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welcome back to our trusting God Sunday school series allow me to open with a word of prayer Heavenly Father we can trust you you are the great Sovereign father son Holy Spirit you hold all things in your hands but help us to recognize your sovereignty and our own responsibility help me to clarify that well this morning and help us to apply these truths in Jesus name amen amen we’re coming near the end of our first major subject of study in the book trust in God by Jerry Bridges we’ve been looking at God’s complete sovereignty in the past five lessons we’ve examined is God really in control we’ve established the doctrinal foundation of the sovereignty of God we’ve looked at God’s sovereignty over people we’ve looked at God’s rule over the Nations and we’ve looked at God’s power over nature all that we’ve studied all that we’ve heard should not only provoke in us a reverence for the great Sovereign the one true God but also move us to trust him in the dayto day when we are in pain or when we are puzzled by the circumstances that we encounter but all this teaching has and inevitably will raise certain questions about our own responsibility in light of the sovereignty of God our own need to act and remain obedient before God though he’s in control now some of these questions have actually come up inass class or outside of class I’m just having conversations with you questions like the following if trusting God’s sovereignty means trusting in God’s justice when people sin against me does that mean then I shouldn’t do anything about it I shouldn’t try to confront mistreatment or protect myself if trusting in God’s sovereignty means God controls ultimately controls illness healing childbearing then should I still see doctors should I still use medicine if God’s sovereignty means that everything is working out according to God’s plan and that nothing can change or thwart that plan what is the point of praying to God and asking God to change anything so before we move on from the subject of God’s sovereignty it is important that we spend a lesson clarifying the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility and that’s what we’re going to do today this is the next chapter in trust in God chapter 7 God’s sovereignty and our responsibility now to tackle this topic we’re going to basically follow the outline of Bridget’s chapter slightly modified we’re going to talk about God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility when it comes to prayer prudence and our failures and there are few key truths that I’m going to emphasize throughout this lesson and I’m going to give them to you right in the beginning you’re going to hear me say these again but I’m going to give them to you right in the beginning I I want to make sure you don’t miss the takeaways some of the main takeaways from this lesson when it comes to God’s sovereignty and our responsibility you must remember the Bible affirms both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility without any contradiction it’s not one or the other it’s both number two God’s sovereignty when rightly understood encourages the Christian to fulfill his responsibility rather than discourages him from doing so and then number three though God normally provides for his people through certain ordained means Christians must not ultimately trust in those means but in the God who makes those means effective or ineffective talk about that especially at the end of the lesson you often are going to be the answer to your own prayers but you’re not to trust in yourself you’re not to trust in the normal means you’re to trust the God who uses those means or can act and provide apart from those means now let’s see how these truths and others apply to our first area of interest and that is prayer God’s sovereignty in prayer we know that the Bible commands us to pray God commands us famously in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 what does God say pray without ceasing pray without ceasing not only this but God tells us us that he will in fact hear and respond to our prayers with action when we pray give you some example Psalm 50:15 God says call upon me in the day of trouble I shall rescue you and you will honor me you need rescue call upon me I’ll act Matthew 7:11 Matthew 7:11 if you then being evil Jesus says know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him you want good you need something good ask God he’s a good father he’ll give it to you he’ll respond in John 15:7 John 15:7 Jesus says if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you God hears and responds to prayer that’s what these scriptures are telling us but are these promises misleading if God is Sovereign he has his plan it’s going to work out no matter what then how does this fit with these promises is it actually impossible to change the mind of a sovereign God and see him provide something he wasn’t actually already planning to provide well before we answer that question let me ask you this and here’s where you can can participate can you think of any instances in the Bible in which God responded to Prayer by changing his mind regarding an action that he had already planned or announced that he would do yeah glena n okay so Jonah and Nineveh Jonah 3:10 when the people of Nineveh repented of their evil they went into mourning they called upon the one true God what does Jonah 3:10 says say when God saw their deeds that they turned from their wicked way then God relented concerning the Calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them and he did not do it right that’s a good example what’s another one Cheryl oh excellent yeah so Hezekiah King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20 2 Kings 20: 4-6 King Hezekiah has just heard from the prophet Isaiah that he’s going to Hezekiah is going to die he’s sick he’s not going to recover he’s going to die get your house in order you’re going to die but Hezekiah praised to God he praised to God for healing and for deliverance and this is what Second Kings 20: 4-6 says before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court the word of the Lord came to him saying return and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people thus says the Lord the god of your father David I have heard your prayer I have seen your tears behold I will heal you on the third day you will go up to the house of the Lord I will will add 15 years to your life and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake okay there’s another clear example God said this is what’s going to happen someone prays and God changes course Lea did you have another one yeah in Amos he pleads for God to stop the Judgment that he’s going to bring on Israel in this one particular two times in a row and said the Lord changed his mind this right okay so I don’t have that reference down but in Amos 7 God shows potentially what he’s going to do and it’s going to be overwhelming the prophet pleads God don’t do that and God says all right I won’t so again God is responding he says here’s a course that I’m going to take or I could take and then he responds to prayer and he changes course Steve did you have another one mes just about yeah Moses just about every week Steve says yeah um multiple times especially after Mount Si God is telling Moses I got to destroy this people just let me alone let me alone let me destroy them and I’ll make of you a great nation this actually happened most notably after the golden calf Rebellion they’ve just received the law they said we’re going to keep it we’re going to keep Covenant with God but they break it in a pretty really heinous way God says I’m going to destroy the people but in Exodus 32:14 now this is this is really striking when Moses entreated the Lord not to carry out the Lord’s intent to destroy Israel it says so the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he said he would do to his people and we could add other instances but how do we explain this is God Sovereign or not is everything really going according to God’s Eternal plan his eternal decree or not is God just improvising based on the prayers and actions of people and we can add to this another verse numbers 23:19 God speaking through balum even though balam wasn’t a true Prophet God chose to speak through him in numbers 23:19 galeb balum announces God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should repent that is turn back or change his mind has he said and will he not do it or has he spoken and will he not make it good well I don’t know balum we just saw three instances where he did do that he said here’s what I’m going to do actually no I’m not gonna because you prayed about it how how does this work how can this be is this just a contradiction in the Bible no it’s not but how do we reconcile these examples these verses that that we see from scripture God is Sovereign his plan never changes yet he changes and responds to prayer yeah Jack those changes were already ordained to happen he’s just showing his Mercy he was showing his greater one of his Greater Mercy I think they were intend yes I think Jack has hit the nail on the head these changes this reversal of course was actually part of God’s unchanging plan from the beginning we could say it this way in one sense prayer changes God’s mind and in another sense prayer does not change God’s mind in the realm of God’s Eternal decree nothing ever changes his mind everything always works out exactly as God already determined from the beginning but in the realm of God’s dealings with man in time God often changes his mind or takes new action in response to prayer this is because as Jack was explaining God has eternally ordained that the prayers of his people would be an important means by which God would fulfill his eternal decree and thereby bring his people good and himself glory in short God has ordained your prayers as one critical way he fulfills his Sovereign plan yeah Mark da I thought it was um helpful in our Iron Man book when we talked about prayer the analogy that if you throw if you’re on a boat and you throw the the Rope to shore to pull yourself toward the shore you’re not pulling the shore to you you’re pulling yourself toward the shore and prayer is simp to that in that we are drawing closer to God and His will it’s more changing us than it is changing him okay thank you thank you for that comment Mark though I’m gon to comment on that a little bit maybe in an unexpected way I think what you’re saying is true Mark and you’re referring to the disciplines of a Godly Man book the analogy of an anchor being thrown towards the shore and and pulling it’s not the shore being drawn closer to the boat it’s the boat being drawn closer to the shore and in one sense prayer is more no I should say this prayer is about changing our own will to align with God’s but I don’t want us to misunderstand that as if prayer is just a uh a routine where we say God I really want this I really want this I think you would want this oh but God uh never mind your will be done just do whatever you were going to do I’m I’m just going to submit to your way you do want to pray yes Lord your will be done but the things that you pray the thing you’re asking God to do God actually responds to those things in the temporal sense I’m going to explain this more in a second if you don’t pray God won’t do it God won’t do it until you pray because he’s ordained that your prayer is actually what’s going to make it happen so in one sense you’re not changing anything about what God has said you’re just aligning yourself with his will but in another sense you are changing what God has said he was going to to do because it is accordance with his will what should this idea this truth that God has ordained that our prayers are an important means of fulfilling his Sovereign plan one implication application is that it should motivate us to Greater obedience in prayer after all your prayers matter they through our good God they make things happen God will act in response to your prayers and bring about his perfect will for you and for his world now when I was talking about God won’t act until you pray this is actually stated explicitly in one space in the scriptures God will often wait to bring about his good for you until you pray and pray in the right way and we see this in James James 4: 2 to three in that context James identifies identifies conflict among Believers as emerging from outof control desires and then James says in James 4:2 James 4:2 you lust and do not have so you commit murder you’re envious and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel you do not have because you do not ask James is asking his his readers his audience why are you guys getting into conflict over things that you could have easily had if you had simply prayed about it you’d simply asked God for it you people are relying on yourselves and not depending on God in prayer and that’s why you don’t get what you want and what you need but then James quickly adds in the next verse James 4:3 you ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures you see God does sovereignly respond to prayer but only to righteous prayers or rather he’s he’s only obligated to respond to righteous prayers he he could respond to another prayer if he wishes but he he’s not obligated to do so if you pray to God while regarding iniquity in your heart or if you pray to God for something good even Something He commands you to pray for but it’s really only so that you can pursue some Idol well then don’t expect the Sovereign God to answer your request don’t expect him to act don’t expect him to respond God is too holy and too good to assist you in pursuing spiritual adultery which is what James says next in James 4:4 you adulteresses anyways do you see what I mean even from the beginning of the lesson when I say that God’s sovereignty when rightly understood should actually motivate you to obedience and not demotivate you God God’s complete sovereignty sovereignty doesn’t make your prayers useless or merely a mechanism for you to align your will with what God has already decreed on the contrary God’s complete sovereignty is what gives you confidence in prayer even as you cry out to God in your worshipful dependence on his provision only a truly Sovereign God can answer your prayers and if necessary he will move Heaven and Earth to do so only a sovereign God Only The Sovereign God can do that Jer Bridges says correctly on page 101 bottom paragraph prayer assumes the sovereignty of God if God is not sovereign we have no assurance that he is able to answer our prayers it’s because God is Sovereign that we pray to God’s sovereignty doesn’t make us so that we don’t pray or at least it shouldn’t and there’s a similar Truth by the way when it comes to Evangel ISM plenty of people who disbelieve in the sovereignty of God feels like it contradicts certain things they will say well if you believe that then you’ll never evangelize you’ll have no Zeal to seek the loss because you just say well God will bring them in now God’s sovereignty misunderstood could lead to that but when rightly understood it doesn’t lead to a lack of zeal in evangelism but an actual increased Zeal for evangelism and confidence why well if you know that God is Sovereign just as he uses prayer to accomplish his means if you know that God is Sovereign to use the gospel and his church even you to accomplish his salvation to be the means that he actually saves his elect his chosen ones well then you can go into that work obediently and confidently because you know that your labor is not in vain I mean consider the opposite if God is Not completely Sovereign over the human heart and salvation and just maybe maybe if you go out you might be able to convince some people to believe well what if never what if nobody ever comes in you don’t know if it’ll ever happen all of your efforts could yield no fruit and this is what happens with some evangelists they’re trying trying trying think that they can convince people into the kingdom of God it doesn’t work and they and they say what’s the point but when you know that there is a point that a completely sovereign God will bring his sheep out of their folds and into his new flock well then you can go into it with confidence you don’t have to be so worried about every single thing you say and you say oh no I I made it so that they’ll never come to the kingdom of God because I said that truth that hard truth too soon no a sovereign God will accomplish his purposes and he’s going to use you and your evangelism to do it God’s sovereignty when rightly understood it motivates us to obedience rather than demotivates us so then as Jerry Bridges writes in the beginning of his chapter the truly mature believer does not say to himself well God is Sovereign I’m fine with whatever he chooses to do and I’m not going to pray or do anything about it no the mature believer says because God is Sovereign and therefore readily meets the needs of his people by prayer I will pray though I will accept that whatever answers to prayers God wisely and lovingly gives are good now before we move on to the next Point questions about God’s sovereignty in prayer Jody she keeps going and going and going but then there’s times where oh then there’s times where God lifts that burden and he and you have to leave things with him and you just only know that by I guess the spirit or just knowing the Lord like some things you can’t answer or you have to leave salvations of someone that’s gone and he gives you that peace but you’ve been persistent prior so it’s you see both in the scripture and I think when you the more you know him you just get you kind of know like okay he’s G he’s giving you a piece now and but you might be burden years praying praying praying praying praying and that’s a burden he put on you so it’s just listening to him as he’s you know speaking to you back it’s back and forth kind of not an audible but right it’s just understanding through the spirit yeah Jord brings up an interesting point it kind of could be a question which is well God’s part of the means that God uses in prayer for bringing about his will is your persistence sometimes he Wills that he’s gon to answer your prayer but not right away he wants you to persist in it keep praying for it but how do you know when you should persist and how do you know when you should just leave it with God I mean again we can go back to the example of Hannah in Samuel she’s praying praying praying for a child doesn’t get one she gets provoked again and when she goes up to the feast she’s really distressed she pours out her heart in prayer to God and then she goes home and eats content why did she stop praying didn’t she want to see that prayer answered well she knew that God had heard her and that he would respond in his own time and according to his own will so it is going to be not so cut and dry as to when he should do one when he should do the other I think it was Jerry Bridges somewhere in this book or maybe it was the disciplines of God book where he talks about praying as long as you have that desire to pray now we have to account for the flesh but if it’s something that you feel like you should pray for you want to pray for it’s still on your heart to pray for continue to pray for it but it’s also right for you to say I have prayed about this I will leave it with God the one thing you should not do is assume too much responsibility on yourself in prayer and feel like if I’m not praying for this every second of the day God’s not going to hear I like what um one author said there’s a very famous hymn In Christian history called oh I forget the second part of it it basically is Greek for Lamb of God uh if I remembering correctly Kyrie something something but basically the prayer is Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy but if you just keep praying that and not actually believe that the Lord is going to have mercy what’s the point of that prayer you’ll never have any Peace So if you’re going to be persistent To God In Prayer that’s good but it needs to be in faith don’t think oh unless I keep praying about it he’s not going to do it no God hears you and we can balance that even with what Solomon said let your Words Be Few before God he’s in heaven you’re on the earth you don’t need to multiply repetitious prayers if you really want to pour out your hard burden that’s fine but don’t feel like you need to somehow manipulate cajo God into action by just uh saying words over and over again yeah Cheryl so this was a struggle for me when I was like because my grandfather said if you have faith to believe um your Grandma will be healed of cancer and so I I think I put the operative on if you have faith to believe or is the quality of your faith adequate for God to hear you and answer and so she died and I for years had this fatalistic attitude about prayer like well you know God’s going to do it what he’s going to do so um I think like what you said before which is like and God is good you know so faith in what faith that God is able or faith that God is good and we’ll do what as well and I think I mean I think the thing that really moved the needle for me was when I started praying with other people for things and saw how over time he was answering things that I had already decided was like you know it’s not going to happen you know so it’s it’s interesting when we talk about faith because a lot of people do not explain what faith in God is you yeah I think it’s a valuable comment Cheryl just to recapture it a little bit so certainly when we pray in faith it should be faith that God is able to answer but also that God is good and he knows how best to answer we could talk we don’t have so much time right now talking about well what what about when God doesn’t answer your prayers is it because you didn’t have enough Faith or something like that something unal unfalsifiable like you didn’t have enough faith is a is a dangerous path to go down God says you have faith small enough than a as a mustard seed you can move mountains go there’s another there’s if you have sin or if you’re praying in an idolatrous way yes God’s not obligated to answer but we do believe that God answers if it is good for us and according to his will we should be open to God doing that that’s why we pray but we also want to say even if not God you know what is best I think an instructive example are Daniel’s three friends when they’re about to be put into the furnace where they have this very strange statement they tell Nebuchadnezzar we don’t need to explain ourselves to you oh King we know that you put us into the furnace God will rescue us but even if not not we will not bow down to you to your God they beli that God was able to do that they thought that he would do that but they were still ready for God to do something different than they expected and we do want to have that attitude in our prayers God is able but God is good and he does respond to prayer skip I saw your hand and uh I’ll take that comment and then we’ll move on or a question yeah uh God has ordained prayer as a means to accomplish his Divine objectives that’s right yeah that’s in the book did you read that from the book skip thank you yeah God has ordained prayer to accomplish his Divine objectives so we our prayers we have a role to play in in bringing about God’s will you will pray because God is Sovereign but it is actually through your prayers that God’s going to accomplish his will all right more we can say in that but we want to get to our other topics today too while Faith filled prayer is an important application of trusting God and God’s sovereignty prayer is not the only application of Understanding God’s sovereignty there is a version of unbiblical Christian passivity that settles for prayer only for example I sure would like to see my neighbors saved but I guess all I can do is pray for them or my son doesn’t look so good after falling off his bike but I’ll pray for his healing or I don’t want to rely on my own efforts or my own human wisdom as I prepare my Sunday school lesson so rather than actually study the Bible passages or prepare I’ll just pray Brethren though God is sovereign not only do we continue to have a responsibility to pray but we also have a continued responsibility to act prudently that’s our next topic God’s sovereignty and Prudence now what does it mean to act prudently I’m going to bring out Bridge’s definition at the bottom of page 102 he says to act prudently in this context means to use all legitimate biblical means at our disposal to avoid harm to ourselves or others and to bring about what we believe based on the scriptures to be the right course of events in other words whatever you might pray to God about be prepared to act prudently also to follow through on your prayers with obedient action and the righteous use of whatever rights resources and relationships God has given you you are to pray you ought to trust God but you also to be a good Steward of whatever resources and means he’s given you and to use them to accomplish what is good many great biblical examples of this principle Bridges cites several in his chapter the one that I’m going to focus on for this lesson expand a little bit from what Bridges cites is David David before God made David King it is striking in 1st Samuel 16:13 Samuel the prophet anoints David to be the next king of Israel to replace Saul Now now what is that that’s like a a Divine guarantee that God is going to protect David and provide for David until David becomes king and even after that so you can imagine what that kind of guarantee meant for his life like wow I am anointed by God I am destined for kingship I’m protected yet this did not lead David to suddenly begin living passively recklessly or sinfully on the contrary while filled with the spirit and confident in God’s for him David nevertheless sought to act wisely and obediently before God for example when David confronted Goliath in the ELA Valley 1st Samuel 17 David does not show up weaponless or unprepared rather how does David prepare he brings his sling and he brings his stones and he has a strategy for taking on Goliath he said say well you know what are sling stones and going to Goliath like that I mean he’s surely going to be doomed no this was a wise strategy he was a good Slinger obviously he was trusting in the Lord but he says I have an ability to actually fight my opponent using this sling David was not only armed but he had a plan and guess what God provided so that that plan was successful the stone hit Goliath right in the forehead in a place that was armored or that pierced right through the armor broke right through the armor and Goliath died or think about David and Saul on more than one occasion Saul tries to kill David but David doesn’t simply stand around and wait for God to miraculously deflect the spear what does David do keep moving yeah moves out of the way he flees he hides what else yeah Mark I was thinking David had had seen God’s faithfulness in the past that he cited before he fought Goliath he said i’ I’ve I’ve done this before with with animals that have attacked my flock so um he had a relationship and had seen God’s faithfulness that was a foundation for him to be able to act in that situation yeah so going back to the previous example Mark is bringing out that God had enabled David to fight in another fearful context delivering his sheep from a lion and a bear I think it was a bear which again that was not some sort of just wait for God to do something I mean David is engaging in the struggle one that humanly speaking could cost him his health or his life but he fought using whatever skill and ability he had but he attributed the victory to God he was trusting in God and that as you said Mark that establish a foundation where he had confidence in God that yes I’m going to do what I need to do but I’m going to trust in God and God will provide God will even deliver and that brought it he brought that confidence into his confrontation with Goliath and in a way he brought that into his dealings with Saul though not by fighting Saul but from fleeing but by fleeing from Saul and getting help from others to flee from Saul let’s let’s face it David just didn’t just rely on himself he went to his wife Michael and he said can uh I need you to do this thing cuz I need to get away and he also got help from his friend Jonathan he had very practical means of delivering himself from Saul Now notice these were legitimate means of delivering himself in these actions fleeing hiding getting his friends to help him David was not sinning against God or taking a course that would prove foolish and unprofitable for David or for God’s people in the future David was remaining obedient and prudent as he walked with God and embraced yeah obedient and prudent as he walked with God actually the most striking instance of David’s commitment to only legitimate means of Deliverance was when God appeared to provide David with an easy way of delivering himself from Saul once and for all what was that way that’s right so Jay mentions once in a cave Saul shows up David’s hiding in the cave what an excellent opportunity to kill Saul and that wasn’t the only time that happened there was another time where that was in 1st Samuel 24 what Jay cited another time David infiltrates Saul’s camp and everybody’s sleeping the Slumber was actually from the Lord but he could have killed Saul again in fact both times he’s encouraged by one of his soldiers to do that look this is from God he’s delivered him into your hands let’s stop running around let’s stop being harassed and Afraid just kill him and both times David refuses why yeah Eric he was the anointed who was the anointed Saul Saul Saul was the Lord’s anointed sinful but he was the Lord’s anointed and David says I’m not going to raise my hand to attack the Lord’s anointed and thereby sin against God actually I’ll read to you one of those passages 1st Samuel 26: 9-1 David tells his Warrior abashi and abashi is like let me kill him I’ll just get him with one spear thrust he says do not destroy him for who can stretch out his hand against yahweh’s anointed and be without guilt David also said as Yahweh lives surely Yahweh will strike him or his day will come that he dies or he will go down into battle and perish Yahweh forbid that I should stretch out my hand against yahweh’s anointed so David was willing to do a number of prudent things to deliver himself from Saul but he would not Embrace an illegitimate means of Deliverance namely by striking down the Lord’s anointed himself and by the way Saul did not repay this kindness to David so remember David was anointed too but that didn’t stop Saul they tried to kill him so here’s what we mean when talking about trusting God’s sovereignty but still acting prudently when encountering a problem a Christian does not simply believe in God and then only pray that’s good but a Christian also acts in obedience and takes wise practical steps to meet a need or to rectify a situation so a Christian who prays for his neighbor’s salvation should then look for opportunities to get to know his neighbor and speak the gospel to that neighbor a Christian who child might be injured in a dangerous way should give that child medicine and take that child to a doctor a Christian teaching a Bible Lesson should look to be as diligent as accurate as faithful as wise as possible in preparation to be a blessing to God’s people now we can’t go too far in this this does not suddenly mean that Christians ought to totally neglect prayer and just rely on themselves no prayer and Prudence always go together and Jerry Bridges emphasized this well in his book page 105 okay maybe it’s not 105 I can’t find it on the page but I have it in my notes uh I’ll have to find it later but Jerry Bridges says prayer is the acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and of our dependence upon him to act on our behalf Prudence is the acknowledgement of our responsibility to use all legitimate means we must not separate these two it’s not pray or act prudently it’s both always both actually there are many examples in the Bible of persons praying but also acting obediently and and with wisdom at the same time and I love the example that Jerry Bridges cites in 1 Chronicles 5:18 1 Chronicles 5:18 to20 regarding some Victorious Israelite soldiers it says there the sons of reuin and the and the gadites and the Hal tribe of Manasseh consisting of valiant men men Who Bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skilled in battle were 44760 who went to war they made war against the hagrites Jeter Naish and NOAB they were helped against them and the hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hand for they cried out to God in the battle and he answered their prayers because they trusted in him now there you see it together right prayer and Prudence these warriors were prudent they put their bodies and their minds through hard training so they could fight with shields and swords and Bows these 44,000 were even called skillful in battle they had developed this skill they had maintained this skill yet what did these men do in the midst of the battle they cry out to God for help and the text says God answered their prayers because they trusted in him so you see it trust prayer Prudence alt together another clear example is the comination seen in the wall building Warrior Corps under Nehemiah in Nehemiah 4 when rebuilding the wall these Jews are continually threatened by Israel’s enemies but how do the Jews under Nehemiah respond Nehemiah 4:9 says this is Nehemiah speaking the first person Nehemiah 49 but we pray to our God and because of them the enemies we set up a guard against them day and night wait why are you setting up a guard don’t you trust God trusting God is Not inconsistent with also acting prudently this is what we see in Nehemiah the Jews they pray and they act prudently they work with their weapons on and even come up with a plan to deal with a sudden attack if the people are spread out when the enemies arrive you say but I don’t think they really trus in God well just read a little bit further in the passage Nehemiah says at the end of his explained battle plan in Nehemiah 420 Nehemiah 420 telling the Jews I whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there Our God will fight for us these preparations were not born from a lack of trust in God but rather I would say born from a trust in God even that God uses certain ordained means to accomplish his will including your own prudent action to say that again true Prudence is not true Prudence Prudence biblical Prudence it is not born from a lack of trust in God but in faith that God will either use our prudent efforts like he often does to bring about Deliverance or provision or that he will still provide without those efforts either way the prudent believer knows with certainty that God will provide I have a certain responsibility before God to act prudently I’m going to pray to God I have this need I know he’s the one with the power and control I’m going to pray to him knowing that often the way he’ll answer is that he will make my prudent actions successful I’m going to take him up on his word I’m going to rely on what he says that he will do he’ll provide often through me but if he chooses not to provide through me that’s okay because I’m praying and I trust him and he will provide some other way nevertheless I will be faithful to do my part get this most of the time God will vindicate your trust and your prayers through very normal means usually through the exercise of your own wisdom and work you need money God usually provides the money you need through your own work do you need wisdom do you need wisdom for making a decision God usually provides this for you through your own meditation on scripture researching your situation and getting good counsel from Wise companions it’s a very normal means and yet this is how God providentially answers your prayers now God doesn’t have to use these means and he can easily provide without them furthermore he can also frustrate these normal means if he chooses es to so that they don’t produce their normally expected results a valuable biblical text for understanding the importance or lack thereof of our own wise work our own prudent efforts is Psalm 127 first two verses of Psalm 127 are famous Solomon writes in this Psalm unless Yahweh builds the house they labor in vain who build it unless Yahweh guards the city the Watchman keeps awake in vain it is vain for you to rise up early to retire late to eat the bread of painful labors for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep now do you understand what the psalmist is saying in Psalm 127 there in the beginning there are certain things that you need to do or are called to do in life as a matter of wisdom and faithfulness a person needs a house to live in which means he must work to build a house or work to purchase a house or work to rent a house a king must work to build and secure his house that is his dynastic line needs to make sure there is somebody to take over when he dies a Watchman must fight sleep and keep awake to fulfill his duty to guard the city but according to this Psalm all the efforts in these different Realms they are for nothing if not what unless God himself is in them unless God himself is doing these things and making the efforts effective so what is the takeaway then are Christians to a to pray and trust God or to act prudently it is both the answer is both even as we act prudently though it is with a trust in God rather than in those efforts and those normal means here’s how Jerry Bridges explains it on page 107 First full paragraph We Must depend upon God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves we must to the same degree depend on him to enable us to do what we must do for ourselves see it’s not as as if you and God are both chipping in a little bit to provide for your life okay God you’ve got part of it and I got part of it work together we’ll make this good no God does it all nevertheless you are responsible to do your part God will actually God it is necessary for God to empower you to enable you to do your part but you are obligated to pursue that and bridges illustrates this with a good analogy via farming for the sake of time I’m not going to read it to you it’s from the quote there in the middle of page 107 but the farmer there’s plenty of things that he knows are outside of his control he just has to trust God for them there are plenty of things though that are seemingly in his control he has to cultivate the ground he needs to buy the Seed he needs to buy the equipment he needs to use the equipment on the on the ground he needs to fertilize and and uh weed and all those things but even the things that are in the farmer’s control well they ultimately come from God God’s the one who provides the money for those equip for that equipment God’s the one who gives the strength gives the knowledge for the farmer to do what he needs to do what is this this mean it means in summary you and I are called to be obedient and act prudently even to use all legitimate means available to provide for ourselves and others but we are not ultimately to trust in our own efforts but in our God who gives the ability to act prudently and can choose to provide with or without such prudent action understand that sometimes there will be nothing you can do or nothing more you can do what should you do then say that again glena okay well yes you should still pray if there’s nothing more you can do well you can’t do that part but still pray and trust God until another opportunity to act prudently arrives I think of what Paul tells believing slaves in 1 Corinthians 7:21 kind of an interesting little aside in the Bible 1 Corinthians 7:21 Paul writes were you called while a slave do not worry about it but if you are able also to become free rather do that in other words if there no if there are no legitimate means before God of improving your situation or advancing God’s cause then don’t worry about it content yourself in Christ keep trusting God but if there is something you can do to improve your situation a means that God has left open to you and is righteous and permitted such could even bring about your freedom from slavery now what are you waiting for do that don’t suffer needlessly as just somehow that were more spiritual more obedient to God no pray and act prudently Jerry BRD says on page 108 to 109 the bottom of page 108 to the top of 109 our duty is found in the revealed will of God in the scriptures our trust must be in The Sovereign The Sovereign our trust must be in The Sovereign will of God as he works in the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives for our good and His glory all right I would take questions now but I want to make sure we have time for our last point so maybe we’ll have a little bit more time for questions or comments at the end so we know that we are called to pray and act prudently and that God’s sovereignly actually in God’s sovereignty actually encourages rather than discourages us to these ends because we know how God is able to respond and provide when we pursue what he’s called us to do but what about the times where we have not prayed or acted prudently but instead have made some terrible mistakes or have fallen into repeated and heinous sins what do God’s sovereignty and our responsibility have to do with our failures for the sake of time I’m going to just briefly distill a Biblical answer into five bullet points more can be said but I want to give this to you quickly how do you deal with your own failures in light of God’s sovereignty first and foremost and this Harkens back to chapter 3 in Ian’s lesson on God’s sovereignty over people first we cannot blame God or excuse our failures by citing God’s sovereignty yes God is completely Sovereign which means you never misspeak you never hurt yourself you never sin against another person unless God God ordains it nevertheless you are also completely responsible for your own actions especially your sins because in the end you do whatever you do because you wanted to do it you will to do it God is Not unjust to hold you accountable we heard this verse before let’s hear it again James 13-14 James 13-14 let no one say when he is tempted I’m being tempted by God the words it’s not my fault for God can not be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust now you may not be able to understand how God’s complete sovereignty over even your will causes the blame for your sins to attach to you and not to him but it does God is able to do that he’s apparently able to work in your will so that you are responsible for your sins and not him so therefore you cannot blame your failures you cannot excluse your failures by citing God’s sovereignty second because we are responsible for our own failures Godly sorrow and even even a Measure of Faith filled lament over our failures is appropriate I’m sure we can all think back to certain sins we’ve committed and so wish that we could take back acts of stealing violence immorality vicious words we spoke to someone maybe entering into an unbiblical marriage or unbiblical divorce when we think about the dishonor our sin has done to Christ and the Damage it has done to our own and others lives it is appropriate for us to grieve and express regret over it yet this is to be balanced by an assurance of forgiveness and cleansing in Christ and by resting in God’s good sovereignty which we’ll see explained more in just a moment there’s a way or even as you express sorrow over your past failures you can rest in God’s sovereignty third we are responsible to make right biblically as far as is reasonably possible our sins and failures it’s not just a matter of owning them but also embracing the responsibility to make it right we must make our sins right with God of course and that only happens through Christ and his gospel but we must also make our sins and failures right with others if you re rearend someone don’t say well sorry it’s not really my fault you know God’s Sovereign or if you snap at someone angrily don’t anesthesized yourself from the grief and guilt that your hurt caused by saying well God sovereignly wanted me to say that to her no confess your sins and negligent failures seek forgiveness and help restore those that you have hurt fourth we are responsible to learn from our failures and make changes so that we won’t do them again personal story in the last few months I have noticed myself making several driving mistakes especially missing turns or exits which has made myself and my wife late to certain appointments at first I felt embarrassed and I confess angry at God God why are you causing me to do this don’t you know that this is making me look bad in front of my wife I’m trying to show her that I’m a good driver that she can trust but God you caused me to forget you caused me to miss my turn now I look like I’m unreliable of course I I repented of that anger and sought uh restoration with God but then I fell into a kind of sad resignation well I guess this is who I am Emma is just going to have toar learn how to live with a forgetful forgetful husband but then God snapped me back to my senses and I realized I don’t know why God ordained that I should make these mistakes maybe it was just to Humble me but I need to do what I can do to improve my driving and be as faithful as possible so now when she and I are driving somewhere I try to make sure that the voice guidance is on a little Maps GPS so that I’m less likely to miss a turn still might make mistakes it’s a little bit humbling to have to use that but this is embracing my responsibility and I think a version of that is what we must all do whatever mistakes and sins are part of your past recognize your responsibility to learn from them and make changes so that they do not occur anymore or occur less and less Fifth and finally when we think about God’s sovereignty and our failures we must rest in the truth that in Christ our sins and failures do not ultimately frustrate God’s Sovereign plan but are actually made to bring about God’s glory and our good in the end now that statement May startle you at first and we do have to quickly balance it with our own responsibility we may never say as even the Bible itself explicitly forbids let us sit sin so that good may come of it those who justify sin with God’s grace will in the end find themselves condemned by God nevertheless if Romans 8:28 is true and it is then if you are in Christ even your sins and failures will prove to have a perfect place in God’s Sovereign plan how specifically I don’t think I can work out all the different ways that that’s true though certainly God’s patience with your sins does magnify God’s forgiving and his transforming Grace also God’s enduring certain sins from you against him is part of making you humbler and later more useful to others who struggle with the same sin there’s a way where amazingly God redeems even our sins against him for good his glory and our good and even the good of God’s world now regardless of how that works out specifically I’m sure we cannot fully trace it in a way what Joseph famously said about his brother’s sins applies to our own I’m going to modify Genesis 5020 slightly to explain what I mean Genesis 5020 slightly modifies as for you you meant evil against God and others but God meant it for good and order to bring about this present result God’s people’s good and God’s glory so even as we have Godly regret a measure of Godly regret and even as we embrace our responsibility to own make right and change from our sins and failures let us also find comfort in the truth that even though we have in one sense by our failures missed out on God’s good and another sense we have not God’s good plan for us and His World remains unthwarted even by your sins and my sins that’s pretty amazing feel like it’s something that’s worth more time in meditation but that’s all the time we have for today okay got a couple of minutes questions or comments ments on God’s sovereignty and Prudence or God’s sovereignty and our failures yeah Mark I really appreciate your transparency in that Dave just one comment on that um I think our failures and um are are actually gospel opportunities to show repentance and Faith to others it’s so rare for people to apologize and ask for forgiveness and in recent years I’ve come to just recognize that’s a great gospel opportunity yeah yeah that’s really good Mark that is one of the ways that God brings about amazing good even from our sins and failures is when we actually confess it repentant and and seek reconciliation with those we’ve Hur over it that’s something the world doesn’t do but it is a powerful testimony of Christ in his gospel Glenda I’m going back to I’m going back to uh sovereignty and Prudence I know um one time in my life in my husband’s life we did something we prayed about it but then when we went and did it we noticed everything was going wrong everything was going wrong whatever we did it was going wrong but we still keep praying and it’s only years after I realized why it was going wrong the outcome for us was to go wrong so that we can come out good so that’s where I see God’s we did act upon it but everything was just going wrong everything was so years after we saw why everything was going wrong for God to bring us to a place where we can really trust him and obey his word yeah thank you glender for that comment talking about how in your own life with your husband you would pray and then seek to act prudently and many times your prudent action wouldn’t turn out well everything would go wrong and I feel like there’s something very important for us to realize and remember you are called to be faithful you are not called to bring about a certain wonderful outcome if you don’t realize this then you’re always going to interpret God’s Will based on how well seem things seem to be going but that’s a dangerous course to Embark upon because there are plenty of people in the scriptures they were faithful and it didn’t turn out well for them or at least it didn’t look like it turned out well for them first and foremost our Lord Jesus Christ the most faithful man who walked upon the Earth he ended up crucified on the cross uh that didn’t seem like it worked out well but it was working out exactly according to God’s plan and it was accomplishing something so necessary for the human race so it is for us and so it is for our brothers and sisters in church history where it’s like man they’re trying to give the gospel and be a faithful missionary and it’s like they’re not getting anywhere it’s just resistance and persecution maybe they should just give up clearly God doesn’t want them to do that well how do you know what God wants them to do it’s written in the word that’s what they’re going to focus on not the particular results of their action okay yeah pay attention to the opportunities before you but success in an outward sense is not a proof of God’s will God’s proof of his is in his word even what prudent action looks like so focus on that and let God teach whatever he’s going to teach you through that trust the outcome to him all right one more question or comment yeah Leela um so God provided salvation for us but I think God provided salvation for us but I think uh back to Romans 7 that um we’re still in this sinful flesh sin still dwells in us and so and God this is part of God’s plan and he’s working through us he’s he’s using it this is what he’s got to work with yeah in God’s wisdom and God’s goodness he has ordained not that when we become saved suddenly we don’t sin anymore or that we become super strong Mega Christians no weak and imperfect vessels who are going to carry around The Treasure of Christ he says this is actually going to bring me GL more Glory than if I made you into superheroes are going to look at you they’re going to still see that you sin they’re going to still see that you make mistakes misunderstand and yet they’re going to see the power my power in you and my uh my saving gospel from you that’s what’s going to glorify me the most so we say God your wisdom is right we will embrace your plan we will do our part as far as we are able trusting in God to actually energize us to enable us to do what he’s called us to do all right thank you for your comments and questions that’s it for this week next week we move on from looking at the subject of the sovereignty of God and we talk about the next important attribute for actually learning and to apply I trust God in our lives and that is God’s infinite wisdom let me quickly close this in prayer Lord it has been a good time of meditation discussion and instruction God as we think through this and apply it in our lives I pray that you’d bless us help us to pray be prudent trust you even with our failures in Jesus name amen amen thank you everyone