We'll be continuing in our study of the Confession on Chapter 3 this evening. As we reflect on the ground that we've covered so far, it's very interesting. The first number of chapters are really pivotal for anything that you're going to believe. First is our doctrine of Scripture, and it's our source of authority. And I can think of interactions that I've had with some that have unusual beliefs, and it comes back to what do they believe about scripture? And scripture interprets scripture. The New Testament explains the Old Testament. Simple principles, but if you don't have them right, it then affects the building that you've created. Your view of God, who is he? He's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Simple things, but if you don't keep those rooted in your mind, the things that you end up with they can become very creative and almost amusing and sad as well. And for reference in the back of your hymnal on page 672 is chapter 3 on God's decree. So you can certainly look there or if you have a separate confession that works as well. And also I want to give thanks to Gary Marble for his work that he has put together and putting together a lot of this material which I am borrowing from and I appreciate The logicalness of the material that he has done, it's great. After declaring Holy Scripture as the authoritative special revelation of God, and then formulating the biblical doctrine of God and the Holy Trinity, our confession looks at what God does by His decree. And if you look at your outline for this chapter, you'll observe that the chapter moves from the general to the specific. The general creed of all events is treated, and then a specific part of that general decree is treated, predestination to life. The election unto salvation of certain individuals occurs according to the decree of predestination. And the structure of this chapter implies that the context, backdrop, and setting of the doctrine of election is God's comprehensive degree of whatsoever comes to pass. And when teaching election, this setting must not be neglected. Paragraph 1 states, God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever come to pass, yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, nor has fellowship with any therein. nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established, in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things in power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree." It's important to keep in mind the historical setting of the confession. When the Westminster divines began their work on their confession in 1643, it was only 24 years after the Senate of Dort, 1618 to 1619, which met to address the Armenian controversy. This Aminian controversy brought forward the issue of God's decree. This may be in part why we see the placement of it here in the Confession at Chapter 3. It is also logically placed before God's work of creation and providence, for everything that is flows from His decree. God's decree is a foundational doctrine and is essential to the doctrine of soteriology, the study of salvation. God's decree is the outworking of His purposes within time, and we must first understand how God executes His degrees, and then proceed to salvation, how God plans to redeem fallen men to God's glory. The decree of God is the foundation stone in the doctrine of salvation, and it must be laid carefully and exactly. The Confession states God has decreed in Himself. So first we should ask the question, what is a decree? The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as, to command something by decree to order, appoint, or assign authoritatively ordained. This is the general use of the word, but what is a good theological definition? The Baptist Catechism asks, what are the decrees of God? And the answer provides a solid theological definition. The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. And we could say amen right there and just repeat it a number of times to capture the import of that. For God to issue decrees in Himself means that God's decrees are determined by Him alone and without reference to anyone or anything else. And thus, even though the execution of His decree is related to creation, yet God does not base His determination of those decrees on anything He foresees in or of that creation. When we get to paragraph 2, we'll expand on this further. But here the point is simply that God's decree originates only within the Triune God. God issues His decree from all eternity. Birkhoff states, the divine decree is eternal in the sense that it lies entirely in eternity. And this is foundational to a biblical approach of God's decree, and its ramifications can hardly be overemphasized. In scripture, we see such statements as, who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord, Isaiah 45, 21? And then further in Isaiah it states, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose, Isaiah 46.10. God does not make impromptu decrees or decrees which are dependent upon the free agency of mankind. Rather, God's decrees are predetermined in eternity from ancient times. Further, God issues His decrees by the most wise and holy counsel of His will, freely and unchangeably. The confessional wording, counsel of His own will, is directly from Scripture. Ephesians 1.11 states, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being pretestant according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. Birkhoff states the word council, which is one of the terms by which the decree is designated, suggests careful deliberation and consultation. It may contain a suggestion of an intercommunion between the three persons of the Godhead. Latham states, the phrase, counsel of his own will, implies that in all God's plans, all three persons of the Trinity are integrally and invisibly involved. Moreover, God's decrees are for his own glory. Viewed in a Trinitarian light, these are not the designs of a celestial megalomaniac insistent upon imposing himself, but are the wise and holy plans of the God who is indivisible in communion and love. And as we consider the phrase, counsel of his own will and the person of the Godhead, we quickly see that the limitations of finite creatures are brought to light. We cannot fully comprehend this counsel. We can only understand deliberation and consultation as a process of time. somehow thinking that in eternity past the Godhead took counsel amongst itself. However, for an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God, this counsel has always been. His decrees have existed just as God has always existed. God's counsels or decrees are most wise and holy. God's wisdom is not simply His all-knowing, but it is ethical, morally pure, and practical in nature. It is God doing all things well. Creation is the perfect object lesson of the wisdom of God's decrees. All things in creation are interrelated in such a way that if just one thing were different, the whole of creation would not function. For example, if the sun were just slightly closer to the earth, the earth would be too hot to sustain life. Or if it were slightly further away, the earth would be too cold. The mass of the Earth and its speed are exactly what they need to be in order to bring about the right gravitational pull for life to function. And there are many other such things that all work together in perfect harmony in order to sustain life on this planet. Whether we move to the outer reaches of space or to the inner reaches of microbiology, we see that it is God's wisdom that has assembled all these interrelated parts to work in perfect harmony with each other. This shows God's wisdom in the physical dimension of creation, but so also in all the other various aspects of creation. God's counsel is also holy. This means that God's decrees are morally perfect. In all His decrees, He is not the author of sin, nor has fellowship with it. God does not create or author sin, and so all God's counsels or decree are in harmony with His holiness. God decrees freely, meaning that the Lord decrees as He pleases without any constraints. Psalm 115.3, our God is in the heavens and He does all that He pleases. God's decree are the first cause of everything that happens. There is nothing behind, before, or alongside God's decrees other than the counsel of God's own will. Further, God's decrees are unchangeably determined. We see in Scripture direct statements along this line, And in Hebrews 6, 17, God's purpose is unchangeable, and since all His decrees are issued by His most holy, wise, determinate counsel, there would be no reason to change course midstream. His decrees are issued perfectly the first time, and so they never need to be changed. As well, there is an obvious connection between God's unchanging essence and God's unchanging decree. As we learned from chapter 2, God is simple and therefore everything He does, everything He is and does is perfectly consistent with all of His attributes. By these decrees, all things whatsoever come to pass. The phrase all things literally means everything and if that was not clear, whatsoever is added. As R.C. Sproul says, if there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God's sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. And while God decrees all things, it is important to note, as the Confession states, yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor has fellowship with any therein. In chapter 5 of Divine Providence we'll go into further explanation of this topic, but for now we simply need to understand that God's determined will, His predestined or decreed will, extends even to Adam and Eve's disobedience and to all other sinful actions. God wisely puts limits on sin, orders sin, and governs sin in various ways for His own holy ends, but in a way that God is not creating sin or has anything in common with sin. Sin comes only from the creature. If God decrees all things, then how does God predetermine events without violating the free agency or the will of mankind? The Confession adds, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature. While God decrees all things, including the actions of men, He does so without violating man's will. When we hear that God is free to do whatever He wants, in any way, to whomever and whenever, we tend to cringe. We think that if God is that free in His will, then we are not so free in ours. It is true that God's wills can never override God's, but that does not mean that God violates the will of man. The issue of free will is a primary objection that the Arminian raises to Reformed theology. But in fact, Reformed theology does not deny free agency or believe that God violates man's will in order to bring about God's decree. Certainly, God may circumstantially stop a person from doing something, or he may influence their desire in such a way that they freely choose one thing over another, but God never forces or does violence to a person's will so that he or she chooses contrary to that which he or she desires. We must remember that when God decreed to make mankind, He also decreed to give them free agency. So it is not a defeater to God's will, rather it is part of God's will. And so there is actually no contradiction or difficulty. God does not decree one thing that is contrary to another. For God decreed all things by His most wise counsel. And as we move to chapter five, we will see this in more detail. God uses his free agent creatures to carry out his decrees and creation. And he does so according to the nature of his creatures. And in chapter nine of free will, the nature of free will will be covered in more detail. The confession continues, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. While God issues decrees, the first cause, the execution or carrying out those decrees is usually accomplished by God using various means or second causes. God ordains the end as well as the means to the end. God is free to make use of various means or ways to carry out His decrees if He so chooses and in fact that is how He ordinarily works. God's use of second causes does not in any way indicate that God's decree is not the first cause of all that happens. In fact, the way in which God's providence makes use of second causes only proves or establishes that there is a design, a decree, which is orchestrating the second causes. Sproul states, what scientists call the laws of nature, we call the normal operations of the sovereign God. They are His laws. They are not independent in nature. They simply describe the regular, normal way in which God manages or governs His universe. He is the primary cause of everything that comes to pass, the power supply of all force. Secondary causes are always dependent for their power on the primary source of power. Let me read that again. A good understanding of that will help us as we look at life and explain this to others. What scientists call the laws of nature, we call the normal operations of the sovereign God. They are His laws. They are not independent in nature. They simply describe the regular, normal way in which God manages or governs His universe. He is the primary cause of everything that comes to pass, the power supply of all force. Secondary causes are always dependent for their power on the primary source of power. The execution of God's decrees by the use of various means may appear quite ordinary, but that does not change the fact that God is quite involved in carrying out His decrees. In the means that God uses appears His wisdom in disposing all things and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree. In other words, when we observe how God makes use of these means, we see God's wisdom, and we observe God's power and faithfulness at work to accomplish His decrees. Sproul again states, the more we reflect on this and work through some of the apparent difficulties, the more we realize that our destinies, our lives, and our children's lives, in the final analysis, are not exposed to the blind forces of chance or fate. This is our Father's world, and our lives are in His hands. His purpose and will are being brought to pass. This portion of the Confession has introduced the matter of providence. And again, we'll see the subject of Chapter 5 of Divine Providence in more detail. Moving on through the Confession, paragraph 2 of this chapter states, Although God knoweth whatever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything, because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions. God knoweth whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions. Looking at God's decrees from the perspective of eternity, when He issued them, God knew all the possibilities of His decrees. The first statement is an acknowledgment that God knows the future, including what could have happened if He had determined differently. But while God had access to that knowledge in eternity when the decrees were issued, yet hath He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future. Thus, given the knowledge God has of the decreed future of all possible or supposed conditions, yet God did not require, need, or make use of that knowledge to make His decrees. The Confession adds, or is that which would come to pass upon such conditions? This serves to clarify that God does not depend on any future conditions. To say it differently, there is no condition or situation in the future upon which God's decrees are contented upon. God's decrees are self-contained. Arminian theology implies that God took note of future conditions, conditions which apparently exist external to and outside of God or His decree. Based upon that foreseeing condition, whatever its particulars may be, God then made His decree. But where would such a future condition or circumstance come from if not from God or His decree? According to the Arminian model, in eternity God looked down the quarters of time at conditions or situations apparently outside of God or His decree. In reality, this model indicates that God gazes down a corridor of time that is not ordered by God, but is ordered by the autonomous free will of man. In this model, man determines God's eternal decree because God must get permission, as it were, for man's free will before he determines his decrees. So then God is not issuing decrees freely or independently, but rather in subjection to and contented upon a future created by man's own free will. God has to work around what man has already willed. When one applies this model to election, one must redefine election to mean self-election, to which God responds by basically backdating our self-election and calling it eternal divine election. One can see that there are some real problems here. And again, this shows the need for a proper understanding of who God is. We have to go back to who God is, and then we can move again forward to election and his decree. In contrast to this Arminian quagmire, the confession indicates that there is no future without God having decreed it. Thus, the only corridor of time is the one God decreed. The end comes from its beginning. Berkhoff says of God's decree, It is unconditional or absolute. This means that it is not dependent in any of its particulars on anything that is not part and parcel of the decree itself. The various elements in the decree are indeed mutually dependent, but nothing in the plan is conditioned by anything that is not in the decree. The execution of the plan may require means or be dependent on certain conditions, but then these means or conditions have also been determined in the decree. In this way, we see that God's decrees are not conditional upon anything. All the necessary elements required to perfectly execute His decrees are very much part of the decree. Thus, God's decree is not dependent upon a knowledge or a condition of the future to determine His decree or to carry it out. He orders that future. Hodge summarizes this paragraph as follows. This all-comprehensive purpose is not, as a whole, nor in any of its conditional elements, conditional. It in no respect depends upon the foresight of events not embraced in and determined by His purpose. It is absolutely sovereign, depending only on the wise and holy counsel of His will. Some people assume that the use of foreknew or foreknowledge in scripture refers to God's knowledge of the future. For example, in Romans 8, 29, it says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Sam Waldron writes, The word in the Scriptures foreknowledge, some say, show God's decrees are based upon foreseeing events. But foreknowledge means foreordination. The standard Greek lexicon asserts that the word foreknowledge means foreordination in those passages most frequently used to prove that election is on the basis of foreseeing qualifications. This lexicon asserts that the meaning of this word in Romans 8-29 and Romans 9-11 is choose beforehand and in 1 Peter 1-2 predestination. It is crucial to note that in these passages it is not something about the elect which is foreknown, but they themselves who are foreknown. Here we remember that the term know in the Bible frequently carries with it the idea of love. Thus foreknowledge in these passages contains the idea of distinguishing love. Where is the scriptural evidence that God's decrees do not depend upon the knowledge of the future? In part, it is based on passages that show God's essence, His self-sufficiency, His independence, His eternality, His immutability. If God is independent, then He is not in need of anything to issue His decrees. If God is eternal, then His decrees are made within God's eternality and independent of time. If God is immutable, he does not base his decrees on the mutable nature of man. But we also see biblical passages that tell us God's purposes are prior to creation. In Isaiah 40.14, Scripture says, Based upon these passages and others, which relate to the eternality of God's decree, we then understand future knowledge, our conditions, are not the basis of God's decrees. And as we head to paragraph three, we move from decrees in general to the decree of election specifically. And paragraph three reads, by the decree of God for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ to the praise of His glorious grace, others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation to the praise of His glorious justice. The very first point here is that predestination or fordination is by the decree of God. Whether one is predestined to eternal life or one is left to act in their sin, it is by the decree of God. Just as those appointed to eternal life are part of God's eternal plan, so the reprobate, the non-elect left in their sin, are part of God's plan. Both are inside the decree of God, for all things are within God's decree. But while that is true, yet the confession delineates between predestination to eternal life and being left to act in sin, leading to a just condemnation. These two different destinies are not executed in the same way. We will get to this distinction shortly. That God has elected and predestined a people for eternal life is both explicit and implicit in Scripture. And some of those scriptures include John 6, 64. But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. John 10, 25, and 26. The works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. John 17, 9. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 1 Thessalonians 1, 4, and 5. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. Ephesians 1, 5, he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. And then the last verse that I'll read is Romans 11, 5, and 6. So too at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace, but if it is by grace, it is no longer in the basis of works, otherwise grace would be no longer grace. God by showing grace to some and justice to the rest, He manifests His glory. But how is this so? It brings to the forefront both God's glorious grace and God's glorious justice. It has been said God had three choices. First, He could have saved all mankind and shown only His glorious grace. Second, He could have saved none and shown only His glorious justice. or third, he could have done both, saving some and thus showing his glorious mercy, and passing over others, showing his glorious justice. We know of course that God determined to do number three, thus both attributes are gloriously shown fourth. In Ephesians 1, 5, and 6, He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. And in this passage, we see first, God's predestination of the elect to adoption, second, God's decree, the purpose of His will, and third, that it is to the praise of His glorious grace. This predestination for ordaining has to do with men and, interestingly, also of angels. We perhaps do not think of angels as predestined, but it is what Scripture reveals. 1 Timothy 5.21. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Thus, we're reminded that even the elect angels of God are predestined. Election is another word which refers to God's choice of someone. If they are elected, they are predestined. If they are predestined, they are elected. Predestinated means that God determined one's destiny to eternal life ahead of time. It is their sure destiny and it is guaranteed by God's own decree. There is no question as to whether God's decree will be executed and thus one's destiny of eternal life is as good as done. For ordained is basically the same meaning. For God to ordain is to determine what will happen. The prefix for simply means the ordaining is done before it happens. Both predestinated and foreordained here are related to the destiny of men and angels who will receive eternal life. One question that can be raised is whether the confession intends to include elect angels as part of eternal life through Jesus Christ or only men. No doubt one can make a case that even the decree of elections of angels is through Christ, but that is likely not the point here. The eternal life through Jesus Christ is most likely related to men only, since angels are not in need of redemption. The Confession's main point is that whether we are talking about the election of men or angels, both are by God's decree. But of course, for mankind, eternal life is through Christ alone. The Confession first addressed the predestination or foreordination to eternal life. We have an abundance of scriptural evidence that God does indeed predestine men to eternal life. For example, Acts 13.48, And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. We see it in the golden chain of redemption in Romans 830. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. We could cite many passages. There is no question that the Bible teaches that God elects men. Even Arminians do not deny election, they just deny that election is unconditional. They teach election is conditional upon God's knowledge of their future faith. And we'll discuss this more in chapter 5 of this chapter. This predestination or fordination to eternal life is first through Christ Jesus, and second, it is through the praise of His glorious grace. Ephesians 1, 5, and 6 again. He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. The Confession then states, others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation to the praise of His glorious justice. We now move to the topic of those who are not predestined to eternal life. While the Confession began this paragraph by establishing that the destiny of both men and angels are equally by the decree of God, here it clarifies that the predestination to life and the leaving of others to their sin is not equivalent. The Confession does not say, by the decree of God, some men and angels are predestined to eternal life, and others are predestined to eternal damnation, thus making the two completely equivalent. Why does it not make them equal? First, to answer this question, let's look at several scripture passages regarding the non-elect. Romans 9.22. What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And in Jude 1.4, For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Revelation 17.8, The beast you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come. Matthew 11, 25 and 26. At that time Jesus declared, Romans 9, 17 and 18. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth, so that he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. and further in Romans 9, 20 and 21. But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will that which is molded say to the molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? And 1 Peter 2.8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. These passages make it abundantly clear that even the non-elect fall under God's decree. It might be good to pause a moment and let that sink into our mind. These people are, by God's decree, destined to destruction. But does it necessarily follow, then, that these non-elect are mere innocent victims of God's will, pawns in the hands of a cruel and heartless God? Of course, it does not follow. But how are we to make our way through these passages without reaching the conclusion that God violates the will of the non-elect and creates evil in their heart in order to destroy them? And this is the accusation that many at Reformed Theology make regarding its model of God's sovereignty. If we are to understand the Word of God on this point, we will need to listen carefully to the nuances of Scripture which resolve these seeming difficulties in perfect harmony with God's holy nature and the nature of His free will creatures. One has to deal with the above passages somehow, and simply ignoring them and calling it a mystery is not a good interpretive method to deal with what God has clearly revealed. And by using sound interpretive methods, such as comparing scripture with scripture, theology with theology, we see God's wondrous ways. The tendency is to see no distinction between predestination to life and judgment. But we must resist this. Like two magnets that want to be pulled together, we have to use a little force to keep them separate. In terms of God's decree and predestination, two terms are sometimes used, positive decrees and negative decrees. In God's positive decrees of election, He actively intervenes by creating faith in their heart. Thus, with the elect, God changes their heart, which results in a reorientation so that they both desire and are enabled to come to Christ. This does not do violence to their will, for they freely choose that which their new heart desires. In God's negative decree, He passes over the non-elect, the reprobate, and does not intervene and does not actively create faith in them. In the reprobate, God does not change their heart, and thus there is no reorientation of their heart and mind. They are left to their own sinful desires, the very things they love. They do not desire to choose Christ and are unable to do so, for it is contrary to their sinful nature. God by His glorious grace shows mercy and changes the heart of the elect, and God by His glorious justice leaves the reprobate person alone to indulge in their sin as they desire, and thus receive that which they justly deserve. In this way, God is neither the author of sin, nor does violence to the will of His creatures. Those who are not elect do not want to leave their sin, for they love it more than God. God does not need to do anything to the reprobate in order for them to receive judgment. He justly leaves them alone or passes over them. Where doctrinal mistakes are made is one fails to see a distinction between God's positive decrees or God's negative decrees. What we're talking about is a doctrine sometimes called double predestination. The problem with the phrase double predestination is that there is nothing built into it which indicates a distinction in the predestination of the elect and the reprobate which clearly exists. But if rightly understood, the phrase double predestination is perfectly valid. There are two terms which highlight the distinction of God's decree and predestination, equal ultimacy and unequal ultimacy. Equal ultimacy means that God equally intervenes to create faith in the elect and unbelief in the rectubate. That is, just as God actively intervenes to regenerate the elect, He is also active to cause people to sin and to be damned. While this view is symmetrically pleasing, symmetry is not always biblical. The symmetrical view of God's decree and predestination is a positive-positive decree, and this is the position of hyper-Calvinism, which is not really Calvinism at all. It is an unbiblical view and is not the position of Reformed theology. But while it is easy for us to demist such a view as indeed hyper, yet one has to admit that at first glance this is what some passages of Scripture seem to imply. For example, in Exodus 4.21, I will harden his heart so that he will not let my people go. Or in Exodus 7.3, I will harden Pharaoh's hearts and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Such passages indeed seem to indicate that God actively creates hardness in Pharaoh. But by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we know that this passage cannot mean that God creates evil in Pharaoh's hearts, for God is neither the author of sin, nor does He have fellowship with it. So then how do we resolve this in the light of Scripture? God is active in the affairs of men in many ways, and one of those ways is that He gives differing levels of common grace to His creatures. Common grace is evidenced in many ways, from the blessings of rain, food, clothes, shelters, and so on, to the grace of restraining evil in this world. At any time, if God were to remove His grace which restrains evil in this world, it would become a very wicked place, more wicked and very quickly. God does not owe this blessing of restraining evil to the world. As such, it is grace. God is perfectly just when He removes this blessing of grace from sinners, and He does remove this grace in varying degrees according to His own free purposes. All God has to do to harden Pharaoh's heart is to remove some of his common grace which restrains sin, and Pharaoh's heart will become harder than he was before. Pharaoh is acting freely in his own sin. God does not need to create evil for him to become more evil. Pharaoh was quite capable of that by himself. In this way, God does not actively harden Pharaoh's heart, but he passively hardens it. This does not deny that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, for that is exactly what the passage says. This view is faithful to the passage for it does not specify how God would harden it. And so by the means of passively hardening, the removal of a decree of common graces restraining evil, God governs and directs even sin to be His servant without violating the free will of His creatures and without being the author of sin. And so these passages in Exodus 4 and 7 do not necessitate the doctrine of equal ultimacy. Unequal ultimacy means that God intervenes to create faith in the elect, but does not create faith in the reprobate. In this, God leaves the non-elect to their own sin, to the sin they love and freely pursue. God does not create evil in them, for it is already there. As a result of their pursuit of sin, they receive the just consequence, condemnation. This is the position of Calvinism. This view of God's decree of predestination is a positive-negative decree. Thus, while it is not a symmetrical view of predestination, it is the biblical view which harmonizes God's active decree for the elect and his passive decree in the reprobate. In this view, God is neither the author of evil, yet He still directs it for His purposes without violence to the will of His creatures. God's decree glorifies Him. His decree to save the elect glorifies Himself. His decree to pass over the non-elect glorifies Himself. God is free to show grace to some and justice to the rest. It is remarkable that God shows grace to any, for all deserve eternal judgment. We have no right to protest God's way or His decree, and we can only stand back in awe and terror at His wondrous ways. I'll conclude with Revelation 4.11. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we stand in awe as we look at your decree. that you foreordain from eternity past, and then as we consider it, as you work it out in the election, the election of life to some, and then as you pass over others to their just condemnation, Lord, we are on our knees, and we thank you for what you have worked in our hearts. Lord, it is for your own purposes and glory, and we can only give you praise and glory for that. Lord, as we come to the table now, we further give praise as we commemorate that redemption that Christ accomplished for us on the cross and that in time the Holy Spirit works in our hearts. Lord, again we are in awe and we give all praise and glory to you. For it's in Christ's name we ask and pray. Amen.