Primary and Secondary Causes

Renewing Your Mind

Ligonier Ministries

Religion & Spirituality, Reformed, Study, Jesus, Preaching, Christianity, Scripture, Spirit, Bible, Holy, Theology, Christian, God, Teaching

4.8 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since God sovereignly ordains everything that happens, where does our personal responsibility come into play? Today, R.C. Sproul explains the role we play in God’s good providence as He brings His perfect plan to pass.

Get Truths We Confess, R.C. Sproul’s commentary on the Westminster Confession, for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3706/truths-we-confess

Meet Today’s Teacher:

R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.

Meet the Host:

Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children.

Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Nathan W. Bingham here. Before we get to today's episode, I'd like to invite you to a free event in Dallas, Texas on November 14.
0:09.0	It's called Renewing Your Mind Live. And it's an opportunity for us to thank you for listening and to give thanks to God for 30 years of broadcasting truth through renewing your mind.
0:20.0	Stephen Nichols and Derek Thomas will be joining us to teach on Romans 12 too.
0:24.6	Mr. Sprawl is planning to join us, and you'll have the opportunity to meet other listeners.
0:29.2	Meet me, plus there'll be giveaways.
0:32.0	This is a free event, but due to limited capacity, registration is required.
0:36.8	Learn more and register at renewewingyourmind.org
0:39.8	slash Dallas, and I hope to see you November 14 or in other cities throughout 2025.
0:46.8	Now on to today's episode.
0:48.6	He gives the unspeakable privilege of using me, but he does not need me. He can bring his will to pass without me and without you.
1:02.9	How do things in the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith come to pass? Does God use means? And if he does, does he need to?
1:14.7	That's what R.C. Sprawl will address today on renewing your mind as we continue our study of God's
1:20.1	providence as summarized in the Westminster Confession. As R.C. Sprawl just mentioned, God does not need us to bring about his will. And remembering this helps keep us humble and should fill us with gratitude for how he so often does use us in incredible ways, whether bringing a brother or sister comfort or sharing the good news of the gospel with an unbeliever. Well, here's Dr. Sparroll to continue this week's study on Providence.
1:50.4	We're going to continue now with our study of the Westminster Confession of Faith,
1:54.4	and we've already begun our study of Chapter 5 on the Providence of God,
2:00.1	and in our last session we looked at Section 1 by way of
2:04.1	introduction to this concept, and so now we're going to proceed by looking first at Section 2.
2:12.2	Section 2 reads as follows, although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause,
2:23.9	all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence, he ordered
2:33.0	them to fall out according to the nature of second causes,
2:38.1	either necessarily, freely, or contingently. Now, if you recall in the opening chapters of the
2:47.9	confession, when we looked at the attributes of God, we already encountered this
	...

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