Alrighty, open your Bibles if
you went to the 11th chapter of Romans. Romans chapter 11. We've been looking at the mysteries
of God according to the book that was written by Brother Don
Fortner, who's gone on to be with the Lord now. And we spent
the first A couple of chapters looking at the mysteries of God
being manifest in the flesh. What a mystery that God became
flesh. We studied the mystery of faith. What a mystery it is that we
who in our nature hated God and would not come to God and wouldn't
believe God. What a mystery that He would
give us faith as we see in Ephesians chapter 2. It is a gift of God,
not of worse, lest men should boast. Then we saw the gift of
our union with Christ. What a mystery it is that we
would be one with Christ. How could one so sinful, one
so against the righteousness the perfect righteousness of
God? How could one be one with God? And we looked at all those,
and of course the answer to all of those questions is this, Christ.
That's the answer. How could God become a man? How could God be in the flesh?
Through Christ Jesus the Lord. How could God give us faith?
Through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. How could God make us
one with His Son? Through His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then we took on chapter 5 last week, the beginning of
chapter 5, the mystery of providence. What a mysterious thing to all
of creation that God would rule everything and make everything
happen according to His will. And what is the will of God?
that all of his people should come to him. That's his will.
He won't lose one for whom he died on that cross. Every person
that Christ has loved from before the world was, as it speaks of
in Ephesians chapter one, every single person shall come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. If one could go to hell, who
he shed his blood for, then he wouldn't be God, would he? So last week, we looked at this
mysterious, the mystery of providence, and that's what it's talking
about here. Look at these first couple of verses, 25. Look at verse
25. For I would not, brethren, writes
Paul, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery. And then he
goes on to tell what this mystery is. It's the mystery of God causing
Israel to be blind. What? He would cause his people
to be blind? That's exactly right. That's
what we went on. That whole section between 25
and 33 is all about that. Look it down at verse 33. How
unsearchable, how mysterious are his judgments and his ways
past finding out. Now last week, we consider the
providence which is the government of the universe by God, His providence,
and what that is, the providence of God is the government. Now
you know what it says in Isaiah chapter six verse nine, or no,
nine verse six, I keep those two mixed up, it's one of those
two. It says, unto us a child was born. Unto us a son was given. And the government, shall be
upon his shoulders." Well, that's the providence of God. The providence
of God is the government, the one who runs all things. Folks,
9-11 was not an accident. God caused that to happen just
as He caused, He purposed it to happen just as He purposed
the storms to come up and to overflow the little boat that
the disciples on. You remember that story? They
were all scared that they were going to die, and they went to
the Lord as He slept in the bottom of the ship, and they said, Lord,
don't you care about us? And He said, oh, ye of little
faith. The very one who caused that storm to come up, the very
one who caused the famine to come into the land of Jacob,
Remember Jacob and his sons, they all lived off in this other
land, and a famine came upon the land. Who is it that purposed
that famine? It was God Almighty. This is
the providence that we're talking about. The world doesn't understand
that. They say, oh, he couldn't be a god of that kind of bad
thing. You know, it's not bad if it
was made for the good for his people, now is it? Does it not say in Romans 8?
Verse 28, all things. So I'm going to ask you something.
Now this may be a tough question. You talk about diving deep. You
folks who know me, you know that I've been accused of flapping
around on top of the pond, not really diving deep enough. Here's some deep stuff in Christ
right here. Everything is good in His creation. Everything. If everything is
for our good, then there's nothing bad, is there? Am I wrong? Oh, wait a minute, John. Hitler,
that was bad. Was it? Was it really? Did it not bring some of God's
people to Him? We don't know. I'm telling you,
if the Scriptures are true, then Romans 8.28 stands for all things,
doesn't it? Providence, which is a mystery
to the world, is the government of the universe. It's the government
of the universe by God for the accomplishment of His will, which
He purposed in Himself. Which will is the salvation of
chosen sinners for His glory. We looked at the management of
Providence. Who is the one running this world? Some think that everything
comes to pass according to some fixed law called the law of nature,
bolonialism. Others think that everything
comes to pass by chance, another bolonialism statement. I know,
I shouldn't be saying that. Okay, to our guest, it's a funny
statement that I made a couple weeks ago and I've kind of been
playing on it. Bolonialism is just a word I
made up. It's not a real word. Some think that it's just due to fate. Again,
those who believe in the real God the real and true God. They believe this. The Bible
teaches us that the manager, the master, the ruler of the
universe is God Almighty. We affirm, we insist that this
universe is totally and constantly ruled by God or He is not God
at all. We also looked at the mystery
of providence according to Romans 11 verse 33. which is what we
just read there, which I just read for you just a moment ago.
11 verse 33 right here. Oh, the
depth and the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how
unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. So this morning, we're continuing
this chapter five with the minuteness of providence according to Darwin.
And he writes, God's providential rule of the universe encompasses
all minute and intricate details of matter, time, and history. Some of you will remember, I
spoke about this before, Brother Steve Doyle brought a study from
the building of the temple. If you go back into the Old Testament,
in the book of Exodus, where they built the first temple,
there's all these little, minute little details. Make sure that
the ring on the edge of this curtain is of brass or of gold
or whatever it might have been. And make sure it's carved to
a certain way. Make sure that they to make sure
that they build it this way. You take a ring of iron and you
wrap gold around it and you have to tap it together. You have
to do this. And there's all these different
details of the temple, which is a picture of Christ and where
he dwells. He dwelt in the temple. God dwelt
in the temple at that time, behind a curtain. He said, don't get so caught
up in all the detail. It really isn't anything more
than this, that God rules everything, right down to the minute details. That's a mystery to the world. How could God, who is so magnificent,
who is so majestic, how could he look at the smaller details?
He's got to have somebody working the smaller details for him.
Isn't that the way men think? That's because we think like
men. We don't think like God, we can't. It doesn't come natural
to us. So, Don goes on to say this,
he says, it covers all the little things. Someone once said, providence
is God's attention concentrated everywhere at the same time.
So detailed, so minute, is our Heavenly Father's rule of providence
that he has numbered, purposed, ordained, and determined all
the hairs on the heads of men, and numbered the hairs of the
heads on his elect with a tender care of a doting mother. You can read about that in Matthew
10, verse 30 if you want. No sparrow falls to the ground
to get a tiny grain of food or in death without God's decree
and direction. You can read about that in Matthew
10, 28, 29. The treasures of the snow are
scattered upon the earth in their foreordained path as our heavenly
Father's great and gentle hand. Read about that in Job 38, verse
22. Even in the casting of lots and
the roll of dice, God Almighty has his way, absolutely. You can read about that in Proverbs
16, verse 33. We also want to consider, for
this morning, the magnitude of his providence. What's the scope? What is the totality of God's
providence? Nothing. Absolutely nothing of
God's creation can limit him. Here's the magnitude, writes
Don, of God's providence. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. That's in Nahum 1, verse 3. Are you getting the picture?
The God we worship, folks, the God of the Bible, is in control
of everything, absolute and always. Our God controls all inanimate
matter, such as the waters of the Red Sea. Did He not part
the waters of the Red Sea? So He controls things that don't
even have brains, inanimate matter. The opening of the earth, when
it opened up to swallow all the people, Korah and the family,
was that not by His decree? Did he not have authority over
the ground itself? What about the fiery furnace?
Remember Babylon? Remember in Babylon? The fire
had no ability to burn the servants, though it consumed their enemies
because God willed it. God purposed it. God's providence
was in control then as well as it is right now, this moment.
God willed it. The sunshine and the rain are
bountiful, writes Don, scattered wherever he desires it to be,
withheld according to the purpose of our Lord. God controls all
irrational creatures as well. The birds. Do you know there
was a snake that showed up on our front porch the other day?
Gene lived here for 38 years. Did you know he said he can only
remember finding one snake on this property? And it was a gopher
snake. And it was out here in the yard.
This snake came up in our front yard. It was a snake that we
first saw in Susan's storage out there. And it was a big one.
It was a big snake, big old round snake like that. It was a gardener's
snake, so it wasn't going to hurt anybody. But we're sitting
here, or no, I was in here. And Kathy comes running in. She
goes, grab the shovel. Come here real quick. And we
go out there. And this thing's right there on the front porch.
It had come all the way around the front of the building to
the front porch. Do you know our Lord drove that
snake there? He purposed that snake to come
there just as He purposed all things. I thought about that
as I gently, OK, so I wasn't all that gentle. I don't like
snakes. But I didn't kill it. It was
a garter snake. If it was a rattlesnake, it would
have been dead. But it was a garter snake. So I gently scooped it
up and moved it all the way across the street over here and gave
it to our neighbor, who I'm sure will enjoy it. That's the kind of neighbor I
am. I'll bring snakes over to your house. No, he's got a big
piece of property over there. That's a workspace. They're not
going to worry about it one bit. But that's the point of this.
Creatures. Animals. Who is it that prepared
the fish for Jonah? Did not God prepare a fish? He
rules it all. This brings peace to this sinner's
heart. I need somebody who's in control
of everything. If I'm going to trust our brother
Mike back there for my salvation, I'm in trouble. If Mike's going
to trust me, he's in more trouble than I am. You get the point? The world doesn't know this.
I want to speak seriously for a minute. I know we've got a
little bit more to go here in Don's book, and we've got time.
I want to talk to you about this. I want to express, do you ever
feel sitting back in your seat at home, how can I think such
things and be saved? How can I feel such things and
be saved? How can I not trust my Lord? Not believe what He's saying?
Not put all my trust in Him like we sang the song, Sweet, it is
to trust in Jesus. That doesn't fit me sometimes. Maybe you do. Maybe you trust
Him all the time. But sometimes I don't. And I
wonder. God does not reveal these things
to the world. You go back to If you go back
to what we read last week in Romans, you mark this down, write
this down, 11 verse 25-33, and you tell me our God does not
work all things out according to His purpose. He caused Israel
to be blind for the good of His people. What
people? The Gentiles. The whole story
of 11, 25-33 is that why God close the eyes of His chosen
people so that the Gentiles who weren't seeing anything yet would
come unto Him. He does this for the love of
His people. Because God loved me, He brought
me to this church one day to hear His gospel, and He brought
me here through tears and sorrow and a broken heart. Not a broken
heart for Him, but a broken heart of the world. This is the God that loves us.
This is why I get so angry about those who say to the world, God
loves you if you'll just let Him. If He just lets you, you won't
love Him at all. In the scriptures, you're going
to seek life. And that's where you'll find Jesus Christ the
Lord. But then it says this, and you
will not come to me that you may have life. That was John
Reeves. He had to send somebody to fetch
me, just as he did Mephibosheth. Go and get him and bring him
to the king. Our Lord rules over the animals
of the earth. the very ones that he brought
to Adam to name, and the very ones that he brought to Noah
to save by his decree. Balaam's ass spoke in human language. When the Almighty said to the
ass, speak, it did. The flies swarmed over Egypt. The frogs invaded the land. And an army, as an army, and
when the Lord ordained it, the lions of Babylon slept like lambs
with Daniel. And when the Lord purposed it,
a great fish was prepared specifically to swallow his servant, Jonah. Did you know the rooster that
was supposed to crow? Did you know he was supposed
to crow just exactly according to God's purpose? What about the manifestation?
Nope, we're not there yet. Jesus said it would, about that
cock to crow the third time, and it did. We rejoice to sing
with the psalmist, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom ruleth over all. That's Psalms 103 verse 20. God
controls all things. God controls all men, both good
and bad. Both Pharaoh and Israel did exactly
what God had purposed for them to do. You can read that in Romans
9, verse 16 through 18. The Jews, Pilate, and the Romans
did exactly what God had ordained that must be done in the crucifixion
and the death of his dear son. No more and no less. Our great earthly rulers, all
of them, that includes Biden, Obama, Trump, Reagan, and all
the rest. Every single one of them were
raised up according to the purpose of our God. Amen. Even the devil
himself, writes Don. Even he himself operates only
by the divine permission to extract, to the exact extent of divine
permission. He could not afflict Job or he
could not sift Peter without getting God's permission first. So what about sin? God allows
sin because he is able to overrule it for His own glory. He allows it. If He didn't want
it, He could eliminate everything and recreate everything exactly
the way He wanted it to. But He allows it for His own
glory. God is not the author of sin,
but He is the controller of it. Read Psalm 76.10 and rejoice
with the psalmist. When it is his pleasure to do
so, God sovereignly permits wicked men to do wickedness. Was Pharaoh
not under God's control? One of the most wicked men in
the world? At that time, you could say Hitler
was a wicked man and you'd be absolutely correct, but Hitler
was not outside of God's control. He allows wickedness for His
glory. He overcomes it with His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. When it is not His pleasure,
He overrules the evil deeds of men for the good of His elect.
He will not allow even the wicked to do the evil that is in them,
and you can read that in Genesis 20, verse 6. Next we see the
marvel of God's providence, the marvel of it, the wonder of it. The purpose and the plan by which
providence operates is God's eternal purpose of grace towards
His own elect. That's what we read there in
Romans 8, verse 28-30. There is nothing God will not
do to save His elect, except that which is contrary to His
nature. There is nothing God will not
sacrifice to save His elect, except His own honor. He who
sacrificed his own dear son for us will sacrifice anything for
us. Romans 8 verse 32. Silly, sentimental
men talk about an indiscriminate universal love in God making
the love of God meaningless, but the Bible teaches us that
God's love is for his elect and it is such a special discriminating
love that he has sacrificed and will yet sacrifice men and nations
to accomplish his purpose of grace towards that chosen people. Let's look over at Isaiah 43.
Turn over to Isaiah 43. I want you to read this with
me. We're going to go a little bit
long this morning, but it's all right. We don't do it very often.
Look at verses 1-7 of Isaiah chapter 43. We're talking about
God sacrificing things of this world to save His elect. But
now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He
that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. Now look what it says next. I gave Egypt. You remember what it says over
there in Romans chapter nine? What does it say? He raised up
Pharaoh to show the world. Now, what happened to Pharaoh?
He was destroyed. He and the whole army were engulfed
by the very waters that God caused to separate. I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious
in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. give men
for thee and people for thy life." That's God's Word, folks. I didn't
want you to take my word for it. I wanted you to read that
with me. I wanted you to see that our Lord declares His providence
is a wonder. Why is it a wonder? Because God
gave everything for me, for you, for His people. Why sit around
and worry about whether you love God or not? It's not that we
love Him, it's that He loves us. He loves His people so much
that He gives countries, nations to bring His people out of darkness.
What a marvel. There's nothing that can hinder
God's purpose of grace. There is nothing under God's
dominion that can harm one of the chosen of the Lord, Proverbs
12, verse 22. Now I want to look at one last
thing, if you would, the manifestation of providence. Look over Revelation
5, and we'll look at just a couple of verses there. Turn over to
Revelation 5. Look at verse 11. And I beheld, now we're talking
about the manifestation of providence. The manifestation that God rules
over all things. The manifestation that he is
in control of everything to bring his people unto him. And I beheld
and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne. And the
beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000. times
ten thousands and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under
the earth such as are in the sea and all that are in them
Heard I saying, blessings and honor and glory and power be
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever
and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen.
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him
that liveth forever." What a wondrous mystery that God's providence
is manifested in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Listen to this poem. Listen to this poem. It'll be
in next week's bulletin. It was so good. This is written
by Brother Don Fortner. Sovereign ruler of the skies,
ever gracious, ever wise, all my times are in thy hand, all
events at thy command. His decree who formed the earth
fixed my first and second birth. Parents, native place, and time,
all appointed were by him. He that formed me in the womb,
he shall guide me to the tomb. All my time shall ever be ordered
by his wise decree. Times of sickness, times of health,
times of poverty, and times of wealth, Times of trial, times
of grief, times of triumph and relief. Times of tempter's power
to prove, times to taste my savior's love. All must come and last
and end as shall please my heavenly friend. Plagues and deaths around
me fly till he bids I cannot die. Not a single shaft can hit
till the God of love thinks fit. O thou gracious, wise, and just,
in thy hands my life I trust. Have I somewhat drear still? I resign it to thy will. May I always own thy hand, and
to thy surrender stand, knowing thou art God alone, I and mine
are all thine own. Thee at all times will I bless,
having thee I all possess. How can I be bereaved be since
I cannot part with thee? I thought that was an excellent
poem. Folks, we belong to him. We always have belonged to him.
We just didn't know it. Doesn't that just bless your
heart? One of the men I spoke with this
week, he said, when I heard the first time the Gospel, the true
Gospel, not this religious thing that the world preaches, but
the truth about who God is and why He died. He says, I fell in love. But it's not that I fell in love
with him, it's that he first loved me. Amen.