Or if you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. We'll be looking at this entire
chapter this morning, Acts chapter 12. And what the title of my message
is this morning is, The Good Providence of God. The Good Providence
of God. Now, I won't take the time to
read through this entire chapter, I hope that you'll find that
time later to read through this chapter, but I want to give us
an overview of this chapter before we begin. First of all, we see
that Herod, the king, had stretched out his hand to destroy the church. And so he killed James, the apostle,
and now has set Peter in prison, waiting for the next, after the
Passover, to execute him. And because of this, the church
came into prayer for Peter. They came together and sought
that the Lord would deliver Peter and save his church. And we know
that the angel of the Lord came and smote Peter, had to wake
him up and get him out, and the chains fell off, and they went
through the prison and out the gate, and no harm came to Peter. Peter came to the door and when
he knocked on the door, they heard his voice and the woman
that heard him was so excited that she didn't even open the
door. She turned around and ran back and told everybody. And
everybody didn't believe her. And finally they opened the door
and there was Peter. Well, when Herod found out that
Peter was gone, He got upset. And what he did is he killed
those 16 soldiers that were guarding Peter. And after that, he turned
to his own political career and went and gave a speech. That's
what most political people do. And this guy was none the different.
He went and gave a speech. And because this guy was a great
orator, the people, they said, this must be a God. And this
filled Herod with great pride. And when he was filled with pride
and did not give God the glory for his ability to speak, then
the angel smote him. But his kind of smiting was different
than that of Peter. The angel smote him and he was
killed and the worms ate him immediately. And so what I want
us to see from this whole history, This history of the church at
this present time, that this is showing us that God is showing
us His great and good providence for the church. His great and
good providence for the church. When I was studying, I read this
by B.B. Warfield. He said, A firm faith
in the universal providence of God is the solution to all earthly
problems. A good grasp, a good faith in
the universal providence of God is a solution to all earthly
problems, and it is also a solution to most theological problems. Now, we have before us the wonderful
example of God's good providence in its entirety. This, my friend,
is a pattern of all the providence of God here in this chapter.
All the providence of God in its entirety. How many times
have we only seen portions of God's providence? How many times
have we seen only things that have happened to us, and we've
not seen the full end of the matter? I've known men and women
who've suffered with their children for many years, and they die,
and their children come to know Christ after their death. You see, they have suffered,
and they have felt the pain of God's providence, but they've
not seen the full weight of the blessings, the end of it. Well,
God gives us good providence here from the beginning to the
end. in this chapter. It starts out with the church
being in trouble. The church is being in trouble.
And then how does it end? With the church being prosperous. It starts out with the evil prospering. It looks like that the evil is
going to win over. And then what happens to them
in the end? Always the wicked are destroyed in the end. This
is how God's providence always works. We must see it will always
work this way. That what may seem ill to us
is always meant for our good. And what may seem good to the
evil is always meant for their destruction. Always. Now, there
are several things that I want us to see about the providence
of God from this chapter. I've got five things. First of
all, I want us to see that God is sovereign over all. Second,
I want us to see that God's providence does bring pain to His church. Third, I want us to see that
the trials of the saints always bring us to prayer. And fourth,
I want us to know that God's providence should give us comfort.
And five, that God's providence will bring destruction upon His
enemies. First of all, God is sovereign
over all. Friends, God is sovereign over
all His creation. Everything moves at the power
of His Word. This world does not spin without
His permission. I thought about this the other
day, that when the sun stood still in the sky, you know, the
sun really didn't stand still. The earth stopped moving. The
earth stopped moving at His will, at His power. Now friends, that's
power. He is sovereign over all His
creation. And in providence, He has and
shall accomplish all His will that He has purposed. What has
He purposed? You see, God from all eternity
chose a people and elect people for Himself according to the
good pleasure of His will, according to the praise of the glory of
His grace. This is the purpose of God, to
elect a people, to redeem those people, and to call those people
to life and faith. That is the purpose of God. And
God's purpose is to bring them to Himself. Then what, if that's
God's purpose, what is God's providence? What is providence? Providence, you see, is the working
out of God's purpose in time. That's what it is. The providence
of God is God working out what He has purposed and willed to
do in time. God alone, my friends, is sovereign
ruler over all things, and nothing has or shall happen without His
sovereign decree. Nothing. Nothing. 2 Corinthians
5.18 says, "...and all things are of God." Now you take that
as far as you want to. You take that as far out there
as you can possibly take it. All things are of God. All things
are determined and decreed of the Lord God Almighty. If we
learn that all things are of God, We can have comfort in the
midst of any storm. Any storm of life, any circumstance
of life, you can have comfort if you know that all things are
of God. Here in our text, my friend,
there was a famine. We read that in the previous
chapter that there was a famine. This man prophesied that in these
days there'll be a famine, and there was a famine. And not only
was there a famine, that was rough enough. But now that Herod
at this time... Why didn't Herod do this before?
Why did Herod wait so long to kill James? Why did Herod wait
till the famine in order to kill James and put Peter in prison?
Because God decreed it so. God ordered it so. God's providence
had worked it out. As we will see, this was according
to the providence of God, not for the ill of the church, but
for the glory of God's name and the destruction of His enemies.
And even as the Lord's providence, all our trials and afflictions
of the saints and even the afflictions of evil men are according to
the providence of God. You see, Herod didn't stretch
out his hand because God didn't see it was proper time. But when
it was proper time, God allowed Herod to stretch out his hand
and killed his servant James. Psalm 76, 10 says, Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou
shalt restrain. You see, even the wrath of men, even the evil
actions of men are controlled, either allowed or restrained
by the hand of God. God is sovereign over all. Number
two, providence at times brings pain to His church. Here these
believers were in the midst of famine and persecution at the
same time. Does it not always seem that
troubles come in waves? They don't seem to come in onesies.
They come in threes or fours or fives. They don't come...
You know, I remember Job, when Job had his servants come. It
wasn't just one thing. It wouldn't have been anything.
Job got one servant and you lost all your wealth. Well, if that
was it. But that wasn't it. Another one
came and told him about him losing his children. You see, troubles
come in waves at times on God's children. Herod had an opportunity to destroy
the church and he did so by killing the apostles. And he killed James,
and no doubt James was a zealous
and outspoken man of the church. I know that. He was a son of
John. He was one of the sons of thunder. He was a man of great prominence
in the church. And there it was, Herod said,
I'm going to kill him. He seems to be prominent. He
wanted to cut it off at the head, and so he started trying to kill
the apostles. And so he retched out there and
he grabbed Peter to do him next. But it just so happens it was
Passover. It just so happens by chance
that it was Passover that he took him. So he couldn't kill
him during Passover, so he had to chain him up and put him in
the lowest part of the dungeon. He said, I'll just kill him later.
Friends, God's saints, are not sheltered from trouble in this
life. James was not sheltered from
death and Peter was not sheltered from prison. The church was not
sheltered from famine. We are not sheltered because
we are saints. Saints as well as the lost have
grief and suffering and sickness and yes, even death. Saints will
even meet with death. Faith in Christ does not deliver
us from trials. Jesus said, in this world you
shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. I have overcome the world. Saints,
let us then see that our trials are not by chance, but they are
by the hand of God. Our trials are by the hand of
God. That song says, every joy and every trial which falleth
from above is traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. Saints, God will sustain us through
the trial. He will help us and will not
put on us more than we can bear. God, who designed the trial in His providence, He gave it
to us as a token of His grace. You mean trials are a token of
love and grace? Yes. You need them. I need them. Without trials,
friends, we become stagnant. We become lethargic. We become
lazy in the things of God. Every one of us would. And God
gives us these trials. And He says this, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. God has not forsaken us in the
trial. Isaiah 41.10 says, Fear not,
for I am with thee. Don't be dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee by the right hand
of my righteousness. You remember those three young
men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. when they would not bow down
to the statue, the image of the king. Nebuchadnezzar got them in his
court and he says, well, I'm going to give you boys one more
chance. You bow down now and we'll just forget this whole
thing. Or else I'm going to have to throw you in this fire. And they said this, look, we
don't know what God's going to do. We have no idea about what
God is doing. We don't know if God will deliver
us from this fire or He'll kill us in this fire, but it doesn't
matter because either way we'll be delivered from you. And he
was mad. That made him mad and he threw
him in the midst of the fire. And what happened? God's providence
was that they live. God's providence to them was
not that they escape the fire, but God's providence was that
He would be in the fire with them. He said, did we not throw
three in and yet I see four? And the fourth is likened to
the Son of Man. It's God. God was with them in
the fire. And that's what He's going to
be with you. He's going to be with you in the fire. God does not always deliver us
from trouble, but He will always be with us in trouble. He's a
very present help in trouble. In trouble. Not always from it. God chose to save them by being
with them. And God is with us and He walks
with us through our troubles. Remember, saints, God will always
bring our trial to a good end. It will always come to a good
end. Go to 1 Peter. Let me look at
1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 7. It says this, that the trial
of your faith being much more precious than
gold. Now, let me ask you, which would
you rather have? Would you rather have the trial
or would you rather have the gold? Now, the Word of God says
that the trial is more valuable. Gold, you spend it and it's gone. The trial is something that will
stay with you and will keep you and you can always reference
it. How many times has God been with you in your trials? Can
you not look back and see what God has done in the midst of
your trials and not see that that was precious? Precious. Though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ." Believer, let us count our trials precious. Not because they hurt, but because
they glorify God. Your trials are there because
it glorifies God. It glorifies God. Trials, believer, should be our
joy. because in them God gets the
glory." Now, is there anything else more that you want in this
world than God to get Himself glory? You see, there's nothing
more I desire in this world than God to get Himself glory. God
is worthy of glory, He is worthy of honor, He is worthy of praise,
and He is worthy of my praise even in the midst of my trials.
in the midst of my hurts." So we as believers, number two,
are not escaped from trials. Number three, trials bring saints
to prayer. That's what happened here. When
James was killed, they were in the midst of famine, and Peter
was about to be killed. What happened to the saints?
Where did they go? What did they do? All these sufferings
going on. What did the church do? Was the
church begging for government assistance? Did they go and plead with Caesar
to give them help during the midst of this trial? No. Were they begging and lobbying
for Peter's life? Did they go up to Herod and beg
for Peter's life? No. No. Where were the saints? Look at
verse 5 in our text. Peter therefore was kept in prison,
but here's the saints, but prayer was made without ceasing of the
church unto God for him." They went to someone higher than the
government. They went to someone higher than
the man who seemed to be in charge, Herod. They went to God. Believers' trials should always
drive us to our knees before God. How many wasted hours, wasted
dollars have we spent in vain trying to solve our own problems? How many sleepless nights and
tears have we wasted before we came to the throne of grace? Prayer should always be the first
response and not the last resort, always. I read this and I like
this. I guess it's a song. It looked like a poem to me,
but it says, God of Israel, God of Israel sows the seeds of affliction,
toil and pain. These spring up and choke the
weeds. that would or else or spread
the soil. Trials make the promise sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to His feet,
lay me low and keep me there. That's what trials are for, to
keep us at the feet of Christ. Number four, the providence of
God, to know the providence of God should give us peace. To
know that God is working all things after the counsel of His
own will and for our good should give us the greatest comfort
in this world. In our text, what was Peter doing
the night before his execution? He was asleep. They had brought
16 soldiers. to guard one man. They had taken
him down into the third ward of the cell, which is the lowest
part of the dungeon. They had chained him up. He was
secure. And he was ready to be executed
with just a few hours left of his life. And what did Peter
spend it doing? Was he pacing? Was he pacing
the floor, wondering if God was going to save him or not? Was
he crying and weeping unto God, begging for his life? No. He
was asleep. He was asleep. He was asleep
during the midst of his trial. Asleep like a baby. And when
the angel came, he had to actually hit him. He had to actually... Get up! Get up! And so he smote him to wake him
up. And Peter, all the time that
Peter's going through this, he's still in a sleepy daze. He doesn't
even know until it was over what had happened. He thought he was
dreaming the whole time. He thought he was still asleep. How could a man have such peace?
How could a man have such comfort when he's on the brink of death? because he had peace in knowing
his election. He knew he was the elect of God,
that God had chosen him in his grace from all eternity. He knew
Christ had redeemed his soul from sin, that his blood had
been shed for the remission of his sins, and peace was made
with God for him. Because of that, he could sleep.
He could sleep. The sting of death is sin, but
if sin is gone, what is death but a friend to usher us into
the presence of God? Death is nothing but a friend
to us. He could sleep because he knew
he was in the hands of God. He knew that he was in this prison
because God put him there. He knew that if that sword fell
on his neck, it would be because God decreed that sword to fall
on his neck, and he believed God. And he knew it was good,
whatever it was. Even if it meant his death, God
is still good. God's providence is good. So then he could sleep in peace
at night. And friends, if we know these
things, can we not sleep in peace? Can we not rest in comfort? No
matter what comes our way, we should be able to if we know
that God chose us, redeemed us, saved us, and called us, and
is working all things for our good. What shall we have to fear? Number five, God's providence
will bring destruction on the wicked. Now just as God's providence
shall accomplish His purpose in saving His elect, so will
it accomplish His purpose in punishing the guilty. God said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and will by no means
clear the guilty. Friends, all men are guilty of
sin. All men are depraved by nature.
Therefore, it is the sovereign right of God to have mercy on
whom He will. And whom He will, He hardeneth
in their sin." He hardeneth in their sin and
rebellion. Herod, in this case in our text,
seemed to be the victor. He, in killing God's saints,
did what he did. and what all men desire to do
by nature. Friends, if you're without Christ,
you are a hater of God and the church. And if God would allow
you to be as evil as you can be, He, you too, would kill the
saints of God. And the only reason He stretched
out His hand in killing James was because God allowed it. But
God's providence rules over all men, even His enemies. As it
is in our text, God's church and His people will always triumph. God's Word will always succeed. And what God has purposed, He
will always do, whether it is the salvation of the soul or
the destruction of the wicked. Remember, both Peter and Herod
were struck by the angel. One was struck unto deliverance,
and the other was struck to his damnation. to His destruction. Even so shall God's Word go out
and do whatever God has purposed it to do. It will give life unto
some, and it will secure others in their own damnation. It is
a saver of life unto life to some, and a saver of death unto
death to others. And if you go out believing,
it is because of God's grace. If you go out unbelieving, and
will not bow and come to Christ, then this word is a saver of
death unto you, and it will be to your condemnation. But for us who believe, all things
are sure and steadfast." Friends, Christ is on His throne directing
His sovereign providence to save His people from their sins and
keep them by His hand even in the midst of His hard providences.
This should give us great comfort and peace to know our God is
sovereign, to know His providence, though bringing pain to His church
is ultimately for our good, to know that God's providence should
give us comfort and bring us to prayer and worship, and that
God's providence will destroy all our enemies. In Christ, He
has. He already has. Sin, death, and
hell, this world Christ has already conquered and is right now ruling
over them. What then have we to fear? Nothing. Nothing. I pray this will be
a blessing to us.