There's a verse of scripture
in the book of Ephesians that I have often, in this sort of
series on predestination and providence, I have referred to
this verse of scripture several times, and I'll not ask you to
turn to it. But Ephesians, the first chapter
in verse 11, in whom, in Christ, also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." Our God is the God of predestination. We are not ashamed of that. We
are delighted to tell people that all things are of God. And
God is today working His will everywhere and in every person. He is successfully fulfilling
that which He purposed for every individual who will ever live
in this world. And that which our God has purposed He will, by His wonderful and
great providence, bring those things to pass. The doctrine
of predestination teaches us that all events, great and small,
throughout God's universe, all events were purposed ahead of
time by our God. And God in His blessed providence
brings all of His purpose to pass by His wisdom and by His
power. Let me make just a few comments
about providence before I get right into the aim of my message
tonight. which is divine providence and
evil. That's a big subject. Divine
providence and evil. Let me make several comments
here. Though the Lord has ordained and rules over and limits and
rules unholy people and unholy actions, he still retains his
integrity and his righteousness. Though he uses ungodly people, his usage and his great providence
is not at all stained by the evil that he uses. And I would say this, that his
providence is not only pure and holy, but also wise and according
to the strictest justice. One of these days I'm going to
bring you a message from Ezekiel, the first chapter. The great
wheels of providence. Ezekiel saw a wheel within a
wheel. It was full of eyes, full of
knowledge. And that which Ezekiel sets forth
in Ezekiel, the first chapter, is the intricacies of the working
of God. Now God has revealed some things
to us and we're thankful. He has revealed to us salvation
in all of its greatness and in all of its glory. He has revealed
that salvation comes to us because of His eternal purpose. And He
has willed that this salvation be in the Lord Jesus and His
redemptive work, and He's been pleased to reveal that to us. But there's much of the workings
of God about which we know little to nothing. The secret things of God belong
to God. But the revealed things are for
us and our children. He does not enlighten us except
to a very, very small degree concerning the things that He
is doing. Someone on a news program the
other night said, the government keeps us in the dark concerning
many things. Well, they have to. I don't want to know everything
that's going on, and I won't ever know everything that's going
on in the government. There are secretive things that
our president and our leaders in Washington and the various
organizations under the authority of our president, there are things
that they're involved in that we'll never know anything about. They release to us the information
that they deem necessary for us to know. And that's about
the best example I can give you of the ways of God. He shows
to us, He reveals to us those things that He deems necessary
for us to be aware of. Of His predestination of all
things, of His eternal purpose. of salvation by a bruised and
wounded and crucified Savior. Salvation by righteousness freely
imputed to His people, which we receive by faith. But there
are a multitude of things that God does and is doing we don't
know anything about. It's like an iceberg. They say
we see the top of an iceberg. And we say, wow, that's very
impressive. But we're just seeing a little
bit of it. And when it comes to the ways
of God, the acts of God, the purpose of God being fulfilled,
it's vast, it's immeasurable. We'll never have full understanding. We just see a little of what
God is doing. We only perceive a little of
His eternal purpose being worked out in time. And we say, Oh my,
how great Thou art! But we know the vast majority
of what God is doing. we have no knowledge of. You see, the world is not being
run by blind force, but by the unerring hand of our
omnipotent God. And His providence is sovereign
and supreme. I read there in Psalm 135, whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, in earth, and in all
deep places. He is the Lord of lords and the
King of kings, the greatest leaders in the world. The most powerful
men in the world are but little bitty pieces of clay. That's all they are before God.
Just little bitty pieces of clay. And the Lord molds them and uses
them like He does everybody else to fulfill His will. Proverbs
8, 15-16 says, By me kings reign and princes decree justice. Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of waters. He turneth
it whether so ever he will. You may not like You may disagree
with what our president does, or prime ministers through the
world, presidents throughout the world. You may disagree with
him, but listen, whatever they do, God's turning them whichever
way He will. Now, you've got to bow to that.
And it doesn't matter who's in office, whether it's a Democrat
or a Republican, or if there should be an Independent. God
rules over all. You say, I don't like the direction
our last president led us in. I don't like the direction our
current president is leading us in. Well, they are doing what
God has purposed for them to do. Can you handle that? I like
that. God governs over all. And His providence is irresistible. Because God, you see, is bringing
to pass in time that which he purposed to do before time ever
began. Isaiah 43.10, God said, I will
work, and who shall let it? And the word let there is who
shall hinder it. Who shall hinder what I'm doing?
Who shall frustrate my purpose? Who is so big, so great, so powerful
that they can exercise that authority over God Almighty? Nobody can. He works and nobody can frustrate
what He's doing. And I'll say this, His providence
And I'll use this word for lack of a better one, is harmonious. It is harmonious. Everything is working together
to fulfill God's purpose. And that's with the saved and
the lost. That's with those who love God
and that's for those who hate God. He's working everything
together to fulfill His purpose. And then His providence works
in a special and merciful way for His loved ones. All things that ever happen in
the life of a believer, they work together. Your life is very
harmonious. And you see, here's the way it
is with all the providences of God. All the things that happen
in your life, they're all connected. Nothing is disconnected. All
things work. All things work together like
a great chain. many links, one chain, one purpose that is being fulfilled
in you by God. Now, here's what I wanna talk
to you about tonight, providence and evil. And so I'm gonna direct
your attention to the book of Amos. Amos chapter 3. Amos chapter 3. Amos chapter 3 is one of the
minor prophets, and if you can't find it, look at the table of
contents. It'll help you. Sometimes these
little books can get, they kind of hide themselves from us, although
this is one of the longer minor prophets, not minor in importance,
but minor as far as length. Major prophets, Isaiah's got
66 chapters, Jeremiah's got a bunch of chapters, Ezekiel's got a
bunch of chapters, but Amos, And the other minor prophets
are relatively short. Amos 3. Well, my keen ears don't
hear any pages. Yes, I do hear pages still turning. I do have good hearing. I do
have that. Look at verse 6. Amos 3, 6. Shall a trumpet be
blown in the city? and the people not be afraid?
And then he asks, shall there be evil in a city and the Lord
hath not done it? That verse may be a surprise
to somebody. Shall there be evil in a city
and the Lord hath not done it? There are two kinds of evil,
I believe. There are two kinds of evil.
And the first one I'll call natural evil. And by that I mean, of
course, the word evil. Let me just define the word evil
because even though it's only got four letters, it has a very
vast, several definitions really. It can mean wickedness. things
that are intolerable, things that are unpleasant, unholy,
contrary to God, things that are bad, things that are damaging
to material things. So I think there are two kinds
of evil. The first is natural evil. And
the second is moral evil. Got that? Natural evil and moral
evil. You see, natural evil, those
are the things that happen to us that are very unpleasant,
over which we have no control. I'm talking about things that
are disagreeable to the flesh. storms, sickness, pestilence, earthquakes,
disease, tornadoes, floods. Somebody was talking about the
tornadoes that happened 150, 175 miles or so from here. devastating. Those are under
the category of naturally things that happen in nature. But know
this, things that happen in nature are governed by the God of nature. The God of nature. Nature always
cooperates with what God tells it to do. The Savior said to the wind and
the waves, peace be still. There was a natural evil, an
unpleasantness, things that were disagreeable to the disciples
and they were worried. They were very concerned for
their own safety. Nature was throwing at them a
storm of great fierceness, but that nature was really the hand
of God. Isn't it amazing? And I find
this interesting that insurance companies
do this. When they have the opportunity
and you file a claim, they'll say, well now, that was an act
of God. They use the name of God when
it's to their advantage. But they aren't correct. If it's
a tornado, a flood, that is an act of God. Nature operates under
the authority of and under the power of and by the power of
our God. And if you don't see that and
believe that, your thoughts of God are way too low. On the other hand, there's moral
evil. Now that brings us into the picture. Wickedness, sins, trespasses,
rebellion against God, the persecution against God's people. You see,
the very presence of sin and moral evil in this world is not
here by accident. That's according to the providence
of God as well. I know that most people would
deny that evil of all kinds cannot be traced to God. And they say that because they
want to protect virtue of God, the sinlessness
of God, I suppose. But it is not damaging to the
name of God or the purpose of God or the integrity of God to
say that all things are of God. Who are you to try to protect
God's name anyway? His name needs no protection.
He is His own protector and He does whatever He wants to do. As Nebuchadnezzar said, He does
His will among the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
thou? One writer that I was reading
said some people think that there are things that God cannot control
and then other things that God will not control. God controls all things. He can
and He does and He will continue to do so. There is nothing that
exists, there is nothing that ever happens that is outside
the domain and authority of God Almighty. His hand touches, reaches to
and controls all of His creatures throughout all time. The fact is he reigns everywhere
and he reigns over everything. His providence is universal. It includes all things good and
all things evil. And that's natural evil and moral
evil. When Lucifer defied the Lord,
do you think God stepped down off his throne And just for that
instant, he lost dominion over a third of the angels? Can that
be? Could it be that the Lord turned
his back and then Lucifer defied him? and sin came into existence,
do you mean to tell me that such a great thing as sin came into
existence without God? The reason sin came into existence
according to the purpose of God, and I know God's hands are clean,
But the reason it came into existence was to demonstrate the wisdom
of God and the goodness of God and the grace of God in doing
away with sin. And I'd rather talk about how
sin is done away with than to talk about how sin got in here
to begin with. But it didn't slip in unawares. Was the fall of Adam Was that
outside of the dominion of God? Did he merely permit Adam to
fall? That's what most preachers say.
Well, God permitted him to fall. Well, I know this, God could
have stopped that, but he didn't. And since he didn't, it was according
to his will. Because you see, the entrance
of sin through Adam's transgression, if I could put it this way, opened
the door for God to demonstrate the greatness of His grace and
mercy to sinners through the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The greatest work of God is the
work of saving a sinner. from lifting us up from the dunghill
of filth and sin and transgressions, and raising us up to be the children
of the Holy One, robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and washed in His blood." That's the greatest work of God. And it would never have been
necessary had not sin marred creation. What about the evil of the flood? Was that of God? It sure was
unpleasant for many, many, many people. We know that the Lord, He purposed
the flood. He designed the shape and the
size of the ark. Who opened up the windows of
heaven? Who opened up the fountains of
the deep? What power on earth could ever
do that? Was God being unkind and unfair
when He opened up the windows of heaven and the rain came down
in a great deluge? When He opened up the fountains
of the deep and water came bubbling up, till finally the rain from above
and the water from beneath covered everything, even the tops of
the highest mountains. I'd call that a natural evil.
Who did that? And who ordained the ark? And who called eight people to
come into the ark? And who drowned the millions
upon millions of people who were outside the ark? They estimate, conservative Bible
scholars, estimate that probably two billion people on the earth
at that time. Eight people out of two billion. And the exact number that God
had ordained were spared. Only eight. And man gets up on his high horse
and says, well, that's not fair. Why didn't he build an ark big
enough to hold two billion people or a multitude of arks? It wasn't
his purpose. It's not what he intended to
be done. He saved eight souls. Noah and his family were spared
and everybody else died and went to hell. Who brought that to pass? Shall there be evil in the city,
and the Lord hath not done it? Who purposed that Joseph would
sit at the right hand of Pharaoh? And how did he bring that to
pass? Well, first of all, the hearts
of his brothers were filled with envy and jealousy. Some wanted
to kill him, others said, no, let's don't kill him, let's sell
him into slavery. And they did that. He winds up in the house of Potiphar. And he was so honest and had
such integrity that he grew invaluable to Potiphar. He finally said,
here's my book, here's my checkbook, and here's a register of all
of our expenses and how much, you take care of all of it. And then his wife, she decided
she would tempt him. And he wouldn't fall for it. So then she falsely accused him.
He winds up in prison. Then a butler and a baker wind
up in prison, too. And they had, both of them had
dreams, and Joseph interpreted their dreams. And he told the
butler, he said, listen, when you get out of here, and you
will get out, and you'll be restored to your old job, remember me. Did he remember? No. Well, how is Joseph going to
wind up at the right hand of Pharaoh? Hang on, the story is
not over yet. That's just an episode and that's
just one chapter of the story. See, the story wasn't complete.
And your story is not complete either. So I don't know how it's going
to end. I know how mine is going to end, in glory. And if you
are one of the Lord's children, that will be the final chapter,
which is a chapter without an end, when you are in the presence
of the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you. And finally, Pharaoh has a dream. And the butler says, since nobody else can interpret
that dream. You know, I was in prison one
time with a fellow who could interpret dreams. Really? Bring
him to me. And he brought Joseph in. And
Joseph said, well, what's your dream? He told him the dreams. And Joseph said, well, it's going
to be seven years of great harvest. It's going to be seven years
of famine. And those seven years of great harvest, you better
save up. Better do a lot of canning, a
lot of freezing. It's going to be tough. Pharaoh said, thank you. I know just the man to put in
charge. of this project of storing up
all the grains. Mr. Joseph, the job is yours. Well, that's where God had purpose
for him to be all along. And his life's just like this,
curvy. You think your life's like that?
I feel like my life's like that a lot of times, just filled with
curves. And sometimes the curvy road
is a washboard road. It's really bumpy. You ever feel
like that? Joseph could tell us a thing
or two about that. But you know, in the end, when
Joseph's family was brought, he identified himself and his
daddy was there. And then his daddy died. And
when Jacob died, The other brother said, uh-oh, Joseph's going to
get revenge now. And they were so afraid. He said,
I'm exactly where God purposed for me to be. And it wasn't you. It was God. I bet you they went,
whew. Our lives are spared because
Joseph recognized that which all of God's children need to
recognize every single day. Nothing happens but that which
God has ordained. What about the servitude of Israel
in Egypt? Turn to, go to Psalm 105. Psalm 105. I'm talking about
the providence of God in evil. Psalm 105. He's talking about, in this Psalm,
the Holy Spirit is talking about Israel and the things that befell
them according to the purpose of God. And he gets into the
things that happened in Egypt. And you all know about that.
Of course, the thing that led into it was Joseph bringing his
family into Egypt. And Pharaoh said, here, take
the land of Goshen. Raise your families. Welcome,
welcome. We're glad to have you. And then they got so big, and
a new pharaoh came along whose heart was full of hatred. And they didn't like Israel anymore.
Psalm 105, verse 25. Well, verse 24, It says, God increased His people
greatly and made them stronger than their enemies, stronger
than the Egyptians. He turned their heart to hate
His people. Who turned their heart? God turned their heart. Here were the Egyptians, they
said, these are wonderful neighbors we've got now, these Israelites,
they're just wonderful people. And God turned their hearts.
And all of a sudden, these wonderful neighbors, the Egyptians just
absolutely despised them. Who brought about that evil? He turned their heart to hate
His people, to deal subtly with His servants. The Lord did it. I'll give you another one. I'm
going to give you two more. Three more. One day King David,
riding in his chariot, and there were some people Especially
one man, but some others as well. A man by the name of Shimei. He started throwing rocks at
David. Throwing rocks at the king now. And cursing him. And saying that the things that
he did, he did by the power of Beelzebub. Called him a child
of the devil. David was a man after God's own
heart. And Abishai, who was David's
nephew, one of his sister's sons, he told David, he said, let me
get a hold of that dog right there and I'll cut his head off.
That'll be the end of him. David said, let him curse because
God told him Curse David. God told that man, you curse
David. And David recognized and he believed the providence of
God. See, David needed to be taken
down a notch or two. It worked together with all things
for his good. And I'll give you two more examples. What about the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus? Why in the world is he going
to Damascus? Probably to go to church. You
reckon? Going to worship the Lord. Oh,
no, no, no, no, no. evil and hatred filled his heart. He's going to arrest anybody
who believed the name of Jesus Christ, that they believed that
he's the Lord of glory, the savior of sinners, the one who suffered,
bled and died, that God might be just and justify the ungodly. He went there with hatred in
his heart, said, I'm gonna arrest everybody who says they're a
follower of Jesus. And he meant it. He's all about evil. But God's
going to use his evil desires to bring about good. Only God
can do that. Because that's when he met the
sovereign, glorified Savior. And our Lord shined the light
of his countenance upon Saul of Tarsus, knocked him off his
horse, blinded him. It's not gonna be the time of
arresting a bunch of believers in Christ. It's a time of his
conversion, that's what it is. And God used the evil motivation
of this man to drive him toward Damascus. And the Lord met him. But the greatest example is in
the death of Christ. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts
chapter 2. You're talking about a moral
evil. Right here's one spelled out. Acts chapter 2, 22 and 23. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, Peter is preaching. a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know. being delivered by the determinate
counsel, that is, the determinate will and purpose, and foreknowledge,
the foreordination of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified, and you have slain him, whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should beholden of it." These people were They were mad. They were vicious, bloodthirsty. They got a hold of the Son of
God. They said, this man is not fit to live. And they killed
him. And these were church goers. These were faithful. If they'd
had Sunday school back then, they'd have Sunday school pens,
awards for perfect attendance. I had perfect attendance, brought
my Bible every day and brought an offering too. But they had malice of forethought
for Jesus of Nazareth. And they were guilty. And Peter tells them that in
this message. And they were fulfilling that
which God purposed to be done. Providence of God over evil. Can I explain all
of these things? No. No. I'm just sitting before
you the tip of the iceberg. But underneath is the vast, immeasurable,
immense, glorious, eternal purpose of our God. Well, that's it. Let's sing a song.