Mighty Things which thou Knowest Not.

Q: What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

The Bible emphasizes that prayer is vital for believers as it connects them with God and expresses their dependence on Him. Prayer is a fundamental aspect of the believer's life, illustrated in Jeremiah 33:3, where God invites us to call unto Him, promising to respond and reveal great and mighty things. This underscores that prayer is not merely a routine but a deep communion with God, acknowledging our need for His grace and guidance. It reflects the relationship between knowledge of God and prayer; as we pray, we learn more about Christ and grow in grace.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty in prayer is true?

Scripture affirms God's sovereignty and the power of prayer, demonstrating that He orchestrates all events according to His will. The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is evident throughout Scripture, including Romans 9, which speaks of God's absolute authority over creation. When God commands us to call upon Him, it emphasizes His sovereignty in our salvation and relationship with Him. This means our prayers are not mere requests but align with His divine will and purpose. The comfort comes from knowing that He not only hears us but also acts according to His eternal plans, which are good and perfect.

Q: Why is understanding God's grace crucial for Christians?

Understanding God's grace is crucial as it is the foundation of salvation and spiritual growth for believers. God's grace is central to the gospel and is intricately linked to our understanding of salvation. In Jeremiah 33:3, God’s promise to show us great and mighty things reflects the reserved mysteries of His grace, which are not naturally discernible. Recognizing that our salvation is based solely on His grace, through the blood of Christ, leads us to a deeper appreciation of His mercy and love. Without this understanding, Christians may default to self-reliance instead of relying wholly on God's provision and action in their lives.

Call an ambulance are you okay? Jeremiah chapter 33 And verses 1 2 & 3 This is just like our Lord who answers prayer and Unfortunately, I think prayer is one of the key factors lacking in believers' lives. I don't know why. You go to bed, you're tired, you usually go to sleep, you don't think about it, but at least his thoughts are always on us. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. He, by the faithful, he cannot deny himself. That's our comfort. So comforting, this passage here. It states, well, let's look at the first three verses in Jeremiah 33.

Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet the second time while he was yet shut up in the court of prison. Preaching the gospel, telling the truth, people don't like it, they shut him up in prison. But the word came to him there, This is what it says, thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof, of what? Well, if you go to the previous chapter, and then if you go after chapter 33, after verse four, he's talking about the church, he's talking about what he's gonna do for his people, and everything. But he says, thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof, of Jerusalem, of the church, of the believer, of all things, really, the Lord that formed it, To establish it, the Lord is his name.

Here's what he's going to do. Call unto me. There's prayer. The importance of prayer. Call unto me and I will answer thee. We won't call. Christ says, you will not come to me that you may have life. We're gonna stand by and we're gonna tell God how he can save us. No, he's gonna save us according to the good pleasure of his will. Through the blood and righteousness of Christ, through the declaration of the gospel, of the truth. Call unto me, I will answer you.

Look at this, and show the great and mighty things which you didn't know. Now that word mighty, that is actually, it's a hidden things. Now Bruce likes, Bruce been talking about for a long time, the mystery. That's what he's talking about. The mystery here, the word is, I think it's in the margin, it's hidden, but it is, well, I guess I'm gonna have to wait till I get there. Reserved. Reserved things. It's hidden things. It's reserved.

It's not for everybody. He has a remnant according to the election of grace. They're going to understand. But we need to call on Him. And there's times that the Lord takes and protects us and we don't call on Him. We don't even know what we're doing. He takes care of us. I'm not saying that. Because He's established it. He's founded it. He's formed it. He makes us. But he wants to hear from us, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty are hidden things, incidentally, which we didn't know.

And we don't know from birth, nature and practice, we're natural, we're just natural. And then the scripture says the natural man receives not, does not, the things of the spirit of God, spiritually discerned. So let's look at this. What we have here is the prophet of God in prison for his stand for God and his truth. And he gets, or he receives, further instruction in the grace of God. Look at verse two. Thus saith the Lord, that's Jehovah, the Lord, the maker, the maker. Turn with me to Job 36. Job 36. And Nathan had a little issue with Job.

I'll just tell you, all the Word is inspired by God. So it can all be used. You have to be careful in context. But all the Word of God is inspired. It can be used. So, Job 36. He's the Maker. Or Jehovah. And actually that literally means He causes to become. He's the Maker. He spoke and the worlds were. That is right out of the concordance. He causes to become. What does this do? This reflects upon his absolute power to create and fulfill his purpose. Whether it's land, sea, human, or any other thing in existence, he is the soul maker. He's the reason. Look at Job 36 and verse three. I will fetch my knowledge from far and will ascribe righteousness to my maker. to my maker. That's Eli, he was speaking, but he acknowledges God's his maker.

And you will, when you see the truth, you will say, matter of fact, it's offensive to say you and I came from monkeys. I take offense at that. You know, we didn't. We didn't, we came, I don't care how smart scientists think they are, they're not smarter than God. So then he says, I am the maker, the maker thereof. And then secondly he says, that formed it, that formed it.

Think of, well turn to Romans chapter nine. He's the former. Think of Romans chapter nine, verse 11 and 20 and 21. Romans 11, I'm sorry, Romans nine. Verse 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Verse 20, nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God?

Shall the thing formed? Say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and the other unto dishonor? That's what he's speaking here. The Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it. That word formed is to mold or determine. Thirdly, he says he's the establisher. That is, he's the initiator. That means to appoint or to render sure. To appoint or render sure. I'm Lord that the maker formed it and established it. Established it. As in decree and purpose of grace and all we have to do with him, Isaiah 14. Isaiah chapter 14, and verse 27, He formed it, He made it, He establishes it.

For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? It's not going to be disannulled. And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Because he's a maker, he's the former, and he's established all things according to the purpose of his grace. And what is that purpose?

It's to glorify himself, it's to save his people from their sins, and that we may grow thereby. we may grow thereby. The Lord is his name, and it's just like he says this, just in case we forget it. The last part of verse two, he's the maker, he's the former, he establishes it, the church, his people, the Lord is his name. That is, again, just in case we forget, or we try to establish ourselves, or assume our puny wills had anything to assist with God's powerful hands.

And then he says, just like, call unto me. Call unto me. You know, come unto me all ye that are lay. And I know you can't come by yourself. Lord, make me willing in the day of your power. Call unto me. Call unto me. Prayer is always coupled with learning, or as the Old Testament says, knowledge of the holy in Christ Jesus. Prayer is there. Where you see one, you always see the other. You want to learn more about Christ? Pray. You want to be more like Christ? Pray. You look at Wednesday night, the mind of Christ, you want that? Yes. Pray. The words of Christ, you want to learn them, study them? Yes, it's good to study, but meditate, prayer. It's so, so very important. Prayer is always coupled with learning knowledge of the Holy. And I can't overemphasize the importance of prayer, communion, or rapport with God through the Holy Spirit.

He assists us. He'll make it so. We feed daily. These bodies, we make sure we go to great lengths to feed these bodies. For preparation at home, we just don't go anywhere. We have certain places we like. When we think about it, do the same with prayer, fellowship with God. Do the same thing. Feed daily.

Prayer. I'd say do we desire to grow in grace? How about mature? in his ways, in his past. Would we peer into the wonderful mysteries of grace, mercy, and free salvation by blood? Pray. What did the Lord say in Proverbs 23, 26? My son, give me thine heart. Not just up here. My son, give me thine heart. Come unto me. Call unto me.

And then in Romans, Well, I think it's Romans 12. Yes, Romans 12, 12. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. How long is it? Peter. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Three. And we looked at this years ago. The prayers of the saints a lot of times help. One word. How long is that going to take? Well, I'm a bit busy. I know you're busy. I work. I understand. We're retired now, but we worked. He worked twice as many hours as I did. You've got time. You're in the vehicle. You've got time. You buckle that seatbelt on, you got time. Lord, have mercy on me. Show me how I'm supposed to glorify you this day. We want to put formulas to it. There's no formula to it. There's need. It implies need. It implies he's sovereign, I'm nothing. Lord, how about that publican? Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Be propitious.

We got these, we got this, you know, I say, I make fun of it, sweet hour of prayer. I don't have, have you ever prayed for an hour straight? We sing it. I don't think so. Do we desire the mind of Christ? He was a praying savior. Call unto me. The truth is, no child of God is without prayer. It's our breath, breathing back to God, mediated by the Redeemer Himself. That's what it is.

And look at the positivity here. Look at this as a promise. Do you need a promise? Do you want a promise? Call unto Me. And again, this is an inspired Word of God. This is without error. And I will answer. I will answer. How many years have we been coming? Have we called? Do we know anything about the grace of God? We've heard it. We've heard it from one, two, three, four men and more men. I don't know how many preachers we've had over 30 something years. I will answer. That word answer means to respond or to announce. I will respond. I will respond. And show thee, that word show means to reveal. great and mighty things, reveal to means to show, reserve things, as I said, hidden things.

And the gospel is not naturally open to us because Isaiah 52, I'm sorry, 59 too, says our sins have separated us between us and our God, our sins, our iniquities. And Matt read in Ezekiel, that passage, abominations and this and that, all these things, but yes, we are. The gospel's not natural. He says, you know in mighty things, hidden things, which you do not know. Everybody thinks, oh, I got a handle on God, I'm this religion, that religion, I've been taught this and that. By nature, birth, nature, and practice, we don't know God. Things which you hath not known.

Yet, he says, call unto me. And see, that's another thing Bruce was talking about. People don't understand the mystery. Another thing they don't understand is the paradoxes in scripture. Well, you said I can't come, but you said call. Yep. Yep. It's a command. It's not an invitation. It's not an offer. God does not offer anything to the sinner. He's accepted the offering of Christ on sinners behalf.

Here's the word of promise. He will answer and reveal the hidden mysteries of a crucified Redeemer. That's what the scripture is about. What does he reveals? The why, the way, the means, the heaven, the why. We need salvation. Why are we, why do we come here? We want, one, we love the Christ and we want to hear if we don't love him. You need to hear him because you need salvation.

The way, it's the Messiah. He's the only one. He's the only way between man and God. The means, faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. He reveals heaven to us. He reveals everlasting life. And this is all secured by Christ for every one of his chosen sheep. But I like how he emphasizes this again. Call unto me, and I will answer. And show the great and hidden things which you knew not. It has to be revealed. It's a mystery. This is not a novel. This is not a novel. It is a living word.

And you who know the gospel, know Christ, you know what I'm talking about. This passage of scripture in Jeremiah 33 and in verse three has been in this Bible since, I don't know, what was it, 16, I don't know, when was this? King James. Well, how come I just saw it the other day? Because it's living. It's just like I'm thinking of what Bruce has been saying about mystery and I'm like, oh, here we go again. Things we didn't know.

Oh, it's amazing, it's free, sovereign, supreme, reigning grace, found only in Jesus Christ, and enlightened by the glorious Holy Spirit, which he himself is also sovereign, because he's pictured in the scriptures as the wind, and the wind goes wherever it wants to go. You can't, can't take it, can't hold it, John 3, 8.

So I close with this. He bids us come, nay, he commands us, to call unto Him, bless His holy name. With the calling, He will give the desire. And you'll give credit to Him. You won't say, well, I'd walk an aisle, or I did this, or I did that. You will give proper glory and credit to Him, who is our all in all. Do we wish to know the hidden things regarding all things grace, all things Christ? It's found only in the person of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer of souls. So I implore you, call unto Him. He'll answer.

And you've never, and I've never seen, and you've never seen, we've never seen anything like this. Take your greatest earthly pleasure When you're a kid, when we're learning things, or now, or whatever, things that excite you, there's nothing as exciting and mysterious and yet glorious as the gospel. That's why your parents are crazy. They keep listening to the same thing, the same message from different texts.

Says, Dad, tell me, we would really like to hear that one day from our children. Why is your beloved more than another beloved? Hold on, let me tell you. Let me tell you. It's like talking about your spouse. You could talk about him because you love him. You don't have to think a lot. It's from here. May God bless the reading and the preaching of his words. Bruce, would you close us, please?

Mighty Things which thou Knowest Not.

What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

How do we know God's sovereignty in prayer is true?

Why is understanding God's grace crucial for Christians?

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Mighty Things which thou Knowest Not.

What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

How do we know God's sovereignty in prayer is true?

Why is understanding God's grace crucial for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Drew Dietz

Comments

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