This is a wonderful thing. Ever run into somebody who said, I've done something God can't forgive? Not so much anymore? You run into more people that are not worried about it, right? Yeah, okay. Ever encounter that?

I've done something that God can't forgive? I'm too bad? How about the people who nailed Jesus to the cross? What did He say? Yeah, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. If those who nailed the Son of God to the cross could be forgiven. And as a matter of fact, the centurion who headed up the crew that did the nailing said, this truly was the Son of God. That's remarkable. There is nothing that we can do that's beyond the Lord's death on the cross for our sins. That's right. This is not a matter of what we do or don't do, what we fail to do, anything of that sort.

Another point here at the bottom of page 17 is our identification with Christ. We like to bring up frequently that Scripture lays out primarily in the letters written by the Apostle Paul, that everyone who believes has been identified with Christ in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection, in his ascension, in his seating.

Okay? If you're into tats, you can get that tatted on your finger, see? Assuming you've got all five of them. We've been identified with Christ in those five ways. very clearly and repeatedly. Scripture lays that out either by direct statement or by implication in those passages where it shows up. So you've been identified with Christ and that's permanent.

And what's interesting is I'll have conversations with people who say, well, you can lose your salvation. I say, that's very interesting, aside from some of the points I've already made. You notice there's these passages that says you've been baptized into Christ. Romans 6, Galatians 3. You've been baptized into Christ. You've been identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. Can you show me one passage that threatens or states that that gets undone? Please show me. No answer. They can't. I've yet to find anybody to point one out. There is no threatening. that that gets undone. People try to use that. That isn't an identification passage.

What usually scares them to death until they're shaking in their shoes is when you point out that it says if that passage is about losing your salvation, notice that it says it's impossible to bring them to repentance. If you lose it once, you're lost for good, if that is what the passage is saying. And I don't think it is. I've seen them where, when you point that out to them, there's no coming back.

And most of them can look at some point in time where they kind of slipped, and that has them shaken. But yeah, they try to. It still does not address the identification truths. And there is no passage that says any of those things are undone or even threatened to be undone for anyone. You've been seated with Christ in the heavenlies and there's no Teflon thrones. No slipping out of there. No banana peel at the footstool.

We've been identified with Christ and this is part of God's sovereign will. Remember in the Ephesians 2 passage verses 4 through 7 is where it talks about kind of the sequence of some of those identification truths. And it begins with the riches of his mercy. And I'll carry that across with the English word wealth, the wealth of his mercy. And then later in the passage, the wealth of his grace. Wealth of his mercy, wealth of his grace.

No reversal. No exit door. No transmission slipping in the reverse. So as we speak with other believers, and essentially this is, even in an informal sense, this is biblical counseling. Coming alongside another believer. We can encourage one another with the comfort that this is part of God's sovereign will. He has placed the believer in Christ and this identification, this being in Christ, this being baptized into Christ, it does not get reversed. That's part of His sovereign will. Once you've been identified with Christ, you are there. And no moving in and out.

What are some of the ways, aside from our salvation, what are some of the ways that these identification truths become valuable in a counseling context? Suppose you're talking to someone and let's say they're struggling with some sin. How is it helpful for them to be reminded of, told about these identification truths?

Is it simply something we keep in our head or how does it impact us? perfect in Christ, then it's a reminder that it's Christ that's doing it. If we're struggling with sin, we don't have to worry about overcoming it. Christ has said we've been made perfect in Him, and we can just rest in Him and allow Him to do the work in us rather than constantly This is going to happen to you. Yeah. One of the things that you touched on there is this word struggle. One of the things that is brought out in Scripture with our identification with Christ is that as Christians, our dealing with the sin nature is a matter not of willing not to do this and not to do that act. Because of the sovereignty of God in these areas of identification, we don't worry about losing our identification with Christ.

We can always count on being in Christ, always. But one of the things that Romans 7, Galatians 5 tells us, both of those, you cannot directly will against the sin nature. cannot. Romans 7 says it at length. Galatians chapter 5, 17 says it in one sentence. You cannot directly will against the sin nature.

I cannot simply say, I am not going to do this act. The priority decision for believers, the priority decision is where's my dependence? Where's my reliance? Not, I'm going to be a good person and do this and not that. I'm going to be a good Christian and I won't do this and I'll do that instead.

Scripture says, uh-uh. Don't try it. It is God's sovereign will that we are in Christ. It is God's sovereign will that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It is a choice of dependence, first and foremost, before there is a choice of, I'm going to do this or not do that. We cannot simply and directly stand apart from dependence on the sin nature and upon the Holy Spirit and say, I'm going to be a good Christian and do this and not that. Don't do it. Don't try it. The Bible says, uh-uh. Not going to happen.

Think of it in terms of this is what God wants you to do rather than this is what God has already done for you. And the struggle comes because we think God's will is that we be perfect in Christ and we think He wants me to do that so I have to strive towards that. Outstanding. Outstanding.

Here's an interesting thing that from time to time People are shown in TV programs as having amnesia. Have you noticed that that's sort of a recurring theme in TV programs and even movies and things? This amnesia thing is kind of an interesting thing to bring up. Here's someone and I've seen instances, for example, someone was engaged to be married and then they get amnesia and don't even recognize who it is that they've been engaged to. I love you. I don't even know you. See? This situation. What's interesting is if you ponder that, for a believer, we are born with amnesia. Here we have this immense set of spiritual blessings.

Ephesians 1.3, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Are you born knowing that? Are you born knowing what those blessings are? No. That's why we gather together. That's why we study God's Word. That's why we have electives and why we talk about it. Because essentially every Christian has this immense set of blessings. Unfathomable. That's the word. Unfathomable blessings. No believer is born knowing what those blessings are. So we come from a place of amnesia having to learn who we are. We are learning who we are. It is from knowing who we are that we deal with the issues of life.

Not from trying really, really hard to be a good Christian. We don't just give it our best efforts. I try really, really hard. We don't give it our best efforts. We don't give it our best shot. God is not asking us to do that. He is instead saying, here is who you are in Christ. That is the place from which we live. From knowing and learning who we are. Not, here's the way to behave. Try real hard to do it. And don't do these things. Right? Yeah, Gail.

I think as a positional, understanding positional truth has a tremendous impact, at least to me it has, in regard to understanding better how much God loves me, and getting away from insecurity, which generates fear. And it says in the Word that perfect love casts out fear. So whenever I'm afraid of something, get worried about something, I say to myself, you know what, somehow I don't know God well enough, I don't love Him well enough, something that I need more of Him. And so putting my focus on Him, that His love for me causes me to love Him in return, which I think is a motivator to not sin. And the struggle of always battling against sin I think gradually lessens as we focus on Him and know Him better.

Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. We've actually had people leave Holly Hills telling us, you just sit there and talk about who you are in Christ. Tell me what to do. Tell me what to do. And I don't want to hear all this stuff about who you are in Christ. What's wrong with that? This is what I have to do, what I can will, and when Scripture says you can't will it, forget it. That's what Romans 7 is about.

That's what Galatians 5.17 is about. You cannot will to do this or that. The choice, the decision is about dependence. And you've got two, and there's only one that God has in mind. That's it. That's the bottom line. It's not, what am I going to do? What am I not going to do?

It's, where's my dependence? And you know exactly what God has in mind for you to depend upon Him. Yeah, Art? How does a disobedient Christian reconcile his position in Christ? Any thoughts on that one? He can't. It's already been done. But that isn't the point.

Are there not those Christians who are disobedient? But at the same time, in their disobedience, they have a position in Christ. So it seems to me that the reconciliation comes in a person's recognition of Since I am identified with Christ, I should eliminate my disobedience. What Art's talking about here, Christians can either one, be completely ignorant of who they are, and they don't understand why there's a conflict between who they are and what they're doing. So Christians can be ignorant, Is it possible for a Christian to know who they are in Christ and yet act contrary to that knowledge? Can that happen? Yeah. It can happen, can't it? Yeah. It is possible for a Christian knowing full well who they are in Christ to live entirely contrary to that. It can in fact be.

And it's because at any moment the choice is not Primarily, should I do this or not do that? The choice is, where's my dependence? And as long as my dependence is upon the sin nature, then that's what the action is going to produce. That's the action that's going to be produced. The sin nature's action, contrary to who I am eternally in Christ.

Alright, now, in the middle of page 18, Just a couple of lines right before the Blessed Hope. We have a four-page appendix there that's included in your handout. And that four-page appendix is kind of an outline listing of who you are in Christ. It's what they're taking nine months to study in the other elective in what we call the red carpet room. You have them there in brief form. It's the unfathomable riches that we have in Christ. It is the every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's what is outlined there in four pages, part of your appendix. That's appendix item two.

And we will not go over that today. That would be screaming. We will not get there. But that's available for you to peruse. One more thing, and that is the blessed hope. We talked about things that are most certainly coming. We talked about the seven-year tribulation period that is certainly coming. We talked about the Lord's second coming. We will be with Him when He comes again. We talked about this thousand-year millennial reign of Christ upon the earth and the end of this present heavens and earth.

But one of the things we said earlier is that the clock starts ticking on that whole thing at the moment when the Father tells the Son, go get your bride. The Father tells the Son, go get your bride, and Christ comes for the church. That is what Paul refers to as the blessed hope for the believer. That is a certainty.

What's the uncertainty? We've said it before. Time. We don't know the moment. It could be that we plan on three people being baptized here before noontime. It could be that that doesn't happen because the Lord takes us all out of here before then. Yes. Three people will be baptized later on today if the Lord doesn't come first. It is even possible that two get baptized and the third one doesn't if the Lord comes.

This could be a little surprising. If that happens, I hope I have my clothes on, but whatever. But this is a blessed hope, and I think that's another thing is, as we counsel with one another, what kind of a hope do we have? And let's ask, what's the character of this hope, this blessed hope? Why is it so special?

Pardon? It's for sure. It's certain. It is something we can count upon. It's not an I hope so. I might hope for this or that outcome here on planet Earth. This is not an I hope so hope. It's an expected end. This is exactly what you anticipate is going to happen with 100% certainty and no decimal points excluded. Absolute certainty.

It's something we can count on. That's one reason why it's a blessed hope. It's also a blessed hope because it's a personal hope of seeing the Lord face-to-face. And when we see Him face-to-face, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. A certain hope. And as believers, why do we bring that up in biblical counseling? Why is that of value? Why is it important to have this certain blessed hope? as believers. We don't have to be anxious. We don't have to fear. We don't have to worry. Okay. Let me ask this question.

Will every single believer be raptured? Yes. The rapture is not simply a matter of those who are alive right then when the Lord comes to take each believer, but it is every single believer from the day of Pentecost to the day the Lord says, come. Every single believer during that period of time, whether they have already died in the Lord, or whether they are alive when the Lord calls the church home, every single one will be raptured. Every one.

And it is a certain hope Years ago, when Nancy and I were in community college, and at this point in time, I don't think Nancy and I were even a thing. You know how that is. I had, because it was part of the curriculum, they had various PE classes they wanted you to take. I'd switch between different ones at different times.

But there was one I had, it was just a matter of going out and running the track, running laps during this time. And the coach, I remember his name was Coach Noonan. Coach Noonan was out there while people were out running laps. And I'd gotten through with my laps and I came over and talked to the guys.

And somehow the discussion came around where it seemed really appropriate where I brought up the fact that, you know, someday we're all going to die. And at that, the coach's face got real serious. And he says, man, I don't want to die. What's his problem? Problem was, he did not have this certain blessed hope. As believers, we can, and this is exactly what Paul calls for, we can comfort one another with these words. We can comfort one another with these words.

And is there a grieving? Oh yeah, you're going to miss whoever it is. a friend, a family member. Yeah, there's a grieving that goes on. Nancy's mom and dad are both home with the Lord. She misses them. And frankly, I miss them too. My oldest brother, I've got five kids in the family. My oldest brother has gone home with the Lord about 16 years ago. But it wasn't a goodbye forever.

I talked to him. He and I sat down and I brought my guitar and I sang some songs together, songs about the Lord together. And then he got to a point where I could tell he was kind of tired. He was struggling with colon cancer and he was just out of energy. But he said, I'm ready for whatever's next. He was ready. My dad's sister had colon cancer as well.

And she had around-the-clock people from the church watching her, caring for her. And the person that was with her when she went home to be with the Lord said that all of a sudden, she was lying down, she all of a sudden pointed, That was the last thing she said.

We have, as believers, a blessed hope to share. We have a comfort. Will we miss these people? Oh, yeah. But what a wonderful thing to be able to comfort other people with. And it's part of God's sovereignty. It's not a, boy, I... It'd sure be nice, but it's a certainty. He knew the Lord, and he knew he was ready for whatever was next. See, this is a wonderful thing to be able to share. How marvelous. What a tremendous gift.

As we counsel one another to underscore that perspective, to underscore that blessed hope, a certain hope, This is a wonderful thing and it's a part of God's sovereignty. Unlike what we talked about earlier, this hardline Calvinism where the world is just this big machine and God makes all the choices. Instead we look at, here is God's sovereignty and it has such tremendous hope in it and tremendous motivation for us to be able to share. It is wonderful, wonderful news to be able to share. and even to be able to share as a hope for those who don't know the Lord.

There was an atheist that I was talking to one time, and I told him, I said, you know, if the Lord should take me out of here in whatever time He does, I have a certainty. I have a hope. And I'm going to be there with the Lord. And those people who have put their trust in Him, I'll be with them too. And I have a blessed hope.

And not only that, everything that's happening here on planet Earth all has meaning forever. It has significance on into eternity. That's just wonderful stuff. So it's not just a sharing with other believers, although it certainly is that. It's an incomparable hope. I saw that atheist in church about a year later. I said, what are you doing here? He says, I'm a former atheist. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at these truths that you've laid out, your sovereignty is something in which we can take comfort, we can encourage other believers, We can exhort other believers, having an understanding of sovereignty. We can, in our very own hearts and lives, look to the things that you have determined to be, the things that you know and have revealed to us. And we can trust in you, trust in those things. And Lord, what great comfort that is.

And we know that there are things then we don't have to worry about whether we're going to find Your will. When the rapture happens, if we put our trust in You, it's not an if kind of thing. It's not an I hope so kind of thing. But it's certain. And Lord, we thank You for the things that You have revealed to us in which You are sovereign. We thank You that even in the things with which we easily struggle, that You have made us to be in Christ by Your sovereign will. We thank You for Your sovereignty and all that we can trust in You for because of that. In Jesus' name, Amen.