From Webster's dictionary, the
term providence means an act of providing. This is very interesting. Exercising foresight or preparing. This is the definition that Webster,
who could speak 13 or more languages, traveled the world to get the
etymology of words. And he came up with these precise
definitions. The act of providing, exercising
foresight or preparing. Divine guidance or care or an
act or an instance of it. Prudence. Economical character. Policy or habits. God. conceived of as guiding
men through his presence. Presence, rather. P-R-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E. That's the sentiments of the
mind. God is omnipresent, all-knowing. But with his presence, with what
he knows, he guides men. This is what his providence points
to, is defined as. Loving care. or intervention. The care and superintendence
which God exercises over His creatures. Period. The Word of God tells us that
God's all-governing providence over this world encompasses and
includes these things. The weather, the weather patterns,
seasons, Seasonal changes. In Acts chapter 1 and verse 7,
it says, And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. He reserves the right to control
the times and the seasons. In the 14th of Acts, In verse 17, Nevertheless, he
left not himself without witness. And in that he did good and gave
us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with
food and gladness. Just these comments about the
sovereignty of God. Psalm 119 makes reference to His word in relationship to the
ordinances of life and weather. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. Fixed. Unthwartable. Broken. That word is a very strong
word. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. The generations of time on the
timeline of the history of fallen humanity. Thy faithfulness is
unto all generations. Thou has established the earth
and it abideth. They continue this day according
to thine ordinances. For all are thy servants. His sovereignty over all things. It also encompasses and includes
environmental change. where one lives, where one works,
where one travels. The guiding providence of God
is never asleep and always involved in every
particular aspect. Note the scripture presentation
of All of the great men, the great patriarchs of old, Abraham
was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans, capital city of the heathen world,
and told to go only where he was directed. The environmental
changes and everywhere he says what he was in search of a city
whose maker and builder was God, was not of this world. When he
was at a place of impasse with his nephew Lot, They made choices. He gave Lot the first choice.
Worldly wisdom directed Lot. When he looked out over the plain
and says, well, we must separate and I have my choice. I'm going
to go where the grass is greener and the water flows freely and
it's fruitful and bountiful. Took no thought for Perhaps the
wickedness of the inhabitants of the land. Abraham went where
God had chosen for him. Both were under the providence
of God. Both were under His direction. Every step that our Lord Jesus
Christ took in directing Himself, He was led of the Spirit into
the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. There's three accounts
of that. And they all three show, one
says he was driven by the Spirit. One, he's cast by the Spirit.
One, he's led by the Spirit. All this involves what happens
providentially. Provenance of God. It involves the political changes.
We saw that very clearly in the little bit of the history. The
end of history for the nation of Israel and the history that
is reflected with Hezekiah, the king of Judah. We saw the political
change. The great nation of the world
was Assyria and the Assyrian leaders and kings attributed
the success of their overcoming all the countries of the world,
regardless of their gods or their marmies, they attributed that
to their greatness. And the message through Isaiah,
we read it, is that God says, no, that's me. I read that. I'm providentially in control.
And he's not going, he's come up to this city and Jerusalem,
he's not even going to shoot an arrow in it. You don't have
to worry. And they were worried. They had a right to worry physically. But providentially, that same
God overrules our lives and overrules the political changes that we
go through. The governmental shifts in power
and authority. Providence also And this is more
directly, Hips Closer to Home, involves, encompasses and includes
the individual and personal changes. An individual's age, health,
wealth and education. Also an individual's personal
habits and activities. involved in the development of
your character, my character, our personal character, who we
are known to be, the type of person that we are. Providence
is involved. Where the elect are concerned,
where we are concerned, what I'm talking about right now, You're either growing in grace
and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as is the
case, and the circumstances of the righteous, of the elect,
or you're not, as is the case of the wicked. There's a proverb
that was quoted at the conference And after it was brought to the
attention just flippantly as a matter of fact, it was repeated
by another preacher later. Peter Minney brought it even
to the foreground when he preached at Bob Gannot's church, Sovereign
Grace Baptist. And that's this. The plowing
of the wicked is sin. What's that mean? Anything that
the wicked does in life is sin. Even the necessary duty and requirement to till
the ground. Why was Cain not given any respect
of God? It's right there in that verse.
The plowing. He's out there just working.
But whatever the wicked does is sin. The Bible says whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. Providence rules. When we refer to divine providence,
we actually refer to God's policy and procedure by which He, with
holy sagacity, controls and manages our personal affairs, the personal
affairs of every individual without exception that has come and gone
and that will come and go within the whole spectrum of the history
of fallen humanity. The Word of God reveals here,
from here, this is the record of particulars of this policy
of God's for both the righteous, God's elect unto salvation through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the wicked. Those who are lost, unbelieving,
and completely unconcerned with having the Lord Christ to reign
over their lives. They say, we will not have this
man to reign over us. That's what comes through their
hearts. That's the attitude and direction. And they can be within
the Christian community or without the Christian community. Let's
say that. These are real worshipers. That are content to be completely
left to themselves to make it through this world on their own,
by their own devices, according to a policy of their own making,
of their own self-reliance. The Bible says that their walk through this
world is according to their own imagination. But over and into all these things,
the particular matters that make up all these areas is the business
of divine providence. It directly involves God's mysterious
method in sovereignly governing all of us alike. It is in operation
right at this moment for all of us. Divine providence has caused
us to meet in this chapel at this time. Divine providence has caused
this to be the subject matter that I'm bringing to your attention
at this moment. It touches upon the very pulse
of the policy and procedure of that which reflects the great
design that God has decreed to be fulfilled for each and every
one of us. Providence proves the aim or
goal that God has decreed to be reached in each of our lives
will be reached. Providence is the putting into
motion that which fulfills all of God's magnificent and infinite
multitude of His eternal purposes that He has for all of our lives. It is God's providence for all
of us that brings to pass the struggles, the troubles,
and the strife of life. that particularly involves and
affects the affairs of all of us as individuals. And the all-governing principle
of the holy policy of God is revealed in whether there is
personal emphasis on what these particular providential trials
are doing to you or what they are making of you. Where are they continually leading
you? Away from the Lord or to Him? The Bible is the handbook that
contains the definitions and descriptions and explanations
of how God righteously rules over the affairs of men, fallen
men. His way is perfect. Therefore,
His government over this fallen world that is caught up in the
chaos of the curse is perfect. It's perfect. We last were together in the
time before that and the time before that. We looked at Ephesians
chapter 3 and I want you to turn there again. Hopefully I have
constructed a context that has attracted your attention a little
more with a little more clarity to this portion of the word. What we looked at was Ephesians
3.16, because this is the substance of the prayer of the Apostle
Paul for the Ephesians. Actually, we need to connect
it with chapter one and verse 17 through 22, because this too is the substance
of Paul's prayer. And it picks up again in chapter
three. He reveals to the Ephesians again
what his ardent and earnest prayer for them is. It says in chapter 1 that He
makes mention of them in His prayers. For what? That the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, there we see
the Son of God is summed up with the one word glory. The Son of
God who is the Lord Jesus Christ is summed up with that one descriptive. He's defined as glory. He's the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. Those are biblical terms.
But he's also the glory of all glory. There's no glory brighter
than his glory. He's the glory of glories. And
this is the father of glory that is being addressed. From the heart of the pastor
that God made of the Apostle Paul, he prays to the father,
Father of glory, that He may give them the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. No stronger word for knowledge
is given in the Scriptures than this word for knowledge. You've reached the peak of knowledge. It's a knowledge literally that
by definition gets a hold of you and changes you and you are
not the same and can't ever be the same once you come to know. what that epigonosko is. And
this is an epigonosko of Him. And if you challenge me on this,
say, well, this takes in all eternity because we can't know
all there is about Christ because the mind of man's fallen and
it can't comprehend all the infinite things of God because He is infinite
and omniscient and omnipresent and omniscient. And let me tell
you something, this is put in a context of knowing Christ in
His person and work and what He came to do and be as the Savior
and Redeemer. And we can come to a full knowledge
of that. Because that's written in His
Word. It's revealed to us. It's not speaking of infinite
knowledge. But it is a full knowledge of
Christ our Savior. And this is why the Apostle Paul
pleaded with God for this, for the Ephesians. That in His providence
which includes age, health, wealth, and education. I could have put
in there and maybe should have put in there, and revelation,
because he's a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge
of Christ. That's how you get to that. You
don't get it by education. You can go to school for the
rest of your life and you'll never attain that except by revelation. Peter and John absolutely amazed
and astounded the educated scribes and the doctors of the Sanhedrin
with the way that they answered them and answered their questions.
And they knew this one fact. They had been with Jesus, the
Scripture says. The eyes of your understanding
Being enlightened. You can't get this without the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Christ. Your eyes of your understanding
will be opened and enlightened that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, not your calling, His calling. See that? His calling. What's His calling?
Why, His calling was from eternity to come and be our surety and
eternal substitute and mediator for Him to take on the body and
blood like unto the fallen recipients of His grace that He's also going
to convey to them. They could never receive without
Him doing this. He had to take on that body.
That whole work. That was His calling. And to
do the commands of the Father to the nth degree. To say what
He told Him to say. To do what He told Him to do.
To go where He told Him to go. All these things that pertain
and are encompassed by divine provenance. Even including the
cross. But it also included the empty
tomb. And it also included His coming
back in that form. Never to leave that form. Always
to be in that form, beside the Father, and to have all ruling
authority in heaven and in earth, in eternity and time, given to
Him. And for Him to save those whom
the Father of glory gave to Him, which is us. And we believe in
Him by the same token The same power that He, the Father of
Glory, exercised when He raised our Savior from the grave. This
is brought out. And what is the exceeding greatness? Let's know what is the hope of
His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance. That's Christ's inheritance in
the saints. That isn't referring to our inheritance. We have an inheritance. We are
partaker of the share of the inheritance of the saints in
life. This is referring to Christ's inheritance. And his inheritance
is all of us collectively, totally, every race, kindred, tongue and
tribe of us, every single one of us, that he suffered and died
on the cross, bearing our name on his breast. He knew us from
before We were ever brought into existence on the timeline of
fallen humanity. God ordered it from the beginning
of the world. And what is the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His
mighty power? You don't really believe in Jesus
Christ. unless it's according to His
mighty power. And this power He wrought, verse
20 says, in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him
at His own right hand in heavenly places, that power, oh, that's
huge power. That's glorious power. To go
from the grave that sin causes, that my sin caused Christ to
have to go through, Oh, that's wicked sin. All by myself. That is enough sin to doom any
soul. Much less yours and mine. Much
less yours, mine, and all of the elect in all of the history
of all in humanity. That includes the wickedness
that we could point to and say, well, I'm not as bad as that
guy. Manasseh, remember him? That's Hezekiah's son. They're
about to go into the darkest days of their existence. Manasseh led Judah into gross
idolatry. So much so that it said, God
says of Judah, you're worse than Israel. And I removed them out
of my sight. I'm going to take you, Judah,
and wipe you clean as a dish and put you away." And he did.
He did that. But Manasseh repented. Manasseh
repented. And from what the Scripture says
of his repentance, he's my brother. And amazing as it may sound,
I believe I'm going to see him. in glory. He was restored and he tried
to salvage the damage that he did to the nation of Judah. It was not possible. The doom
of the nation was set. And his son was never redeemed. Never saw repentance, never came
to repentance. But Manasseh did. All of these sins sent our Savior
to the sins-cursed grave. But the glory of the Father,
Romans 6 says, the glory of the Father resurrected Him. Because
death couldn't hold Him. It wasn't just. It wasn't just
before God for death to hold Jesus. Though he was justly condemned
for your and my sin. That was just. But it wasn't
just that it could stay that way. Why? Because he was perfect. His way is perfect. He was holy. He couldn't sin. The only sin
that was His was imputed to Him just like the only righteousness
that you have and I have is the righteousness of Jesus that's
imputed to us. We're totally bankrupt of righteousness
that merits God's smile upon us. God's acceptance of us. God's embrace of us. Jesus was elevated to the right
hand of God in heavenly places, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion in every name that's named. Even
Lucifer's name. Every name that's named. The
son of the morning. The angel that there was created
in him. Greater power. Greater authority. Above every name. And put all things under his
feet. Gave him the head to be over
all things to his elect. Oh, praise God. All things to
the church. That's his elect. He's the head. Oh, praise God. That's a position
of accountability. Husbands and fathers, you were
born in that position of accountability, being males, because God had
ordered it that way. That's the policy of God. That's
the policy of God and His prophets. You're the head of your house. You're responsible to God. If
things don't go right in your house, Who's God going to talk
to? He's not going to talk to the
woman. He's going to talk to you. He's going to expect from you the ordering of things are right. If there's miscommunication,
it's going to start with you. Even if you think it's God's
fault. Adam did. Fallen Adam. Misjudged. He accused God. The woman thou
gavest me. And that one statement. He put
him behind two. It's not my fault. First of all,
it's yours and then it's hers. God's looking at him. He says,
you're on it. Where are you standing? You're on the platform of accountability,
buddy. That doesn't leave you out of
the picture, ladies. Doesn't leave you out of the
picture, Ben. We each have our position of
accountability. The head is the top step And
Christ is on that step. Where the church is concerned.
Where the elect is concerned. Even where Adam, when he came
to understand, oh, this sin problem can't be resolved without the
shedding of blood. There must be a substitute. What
am I going to do? God's answer to the woman, from
your seed. Woman doesn't have a seed. She
has an egg. Man's the communicator of the
seed. The seed that comes from you. Well, something's got to happen
that's different than what your policy has dictated for the physical
progeneration of my kind, Lord. Yeah, I know. I know, God says,
something major, different has got to happen. But it's going
to come. Seen from you. It's going to be Jehovah. And
it's going to conquer the curse. Conquer the devil. And everything
else that needs to be conquered. I'm going to save you. I'm going
to be your surety, your substitute, your mediator, your reconciler,
your justifier. He'll be just and the justifier
of those that believe. What am I going to do? You just
believe me. What I'm telling you. Adam, I'm
sure, believed. And from that moment on, he began
to look with diligence Every little baby boy that was born,
is this the one? Is this the one? And he had a
lot of little babies to look at in 930 years until sin took
him away. But it was sure to happen. And it did happen. Jesus is the
one. And he is the one who has been
elevated to the head. He is on that position of accountability. He is accountable to God for
the salvation. And everything that is involved
in that salvation being accomplished for all of the elect, for all
the church. The church, that's us, the elect,
believe it or not, We are His body. And the Bible says, we are the
fullness of Him that filleth all in all. We. We complete Him. Amazingly enough. The second prayer in Ephesians
is in chapter 3. In verse 14, for this cause I
bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that's
the same, that's who he's talking about, the Father of glory, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, the whole
family in eternity and time, the family, those of the elect
that are already in glory, they've lived out their time on this
line that makes up the history of fallen humanity and the history
of redemption. And they are already in glory.
They're free from sins and encumbrances, to be absent of bodies, present
with the Lord. We're still here, but all of us together, the whole
family, that He would grant you according to the riches of His
glory. Verse 16. That He would grant
you, according to the riches of His glory, which is the glory
above all glories, the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. Achieve being rooted and grounded
in love. May be able to comprehend. That's
fully able to comprehend, by the way. That word able there
in 18, it doesn't just mean partially able or barely able. It's fully able. That's the word
the Holy Spirit chose to communicate. Because He's doing the work.
He knows. I'll make you fully able to comprehend. Now, wait a minute. This goes
against what my scholarly leaders tell me. There's no way you can
comprehend and to know the length of breath and the height and
the depth of the love of Christ. Oh yeah, there is. It's to be
fully able to comprehend what's it saying. With all saints. That
doesn't leave any of us out. What is the breadth, length,
depth and height? And to know, fully know, the
love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. How can I fully know
that which surpasses knowledge? By the Holy Spirit of wisdom
and revelation, in the full knowledge of Him, having your understanding
enlightened, And yet goes through stages and
steps of enlightenment, continually. That you may be filled. Now look
at this. That you may be filled with all
the fullness of God. That you may be filled with all
the fullness of God. Oh, I can't do that. That's why the apostle was overwhelmed
and led to write what he writes next. And I can only imagine
that he couldn't get the ink on the parchment fast enough.
It was coming out of him. It was bubbling out of him. Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think. According to the power that worketh
in us. That Spirit of God. That in working
of the effectual power of the Holy Spirit. Unto Him, it says,
be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. It says throughout all ages, world
without end. That literally means unto all
the generations of the ages of ages. This just goes beyond Way
beyond what you could even imagine. What's begun here by this person
and work of Christ and the communication of it through the Holy Spirit
of Christ, directed by God the Father on your behalf. You brought
closer to Him. Your relationship with Him is
enhanced. You communicate directly with
Him. You call out, I have a Father. What's begun here in this body,
this corrupt body, this place of confinement, this jail, this
prison of bondage is a liberty that will extend itself, will
crescendo and grow from here to eternity and beyond. The glory of it is unimaginable. In the events of providence that
plague you, even now, whatever they consist of, whatever it
is that if you were to be pulled aside and God were to say, what
is the biggest problem in your life? Tell me. What is it? I'm in control of providence.
What can I do for you? He'll leave that in place. What? He may, in due time, he will
lift it. The good news is, whatever your
trouble is, it doesn't fit within the spectrum of the glory I just
told you about. It starts here and never ends. Whatever your affliction is,
it's temporary. even if it takes up the rest
of your days here, because this life is temporary. But you most
likely won't even take up the rest of your days here. Whatever your trouble is, whatever
your affliction is, you'll live. There's four words and there's
three words that are constants within the providence of God.
that we'll look at in closer detail and more vivid clarity. They are, I tried to emphasize
them when I read the Scriptures this morning, they are, it came
to pass. And that's the four words. There's three that are similar
to it. are found in Romans 5.6 which
says, for when we were yet without strength, you know the next three
words? In due time, Christ died for
the ungod. In due time. In due time. It will unfold. It will be lifted. But beware. Be ready. Become knowledgeable. Know what
the capacity is. And we're going to put this in
a context that I want you to be clear on. Psalm 103.10. What is it, mom? You got it memorized? He has not dealt with us according
to our sins. I like you, old King James. Nor
rewarded us according to our iniquities. That doesn't mean
you won't go through afflictions. Then what's going on? What does
this say we come to know we're rooted and grounded in love?
What does it say that's hard to wrap our minds around we become
fully able to comprehend the length, the breadth, the
height, the depth of the love of Christ. That love. Nothing can separate
us from Christ because of that love. That's what molds us. That's what conforms us unto
His image. That's what burns off the flesh
and the dross and all the encumbrances that prevent us from being completely
conformed to the image of the Son of God. That's what identifies
us as being Christ's. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples if you love one another. All of these things going on
in our life, your troubles, my troubles, that brings to pass the revelation,
God loves me. That's the gospel. I wish your
brother could have been here to hear that. It's the providence of God he
wasn't here and that scares me. Let's close in prayer. Dean,
would you lead us in prayer? Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank
you for your wonderful grace and the love you shed for us,
Father. We were so deep in sin, hopelessly lost. And, Father,
man is yet to understand the depth and the devastation that
was cast on this earth when Adam sinned. tragedy that brought all the
world into chaos. But You so loved to elect, You
gave Your life, Father, for us to reach into the depths of hell,
Father, to rescue us. And we're so thankful, Father,
eternally thankful. We will praise You for all eternity.
Your praise and glory is forever and ever. Amen. You think we have not been,
he has not dealt according to us with our sins. Yet he has rewarded himself,
his son with our sins and dealt with that in him. I mean, it's
just a, it's an incredible statement of providence. Yeah, it is. It is. What is the problem? 21.4.