Theological Realism

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truth for well I invite you to turn with me to your Bibles to the Old Testament and to the book of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes chapter 8 and I'm going to read the whole chapter beginning at verse 1 who is like the wise and who knows the interpretation of a thing a man's wisdom makes his face shine and the hardness of his face is changed I say keep the Kings command because of God's oath to him be not hasty to go from his presence do not take your stand in an evil cause for he does whatever he pleases for the word of the king is supreme and who may say to him what are you doing whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way for there is a time and a way for everything although old man's troubles lie heavy on him for he does not know what is to be for who can tell him how it will be no man has power to retain the spirit or power over the day of death there is no discharge from war normal wickedness deliver those who are given to it all this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the Sun when man had power over man to his heart then I saw the wicked buried they used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things this also is vanity because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily the heart of the children of man is fully said to do evil sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God because they fear before him but it will not be well with the wicked neither will he prolong his days like a shadow because he does not fear before God there is a vanity that takes place on earth that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous I said that this also is vanity and I commend joy for man has nothing better under the Sun but to eat and drink and be joyful for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the Sun when I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth how neither day nor night to one's icy sleep then I saw all the work of God that man cannot find out the work that is done under the Sun however much man may toil in seeking he will not find it out even though a wise man claims to know he cannot find it out Lord let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be found acceptable in your sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer well last time we were helped by Habakkuk at least I hope we were helped by Habakkuk we were helped by the fact that in a world where people have all kinds of responses to the circumstances that press upon us we said that Habakkuk provided for us a wonderful picture of theological realism that in the face of difficulty in the face of loss he had learned to declare his trust and his confidence in God now because he knew everything that was taking place or could explain it all but because he trusted God it was his theology that was the basis of his confidence and in this respect akin to the samus David in the 62nd Sam says for God alone my soul waits in silence from him comes my salvation he only is my rock and my salvation my fortress I shall not be greatly shaken and so this morning I want to think along these lines the along the lines of theological realism and I come to this as a result of my reading which will be similar to many of yours if you use the Murray McShane reading plan for working through your Bible and if that is the case then part of your reading this past week will have included the eighth chapter of Ecclesiastes and I wonder we use struck as I was by the heading that is given to the concluding verses in the English standard version it simply reads man cannot know God's ways man cannot know God's ways now I find that striking because in all of the uncertainty of the things that we're facing and all of the potential chaos of our time all of us are keen to have the answers who caused this pandemic what will fix it when will it end where is God in all of this and why has this come about now there are no shortage there is no shortage of experts with answers medical answers social answers mathematical answers political answers and so on and actually I have found myself somewhat overwhelmed by the inadequacy of the answers offer to me and I have also been on the receiving end of questions along these lines therefore I found it wonderfully liberating to be reminded that God's ways are inscrutable inscrutable in a 17th verse of the eighth chapter three times this point is made by the writer man he says cannot find out the work he will not find it out he cannot find it out well you say this is a bit of a forlorn deal is it not no it's wonderful and I hope to show you just why that is when calper in the hymn that we sang last time I think without this Varys was expressing these sentiments he was not running from reality he was facing reality head-on and his realism was a theological realism when he penned the words deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will what this does of course is challenge the kind of enlightenment thinking which remains to our day which goes along these lines if you just give us a little more time we'll be able to figure it out the kind of expression that says while we we have this covered we'll let you know as soon as we have the details this little section at the end of Ecclesiastes 8 causes us to think along different lines now perhaps you will find it helpful to notice that he begins in verse 14 with an observation he then in verse 15 provides us with a recommendation and then in 16 and 17 we follow his application of his mind to the matter at hand now we didn't take time to set us in a much wider context suffice it to say that the writer has set out his stall to view life to try and make sense of life under the Sun he recognizes that it is filled with riddles and paradoxes and all of his considerations are set within the the parameters of the fact of God as a sovereign creator and the reality of man in the eventualities of his death and what he's doing is of course pointing out here in verse 14 that as he looks at the world in which he lives there is a vanity now vanity comes thirty-eight times in this book and the context in which it is used helps us to understand what it means when he says there is a vanity here what he's talking about is the incomprehensible nature of things we just can't figure this out when we realize what's happening and what is it that's happening well he says prizes are going to the wrong people and the same is true of the punishments this is a vanity that retribution and rewards are now reversed now of course this is not a novel observation on his part right up until the present time people wrestle with this issue and I would think in the last 25 years there's been more than half a dozen books different titles but all addressing this same question why is it that bad things happen to good people and why is that there good people have to injure bad things well that's his observation right here the righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked and and the wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous his observation is this is strange it doesn't seem right it's troublesome man is left certain for some kind of rain and reason and not just in the events of history in his broader sense but in the very private experiences of our individual lives Simon many many years ago that is Paul speaks rights of going up a narrow flight of stairs to his narrow little room where he lies upon his bed in the early evening gloom and he says impaled upon the wall my eyes can do we see the riddle of my life and the puzzle that is me now this is what he's observing back in the 15th hours of the previous chapter he says in my vain life I've seen it all there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil doing now you see the Bible addresses this were not left just to wander around this is where theology comes into play this is life in a fallen world what the Bible tells us is very straightforward that God created Adam and Eve he created them for himself in the enjoyment of his presence he made them in order that they might live with him and live for him but when you read the early chapters of the Bible you discover that they doubted his goodness they rejected his wisdom and they rebelled against his authority and as a result of that sin has spread into every aspect of our human existence God has still shone his light into our darkness the heavens declare his glory and in his love even though we are by nature rebellious he still comes to seek us out I was thinking about it just as I drove here this morning the line from the hymn came to mind perverse and foolish after I strayed and yet in love he sought me and on his shoulders gently laid and home rejoicing brought me now this observation is not unique as I say to the writer nor is it unique to the book of Ecclesiastes we won't go here but for homework I can assign a rereading of Romans chapter 8 and you will discover there that in the 20th verse of Romans 8 Paul is making the observation that the whole of creation is subjected to futility what I find interesting is that that word that Greek word there for futility is the exact same word when the Hebrew word is translated into Greek thirty-eight times in the book of Ecclesiastes and what we discovered is that we inhabit a fundamentally disordered state of reality says somebody well if we didn't know it before we certainly know it now a fundamentally disordered state of reality and still the questions come when will this end who's in charge of this what are we supposed to do and so on well that is the observation and I hope you are helped by the fact that the Bible recognizes these things it doesn't hire on them it acknowledges the fact that they're that the Providence of God is is worked out in life in ways that cause us to wonder at his purposes so a straightforward observation and then in verse 15 we come to what I would say is a surprising recommendation notice the opening four words there and I commend joy and I commend joy this I found greatly encouraging as well there's nothing better he says there's nothing better Under the Sun this is all taking place on earth you see there is a vanity that takes place on earth I'm making sense of the world he says under the Sun there's nothing better and and incidentally he does this a number of times I'm quoting the 24th verse of chapter 2 there is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil after he has spoken of the the nature of God setting eternity in our hearts he says in verse 12 of chapter 3 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil this is God's gift to man right wonderful it's along the lines of psalm 118 isn't it this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it the answer to the first question in the Shorter Catechism what is the chief end of men the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever I wonder if you said to anybody recently are you enjoying yourself especially to a Christian person sometimes the Christians say I've joined the ranks of the gloomy and morose that should not be when paul is giving a warning to rich people to make sure they don't find their confidence in riches which is a good warning he also goes on to say and this is in the 17th verse of 1st timothy 6 he says that in the context of a God who richly provides us with all things to enjoy to enjoy observation things are upside-down the world seems to be broken of course it is broken we live in a fallen world directive recommendation well instead of the difficulties turning a sour or making a sullen the writer is recommending entering into the joys of simple pleasures simple pleasures and again notice that he's addressing these things under the Sun for man is nothing better under the Sun God has also said eternity in our hearts and as a result of that we are inevitably plagued by a sort of sense of homesickness that we that we live every so often drifting into a weird sensation of unbel awning but our response to those sensations is not to be like the pessimist simply a shrug or a who cares or the approach that says whatever and how many times do do you find that work cropping up well whatever or who knows now the fact that there is no ultimate satisfaction in these things is not to say that there is no satisfaction in these things I am already looking forward to my life I'm already looking forward to the benefits of friendship I am already looking forward to reading I am already looking forward to listening to music all of these have been given to us the children of men as gifts within the context of this observation it is right for us to enjoy these temporal narcy's a foolish person deals with the predicament in one way the disillusioned in another and the Christian man or woman in this way now while I was thinking along these lines I had an email from a friend from far away in in the middle of the week and after he had referred to the way that many lifes were being touched by deepest loss he continued in this way and I quote God's witness of creation around us faithfully continues to bring as inspiration and Wonder the bird seemed to be singing louder and better songs that announce and embroider the new day or maybe is because we have time and space to listen to what has always been there what was always being sung the night stars also seemed to have a new brightness a deeper illumination and then in a wonderful PS he says I'm also beginning to miss people I don't like fantastic wonderful what is this well the hemorrhoids are headed heaven above a softer blue earth around a sweeter green something lives in every hue that Christ the size I've never seen and birds with gladder songs or flow and earth with deeper beauty shine when I know is now I know that I am his and he is mine you see the writer here is not asking why are these things as they are his theology is such that he knows why they are what they are because we live in a fallen world one day all cancer all death all tears all sighing all viruses will be banished forever in a new heaven and a new earth that is the reality of the story the plan and purpose of God and so it's a good recommendation and it's a clear recommendation observation life is unmanageable recommendation go out and be joyful and then we come to his application the application of his heart he says to no wisdom I was applying my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on the earth and how neither day nor night dowon's I see sleep the second half of that verse is quite difficult and there are a variety of ways in which it is explained don't stumble over it Derek Kidner observes that the enjoyment of simple pleasures only makes it possible for us to shelve the big questions it doesn't enable us to settle them you see that's the difference again and someone says well let's just go out and get something to drink let's just go out and have a meal let's just open things up again and we'll we'll be able to deal with everything no we won't be able to deal with everything because the deepest longings are not answered by food and by drink and by parties that's why he says in Chapter three it's better to go to a funeral than to go to a party because death is the destiny of everyone and the living should take it to heart and what he's really doing here in this 15 verse is repeating what he said earlier his investigation has already led him down a series of dead-end streets what is a man from all his toil and strive in the heart with which he toils beneath the Sun he asks in Chapter two for all his days are full of sorrow and his work is a vexation even in the night his heart does not rest this also is vanity and I think there's something of that there in what he is expressing this idea how neither day nor night do one's eyes sleep you picture him turning on his bed asking where his business is going where it is taking him as he asks himself what does this all mean if it means anything at all and of course in the heart of all of this is this matter of theology because I was seeing the work of God all the work of God that man cannot find out the work that is done under the Sun and what he's giving expression to is the fact that the the ways of God are inscrutable that it is that it is baffling because the desire to understand these things and also our limited ability to understand these things both are ordained by God so he has created within us the capacity for investigation for the development of science for research and for all these things which is an amazing gift and it's evidence of his creative power but at the same time he has also limited our ability to unravel all of these questions the ways of God cannot be fathomed by men and women because of our fallen state what the Bible says is that sin has pervaded every part of our existence it doesn't mean when we talk about the depravity of men and women that that we're as bad as we could possibly be what means is that there is no part of our humanity that is unaffected by sin and therefore it is obvious that it would affect our minds so the way we think about everything is impacted by the fact that we think wrongly about so much and so the world as it comes to us is clearly distorted and even our view of its distortion is itself distorted now this ignorance is traced to an understanding of things that is impacted as I say by the fall it's not uncommon for people to say well if this was so obvious why can't I see it well the answer is is not so obvious remember in that film Chariots of Fire that I mentioned interminably unrelentingly you know at that great moment where where Abrams says to his girlfriend you know if I if I can't when I won't run and she says you know if you don't run you can't win and along those lines the person says to me you know if I can see I won't believe to which I think the Bible has to say if you won't believe you'll never see you see it is the Word of God itself that we're looking at now which is light in our darkness after all in the midst of the observations about our world today and the in ability of us to understand the end from the beginning it is the entry of the Bible that gives light into our darkness that's the claim that scripture itself makes some 119 the unfolding of your words gives light it imparts understanding to the simple also somebody who that's the problem you see because I I'm not simple I'm actually very clever well let me tell you that the pathway is reason humbled to the obedience of faith reason humbled to the obedience of faith you see genuine humility admits to being unable to figure out all that God is doing how could we know all that God is doing the revelation of God it has to be has to be beyond us if we would have a fullness of all of his revelation it would be as hard for us as looking up directly into a very very bright Sun it impacts us and when we read the Bible we realize that God does things in ways that are beyond our comprehension says bridges God may cast clouds and darkness around him for reasons and purposes for which we have not the least glimpse or conception God may choose to do this but we have sufficient light to leave us without excuse the light of the gospel shines out the light of creation shines out and as I say this to people in these days often they will come back to me and say well you know I don't find reading the Bible very easy at all and I would say I agree with that I don't find reading the Bible very easy in fact parts of the Bible are jolly difficult and again this is where our theology comes into play here is the Westminster Confession the first section on the nature of holy scripture paragraph 7 not all things in Scripture are equally plain in themselves or equally clear to all yet those things which are necessary to be known believed and observed for salvation are so clearly stated and explained in one place or another in Scripture that not only the educated but also the uneducated may gain a sufficient understanding of them by a proper use of the ordinary means what does that mean well it simply means this that we should encourage each other to come to the Scriptures humbly expectantly consistently so that we might then discover the light that is provided recognizing that our understanding of Scripture will not ultimately be purely in the sense that our own in capacities cloud our comprehension we won't understand it purely nor will we understand it entirely but we may understand it sufficiently because it's pretty obvious isn't it that we only see the surface view but the depths of the Providence's of God are beyond our vision and so the writer is making it clear as he's very honest in his observation and in his recommendation and in his searching and in his wondering God will in his own time and in his own way bring perfect order out of seeming confusion and he will complete his purpose from all of eternity to call to himself a company that no one can count however much man may toil in seeking he will not find it out even though a wise man claims to know he cannot find it out when Paul again gives expression to the magnificence of God and his dealings he he eventually comes to the same place how could we ever know oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid this was never said of me it could never be said of me but I heard my teacher say to people around me you know what Colin you're too clever for your own good and that's the problem with some who are with near shot of me this morning if you're prepared to face yourself and face the Scriptures you discover that you're actually too clever for your own good that the wisdom of God explained in the cross is a foolishness to you to those who are being saved as the power of God that the love of God is rejected by you that the patience of God you ought to be very thankful for for his patience is in order that those of us who think we know the answer to everything who think we can explain ourselves without him who think that we can live our own lives and please ourselves discover that his patience is there to lead us to repentance and for me the fact that I live in Evatt ibly with so many of these questions that remain not neatly cut and dried and and put together but remain daunting and and baffling and uncertain I say to myself as is good this is good in that wonderful hymn God holds the key of all unknown and I am glad if other hands should hold the key or if he offered it to me I might be sad my favorite verse goes like this the very dimness of my sight makes me secure for groping in my misty way I feel his hand I hear him say my help is sure have you ever felt his hand reach out to you they hold upon you as you observe the craziness of our world as you engage in the benefits of life in our world and as you ponder the vastness of God's purposes revealed in Jesus well today take hold of his hand and trust him father thank you that the Bible has an honesty and a clarity to it that helps us saves us from undue dogmatism and helps us when the very incapacity of our minds to grapple with the big picture are before as in a way that we find unsettling thank you that just when we do a jigsaw puzzle week we often decide that we're gonna deal with a four corners before we try and work out the middle thank you that the Bible very clearly gives to us if you like the parameters of your grace and yet in the dimness of our site and in the cloudiness of your purposes we may rest secure convinced as was Habbakuk and the writer here in Ecclesiastes that all in all our heavenly Father knows what he's doing knows what's best and loves us with an everlasting love thank you in Christ's name Amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living learn more about truth for life with alistair beg visit us online at truthfortheworld.org

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 9,871

Rating: 4.9118943 out of 5

Keywords: Christian Living, Effects of Sin, Studying the Bible, Theology, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes

Id: P82e9K7JwbQ

Length: 34min 48sec (2088 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2020