carmel baptist singles retreat 2007 session 2

8/14/2019 Carmel Baptist Singles Retreat 2007 Session 2

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The sovereignty of God

God continually oversees and directs all thingspertaining tothe created order in such a way that:

1) He preserves in existence and provides for the creationHe has brought into being (see Neh 9:6; Matt 6:25-34; Acts

2:25; Col 1:16-17; and Heb 1:2-3; Jas 1:17), and

2) He governs and reigns supremely over the entirety of thecreated order in order to fulfill all of His intended purposes init and through it (see Deut 32:39; Psa 135:5-7; Prov 21:1;

Isa 45:5-7; Dan 2:21; 4:34-37; Eph 1:11)


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3/22

Prov. 19:21 Many plans are in a mans heart, But the

counsel of the LORD will stand.

Is. 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And fromancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My

purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good

pleasure;

Dan. 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted asnothing, But He does according to His will in the host of

heaven; And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can

ward off His hand Or say to Him, What have You done?

Jer. 32:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; isanything too difficult for Me?

Gen. 18:14 Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the

appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and

Sarah will have a son.


4/22

Matt. 19:26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, With people

this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Luke 1:37 For nothing will be impossible with God.Is. 14:24-27 The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, Surely, just as

I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it

will stand,

Is. 14:25 to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My

mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his

burden removed from their shoulder.

Is. 14:26 This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this

is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.

Is. 14:27 For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can

frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it

back?


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Psa. 95:3-5 For the LORD is a great God And a great King

above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The

peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He

who made it, And His hands formed the dry land

Psa. 146:5-6 How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the LORD his God, Who made heaven and earth,

The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever;

Jer. 10:12 It is He who made the earth by His power, Who

established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding

He has stretched out the heavens.

Jer. 51:15 It is He who made the earth by His power, Whoestablished the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding

He stretched out the heavens.

Psa. 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

And by the breath of His mouth all their host.


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Psa. 33:9 For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded,

and it stood fast.

Jer. 51:16 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult ofwaters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from

the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings

forth the wind from His storehouses.

Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it,since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples

made with hands;

Col. 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the

heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones ordominions or rulers or authoritiesall things have been created

through Him and for Him.


9/22

Psa. 65:9 You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You

greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You preparetheir grain, for thus You prepare the earth.

Psa. 65:10 You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its

ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.

Psa. 65:11 You have crowned the year with Your bounty, And

Your paths drip with fatness.


10/22

Psa. 147:15 He sends forth His command to the earth; His

word runs very swiftly.

Psa. 147:16 He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frostlike ashes.

Psa. 147:17 He casts forth His ice as fragments; Who can

stand before His cold?

Psa. 147:18 He sends forth His word and melts them; He

causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.


11/22

(God gives rain to one town while withholding it from another town)

Exodus 9:13-26

Amos 4:7 Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you,While there were still three months until harvest. Then I

would send rain on one city, And on another city I would

not send rain; One part would be rained on, While the part

not rained on would dry up.

(God sends prosperity and God sends famine)

Gen. 41:28 It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has

shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

Gen. 41:29 Behold, seven years of great abundance are

coming in all the land of Egypt;

Gen. 41:30 and after them seven years of famine will come,

and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt,and the famine will ravage the land.


12/22

Psa. 135:6 -7 Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In

heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

Psa. 135:7 He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends

of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings

forth the wind from His treasuries.

Psa. 65:9-11 You visit the earth and cause it to

overflow;You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of

water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the

earth.

Psa. 65:10 You water its furrows abundantly, You settle

its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.Psa. 65:11 You have crowned the year with Your bounty,

And Your paths drip with fatness.


13/22

Psa. 147:15 He sends forth His command to the earth; His

word runs very swiftly.

Psa. 147:16 He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like

ashes.

Psa. 147:17 He casts forth His ice as fragments; Who can

stand before His cold?

Psa. 147:18 He sends forth His word and melts them;Hecauses His wind to blow and the waters to flow.

Notice the specific statement in the Psalms above that indicates

to us what God does because these things please Him. God does

not merely allow these things to happen, He makes them happen.

God waters the land; God drenches the furrow; God makes the

clouds rise; God sends the snow; God causes the wind


14/22

Even the events in life that seem random are under the control of

God:

Prov. 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is

from the LORD.

Jesus teaches on the sovereignty of God

Matt. 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven;

for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendsrain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matt. 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor

reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not worth much more than they?


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Matt. 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not

sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly

Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Matt. 6:28 And why are you worried about clothing?

Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor

do they spin,

Matt. 6:29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all hisglory clothed himself like one of these.

Matt. 6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the

furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of littlefaith!


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Matt. 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one

of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

Matt. 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

In summary:

God sends the rain

God makes the sun rise

God feeds the birds

God clothes the lilies of the field

God accounts for the falling of sparrows


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God governs the events of history for His purposes

1. Genesis 45:4-8

You remember the story, there was seven years of plenty andseven years of famine. So when the brothers went down to Egypt

to buy food the one that they appeared before was in fact there

brother Joseph. The brothers sold Joseph as a slave hoping that

he would have a painful death. They had no idea that he waspromoted, God had given him those dreams, and now he was

second in command in all of Egypt. Then in Genesis 45 Joseph

decides to reveal his true identity to his brothers.


18/22

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, . . . I am your brother

Joseph, whom you

sold into Egypt. Question is this true? Did his brothers sellhim into Egypt? Yes indeed they did, they plotted it and carried it

out and did exactly what they wanted to do. First of all they

wanted to kill him but Reuben was there and kept them from

doing that, but when the caravan came along they decided that

was better because they could make some money and also be sure

he would have a painful death as a slave.

d b i d i h l b


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5 Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you

sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life . . . Now

stop and think, notice is does not say this dont be angry with

yourselves for selling me into Egypt for God took what you did and

turned it into good. Instead it says that God sent me, this is the

language of past tense or past action to indicate what God did and

what they did. The brothers selling Joseph into Egypt was Gods

sending Joseph into Egypt. It was not using what they did for some

good purpose.

Now here is the question when you have two activities that

converge in bringing about what happens:

The brothers selling Joseph into Egypt

God sending him to Egypt

Now the question is would one of the two actions be more ultimate

or primary? Or does one of the two weigh in heavier than the other in

explaining what happens.


20/22

7 God sent me

(notice who gets dropped out of the equation all together in this

verse the brothers are no longer mentioned because Gods

purpose is fulfilled in what they did)

before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep

you alive by a great deliverance. (It looks like a stronger weight

given to Gods action than the brothers)


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8 Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; (This

verifies what we thought in verse 7 that God has the ultimate action

here) and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his

household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

In an ultimate sense what happened to Joseph cant be explained by

what happened according to your jealousy and anger and vengeful

action toward Joseph in selling him into Egypt. Basically what this

means is that the brothers carried out Gods ordained will. Godsent Joseph through the brothers selling him.


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Question: If that is the case then on judgment day can the

brothers of Joseph hold up this passage from Genesis 45 and say

we cant be held accountable for this because we didnt send

Joseph but it was God and therefore we are off the hook. Isthat going to work? No way

And the reason we know this is because in Genesis 50 when

Jacob dies and the brothers are left with Joseph they are worried

because the father is gone so what is Joseph now going to dowith them? So they plead with him to forgive them and Joseph

responds you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. It is

very clear that Gods sending Joseph to Egypt through the

brothers selling Joseph to Egypt does not in any way absolvethem of responsibility.

God is praised for the action that He does for the people and

they are blameworthy for the action they did in selling Joseph

down to Egypt.

carmel baptist singles retreat 2007 session 2

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