Her text is found in Proverbs 16, if you'd like to turn there. There are now and always have been two gospels, just two. One is the true gospel of God, and one is the lie. So it's not really a gospel at all, is it? One is man-made, and one is of the Lord. It's His gospel.

And one distinct difference that we have of our gospel versus other so-called gospels is that we preach Christ as he is. We preach God as he is to men and women as they are. God is sovereign. God is holy. God is just. God is truth. And thank God he's full of grace. He's full of grace. We preach him higher than the heavens, that all things exist and consist by him, without him there was not anything made that was made.

The sovereignty of God is the root, the foundation by which the gospel stands on because it starts with God and it ends with God if he's completely sovereign. the announcement that God is the alpha and the omega of salvation. So whenever we say sovereign, that's what we mean by that. He's the one that started it, he's the one that completed it, and he's gonna see it through. It's finished. And so, when we say sovereign, we're talking about him doing, and not us, his ultimate power, his infinite wisdom, his immutability. He can't change, he can't lie.

What a, glorious thought that the scripture says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. His mercies are renewed every morning. His grace is ever sufficient. This is our God that we speak of. We never point to man, we point to him and him alone.

Somebody said, well, I don't understand what you all believe. Well, we don't either. It's uncomprehensible. God is uncomprehensible. Did you see that? You can't comprehend the mind of God. He's other than we are altogether. We're flesh. He's spirit. Thank God everything he requires, he gives to his people. If he requires me to have perfect righteousness, he's going to have to supply it. He did on the cross of Calvary. If he's going to require me to be spotless before his throne, then he's going to have to see fit to do so. And he did by the blood of Christ. If he's going to, if I'm going to have it, faith to look to him, he's gonna have to give me the faith to do so, because I can't muster up faith. The Lord ain't looking for my faith, he's looking for the faithfulness, the faith of Christ.

Let's read this together, Proverbs 16 verses 20, we'll read the end of the chapter. And our thought comes from the very last verse. Nay, but O man, who art thou that replyest? I'm in Romans, I'm sorry, give me just a second. I'm like, that's not right. Okay, now Proverbs 16, verse 20.

He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good, and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. The wise in heart shall be called prudent, and the sweetness of lips increaseth learning. Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it, but the instruction of fools is folly. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Now if you'll remember, we had a message on that months ago, I think it was 2000, 25, it was the beginning of the year, I believe, because that was in another chapter, those exact words. There's a way that seemeth right unto man, but in thereof are the ways of death. He that laboreth, laboreth for himself, for his mouth craveth of him. An ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is as a burning fire. A forward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separate the chief friends. A violent man entices his neighbor and leadeth him into the way that is not good. He shutteth his eyes to devise forward things, moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass.

The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. that word Hori means gray, the gray head. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh the city.

Now as I was, I know I haven't read that last verse, I'm doing that on purpose. We'll stop right there a second. So as I was studying this, I got caught up on verse 25, there's a way that seemeth right unto men, the end thereof are the ways of death. As I was studying though, I didn't feel led to preach that. I found, um, The other verse talks about the, verse 29, a violent man enticeth his neighbor and leadeth him into the way that is not good. I thought about the way that's not good. And I got to this last verse. I said, no, that's it. Actually, this is the message here.

Let's read this together. The lot is cast into the lap. but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." What does that mean? That means the lot is cast into your lap, the choice or the problem or the trial or whatever action you have to do, but the whole disposing is of the Lord. That's why we talked about the Lord's sovereignty to begin this.

My hope is that whenever we're done tonight, that we'll be able to answer the question, am I resting in the providence? of God, which is what I've titled this message, God's Providence, or am I resting in myself, what I can see, what I know, what I think? Because they're one or the other. And that's my hope is that he'll open our hearts unto him and reveal the truth every time we come together.

Understand this, his providence is how everything came to pass. It's the how. How, um, that it came to pass and his purpose is what came to pass. So the how is providence and the purpose is the what came to pass. How did the purpose come to pass? It was by his providence that it came to pass. Do you see what I'm saying there? Grace is why. Grace would be the why it came to pass. Love would be the why it came to pass.

And because our God's absolutely sovereign, um, But this is the foundation on which the gospel stands. It's all about our Lord. It's all about what he's done. It's nothing about us whatsoever. It's about the sovereign, the absolute sovereignty of our God, his immutability and his providence, his providence given to his people.

If I tell you that God purposed all things good for his people, do you believe that? That's what he said. We read it just a moment ago in Romans chapter eight. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them are thee called according to his purpose. What is actually good though may not appear as good. You know, sometimes in life, There's going to be things that happen. They don't feel good. They don't seem good. They seem dreary. They seem weary. They seem exhausting. They seem frustrating. They seem scary. Circumstances that are out of our control, things that we have to deal with, our body's decaying. That's something that everybody's going to have to experience. And that's what Paul said. the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. To put us back on track, because what we'll do is look at these circumstances, these problems, and we won't see them as good, because we're looking to ourself. We're looking to ourself. But if the Lord enables us to look to him and his providence, and we see, okay, this was all purposed by God from the foundation of the world, then our new man, by faith, believes God and says, truth, Lord. That's what you, that's the valley you want me to walk through. I'll walk through it. You got to be with me though.

Whenever Moses and the Lord were talking on the mountain, whenever he looked at the burning bush, Lord told Moses, go for, I will be with you. I will be with you. I love the promises of our Lord that says, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. So no matter what we experience and what we face in life, our God is still sovereign. Our God still reigneth. Our God is still the successful redeemer of his people, no matter how hard it may seem or how bad it may get. His providence endures, his mercy endures, and his grace is sufficient.

You ever had a trial or something that troubled you, something that's hard and you gruel through it and you agonize through it and you pray about it and one day it's over with, you're through it. I thought about Rob actually with cancer. I mean, that's a serious matter that how can you rejoice whenever you have that? You get what I'm saying here. But now that it's over, we can look back and rejoice And certainly Rob can too, that God's providence prevailed. God brought him through that. God took care of that.

But it's more than just physical things. It's spiritual things brethren. That's what I want to focus on tonight is that our Lord accomplished our salvation. He's not going to leave us to ourself. He's not going to leave us to ourself. He accomplished everything required for you and I to be saved. We say with David, when we look back over trials in life that we've had, there's been times, you know this is true in your life as well, something seems so bad and you don't even know how it could ever get better again, you look back and half of those times you forgot about in life. Is that not true? Maybe not, maybe everybody's not like me, but my database is getting full, I gotta dump some stuff, so if it's negative, I try to get it out, unless it taught me something. We look back, we can say with David, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

How do you know? Because the Lord has not left me to myself yet. If he leaves me to myself tomorrow, he's worthy. He's right. He's true. And I deserve it. But he promised he would never leave me. He would never forsake me. As a matter of fact, David said, if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Which brings me Yeah, it's our first point. Most, if not all, unless the Lord gives grace not to do this, the sons and daughters of Adam, they don't look at their circumstances as God sent or God purposed. And only Lord's people think that way. What do they see it as? Well, they see it as circumstances as maybe chance or luck. You ever heard that before? Oh, that was unlucky. Oh, that wasn't good. Or fate, fate's another one they use. And this is all discrediting God's all it's doing. That's what man does in his heart. Well, Lord's people, we don't even use the word luck. It's out of our vocabulary because we know that that is a man-made word that doesn't honor our Lord, that doesn't glorify Him. It points to self and circumstance and gives praise that's His away. It subtracts the glory from our Lord. Actually, it's discrediting to him because what I wrote down here was is that it's a, we're saying if we talk about luck or we talk about fate or we talk about all these other words that men use that don't know God, what we're doing is we're saying a force outside of God's control did something. Do we see that? And that's, we don't want to do that. We know that He's absolutely sovereign.

Look at verse four, I can prove that. The Lord hath made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. The Lord hath made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. You remember the verse over, I believe it's in Ezekiel, the Lord says, I create light and darkness. He talks about creating evil in that verse. Now, what does that mean? Well, the absence of his presence would definitely create that. But the point that I'm making here is that everything John chapter one tells us clearly that Christ made all things and without him, there was not anything made that was made. All things are ordered and sure.

Some look to fate, chance or luck. God's elect look to Christ as all. We look to his providence. We look to his purpose and we bow to it. Not like the world. Not like the world. Others will look, you guys know this is true. I was trying to think of all the things that people do. One of them came to mind was zodiac signs. I got a family member that won't date somebody unless their sign is I can't even remember what it is now, but whatever, some sign. I'm like, what does that have to do with anything? Apparently, it means that they're not compatible if they don't have the same sign. So they need to have the same sign. What difference does it make? I mean, I don't know what sign I am. We're getting along just fine. It's superstition, isn't it? That's all that that is. That's all that that is.

Some people look at lunar phases. OK, I can start I'm gonna do this thing that I've been putting off, because I'm more successful at this time, during this lunar phase, I'm more lucky. People say stuff like, oh, you're not, it's all in our head. No, the Lord's people look to Christ, we look to his providence. Some are just superstitious altogether. Trinkets, and you've seen that before. Even crosses, people wear crosses, not knowing their graven images, they just do. And Lord's people don't do that.

But it reminds me of Paul whenever he went to Athens. Paul goes to Athens, as you all may remember, and Paul was very grieved by everything that he saw there. They were given over to idols completely.

And I did a little bit of research on this and I wasted way too much time finding out useless information. But the fact of the matter is they had like 30,000 different idols in that city. That was the guess. I don't know how they collected that information and I'm passing it to you. It came from Google. Take it for what it is.

But I do know of 12 specific statues that they had because Paul goes to Mars Hill. Now this is where men of renown, renoundment, men of scholars and wise men, and they think they've got salvation figured out or they got life figured out. They got, you know, you had to have religious and irreligious there. You had to have the Stoics and Epicureans. One said, no, happiness comes from what you do on the outside. And the other one said, no, it's what you gather on the inside, your knowledge. And they argued about that all day long.

Well, Paul stands up. at Mars Hill, and he says, I, let's see, I wrote this down, Paul stood up in the midst of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you're too superstitious. Why? Because they had 12 statues of gods there, but on one, they didn't have a statue, it just says, to the unknown God. We gotta cover all our bases. Does that sound like religion today or not? I mean, it's just exactly what it is. Gotta make sure we dot that I and cross that T, just in case.

He said, you're superstitious, but that unknown God, he, I'm going to declare unto you. And Paul preached the gospel to every one of them. In so much, the Lord blessed it that they were like, you're going to have to tell us about this again. We need, we'll hear more of this. They were interested. Some of them obviously wasn't happy about it. But the whole point I'm making is, is men have been superstitious from the very beginning. Uh, it's not, that's nothing new.

Rather than looking at the Lord's providence, rather than looking at the Lord's purpose and resting, that's what, this is why this is a glorious message, is because in His providence, we get to sit down. We don't have to do anything. We just rest in Him, what He has accomplished. God's people, we're not. And this is a broad statement that may not be true, but we're not superstitious because we're resting in the providence of the Lord. Now the flesh may be superstitious. I don't know. I hope not. But if it is, You get what I'm saying, though. The flesh is always wrong, but we rest in the purpose and providence of God because faith doesn't look at things seen. And that's the new man, the new nature. Faith looks at the internal. It looks at Christ through the eyes of faith. It doesn't look around you. And that's all that superstition can do is just see signs of different things or see evidence of different things. And that's what people do for salvation.

But the Lord's people, we look at his providence. We look at his purpose. We look at his grace, his mercy, his blood. We look at his life, knowing that he's completely sovereign over all. Therefore, he gives his people rest in that. Paul said, if I were, let's see, how did he say that? If I were, as all men, having hope in this world only, I'd be most miserable. And I paraphrase that a little bit. But that's literally what he was saying. If I had hope in this world only, I'd be of all men most miserable. And it's true, men don't realize that their hope's just in this world, the things that they can see and the things that they do. And Lord's people's given Christ. We're able to rest. You have peace when you lay your head on your pillow tonight. That everything God purposed to do has been accomplished by his providence. He accomplished the salvation of his people. He put our sin away.

Either I'm looking to things seen or looking to Christ and believing, verse 33, by faith bestowed. Read that with me. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. May the next time something happens in our life that causes us to panic, causes us to be frightened, may the Lord remind us the lot falls in the lap. This is fear that you're feeling, which is a good thing. Fear can save your life, but not a sure time to go. You understand what I'm saying. But if the Lord would be merciful for us, remind us that the whole disposing, the outcome is of the Lord. It's his purpose. It's his purpose. And how his purpose is accomplished is his providence.

If he causes us to cry this out, Lord, leave me not to myself. That's exactly what this verse does. It doesn't, that brings me to our second point, but When we see this, that the lot falls in the lap, okay, so I do have to make a decision, but the whole disposing of the Lord, I can rest in that. I can rest in that.

But what I have to end up doing or what the Lord causes us to do, we cry out to him, Lord, save me. Lord, help me. Lord, teach me. Don't leave me to myself. Don't let me make the wrong decision. I don't want to learn the hard way.

I'm gonna tell on myself and you guys I don't know why I do this, but anyway, it's just to be more personable I guess we're driving back from Tennessee during Christmas time and We go through a place called withville, Virginia, and they had a camera set up on the side of the road I didn't know anything about apparently it was a work zone, but they didn't have it posted I didn't know speed limit 70 miles an hour I was doing a little bit over that and I mean a little bit like 70 Eight. No, I'm just kidding. 75. I think I got the picture sent to me. That's a consequence. Now, I might've been ignorant, but that's a consequence. I was speeding. It's a consequence. There's going to be consequences for our actions in life.

But the whole disposing is the Lord. Can we say, Lord, Teach me what I'm supposed to learn other than just slow down. What is your lesson here, Father? Show me your lesson. I want to learn from you. I want to learn of you and by you. You teach me you. Let me see more of you. Leave me not to myself. That's what this verse right here does in the believer's heart.

The lot is cast into the lap. And as soon as you hear that, it makes me go, the lot is cast into the lap? You mean I'm Gonna have to make certain choices? Yes, but the whole disposing is of the Lord. So you're saying I have a free will? No, absolutely not. No, no, no, I'm saying that the Lord has caused us to be creatures that make decisions, and yet he does not leave his people to themselves. The whole disposing is the Lord. That's the good news. It's his providence. It's his providence.

Which brings us to our second point. When the flesh hears that everything is ordered and sure, you know what our flesh says? Well, what's the point of doing anything then? If it's all been accomplished, if everything's finished, what's the point of doing anything?

The church at Galatia had that mentality. You remember when we went through Galatians, what they did? They quit their jobs and everything, moved in together. I guess the church, I don't know where they moved in together. And Paul messaged them and said, no, no, don't do that. Keep working. If you don't work, you can't pay your bills, and that's another consequence. Um, do you see what I'm saying though?

The Lord's people, we don't just give up on life because we know it's finished and we live our life unto our savior out of love. And, um, I cannot wait to have a glorified body where I can praise my savior perfectly forever. I cannot wait. Uh, cause we can't praise him perfectly here. We can't glorify him as he deserves, but we will one day.

When our flesh hears that everything is ordered and sure, our flesh says, well, what's the point of doing anything then? This verse is not to excuse anyone and allow them to say, well, whatever is going to happen is going to happen, and I can't do anything about it. Now, is that true in and of itself? Yes. But that particular mentality is excusing oneself of the absence of prayer. It's excusing oneself of the absence of hearing the gospel. It's excusing oneself of doing anything. And that's not of the Lord.

The mentality the Lord gives us is we desire to cry out to Him. We desire to hear from Him. My sheep hear my voice. We desire for Him to speak. And we follow Him according to what John 10 says. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So we're following after Christ, after His righteousness, because we don't have any, we know that. We're following after His way, because we see that our way is terrible. Every time He leads me and you to ourself, don't we just wreck the whole thing, don't we? Aren't you glad he doesn't leave us utterly to ourself?

This verse is, you know what this verse is, is it's rest for God's people. It's rest. Lord, you're gonna, you're going to take care of me in this outcome. He says, the whole disposing is mine. The whole disposing is mine. He will not, what did the scripture say about Even if we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. He is faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Does that comfort you, or does that make you wanna deny Him? That comforts me, because I don't want to deny Him, but I might. Peter did. I mean, you're the same way. We're the exact same way. We need the faithfulness of Christ. We need the Lord to keep us looking to Him. We need the Lord to keep us from ourself.

This verse is given to us to teach us that God's providence will always prevail, always prevail. That none can stay his hand and say unto him, what doest thou? That he can't be changed and he can't be stopped. Salvations of the Lord. Christ is all in salvation and you and I cannot mess that up because it is finished. That's good news. That's good news.

It takes grace. It takes grace to rest when certain circumstances happen. The Lord has to give grace or you and I will not rest. We cannot rest when the flesh is overwhelmed and we cannot see Christ because we're in the flesh or we're minding the things of the flesh, so to speak. And we all do it. We all do it. And this is not a message of you need to clean up your life. No, that's not what's happening right now. You know exactly what I'm saying. You wrestle with it. You wrestle with yourself. And it's the two natures.

Rebecca asked the Lord, if it be so, if I'm having children, why am I thus? And she was hurting. She was in pain. He said, there's two nations in you. Two manner of people. That's God's elect and those that weren't. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And it's a picture of the two natures that's in us now. The elder shall serve the younger. Well, the elder is this flesh. The younger is the new man created of righteousness. And the elder has to serve. younger because it's kept for the power of God.

It takes grace to rest, brethren, because our sin for nature is prone to wonder, to look to things seen, to look to evidences around us, things seen. I'm reminded of a wonderful story in the book of Genesis chapter 50. You remember Joseph who was sold into slavery. And I'm not going to go into an elaborate detail about everything that Joseph did. I just want to say this briefly. We understand the story of Joseph. He got sold into slavery by his brothers. He was betrayed. He had to go down to Egypt and live there for years. He even spent three years in a prison because of being lied on. And then he's restored to the kingdom to Pharaoh as his second in command of all Egypt. God restored him.

One day his brothers show up. to get grain because they were the only people that had grain in the land because of famine. The brothers show up. Now, he was powerful enough right then to get vengeance. I mean, what are they going to do? They can't fight an army. So he had the ability to do what he wanted to do with them, but he didn't. He didn't, the Lord gave him wisdom and grace and patience.

And I'm reminded of the scripture that says, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. And oh, how I need to listen to that. I need to hear that on repeat. Because you know what this flesh wants to do? Take matters into its own hands. Anytime something happens, it offends me, or somebody does something ugly, especially to one of my kids. You know, that's just how we are by nature. Like, I'm gonna handle this. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Okay, truth, Lord. I'll rest in your providence if you'll cause me to. I want to. I want to rest.

Joseph doesn't do anything to him, but sends him back, and then they said that they had another brother, so he said, well, if you want grain, you're gonna have to bring that other brother. And that's whenever Judah spoke up, I'm fast forwarding, Judah spoke up and said, I'll be surety for Benjamin, because Jacob didn't trust him. Joseph was lost on their watch, and so, The Lord caused Jacob to send Benjamin down with Judah. They went down and got their brother Simeon back, and they saw Joseph. Joseph couldn't contain himself anymore, so he told them who he was. They were afraid at first, but they hugged each other. He sent them away to go get their father. And the father came down to the land of Egypt.

Now fast forward a few years, Joseph's still in his position of power and the brothers and everybody's set up in the land of Goshen. And now Jacob, he's gonna die. And he's given his birthrights to the children, the grandchildren, and then he passes away. And as soon as he passes away in Genesis chapter 50, the brothers, they say, Joseph's gonna kill us. Joseph's gonna kill us for what we did. Now he can seek vengeance. Now he can seek to harm us because Jacob's not here anymore. So they fabricate a lie. They go up to Joseph and say, our father told us to tell you not to hurt us, that we have sinned and that we're, we've repented of that sin and we're sorry. And I mean, they were trying to get their, get to Joseph's better side.

And you know what's interesting? Joseph began to weep. Joseph began to weep. And he said to them, am I God? Am I God? That I would do something like that? No. Why? Because he's resting in the providence of the Lord at this time. Think about everything that he's been through. Now the Lord's united him back with his family, brought them to the same land that he's able to provide for the family. It's a picture of Christ. He's resting in the providence of God. And you know what he says? Listen to this. Genesis 50 verse 20. But as for you, the brothers, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive.

Well, I wish I could just live with that mentality all the time. I wish the Lord would give me the grace to think like that more often, that every time something comes my way that I don't like, I can say, Satan means it for evil, but God means it for good.

What about Job, everything that he went through? How was that a good thing? He lost his entire 10 kids, he lost all of his cattle, his herd, he was a rich man. And then the Lord strikes, allows Satan to strike him with boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He's miserable, and even his wife said, why don't you just curse God and die? He said, you speak as a foolish woman. You speak as a foolish woman. Job said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Well, at the end, Job heard from above. Job heard the Lord out of the whirlwind. Job repented. Behold, I am vile.

Now, was he elect of God the entire time? Absolutely. Was he a believer prior to that where the Lord came to him? I don't know. The way that he justified himself. And then I think, well, we would do the same thing. I didn't do anything to deserve this in the flesh, wouldn't we? So whether he is or whether he wasn't, we know that he says he's a perfect and upright man and everything at the very beginning. So I guess you could assume that he was, but the whole point I'm making, some of those things don't really matter. The point is, is that the Lord did that for the salvation of Job. The Lord did that for his salvation. Otherwise, he would have continued in the same way he was.

You and I are the exact same way. We'll murmur, we'll complain, we'll get frustrated, cantankerous. That's how we are, that's how our nature is. And yet the Lord's saying here, the lot falls in the lap, but the whole disposing's the Lord. Rest in my providence. Rest in my purpose.

Lord didn't plan this thing out sitting down with an engineering board and draw it out. No, this was purposed by God. He don't think like we think. He's never had a new thought. Think about that. He's just other than we are altogether.

God had given grace to Joseph. That's all you can say. There's no other way. He's resting in the providence of God. He had the power. Can you imagine having that much power that you could destroy somebody that's been that wrong to you? Lord, keep me from myself if that's the case, because I don't know, I know what this flesh, I think I know what this flesh is capable of. Lord, keep me from myself. Keep me from myself.

Scripture says the king's heart is in the Lord's hand. does whatsoever he will with it, whatever he chooses, the king's heart is in the Lord's hand. He does what he can turn it however he wants to turn it, just like the waters.

Turn with me to Romans chapter eight again. And I just want to read three verses. So far we've heard that most look at circumstances as luck, or they look at circumstances as fate, rather than looking to Christ and his providence. The second point I made was that When our flesh hears that everything is finished, it'll start saying, well, what's the point of doing anything and not resting in the Lord's providence? But here I want us to see the third and final point, and it's that if we cry out for mercy, God is the doer of that.

If the lot falls in the lap, and it's my responsibility to cry out for mercy, and it is, the Lord said to confess Christ, he said, come unto me. That's the responsibility of us. Here's the problem. We can't do that in and of ourself. The flesh can't do that. God has to give us a new life, birth us into the family of God before we can ever do that. So my point is, if we're crying out for mercy, and we're saying, Lord, call me to rest in your providence, that's not the cause of salvation. That's the evidence of it. That's the result of salvation. That's what the Lord done.

Let's read this together. Romans 8, verse 28 through 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, 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, he also justified. And whom he justified, he also glorified."

The purpose of our Lord providence of our Lord is revealed no clearer in any other place than in Christ, than in Christ and what he accomplished on the cross. All of this that he just mentioned from predestination, it was the foreknowledge, his providence, by his providence he had the foreknowledge because he's God to think on us. By his providence, he predestinated his people. By his providence, he called his people out of darkness into light because he had justified his people. And I love the fact that his providence, we've already been glorified. We're waiting to be glorified, to experience it, but we're seated at the right hand of God right now. That's providence. That's why he goes on to say, who shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? Because nothing can, nothing can. All this is past tense, it's finished. This is the providence of our Lord. This is God's providence.

Man will see something and say, okay, it has to be luck, it has to be chance, it's just unlucky, it's just bad. Because some people might even think that they have bad experiences because, well, I deserve it. And that's true, we do. But they do it as like a woe is me. If you ever met somebody like that, you understand what I'm saying. No, we look to our Lord and say, Lord, If that's what you have purposed for me, thy will be done. Thy will be done. I don't understand it, but thy will be done. That's the heart he gives to his people.

It was providence that God predestinated his people to be conformed to the image of his son. Now when he looks upon his people, he sees the righteousness of Christ in us. because we're in him. That's providence. That's what that is. In his providence, he calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

How can all this be? Well, the Lord had to become a man in providence. Providence, he had to live the perfect life. You and I couldn't, as our sinner substitute, as our surety, because we couldn't live perfectly under God. Because everything God requires, he must provide, because he only accepts that which he provides. The Lord lived here 33 and a third year, and he went to Calvary for you and I. He drank our cup of damnation that was owed us. He died the death that we deserve, the eternal separation from God. And yet, because he was the sinless, spotless lamb of God, the grave couldn't hold him. Hell didn't win, and death was swallowed up in victory.

Scripture tells us that our Lord took our grief so that you and I would have joy. He took our sorrow and our shame so we would not be guilty any longer, any longer. He gave us peace with God because he was separated from God. Never been separated from God. Can you think about that? He was one with the Father, never being separated. It would be, well, There is no explaining that. He was separated from his father. This is providence, brethren. This is how God saved his chosen people. He did it all for his glory and all for his honor and all for our benefit.

Once the father was satisfied and his people were justified, he said the most precious words, arguably in all of scripture, it is finished. It is finished. Why is it finished? Because of his providence. because of his providence.

Now let's go back to our text and we'll close. I just want to read that one verse. Verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of You know what that means? If I cry out for mercy, and I said this a little bit ago a different way, but if I cry out for mercy, that doesn't determine my salvation. But if I don't cry out for mercy, I was never saved. Crying out, that's what this verse means. And I wanna say that slowly and clearly, because I don't want anybody to get confused if they're listening here or out there or whatever. If I cry out for mercy, that doesn't determine my salvation. But if I do not cry out, I was never saved.

The Lord is going to draw the confession from His people. Are you saying salvation is up to me? Not at all. I'm saying that if you do cry out, God has been gracious, God has been merciful, and He has saved you from your sin, not with your permission, not because you asked Him to, but because Christ Jesus put away the sin of His people and you were elected before the foundation of the world, all because of His providence. All because of His providence.

Let's read this again, verse 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is the Lord. It's interesting that the lot that they're talking about can be one or two ways, and I can only remember one because I didn't write it down, but it would be the same as shooting dice. I'm guessing everybody knows what that is. You're rolling dice, you're gambling. The lot is cast into the lap. The whole, You're gonna roll the dice to see what happens, but the outcome is of the Lord, and I'm not talking about gambling then, you understand what I'm saying? It's the Lord. The Lord doeth all things well.

You go and, we don't just go and walk out to a garden and hope that it grows on its own, you have to plow it, you have to plant the seed, and you pray for rain, and if it doesn't rain, you have to water it yourself, and then hope the Lord gives us sunshine, because if he don't give sunshine, you're in trouble. God has to give the increase, that's the whole point. The lot falls to the lap and we do that which we do unto the Lord in love for him and for his people. And we look to him and provide according to his glorious providence.

He's absolutely sovereign. He's absolutely seated as a successful redeemer of his people. And according to his purpose and his providence, if you and I are saved, it's not because of what we see. but because what is unseen, because what Christ accomplished. If you and I are saved, I started out this by saying, God is absolutely sovereign. That's how I want to end it. If you and I are saved, it's because he did it all. He did it all according to his purpose, according to his providence, all by grace.

Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would take these words and bless it for your glory and honor in Christ's name. Amen.