And I want you to look at two
verses, verses 15 and 16. Now the Lord had told Samuel
in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, Tomorrow, about
this time, I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin,
and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel. that he may save my people out
of the hand of the Philistines for I have looked upon my people
because their cry has come unto me. I want to talk about God's
foreknowledge and providence. God's foreknowledge and providence.
I wrote this down today from the 1689 Baptist Confession and
this is what it says, God the creator of all things in His
infinite power and wisdom, does uphold, direct, and govern all
creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least. And
He does this by His most wise and holy providence, to the end
for which they were created, according unto His infallible
foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own
will. to the praise of the glory of
His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy. And here
we have a perfect illustration of God showing us how according
to His own foreknowledge and His immutable counsel of His
own will, His foreknowledge and His providence is clearly seen
in Him calling Saul to be the king and Here's the thing that
God's working and when he works, you don't know it's worked until
the works done Now ain't that right he works and
he's working everything out according to his will the counsel of his
own will and And by His immutable counsel, based strictly on His
holiness and His wisdom and His righteousness, infinite in all
that they are. Now God's invisible hand, that's
the first point of what's this, God's invisible hand raising
up Saul to be king. We've already seen Saul's family.
He's the son of Kish, Benjamite. And it says in verse 2 that he
was a choice young man, goodly. And out of all the children of
Israel, there was not a handsomer man, a more goodly a person,
a more striking man than he was. From his shoulders and upward,
he was higher than anybody else in all of Israel. So I mean out
of the outward appearance, he looked good. He looked great. And then it says that his father
lost some donkeys. And he told his son, said, go
find them donkeys. You take a servant with you and
go find them. And you know, to them, it was just another day.
You know, some donkeys got out. They didn't know where they got
out, but they know they was gone. And so they sent Saul and his
servant the way they went to find those donkeys. Now that
seems so insignificant. But when you follow this story,
this story ends up, he's looking for these donkeys. He can't find
these donkeys. And he never does find these
donkeys until Samuel tells him where they are. And this is what
I'm saying is that nothing common or insignificant is insignificant
to God. It means it's significant to
them. They're out looking for donkeys.
But he used those hunting him donkeys as the means to accomplish
his purpose for Israel to have a king. He didn't even know that
Samuel existed. He's out looking for donkeys
and God keeps directing him and keeps directing him until He
gets to where Samuel is. And they were on a mission to
find the donkeys. But it was doomed to fail. You
know why? Because he had to be at a certain
place at a certain time to have a certain thing done. And he
didn't know this. He didn't know this. And it says
there in verse 5, they traveled a long, long distance. They went
through all these different, went through Ephraim, Shalem,
Shalasha, they passed through everything and they didn't find
him. And they were come to the place where Samuel was. And he was worried about going
back and taking his father. And the man says, nope, there's
a man of God over here in the city. Over here in the city. Traveled a long distance to come
where Samuel lived. And down in verse 10, it says
this, that he said, let us come. So they went under the city where
the man of God was. Now, how in the world did they
go and find donkeys end up in the city where the man of God
was? They didn't start out there looking
for donkeys. They weren't looking for a preacher. They're looking
for donkeys. He didn't know he was going to
be king. He didn't know anything was going on. He was looking
for donkeys to tie. He said, but listen, there's
a man of God that can help us. And oh my. And they arrive, and
you're talking about an amazing instance of God's, another instance
of God's amazing providence. They entered into the city at
the same time, precisely the same time that Samuel came into
the city. You know, and he says there in
verse 11, and they went up to the city. And they said, is the
seer here? That's what they called him.
The prophet they did before time, they called that was a prophet,
it was a seer. And they said, he is. He's here. And look what it said, and he
came here today to this city. And if you hurry up, you'll get
it. He's fixing to go up to the high
place and offer sacrifice and have a feast up there. And they're on their way and
Samuel's going one way and they're coming this way. They meet head
on. They meet head on. Now how in the world would the
prophet and Saul end up at the same time? at precisely the same
place and run into one another. Huh? Oh, hurry up! He came into
the city today. And this is the wisdom of God's
way. I tell you, they just pass finding out. Absolutely pass
finding out. You know how many times, just
like the woman at the well. She just went out that morning
to draw water. Just went to draw water. And
what happened when she went to draw water? The Lord Jesus Christ
was there. This happens all the way through
the scriptures. God has somebody that He's going
to use for something. And He brings that person and
the right person together at the same time. And beloved, when
God brings people together in His time and His place. And I'll
tell you something, everything on this earth, listen to me,
everything on this earth, not just in our lives, but everybody
else's lives is ordered by God Himself. You ever sit in the fall and
the sun coming through the window and dust mites get in the air
and you watch them dust mites through the air, you know, and
New World States coming through there? Them's God's dust mites. He put them there. You say, that's
dope. If God's not running everything,
He's running nothing. And oh my, here's God's ways
of pass finding out. If they had come a day before,
too early, they wouldn't have met Samuel. If they had come
a day late, they wouldn't have met Samuel. But they both arrive
at the same time. And look what it says there in
verse 15. God had already told Samuel the day before, the Saul's
coming. Saul did not know he was coming,
but God knew he was coming. God told the Lord Jesus Christ,
that is who is speaking to him now. Now the Lord told Samuel
the day before, tomorrow, at this time, I am going to send
you a man. He is going to come out of the
land of Benjamin over here. And you know what you're going
to do for him? He don't know it yet, but you're going to anoint
him captain. You're going to anoint him king
over my people. And I'll tell you what, God told
him the day before that he's going to arrive in the time he'll
be there. And all these events are happening by God's sovereign
direction. God's omniscience displays His
eternal decree. He declared the end from the
beginning and from ancient times of things that are not yet done
saying all, all my counsel is going to stand. He said He works
all things after the counsel of His own will. Do you see the article I put
in the paper this week you know it's the Bible teach election? And it's not based on God's foreknowledge
of what we're going to do and how we're going to act or how
we're going to react. God is electing His sovereign
salvation is directed by God Himself for those given to Christ
before the foundation of the world. And just like He directs
these two men to come to the same place at the same time,
God's working out His sovereign direction. They're moving by
what God says for them to do. And God was revealing to Samuel
what he had determined to do in eternity. God don't make,
people think, listen, God don't make decisions in time. He don't
make decisions like we do. He don't make decisions based
on time. He'll ever decree he had started
in eternity. And oh my! So He revealed to
Samuel what He had determined to in eternity. And God reveals
His secrets in His Word. And everything else remains a
mystery to us as God works out His purpose in our life. Look
over here in Deuteronomy 29. Deuteronomy 29. You know, God reveals His secrets
to us. He did it. And He does it in
His Word. You know, that's what he told,
he told, Paul told the Corinthians. He says, you know, God's, God's
work, God's will, and God's, he prepared this before, afore,
under glory. And he says, you know, he had
hid these things, hid these things. But he hath revealed unto us,
I said, I haven't seen, the ear hasn't heard, but he hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit, yea, the deep things of God. You know, the deep things of
God, I tell you, the deep things of God is the fact that we know
He's God. He's not a pretender. You know
how many people don't know God? You know how many people don't
know God? They know something about a God. They know He's got no power but
theirs. He's got no will but theirs.
He has to give men a chance. Their God can be manipulated. But the God of the Bible, He
directs the steps of man. Because it's not in man to direct
his own steps. God directs His steps. We think
we're going somewhere because we will to do it and that's where
we want to go. But I'm telling you, God's directing us that
way. And look what he said here in
Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God. Now that means, beloved, what
He's got willed for you and me, we don't know it until it happens.
But the things which are revealed are belong unto us and to our
children, that we may do all the words of His law, of His
word. And all this and everything else
remains to us a mystery. I don't know what God's prepared
for me. I've been reading about a bunch of men, preachers in
times past, and it gives you the year they're born and the
year they die. And then some of the most greatest
preachers that God ever raised up, they never got to preach
no more than 10 or 12 years. And God blessed them greatly
in those 10 or 12 years. And so I mean, you know, we don't
know what God's will is and God's purpose is, but I do know this.
I do know this, that He is sovereign and He'll direct my steps and
direct your steps, and I thank God that He does. You know, when
I directed my own steps, you know where it took me? It took me right down into the
brink of hell itself. It took me in the paths of sin,
the paths of darkness. And the only reason in the world
that I was brought to the light was God's sovereign direction. To cause me to cross paths with
the preacher and the preacher be there at the same time I was
to tell me the truth. And that was no accident. I just
didn't happen to go to this. Well, this one day I just didn't.
I didn't get up and say, well, I'm going to find me a preacher
to tell me the truth. That's not the way it happens. Oh, my. And God carries out. This is what I love about it.
Here's Samuel. Here's his servant. And here's
Saul. God carries out his decree. and
his sovereign will without the man, the will of man being infringed
upon. God does not. God does not cause
these men to do anything they wouldn't normally do. Both Saul
and Samuel were doing just what they wanted to do. Saul was out
looking for donkeys. Nobody was coercing him to go
this way, that way, with the way he wanted to go. He went
just exactly where he wanted to go. But he ended up where
God wanted him to. And Samuel went just to use up
there to do what he always do to offer sacrifices and bless
the sacrifice and have a big feast for the people that were
invited. And neither one of them was new of God's invisible hand. Oh, here's Saul, he's a faithful
son. Was searching for donkeys. Chose his direction. Everything
that he did was an act of his own will. He decided to go see
the seer and seek him out. Samuel planned to go to the city
to bless the sacrifice and share a meal. And every decision that
they made served to fulfill the purpose of God. Every decision
they made. Ain't that right? Now you take
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. God didn't make Judas the way
he was. Judas was born the way he was.
God just didn't give him a new heart. He was a thief from the
beginning. God never made those Pharisees
hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They hated him by nature. And
everything they did toward the Lord Jesus Christ and everything
involved in his death was done, those men done exactly what they
wanted to do, what it was in their nature to do. But at the
same time, they were absolutely fulfilling the will and purpose
of God. Let me show you that. Over, look
over here in Acts 4. Acts chapter 4. Here's a, you know, in Acts
2 it says this. Him being delivered. Delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You! You
did this. God delivered him up, but you
crucified him with wicked hands. But in Acts chapter 4, and look
here in verse 27. Now, excuse me, verse 25. This is Peter praying now. Who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people
imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ. That was from the Old Testament.
Now listen to what he says, For of a truth against thy holy child
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.
Now listen to this, For to do whatsoever thy hand and counsel
determined before to be done. It says over there, John, it
says they left them, they said, we will. They said they left
him to the pilot, left him to their will. And look what their
will done. And Pharaoh, Pharaoh done exactly
what he was going to do. He was not going to let Israel
go. I will not let Israel go. They're not going to go. And you know what the New Testament
says about him? It said, Pharaoh, there's only
one reason you sat on the throne that time. That I might show
my power in you and let you know who's running this world. And
that I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And whom I will,
I'll harden. I had mercy on my people and
hardened you. And everything that happened,
the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, and he turneth with
us wherever he will, as the rivers of water." You know, we see our
presidents and these senators, and they just got them going,
they're just like that all the time. But you know, every one of their
hearts is in the hands of the Lord. You know what? Listen, they'll be here, they'll
be gone, there'll be somebody else. They'll be here, they'll
be gone, there'll be somebody else. But God raises men up for one reason. To let folks know, I run this
world. And God works in such a way.
Now listen to me. God works in such a way that
we actually believe the idea and decisions originate in us. He works in such a way that we
actually believe that our decisions work in us. This is an amazing
thing. He gave me faith and then he
says it's as if I myself had it to start with. And he says
it's my faith. And I tell you what, 1 Samuel,
we saw that last week, that you know, He kills and He makes alive.
He makes rich and He makes poor. He raises the poor out of the
dust and out of the dunghill, sets them among princes. And
here's the thing, you know, we've seen lots of inventions. Lots
of inventions. Just a few years ago, cell phones
wasn't heard of. Computers wasn't heard of. And
now, everybody and their sons got one. And you know there's
medicines coming all the time, all the time medicines coming.
And God, every idea and every invention that man makes in this
world, they get all the praise, they get all the glory, but God
is the one that makes them the ability to do what they do. And
they're going to face Him. You take a man like Bill Gates.
with all his windows and all his Microsoft and all that. He
thinks that's his idea. That wasn't his idea. That's
God's idea. He meant to have computers before
men ever got in this world. Now I'm telling you, that's true.
And iPhones, we all got iPhones? God determined for us to have
iPhones so we can contact one another. And medicines, oh the
medicines, thank God for medicines. Wouldn't you hate to have an
operation without some kind of a pain pill? And just because men take things
and abuse the blessings that God gives, that does not lessen
the fact that God is the author of everything in this world.
And that Steve Jobs who invented the iPhone, he said, boy, look
what I've done. And you know, God said, no, look
what I've done. When he faces God, look what
I've done. That's what's going to happen. Huh? Oh my. And all these things,
I'm telling you the truth, all these things were decreed from
eternity. There's nothing new under the sun. But let me give
you this right here. There's no greater place that
God's foreknowledge and providence is seen more than in the salvation
of a sinner. Salvation of a sinner. And God
works out his redemptive purpose. History is his story. And that's what he told him.
He said there in verse 16, you're going to anoint him to be captain
over my people. And here's what he said. And
listen to this now. He said, you're going to be captain
over my Israel, my people, that he may save my people. This was
a temporary thing that God said. He said, I want you to save my
people. And then he said, I looked upon my people. I've regarded
my people because their cry has come unto me. Now they, and here's
what God's doing here, He says, I'm raising you up just to save
my people, nobody else's people. And God was revealing His rich
mercy for His people. But this was just a shadow. Their
salvation is temporal, from a temporal people. But there is an eternal
redemption. King that God set up a lamb that
God set up from before the foundation of the world as an eternal redemption
And that eternal purpose that he had in his blessed son before
the world ever began And I tell you beloved our salvation
was God's will and it was decreed by God and worked out in us by
his providence You know when God started loving
us I from eternity. You know when God elected us?
In Christ before the foundation of the world. You know when Christ
was ordained to be our Savior? Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And you know who He came to die
for at the appointed time? For those that the Father gave
Him. He chose us in Christ and it tells us in Him we have an
eternal inheritance. Everything God does for us is
based on eternity. And here's the most wonderful
thing about it. God works unseen in bringing
a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. You didn't know and I didn't
know that what He was doing was bringing us to Christ when He
brought us unto the sound of the Gospel. We just, you know,
what happens is he brings a sinner and he brings a man with a message
and by his sovereign mercy, he brings those two together at
the same time. A man or a woman, they don't
know. They're just there. They come and they don't know
what's going on. And all of a sudden, he begins
to use his word. And he begins to open the heart
to attend to what's being heard. Paul didn't know when he went
down to the riverside that day that he was going to meet Lydia.
And Lydia didn't know he was going to meet Paul. That's the way God does things.
You know why he does it like that? So he gets all the glory. He said, oh listen, I know where
some sinners are. I'm going to go hunt them out
and I'm going to preach to them. God brings people together and that's
what he says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved But how shall they call on him of whom they
have not heard or how should they believe in him of whom they
have not heard? How they should call on him whom
they have not believed and believe in him of whom they have not
heard And how shall they hear without a preacher? And so he providentially brings
the sinner and the preacher together and here's the amazing thing
that we come and we listen and we're moved and God saves us
by His grace but we think it's something that we're doing and
yet it's God who's working in us to do His will and pleasure
at the same time. Oh how He wondrously works in
our lives in this great, great salvation. Did you ever felt
like God was forcing you to do anything? Did you ever, when
God saved you and started bringing you to Himself, did He force
you to do anything? Huh? We all came joyously believing. But you know why we came joyfully
believing? Because He, in His sovereign
will and purpose, put forth such a power an irresistible power,
an irresistible call that we could not do anything but come
unto Him. And that's why He says here,
that's why He says here, listen, I've looked upon my people because
their cries come unto me. God didn't change His purpose
because of their cry. He never anointed a king over
them because of their cry. No, He brought the affliction
upon them and ordained them to cry to ordain
their salvation by this king. And God caused us to cry out
and caused us to come willingly, joyfully, gladly. But at the
same time, now just like me, I'm here tonight because I will
to be. I want to be here. God did not
make me come here. But I'm sure glad that He put
in my heart to will. Ain't you? To will and do. And what? His good pleasure. That's what we're here for. We're
here because of His will and His pleasure. And that just,
bless His holy name, huh? Don't He work? And listen, we
don't know what He's doing with anybody. We don't know what He's
doing with anybody, but I do know this, that He's always working. He's always working. And He'll
bring a sinner and a preacher together at the same time. He
always does it that way. Always does it that way. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior.
Oh, great and glorious God in heaven. Thank you for your sovereign
will and power and pleasure. Thank you for your foreknowledge.
Thank you for your providence. Thank you for your decrees. Oh,
Lord, there was a time we didn't know any of these things. These
were secrets. And you've revealed them unto
us. You revealed unto us what you've
hid from so many people in this world. You took the scales off
our eyes, the veil off our hearts, the
veil off our minds. And Lord, we see, oh, we see,
we see you high and holy and lifted up. We see your will being
done and we rejoice in it. We praise you for it and thank
you for it. And thank you. Thank you, Lord
Jesus. When we didn't know what was
going on, you were bringing us to yourself and began to teach
us these wonderful, blessed truths. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Bless
your holy name. Bless these dear saints and bless
these children of God. As they go their way, see them
safely home. Give them a good night's rest.
And Lord, bless all of our times together when we have times to
be together. We thank you in Christ's name.
Amen. I'm leaning on Jesus. Oh, start that way too low. Don't forget to come