Are We Submitting to the Rule of God in Our Life

Albert Jones welcomes everyone to another Sabbath morning message and starts reading from the book of Daniel, specifically chapters 2 and 4. Mr. Jones discusses how God raises up kings and kingdoms for his purpose and how he can bring them down as well. Albert mentions the importance of understanding the historical figures in the Bible and how their stories have lessons for us today. He also mentions that God is in charge of the affairs on Earth and can raise up or cut down leaders as he sees fit. Albert also refers to prophecies in the Book of Daniel that extend to the return of Christ. Well, good morning, brethren, wherever you are, and God's great earth, if you will. Welcome to GoToMeeting 2. It's a beautiful Sabbath morning here in North America, state of Michigan. We are getting hints of green and the birds are very excited. So spring is on its way here, and we're all excited about that. So once again, welcome to another Sabbath morning message. It's great to be here to present to you this topic this morning. Thankful to God for his blessing and bringing us through the week to another Sabbath day. I wanted to start the message off in Daniel, the book of Daniel. So if you would turn to Daniel 2, this is where we will start our scriptural readings here this morning. And I've got sufficient material. I'll try to space myself and my timing so that you'll have an opportunity to get the scriptures down. If I see myself running a little short, I'll go ahead and quote them to you so that you'll have them. But in Daniel 2, and we're going to pick it up here in verse 37. So let's go there. Daniel 2, 37. This is where God had raised up a king on the earth for a specific purpose. Him referring to him as his servant to do his will, as we all know that as human beings, we officiate and can affect very little. The entirety of the universe as it exists is within God's preview. He orchestrates things according to his will for the purpose of getting a message across to his most important creation, mankind. So let's start our readings here, and this will come into view a little closer as we go on through. In trying to interpret a dream that the king had here, there is quoted in verse 26, as Daniel was inspiring to convey to the king. He says, you, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength in glory. So you can imagine any kingdom in the history of mankind, some of the greatest ones, of course, represented by the statue and the vision there in Daniel, that God is orchestrating purpose in it. We sometimes think that the world is thrown out of kilter. Yes, God gives us choice, mankind has to make choices, mankind then are subject to the consequences of those choices, but God is not hindered, hampered, or restrained from his purpose ever. Mankind will not threaten God's plan. God's plan will come into being. So, reading on here, so God has given this individual this kingdom, and he is the strength that sustains it. Let's go to chapter 4 now, go over to chapter 4 of Daniel, and then let's read verse 10. Again, in verse 9, this is Belshazzar, so again, Daniel speaking to him says, O Belshazzar, master of musicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you. This is Daniel interpreting these dreams, these visions, God is inspiring him to understand, and again, God is working a purpose here. So, they say to him, they've seen God working in his life, they've seen God's power and miracles and special understanding given to him. So, they know something is uniquely happening here. Again, God is uniquely working in this particular kingdom, again, for a purpose. If you look at the greatness that this kingdom had. Okay, so, verse 9, O Belshazzar, master of the musicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no secret causes you trouble, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen in its meaning. In verse 10, thus were the visions of my head upon my dead. I saw and beheld a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. Its height was great. Imagine, brethren, if you are familiar with the great sequoia trees of California, okay? This tree represents the magnificence of this individual's kingdom, as it were, given by God, right, at that time. So, again, verse 11, the tree grew and was strong, and its height reached unto heaven. The sight of it reached to the end of all the earth. A great, magnificent, thriving tree, as it were, that God had raised up, this symbolizing God raising up this kingdom for the purpose. Verse 2, its leaves were beautiful, and its fruit plentiful, and it was food for all. The animals of the field sought shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its bones, and all flesh was fed by it. A great influence, right, throughout the world. Verse 13, and I saw the visions in my head upon my dead, and behold, a watcher in a holy one came down from heaven, okay? He cried aloud and said thus, cut down the tree. And cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Let the animals get away from under it, and the birds from its branches. Something is about to change here, and there's a purpose for that as well. There's a reason for that. As I said, God works in our lives, he raises up these leaders, but then they have choices that they must make, and the consequences of those choices, then, are what they are. Verse 15, nevertheless, leave the stump of its roots. So now, all of a sudden, you've got this wonderful tree providing influence across the entire world. You go from that to a stump, because God has cut it. But leave the stump, it says. Leave the stump of its root in the earth, even the band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with dew, with the dew of heaven, and let its portion be with the animals in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from a man's and a beast's heart be given to him, and let seven times pass over him. Well, we know the story here, but let's read on through verse 20 here. The manner is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, so that the living may know, that the living of all of mankind may comprehend, as we're reading this example in the Bible today, preserved for us to comprehend a very great thing. If you look at the prophecy that comes out of Daniel, it reaches on into the millennia, reaches on into eternity, because God is showing mankind something through a great king of the heroes of, as long as that individual understood where it was coming from and had proper relationship. But there is a message here for mankind, even more so than we think. So the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the basis of men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. But you, Bobel Sazer, declare the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make the meaning known to me. But you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you. Again, not a converted king, but an instrument of God, for sure. And God gave him a glimpse, if you will, and when he's done with him, he will begin to comprehend his limitations and the power of God. And I think this is the whole message, as a part of so many other messages in the book of Daniel. But this is a very prime example. When I first came into the church, I had an opportunity to do an internship in Minnesota. I had an opportunity to spend some time with a long-time member of God's church. Me just coming into the church, just starting to attend, was baptized that summer, yes. But studying the Bible was a little different in my head. But in spending time with this church member, I would go to his home on Friday evening, spend the night, keep the Sabbath, and come back to my job, as it were. We had a chance to have Bible study. We did extensive studies in Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar the king all of a sudden became a real individual, and not just a story in the Bible. And so in reading about him, and just his characteristics, his perks and everything, made a big difference. So when we read these scriptures, let's read them with some clarity and some understanding that these were real figures in the history of mankind, and God gave an example that is dealing with them for us to learn from. So, the king again here is speaking. So let's go to verse 20 now. He says, The tree that you saw, which became great and strong, whose height reached into heaven, and the side of it to all the earth, going on, whose leaves were fair and its fruit plentiful, and it was food for all, under which the animals of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the birds of the heavens had their home, it is you, O king, for you have overcome great and strong, you have become, I'm sorry, great and strong, for your greatness has grown and reached into heaven and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And as the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven and saying, cut the tree down and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the root of it in the earth, even with the bands of iron and bronze and tender grass of the field, let it be wet with dew of heaven and let it be, let his portion be with the animals of the field under, until seven times passed over him. And then Daniel gave him the interpretation. Well, we know the story that God raised up Nebuchadnezzar as a great king for his purpose. The children of Israel received some part of a disciplinary act from God through him. But God is also setting up an example here that goes across into the book, even the book of Revelation, in terms of understanding of affairs in the realm of mankind upon the earth. And we learn a lot from the prophecies associated with the imagery from these dreams that point all the way until the return of Christ, with the stone from heaven striking the foot of the statue, of course, and Daniel, other parts of Daniel 9 and so forth. So the point here is very clear, that God is in charge of the affairs upon the earth. We are the created things in his hand. God can raise up, but he can cut down. So in chapter 5 of Daniel, he spoke again to King Nebuchadnezzar's son at a different period here. Let's read 5.10. Daniel 5, verse 10. Here, back to verse 9. Then King Belshazzar was really afraid and his consciousness changed in him and his lords were perplexed. The queen came into the banquet house because of the king's word and his nobles and the queen spoke and said, O king, live forever. Do not let your thoughts be troubled in you. Let your confidence change. So Daniel is going to be asked once again, there is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God. In the days of your father, there was found in him light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. Well, again, their limited understanding here, still not comprehending that there is only one God, one power, one might. They are still referencing things that they do not understand. And the king Nebuchadnezzar, your father, the king, I say your father appointed him master of the magicians, as they called it, and chandlers and astrologers, because a surprising spirit and knowledge and understanding and interpreting dreams and revealing of hard riddles and the solving of difficult problems. He's your man, right? Go ask him. So Daniel was brought in, verse 13, and he addressed Daniel. Let's come down to see where we want to end up here. Let's come down here to verse 17. And Daniel answered and said before the king that your gifts be to yourself and give your rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing to the king and make the interpretation known to him. Verse 18, very critical. O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father, a kingdom and greatness and glory and majesty. And for the greatness that he gave him, all people, nations and languages trembled and feared before him. So God raised him up and placed him in this mighty position. He slew whom he would and whom he would, he kept alive, and whom he would he raised up and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, talking about Nebuchadnezzar, not recognizing that his strength came from God, and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was put down from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. Again, brethren, God rules in the realm of men. So all things that are orchestrated upon this earth, God allows choice and the consequences of those choices are what they are. Now, there are many studies that we can do along that line. But think of this, from this great and awesome king to nothing, from a great king symbolized by the largest sequoia tree that you can imagine to a stump. This is how quickly God can take away from you what you think you have given to yourself. We are to give honor to God at all times. Let's go to Job, the book of Job here. I don't want to get trapped in the introductory here too much longer. So in the book of Job, let's read Job chapter 12. And let's read verse 11. Does not the ear try words and does not the mouth taste its food? With the ancient is wisdom and understanding in length of days. With him is wisdom and strength. He is counsel and understanding. Behold, if he tears down, no one can reveal. If he sets in a man, no one can open. Behold, he who withholds the waters and they dry up, also he sends them out and they inundate the earth. With him is strength and sound wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away, strips and makes the judges fools. He loosens the bonds of kings and binds their loins with a girdle. He leads princesses away, stripped and overthrows the mighty. He silenced the lips of trusted ones and take away the understanding of the elders. He pours contempt upon princesses and he unites the belts of the mighty. Or unties, I'm sorry, the belts of the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and he brings the shadow of death to light. He gives greatness to the nations and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations and he leads them away. He takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth and he causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path. They grow in the dark without light and he makes them straight stagger like a drunken man. Once again, understanding who God is and who we are. Okay, bringing that, let's go to Isaiah. Let's go to Isaiah now. The prophet Isaiah has something to say here with the example of Hezekiah's prayer. Okay, let's think of this great king, as it were, raised up by God for the purpose in providing leadership and rulership in Israel. Isaiah 37, verse 15. Isaiah 37, verse 15. And Isaiah prayed to the Lord saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who dwells between the caravan, you are God. You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made the heavens and the earth. Bow down your ear, O Lord, and hear. And this is a realization for us when we're asking God to hear our prayer, to be attentive to our needs. We recognize him as the one and only true source of life and everything that's good. We pray to him. So here, Hezekiah is petitioning God, bow down your ear, O Lord, hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. And this is where he was taunting Israel, right? Verse 18, he says, truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries in their lands. They had a reputation. Another force on the scene, right? Babylon, Assyria now. And they have cast their gods into fire. Well, what do you expect? Their gods were not God. Hezekiah is praying to the one and only true God. But he's making this comparison in his prayer. But they were no gods, he says. But the work of man's or men's hands, wood and stone, and they have destroyed them. And now, O Lord, our God, save us from his hands so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord, you alone. You can read the rest of the story, but the point here again is very clear. God, the only God, the true God, rules in the kingdom of men. So brethren, we look at Nebuchadnezzar, and we comprehend. Go to 1 Timothy 6. We comprehend this truth. God is above all. God is above everything. We exist in his realm. We didn't create him in ours. We exist and were brought to life. All things that exist were created by God, for God, right? So this is a truth that we have to truly comprehend about things. Let's see. Chapter 6, and let's pick it up in verse 12. 6, 12. God tells us every single day to fight the good fight of faith, take hold of eternal life as God has revealed to us so that we have it and we're walking in it. See, we were called to hope in Christ. We were called to a resurrection of life. Our hope is not in this physical existence. And when we look around us and we see all this happening in the world, we perceive that the world is coming apart somehow. God hasn't lost control of his purpose, brethren. For he told the children of Israel in coming out of Egypt at the Red Sea to stand still. Stop fretting. These are my words. Stop fretting. Stop worrying. Stand still, God said, and see that power performed for them. God fought for them. And God tells us to fight the good fight. That isn't you and I beating after the wind. We're not going to have any effect on anything. But the fight that you and I are in, we are in it together with God, the Father, and Jesus Christ working in our lives. God has given us those examples throughout history for the purpose of understanding. It isn't the mind of a man. It isn't the mind of an army. It isn't savvy. It isn't well-spokenness. It isn't riches or gain. It is faith in the living God, the one God, the only God, the true God, the one that we worship, brethren. In this generation, as they have worshiped God, the true believers that God has called, those whom God has given his spirit to, those who died in that faith, have trusted him throughout the time, the ages of time here. So he tells us, fight a good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called, and did profess a good profession in the presence of many witnesses. Yes, at your baptism, there was God the Father and Jesus Christ, and the brethren that was there, maybe. But don't forget all the angels that shouted for joy when you were converted. They were there as well. We did profess a good profession in the presence of many witnesses. He says, I charge you in the sight of God, who gives life to every living thing, and Jesus Christ, who in testifying before a Pontius Pilate, gave the exemplary profession of faith, that you keep this commandment without fault and without rebuke until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he is coming back. This entire work of God will be fulfilled. We will be changed from this physical realm into the very spirit realm of God, if we are born into his family. We'll experience that. Verse 15, which in his own times, the blessed and only sovereign will make known the King of kings, true king of kings. King of kings and Lord of lords. And this is with a big K brother, not the little one that Nebuchadnezzar had. He was a physical king in a physical realm appointed by the mighty God. This is God himself. Verse 16 now, who alone has immortality, dwelling in life, which no man can approach, whom no man has seen, nor has the ability to see, to whom belongs eternal honor and power. And that ends with amen. So, we have that relationship. Let's go to Revelation 17, and let's just read this into the record. Yes, he will return. Verse 17, in one of the angels, seven angels who had the seven vows came and spoke with me saying to me, come here. I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. This is the end of it all for God has brought it to a conclusion that mankind will recognize that who God is for God now will intervene at a very personal way in the affairs of mankind. Very much so. And those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Verse three now, then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness and I saw a woman sitting up on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns full of names of blasphemy and the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and was adorned with gold and purple pearls, I'm sorry, and precious stone. And she had a golden cup in her hand filled with abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And across her forehead was a name, a name was written. Here again, the message from Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar in the kingdom of Babylon. Here's the message here that that prophecy speaks to across time. This woman upon this beast had this written on the forehead. The name was Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. Now you're talking about a system that needs to be purged and cleansed and scraped and brethren, not even the stump will be left when God is done. Because this is the system that Satan will unleash on the world and God will have to rescue us from it. God will intervene. But he wants us to understand as his created beings that that system does not work. And mankind today don't seem to want to get that point. So verse six, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And after seeing her, I wondered with great amazement. Then the angel said to me, why are you amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast. That carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns and the beast that you saw was that you saw was and is not, but is about to come upon the abyss and to go into perdition. And those who dwell on the earth whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world shall be astonished when they see the beast that was but is not. And yet is. Without God's truth, they will be amazed. They will fret. They will worry. But those who have God's truth, those written in the book of life, brethren, we understand. I'm only giving a thumbnail sketch here of this. This is a study that we would probably do after the days of Unleavened Bread on into across the seven weeks into Pentecost. But the message here, as I said, from the book of Daniel reaches across all the way to the return of Christ. Nebuchadnezzar will be dealt with. He was dealt with. He is no more. He's long decayed into dust. But the system that was represented there, this system that Satan influences, right? This Babylon is alive and well, even today. God is calling us out of her. Let's go over one chapter to Revelation 18. And let's just read verse four. So God is calling us out of that. God is calling us out of that. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people. This is God's people. Those of us who have faith in God, those of us who are yielding to God, those of us who are humble before him. So he tells us to come out of her. Don't be a part of this system. Don't be embracing this world. And there's not a single aspect of it that is worth embracing, quite honestly, because it's not from God. Now, God, again, is the key focus for you and I in everything that we do. We live in the world. We work in the world. We have interaction in the world. But we are not of this world, right? So come out of her, my people, he says, so that you're not going to take of her sins and that you do not receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached as far as heaven. And God has remembered her iniquities. Punishment, wrath, vengeance is coming, not exercised by you and I. We don't have the power or the inclination or authority to do it. But God does. And God, his rule will take care of it. So God is calling us out of that. He wants us to fulfill his purpose in us. He made us in his image. And God has told us it's time for us to come away from this foolish vanity that the world seems to be so wrapped up in. If it is time today for mankind to seek after God, let's go to Acts. Let's read this into the record. In Acts 17, in Paul, here's another opportunity for God to make a great contrast between what is in this world and what is true. And he did that here in this opportunity. In verse 24 of Acts 17, poor Paul, verse 22, stands in the center of Mars Hill and surrounded by representatives, if you will, the great philosophers of the world, if you can imagine it. And here is this man who they look down at as being this ignorant, uneducated individual. Well, Paul has had as much education as they did as far as the world is concerned. But they didn't view his education as having any merit. Again, looking down upon him, not unlike he did upon the Jews that he persecuted. But nonetheless, God has turned that thing around now and Paul is in his hand for good. So let's pick it up in verse 21. Now all the Athenians and the strangers journeying among them spent their leisure in nothing other than to tell and to hear something new. Then Paul stood in the center of Mars Hill and said, Men, Athenians, I perceive that in all things you are very reverent to deities. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your veneration, I also found an altar on which was inscribed to the unknown God. So then, he whom you worship in ignorance is the one that I want that I proclaim to you. He is the God who made the world and all things that are in it. Being the Lord of heaven and earth, he does not dwell in temples made by him. Nor is he served by the hands of men. Do we understand that, brethren? What can we do for God other than obey him, reach out to him, cry out to him, ask him for help? What are you going to do to aid God in any significant way that you're going to add something to God? He created all things. Again, nor is he served by the hands of men as though he need anything. For he gives to all life and breath in all things. You see the position now. Here we are in great need always. Here is God providing me always. Here are we physical. Here is he eternal. We are striving for him. We desire to be a part of who he is. Look, but so many in the world want to bring God into their realm, reshape him, make him like them. This is not going to happen. God rules. Men obey. Verse 26. And he made of one blood all nations of men who dwell upon the face of the earth, having determined beforehand their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. So you look around the globe, and this is a very true thing that we need to comprehend, that every human being that has existed and every human being that will, that exists today and will exist, all begin with the one man in his life, Adam and Eve. So we are all material, and God is shaped and formed and caused to come to be. So there is nothing unique there. He has determined before time their appointed times. The appointed time for the Gentile kingdoms of the earth to know God was when Paul took it to them as the apostle. But there is a time coming when all mankind will comprehend the power that is God. The great tribulation will bring it to bear. They will comprehend that they are nothing and that God is all power. So this is a part of the journey that we're on. But today we belong to him. So verse 27. In order that they might seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after him and might find him, though truly he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as some of the poets among you also have said, for we are his offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we were created by God, the one and only true maker. It says, we should not think that the Godhead is like that which is made of gold or silver or stone, things which are material, a graven thing, an art devised by the imagination of a man. We're going to make God in our own image now, right? Mankind needs to wake up for sure. Verse 30. For although God has indeed overlooked the times of this ignorance, he now commands all men everywhere to repent. Was that not John the Baptist's message? Ahead of Christ, repent. Will not the two witnesses scream in their time? Repent. Repent, and when they're done, the angels will take over. God wants us, mankind, to be a part of his family. He wants us to fulfill our purpose for which he called us and which he created us. And he is going to continue that work. Let's turn, if you will, please, to Psalm 104, Book of Psalms. And we'll read the 104th Psalm here. And we will pick it up in verse 1. 1 through 9. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. This isn't just beautiful poetry, brethren. This is truth. Let's say more about who God is. He says, covering yourself with light, as with a garment, and stretching out the heavens like a curtain. God did that. Who lays the beams in his upper chambers in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks upon the wings of the wind. God does that. He makes his angels spirits. His ministers a flame of fire. They are his servants to go out and do his will, brethren. They minister to us and carry out all the necessary functions that God needs them to carry out in order for us to have a sustainable life, environment, and everything else that God does through them as ministers of his. He established the earth on his foundation. God did that so that it should not be removed forever. And we can't even comprehend a thousand years of life. Let alone forever. He says, you covered it with the deep, as with a garment. The water stood above the mountains. He says, at your rebuke, they fled. And at the voice of your thunder, they hastened away. The mountains arose. The valleys sink down to the place that you had found it for them. You have set a bond that they may not pass over any ocean in the world. Hold that water that is contained in the oceans of the world. God said, this is your limit. You cannot go past. That's God that does that. He allows the tides to come in. Yes. But that limit is not broken. Broken. So that they might not return. So that they may not return again to cover the earth. He sends forth, verse 10. He sends forth the streams into the valleys. They flow between the mountains. You've seen the beautiful rivers. You've seen the streams. Here in America, we have some of the most beautiful mountainous scenic settings in the world. But I've seen photos and video from other parts of the world as well. God did that. Verse 13. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers. And the earth is full of the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for livestock. And herbs for the service of men. To bring forth food from the earth. And wine that makes glad the heart of man. And oil that makes his face shine. And bread to strengthen the heart of man. God is orchestrating all that we enjoy. And the Bible tells us to give thanks to him. And glory and honor to him. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. And the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted. Where the birds make their nests as for the stork and fir trees. The fir trees are her home. Well, I'll stop there. But read the rest of it. It is again conveying this fact. God is defined. God is defined in scripture as eternal. All purposeful. Perfect in love. Purpose and character. Purpose and character. The scripture defines him as lawgiver. Creator. Sustainer of life. In all things. God gave us breath. We draw breath from him. Inhale, brethren. Take a breath at this very moment. Hold it. Exhale. Take another breath. Go ahead. He won't hold it from you. He gives breath to the living. God does that. If we think that we don't need God, try sustaining yourself without his breath that he gives. Create your own if you can. This is the reality that I'm wanting to convey with this message. It is God who rules in our life. And it isn't a fact of us doing something nice for God by obeying him and yielding to him. You can fight God. You can struggle against God. You can make choices contrary to God. But you have the consequences of those things that you have to bear. God is not going to be deterred. When it's all said and done, there will be God. And that is what's going to be left. God will prevail. You will either be with him or you will be no more. It really isn't a hard choice, is it? And we don't get to affect the rules to the extent that we can change God. God has already extended to us the greatest love. He's demonstrated his love to us. His desire for us. His creation itself defines this love that he has for us. And we need to truly comprehend that. God holds up and controls the universe, known and unknown. God made us and not we, him. God is the reality of the image and the likeness from which man is created. And so we have this kind of an understanding given to us, brethren, through God's word and the work of his Holy Spirit in our minds and in our hearts. And we often ask, why? Why invest so much in beings who are, for the most part, that reject him? They haven't been told all that you and I are reading here, that this that I'm saying to you, it's available in God's word. If you just read the Psalms alone, they would make you wonder. And think about true reality that is. So those who look to the things made and not the maker are looking in the wrong direction. Let's go back to Acts. And let's read the rest of the Paul's Acts 17. And let's read the rest of Paul's point here. Let's read it again. For he tells them, therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we should not think that the Godhead is something which is made of gold or silver or stone or brazen things, or not devised by the imagination of man, or even an image in our mind. Imagine that God is something that he is not. Read the scripture. It defines who he is. For although God has indeed overlooked this in the times of our ignorance, he is now commanding all men everywhere to repent. Because that day is coming. So if we are to gain one very key understanding from the example of God's relationship that he demonstrated to the world, that relationship that he had toward ancient Israel, or that he has toward Israel, it would be this truth. God, in his infinite wisdom, designed the way in which we, that is mankind, who are being made in God's image, we being made, who are being made by God, created and formed in his image and after his likeness, the way that we should walk. Now, not like mankind on the other side of the flood. In other examples through history, each one doing what seemed right in his own eyes, having left the way, that is the path, the purpose, and the instructions of our maker. Of our maker. Let's read Genesis 6 into the record, just to put some foundation here. God is the way. In Genesis 6, verse 1, And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and when daughters were born to them, that the sons of the mighty one saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves from all who they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit, that is the spirit that he had given us at creation, shall not always strive with men in his going astray. For he is but flesh, and yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. This is what God is revealing to us, that our strength and our stamina, if you will, has created beings tied directly to the spirit of man in many ways. He says, They were tyrants on the earth in those days, there were. And also after that, the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they were children to them. They were mighty men who existed of old, men of renown, these great ones of that day. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord repented that he had made man on the earth, and he was breathed in his heart. Man had left his purpose and path, and it lost its way. In verse 7, And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and crawling things in the plow of the Aaron, for I repent that I've made them. But Noah, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace. So here again, is the father of mankind from that point forward, but still, he came from Adam. These are the generations of Noah, verse 9, then kind of defines what they are. And if you go to verse 11, it shows that the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. We can relate to that even today. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. And brethren, that day at the return of Christ, the tribulation will take us up to that point. That day is also coming. There will come a time when flesh will have fulfilled its purpose, and all that will be left is righteousness in God. Because God, God's purpose would have been fully fulfilled in man. Those who yield, those who commit themselves, those who let God rule in their lives, and say let because you're not fighting him, you're not being insolent, stiff-necked, disobedient, but you're yielding, head bowed, humble, approaching God, recognizing that this relationship is one of grace, and you have a great opportunity as a first fruit to be in his kingdom. But the earth as it were then was filled with violence. And the time that we're living in is revenances of that, and will escalate further and further, and lower and lower into decay, and violence, and evil, in which God will step in, and take care of things once more. So not like those on the other side of the flood, is what God, God is not looking for us to behave that way. He wants us to submit, and to get in line with his program, yield to him and his purpose for us. Yes, Noah's relationship with God was one of grace, engendered his relationship, engendered obedience, faith, and action in agreement with God. Peter and Paul gives us greater insight into this, this truth. So let's turn to first Peter as we begin to sum up this. So first Peter here, chapter three. And let's pick it up in verse 10. Once again, the message is preserved in the word of God for us to comprehend and understand. And Bible study requires that. It's one thing to read the Bible, and have knowledge of the Bible, and have knowledge of scriptures, and all of that. But we have to ask God to give us understanding of his purpose, his word, his truth, his way. Help us to understand it, so that we can walk in it. We can strive after it more perfectly. Verse 10. For the one who desires to love life, brethren, yes, not just in this physical body, because I do enjoy time with the brethren. I do enjoy time with my family, right? But eternally, I desire life, and to see good days, it says. Let him restrain his own tongue from evil, and do not allow his lips to speak deceit. Let him avoid evil, and let him continually practice good. Let him seek peace, that peace is with God. Let him earnestly pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their supplication. But here's something God wants us to understand. There's a big old but there. The faith of the Lord is against those who practice evil. And I do mean that God does not abide with sin. He abhors sin, right? But he loves us. Verse 13. Is there anyone who will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? And we follow God, we seek after him. Let's go over one chapter to chapter four of 1 Peter now. And let's read verses one through three. Consequently, consequently, since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, God tells us, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because one who has suffered in the flesh has finished living in sin. To this end, this is the purpose, that he no longer live his remaining time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. Now we are the light that the world needs to see. We are the salt that the world needs to taste, right? To give flavor, purpose to life. They see God working in you. Verse three. For the past time of our lives is sufficient to have worked out the will of the Gentiles. When we ourselves walked in licentiousness and lust and were devout with wine, carousing, drinking, and wanted idolatry. In seeing the difference in your behavior, they are astonished that you do not rush with them into the same overflowing debauchery, and they revile you. But they shall render an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. That day is coming. And so when John was baptizing and the Pharisees and the Sadducees came around, he said to them, who warned you to escape the coming wrath, right? Who warned you? Who forewarned you? Well, brethren, it is understood that we are to be warned, that we are to be informed, that we are to be made aware of what God is doing. To be apart from God is not walking in step with him. Well, believe God and there, you know, he, it was accounted to him for grace. God calls us and he instructs us in the right way. Let's go to a final scripture in Psalm 65. God has made known to us the things that we need to know. He has revealed to us the things that we need in order to be in harmony with him. And even more than that, brethren, even more than that. So let's go to Psalm 65 for our final verse here. Let's pick it up in verse one. Praise wait for you, O God, in vain. Into you shall the vow be performed. O you who hears prayers, prayer unto you shall all flesh come. As for our transgressions, you shall forgive them as they are repented of, brethren. Verse four, bless us the one whom you chose in cause to come near you. That's us. That he dwell in your courts. That's what we are aspiring to. We shall be satisfied with goodness of your house. Yes, even if we're at the doorstop. Right? Even your holy temple. But God is pulling us in close to his bosom and love. He's expressed the greatest love of all, willing to divest himself of his existence as God and come and save us. Verse five, by awesome words and righteousness, you will answer us, O God, of our salvation. You are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those of the distant sea. Yes, all mankind, everywhere there is one hope, one God. And we are going to assist Christ in getting that message to the ones who are left. And then we are going to assist Christ with all the other converted saints and the great white throne judgment, and they will know God and understand him. So brethren, let me go ahead and stop there. But just to say this, know God, submit to God, confess his name, fully, wholly committing yourselves to him, for he is above all things and he is our God.