All right, before I read that
verse, let me say something. Usually we think of Solomon and
the Proverbs as dealing with practical matters, and he does.
He deals with many. He often contrasts the good and
the wrong, and the good and the evil, and the consequences of
one or the other. But also in Solomon's Proverbs,
we find several really strong statements about the sovereignty
of God and the providence of God. And here's one in verse
33. The lot is cast into the lap,
but a whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Now, there are
a lot more texts that we could add, and I will add some before
we go on in our way. But if we spoke only of the providence
of God and read only the texts that have to do with the providence
and the sovereignty of God, we should be all day in this place
reading from the word of God. Here Solomon again in Proverbs
chapter 19 and verse 21, there are many devices in the heart
of a man but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. David wrote in Psalm 33 and verse
10, the Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to naught, and
maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Job 5 and verse
2, he disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their
minds cannot perform their enterprise. Back to Proverbs chapter 21 and
verse 1. The king's heart is in the Lord's
hand like the rivers or the channels of water he turneth them whether
so ever he will. And that famous one in Romans
chapter 8 and verse 28, we know that all things are working together
for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according
unto his purposes. Now, divine providence is one
of the main branches of divine sovereignty in that divine provident. Provident is a part and partial
of God's sovereignty and closely allied under the purpose of God
as he opens it in this world. For, you see, God's sovereignty
extends as surely to his rule and his oversight of things in
the world, to the governing of the affairs of the life of the
human family, as well as to his creation. So who is there that
could imagine a sovereignty without providence also working together? Who could phantom creation without
the providential hand of God? guiding those things that come
to pass. What can cause one who names
the name of our Lord and our Savior, even Jesus Christ, to
deny that there is both a divine sovereignty as well as a divine
providence working out things as they are in this world. Of course, there have been many,
and are many, who deny a special, direct, efficacious, overruling
providence of God, that He overrules what some men try to do, and
that he brings their things to naught. I'll give you some. If
you've heard of or familiar with a group or a philosophy that
answered to Epicureanism earlier in the history of the church,
their view was, of divine providence, that God is disinterested in
the affairs of men and that he takes no direct hand in them
at all, that God would be weary if he should be concerned with
every action and thought and such like of men. Then came the
Sassanian with another perverted view of the sovereignty and the
providence of God, rational deists some people have called them,
who say that God only set forth a general law for creation and
humanity, and that he takes only a general, occasional, and not
a constant oversight of the thing. Then came the pantheists as we
know them, and of course they're the one who say that God and
creation are mixed up, that God and matter are mixed up and are
one and the same. Robert Dabney said that all errors
can be reduced to these heads concerning the sovereignty and
the providence of God. Number one, to the Epicureans
and their view that we just mentioned. Number two, they say, some say
that it is beneath his dignity to be concerned with Earth's
triviality and the little things that transpire here among the
human family. Number three, there are those
that argue, no, there's not a divine providence. and oversight of
all things because of the inconsistency and the disarray that is seen
and evident in the world and among the human family. Then,
fourthly, there are those that say, no, not a special providence,
for it conflicts with second causes and the free agency of
the intelligent creatures for God to do that, and number five,
that it makes the final end. God is the author of sin if he
is directing and guiding all things that we see in the world. So let's define what we mean
when we speak of the providence of God. Some people might think
that's a town in Rhode Island, but providence works according
unto the scripture. Modernist. hardly ever speak
of the providence of God in their sermon, and I suspect that it
is because of that idol of free will. We believe that God bears
a perpetual active relation to the whole universe is the decoration
of providence. Some prefer to treat it under
two heads and not one. First of all, its relationship
to creation. Did God create the world and
then set it on its course and leave it to work out its way? No. Proverbs said, he upholds
all things which he has created by the work of his power. Colossians 1, 16, and 17. His providence directs His creation
and permits such things as managing them as they play out in the
world. But secondly, providence then,
to our concern, is also closely allied to the eternal purpose
of the Almighty God. And to that I say that providence
is a branch and a part. of the sovereignty and of the
sovereign purpose of the Almighty God. That is, God is directly
directing the affairs of the human family and thinks so that
they come to pass according as God has decreed them to do. Now, to divorce Providence from
God's sovereign purpose and foreordination, is to turn all things upside
down or to put the cart before the house, the horse. To deny
the providence of God is to deny the sovereignty and a purpose
of God. Again, I mentioned Dabney, Robert
L. Dabney, a great writer. And he
defined providence as follows, and I quote, providence is the
execution in successive time of God's eternal, unsuccessive
purpose," unquote, which means that God sustains a continual,
personal, active relationship to all the works of his hand
and to his eternal will. I emphasize again that none can
have a proper or a complete view on the subject of providence
who do not confess an absolute sovereignty on the part of God. If you don't hold to that view,
then you'll do like a lot of people do today. If it's something
they don't like, if it's something they consider bad or a tragedy,
then they attribute that to be the work of the devil. All things
good, therefore, are of God. Think of it like this. Number
one, the purpose of God is his sovereign will. It is for ordained
will that he has fixed or decreed before the foundation of the
world. Number two, providence, therefore,
is but the unfolding of that and the ordering all things so
that it comes to pass. A. A. Hodge, another writer,
long since gone on, quote, since the eternal and immutable purpose
of God has certainly predetermined whatsoever comes to pass, it
therefore follows that he must execute his own sovereign purpose
not only in the works of creation, but likewise and also in his
continued control of his creatures in this world." Thus we read
text like this, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11, being foreordained
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Daniel, way back in the Old Testament,
chapter 4, verse 35, all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
listen, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what are
you doing? In Psalm 135, verse 6, whatsoever
the Lord please that did he in heaven and earth, and in the
sea, and all deep places." Psalm 33, verse 11. The counsel of
the Lord standeth forever the thoughts of his heart to all
generation. Isaiah 40, 46, 10, and 11. My counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure calling
a ravenous bird from the East, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I also
will bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I also will do it."
And again, Romans 8 and verse 28, All things are working together
for good to them that love God. Now, the last text is very strong
on both subjects. For ordination and the providence
of God. For God has purposed and ordained
for some to be justified, to be glorified, and to be called,
and to be brought to glory at last. And He causes all things
to work toward that end. Think about it. Look at your
own life. where you were born, where you were raised, and where
you live that brought you in contact with the gospel, the
character that God gave unto you, perhaps the parent, perhaps
the family that you were raised up in, your vocation, your calling
in life, your character, All these things are directed by
the sovereign providence of Almighty God, so as to accomplish His
will in our lives and bring us to that place that He has brought
us. Now, let me take, if I might,
one specific example or some specific example out of the scripture
of the providence of God in bringing us to faith and belief and unto
salvation. Now, it's said in John 4, Christ
must needs go through Samaria. Why? He could have gone another
route, but there was a sinful daughter of Abraham that was
there that he would meet at the well. While he rested, the Lord,
at Jacob's well, thirsting from the journey of the day, a very
sinful woman of a city nearby came to that very well where
the Lord was that she might draw water." Now, this woman is what
we might here consider today an outcast, a moral leper, one
disgraced for her sin and known far and wide for her iniquity,
and yet it was providence It was not chance, it was not luck,
and it was not an accident that brought her to Jacob's well,
that caused that woman to come at the very time that Christ
sat there resting at that well. She did not fetch her water in
the cool of the morning or the cool of the evening, but in the
very heat of the day. In the sixth hour, as the scripture
says, unto us the exact time that Christ was there. And in
the course of their conversation, the Lord revealed himself to
her and he saved that woman. Providence even extends, if I
may say, to the very well itself out of which the water came.
First, it was that that was a common denominator in bringing Christ
and the woman together. For Jacob had dug that well many,
many years ago. That it still gave water is the
providence of God. and that he dug it in the very
spot where he dug it cannot be disputed to be providence. And we can only say, oh, the
marvelous ways of the providence of God. That such a thing as
a well and a water pot would bring one to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. The whole disposing thereof was
of the Lord. But now, let's look at the text
that we chose in Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 33. The lot is cast
into the lap. It has two parts. The lot is
cast into the lap or the container and the whole disposing thereof
is the Lord. The decision made by the casting
of the lot is of the Lord. Now casting of lots was once
not only a very popular thing in Israel, but evidently was
also legal and accustomed. The casting of lots in Israel
was a means of deciding lots of matters. If you read the Old
Testament scripture, it was a means of drawing or casting or determining. And the lot might be a chip of
wood, It might be a bone of some sort. It might be a stone thrown
into a hat or a cap or a bucket or a lap or a basket or whatever
it might be. And let me point out some ways
that this lap or lot was used in decision in Israel. It was used in Jonah 1 and verse
7. for finding the guilty person. The lot fell upon Jonah as they
cast the lot upon that stormy sea. You'll see it again in 1
Samuel chapter 18, 38 through 42. You'll see it again in Joshua
7 and 16 when Achan by the lot was proved to be the guilty one who had caused
the defeat of Israel. Again, the lot was used in determining
work assignments in Israel. chapter 24, and there verse 4
and verse 5, then down in chapter 25, and there in verse 8. To determine job assignment,
a lot was cared. It was used in settling disputes
and deciding matters. as deciding who would get Christ's
garments before he was crucified at the cross. You remember that
they cast lots for the garment of our Lord, and that fulfills
Psalm 22 and verse 18 in John 19, verse 23 and 24. Proverbs,
therefore, 18, 18. The lot causeth contention to seize and parteth between the mighty."
Then again, did you realize that the land of Israel, the partitioning
of the land to the various tribes of Israel was decided by the
casting of lots. Numbers 26, 52 through 56, Nehemiah
chapter 11 and verse 1, Joshua chapter 18, And verse 8, this is one of the
strongest examples in the Old Testament, to wander 40 years. to fight, to drive out the enemy. And when the inheritance was
divided, it was not by deep prayer, or heavenly revelation, or meditation,
nor by size, or by need, or by the prominence of the tribe. It was decided by the casting
of lots, and each tribe received their inheritance. Did you realize
or remember? that the apostle to replace fallen
Judas was chosen by the casting of Lot's in Acts chapter 1 and
verse 26. So we use it in some realms even
today, do we not? Think about that. Sports, as
it were, uses a coin toss to decide who gets the ball first
or what end they might defend. To decide the first possession
is decided by the toss of the coin or to determine draft choices
and things of that matter. So let's see if we can get the
piece of land or the house with it on it. Sometimes I've heard
of that being decided by the flip of a coin for their inheritance. Now, the end result is the same. Matters are decided. Proverbs
18, 18. The lot causes contentions to
cease. You know, once I read that Wesley
determined what sermon he'd preach by casting of a lot or the flipping
of a coin. I don't know if that's true or
not. But this method is used or was
used in the year of the atonement in Leviticus chapter 16, the
day of atonement. The lamb or the goat upon whom
the Lord's lot fell was the one that was slain and its blood
was shed. Now the meaning of the text is
that such matters, even the casting of a lot to decide something,
whether meant and intended to be or not, are in the end determined
by the sovereignty of God. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the end thereof. Now maybe casually, maybe lightheartedly,
not thinking at all of God and his hand in any matter. They'll call it fate, they'll
call it chance, they'll call it luck, hoping that they will
be lucky enough that the coin might favor them. Hoping that
fate is this time on their side. thinking that the only factor
that is involved is the coin or the wind or whatever might
influence that. But it is, says Solomon, the
deciding of God. Now, Solomon presses the matter
even further, saying, The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. That is, the final outcome is
decided by a sovereign providence completely out of the control
of man. What is chance with man? is providence
with God. What man considers a chant is
the providence of God. It is not the lots as the first
cause, but God who settles the matter or the issue. Should any
resort to casting lots, then you have cast it in to the providence
of God. But God's so controlled and directed
and guided these affairs that his will was done. Sovereign
provident, amazing are his ways. God causes all things to work
together toward His eternal will and purpose. Now I'm not suggesting
that you get up in the morning, cast a lot, go pray about it,
feel the leadership of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is at work in
the people of God. But a little sparrow no more
falls to the ground without God's notice. than the mightiest king
upon the earth passes away in death. A tiny hair of our head
changes the number with the almighty God, as surely as Pharaoh's armies
were drowned in the Red Sea. From Charles Bridges and his
commentary on the Book of Proverbs, I harvested this quote that I'd
like to share with us now. Quote, Everything is a wheel
of providence. Who directed the Ishmaelites
on their journey to Egypt at the very moment that Joseph had
been cast down into the pit by his brothers? And who guided
Pharaoh's daughter that she came to the water to rescue little
Moses at the very hour that he was cast in? Who committed the
waters? Who gave Asher Harris a sleepless
night in the book of Esther so that he got up and read from
the Chronicle and a great change was made in the life of Esther? Who prepared the great fish?
that came and swallowed up Jonah at the very time that he was
cast into the ocean. The Bible said the Lord prepared
a great fish. Now these and many others example
teach us that not one event in our life flies out of the bounds
of the sovereign providence of God, nor is anything really insignificant
in our life. Have you noticed, if you would,
that one of the leading themes of some of the books of the Bible
is the providence of God. It's a story of providence. And
I mentioned particularly two books carrying the names of women
in the Old Testament, the book of Ruth and the book of Esther. These two, these books, Ruth
and Esther, are strongly flavored by the special providence of
God. Esther unfolds the special protective
providence of God toward his people, the Jew. There was a
man there who had formed a plot to have all of the Jews in that
kingdom killed. And once more it establishes
the truth of God. Proverbs 19, 21, there are many
devices in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord shall
stand. Naaman prepared a gallows for
Mordecai, and in the providence of God, because of the king's
insomnia, Haman hanged on his own gallow. And then again, in
the wonderful book of Ruth, that Gentile, formerly a pagan, quote,
whose hap was to light on the field of Boaz, unquote. In Ruth chapter 2 and verse 3,
the margin renders it more fully. And her hap happened to light
on the field of Boaz. The only takes proper providence. When we look at it in that light,
the providence of God guided all things. We realize something
amazing. Number one, there was nothing
to distinguish one man's field from another in that day and
in that time. There was not a mighty sign,
big sign out front, Boaz and son's field. No, nothing at all
to distinguish them one from another. Ruth and Boaz were total
strangers and had never met. They had no outward reason for
her to pick that particular field over any other on that particular
day. But Boas was a man that qualified
to act as a go-ell redeemer to Naomi and to her family. Ruth is living proof. The steps
of a person are ordered by the Lord. First, providence brought
her into the family of Elimelech, who was kinsman of Boaz, and
a family that worshipped the true and the living God. then led her to leave her own
people and her own country and go back a widow with Naomi to
the land of Israel. Say, is he not right? The plain
divine providence of God was her conductor to the field of
Boaz. Nothing is accidental with God,"
unquote. Nothing is luck, nothing is chance,
and nothing is accident. How often is God's providence
brought to pass by a secondary cause that, like Ruth, bringing
one to a saving knowledge of the Lord. Example, one goes to
work and there works with a Christian, meets one who knows the Lord,
who has an influence upon them, who witnesses them of the way
and the things of God. Another marries like Ruth into
a family of godly people, there learns of God and is brought
to a knowledge of Him. I read of a man, a sorry man,
passing the door of a chapel one night, having no intention
of going there, hearing them singing from inside, He turned
in and partook of that service and the Lord smote him in his
heart and therefore made him a believer. I think of Paul cast
in a great shipwreck on the Isle of Melita and it resulted in
preaching the gospel and many there believing. And here a woman
in John 4 comes to draw a bucket of water and is saved. Philip
goes out in the desert, meets a eunuch reading Isaiah, and
declares unto him Christ from that great passage of scripture. Some have gone into a hotel room,
opened a drawer, found a Bible, read it, and their hearts were
chained who had gone there to commit suicide in the first place. I read a while ago, as I told
you, of a very irreligious man who went into a market And he
bought an item from a merchant. And that merchant wrapped that
item in a religious publication, paper. And the man took it home,
and he became interested and read that. And his heart was
turned unto the Lord. I went one to hear a sermon.
I heard one. He went to hear a sermon only
to be critical and to debunk it. But God smote his heart while
there, and the word of the Lord took root. Draupal goes to kill,
only to be struck down by the light and the power of Christ. Zacchaeus draws near out of curiosity,
but the Lord calls him and opens his heart. One begs outside of
a temple for alms. and gets no gold, but he gets
the word of the Lord and finds grace. Now these things call
forth again that God has in Proverbs 19.21, there are many devices
in a man's heart, but the end thereof or the counsel of the
Lord shall stand. Man devises, man plots, man would
try to do this or that, But God often frustrates their scheme,
and later are they thankful that he did. Now I should like to
mention of a few. I mentioned the plot of evil
Haman in the book of Esther, to have Jews killed and Mordecai
put unto death. He plotted their destruction.
He convinced the king that it was a good plan, even constructed
a gallows on which he would hang the Jew Mordecai and continue
his devastation. And yet, you know what changed
all of that? The king lay down one night and he couldn't sleep.
He had insomnia. He couldn't fall asleep. So to
pass the time, he called for the chronicles, the history of
his rule, of his kingdom, and of his reign. And there he read. about a time when Mordecai had
warned him of an attempt on his life and saved the life of a
king. And the king says, what was done
to reward Mordecai? What would you do for the man
that the king desired to reward? And Haman thinks, he's talking
about me. So he says, look, I'd make him
second in command, I'd give him the best horse, I'd dress him
in royal regal, I'd parade him down the street, and I'd make
all people bow unto him. And the king says, good, go do
that to Mordecai. And Haman was hanged upon his
own gallop. You see, the providence of God
is a mighty, mighty thing. The devices of the Jew, for example,
to kill the Lord Jesus Christ, God made them the instruments
of death unto him and the instrument of salvation to many. Their rage fueled by hatred moved
them to kill the Lord of glory, but God raised him from the dead.
God made him Lord and Christ at his very own right hand. Now some think that we paint
ourselves into a corner when we talk like this about the absolute
providence of God, because there are those who will remind us
that, first of all, such a view is to make God the author of
sin, and secondly, what about all the evil bad things that
occur in the life of people? Well, how will we answer such
a charge while we deny with all of our might that this makes
God the author of sin. We are justified in saying that
God will sin, and He directs sin, and ordains certain acts
of sin, for example, Judas' betrayal and the Jews' crucifixion of
our Lord, and makes sin redound unto His glory. He makes the
wrath of man to praise Him. Psalm 76 and verse 10. But He
uses their evil deeds that they might fulfill the will of the
Lord. We could name many from the scripture
this morning, but time will not allow. Now, if Providence does
not extend to those things and those matters, then look where
we are. And yet, they bear their own
guilt and judgment who have done those wicked things that we spoke
about. Now I'd like to make some practical
application and be done this morning. We ought more consider,
I believe, the providence of God. When things come in our
life and upon us and across us, we ought to be able to see his
hand, to recognize his intervention, to meditate upon it and to think
upon it, to acknowledge his rule over all things, and to weigh
all things that come our way by The providence of God. That's hard to do. Let me give
you two examples. Usually I don't use personal
example, but these personally happened to us in our lifetime. You know, we went to Mexico in
76. We drove to Mexico, drove day
and night. We ran out of gas. in the middle
of nowhere. I mean, it was 275 miles from
one gas station to another. We ran out of gas on a narrow
road with no shoulder, weeds that high, and sitting on the
shoulder of the road out of gas. Nine gringos from America. And what did we do? Well, a truck
came by, stopped, we wagged him down. I jumped up on the running
board, hollering, gasolina, gasolina! See, see, see. I went back to
get my truck. He was scared of me and drove
off. Well, here come a guy, stopped, had a gallon of gas in a can
in the trunk of his car and gave it to us, and it made it. That
truck never had got 27 miles to the gallon before, and it
made it on into that town. Me and Mark and Kim and their
family and my wife were in Colorado. We rented a Jeep. plumbed to
the top of the mountain. We did a stupid thing. We got
off of the road because a tree fell and we were going to go
around and got stuck in a little stream of water and we couldn't
move. We worked, we got logs, we pried. Finally, me and Dorothy said,
look, it's going to get dark. It's going to freeze up here
tonight. We're going to walk out and see if we can't find
somebody to give us some help or call somebody. We started
walking. We went about 100 miles. I mean,
sorry, 100 yards. And there was a flatland tourister
like us, parked his Jeep in a waterfall, and he was panning for gold.
He couldn't hear us from the waterfall, and I walked up behind
him and said, hey, sir. He went and threw his pan away,
scared him to death. He had a winch on the front of
that jeep, came down there and pulled us out in five minutes.
Took the jeep back to town, stopped at the filling station to wash
all the moss off the bottom of it. And the guy came out and
said, boy, you're kind of messy. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of wet
up there. He was the guy who owned the Jeep. So we were washing
the Jeep in front of him. But those things were, to us,
providence of God. What would we have done otherwise?
Thank God for his providence. And I think we ought to be in
comforted closing. with the comforting by the providence
of God, that nothing falls out by chance. There are no accidents.
It's not just luck. It's not blind fate. It's the
hand of God. And even when he leads us in
a rough way, as hard as it is, It is the providence of God. Unpleasant providence sometimes
comes our way, and we groan and moan and worry about it, and
yet God in the end fixes it. Yes, the lot is cast into the
lap. The disposing thereof is of the
Lord. Forgive me those silly little
stories, but they actually happened. And even those things we consider
to be the help of God.