God's Providence Among The Nations Part 2

One reason for us to Jesus. As we wrestle with the mystery of God's will, we must acknowledge his sovereign control of history sometimes uses the bad guys to judge the good guys are task to trust his purposes to be right no matter what church in Chicago this with Dr. teaching helps us make it across the finish line after Luther God's providential control must mean he's in charge of a great deal of human suffering will you know Dave you made a statement to the effect that we had to trust him to do what is right. Good absolutely. But I need to emphasize that we don't necessarily see that in this life, do we. For that we need an eternal purpose and that's why looking at the word of God is so important.

Let's take for example Karl Marx you think of the devastation that his theories have done throughout the world in Russia and China and other countries. Did you know that Marxism is alive and well in our universities. It is a cultural Marxism and this actually helps us to explain the racism that is going on. The tearing down of monuments. All of this. The revision of our history to bring about different kind of foundation for the United States. I've written a book entitled, we will not be silenced responding courageously to our culture's assault on Christianity when you'll read it you'll understand how Marxism has indeed informed race. I think of already emphasize that but in addition, economics, what does it mean for America. I think that this book will give you some genuine enlightenment, but also the courage to say we will not allow we will not be silenced despite the consequences for a gift of any amount.

This book can be yours. Here is what you do go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Now let us think carefully about God and the nations in God's sovereignty and recognize that he rules even today it was Nebuchadnezzar who walked on the his palace in verse 30 and says is not this the great travel and I have built is the royal residence of my mighty power and for the glory of my Majesty and the Bible says the words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, and said Nebuchadnezzar you're going to be with the animals for seven years until you learn some humility. I want you to know how well he learned just listen to this. He says in verse 34. At the end of the time my sanity was restored and I praise the most high. I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the people of the earth are regarded as nothing he does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth, and no one can hold back his hand or say to him what have you done and in verse 36 it says at that time my sanity was restored and when you go into a mental institution. What you find is people who oftentimes have gone through so much anguish that the only way they can cope with it is think that they or someone whom they aren't. I have met people who say that they are Jesus Christ there people who think that they are great and that's insanity. And so what God did is, he humbled this king do you think that King Nebuchadnezzar is going to be in heaven. I think so. It says in verse 31.

Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven because everything he does is right in all his ways are just.

And those who walk in pride he is able to humble, that sounds like a converted man. Imagine being able to see Nebuchadnezzar someday in heaven and say wow you build babble and you know that my eyes have seen the Ishtar gate were Nebuchadnezzar lived in the 1920s that German archaeologists went to various sites and did archaeological work and that I don't know whether they had permission or not, will have to ask them but they took many things from the ancient world and brought them to Berlin, for example, the Pergamum museum is the Pergamum altar, but it also has the Ishtar gate. They took apart brick by brick, shifted to Germany built a museum where you can see it today and rebuilt it there so that you can walk along work.

Nebuchadnezzar walked and see what he saw at least part of what he saw in his prideful days. But God humbled him. God humbled him well as I was mentioning. Second, nations decline, according to God's will. In Daniel chapter 5, you have his son falling into the sin of his father. His son did not learn from his father's mistakes. If that's ever happened before in history.

This the first time is that the last time that a son has not learned from his father's mistake.

His name is Bill Shatzer. Bill Shatzer is calling a huge feast and he's asking for the vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, which were brought to Babylon by his father Nebuchadnezzar the reason he wants those vessels is to desecrate them and show that he does not believe in the Lord God Jehovah, so there's a huge feast going on, but it says in verse five of chapter 5. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall near the lampstand in the royal palace.

The king watched the hand as it wrote, his face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knock together, and his legs gave way and then he said call someone and he called his advisors, his astrologers, and they said interpret the words, but they couldn't so the Queen.

His wife said, I have an idea. She had a good idea. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the husband who listens carefully to the advice of his wife do I have a witness.

I think I have a witness if she said get Daniel. So Daniel interprets the words and they are there in verses 25 and 26 Mina God has numbered the days of your rain and brought it to an end TECO you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Perez, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persian. These are Aramaic words sometimes spelled differently depending on the form but Mina means a weight of about 50 shekels TECO means a shekel partisan or Perez, depending on your translation at half Mina it means to divide goddesses tonight for you. It's all over. I have to get the picture. He's sitting in babble and very confident that there is no way he can be taken. Do you know that the mighty the mighty Euphrates River flowed aright under the city wall. Remember now Babylon is about 50 miles south of present-day Baghdad. You never King Hussein wanted to rebuild it, and he was rebuilding it.

In fact on the coins. I understand there was his picture on one side and Nebuchadnezzar's on the other. He wanted to be the next Nebuchadnezzar, but to George Bush and God saw to it that that would not happen but nonetheless what we find is that that they had lots of water. The river was there they had 20 years worth of snow way that they could be taken. You know what the armies of Cyrus did they actually diverted some of the water of the Euphrates River into a lake and the people in babble and didn't know that it was happening and when the river was a lower soldiers were able to get under the walls into the city and they surprise the guards and they overtook the kingdom and the Bible says that that very night Bill Shatzer was slain, and what happened is his kingdom was divided between the Medes and the Persians. Verse 30 we find that Darius the Mead took over the kingdom at the age of 62 but also in addition to that, Cyrus of Persia ruled that in his kingdom was split. Why God said enough is enough. God numbered the days of the kingdom, and it was over. And when God says it is enough. Nothing else can cause that kingdom to exist for even so much as a single day. There's 1/3 affirmation, and that is that nations are worthy of our allegiance now for those of you who still struggle with the concept of whether or not God is actually ruling even in the midst of difficult rulers in the 13th chapter of Romans, Paul says, everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God is established.

The authorities that existed been established by God. And remember, Paul wrote this when Nero was ruling and he was not a big fan of Christians. Now you say.

Well, does that mean that we always obey the government know if that's what Paul meant.

Then Paul would be putting government in the place of God. But what it does mean is that we have to respect the government we have to obey the government in every possible way we can unless it is a matter of conscience and then we draw the line and we say no. The apostle Paul says that we should pay taxes that we should pay respect that we should pay revenue. He says give it to those who are to whom it is, do we have an obligation of citizenship which we will not talk about today, but that would be a good message for some future time. How do we bring all this together to make sure that our lives are changed because of what we are learning. Let me give you some conclusions.

First of all nations always move toward a purposeful and toward a purposeful and even when there is terrorism.

We have to put back within Providence and will speak about that when we talk about God and the United States. There is always a purpose. Now that purpose may be hidden from us. When you read the headlines of the Tribune. I want you to know that behind every single headline is a purpose of God that were not so, God would not be God you say well how can that be because there's murder and there's abuse yes even that, as we shall see in the next message, when we talk about the judgment of God frequently that is allowed to enhance God's eternal judgment and will speak about that in the next message I want you to know that even though we don't see God's purposes. Those purposes are there, and God is connecting events together, come with me to the first century, and there is a pregnant woman in Nazareth who has to get to Bethlehem because the prophet said the Redeemer would be born in Bethlehem and so over in Rome you have Caesar Augustus who sitting on his throne whose thinking you know it's time that we had another tax and in order for that tax to take place. What we need to do is to get a good register of who were talking about so everyone go back to your ancient roots and so Caesar is sitting there in Rome because Caesar is making that decision. Any has to cooperate with Jesus and Rome has to cooperate with Bethlehem. Why, because God said I Redeemer is going to come from Bethlehem so Bethlehem, it must be so.

Mary ends up in Bethlehem. I can't imagine the people in that day receiving word that taxes are going to be increased if you think they read their newspapers, so to speak in such a themselves boy taxes are going up.

This is really a God thing, isn't it is not what they were saying percent taxes murmuring.

Remember, as Malcolm Muggeridge says news is just the same old thing happening to different people. So what you have is people complaining and saying higher taxes. Look at how wrong it is. They had no idea that God was doing something just in the very same way you and I read the headlines, but behind those headlines is the purpose of God. History is going somewhere. It's not true like Ken report said that history is just simply want a thing after another.

He added an adjective which I conveniently left out. So first of all nations move toward a purposeful and second, our individual lives move toward a purposeful land. I can imagine there's someone saying here yeah will you know God is interested in the affairs of the nation.

He's interested in the G summit he's interested in the Palestinian Israeli conflict is interested in the rise of empires and the demise of Empire but is God interested in the fact that I lost my job last week. Is he interested in the little things so this point, you and I are just together enjoying a cup of the Syrian tea and talking my dear friend, don't you realize that everything everything is a little thing to God, the nations current drop in the bucket you really think it is more difficult for God to make humans successful in business or less difficult than it is to have some person S send is the president of the United States or the ruler of Europe or whatever you really think that it is one is more difficult than the other for God forgot the word difficulty is not in his vocabulary and that's why he can see his sparrow fall to the ground and that's why he knows the number of hair on our head. Even though some of us to lose a few rather regularly.

Can't you just imagine it, you wash your hair in God's computer just goes blank for a second and that a new total up there. Brand-new total want you to know today. Those of you who are dealing with health issues. Want you to know today.

God is not saying what I do now. I this cancer is just so difficult know God is using it.

It's his purpose accepted as his plan yes pray that you might be healed, but recognize that God may have even a higher purpose for you, then healing is a friend of mine who's dying with cancer is told me because God moves in the affairs of men and and he has particular interest in the life of his people and you who are in despair and discouragement.

Who knows, but that like Abraham, God might have for you RAM in the Bush God might have something waiting for you. Just around the corner that you cannot see. Please don't expect the harshness of life and its providential mysteries is a lack of God's love and concern for you, I can assure you. God is very interested in the particulars in the details in the quote small things, all of which are small for him. Important small third, it's not necessary to know the why, if we trust the who the end of the day we live as you've heard me say, not by explanations but by promises member the story of Joseph. He was of course sold into Egypt and his brothers didn't know that he was still alive and then they needed food and they went there and they were in Joseph's presence and didn't know it, and Joseph really gave his brothers a hard time. I mean, he locked one of them up and then sent them back and he wanted to see what was in their hearts and and he he dealt with them very sternly and harshly. The Bible says. But then, as he was dealing with them. The Scripture also says that he was so overcome by emotion that he left the room and he went into a private room and wept on the one hand, what they saw was his harshness. But if only they could've seen his heart, they'd have seen love because after all he was one of them. They were brothers. I speak to those of you today who had a hard time accepting the bitter injustices of life. You had difficulty with Providence because it seems as if God is led you in one direction and the doors been closed in another doors been closed and some of your dreams like today on the floor I speak to you today from my heart to yours and say that behind the harsh face of God's providence is a loving, caring catch this now purposeful heart who is taking you, who is taking you along in life and the things that happen to you that you thought were so evil are actually things for your good, because God's agenda is different from our own. I'd introduced you to William Cooper on many occasions quoting his hymns and quoting his poetry a member. He said God works in a mysterious way. Now remember, he's a man who tried to commit suicide four times because of his depression but he said God works in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his feet in the sea, and rides upon the storm. But then he added behind a frowning Providence.

He hides a smiling face. Are you willing to bow to that Providence today to give up anger and bitterness and discouragement and hopelessness and say father today. I give it up in your presence because behind the frowns of Providence there's a God who loves a God who cares. And remember someone who is now my brother would you believe God that way if you will let us pray our father. Today we want to thank you for the fact that you do rule among the affairs of men. We thank you today father that everything ultimately is indeed in your loving hand grant. Oh God today that we might have the faith to trust you the faith to say yes we are in your hands and we are in your hands for our good. We pray today father for those who struggle. Those who fight against circumstances who want to control but you will not let them control pray today father thing they say I'm content to be in your hand. Whatever it is that you need to say to God, in this moment, would you say it to them now. Father we ask in Jesus name that you will give to us the grace and the strength to submit your Lordship in Jesus name, amen.

This is Pastor Luther and of course I want to caution that the sovereignty of God does not mean that we should be silent in the midst of our swirling economic and cultural issues.

I believe that the church should speak, but were living at a time when the people who shout the loudest win the argument. We should not shout, but we must speak and his bun.

Hoffer says not to speak in the face of evil is to speak. I've written a book entitled, we will not be silenced responding courageously to our culture's assault on Christianity. It's a book that not only analyzes the culture, but hopefully helps all of us to speak to this culture and to represent Christ. Well, in a nation that is under assault.

That is to say where Christianity is under assault for a gift of any amount. It can be yours. Here's what you do go to RTW offeror.com that's RTW offeror.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. The book is entitled, we will not be silenced, discusses how cultural Marxism undergirds many of the transformations we are witnessing in the society. Go to RTW offeror.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 Erwin Luther has concluded God's providence among the nations, the second in a six part series on God and the nations. Next time, don't miss the next chapter in our saga elixir will speak on God's judgment of the nations. Thanks for listening. This is Dave McAllister running to win his sponsor by the teacher