All right, I'm going to talk
tonight about God's providence, God's blessed, blessed providence.
I read this first 24 verses of Psalm 104 here, and it shows
how God made the world, how He runs things that's in the world,
how that He sent the flood and caused the water to go back off
the flood, how He takes care of man, He gives wine for him,
gives oil and bread. and how he takes care of the
birds, and how he takes care of the wild goats, and the cones,
and he appoints the moon for his seasons, and the dark, and
the sun, and man goes forth to his labor. And all these things
show us that God is in control, and is taking care of his earth
and the people that's in it, everything that's in it. And
so in creation, and why I go to Providence now is because
God created In creation, God brought into existence something
that never existed before. He brought into existence things
that light didn't exist, He called it into existence. Moon didn't
exist, He called it into existence. Trees didn't exist, He called
them into existence. Animals didn't exist, He called
them into existence. Man didn't exist, He created
him. And so God, in creation, brought
into existence some things that had never existed before. So
the question arises, then, how will creation continue? How will
it continue? Who will see that creation doesn't
cease? Who will see that things will
just stop beating? You know, will creation cease
to be? And some people think that it
will be. But now listen, some people believe
that God made the world. I can see all right. I can get
through this. Don't you all worry about it. And if the light flicks
off and on, we'll be okay. But some believe that God made
like a watchmaker. He made the world. Wound it up
like a watch. Set all the laws in motion. Set
all the laws and principles that needs to run the world. Then
he wound it all up. He set it down. He walked off
and leaves it alone. Now, personally, that's the most
ridiculous thing in the world. That God would make a man and
then not have any control over him, wouldn't provide for him.
That God would make a world and would not take care of it. You know how long the world and
the universe would exist had not God upheld it? Had not God
provided for it? Had not God met the needs of
it? You know, William Cowper says
this, God moves in mysterious ways, he has wonder to perform.
And indeed he does, and that's what David said here, he said,
God, he said here, he said, O Lord, how manifold are thy works, and
wisdom hast thou made them, all the earth is full of thy riches. Now the Bible clearly, clearly
teaches us that God himself controls all things that's in this world.
Now, I'm not talking about predestination. I'm not talking about foreknowledge,
that God himself is involved, involved in acting actively,
running this world and everything that's in it. He's actively involved. He's actively involved in our
lives. He's actively involved in this
world. And that's what providence is
about, is God's government, God's action, God controlling, God
meeting the needs of the creation that He's made. Let me look over
here at Psalm 103 and verse 19, if you can see it. It's talking about God and how
He rules this world. The Lord hath prepared His throne
in the heavens, and what's this? His kingdom ruleth over all. Let me give you a couple of reasons
why we believe in God's blessed divine providence, then we'll
get into it. First of all, prophecy. You take prophecy. It proves
the providence of God. How can a prophet predict something
that's going to happen hundreds of years later? That's down to
the minutest detail. And then, if God did not control
the events, and control the actions of men, and control the things
that happen up to get that particular prophecy to come to pass. Who
does it then? You see what I'm saying? It's
just like Cyrus. God named a king named Cyrus,
and he never come into existence for almost 500 years. And God
told his name and said what he'd do. God talked about Christ going
down into Egypt. Well, how are these mothers going
to get through? They're poor people. When they took Christ
dedicating that to the law, they took the two little old pigeons
up there. They had no money. How are they
going to afford to go down into Egypt? Well, God sent three wise
men with gold and silver and all kinds of wealth and gave
them to Christ and laid them at His feet so they had money
to go down into Egypt. Now they walked off and left
this world. Huh? And secondly, if God's mighty
control in His providence, why pray? Why pray? Why pray to God for health? Why pray to Him for when you're
sick? Why pray to Him for salvation?
Why pray to Him for rain when you haven't had any rain? Why
pray to God to meet the needs of His people? Well, do you know,
if God in providence is not going to meet the needs of His people,
we say, Lord, You please watch over them. And Daryl prayed and
said, Lord, You know our down setting and our uprising. You
know everything about us. He said He numbers the hairs
of our head. That's how involved He is in
our life and how involved He is in this world. And oh, beloved,
in providence, let me define it for you, providence is God
continuing His creation. In the creation, the Creator
upholds His creatures. He directs and all the affairs
of everything that goes on in this world to the minutest detail. And I'm telling you, if He does
not do that, there'd be something out there that would destroy
me and you. You let God take His hand off of you. Let Him take His hand off of
you and say, I'm just going to leave them to the world and to
the diseases and to the devil and to their flesh, to their
thoughts, to their will. I'm going to leave them alone.
You know what it'd be like on earth right now? It'd be the survival of the fittest.
There certainly would be any place where you could hear the
gospel. And oh, I tell you, ain't you grateful that God's running
this world? The first thing I want to say about God's providence
is how He preserves everything in preservation. Why do things
continue as they do? Because God preserves them. God preserves them. Why does
the sun come up every morning and go down every night? Why
do you get up every morning still in your right mind and go to
bed at night and get a nice rest? And so, you see, God preserves
everything. That's what He does. He says,
you know, it's by Him we live, move, and have our being. He's
the one that preserves us. He's the one that keeps us. It's
by Him all things consist. I mean, everything that's consistent
right now, holding together right now, Christ, it says, by Him
all things consist. Hebrews 1, verse 3 says this,
He upholds the worlds by the word of His power. You know how
many worlds are in this world that we're in? Oh, lots of worlds
in this world. How many times we say that person
there is in their own world. And that's one world that people
have. They have their own. But yet you've got the world.
You've got the world of the sea, the world of the angels, the
world of the sun, the moon, the stars. You've got the world of
the earth, the world of minerals, the world of animals, the world
of science. I mean, go on and on and on.
And you have these worlds. And He upholds all of them by
the Word of His power. And I'll tell you, I know this,
that nothing in the universe would continue if God were not
upholding it. There wouldn't be no seasons,
there wouldn't be no sun, there wouldn't be no stars. And I'll
tell you, I'm not sure what anybody says, this world is going to
continue. It has an end, it has a purpose,
it has an object, and there ain't no man-made disaster going to
destroy this world and what's in it. This is God's Word. It ain't going to get so hot
that it's going to melt all the ice caps. It ain't going to get
so cold that we're all going to freeze to death. There ain't
going to be no road. The oceans ain't going to dry
up, and the oceans ain't going to cover the air. God said He
set the bounds of it. Is that not right? Not only does
He preserve things, but He governs everything by His promise. What
I just read to you there, said, His thrones in the heavens, and
His kingdom ruleth over all. And all said, Let the earth rejoice,
for the Lord reigns. Let's go over to Daniel with
me, chapter 4. Maybe you can see it. Daniel chapter 4. Let's look at this a minute.
Here's a perfect scripture about God governing the world. Raising
up nations, setting down nations. Daniel chapter 4, verse 34. You all ought to know this one.
Most of you could probably quote it right now. You know, he says
the nations are as a drop in the bucket, as the small dust
of the balance. That's how easy it is for him
to control this world, don't it? Oh, this nation's a great
nation. God says it's a drop in the bucket. Boy, take all
the nations, and boy, they just, oh, who's going to run them?
Who's going to control them? Who's going to take care of them? Who's
going to feed them? Who's going to raise them up? Who's going
to set them down? Who's going to preserve nations? Who's going
to keep a man on the throne? Who's going to take a man off
the throne? And all of these nations, they're
just a drop in the bucket. Just small dust in the balance.
Look here in Daniel 4.34, look what it says. And at the end of the days, this
is after God put him out to pasture. And Nebuchadnezzar lifted up
mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him
that liveth forever, whose dominion," listen to it, "...whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And 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 none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? Does that sound like somebody
that's controlling this world? And I say, beloved, there's an
end. God has an end of creation, a purpose in it, an object in
it. And he made it to govern it, to rule it, to let everybody
know that he's the one running this outfit. And I'm so thankful
that I know he does. You know, you can get awful discouraged,
you can get awful disappointed, you can get awful frustrated,
you can get awful fearful, get awful anxious when you start
thinking about what goes on in the world, when you get thinking
about the political realm and the religious realm and the false
gospels and the lying politicians and all the manipulation and
all the things that goes on. You can get so discouraged and
so distressed and just get in a nonplussed condition. Well,
when that happens to you, where do you go? What do you do? You
fall back on God and say, Lord, this is your world. This is your
world. There ain't nobody running anything
that you didn't put them where they're at. There ain't nobody
got any power except what you gave them. There ain't nobody
got any sense except what you gave them. There ain't nobody
tell them a lie except, beloved, what God said He knowed them.
Tell them before you ever done it. Oh, and let me tell you something
else about God's providence. Not only does He preserve this
creation and everything in it, not only does He govern it all,
His dominion is from everlasting, but, beloved, He uses nature
He uses man's will. He uses the things that you and
I would consider second causes or things that absolutely have
no power, no will in them. But oh my, God works with second
and uses second causes. Oh my, how many times does He
do that? Everything that happens has a cause. Everything that
happens has a cause. And certain things lead to certain
other things. And that's why, you know, when
you start talking about this cause leads to this cause leads
to this cause, and you go all the way to the end and you get
to the consequence. Well, that's what it's talking about. Man
starts some action and God even uses it. He says he causes the
wrath of man to praise him. And you take all the things
that happened down through history, you know, like what they've done
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said he was delivered by the
term of the counsel of God. But he says, but you, with wicked
hands, crucified him and slain him. Did God know that was going
to do it? Did God use those men and their
wills to accomplish His will? Did He use nature at that event
to cause the sun to go out? The rocks to rent? So you see,
beloved, and that's why He says He causes the rain. to follow
the just and the unjust. I mean, he uses good men and
evil men. And people thank nature. They call her Mother Nature. Nature's mad. Nature's angry. Nature's showing
its teeth. Nature's about to burn us up.
Nature's about to freeze us to death. Nature's about to flood
us. Nature's about to turn the world upside down. Nature ain't
got no power. God's the God of nature. He's
the one that controls. It don't operate alone. Nothing's independent of God. Ain't that what he said? He causes
a spring to come up on a mountainside and you don't have a clue where
it's at. But the deer knows where it's at. The rabbit knows where
it's at. The foxes knows where it's at. They know where it's at. And he takes care of all these
things. And you know, we can't see, but
I'll tell you this. Over in John, chapter 11, you
look up when you get home. Here's how God uses second causes.
He uses men. You get down and the priest and
the Pharisees, they got together. He says, you know, if we don't
do something with this man, the whole world's going to follow
after him. And he's going to be the king. They're going to
make him king. And what's going to happen is that there's going
to be an insurrection, and Rome will come and take away our nation.
Take away everything from us. And Oannis the Caiaphas, the
high priest that year, you know what he said? He said, why, it's
expedient. It's expedient, it's profitable
that one should die for this nation. And not only for this
nation, but for God's people throughout all the world. And
this he's fake, signifying the death of Christ. And he did not
have a clue what he was talking about. He did not have a clue
that he was talking about Christ. He said, oh, it's expedient that
he die for our nation, to save our nation. And not only our nation, but
his people everywhere, so that they'll be able to, Rome won't
destroy us. Rome won't say that somebody's
enthroned an insurrection here. And he did not know that that's
exactly what happened, that Christ, he prophesied of the death of
Christ. He prophesied that Christ would save a nation, all of his
elect people. He prophesied that he'd save
them all over the world, and he did not have a clue that God
was using his mouth. Ain't that right? They were doing exactly what
they wanted to do. And Judas, Scripture says that
Christ was going to be sold. And he was going to be sold by
a familiar friend. God said, oh, where's 30 pieces
of silver? They'll give that to you if you'll
go to church. He done just exactly what he wanted to do, but he
used him as a second cause to deliver his son up into the hands
of those wicked men. Oh, my God, it's amazing. And you start thinking about
how God, how he's involved in this world and the things that
goes on in it. And ah, beloved, listen, not only that, but There's
a general providence and a special providence. The general providence
is that God works, this whole universe is being controlled
and governed by God. He not only made it, but He keeps
it going. He keeps controlling it. And
then there's special providence. That means that God cares for
His earth, His creatures, and man. Ephesians 1.11 says that
He works all things. All works, all things, after
the counsel of His own will. And you know, talking about providence,
you take Romans 8.28, for God, the scripture says, thank you,
buddy, appreciate that, that God works all things after the
counsel of His own will. But Romans 8.28, you're talking
about providence. When He says all things work
together for good to them, That love God to the called according
to His purpose, that's God's providence, caring for us from
the day we're born to the day we leave this world. Everything's
working, everything's working in our lives to get us to the
place where God will take us finally to glory. From the day
we're born, that's why Paul said, would it please God who separated
me from my mother's womb? Jeremiah said, before you was
formed in the belly, I knew you. Oh, the route that he takes to
get his people to himself. That he controls the rivers,
the streams, the oceans. I just read it to you there.
And oh, he says, you know that the birds. Dr. Hicks cured the
birds even. He said the birds need the soul
to read. But your Heavenly Father cares for them. And if He cares
for them, what do you think He's going to do for you? That's what
our Lord said, didn't He? He provides for them. He said,
there's not a sparrow that falls to the ground without His knowledge. Well, I'll just lay that thing
right there then. We don't need no strobe lights.
There we go. All right. And oh, beloved, God
controls the existence of all people, evil as well as good. And you know, over Isaiah 45,
you can look at this too. But God said, I am God, and beside
me there is none else. He said, I create the light,
and I create the darkness. I create the good, and I create
the evil. Ain't that what He said? And
oh, why? And that's what He meant when
He says, you know, He causes the rain to fall on the just
and the unjust. He takes care of people that
despise Him, hate Him, reject Him, deny Him. Cussing, use his
name in vain, but they get their guards reined on just as well
as you that know the Lord. Their corn tastes as good to
them as it does to you that know the Lord. Ain't that right? And all his special providence,
especially for his elect. How he took care of his elect,
like Noah. I'm not going to get any people saved. There's a flood
coming. They'll build an ark. And I'll get in it with them.
Come thy end of the ark. Abraham, heathen man, how's he
going to protect him and provide for him? He's been known to lie. He's been known to go down into
Egypt because he's scared to death he's going to starve to
death. He even had his wife, you know, to say that she was
his sister to keep another man from hurting him, killing him.
And then God turned around and says, you know, you're going
to have to get Abraham to pray for you, Abimelech, because I
kept you back and sinning against me and taking his wife. He said,
Oh! And Abraham, who done the lying
because he was afraid of his death, he had to be the one to
pray for a pimple. Oh my, God's providence is incredible. What about Jacob? He spent years
and years and years wandering here and yonder, taking care
of his father-in-law's cattle, and he just got wealthier and
wealthier and wealthier, manipulating things. And yet God blessed him. God called him Israel, changed
his name, protected him, kept him. And Joseph, God sent him
down into Egypt. And his brothers got down there
and found him, and they found out who he was. And he says,
don't be afraid. Oh, you've been it for evil,
but God meant it for good. God sent me ahead of you that
you might be saved. Oh, my brother, how God cares
for his own. Lot, he wasn't going to leave
Sodom. He wasn't going to leave his
wife and his daughters and his sons. God told him he was going
to destroy this thing, and he wasn't going to leave. What happened?
Well, the angel of the Lord went down and got him by the hand,
and the Scripture says they brought him out. Brought him out. Now,
that's what God does. He goes down and gets His people
wherever they are, and He'll get them by the hand, and He'll
bring them from where they are. He's not going to let them stay
inside of Him. And Saul became Paul. And look at that storm
that he was in on that ship. Fourteen days he didn't see a
sun, the moon, the stars, nothing. Storms and rain, storms and rain,
storms and rain. They didn't know where they was.
They didn't have a sail left on that ship. Throwed everything
overboard. And then all of a sudden, God
says, Paul, I'm going to save you and everybody on this ship.
Those fellows said, that's the craziest thing that ever was.
And they start jumping. One fellow jumps overboard. He
said, you won't be saved. You've got to stay on the ship.
You've got to stay on the ship. If you're going to be saved,
you're going to be saved God's way. And sure enough, he saved
everybody on that ship. And what about Elijah? Fed by a raven. Sits down by
Brookseed Run. Sits down there and he's thirsty
and hungry. God took him down there. He had
water. What am I going to eat? Everybody in Israel was after
him. Jezebel, Ahab, they was all after him, wanted to kill
him. Here comes an old raven. Takes some bread, lays it down,
flies away. Brings some more bread, lays
it down, flies away. Brings some more, lays it down,
flies away. And oh my, what about the Red
Sea? Oh, how God protects these people.
I'm having a time here with this. I get it. And oh, not only that,
but He governs the fires of nations, raises up kings, made of one
nation, all blood, and set the bounds of them. And the Scripture
says this, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and
he turneth it with every will. Proverbs 16, verse 4 says that
the Lord made the wicked for himself, yea, even for the day
of destruction. That's what the scriptures say.
And he even governs a man's birth, and he governs his lot in life.
All you've got to do is go through the scriptures. And look at how
many people. Samson, he said, we're told when
Samson would be born, told when Isaac would be born, told when Saul would be born.
That's why Paul says, you know, he separated me from my mother's
womb. Jeremiah knew him in his mother's belly. And God's providence
determines, and let me tell you this, God's providence determines
the outward successes and failures of human life. I'm going to read
you that over here in Psalm 75. I want you to read that. You
know, Psalm 75. My boy. I got it. I got it. Psalm 75. I'll read it to you. Remember,
Tim, we was in a conference one time. This place was full of
people. Lights went out and Tim James
had to preach. Remember that? Psalm 75 and verse
6, talking about God's providence, he determines the successes and
failures and lots in men's lives. For promotion cometh neither
from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is
the judge. He put it down one and sent it
up another. If you have any success, it's God that gives it to you.
And if you have failure at anything, it's God that brings it about.
And I tell you, he'll supply all of our needs. He says he'll
supply your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ
Jesus. And, oh beloved, his providence is seen in all the miracles that
he performs. All the miracles that he performs.
He looks, he performs, you know, God is so involved in this world
that he performs miracles. And you talk about working supernaturally.
Then you are evidences of God's providence. of his supernatural
miracle work and power of being involved in people's lives. Just
as Christ performed miracles, as God performed miracles in
the Old Testament, causing folks to go through the Red Sea on
dry land, causing Moses to throw down his rod, and he comes back
a snake, told him to put his hands in his bosom. He called
it back out, and it was leprosy. Put it back in there, and it
brings it back out. It's clean. And people, that's one reason
why they can't believe the Bible, they can't believe in miracles,
in the supernatural. But everything that meant miracle
Christ performed, it was telling us about some spiritual truth. And even in the Old Testament,
the sun stood still while he was having a battle one day,
so to take it when. It went back ten degrees one
time because a person said, Lord, how do I know I'm for you? It
caused the sun to go back ten degrees. And it didn't rain for
three years. People were starving to death.
But God had one widow that He was going to feed. And He used
one widow to feed His prophet. And for three years, He ate out
of that meal barrel. And then when it was over and
done with, rain came again. So beloved, like Jonah in the
well, People say, that can't be. Well, it cannot be. It cannot not be. Not only did
Jonah learn that God's providence is in the deep and that God controls
everything when he tried to hide from God. But God, his throat
in the sea was caught in that fish, that whale's belly. And
not only that, but God was in such control that he had that
whale to spit him out on dry land. Now that's how he controlled
him. He had such control over that
that he sent a storm. Everybody got scared to death.
Throw him overboard. Had a great fish there. Swallowed
him whole. And down in there he found out,
oh, listen, salvation's of the Lord. God's running this show,
not me. And then God took him and had
that whale come up and spit him out on dry land. And then he
went to preaching. You're talking about providence.
God governing, controlling, and taking care of His... And I'll
tell you again, if He takes care of the sparrows, how much more
worth are you than sparrows, our Lord said? How much more worth is you? He
says, you know, He numbers the hairs of your head. That's how
He watches over you. As the Father pities His children,
even so the Lord pities them that pity Him. And David said
this. He said, I'll lay me down in
sleep, for the Lord shall keep them in peace and safety, and
keep from destruction them that fear him. And I bless his name
for that, don't you? For his glorious providence.
Well, we got through it. We got through it.