My subject today is God's adorable
providence. In preparation for it, I have
a hymn in the bulletin, if you want to follow along with me,
if you have your bulletin handy. I have a confidence that calms
my troubled breast. My father knows and does what's
best. His wisdom, love, and skill All
providence displays. With grace and power that cannot
fail, God orders all my ways. Fictitious luck and chance and
fortune I deny. My father rules all circumstance
and to his arms I fly. My fearful heart sustained, secure
my soul from harm. and spread beneath my soul in
pain, your everlasting arms. Oh, let me doubt no more, but
in your pleasure rest, your providence, ruled by your power, I know will
make me blessed. God's providence. I can't think
of a better subject with which our minds, with which our minds
should be occupied in this time when God's judgment in the earth
is manifest than God's providence. There are three portions of scripture
that are misused universally. And they're quoted probably more
often than any other three portions of scripture in the whole of
the word of God. And all of them are just partially
quoted. Judge not that you be not judged. For God so loved
the world, whosoever will, and all things work together for
good. Now, you hear those things quoted
by men and women frequently, and they're quoted commonly by
people who don't know God from a billy goat, as if they were
rubbing a rabbit's foot, or some kind of good luck charm, or four-leaf
clover, or a crucifix, or some other superstitious object to
bring about some good luck. Trying to mix magic and religion
to conjure up a little good fortune. But Romans 8.28 is not stated
when we say all things work together for good. It is not stated. That's not all that's stated
in the passage. What does the passage state? What does the
Holy Scripture teach us? Look with me at Romans 8.28 and
just hold your Bibles open to this one passage. Romans chapter
8 and verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Look at the first word and what
a blessed word that word and is, as it's used by the spirit
of God in this place. Back up to chapter eight, verse
one, there is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. And we know, we know, we who
walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, we know all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Look at verse
16. The spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirits that we are the children of God. How does
the spirit bear witness with our spirit? God the Holy Spirit
comes into the life of a man into the life of a woman in the
new birth. He gives us a new nature and
by that gift of his grace working in us, testifies to us as God
did to Enoch, that we please God, not by what we do, but in
the person and work of his dear son. The spirit bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God. And if children
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And we know, we who are heirs
of God, we who are taught of spirit, we who are born of God,
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Back up to verse 26. Likewise, the spirit also helped
with our infirmities. For we don't know what we should
pray for as we ought. We never do. that the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And with that we
know, we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Divine providence, is the daily,
constant, sovereign rule of God over all things for the accomplishment
of His eternal purpose of grace in Christ Jesus. Divine providence
is the daily, constant, universal rule of God over all things by
which He accomplishes His eternal purpose of grace toward His elect
in predestination. Predestination is the sovereign,
eternal, immutable, unalterable purpose of God, by which he ordained
and ordered, according to his own good pleasure, all things
that ever come to pass in time. All things are of God. Oh, God teach us this. All things
are of God. trace everything back to its
source, back to its origin. All things are of God. Scriptures are very plain. Of
Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. Providence
is the accomplishment of that purpose of God in eternity. It
is the accomplishment of what God predestined before the world
began. Predestination is God's purpose. Providence is God fulfilling
his purpose, accomplishing his purpose. We read in Revelation
of the angel, the Lord Jesus, who had the book, the book of
God's purpose in his hands. And it's in his hands. He stands
one foot on the sea and one foot on the earth. and it turns the
pages of the book and fulfills the will and purpose of God.
Everything that comes to pass, yes, all good things and all
bad things, all things we understand and all the things we don't understand,
all the famine and pestilence and all the feasting and pleasure,
everything that comes to pass in time was predestined by God
from eternity. every plague and every healing,
every disease and every cure brought to pass according to
God's purpose in God's time exactly as God would have it. Hear me
and hear me well. Be sure you understand the doctrine
of Holy Scripture with regard to God's providence. Nothing
in the universe happens by chance or luck or fortune or accident. Everything that comes to pass
in time was purposed by God in eternity and is brought to pass
by God's holy, wise, good, and adorable providence. Nothing
comes to pass in time that God did not purpose in eternity,
in sovereign predestination. And all that comes to pass in
time was purposed by God in sovereign predestination before the world
began, that which God predestinated in eternity. He brings the past
in providence and it's for the good of his elect and the glory
of his own great name. These things is what God is doing
in this world. First and foremost, God is making
to himself an everlasting and a glorious name. He's making
to himself according to the 50th chapter of Isaiah, an everlasting
and a glorious name. And second, he's saving his elect. That's the work of God's providence,
fulfilling predestination. That's what God's doing in time
today, as he does in every day of time. Let's see if the scriptures
will verify what I've said. You don't need to look at them.
Psalm 76 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. The
remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain. Wicked men do wicked
things. Vile men do vile things. Angry
men do angry things. Wrathful men do wrathful things.
Surely the wrath of man will praise thee. But men often have
things they would do, they just can't do. They would do it if
they could, they just can't do it. That's because the remainder
of wrath, that which God has not purposed to use for his glory
and our good, the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain. The
Lord hath made all things for himself. Proverbs 16, four. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Yea, even Cain to slay his brother
Abel. Yea, even Korah, Dathan, and
Abiram to bring reproach against his name and curse Moses, his
servant. The Lord had made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. A man's
heart deviseth his way, the wise man says. He plans his way. But the Lord directeth his steps.
We plan things for ourselves, for our children. Growing up,
we plan for the college, we plan if they're training for a certain
career area, that's what they plan, and then something happens.
Everything's changed. The Lord directed this dance. We had been planning all year
for our degree to graduate May 5th, I think it was, wasn't it?
Somewhere in May. And I had arranged scheduled
meetings around that time. And then God sends this pandemic,
this coronavirus, and the colleges are shut down. And the graduation
is canceled. The exercises are all canceled.
Man plans, and man plans, and man plans, but God orders our
steps. exactly as he will. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Throw dice, whether
it comes up snake eyes or 7-Eleven, whatever comes up, the lot is
cast into the lap, but God determined before the world was how it was
going to turn out right now. Right there. And he brings it
to pass. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. As rivers of water, as canals
in an irrigation field, he turneth it whithersoever he will. The
king's heart is in the hands of God. Kings. Solomon wrote
that in the days when men were kings, they had their way everywhere
in their domain. And nobody stood in their way.
And if they ordered something, it was done. He could hold an
irrigation canal here, even if it meant taking water from everybody
else in the kingdom. He ordered it. There it goes.
The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord. Like rivers of water,
he turneth it whithersoever he will. Oh, I'm talking about God. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Specifically, let's
see what Romans 8.28 tells us about God's providence. May God,
the Holy Ghost, who inspired these words, effectually inscribed
them upon your heart and mine, enabling us in all things to
believe God and rest in God, to give thanks to our triune
God for his wise, good, adorable providence. Let me show you just
four things in this verse of Scripture. First, here's a delightful
persuasion. We know. We know. When I was a young boy, folks
in high school debated things, different ideas of philosophy,
different ideas about how things are done. Some folks believed
in free will. Some folks believed in fate.
Some folks believed things just happen with no plan, other folks
say this all predetermined beforehand. I'm not talking about a matter
of speculation. I'm not talking about speculative
doctrine. I'm not talking about theories of things. I'm not talking
about theories of philosophy or logic. I'm not even talking
about theories of sound judgment. I'm talking about knowledge.
It is the knowledge of confident, assured persuasion. based upon
fact and experience. Knowledge, that is a confident,
assured persuasion. I stand convinced. We stand convinced
by fact and by experience. Oh, it is my prayer that God
will graciously and thoroughly convince your heart of these
things. We know, that is we who are believers,
we who have been taught of God, We know, but how is this knowledge
given? What's the basis of this knowledge?
Is it just a pipe dream or is it real? We know that all things
work together for good according to God's purpose by the revelation
of God's word. Listen to this. I will cry unto
God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. The wise man said, there shall
no evil happen to the just. There shall no evil happen to
the just. This virus that has the world scared to death, and
rightly so, is not a matter for us to fear who are gods. It is
not something for us to be afraid of who are gods. There shall
no evil happen to the just. That which men think evil and
that which we would otherwise think evil to ourselves are only
God's blessings. To other folks, it's a judgment.
To us, it's a blessing. If God sends something today
to take you out of this world, if you know God, that's a blessing.
That's a blessing. That's not a curse. That's not
a judgment. That's a blessing. I told you a while back, my friend,
Brother Jim Jensick, someone was asking him out in Arizona,
was trying to witness to him, and kind of mocking him, said
to him, so if you knew you were gonna die tonight, what would
you do? And Jim answered with a drop of a hat. He said, I'd
go home a good bit early. I'd go home a good bit early.
For God's people, it's a blessing. Look at, this is this Hosea chapter
two. The Lord speaking to Hosea about his love for the people
of his choice. and how he's gonna call them
by his grace. He says, in that day, I will make a covenant for
them with the beast of the field and with the fowls of heaven
and with the creepy things of the ground. I will break the
bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth and I will make
them to lie down safely. I'll... I'll call you by my grace,
and when I've called you by my grace, and given you faith in
me, I'll cause you to dwell all the days of your life in the
midst of war, in the midst of raging beasts, in the midst of
creeping things that carry disease. I'll cause you to dwell perpetually
in safety. How's that? We know. We know
these things and walk in the comfort of God's providence because
of the inner witness of God the Holy Ghost in us. By the anointing
of the Spirit, we have an unction from the Holy One and we know
all things. God the Holy Spirit has given
us the mind of Christ so that though we're discerned of no
one, yet we discern all things right. We know the wisdom and
goodness of God's adorable providence because we've experienced it.
Back years ago, somebody asked Brother Ralph Barnard, said, do you believe everything
in the Bible? And Barnard responded, I don't know. I haven't experienced
it all yet. The fact is we only believe what
we experience. Let me tell you what I've experienced
for 54 blessed years. For 54 blessed years. I've actually experienced it
for nearly 70 years, but I've known it now. I experienced for
54 years. God's providence is good. Oh, how good is his providence? Adorable. infinitely wise, we
are persuaded, really persuaded of this by experience in our
souls. When sorrows like sea billows
roll, His providence keeps our hearts in peace. All right, here's
the second thing. A divine providence. We know
that all things work together for good. Nothing by itself All
things together. All things together. A good many
years ago, I was mowing the grass out here one Saturday evening
late. And as normal on Saturday evenings, I would have my mind
on preaching. And that old John Deere mower
I had, I was mowing just, wasn't paying any attention, I was just
mowing the grass. And after a little bit, I looked behind me, and
I realized the mower wasn't cutting any grass. It wasn't cutting
anything, I was just going over the grass. It was running. We
were running, but it wasn't cutting any grass. And I couldn't figure
out what was going on. The bell was working. It wasn't
broken. What's going on? Inside the deck
of that thing was a little old 10-cent shear pin. I'm talking
about something less than a quarter of an inch thick, just a little
10-cent shear pin. I had hit a stump in the yard,
stripped the shear pin. Wonder it didn't mess everything
up. Just stripped the shear pin with that one little pin out
of place. kept the whole machine from doing
anything. It'd ride me around, but it wouldn't
cut grass. It'd go up and down the hill,
but it wouldn't cut grass. It wouldn't do the one thing it
was designed to do, because there was one little pin out of place. Oh, God, I thank you. Oh, I thank you. In your universe,
there's no such thing as a broken shear pin. There's no broken
gear. There's nothing out of place,
nothing out of time. Everything is exactly as he purposed
it from eternity and brings it to pass in time. This subject
is of deepest importance. The unbeliever talks like the
felicity. It was a chance that happened
to us. Well, I had some good luck today. I just had some bad
luck yesterday. No, no, no, no. We're talking
about providence. Believers talk like Job. Naked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When Eli heard his sons were killed, his response was, it
is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. When David's son Absalom led
revolt against him, This Shemai, this dog of a man, came out cursing
David, jumping up and down, cursing David publicly, making fun of
him. And David's servant, Abishai,
said, let me go over and lift his head off his shoulders. And
David said to Abishai, leave him alone. Leave him alone. Let him curse, for the Lord hath
bitten him. Shemai couldn't curse me if God
had bitten him. Shemai couldn't say a word if
God didn't give him a tongue to speak. It may be that the
Lord will look on mine affliction and that the Lord will requite
me good for his cursing this day. And he did. God is never
idle. God is never ignorant. God is
never at rest. God is always on the job. He
never needs to recuperate. He never needs to regroup. God
Almighty, our Heavenly Father, is always at work governing the
world, governing the universe for us. Behold, he that keepeth
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. You may be tempted
sometimes to think like the heathen. God's not doing a very good job
of running this world. I've often heard fools say, if
God were running things, things would be different. You might,
in your great depth of wisdom, propose a lot of changes. Could not the Almighty, like
that, end sickness, poverty, and war were in his will to do
so? Could he not put an end to sin
and crime and disease? Were that his purpose? Could
he not take from us our own corrupt natures and give us grace to
live in this world in perfection? Were that his purpose to do so?
Could God not stop fornication, adultery and sodomy? Were that
his purpose? But pastor, these things are
sins against God. Indeed they are, but God rules even among
the wicked. Could God not put an end to famine,
earthquake, deaths, rape, murder, and abortion? Indeed, he could. God Almighty, however, will not
be dictated to by man. You're not going to control God.
God controls you. He works with all things after
the counsel of his own will. I want to remind you of a few
things about God's providence, my friends. You who are my brothers
and sisters in Christ, turn to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter
11. This is a very familiar text
of scripture to you folks in this congregation. Understand this first. God's
providence is mysterious. It's mysterious. It's a mystery
you will never explain. It's a mystery you will never
quite understand. Romans 11, 33. Paul had been
talking about God's great work of providence, casting off the
Jews and gathering in the Gentiles. And it says in verse 33, oh,
the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge
of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past
finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first
given to him, and then shall be reconvinced unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. To him be glory forever, amen. God's judgments are a great deep. His ways are past finding out. But this I know. God's way is
always the best way. And God always has his way. And God's way is never our way. Never our way. Tell me, what
have you ever experienced in life the way you planned it? God's way is never our way, never. Apostle Paul had a messenger
of Satan, a messenger who was Satan, who when he was lifted
up with pride would beat him down and beat him down and beat
him down. And three times he asked the
Lord to take this messenger from him. And the Lord three times
said, no, live with it. Live with it. My grace is sufficient
for thee. And Paul said, his strength is
made known in my weakness. So glory in my weakness, that
I may have his strength. Second, God's providence is minute. Our Lord Jesus said, the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. God's providence is all-inclusive. It is all-inclusive. God rules
everything, great and small, everywhere, always. God's in control of all inanimate
matter. He spoke the world into being. God called for light, and there
was light. God called for the sun, and there
was a sun. God called for the stars, and
there were the stars. God sent his children out of
Egypt, across the Red Sea. And at the command of God, the
sea rolled back like a wall, and there was a dry ground for
his people to walk upon. And when they were going across
the sea, at the command of God, the sea swallowed up Pharaoh
and his armies. The same thing with the Jordan
River. The Lord sent his servants into a fiery furnace, and they
were cast into that furnace seven times hotter than you would want
to burn it otherwise. And when they came out of the
furnace, they had lost nothing, had not even had a hair singed
on their arms. God has his way in the whirlwind
everywhere. Our great God controls totally
all irrational creatures, flies and frogs and locusts. rise up
at his will. At the time appointed, God created
a great fish, one great fish, capable of swallowing up a man
and keeping him for three days alive in his belly and then spewing
him out on the Nineveh shore. God's in control of everything.
Oh, you don't really believe that, do you, preacher? Oh, yes,
I do. Oh, yes, I do. The rooster crows in the morning. But our Lord Jesus had one rooster
in mind on a night when Peter desperately needed to hear a
rooster crow. Our Savior said, Peter, before this night's over,
the rooster, the cock, shall not crow twice before you have
denied me three times. And Peter heard the rooster crow. But he went on denying the Lord. And he went on denying the Lord.
And the Lord looked at him and heard the rooster crow and his
heart was broken. God takes inanimate objects like
locusts and flies and frogs and fish and roosters to perform
his will for the good of his people. Oh God, I thank you for
your minute providence. The Lord prepared his throne
in the heavens. His kingdom ruleth over all. Our God, our heavenly father,
absolutely controls all rational creatures. Good men and bad. Good women and bad. The righteous
and the wicked. In the good they do, and in the
evil they perform. All angels. All demons, Satan
himself, all under God's control. Satan is God's devil. He's not
a rival to God. He's not out of control. He's
God's devil. He's on the chain. Our Savior holds him on a chain. He bound him, we're told in Revelation
chapter 20. We have no trouble understanding
and believing that God controls good things. Most all religious
people do. and good people, but those things
aren't the things that bother me. I'm troubled about bad things. I'm troubled with sickness, and
bereavement, and sorrow, and death. I'm troubled with famine,
and war, and murder, and rape, and sodomy. I'm troubled with
the bad things. Show me who controls the bad
things, and I'll worship Him. Our God rules in heaven, in earth,
in hell, in the sea, and in all deep places. What about sin? The problem of evil. I don't
know, but I know it's not out of control. I know it's not contrary
to God's purpose. God could stop it in a moment,
but God has purposed even the sin and fall of our father Adam,
that he might show the riches of his grace in Jesus Christ
our Lord, that he might have a people saved from sin by the
power of his grace and the praise of his glory forever. The world Shakespeare wrote,
I think, is a stage. And we are all actors upon the
stage. The world is a stage created by God upon which he unfolds
the drama of redemption in time and causes his people to experience
his grace to the praise of his glory. All this exactly according
to God's purpose. How can you say that preacher?
Do you suppose the death of Christ was by divine purpose? Of course
it was. Wicked men by their free will
nailed the Son of God to the tree, fulfilling all the will
and purpose of God. In fact, if you care to read
the last chapters of the four Gospels and go back and read
the prophecies of the scriptures, you would think that soldiers
and Pilate and the Pharisees We'll go back and look at the
prophecy and say, what are we supposed to do next? Oh, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait. We're supposed to spit in his
face. Wait, we're supposed to pull out his beard. Wait, he's
supposed to be betrayed with a kiss. We're supposed to pay
Judas 30 pieces of silver. All of it written in the book
of God. God has his way everywhere. And in all things, he's accomplishing
the salvation of his people. Here's the third thing. God's
providence is good. Oh, God's good providence. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. No event in history is isolated
from this, and no event in history is isolated from any other. Now,
somebody said, how could this be for good? I was preaching
on this subject one time many, many years ago, and there's a
preacher visiting with us, and he went out the door with his
daughter, claimed to believe the gospel of God's grace, and
I heard him say to her as he went out the door, he didn't
say it to me, he said it to her. He said, how could he say that
everything is good, and your mama be in the shape she's in? All things do not work for our
immediate good necessarily. I might almost say commonly,
not for our immediate good. They do not work together for
our temporal good on this earth, but they work together for spiritual
good, for the eternal good of God's people. And not just for
my good, for the collective good of God's church and kingdom.
I've been trying to figured out and I've talked to a lot of preacher
brethren and others about this virus, this worldwide pandemic
now. Churches banned from meeting
all over the country, all over the world. Places, England, Great
Britain, just like we are, they're banned from meeting too. Why? God, what are you doing? What
are you doing? Who could ever have imagined
20 years ago that the widest means available and the easiest
means available of preaching the gospel to the whole world
at one time is through this internet. Who would ever dream such a thing?
Oh, there's so much wickedness on that thing. I'm not connected
to it. There's a lot of wickedness. There is a lot of wickedness
on that, a lot of wickedness in this, in your house and in
mine and in your heart and in mine. But God uses it for good,
the eternal good of his people, the collective good of his people
for the saving of his elect. Actually, that which is truly
good for me very often is exactly the opposite of what is presently
good. I used to correspond with a man,
I presume he's with the Lord now. He was converted while in
prison. He heard Brother Henry Mahan
on television one day. And I corresponded with him.
He was in prison for murder. His wife was cheating on him,
and he murdered the man who was cheating with his wife. And Tom
wrote to me, and this is what he said. He said, if I had not
been in prison for murder, I would never have learned the gospel. I would never have heard about
my Savior. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. It's good for me to know Christ
and be found in Him. Whatever it takes for God to
get my attention and turn my eyes and my heart to Christ,
that's good. It's good for me to fellowship
with God and walk humbly before him. It's good for me to be a
blessing to others, to be weaned of this world. It's good for
me to be a better preacher. It's good for me to continue
in the faith, to finish my course with joy and to die in faith. It's good for me to rise in glory
and be like Christ. My God, Whatever it is you see
fit to use to accomplish these things for us and in us is good. Tomorrow morning I'll go to Lexington
again, Lord willing, and I'll take what they call immunotherapy. It's a new form of chemotherapy. I go in in the mornings and I
take blood work. And according to what my blood work is, they
mix up the poison. And the poison is designed to
at least retard or hold in place the cancer, if not to turn it
away. That's the intention. But the
poisons, if wrongly mixed, like that, are deadly. In fact, the disease I now have,
I have as a result of the poisons I got 43 years ago. The disease
I now have, I got as a result of the poison 43 years ago. These
things done by a pharmacist who's trained to do things properly
with medicines that would otherwise kill you. Our God, like a wise
pharmacist, mixes things just like we need them. Too much joy
would intoxicate us. Too much misery would drive us
to despair. Too much sorrow would crush us.
Too much suffering would break our spirits. Too much pleasure
would ruin us. Too much defeat would discourage
us. Too much success would puff anyone
up. Too much failure keeps people
from doing anything. God's providence. He knows exactly
what we need. We will face it. bow to it, accept
it, give thanks for it, and rejoice in his providence. I welcome
all his will, for all his will is love. And when I know not
what he does, I'll wait for light above. This is a divine persuasion,
we know. It's divine providence. All things
work together for good to them that love God. And third, Paul
speaks of a designated people. Them that love God. Them who
are the called according to his purpose. People commonly say,
and preachers commonly say, try to get people to be comfortable.
We can't stand for people to be uncomfortable. We know this
all turned out for good. Oh no. Oh, no. Oh, no. This will be a blessing when
it's over. Oh, no. That's not a promise of God. Oh, no. This
is a promise of God to His people, to them that love God. Now, if
you love God, this is God's promise to you. Who is it that loves
God? Those who are loved of God with
an everlasting love, chosen by Him in eternal election, redeemed
by the blood of His darling Son, born again by His Spirit, to
them who are the called, the called, those who've been called
of God from death to life, from unbelief to faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Has God called you? Do you believe
on his son? Then be sure, all things work
together for good to you, to you who love God, to you who
are the called according to his purpose. Now, let's look at one
more thing. Here's a declared purpose. According
to his purpose. According to his purpose. How is it that everything works
together for good? To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. I have somewhere,
I probably don't have it anymore, probably threw it away. When
I first started pastoring, My older sister, bless her heart,
I love her dearly. She sent me a little plaque. Had a golden four-leaf clover
on it. Hang up in my office. because
that's supposed to bring you good luck. How sad, how sad. No, no, no, no, no, no. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose, his eternal purpose of grace
and predestination. Look at verse 29. For whom he
did foreknow, those whom he loved from everlasting, he also did
predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Oh my God, how I thank you. my savior, my redeemer, for your
wise, good, adorable providence. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds and
never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works
his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your
head. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. He's proven it, hasn't he? Hasn't
he? I'm asking you, hasn't it? Sweet
will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scare his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and
God will make it plain. Amen. Thank you for your attention.