If God ceased to exist for a second, the universe would perish with him. Because God not only creates and that we're not only dependent upon him for our origin, but also since we don't have the power of being in and of ourselves, we couldn't be for a second without his sustaining power. It's not uncommon to hear atheists object to Christians by asking the question, well, Who made God? But as you'll hear R. C.
Sproll explain today. If there's no supreme being, There's no being. There would be nothing. This is the Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W.
Bingham. We're spending several days considering the providence of God. A reminder that every good gift comes from God.
So ultimately, when we give thanks, we need to give thanks to Him. It's important for us to remember that our God has not abandoned what he created. What he creates, he creates. He sustains. Here's Duff to Sproll to explain.
In our first lecture on the providence of God, I mentioned that one of the dominant concepts for the last couple of hundred years in Western society is the idea that we live in a closed mechanistic universe, that there was no possibility for intrusion from outside, and that everything operated here according to naturally fixed law says that the universe is sort of like a machine. that functions by its own inner machinations. But even those who introduced that idea as early as the 17th century and the 18th century still. posited the idea of a god Who built the machine in the first place? That they still couldn't get away from the need for the idea of a creator because those people were intelligent thinkers and scientists, and they said, Look, we couldn't have a scientific world to be observing if there isn't some kind of ultimate cause for all of these things.
And I won't get off onto that tangent here, except to say that it was tacitly assumed that even though an idea of an involved Providential Governor of the daily affairs of life was being questioned and challenged. It still was tacitly assumed that there had to be a creator above. And beyond, the creature or the created order. And of course now that. is in the focal point of dispute.
in our own days. But in the classical concept of providence, With respect to Christian theology, The idea of God's providence is very closely bound up with his role As the creator of the the universe. Because, as I said, it's not simply that God creates the universe. and then turns his back on it and loses touch with it, Nor is it simply that God sits on his throne in heaven and watches this machine. work by its own inner mechanism as a disinterested or hamstrung spectator who is powerless to tinker with the machine at any point whatsoever.
Rather, the Christian notion of a God is a God who, even though he is the primary cause. of the universe He is also The primary cause.
Now listen carefully. Of everything in the universe. and everything that takes place in the universe. Again, the foundational principle of Christian theology is that nothing, no thing in this world. Intrinsic Causal power.
Nothing has any power. Save. The power that is vested in it. or loan to it, if you will. or worked through it.
Which ultimately is the power of God.
Now, that doesn't mean, I'm not saying. That I don't have any power to do anything, or that you don't have any power to do anything. I say, you don't have it in and of yourselves. You don't have it by your own strength eternally. And that's why theologians and philosophers historically have made a crucial distinction between.
primary causality and secondary causality. The fact that God is primary means He's the first cause, He's the author of all that is. But not only Back then in time. But that he continues to be the primary cause. of human events.
And of natural Occurrences.
Now that primary cause doesn't exclude secondary causes. Does it mean that he works apart from us? or that there's no such thing as a causal nexus in nature. That yes, we're saying that when the rain falls, the grass gets wet, not because God makes the grass wet directly and immediately without the falling of the rain. It's the rain that causes the grass to get wet.
But the point I'm saying is that The rain couldn't fall, and even if it did fall, the grass couldn't get wet if it weren't for the causal power of God that stands over and above that secondary activity that's taking place.
Now, modern man. Has cut it off at the knees and said, We have the rain, we have the wet grass, we don't need the primary cause. They could just go along fine with secondary costs. And never mind. The primary causes.
Now The simple concept that we have here is that what God creates. He sustained What God creates. He sustains. So one of the important Subdivisions under the concept of providence in theology. is the concept of divine sustenance.
Divine sustenance. That is, God. is not the great watchmaker who builds the watch, winds it up, and then steps out of the picture. But what he makes He preserves And he sustains. In fact, one of the first words In fact, the first verb that we find in the Bible is the Hebrew word barah.
In the beginning. God Created heaven and the earth. And that word bar ah. Carries within it in the Hebrew concept. This idea of sustaining.
I like to illustrate that by the difference in music between a sustained note. and a staccato note. And I'll use my colleague here To help me illustrate this, if we will, let's take a simple little sound or word, Bob, like beep. and I'd like to ask you to sing that for me in staccato fashion. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
That's just a little too legato. Let's get it more staccato. Beep. Keep going. Beep, beep, beep, beep.
We got the real live road runner right here. Rum, beep, beep.
Okay, beep, beep, beep. That's the staccato, that short, crisp. Beep that you hear in music, and then if we want to sustain the word beep, how would it go? Beep, we hold it.
Now the concept that the Hebrew language has here In the book of Genesis, in the word bara, translated create. Is that it's not staccato. It's not And in the beginning, God beeped. everything into bang, but rather Bara means that what he makes. He holds Keeps it.
maintains the power of its being. Again. One of the most profound and profoundly important theological concepts in all of the world. is the whole concept of God as the author of being. You could not be.
Without a supreme being. Because you don't have the power of being. I mean, again, if any pagan, if any atheist in the United States of America would think about being seriously and logically for five minutes, it would be the end of atheism. Because everyone knows as well as they know anything. That no one in this world has the power of being within himself.
And yet, somewhere there must be one who does have the power of being within himself. or it would be absolutely scientifically impossible for anything to be. There's no supreme being, folks. There's no being. There's nothing And if there's something.
There must be something that has the power of being or nothing would be. It's that simple. You don't have to have a PhD in philosophy to anything. Let me say it again. If anything exists, then something must have the power of being within itself or nothing would be.
That's simple. The point we're making here is the Apostle Paul says to the pagans of his day, to the Greeks. The Areopagus there in Athens. When they had their altar to the unknown God, do you remember that? said whom you worship in ignorance I declare to you in power that it is in him that we live And move.
And have our being. If God ceased to exist for a second. The universe would perish with him. Because the idea is That God not only creates and that we're not only dependent upon Him for our origin, but also, since we don't have the power of being in and of ourselves. We couldn't be.
For a second. Without his sustaining power. And that is part. of God's providence.
Now When we talk about God's sustaining the world, that he has made and the world that he observes, that he sees and knows everything that is going on within it. We now get to the heart. of the concept of Providence, and that is that God governs. His creation. That's the central motif of the concept of the providence of God, namely.
that the providence of God has to do with God's government. of the universe. The government that he exercises Over his creation.
Well The time that we have left in this segment, I'd like to just mention a few things about the character. of God's government of the world. this providential government. And the first thing. I want to say is that God's government is permanent.
Yeah. Every four years or eight years, we have a change of government. in our country here in the United States. A new administration takes over. We've limited by constitutional amendment.
How many years a chief executive, a president, can serve as the supreme governor Of the United States, and the same thing has to do with the terms that are established for the legislators and so on.
So by human standards, Governments come. And governments go.
So that no. Governor in this world is permanent.
Now, there's a kind of analogy here with God: that God, who is seated as the supreme governor of heaven and earth. also must put up with people who are disenchanted with his rule. will object to his policies. who resist his authority. who revolt against him.
But the one thing that even though God's very existence can be denied, his authority can be resisted and disobeyed. The one thing that cannot possibly ever take place about providential government, ladies and gentlemen, is It can never be. overthrown. My favorite text to indicate that is the second Psalm, which begins with this question. Why do the nations conspire And the people's plot.
In vain The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord. and against his Anointed One, Let us break their chains they say. and throw off their fetters. Let me just stop at that point. The image of the second song.
is the image of a summit meeting. Of the powerful rulers of this world. They come together to enter into a coalition. A kind of military axis. to plan the overthrow of divine authority.
It's as if a summit meeting took place in all of the powerful nations of the world. brought their nuclear arsenals together. And took their intercontinental ballistic missiles and aimed them to converge at a point where the throne of God. Resides.
So that they could blast him out of the heavens. And then as they say here in the text, saying, We can break his chains and cast his cords or the fetters from off us. And this conspiracy of the kingdoms of this world, according to the psalmist. is against God and against Here's Anointed And the Hebrew that is against his Messiah. Against his Messiah.
We'll see in a few moments. That the thread that ties together the tapestry of the Old and the New Testament. is ultimately a political thread. Cosmically political. Because the central motif of sacred scripture, I believe, is the concept of the kingdom of God.
And what was at issue here? in chapter two of the Psalms. was The kingship. of God. God's right to rule the rulers of this world.
Notice the reaction of God. to this earthly conspiracy. Kings of the earth set themselves, you see, they agree with solemn pacts and treaties. And they affirm each other's strong determination that they're not going to waver from their resolve to overthrow. The king of the universe.
God looks down at all these assembled powers and the nuclear armaments pointed in his direction. And it says, The Lord sits in his heaven. And does what? Trembles in fear. No, it says.
that the Lord sits in his heaven. And laughs. God sits in heaven and sees the collective. Rebellion of the human race Pointed towards his authority, and he looks and he says. Cute, very cool.
Okay. Because all he has to do is, like a bartender with the ant on the bar, just put his thumb down and all of the. Missiles of this world are vaporized. He doesn't even have to move his thumb, he can just look in that direction. and by a glance of his eye, battle is over.
Then His laughter ends. It says he rebukes them. In his anger He terrifies them. in his wrath saying, Listen to this, ladies and gentlemen, I have installed my king on Zion. On my holy hill.
You know what? Again, I'm frequently amazed at the difference of accent that I find. Pages of sacred scripture and what I read in the pages of religious magazines and periodicals, and what I hear preached in the pulpits of our churches. The image of God that we have Is a God who is benevolent, he's kind. A celestial bellhop whom we call when we need room service.
Cosmic Santa Claus, who is at our back and call. And who Is so pleased to do whatever we ask him to do. And we portray God as one who pleads with us to. Change our ways and come into fellowship with Him, and who invites us to. come to Christ and all of that.
We don't usually hear of the portrait of God who commands obedience. What God is saying is, Here, hey look. I rule The universe. I have installed my son on this throne. I have given him all authority on heaven and earth.
You bow down to him. God never invites people to come to Jesus. He commands it. With divine authority and convicts you of treason. At a cosmic level, if you refuse.
He refused to. Submit to the authority of Christ. You're not going to be in trouble with me. The church isn't going to bother you, and you live in a country where the government's certainly not going to. Put you in jail.
All you're taking on is the Lord God Omnipotent. From God's perspective, to refuse to submit to the Lordship of Christ. It's an act. Not simply, of a lack of conviction. or a lack of information God regards it as immoral.
As evil. Flowing from a spirit that is unwilling to submit to the authority of God. That's what's so scary about all this. And you see the tone of that here. In the Psalm.
When he said, look, I have set My Ding. On my holy hill. Again, back at the Areopagus when Paul debated with the Greek philosophers. When he said, the former days of ignorance, you know, God overlooked, God was patient, long-suffering, you know, condescending to people's lack of information or their indifference. And he waited and he gave them evidence after evidence.
He says, but now. The days of that overlooking are over.
Now God commands all men everywhere To repent. We don't hear that anymore, do we? That it is a duty, a moral obligation to submit. Christ. It's not an option.
with God.
So the second thing I want to say, I have to hurry here. Is the governing providence of God is sovereign. And that's difficult for us to understand because we live in a democracy. And we have a built-in allergy. to sovereignty.
We have a social contract where no one can reign except by the consent. of the govern. That's not the way it is with God. God doesn't need our consent. in order to govern us.
He made us, and he had an intrinsic right to rule over us. Because he ultimately alone has an eternally divine right to rule. I'll say this is the third thing. That the Governorship of God is An absolute Monarchy. An absolute monarchy with no External restraints imposed upon the ruler such as a balance of power with the House of Representatives and a Senate and the Supreme Court.
God is the President, the Senate, The house And the Supreme Court all wrapped up into one because he is invested Where's the authority? Um The absolute Monarch.
Now let me just say, as I said a moment ago, that I think it is very important for us to understand and easy for us to overlook because we have this allergy to. Monarchy. that the central motif of this book is the motif of the kingdom of God. The history of the Old Testament is the history of the reign of Yahweh. over his people.
The central motif of the New Testament is the realization on earth of the kingdom of God in the coming Messiah whom God exalts to the right hand of authority and invests him and crowns him as the Lord of Lord and as the King of kings. And that is a political concept in the highest sense of the word. Because what we're talking about here is not religion. We're talking. about the ultimate political structure.
the one to whom we owe Ultimate allegiance. and ultimate obedience. One of the great ironies. of history. Is that when Jesus, who was the cosmic king, was born in Bethlehem The world was ruled by a man.
named Caesar. Augustus. Properly speaking, The word August. is appropriate for God. and for God alone.
Because it is the Lord God omnipotent. Who reigns? That was RC Sprawl on this Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Many Christians misunderstand the sovereignty of God and His providence. I certainly know I did.
and the Lord used Dr. Sproll to help me understand what the Bible teaches. What Christians have historically believed and what that looks like in the daily life of a believer.
So if you'd like to study God's Providence further, when you make a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org, we'll give you lifetime digital access to the complete series you heard from today. along with its study guide. Plus will give you digital access to another series from Dr. Sprawl titled Providence, God in Control. We'll also put two short titles from doctor Sproul in the mail for you.
What does it mean that God is sovereign and does God control everything?
So that's two teaching series, one study guide, and two books. When you donate before midnight tomorrow at Renewing Your Mind dot org, or when you use the link in the podcast show notes. Please know that we give thanks to God for you and your generosity. because this daily outreach would not be possible without it. Tomorrow, we conclude our time in this series on Providence with a message titled God.
or chance.
So please make plans to join us Wednesday here on Renewing Your Mind.
