So we've been talking about the attributes of God. Now we've been up to this point really just introducing things as far as the attributes go. And we've been talking about preparing to know God. Also the aspect of how God cannot, can and cannot be known. And then the idea of no neutrality. So what is some preparation that needs to take place before we can know God? Or do we just automatically know God when we're born? Okay, so we acknowledge that he's God. Sure. Yes. Valid input from Abby. when they go from that special relationship. Some say it's 20 years old because that's how long they were in the accident. Children are known by God, but we all are born with a knowledge of God. But is that an extensive knowledge? Is it a intimate knowledge? Is it a personal knowledge? Not necessarily, right? So what do we need to do to prepare for a personal knowledge of God? Preparing to know God. Think of junk or debris. Sure, you need to get saved, but being saved isn't quite enough to get to know God, right? Maybe that's the first important step to personally know him. But what do we have that we carry with us as even new Christians or unbelievers? Debris, right? What is debris? What do I mean by debris? Sin. Maybe some other worldviews, right? Maybe we think that God created things this way, or I exist for this reason. I wrote these questions on the board last time, but we didn't talk about it. But everyone, essentially all philosophies or worldviews seeks to answer these questions. Number one, who am I? Number two, what is truth? And number three, how should I live? You might add a fourth one, where am I going? But basically the way I've summarized it is there's all sorts of worldviews. To simplify, I like to say there is biblical and unbiblical or pagan, a pagan worldview. So how would we, from a biblical perspective, answer who am I? From God's revelation, what does His Word tell us about ourselves? Who are we? Yeah. Okay. We're created by God. We are fallen. We're made in His image. And so the summary I have here, I am a creature made in God's image and living in his presence. So we live in God's world. There's no escaping that, right? And so how would the unbiblical or pagan worldview answer this question? Who am I? Yes. It is on the last notes. Not the new ones. I believe that on the last notes. Maybe I printed it for myself so I could have a... Yeah. Yeah. So, but it, this is somewhat derogatorily stated, but I am a piece of cosmic debris and I am alone. But that's what it's left with, right? To that point, from a pagan worldview, we are animals. We're just a different species of animals, right? And with that, what it ends up producing is a loneliness because there is no God in the universe that cares for us. There's not a God who's watching over us, protecting us, providing for us. You're kind of on your own, right? And the fittest will survive. So you better get fit if you want to survive. And many people who realize, I can't keep up with this rat race that they call life, check out. And they turn to all sorts of coping mechanisms. Yeah. And on that, it's interesting when you look at other world views outside of Christianity. Because we've progressed, you know, from humanism, down through the ages, to finally getting to nihilism, existentialism, these very empty, hopeless, meaningless worldviews. But that's the logical progression if there is no God. You start with God, and move a little away from that, and there's a lot of hope, right? You have to throw out some of that. baggage of God and who he is and who he's made to be. But when he's not there, you just go further and further until you get to things like nihilism where everything is meaningless, there is no purpose, because without him in the world, that's all there can be. Right. Absolutely. So the next question is one that I used to struggle with big time. When I was first in Bible college and I was reading through the Gospels and I got to that question, the famous question from Pontius Pilate, what is truth? I literally set my Bible down and my wheels were turning until they were burning in my mind. Wow, that is a great question. What is truth? Thankfully, I kept reading and as Jesus is praying in the high priestly prayer or in the real Lord's prayer, He says, sanctify them by the truth. Your Word is truth. So what is truth? God's Word. Everything God says is true, right? So God and His plan are truth, in other words, His revelation. And revelation, how would you define, or how do we define revelation? His word is revelation, special or general. What is the definition? I've stated it before. It's, hint, Lewis Barry Schaeffer's definition. So if you're brushed up on your Schaeffer systematic theology, you'll know. Revelation is making known to man what man would otherwise not know. So we would not know unless God revealed it. So revelation is anything that God has revealed. And that may be general revelation. As we look at nature, we see design. We know there's a designer. We know he's put eternity in our hearts, although we only know that because of special revelation, right? But we know there is a God, but we suppress that truth and unrighteousness and our foolish hearts are darkened, Romans one, right? So we know that God and his plan are truth and his revelation tells us what that truth is. The pagan worldview, however, what is truth from the pagan worldview, non-biblical worldview? whatever you want it to be, right? Or they'll say it's a consensus, right? We'll be democratic about it. Whatever the majority says is true. Is that a good system of judging whether or not something is true? Well, at one point in the ancient world, it was true that you should offer your children as sacrifices to this God, Molech. Is that a good way to discern whether something is true? It was true that certain sinful, illicit practices should be followed. Is that a good way to determine truth? And that's, well, we won't go down that road. Not this year, anyways. So whatever I determine is true for me, I am autonomous. That's the pagan worldview saying I am right. I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul, as the famous poet said. So then how should we live from the biblical worldview? If God has created us in his image and we live in his presence, he has revealed certain things to us, how should we live? In light of his revelation, in light of his presence, right? Knowing that man was created and will in the end be judged based on their works done in the body is a frequent theme throughout scripture. What's the pagan antithesis to that? How should I live? How do you want to? How do you feel today? What do you want to do today? What makes you happy? What fulfills some sense of satisfaction in your soul or alleged sense of satisfaction? You know, I've been to places like India and I've been to China and I've been to a lot of places. A lot of those people are in need. So when you get over there, that may be in academia, that they be thinking about, well, how should I remember what's this or what's that? My point is, is that when you get into these areas where people are absolutely got nothing. Let me illustrate this way. A missionary who was in India, He asked in upper class, you have four classes plus you have the untouchables, okay? And when he asked those people in the upper class, he was on a train, when he asked this question, he says, why do you hate us so much? And the guy said, because you're taking our slaves away from us. What did he mean by that? What he meant was he's coming down to that fourth class and those untouchables. And those are the people in India who are getting saved. And so you're taking our slaves away because they're no longer afraid of us. This caste system is a lot. And so there's a lot of people in this world who aren't thinking about how to live in real love. They're trying to think about how to get by. I think those people and their need for the Lord, and when you go to India, you can find a lot of people who are looking for Him, who really run to Him when they hear this. Well, and those were the people that were often receptive to Jesus, right? The same types. And even those types, though, even within our own society, oftentimes they start dreaming or fantasizing that if I just had more money, if I just had more influence or power, life would be better. But then you could just go up the scale. You could go up to the tippy top, to the very wealthy. Are they happy? No, they need more. And so there's a message there that those things cannot satisfy. The only thing that can satisfy is God and his word and ultimately his son, who's our savior. And so when you're, sometimes if you're, if we're smart enough as human beings and we're down on that lower bracket, it's easier to see that need. But Jesus said, it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom. Why? Because of greed. Right? Because they're more or less content with what they have. They understand that, well, evil just exists and that's just the way it is. But at least I have money, right? The Scrooge McDuck making gold coin angels in his bank vault. So let's look at the next subject as we turn the page into understanding the attributes of God. So we understand we're made in his image. So there's going to be some perhaps shared qualities. Now, I like to say an important theological rule is similarity is not sameness. So just because there's similarities does not mean there's sameness. And oftentimes there are certain attributes of God that are not the same, but they're similar. Those are called incommunicable attributes because we like to put big fancy words to summarize Important concepts right so that we know if you come across a big fancy word There's something important behind that word and we should learn that word. So those are in communicable communicable in other words They don't communicate across the board to humans Although I would say they do communicate to a certain extent and we'll talk about these but for example omniscience is man omniscient and No, but can we remember things? Can we learn things? We have the capacity to know things. So that comes from being made in God's image. We're not infinite like God is where he knows all things and also knows what will happen, what could happen, those sorts of things. But we can know things, we can remember things. And I think that's an aspect of being made in the image of God. So we're gonna look at sovereign. So the opposite of incommunicable is communicable. That is there are attributes that God is and we share to a finite degree in those attributes. Now, before another quick review, I apologize, but what are these Qs represent? Qualities, I'll give you the word, but what is the capital Q and lowercase q represent? Yes. Big Q referencing God, but it's a quality, that it is Him, right? It's not that the quality is greater than Him and He protects the quality. He is the quality. Exactly. So what Trevor is alluding to, when I say that we cannot create a universal above God, what do I mean? We're not God. We're not God, but also that thing is not God. So why would we put it above God? In other words, you take any quality, like goodness, does goodness exist if God doesn't exist? No. So we have to be very careful when we philosophize the attributes of God. What tends to happen is we view these attributes as some abstract thing that exists outside of God. And I jokingly say, you know, God's floating around the universe and says, Hmm, I think today I'll take a bit of holiness. I think I'll take a bit of goodness. Those things exist because that is who God is. He is the creator. Everything else is creation. And those attributes are what define him. He's not defined by obtaining, laying hold of, or working really hard to become a better God. He's reading all these self-help books, how to be your best God now. He is those things, and He always has been those things. And as we'll look at with the attribute of immutable, He will always be those things. And that's a tremendous comfort for us. So now with that being said, we look at the doctrine of sovereignty. Now this is where that rule is important, not to create a universal above God, because sometimes we can do that with our understanding of sovereignty. All of these attributes, we have to understand them in light of God's revelation. And I believe we should not take them further than Scripture does. So if Scripture is silent on the full extent of the outworking of these things, it doesn't mean that they're not true. It just means that God didn't reveal it. And so we shouldn't assert things that God has not revealed. So quality number one, God is sovereign. Now we see this if you open your Bibles to Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, what does this verse tell us as it pertains to the understanding of sovereignty? Okay, he's always been. So let's pause that question for a moment and maybe do some work on preliminary work on how do we define sovereignty? What does that mean? Yeah. Sovereignty is this, God created everything we know, everything created He created. He's sovereign over it. There's nobody, anything else. End of question. That's the one. Authority, control, power. So you're bringing out that power aspect. And kind of what I was getting at with Genesis 1.1, he has the right to control his creation, right? As creator, it's his prerogative. It's his creation. It's his universe. He is the great governor, the great potentate of time, as the hymn says, right? Who controls his universe. What else might we say about defining sovereignty? Do we use the word sovereign or sovereignty in our language today? How do we use it? Kings. So we have a local or a international sovereign visiting the United States. What does that mean? God's coming to the United States. We need it, right? But that's not what that means. It means that there is an international leader, king perhaps, or governor, magistrate, leader of some sort coming. Now that sovereignty, that individual sovereignty, when he steps foot on American soil, does he now own America? Why? Because it's by the people, for the people. Never forget it. But, yeah, go ahead, Amanda. not only is sovereign, you know, ruler of things, but it's because he is those things. He knows all. He sees all. He is everything. I think you're onto something, but I would modify it slightly and say that those are enhancements to his sovereign reign and sovereign rule. Because he's all-knowing, can we trust his sovereign rule that maybe he knows something we don't? So I think that's fair. But going back, think of the illustration, because I want to make a point about sovereignty. That individual coming to America is no longer, he's not the king of America, right? Where does his authority or control or governance lie? Sovereignty remains within a certain sphere. Yeah, there's a sphere of sovereignty. God's sphere of sovereignty is all things. And so God's sphere is the universe, which would be all things, right? Yes. In light of that, help you understand too, I think. Help us understand. I think of what's going on in Asia and the Peloponnese. so-called police, you cannot allow the same thing you want because they can arrest you and extradite you from any country in the world if you simply, you know, do not go along with what they're saying. You can't say something that it's not true in their mind, even though we know that it is true. And so he has made the statements, and I've heard these statements made. I don't care where you are in this world. They're saying that they can extradite you, that they can charge you. And no matter who you are, where you are, what country you're in, or anything else, they will extradite you because you're saying something that's not, in their minds, true. And they could exercise their sovereignty to do that, right? So that, hold on, let me make a point. That illustrates essentially another aspect of this is within a sovereign sphere of control or authority, let's take the problem of evil. So you've got a king and evil's on, crime is on the rise. What can that sovereign do to quench or I'll use the word restrain evil in his sphere of influence? You know, maybe more guards, maybe laws, apply laws, stuff like that, right? So now escalate it to the God sphere. What can he do with the problem of evil? Or better yet, what does God's word reveal about how he deals with evil? Are there restraints on evil in scripture? I've talked about the divine institutions, right? What is a divine institution? Yeah, something instituted or I like the word installs. He installs updates to creation. So he created all things and then evil comes about. So he puts in some malware, so to speak. And that would be the five big ones are marriage, well, responsible labor, marriage, family, human government, and national distinction. Now, how is national distinction a divine institution? Did God Create distinction amongst nations? If so, how? Does anyone speak another language or tried to speak to someone who speaks a different language and can't do it? Yeah, Babel. God confused the languages and what was the result? National distinction. So all these nations can't communicate anymore. So they can't unite against the Lord. They're doing their own thing. And that was a restraint on evil. All of these things are restraints on evil. Government was instituted after the flood. Why? Restraint on evil. It's not just a free-for-all. You could go and take anyone's life. God says if someone sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed. That's a divine institution. Now, I would add two more divine institutions. Israel. The very function or existence of the nation of Israel, especially under Mosaic law in the Old Testament, throughout history was a restraint on evil. because it restrained the evil within that nation. It was never for salvation, but it kept them from idolatry, from false worship, all sorts of things. Now, I would also add the church as a restraint on evil. Now, this is relevant to today, this year in particular, and in the coming months as we come up to November. The church is a restraint on evil. In fact, I believe the church's function should be the conscience of any government that they exist in. We should be the conscience of our government. And so we should be involved politically. Now with that, as a church, that doesn't mean we're politically involved in a certain area. We are biblically involved as far as are we understanding the biblical principles that God has established? And do we promote those things? Do we look for those things? in candidates and such. And that's as far as I will go as far as that is concerned. But we are involved. Those are restraints on evil. So God exercises his sovereignty by implementing those things into creation. Yes. Like you were saying, a sovereign that comes to your country. Well, a sovereign nation in England, the government is saying, we're going to punish people from other countries over which we do not have sovereignty for breaking our laws and what we think is right, which is a contrast to God's true sovereignty over all things. And just kind of that, you know, the difference, you were talking about big Q, little Q, qualities, and you see that, that difference very profoundly there, because, I don't know, my thinking is American. Who are you to come into my country and try and do this thing? Yeah. And so we recognize the principle of sovereignty. Now I'm going to throw a wrench in things. If God is sovereign over the universe, why does he... why evil? Why does evil exist? He allows it. So there are some, perhaps, dare I say, restrictions on, or at least limitations on what God does. Now we don't maybe know why. I think we have enough biblical revelation to tell us why. Why does God permit evil? Yeah, John. Proverbs 16, the Lord has made everything for its own purpose. Even the wicked for the day of evil. Okay. God's Word. Okay. So, yeah, Karen. Sure. And what does Peter have to say about evil? Permitting evil for a time. Because God is patient. desiring that none shall perish, right? So if someone comes to you and accuses you, well, you believe in an all-powerful God who claims He's good. Well, why does evil exist? You can turn it and say, because He wants you to be saved. He loves you so much that He's waiting for you to trust His Son for salvation. And until you do that, God is going to demonstrate His long-suffering yet further. But we know from Scripture, God's revelation, that He won't be long-suffering forever. He will come in and he will deal with evil. The problem is the people who want God to deal with evil don't actually want him to deal with evil because that would mean everything is destroyed like the flood, right? Because God dealt with evil then, and he will deal with evil again, but he's patient because he desires that none shall perish. Now, Karen brought up free will. and don't take this as controversial, but well, I'll ask you this question to remove the controversy. Are there limitations with God? Are there things God cannot do? Yes, a lot of things, right? God can't sin. Now we know the things that God cannot do because of these very attributes and other attributes. We know that God cannot truly forget, right? It's like, oh, I just, I don't remember what happened there. That's not possible with God. We know that God cannot do evil, right? Because he is righteous. If he did evil, he would no longer be infinitely righteous. So everything he does is righteous, even if we don't understand it. So with that, I think the question of free will, and I know this is a major discussion that's been going on for centuries, perhaps even longer, or definitely longer, we're not gonna answer it today. I know there might be some differing opinions, but I think with free will, there are restraints to where God, we're not robots. God doesn't just force you to do something if you do not believe. Now, that's a oversimplification of the issues, right? There's a lot of moving parts to that question. And so, Those are the types of limitations that I'm talking about when it comes to God exercising His sovereignty. He also created us in His image, which means we have a will, right? Now, I love a statement I heard from my friend Brad. A free will does not mean an autonomous will. In other words, it doesn't mean that we can go outside of the bounds with no consequence. of God's sphere of sovereignty, right? You may tiptoe the line, you step over and God deals with it. That's his sovereign prerogative to do so. And so I view the sovereignty of God as working within that sphere, which happens to be the universe of all created things. And that leads to an important question that some see a deterministic aspect to the sovereignty of God. I personally, you have to take the verses verse by verse and make observations of the text and not take it farther than it goes. But for example, one side of the spectrum would see that you wake up and you see the specks of dust floating through the sunbeam in your window. God, before the foundations of the earth, determined that that would be something you saw. I don't think that's the case. That bleeds into, you know, the one. When you're looking for the spouse, did you marry your soulmate? The one that God predetermined that you would marry? My problem with that is we live in a fallen world where sinful people, right? Are we to expect that Well, Adam and Eve, that was easy, right? For Adam, that might be the only case that that took place. But everyone after that, they all made the right decision on who they married? There's never been a bad decision on someone to marry. Of course there has, right? Think of the ripple effects of all of the things that go wrong because they didn't marry their soulmate. So rather than seeing it that way, God has revealed certain things that we should look for in making a decision on a spouse, a decision on a career, decision on how we live our lives, the decision on how we manage our finances, all of those things God provides an explanation for. Yes, Bernie? I like the way Charlie Cluck puts it, that God has free will because he can will things into existence. Man only has responsibility. We are given a choice. We have responsibility. We can choose forward or against it. And that's very well put, right? Because responsibility means that there will be a judgment on how we, that's why we're responsible. We're responsible for the things we do, the decisions we make, because we will be judged for it. Now, as believers, our works are judged, but it's not for salvation, right? We have to get that right. There's two big judgments. There's more than two judgments, but two big judgments. One is the bemissing of Christ. And if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you're saved by his grace, eternally secure in him, you will be there. And you are saved by being there. And being there, you will still be judged based on your works, but what's the result? rewards or loss of rewards. The other judgment is the Great White Throne judgment. Oftentimes people conflate the two and think they're the same thing. They're not. The Great White Throne judgment will only have unbelievers there. If you are there, you are an unbeliever, you're not saved. and your works are still judged, but it's not for, yeah, I think you did good enough, go ahead and go on in. That's not the result, right? Their works don't measure up. And wouldn't we expect that from a just, we haven't talked about it, but I know you know a little bit about justice, a just God would judge someone based on their works and show that they fell short of perfection. Because a perfect righteousness is what is needed to be with God and no one is perfect. And that's why we need a savior. And so we get that good point, Bernie. So we also see, go to Genesis 6. How do we see God's sovereignty in Genesis 6? Feel free to skim the passage or if you know what Genesis 6 is about, which hopefully you do. If not, we'll restart our Genesis series. What is Genesis 6 about? The flood, now how does the flood show God's sovereignty? Yeah, was it a local flood or a universal global flood? How tall are mountains? Taller than the plains, right? So if the water is above the mountain peaks, Wouldn't it also be above the plains? And the way water works, doesn't it find a level? So if it's above the water, it would be level. That would mean it's around the earth, right? A global flood, unless there's a big water wall that's keeping it in the Middle East, but that would be pretty ridiculous, right? And so it's a global flood, which shows that God judged the earth. which shows that he is sovereign at least over the earth. We also know he's sovereign over the universe. What about Genesis 11? What happens there? And there's a hint in your notes, by the way. Okay, so what happened at the Tower of Babel? Confusion of languages. Why did God do that? Is he just feeling mischievous that morning? Okay, so what was God's command that they were disobeying? Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. And they were fruitful, they multiplied and they subdued Babel. And then they started to make a name for themselves or build a tower that would make a name for themselves. And Josephus, a famous Jewish historian, postulates a few things. One is that they believed that because God destroyed the earth by flood, if they build a high enough tower, they'd be able to survive future cataclysmic events. If that's true, and there's no certainty that that is why they built the tower. In fact, the text tells us why they built the tower. They did it to make a name for themselves. But if that's true, what's wrong with that belief? Or what would be the resolution to them not wasting all that time? Yeah, not everyone would fit. And would it be necessary if they listened to God? Because what did God say? I will never flood the earth by water again. So that would have saved them a whole lot of money and a whole lot of time, right? So I think they were building a name for themselves and there's some other things that we could talk about, but they were disobeying God. And so God, they were united, which is a good thing, but they were united against God, their creator. So God confused their languages and what did that cause? dispersal they move and it's not because they were prejudiced or racist it's because i can't hear the thoughts in my own head because i'm hearing you speak a foreign language and i don't get it and i'm going to go over there and build this town with people who speak my language and that happened and and tribes and tribes became cities and cities became empires empires became cycled throughout history to what we have today except what's curious about today We're coming back together. Interesting. Genesis 12, one through three. What does that talk about? Abraham. So we come to Abraham. And God says, now the Lord had said to Abraham, get out of your country from your family, from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. What right or authority does God have to make those promises? The only right and every right to make those promises. And so we see God's sovereignty here. Now think about it, put yourself in Abraham's ancient sandals of what that was like, right? In the ancient world, gods were territorial, right? You've got the God of the moon, the God of the sun, the God of the river, the God of the field, the God of the tree, all of these gods, and maybe even regional gods, right? And Abraham would have grown up with that mindset as creation, so soon after the flood, so soon after the Tower of Babel, are still turning to all these false gods. And this God speaks to Abraham and tells him these things. Wouldn't that shake you up? Doesn't that change your worldview? If you go from thinking that there's all these gods, there's a whole buffet, you could choose whatever God you want, whatever God that's comfortable, whatever God smells pretty, or made of the finest wood or metal from the guy who made it. You can worship that God. And then this God speaks to you, and he promises you these things. That's a major shift in Abraham's thinking, right? No, not in Abraham's thinking. There's a reason why I say that. After you have the flood, you have Noah's family. Now they're beginning to multiply and fill the earth and so on and so forth. But in Abraham's family, there was a group that trusted the Lord, that knew him, because Abraham's father, and they're in the line. They're in that line that comes through that point. So that entire line of family. So in other words, what I'm saying is Abraham is in that line. And therefore, God chose him. And so he said, get out of here. This place is falling apart. But no, because Isaac goes back to get Rebecca, Jacob goes back to get Rachel and Leah. You see what I'm saying? So I think there's a bleeding line that has not gone away. It wasn't like the world was pagan. But what I'm saying is he was influenced by his pagan surroundings and so we could talk about whether how far that went with Abraham personally and Simply we're not told but I would I would think that based on what you're saying There's going to be some oral tradition of truth passed down to son to son to son to son and that would have been Part of the reason that's why Noah was chosen, right? It's not because Noah was the handsomest guy around The reason he found grace is because he, relative to his situation and culture, was living the way that God has revealed. And so the point being is God has the sovereignty to make this promise. Now this promise is pretty universal, right? It's all-encompassing. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you. And Abraham is arguably the most important human figure in history. There's many world religions that trace back to him, partly because he wasn't willing to trust God for the son of promise. But the son of promise came, and that was Isaac. And Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob was chosen over Esau to be the nation that would be the vehicle to fulfill God's plan. So what about Genesis 19, Sodom and Gomorrah? How does God show his sovereignty with Sodom and Gomorrah? There was evil and he just got rid of it. Okay, there's evil and God interceded. So there are times in history, provable times where God intervened in history. So it's not a question of, can God deal with evil? Of course we've seen it, right? And when we've seen it, we don't want it, right? Again, the one who wants God to deal with evil doesn't know what they're asking because it would be the end of civilization. And so God does deal with evil in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now he does it, and we'll look at this again when we talk about justice, in a just manner. God's omniscient, he knows, right? But yet in perfect justice, he goes about the process where he sends angels to determine whether the crying out against that city are verified. And I think he's mainly doing that for human benefit, not for his own. And then he does that, and then sure enough, destroys the city. Now, Genesis 25, 21 through 23 will probably end on this point and we'll pick up with Joshua next time. Well, yeah, not next week, next time. Genesis 25, 21 through 23, what does that talk about? So we have Rebecca, right? Giving birth and starting in verse 21. Now, Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord granted his plea and Rebecca, his wife conceived, but the children struggled. Now is that singular or plural? So there's two babies. It was a two for one deal, right? God answered their prayer doubly. So the blessings of the Lord. But the children struggled together within her. And she said, if all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, two, what's that word? Nations are in your womb. Two people shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other. And the older shall serve the younger. Now I have compare Malachi 1, 2 through 3 and Romans 9, 13. What is stated in those verses? Anyone quote from memory? God's purpose according to the election for nations is choosing... Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated, or I have chosen Jacob and I have rejected Esau. So this, what does this tell us about God's sovereignty? Like he told Abraham, I'll bless you where I want to bless you, I'll curse you where I want to curse you. Yeah, why did he choose Abraham and not Lot or someone else? Because he chose Abraham. And so likewise, why did he choose Jacob and not Esau? Because he chose Jacob and not Esau. It's his prerogative. Now the thing is, is it's not, it's not that God can't, but it's not a situation where God looked down through history of both, you know, he ran a simulation. What would it be like if I did give it to Esau? Would he turn out all right? What about Jacob? I have a feeling that if he did that, he wouldn't give it to Jacob, right? But he, with that, before they were even born, he told Rebecca this, right? The older shall serve the younger. Jacob is the chosen vessel. And so that tells us that God made an election, a choice, not on merit at all. And that's a point that's made throughout scripture. And we can talk about election. I know we have differing views and that's okay because I think there are good arguments, biblically made arguments for both sides. My personal view is national election is what is being discussed in those passages. and we are out of time but any we have one a little bit of time for questions or comments before we close god is sovereign god is sovereign all right well i will close with