Nothing Left to Chance

Is God, the creator and ruler of everything Renewing Your Mind with RC Sproul's next cultural forces of mankind. In fact, the entire universe arose by chance.

Those who push that idea make it difficult to counter by claiming it happened billions even billions of years ago who could know what happened that far back today. Dr. RC Sproul critiques this by pointing out that nothing ever happens by chance. Something had to come first child was born in Israel. This child was extraordinary.

If for no other reason than the name he was given this baby was named Ichabod of course if you remember your Old Testament history.

You know the circumstances of that situation. In Hebrew the word for the glory of God the weightiness the significance, the heaviness of God is the Hebrew term, vote or combo.

And here is the child who is named couple which means literally the glory of God has departed the glory of God has gone it's left now can imagine a little boy growing up in Israel. Going to school to the synagogues of the dangers that what's your name child and the child said my name is the glory of God is the glory of God is why what happened to understand that incident in Jewish history that episode in the Old Testament, we have to just go back a couple chapters earlier word during the time of the leadership of the Jewish people of the venerable Judge Eli, a crisis came to the nation. The traditional military enemy of Israel were the Philistines and the Philistines came in battle against the Jewish people during the reign of Eli and the Scripture tells us in the fourth chapter of first Samuel that in this battle the Philistines drew up to meet Israel and the battle spread, and Israel was defeated before the Philistines and 4000 Jewish men died in the conflict and soon the messenger came back to Shiloh came back to the central sanctuary and reported to the leaders of the elders there and to Eli themselves of this humiliating defeat in battle, and the soldiers of the messengers came with an urgent request, they said to the judge. They said to Eli, Eli, let us go back again into battle against the Philistines.

Only this time, please let us take the ark of the covenant with us. Sort of an Old Testament Raiders of the lost Ark. You remember that the ark of the covenant was the most sacred piece of furniture in the tabernacle, and later in the temple the ark was that chest where the cherubim adorned the sides of it, and the ark was the throne of God and its cover was the mercy seat where the blood of the sacrifices were spread and inside this chest was contained. The tablets that Moses had brought down from Sinai Aaron's rod and so on.

This was the sacred vessel of all sacred vessels to the Jewish people, and there were moments in previous history that when the Jews went into battle against their enemies when the priest carried the Ark of the covenant, the throne of their God Yahweh before them. Whenever God's throne marched into battle the Jewish soldiers were always victorious and so now after losing to the Philistines. They come in they press the urgent request upon Eli Lasko back let us go with the ark of the cup he said all right. And so the ark was brought into the Jewish can't listen to the response of the people in it happened, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp with all of Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth itself resounded when the troops who were demoralized and it just gone through this ignominious defeat saw the approach of the throne of God.

They were throwing their hats in the air they were hurling their weapons in joy and with one voice. They screamed in acclimation and when the Philistines heard the noise of the shop. I said what does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews me than they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp and the Philistines were afraid and they said God has come to this place. Woe unto us. Nothing like this is happened before woe unto us, who shall deliver us from the hands of this mighty God.

Isn't this the mighty God who defeated the chariots of they were terrified. But there was nowhere for the listings to retreat and so the battle took place in this time of course, the outcome was different in this battle, not 4000 Jewish soldiers were killed, but 30,000 Jewish men were slain. Once again the Philistine host was victorious and they captured the ark of the covenant, and in this selfsame battle. The two sons. The discipline sons of Eli perished on the battlefield saw a man from the tribe of Benjamin was dispatched to carry back the news of the defeat to Shiloh to Eli and Eli sat by the gate in the Bible tells us that it was 98 years old and that he was obese. He was massively overweight that he had become blind in his old age, and as he sat there listening for some word of the outcome of this battle. The messenger came up to, and reported the new man said to Eli. I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today and Eli said, how did things go by so one who brought the news answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people and your two sons also path me and Phineas are dead. How's that for report. We lost the battle. 30,000 slang and Eli included your two sons off me and Phineas. But even with this grim aspect of the message there was still no visible response from Eli until the messenger added in the ark of the covenant has been taken into the camp of the Philistine verse 18 it came about when he mentioned the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate. His neck was broken and he died in the next verse it says his daughter-in-law Phineas, his wife was pregnant and was about to give birth and the messenger comes to Phineas, his wife and with this he say to her, he announces to her.

Your husband was killed today, your brother-in-law was killed today and your father-in-law has dressed dropdead and the ark of the covenant has been captured by the enemy when she heard that announcement she fell on the ground went into labor, bore a child and immediately upon producing this child. She die. Somebody came and picked up this infant who was born in the midst of such calamity and said of the child.

His name is Ichabod the ark of the covenant, the throne of God.

The glory of God is God.

This is a day that will live in infamy. Meanwhile, is there is mourning and grief, and consternation in the household of Israel back among the Chiefs and the princes and the kings of the Philistines. There is tremendous rejoicing.

We read in chapter 5 that the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod that he remember that the Philistines were a nation that were made up chiefly of five city states and each of these great cities was ruled by a king. The cities of Gath of Ashkelon of Ashdod, and so on were the great cities of the Philistines, and so when the ark was captured. First of all, it was taken to the city of Ashdod and there in triumphal procession. This trophy of military victory was taken to the temple of Dragon Dragon was the chief deity of the Philistine and everyone went out to celebrate. And when they took the ark of the covenant into the temple of dog and they set the throne of God of Yahweh at the feet of the statue of die, symbolizing what the preeminence of the Philistine God, who now lords it over the God of the Israel and they left the ark in the temple and went out to celebrate. They celebrated all night and in the morning when the priest came into the temple of Dragon. They were horrified with what they found.

They look and behold the statue of Daggett had fallen over on its face, and was now in a position of obeisance prostrated at the base of the throne of you and they scrambled to correct that indignant tape and they propped up their statue again in the position of superiority and went back for some more feasting and celebration came in the next morning they found the statue of dog and not only tilted over on his face, but this time smashed into a million pieces and one of the southern Philistines. Look at that and sit back and go want to make matters worse, suddenly a plague broke out and asked that we don't know exactly the nature of that play, one translation of the Bible describes the plague is a plague of tumors. Another one that describes it as a plague of Ameron's, but those that are more graphic in their interpretation of the Hebrew say that it was a plague of hemorrhoids.

God has a sense of humor I would've liked to have owned the Preparation H franchise among the Philistine columns at that point, but this terrible plague of hemorrhoids attacks the people of Ashdod and in the wake of this plague of tumors comes a plague of rats rapid infestation of rodents crawling everywhere bringing disease destruction city when this happened, the king of Ashdod began to wonder, is there a connection between the calamity that has befallen our city and the presence of the Jewish throne of God. I don't know. They decided to make a gift of the throne of God to the king of the closest city in Philistine. And so for several months. What happened in Philistine, was the Philistine king's play musical ark, they shift at the gas phase shift that the escrow they shipped all around the nation, and everywhere the ark of the covenant went the plague of tumors broke out in the plague of rats broke out until the kings of the Philistines had all of the stuff that they could stand and they decided to have a summit meeting and they called a great counsel or they met together and they called in their magicians.

They called in their priest they called and their leaders, and they said what are we supposed to do in the circumstance with listings called on their priest saying, what shall we do with the ark of the Lord. Tell us how we shall send it to its place in the priest and the magician said if you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don't send it back empty but you shall surely return to him a guilt offering.

If you want this place to stop. You want these tumors in these rats to go away. You not only have to take the sacred vessel back to Israel, but you must take with it a guilt offering to appease the wrath of Yahweh king symbol.

What kind of a guilt offering shall be sent, and the priest said you shall fashion five tumors of gold and five golden rats pure gold and send them back as a peace offering to God and then this instruction followed. Now therefore take and prepare a new cartoon to milk cows in which there's never been a yoke and hitch the cost of the car to take their calves home away from them and take the ark of the Lord and place it on the card, put the articles of gold which you returned to him as a guilt offering in a box by his side and then send it away that it may go and watch it watch working to put test out there for I tell you about the test. For second recap see what we've learned already about the Philistines. So far we've learned. The Philistine said military strength, we've learned that the Philistines were a religious people, but that their religion was a religion of idolatry and what were going to learn in just a moment that, in spite of the fact that they had all the trappings of religion.

Despite the fact that they had a priesthood despite the fact that they had a temple despite the fact that they believed in certain deities. Bottom line, the Philistines were practical atheists.

That is, in theory, they believed in religion and in God. But in actual practice.

Fundamentally, they were atheists, one only knows from what comes next in the story. Let's look at send away this card with the milk house and watch it if it goes up by way of its own territory to bash Amish. Then he that is, God has done this great evil, but if not, then we shall know that it was not his, and that struck us, but that it happened to us by chance, let's take a practical look at things. Let's put the situation that that we don't know whether this terrible outbreak of the plague of rats and of tumors was merely a coincidence.

A fortuitous event or whether it was the hand of God upon us. We only see two possibilities. Either it was God or it was chance and so will put this scientific experiment together and see what happens with the cows in the cart and the guilt offering that were sending back if the cows go one direction will come to the conclusion that yes, God was behind this if it goes the other direction will know that it happened by Cheney.

They considered the possibility that something happened by chance.

That's the conclusion that leads me to believe that at bottom they were atheists. Some of you are looking at me with puzzled looks on your time. The world is that indicate a is limit explain for your few years ago I the responsibility of the seminary to teach the theology of the Westminster confession of faith that document that was produced in the 17th century in England by the Westminster divides.

It is the most comprehensive, systematic expression of historic reformed theology ever set on paper and I had done the first chapter of the confession and I want finish the second chapter, the confession line out stuff that I said next week were going to take up chapter 3 which chapter is entitled of God's eternal decree as soon as I announce that there was a stir among the students and me. They knew what that meant but will boil foil voice that means he's going to get into predestination and all that juicy stuff that has to do with God's sovereignty and human freedom and the things that every theological student seminary likes to argue into the night. So the next Monday evening, when I came to the classroom were hundred and 50 students there were like 50 guests every one of my reformed student when out in drug. One of their more money and friends by the neck. They said our professors go to speak on predestination this week and you have to be there in less than so I have these people waiting breathless anticipation to look at this difficult doctrine and I began by reading the opening words of chapter 3 of the Westminster confession that me read them for you now. Chapter 3 begins with these words, God from all eternity. Did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and him used to play that is unchangeable. He ordained whatsoever comes to pass semi-: restated again in other works that God from all eternity. According to this holy counsel freely and immutably ordain what so ever comes to pass; I read that and I stopped and I said to the class. Is it all right how many of you believe that how many of you believe that God for ordained every single thing that happens, automobile accidents, train wrecks the birth of baby the death of your spouse God ordains it everything that comes up. How did it with 100 hands were not.

These were reformed students. These guys were fighting for the Angels. This was old hat to them. They didn't have any problem it's okay honey. Don't believe it for the heads of the fine succulent ask another question how many of you would freely acknowledge that you are atheists by still be afraid to tell the truth know what is good take down names Otis to report to the authorities that was going to take out matches and earned with the stake.

How many of you would call yourselves atheists, and nobody for the house, flabbergast. I immediately went to my lieutenant, routine mission questions. There's just one thing I don't understand do you mind if I ask you a personal question.

I was talking to the wife the other night and she said I just can't figure this out, play distal games and I said let me see if I get this right you telling me you don't believe that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass. But you're not an atheist can put this together as it does, you realize that so far up to the; of what I've read this statement in the Westminster confession has nothing in it that is distinctively Calvinistic or reformed. It has nothing in it that's even uniquely Christian, every Jew would affirm what I just read every Muslim would affirm what I just read any cogent place, thinking theists would have to affirm what I just read where he gotten to the reformed doctrine. Predestination. All it says is that from all eternity.

God ordains whatsoever comes I said what that statement affirms is to God is sovereign over every thing will that it may seem like an abrupt end to this message by Dr. RC Sproul, but that we will bring you the remaining portion next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind has we just heard RC was passionate when he talked about God's sovereignty. In fact, this message titled, nothing left to chance is one of his most popular messages we've included it in a collection of 10 lectures that capture the depth and breadth of RC's teaching through the years. You can obtain all 10 of these messages when you contact us today and request the classic collection just give a donation of any amount to look at her ministries. When you go to Renewing Your Mind.org other messages in this series include if there is a God, why are there atheists. And if God is good. Why do I suffer and each lesson is quite a bit longer than were able to present here, but there you will receive the full recording of each title again request the classic collection when you give your gift of any amount that Renewing Your Mind.org wasn't mentioned next Sunday we will bring you the conclusion of today's message. Nothing left to chance and I hope you'll join us right here for Renewing Your Mind