I don't do this very often, but
I'm going to quote a guy here, a couple of things from him. Not necessarily to put validity
on what we're talking about, but I wanted to read this because
For one, I think his definitions are correct. Second, and biblical,
but also to show that this brother, I believe he's a brother, this
brother obviously understood the scriptural teaching of God
and who God is in his sovereignty and his predestination of all
things. And it's a guy that probably
you wouldn't think. But I wanted to look at something
this morning. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
6. I want to start reading in Matthew
chapter 6. I want to start reading in verse
25 here in a minute. What I'd like to, maybe if the
Lord allows this morning, I would like to put forth to you, and
I mentioned that I wanted to do this as words of encouragement,
and it is, and it may not sound like it, but if you stick with
me, if the Lord helps me and brings out the thoughts that
He laid upon my heart this morning, I think you'll see there is encouragement
in this. I have always said, well I don't
say always, I have for a long time said, that whenever the
Lord finally taught me God's predestination of all things,
God's sovereignty over all things, that that became a comfort to
me. Oftentimes I would struggle with
a lot of things about God, about myself, about ministry, about
the gospel, about everything, but whenever the Lord finally
brought me to rest in His absolute predestination of all things. And I mean, when I say all things,
I mean all things, not anything exempted. All things. And His
sovereignty, meaning His power and control over all things,
listen, that put my soul to rest. And when I hear people preach
on that, whenever I hear that talk, whenever I read passages
of Scripture that teaches that, that brings my soul to rest.
And whenever Malachi says, I believe it's Malachi. I may be wrong. Correct me if I am. But whenever
it says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, speaking of the
Lord, speaking of the people, what the Lord has done for them.
Whenever I read that and it says comfort them, I don't just think
about the gospel. That's comforting to know that
Christ has died for me and taken my sin. He has lived the perfect
obedience to the law for me. That is comfort. That is wonderful
comfort. But also found in the comfort
is the fact that God is controlling all things and He has determined
all things and everything is going to the determined end and
it's going to be exactly as God has purposed it from before the
foundation of the world. And it's going to be for His
glory. And that is comforting to me.
And so I thought I might look this morning and talk about God's
providence. That's a word that we talk about
a lot, but you don't hear a lot anymore. You used to hear the
word providence used a lot in nominal churches out there. You'd hear that word providence
being used, but you don't really hear that very much. Now, older
folks like me and on up older than me, we're used to hearing
that terminology, and even among people that doesn't believe in
sovereign grace, the word providence was widely accepted by most people.
I remember hearing the terms providence, God and his providences,
doing this and doing that and all like this. And the term providence
was equally used from Arminians and from sovereign gracers. And there didn't seem to be any
kind of issue of anybody saying, yeah, God is controlling everything
and bringing everything about as he wills and everything like
that. Now how we get to how that happens
comes from different places. But the fact remains that all
of us still was acknowledging to some degree that God in everything
that was going on was by providence bringing about a purpose, a plan,
or something like that. So that term for most people
seemed to be something that all of us can probably agree and
say, yeah, we believe in God. providentially bringing things
about. Now, some will say, well, he only brings certain things
about, but not all things about. That's where we would differ,
right? But the term in itself is where we kind of all agree
that there is a providence of God in his creation. Now, I propose that God's providence,
and I'm going to define that here in a minute, I'm gonna read
you what another man is to have another man to define this and
I think you defined it perfectly but I Believe and I believe the
scripture bears this out and I hope by God's Spirit that this
morning He shows us that in these passages that we are going to
look at that God's providence actually flows from his predestination
of all things that providence is tied to and is supported by
and is actually fulfilled by God's providence. God's predestination
of all things is brought about by His providence. That's God
accomplishing, God working out, God doing what He said is going
to be done. Now we know, and I don't think
we need to talk very much about this. I think we all can agree
that the Bible is very clear that there is no other God but
God. Right? There's only one God.
And that that God has revealed Himself as a God that is immutable. He doesn't change. He doesn't
falter. He doesn't change. He is always
the same. And that whatever He says, He
doesn't lie. So, there is this constant that
is God. God is who He is and never is
anything else than who He is and that whatever God has said
will come true and be as He said because He cannot lie and God
is never going to change from being that or changing from what
He has said. He is immutable, whether it be
in His person or whether it be in His purpose, decree, and activity. He's immutable. It can't change. Providence, if Providence is
what we think Providence is, God bringing about His purpose,
His plan, then that Providence is God actually doing the work
of bringing about what He has declared, decreed, I would use
the term predestined from before the foundation of the world,
Him bringing that to be in time. He is bringing forth, bringing
about, governing working out all these phrases we can use,
and I believe are biblical phrases that we can use, His purpose,
His plan. So Providence is closely, if
not, I mean joined at the hip like conjoined twins, to predestination. Predestination is God telling
what He's going to do. Providence is God doing what
He said, and that's what The difference is it's pretty much
the same coin, two sides. God saying it, God doing it.
Now is that biblical? That's what we got to determine,
Mike. Is what you're saying is just some theology thing that
you pulled out of some theological book or some confession of creed
or some man that you're listening to? Or is this what the Bible
teaches? And as with everything that we
believe and everything that we teach and everything that we
would put forth and preach and everything, if we don't have
scriptural backing on that, then we need to shut up, sit down,
not say it, and everything. But I believe and I hope to be
supported in scripture that the absolute predestination of all
things is shown by the fact that God in His providence is bringing
it about. God cannot change. God doesn't
deviate. God cannot be manipulated. Nothing is happening that God
has not predestinated. Otherwise, it will not happen. So I hope that we can maybe see
this. But let me give you a couple definitions here this morning.
As I said, I want to read this. I don't do this very often. I
don't quote other people very often and everything because
I think we need backing for what we're saying. We need to go to
the Scriptures. and everything, let that be our reason for believing.
But I wanted to say this because I think this guy says it in a
good way, and I think there's actually biblical precedence
for what he's saying. This comes from Webster's Dictionary,
and I actually pulled up and kind of looked this morning about
Noah Webster, because I really didn't know a whole lot about
Noah Webster, I never really looked into him. But as I was
looking at a lot of his definitions, especially in the older versions
of the dictionary, as I got back closer to him, where he actually
put them out, and everything, I began to see that, man, this
guy here, I think this guy was a solemn grace believer. And
then I did some research and found out that he actually was
a Congregationalist in that Congregationalist church. Now, we're Congregationalists
as far as our form of government of the church is a Congregational
form of government, but we're not Congregationalist churches. Congregationalist churches were
Protestant churches, and they were Calvinist churches. And
so, therefore, there was a lot of difference in some things,
especially in baptism. The Congregationalist churches
still baptized infants and everything. But they did believe in sovereign
grace. So I was kind of, kind of, Surprised
to learn this about Noah Webster. But anyway, he said, his definition,
whenever I pulled up Providence, it said, in theology, the care
and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He, and this is a statement that
really blew me away that he made. He that acknowledges a creation
and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction."
Now, at the surface level, you may think, I don't know what
you're talking about that, but he's saying here that if anybody
claims to believe that God created, that there is a creator, and
that doesn't buy into the bull of the world that everything
was a big bang and everything evolved and all that kind of
junk. That's science falsely called, right? Anybody that believes
in a creation but denies provenance has placed themselves in a contradiction. He goes on, he says, for the
same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue
its existence. Now that is very profound if
you think about it. He says, some persons admit a
general providence, but deny a particular providence. And I think that's where what
I was talking about a while ago. We can agree on the word, but
if we start talking about the foundation from where that providence
comes, or exactly how that providence is working out, then there's
where we begin to divide ways. And this is what Webster was
saying right here. He said there are some that believe
in a general providence that God just generally is kind of
controlling everything to keep things in play. And I've all,
you guys heard me use this illustration all the time. God's like a big
goalie up there. And you know, every time the ball is about
to go out, he kind of knocks it back into play. You know,
anytime things are going out of order from what he wanted
to happen, he kind of beats it back in the other direction,
right? That's what Webster's saying here. There are some that
believe in a general providence, but not in particular, individual,
precise, exact providence. He doesn't hold to that if you're
holding to the general, but he says, not considering that a
general providence consists of particulars. If you believe in
a general providence, then you've got to believe in a particular
providence because all that general providence is made up of particulars. Let me give you an example, if
not to get too far off here. Let me give you an example. I
used to always say, remember, everybody used to always talk
about, in Romans 9, they said that election in Romans 9 is
not talking about individuals, but nations. That God has elected
nations. Well, nations are made up of
people. They're made up of individuals. So, yes, God is talking about
people, not about nations. It goes further than that, because
Paul is very clear in Romans 9, that's talking about individual
election. Not everybody being elected,
not a whole nation being elected, but he's down to the very individual
because he even made precise that out of the same nation he
elected some and not others whenever he talked about Esau and Jacob
in that. So, but that's just an example
of what he's meaning here. within general providence are
particular providences that God is bringing about. It says, a
belief in divine providence is a source of great consolation
to good men. Now isn't that amazing? He thinks
that to believe in divine providence is a source of comfort. It's
a consolation to know that God is in charge and He's bringing
about everything that's happening. He says, by divine providence
is often understood God himself. And I thought, wow, that is probably
one of the best definitions of providence that I've probably
ever, ever read by anybody. And I think that's correct. By divine providence, he says,
is often understood God himself. When we talk about providence,
we're not talking about karma. We're not talking about some
new age force. We're not talking about some
magnetism of the earth that causes people to act and react in a
different way. We're not talking about the devil. We're not talking
about anything. And whenever we talk about providence,
that providence is bringing this about, it's not some fluffy thing
that we're just saying. Whenever we say providence is
carrying this out, we're saying God is carrying this out. The
Lord gave Webster to define this exactly as the Bible has defined
providence in the fact that you cannot separate providence from
God and you cannot separate God's providence from his predestination. It's all tied together. Now, let me give you the definition
that Webster gave of predestination, and I was actually surprised,
number one, that he even defined predestination, that it was included
in his dictionary, but especially the way he defined the word predestination. He defines predestination this
way, the act of decreeing or foreordaining events. the decree of God by which he
hath from eternity, not from after Adam's fall. So this would
make Noah Webster a superlapsarian in some regards, wouldn't it?
From eternity, let me start again, the act of decreeing or foreordaining
events, the decree of God by which he hath, you don't have
to worry about writing all this down, I'm going to give this
to you when I'm done. You don't have to worry about writing every
word of these quotes down, I'll get it to you. I keep seeing
you over here frantically writing, I'll let you have these. He says,
the decree of God by which he hath from eternity unchangeably
appointed or determined whatever comes to pass. Whatever comes
to pass is providence, but yet that's defined in predestination,
he's saying. He says, it is usually particularly
in theology to denote the preordination, now listen closely brethren,
the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery. He is preaching reprobation here. That God has predestinated not
only the elect to salvation, but also those for misery or
for reprobation. Three cheers for Daniel Webster,
or Noah Webster, not Daniel, Noah Webster. He says, predestination is a
part of the unchangeable plan of the divine government, or
in other words, the unchangeable purpose of an unchangeable God. Now, brethren, that right there
is definitions that I can wholeheartedly say amen to. because I believe
that's found in Scripture. Now, what he said about that,
about providence and predestination, there are some issues, especially
among old school Baptists like us, because there are some old
school Baptists who say, well, God predestinated just salvation,
but doesn't predestinate and providentially order every single
event that takes place of everything. You know, I've often said that
grass out there, that leaf that's flittering on the tree, you know,
God's predestinated that to not only blow at that specific time
and that leaf to shake at that particular wavelength that it's
shaking at, oscillating at, the color of that leaf, the leaf
that falls down on the ground exactly where it falls, I believe
God's predestinated every bit of that. And I know people are
gonna say, well, that's crazy. You're kind of going overboard
with that. I believe that God has predestinated absolutely
everything. So whenever I say absolute predestination
of all things and I exempt nothing, I exempt nothing. Larry wore
that gray shirt or blue shirt there that he's wearing. God
predestinated him to wear that today is what I believe. Some
people say, well, that's just nuts. Well, okay. You might think
I'm nuts, but go right ahead, whatever you believe. Does the Bible tell us that?
Does the Bible speak of these things? And if providence, as
I hope we see this morning, as providence shows that God is,
in fact, bringing about every small, minute detail, if that
providence is tied in with His predestination, then that means
that God has predestinated all things. So look with me at Matthew
chapter 6. We're going to start reading
at verse 25. It says, Therefore I say unto you,
Jesus speaking here, take no thought of your life what ye
shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat
and the body than raiment? Now that's getting down to pretty
simple things, right? what you eat, what you drink.
Now I know we all here, everybody here, if we're all alike, if
your family's like my family, it's all this. Where do you want
to eat? I don't know. Where do you want to eat? I don't know. Where do
you want to eat? What do you feel like eating? Anything? Well,
how about this? No, I don't want that. Well,
why'd you say anything, you know? Where do you want to go? It don't
matter, you know? Well, let's go over here. Well,
I really don't want to eat there. Well, what'd you say? It don't
matter. Okay, we think about those things, you know? What
are we gonna eat this week? I don't know. Minute things,
really, in the scheme of things. We all know we're gonna eat something.
We all know we're about to eat, go eat, wherever, right? What we're gonna drink, what
we're gonna wear. Yeah, we get up and we look in our closet
and say, well, what shirt am I gonna wear today? What am I gonna do
here, you know? Hardly ever do we just reach in the closet and
grab something and put on whatever comes out. You know, we kind
of have a little bit of thought process. I want to wear that.
Well, I know that that doesn't go with that. I'm not going to
wear that. Well, I don't like how I look
in that. We have some sort of a thought
process in what we do, right? But what we're saying here, what
the Lord is saying here is in your life, don't worry about
what you're eating and drinking and what you're wearing. He says there's more important
things to think about than that. But He goes on to say here, He
says, Behold, the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither
do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Is that not providence? God is
watching over His creation. He is sustaining His creation. He is making sure that they are
taken care of He's making sure that everything is happening
according as he has planned, and he's saying, here, look,
even the fowls of the year, things you don't even think about. We
sit here every morning, me and Lori, and we're drinking coffee,
and we're looking out this window, and we have been seeing these
squirrels running back and forth across these trees, and they'll
come down, and they'll gather up an acorn, and they'll run
and go back over here, and the minute they'll come down, grab another
one, they'll come up, and they're just all over the place, and
the birds, picking up twigs and doing all things to build their
nests, and they're just all the time, they're out here, constantly
moving. And you know, we take notice
of that because we sit and watch out the window and look at these
things. We take notice of that stuff. But for the most part,
that's just an insignificant thing of the creation that nobody
really pays attention to. You know, somewhere out there
in the woods, there's deer just frocking around. I have no idea
where they are, what they're doing and how they're doing it.
But yet somebody is just like these birds. the Lord has actively
involved in the fowls of the air not having to sow or reap
or gather into barns because God is bringing that about in
them. Do not the fowls of the air sow? Well, no, they're not out there
tilling a garden and planting deals, but God has provided everything
they need to eat right out there. Do they reap? Well, they're not going out and
harvesting like a farmer would harvest, but yet they are going
out there and God has provided and brought in food for them
to eat. Wherever they are out there finding this food, God
has provided that worm to come out of the ground at the exact
same time so that bird could see it to come down and snatch
that worm up and eat it. Or a grasshopper. to happen to
jump from one tree to one limb to one flower to one whatever,
jumping all over the place, and then all of a sudden be in just
the right spot, but that bird sees it and comes and snatches
that grasshopper. If Christ is intending what He's
saying, I'm the one who's feeding these birds. I'm the one who
is making sure that they don't have to sow, they don't have
to reap, they're not toiling over everything. What's going
on here? I'm providing for them. He said,
and these are just birds. These are just things. What about
you, my people? What about you? I'm providing
everything that you have need of. That's what he's saying here.
He says, and he even says it, look at verse 26. He says, are
ye not much better than they? You're my children. You're my
children. Think about that. I'm providentially
bringing about everything that you need. not just clothes, we're
going to see that, not just clothes, not just food, but everything that you have
need of. Now, I'm going to say this at the outset of this, what
Jesus is saying here, he's talking about physical things like food
and clothing. But I believe there's a spiritual
side to that as we always talk about. For the child of grace,
because listen, I think all of us in here could also say this,
have we also had times where we've been down to the nubs and
not had food? Man, I don't know what we're
gonna do. Listen, there's been a few times
in our life that Lori, literally, I think it was like the five
loaves and two fishes, how in the world did she pull out a
week's worth of food with what we had in there and everything
until I got paid again? How did she multiply that? The
Lord has done a miracle here. If I was a Catholic, I probably
would have set up an altar or something back there. But there's
been times that we have been in want, necessarily, in the
physical. But brethren, we never will be
without food spiritually. We'll never be without drink
spiritually. We will never be without Clothing. Righteousness. Spiritually. Those spiritual things God is
always going to provide for us. But let's go on. Look at verse
27. It says, Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit
unto his stature? Does anyone know what a cubit
is? A cubit is a measurement. Do you know how long it is? We
don't use that terminology, do we? A cubit is the distance between
the joint of your elbow to the tip of your middle finger. It's
usually around 18 inches. After services is over today,
y'all go measure yourself and see what it measures out to be.
But normally it's around 15, 18 inches, something like that. Anyway, a cubit is a measurement,
right? Can add one cubit onto his stature. So Jesus here is saying, Listen,
there isn't any of y'all with worrying, or thinking, or pondering,
or doing anything that can add one cubit to his stature. Now, at this point, Jesus, there's
a parallel verse here. Look with me if you would. Keep
your place there, Matthew. Look with me in Luke 12. Luke chapter 12. And look down
at verse 26. Now, this is the same situation
that we're reading in Matthew, right? It's just Luke's account
of that. And Luke adds something to his testimony of what was
happening that Matthew didn't. He says in verse 26, If ye then
be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought
for the rest? Okay, so that comes right after
him talking about adding a cubit to your stature. So Jesus is
saying, listen, if you can't even do the thing that is, listen,
it doesn't matter really that much whether or not we are this
tall or that tall or however tall, that's least important
as far as food and water and clothing. I mean, I'd rather
have food, water, and clothing than be really tall, okay? Adding cubit to my stature, You
know, I'm six foot, six foot one. You know, would it be nice
to be maybe six foot five? With this weight that I have,
I'd like to be like seven two, and then kind of even out my
weight a little bit, maybe. Not make me look so portly. But
that's really least in the consideration of food and water and clothing. But Jesus here says, if then
ye are not able to do that thing which is least, make yourself
taller. Why take ye thought for the things that are even more
important? Food, water, and clothing, right? He says, I am going to
provide those things for you. If you can't do that yourself,
don't worry because I'm going to take care of those things. Verse 28, and why take ye thought
for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin. Now, what's this talking about
here? Well, we're talking about clothing
now. The Lord's saying, don't worry about what raiment you
have. He says, consider the lilies of the field. Now, as I was studying
this, I looked and I seen that the lilies of the field, we have
a certain flower that we call a lily, right? Well, whenever
this was written and everything, the term lilies was just a general
term given to flowers, and they could have been different flowers,
different looks of flower, different colors of flowers. But notice
what he says here. He didn't say, and if you look,
it says, consider the lilies of the field. We're not talking
about in a potted plant that Lori has here in the house or
out there on the deck or anything, that she's planted herself. you
know we go to the store and say well hey I want a red lily and
so we go and we buy a red lily and bring it back sit it out
there or we buy the seed that we know is going to grow up red
lily and we plant that seed boom here comes the red lilies right
this is talking about out there in the wild he said these are
the lilies out there in the wild they may be red they may be white
they may be yellow they may be green they may be purple whatever
color that they come up with they may be anything But each
individual lily that's out there, he's saying right here, consider
the lilies of the field how they grow. Each one of them has been
determined in the providence of God. He has brought forth
whatever color that they are. They don't have to worry. It
says here they don't have to toil, labor, or spin. That's how they used to make
clothes back then. They used to spin clothes. You've heard of, what was the
story of the of the girl that got her finger
pricked and went to sleep. Rapunzel? No, Rapunzel has the
long hair. Sleeping Beauty? No, not Sleeping
Beauty either. Was it Sleeping Beauty that was making the clothes
at the spinning wheel? Okay, well, I got my stories
mixed up. All right, well, anyway, that's how they make clothes.
They would spin that cotton, spin that thread, and they would
make those clothes. That's what the Lord is saying
here. Listen, these lilies are clothed with their color and
their beauty and they don't even have to worry about it. The Lord
in His providence is doing that. Now brethren, these are insignificant
things. The color of a flower, the bird
eating, the bird nesting. These are insignificant things.
These are minute things. These aren't even talking about
life and men becoming evil and wicked doing wars and building
emphases to worship God and whatever the cases might be that's happened,
we're not even getting into the things of man. We're talking
about the birds. We're talking about the flowers.
We're talking about the created things that doesn't have an eternal
soul. And Christ is saying, listen,
God's providence is bringing about everything for these and
sustaining them. He says in verse 29, and yet
I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. Verse 30, wherefore if God so
clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is
cast in the oven, meaning it has no significance. The grass
has no significance. Look out there, that grass is
brown over there. It's still green right in there. Who made that brown and made
that green? Well, you say, well, that's just the natural order
of things. The sun, it's winter time. There's no green in the
grass. That grass is a different kind of grass. Therefore it has,
okay, well, who made that grass to be the grass that turns brown
at this time of year? And that grass to be grass that
stays green. Who made that? Well, whoever was here just kind
of thought, well, okay, where did they get that seed? If they
planted that, then how did it get there? And if it didn't get
there by planting and it just got there, somehow the wind had
to blow it in to make that grass be there. So if the wind blew
that there, who brought the wind that picked up the seed at some
place that carried it along, gust of wind that dropped right
there? How did it get there? Well, according
to the scripture, the Lord said, I'm the one that did that. Now,
is that not insignificant? Is God's providence over all
things? Well, if it's over those things,
He is saying, here, if God is actively involved in those things,
then what about you, who are much higher, much more important
than those things? Because He says here, the grass
of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the
oven. Shall he not much more clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or whether withal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." So brethren,
here I believe the Lord is showing us that God is intricately involved
in every little detail in His providence. Now, we just learned
a while ago that providence is God bringing forth by His own
actions the very things that he has predestinated. But again,
is Mr. Webster correct in his definition? Is this providence tied to predestination? And is that found in the Bible?
Well, turn with me if you would to Isaiah chapter 48. Isaiah chapter 48. Look down with me, if you would,
to verse 3. I think most of y'all know kind of where we're going
here in some of these passages. Isaiah 48 and verse 3. Here's the Lord speaking again.
This is what God says, the unchangeable, immutable God. He says, I have
declared the former things from the beginning. And they went
forth out of my mouth, and I showed them." Now, he's saying here
that he has declared the former things. So from this point, all
the things that has happened up until this time, I have declared
these things. They went forth out of my mouth
that I was going to do them. Right? But look what it says, I did
them suddenly, and they came to pass. So all the things that
happened formerly, before this point, the Bible says that the
Lord had declared them, spoke them, said what was going to
happen, and that He was the one that brought all those things
that was said and declared to happen. It wasn't the natural
order that brought these things to happen. It wasn't as the open
theists say that God just kind of created everything and spun
it all out and just kind of let it go and now everything is working
by natural orders. No. Everything that God has declared
of the former things that has happened from this point back
all came to be, came to pass as it says right there, by Him. He did them suddenly. That word suddenly means that
He did them when He wanted them to happen. It didn't come by
men's actions of making it happen. It came on suddenly, meaning
that it came at His appointed time. It came whenever He declared
it to take place. Not by man's invention, not by
man's procurement, Not by man's working and slaving and doing
whatever to make this happen. Not because God had a purpose
and some guy did something and I had to deviate his cause and
now this thing has come to pass. No, everything that has happened
of the former things happened because God declared then that
this is what is going to happen and then actively by His providence
has brought them to pass. Now that's what the Bible says.
brought them to pass. He did then. Now, you could go
back there and say, well, oh, that was the Amorites that did
it. Oh, that was the Canaanites that did all that. That was the
Israelites that did this, and because they didn't do this,
that's happened and this happened. All these causes and all these
effects are all happening, and that's what's causing all this.
God said, I did that. Someone could say, well, David
numbered the people, and God punished him. Well, it wasn't
David that did that, that was Satan that did that. Well, the
Bible says that God made David do that. But then he turned around
and he punished David for doing that. And so God says, I did
that. I brought that to pass. I declared
that and I brought it to pass. You could probably say, well,
Joseph being sold into slavery, thrown into that pit, treated
like dirt by his brothers, sold into slavery, all that stuff
that took place, all that was natural causes that happened
because of the cause of his brothers throwing him into the... God
says, you meant all that for evil, but I meant that. Not that
I turned that around to good, I meant that for good. So the evil of everything that
happened to Joseph with him and his brothers, That was God's
providence of bringing about something that He had declared.
Because if He had not declared it, it would not come to pass
because everything that He has declared that has been former
came from His declaration. Came from His speaking. And it
came to pass. It came to pass because He declared
it. His providence is tied to His
predestination. If He has predestinated it, He
will bring it to pass. If it has not been predestinated,
it will not come to pass. And if it has been predestinated,
it will come to pass. And if it's come to pass, it's
come to pass because He predestinated it. If it doesn't come to pass, it's
because He didn't predestinate it. You're just saying, well,
whatever will be will be then, right? No, yeah, exactly. That's
exactly what I'm saying. Whatever will be will be exactly
the way that God has predetermined it to be. not by what chaos determines. That's the difference between
fatalism and sovereignty. Fatalism says that whatever will
be will be and chaos rules the day, fate rules the day, chance
rules the day, but God has ordered all things sure. God has determined
all things and is actively controlling all things so that all things,
including the color of that grass, to His predestinated ends for
His glory. Happening exactly as He wants.
So, we see here that everything in the former things from that
point, from the beginning, went forth out of my mouth, I showed
them, I did them suddenly, and they came to pass exactly as
I had declared them. But, turn back a chapter, if
you would, to Isaiah 46. We see a little bit more detail
here given. Isaiah chapter 46. I'm going to start reading in verse 9. Remember the former things of
old? Okay, so now we're talking about the former things again.
Remember the former things of old? For I am God and there is
none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Now before he gets into talking about all this predestination
and providence stuff, He's reminding everybody who He is. I am God. And remember back whenever we
talked about and preached on that phrase, I am, whenever God
gave His name to Moses about I am, and He said, this is my
name for you to declare this, my name to all generations as
a memorial. God's memorial to all generations
is not God is love. But His memorial to all generations
is that God is who He is. He is the I Am. God is sovereign
over all things, that He is in control and He will do what He
will do. That's God's memorial to all generations, is His sovereignty. And He says, remember, the former
things of old. For, or because I am God and
there is none else, I am God and there is none like Me. Nobody
can change the course of history. Nobody can change the course
of time. Nobody can change anything in
this world or bring anything to be in this world. I am the
only God. I am the only creator. I am the
only declarer. I am the only sovereign. I am
the only providential. There is none like me. Men do
not make providence of their own. God determines. all things
and brings it to pass. He says, remember the former
things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God
and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. Also,
now we've seen the former things, but now God has also declared
everything from the end. So let's go all the way to the
very end of all things, wherever that may be, whenever that may
be, however much that is involved in between these time periods.
go to the very, very end of it all, and God says, I have declared
that from the beginning and from ancient times, not only the things
that has already happened, but what has He declared? Y'all are
reading it there with me. What does it say? The things
that are not yet done. Well, how does God know the things
that are going to happen. Is he a fortune teller? A soothsayer? That's got the extra
long binoculars to look down the corridor of time to see what
men would do and therefore he writes it down and declares it
to happen? No, that's not him declaring what would happen.
That is him recording what would happen. If God looks down with
foresight, or foreknowledge, as men define foreknowledge,
if God looks down time in foreknowledge, foresight, and sees what is going
to happen, that is not declaring it, that is recording it, reporting
what will happen. God has reported from the beginning
of the world what will happen. Now, it says here that He has
declared what will happen. things that are not yet done,
God has already declared them. He has declared those things
which are not as though they were. I include justification in all
that, by the way. He has declared that from the
beginning. All things is His declaration.
And everything from the declaration, from the mind of God and His
declaration is the bringing it forth in time by providence and
the Bible specifically says that he is the one that is bringing
it to be. And everything is tied together
in this creation. Larry got here because of a van
that he drove that somehow he bought at some point in time
from some money he got from somewhere, from some person that already
had that car, got in that car and drove here today. Providence
brought every bit of that around so that he's sitting right there
today. Now, I can't keep track of all that stuff. Nobody can
keep track of all that stuff. Can you imagine being the person
that has to keep track of everything that is happening in every molecule
of every little thing that's going on? Brethren, the only
one that can do that is God, and yet we think that we can
control things, right? We think that we have a control
of everything, that we've got it all under control. My free
will needs to be free so that I can control my destiny. I can
control my... Do you see how futile free will
is? Even if you did have free will,
you can't do nothing. You can't do nothing. You can't
control nothing. Free will is insignificant. Everybody
makes free will so paramount. You know what's more comforting
to me? Not that I have free will. There's somebody that's controlling
all this stuff out here and bringing it to a purpose. That's bringing
it to an actual purpose, not chaos, but bringing it to a purpose. And it's not an evil purpose.
He's bringing even that evil stuff that's happening is a purpose
that is coming to a glorified end of him. That is comfort to me. declaring
the end from the beginning and from ancient times to things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. God's
providence comes about from His counsel. So everything that God has counseled from eternity past. And we know
that that is the determinate counsel of God, is from the beginning
of the world, before the foundation of the world, before anything
ever happens, that the counsel of God is His purpose, His will,
His determination. That's what His counsel is. If
you go to a lawyer or somebody and you take counsel from them,
what are you doing? You're going to them and they
are determining your course of action on what you should do.
If I go to a lawyer about an issue, he tells me, well, knowing
what the law says, knowing what you've done, knowing what this
has happened and all like this, this is the course of action
you should take. He is determining, this is what
you ought to do. He gives me that counsel. And
then I either do that or I don't do that. It either stands or
it doesn't stand, but here we see that God's counsel shall
stand. Whatever God has predetermined
to do in His own predetermined wisdom will be carried out and
it will stand. The course of action that God
has declared and decreed It's going to happen. That's why we're
not running around here like chickens with our heads cut off
trying to get to every single country, every single person,
because we're afraid that there are many going off into hell
and not going to be saved because we're not doing enough to get
out there and reach them. No, not one person is ever going
to be in hell that Christ died for, that God has not, before
the foundation of the world, loved with an everlasting love
and give to Christ Jesus their surety and put them in bonded
union with Him and given them all things. in Him. They can't be lost, not won.
So God's predestination, God's counsel is being brought forth
by His providence. Look what it says. My counsel
shall stand. What does it say? I will do all
my pleasure. I will do. It didn't say I will
give you to do. He said I will do. So you're
talking about you don't believe in means? Do I believe in second
causes? Absolutely I do, but the first
cause for everything is always God, because He has decreed it,
declared it, counseled it, and by His providence is bringing
it about. Did God want Larry to get here
today? Yes. Otherwise he wouldn't be
here today. Or Mark, or Rosette. They wouldn't
be here today. How did God do that? Well, by
the means of that van that he bought with that money that he
got from somewhere from some guy that had that van who had
built that van or brought that van from some place that built
that van. But it was God who did all of that and brought those
things to be to come to pass exactly at the point he wanted
it to come to pass so that Larry is here today and his whole family. Same thing with Daniel. How did
Daniel get here? Well, Zach went and picked him up from his apartment.
All by the determinate counsel of God. Otherwise, he wouldn't
be here. Because God's counsel shall stand, and all the former
things, and everything, the end from the beginning, the Bible
says God has declared, and shall come to pass. Look at verse 11. God gets into
specifics here. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east. That's pretty insignificant,
isn't it? What is a ravenous bird? What would we call a ravenous
bird? A vulture? Maybe? A hawk? You know, you
see going down the road, you see all these birds gathering
around eating these dead animals at the side of the road? Okay? God calling a ravenous bird from
the east to come and eat a eat a dead thing. How did that vulture
know there's dead something over there? God provided not only
the dead animal, but put it within the vulture to circle around
to the place where he saw the thing, came down and started
eating it. That's pretty insignificant, but the Bible here says God,
He's tying that, if I'm not an idiot, God is tying that to His
declaring the end from the beginning. and all things that have not
yet been done, and his counsel, and it is standing. And obviously
that was his pleasure, otherwise it wouldn't be doing it, right?
Calling to ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed
my counsel from a far country. Yeah, I've spoken it. He's declared
it. He's pronounced it. You want
to use the word, decree it. I've spoken it, but brethren,
He didn't just leave it to be, to happen. He says, I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do that. You cannot separate providence
from predestination. Look back another couple of chapters,
chapter 44. In Isaiah chapter 44, look if
you would with me down to verse 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first
and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. So God, once
again, is reminding us of His Godness, if you'll allow me that. He's reminding you of who He
is. And also in this verse, you notice
that He has tied Christ into this as well. Christ is God,
manifested in the flesh. If you speak of the Father, you
speak of the Son. They are one. You speak of the
Spirit of God, you speak of Christ, because they're one. You speak of the Father, you
speak of the Spirit, you're speaking of Christ. You speak of the Word,
you're speaking of Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells within Him bodily. He is the image of the invisible
God. Christ is the first and the last. Yet here it says, Thus
saith the Lord, I am the first and the last. This word Lord
is referring to Jehovah. It's referring to the I Am. And
it's saying here that the I Am is the first and the last. But
yet in Revelation we learn that Jesus, the man Jesus Christ is
the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end. And he says, and who as I shall
call and shall declare it and set it in order for me since
I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming
and shall come, let them show unto them. So he's saying here,
who in the world can come and declare something and bring something
about out of anybody you've ever met? There's nobody that can
do that. I'm the only one that can do
that. I have appointed everything. I have declared everything. And
everything shall come as I have ordered it. Brethren, we see
the Bible says that God has a will or a pleasure. If God has a will
to do something, then that will to do something becomes a purpose.
A purpose comes from a willingness. to do something. You know? We say, man, that man moves with
purpose. Well, why? Because that man has something
in his mind that he wants to get done, and he gets it done.
Why? Because he wills to do so. He's
moving with purpose. He's not just flailing around
here. No, he's moving with purpose.
Why? I've got an intent to do something. I've got a plan to
do something. I've got a desire to do something.
Well, the will of God, the purpose of God, is tied together. God's purpose comes from His
will or His pleasure as we've seen a minute ago. That purpose
then plays out in a declaration or a decree. God declares what
will be done. God decrees from before the foundation
what His purpose is and that purpose has come from His will,
His desire, His pleasure. And that declaration or that
decree becomes predestination. Because whatever it said, remember
what it said? As I have spoken, that shall
also be done. Whatever I have spoken is going
to come to pass. Whatever I have said, whatever
my counsel, a counsel is something that you speak to another about
what should be done or what will be done. My counsel shall stand."
God's declaration and decree, when God decrees it or declares
it, then it becomes predestinated, meaning it cannot falter or waver
because He is the I Am. He is the One that does not change.
He is the First and the Last. Listen, He doesn't become the
last when it gets to the last. The Bible declares Him to already
be the last before He is. It goes along with what Brother
Larry was saying earlier. It's just mind-boggling to us
that God is eternal and outside of what we know as time and constrained
in this time frame because what is already happening in the end,
whenever that's going to happen, God's already there, knows what's
happening. But He knows what's happening because He has declared
it. But He's also self-existent in the fact that He doesn't exist
during our time. He exists outside of time. And
this time is just scrunched into that eternal whatever. It's more than I am. It's more
than I can comprehend. It's higher than I am. It's more
than my thoughts can comprehend. God is above me. And I can't
understand it. I can't declare it, decree it. I can't do any of those things.
And I surely can't explain it. But God has declared all things,
the end from the beginning, and obviously He knows the end. Why?
Because He has declared it. If He's declared it, then that
means if He has declared something, that He has purposed it, and
if He has purposed it, that was His pleasure. It was His will.
And the unchangeable God will not change, neither will His
pleasure change, nor will His decree, declaration change. And
if that doesn't change, then His predestination doesn't change.
And if His predestination doesn't change, neither does His providence,
because His providence is Him bringing about everything that
shall come to pass. What shall come to pass? His declaration.
Well, what's His declaration? His purpose. Well, what's His
purpose? What His will is. Whatever His will is. That's
why we pray, Thy will be done. If Thy will be done, then that
means whatever you have purposed in that will is going to be done,
and whatever you have declared of that purpose shall be done,
and whatever you have declared is predestinated to happen, and
if it's predestinated to happen, Providence is going to bring
it about. And who's going to do the providential bringing
it about? We just read it. He is. So brothers, I take comfort
in God's predestination of all things and his providence in
bringing it about. You can say, you're just living a life of
case or I survive. Or you're just living a life
of whatever will be, will be. You're just apathetic to all
things. No, brethren, the Bible uses
a term that we just kind of throw out there a lot, often, and don't
even think about it. The Bible calls it rest. We rest. We rest. We not only cease from
our working and labor in trying to gain God's acceptance and
approval, but we also rest in His promise. that He's going
to bring about, everything that He has said He's going to bring
about, that He's going to do, that He's going to handle, He's taking
care of, and everything is moving, and everything is moving to the
glorified end of Christ Jesus. Wars, famine, pestilence, what's the other one? There's
four of them. Death, evil, sin, all these things. that are so negative that nobody
likes, nobody wants, nobody wants to talk about. All these things,
yep, from the beginning of the world, God has predestinated
all those things to bring forth the glorification of His Son,
Jesus Christ. You can't say that's not true.
We know from Scripture that Christ is going to be glorified, that
at His name every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. Revelation tells us that there's
going to be a throne and on that throne there's going to be a
king that's going to sit on that. And what are they going to be
shouting? Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. For He hath redeemed us with
blood. Without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins. There has to be sin for there
to be remission. And there can't be sin without
a sinner. And there can't be a sinner without somebody who
does the sinning. Therefore, Adam, the first man,
brought in sin and death and all evil that came with it. But
God predetermined that from the foundation of the world. And
He predetermined that. Why? Because Christ stood as
the Lamb slain before Adam was even created or even thought
about plucking that thing from the tree and eating of it when
he knew he shouldn't have. God predestinated Christ to be
the Lamb slain, the first and the last. He is the first Lamb
slain, and He is the Lamb slain at the end. At the very beginning
of time, before anything was, He stood as the Lamb, and whenever
we get to the end of all things, that God has predestinated and
providentially brought about, including all sin and evil, that
Lamb slain is still gonna be there, being the glorified one,
and He's gonna be glorified, because sin, evil, and all kinds
of things including good things, have happened. Because everything
that God has declared from the end, declared to the beginning,
was for the purpose of glorifying His name. That's why we are excited
about sovereignty, excited about predestination, excited about
all the things that we are always castigated about. Making God
the author of sin. You're making God the author
of sin. Praise God. He has declared everything, including
sin, and is controlling it because it's bringing about His purpose
for His glory. If God didn't do those things,
and that means sin and evil is existing outside of His control,
outside of His declaring and thought and understanding of
things, and it's happened willy-nilly out of nowhere, then that means
that God is not sovereign in those areas. And if he's not
sovereign in those areas, how do we know that those areas can't
rise up and take over God? Brethren, we truly believe God
is absolutely sovereign and has absolutely predestinated all
things. Anybody got anything you want to add? Any corrections
or rebukes? Challenges about anything? I pray that's been a comfort
to you. I pray that that has been something It's been a point
of joy for me. But anyway, well, all right. Nobody has anything? That's perfect. Father, we thank you for this
day and we thank you for your grace you've given us once again in
Christ and your control over all things. We thank you, Father,
that you have brought us here today, gathered us together,
and we pray, Lord, that you'll be with us for those who are
having to drive back home, Lord, that you give them safety. for
my family as we drive back and forth to Oklahoma and the things
that's going on with all of our cars and stuff. Lord, we know
that all of those things are by your control and by your providence.
And Lord, even though in our flesh we get irritated and upset
when things don't go the way we want them to go, but ultimately,
Father, we bow the knee to know that all things are according
to your purpose and your will. And so we just pray today, Lord,
that you would glorify yourself in us as we not only worship
you, but as we Go from this place as we live the lives that you
have brought us to live, the things that you have brought
into our lives, and everything that we experience through those
lives, Father, that we might give you glory and praise. For
it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.