Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
worship Call 1169 God's predestined plan - 2024/10/29
(upbeat music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (gentle music) (gentle music) - Welcome to worship call with Bible teacher Buzz Laubek. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. - For October 29th, top side of the soul written by A.W. Tozier. The verses Acts 26, 18. To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. It is certainly a reality in our day that too few men and women are willing to keep the top side of their souls open to God and to his light from heaven. You may wonder about such an expression as top side of the soul, but I do think it is in line with the Bible teaching and certainly in line with Christian experience. Heart and the soul are open to God in some people's lives, but certainly not in others. We should be always, or we should be aware that man's forgiveness is not always like God's. When a man makes a mistake and has been forgiven, the shadow may still hang over him among his fellows. But when God forgives, he begins the new page right away. Then when the devil runs up and says, "What about his past?" God replies, "What past?" He has been forgiven. Now, I think that kind of forgiveness and justification and acceptance with God depends upon a person's willingness to keep the top side of the soul open to God in his saving grace. This is the third day of the week and God's created order, 29th day of the 10th month, 2024th year of our Lord, and this is another fine day in our Lord. Father in heaven, we thank you for another day for waking us up. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for your doctrine, that precedes your challenges in this life and in this world, that we recognize that there is a predestination, that you have predestined us, not to wrath, but to being received by and glorifying the, this is a wonderful reality that we have. And we pray, Heavenly Father, that you open the eyes of our hearts that keep the top side open, always looking unto thee. Open our hearts to the study of the word of God this morning as we continue to grow and grace in it and in these things we pray in Christ's name, amen. Acts 4, 24 through 31, once again, there's a lot of meat and taters here. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, oh Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. The greatest words, the greatest words in all the Bible, I probably is at the very beginning, in the beginning God. And it is God, and without God, you see, in the beginning you had, it was formless, the earth became formless, void, dark, and that's the way it would always be. That would be the default situation. It required an external power to come in and recreate or re-established or whatever it takes to be, but that void, that emptiness would have stayed and remained forever if it wasn't for the hand of God coming in and making the alternate and it was his created power. So recognizing him, and if we recognize him as the creator, we also recognize him. His power, we also recognize his sovereignty because the one who makes it, the one who re-estabishes, he has re-established it for a purpose, he has re-established it for himself. And it goes along with the chaos that we see in our world, which we've probably talked much about today, that God is not a God of chaos and God of order, but man will not be able to fix what man has broken, and we are looking for an external source to come in and fix that which is broken, who the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, said, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's divides a futile thing? The kings of this earth take their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly in this city, they are gathered together against the Holy servant of Jesus whom you annoyed it. Let's back up a little bit. Back in there here, they're quoting Psalm two. And we read the second Psalm yesterday, wonderful Psalm, and it's a Psalm of hope and a generation where there are those that those that formulate themselves up against God. Early in our country, in this current political climate, and four years ago, or going on to four years ago, that when this current president took charge immediately, the first day when he took office, he began to make executive orders to promote the yay, the lesbian, the transgender, and make laws to protect abomination and perversion, and who knows what else? And even when these first laws came to light and the things that he signed, I had to chuckle. I had to laugh a little bit. Because it's not about rights. Get this, and I've always thought this, the homosexual movement, the transgender now, and whatever perversion, it's not about one's personal rights, not at all. It is about defiance against God. It is standing up against God's design. And standing toe to toe with God. And I had to laugh. I did, although laughing cry at the same time, actually, because I knew God in heaven is laughing. That God is not threatened. God is never threatened. Our Lord already knows. And here in the Psalms talks about why does, why do a people devise a vain thing? Get back down to it. So once again, why did the Gentiles rage? And let's look at these words, rage. Born to the Lewa Nida, rage. And it's to show insolent anger, to rave, to be incensed. Why are the nations raving? Evidently combines not only anger, but a considerable measure of opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. And as things go on politically, and I find that necessary, oh, maybe not necessary, but really as practical application to look at the world and again, the laws, the political mantra and the things that people are saying at the saying from the bully pulpit, you might say, from their lecture, and I should say that their lecture. And right now, they may seem to get some ostracization, lately, one of the candidates kicked some Christians out. Yeah, they were yelling Jesus Christ as Lord, and when this candidate was talking about abortion and they asked Gordon Mountain, and she made some Stein comments, it gets the Christians. And, you know, and define against God. So you have the, to show insolent anger, rave, into incense, and Christians, you must recognize that it's more so against the one whom you serve, the one you bow and need to. They can't lash out, they can't lash out against God apart from lashing out against, the only way they can lash out against God is lash out against God's children, his elected ones. And the people's device, let's look at the word device here, device, and it's to think seriously about a particular course of action. I mean, they actually scheme, they actually plot against God. To plan, to act, to plot, why do the people devise a vain thing, Acts 4.25? And a feudal, and let's look at the feudal things, and futile, shall I say, kennels, and it's to empty, pertaining to a complete lack of understanding and insight, foolish and stupid. So, the things that they're doing, and the things that their planet, their feudal, it is in the sense that they make these plans, they scheme, but they're going to come to no end. I should have brought that up there, sorry about that, okay. So, the kings of the earth took their, the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. You have, first of all, you have the kings, that would be like King Herod, all right, and their time. This is, and their viewpoint. The king Herod would be the kings of the earth, the representative, the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers, the rulers would be Pilate, and the Roman rulership over them were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Let me see, they get them off. The rulers gathered together against the Lord and through us. For truly, in this city, verse seven, for truly in this city, they were gathered together against the Holy servant of Jesus, whom they anointed, both Herod, again the kings, and Pontius Pilate, the ruler, along with the Gentiles, the Gentiles are the peoples and the people of Israel. All of these are people who, and Jesus talked about concerning the Israelites. Not all the Israelites are on board, even Paul said, not all who call themselves Israelites or Israelites, or people of God, and all of these, they take their stand against God's anointed one, not God himself, but God's anointed one, and God's anointed one is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the early church quotes Psalm two, one through two, which they ascribe to David in their prayer. And the early church saw that the Psalms was pointing to Jesus, to his sonship. They finally, this very one, they have repented this. This is a picture of repentance, many of these are the ones who were crying for Jesus' crucifixion, who said, crucify him, crucify him. But in the changing of the mind, they turn their attitude, they turn their hearts back, and with that forgiveness, see Paul, who formerly was a psalatarsus, he recognized how greatly he was forgiven. In his life, reflected his repentance. These people also, they recognize how strongly they, how wrongly they were. And when it came to receiving the Holy Spirit, that was, you know, that is such an essence of grace. The very ones that hated Jesus, that mocked him at the cross, that they took satisfaction in this one dying. And then to receive forgiveness. And not only, not only aid, listen, not only aid, okay, you're forgiven, okay, you're not only forgiven, but I'm gonna give you something. I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna open your eyes to greater things. I'm gonna call you mine. I'm gonna, I'm gonna call you to heaven one day. I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you extraordinary privileges as being, and I'm gonna bring you into my family. I'm gonna close you with a righteousness. What grace? So this, so the, these people, and their prayer, and, and it's a wonderful prayer, by the way too, because within this prayer is scripture. And you ever pray for scripture? I mean, when you get down to, to conversation with God, to lift up the things that you've learned, Lord, you, you said in your Bible, your scripture, and in quote scripture as your praying, and this is what they were doing. They're quoting, they're quoting the second Psalm. Acts 1333, and they're recognizing that the, this early church is recognizing that Jesus is the, that he is the son, and the, the role of Messiah, he is the Messiah. Acts 1333. That God has fulfilled this promise to our children, in that he raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm. You are my son. Today I have forgotten you. Hebrews 1-5, for to which the angels did he say, you are my son. Today I have forgotten you. Once again, we're going back to the second Psalm. Hebrews 5-5, so also Jesus did not glorify himself so as to become the high priest. But he, who said to him, you are my son, and today I have forgotten you. Acts 4-25, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, said, why did the Gentiles rage, and the people devise a funeral thing? The kings of this earth take their stand, and the rulers gather against the Lord and against his Christ. See, there is going to be opposition. No, we're not going to take his worship. No, we're not, where there is legitimate authority, there is going to be opposition to it. The demons recognize that there's coming a time. But there is coming a time. You see, Jesus now is not sitting on his throne. Understand that he is not sitting on his throne. He's sitting on his Father's throne. And there is coming a time, like that's your fulfilled prophecy. That's where he's now at now, he's sitting in heaven, in that most holy of places and all of existence. And it is the Father who says, come sit down at my right hand 'til I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And so the use of Psalm two acknowledges that the world will oppose the plan of God. They are agents of Satan, and they're going to do everything that they can to stop it. They're going to oppose the Messiah. And the original context in Psalm two, the context declares the coordination of God. And God coordinating his son that I'm going to make you king. That it's only a matter of time. In the second Psalm, it says kings, rulers, repent. You know, why you still have a chance? Bow you kings, bow to, and you people, bow to the, bow to his son. That's to become angry. So there's a point of application here. First of all, Christ has not yet returned. What we see today in the world, we must look at it with the proper application. Proper, not knowing what's happening. And you gotta know your Bible. In times like this, is there a payoff for our Bible study? Is there, has there been a payoff for all those hours you spent and people kind of rolling their eyes at you, maybe thinking that you were a holy roller Bible thumper? You know, we have God's program right here. If you're sitting here, ringing your hand, I'm going to say this. If you're sitting there, ringing your hands, and you're worried about the election coming up next Tuesday, and I'm not saying don't worry about it and don't go vote. I'm saying yes, you go vote, but the outcome is the Lord's. And things are predestined. The Lord knows, he knows about the election. He already knows his hand. Listen, we're worried about the cheaters and those people that's going to cheat and do everything else and thwart the election again. Well, there's a greater hand in this election and that hand is God. And it's Jesus Christ that controls history. And this is the program book and who's to say that we're not in that generation. Evil has made great strides within this world. And are we looking for man to repair what man has broken? And yes, I'm praying for the political, for a good government, for the political turnaround that the United States can turn around and the world can. And I hope it does, but will I be surprised one way or another how Tuesday is going to turn out? No, I won't, or the next four months up until inauguration or anything after that? No, I'm not because Jesus Christ controls history. And what these people are happy here, they're my carry-offs because they're seeing the current events and the things that are happening. And this is just shot across the ballot. Peter and John being brought in to the brought in and being arrested as Jesus shot across the ballot. They were acquitted, they were sent on their way, they were warned not to talk of this Jesus, but there's gonna be, that's just a start. And before it ends, before it ends up to this day, countless number of people who named the name Jesus, not God people, but Jesus, but named the name Jesus, and who would not recant. And they were all kinds of hideous torture and everything else after that time. We are not, ladies and gentlemen, we are not living in a kingdom. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not sitting on his throne yet in Jerusalem, he's sitting at the right hand of the Father. Evil in this day is having it say, and they, while evil is having to say, there is the opportunity for repentance, they're turning around. So point of application number one, Christ has not returned yet. Point number two, hope is not what we have seen, but what we bank on being true. It's not what we've seen, but what we bank on being true. These people were validated, and they're seeing the foundation being set. They've already seen the resurrected Christ, they know he is ascended, they know he's coming back. And they see, even the evil is bringing a light of joy within their hearts, because that's exactly what the psalmist says would happen, is that there is going to be opposition against his established kingdom. So another point of doctrine, number five, it'll go with point three, our hope is not in our world leaders. Our hope is not in our world leaders. And number four, our hope is in the Son of God. He is the Son of David, who is prophesied, who is prophesied in Isaiah 11, Isaiah 11, the shoot of Jesse. It is in 2nd Samuel 7, the Davidic covenant, the Daniel prophecy in Daniel 9, that the Son of Man will come in the clouds. These things are prophesied, and we see them upon the horizon. Ladies and gentlemen, if this is not our hope, I don't know where you are as Christians, but certainly you are dismissing the word of God. So if we can keep that straight, if we can keep these things, if we can keep the things that are going on in our world, if we can keep these things straight in light of the scripture. Blessed is a man who focuses upon who meditates on the word day and night. Joshua, going into the most severe time in his life, the Lord gives him his marching order, saying be brave and courageous. This word of mind that will not proceed out of your mouth, but you are meditated upon it day and night, and therefore your way will be successful. These are the times, if we might have to do a little bit of cramming, what I'm saying is turn the TV off and open up your Bible and start understanding God's plan and knowing that God's plan is in effect. All right. So let me go on through here. So Acts 4, 26, the kings of the earth took the stand and the rulers who gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. So this is not so different than if we had lived in the time of the Exodus. You know, in the time of Exodus, there's patterns in the Bible also as you are a Bible student. And the student of the Word of God, there are patterns, and the time of the Exodus, Egypt, was the world. And though the people were enslaved to that culture, was enslaved to that, they depended upon, as slaves, they were dependent upon Egypt for their livelihood. So they stood by to watch the world in which they grew up in, destroyed by the showdown between Pharaoh and Moses, between Satan's elect and God's elect, and between the gods of Egypt and the God of Israel. Same things going on in the day, folks. There is the showdown and where there's a showdown, the environment is going to be turned upside down, as it says. So against the Lord and against his Christ, Acts 4, 27. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, again the king, the rulers, along with the Gentiles, the people and the peoples of Israel. All of these set themselves up against God. And these people are still stiff neck people Israel. So even they, in the future, there's going to be those people who will sign a covenant, a covenant of death with the Antichrist. To do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. Look at this word right here for predestined, as we close out today, we're getting close, predestined. And that predestined means to come to a decision beforehand, to decide beforehand, to determine ahead of time, to decide upon the head of time. This is a point of a relaxed mental attitude, because the king whom we serve, the king who we bound the need to, there is no surprises. And God uses evil, you see, R.C. Sproul says that he had made the quote that the devil is God's devil. The evil that is in this world is under the control, under the providential and permissive control of God. And evil, Satan and evil, and they may think that they're on their own program. And they have their own volition, but God will allow the providential hand. He'll open doors and he'll close doors to channel that evil, to bring history to its culmination, along with everything else. This is called God's divine decree. In eternity past he knew every decision, every thought, every decision, every motive of every creature. And he worked it in to the end, and it maps out the entire. God sees the entire history as it is to be. No surprise with God. Next week's election is no surprise to God, what evil will do and other authorities within this world. What they will do, whether it's domestic or foreign, God already knows, there's no surprises. And so we know that it's gonna work out to its culmination. And Christ has already won the victory. The question is, are we going to participate in that victory? And after it's all over, there's gonna be, after it's all over, there's gonna be those that winners and losers, and the, as Christians, there's gonna be winners and losers, there's gonna be those that will stand forward, well done good and faithful servant, because it starts with their mental attitude, trusting all the way through that, and God's predetermined plan. They didn't get bent against, hey, say, certainly there may have been some tears. Certainly there may be some heartaches. Nonetheless, nonetheless through faith that God has through. And then there's gonna be those that spent their lives agonizing over one event to the other event and being torn apart here and here and here, and mostly in everything else, failing each and every time because they failed to look at God's predetermined plan because they knew not their God, they knew not their savior, they knew not the word of God. Father in Heaven, thank you for this opportunity this morning to fellowship in your word, open our hearts to it. I pray Heavenly Father that you open the eyes of our hearts for a better understanding, that we may be able to see the current events in the light of Scripture, and with confident expectation, and our eyes open, that the Son of God is coming back to rule. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, another five day in the Lord, we have our Bible study tonight. We'll continue on our survey of the Bible. We're up to Jacob tonight, the heel grabber, and perhaps we'll get through Jacob and on upwards to the son of Israel. So we'll start seven o'clock tonight. Hope you're with us. Until then, stay motivated in the Lord, keep your armor on and keep fighting a good fight of faith. We'll see you. - Joining us, you can hear this message again, as well as previous lessons, and get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [ Silence ]
There are no surprises with God