The title of our message this
evening is God's Providence in Conversion. Now, we know without
a doubt that all of God's elect will be saved. In eternity past,
God chose a people, and those people that He chose, He set
His love and affection on them. They shall be saved. God sent
His Son to die for them. Christ died. for God's elect,
they must be given life. The blood of Christ washed all
their sin away, so they must be saved. But have you ever considered
the lengths that God will go to in order to bring one of those
elect sheep to the place where they'll hear the gospel and they'll
meet the Lord Jesus Christ? They'll, like John said in his
prayer, they'll hear of him in the heart and they'll be given
faith and be converted. Have you ever considered the
lengths that the Lord goes to, to bring his people to himself?
I'll give you just one illustration from scripture. If you didn't
already know this story, just think of this. Would God really
allow Paul and Silas to go to Philippi and preach the gospel? And while they're there, cast
out an evil spirit from a woman who'd been a soothsayer. They
did a good deed. They cast out that evil spirit.
But those that profited from this woman had Paul and Silas
cast into prison. Now, would the Lord really allow
them to do that, to cast His servants into the innermost part
of the prison where their feet were held fast in stocks, and
then wait until midnight and send an earthquake that opened
all the doors of the prison, that knocked off all the shackles
on all the prisoners, scared the guard to death, Made him
start to commit suicide because he thought all those prisoners
had escaped on his watch. Just so Paul could tell him we're
all still here. Nobody's harming themselves.
So he'd stop and be still and listen to Paul and Silas preach
the gospel and the Lord would convert him. Would the Lord really
go to all those lengths so that one of his sheep would hear the
gospel? Isn't there a less complicated way? Couldn't there have been
some other way? Maybe there was. But this is the way that it pleased
the Lord to call that man. This is the lengths that the
Lord would go to to call that one sheep. Many of you can look
at the events of your life and maybe, you know, the events of
your ancestors' lives. How things work together so that
you'd be at a certain place at a certain time to hear the gospel. and that you believe, that you
believe on Christ your Savior. And if we think about it, it's
just amazing to us. We know nobody but God could
have arranged all those events that way. Well, that's what we're
going to see a picture of in our text this evening. Isaiah's
burden for this city Tyre gives us a picture of God's providence
in conversion. How God will arrange each event
of our life to bring us to the point where he'll reveal himself
to us at mercy. Now first, the Lord arranges
the events of our life till we are brought low and howl. Look at verse one. The burden
of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for
it is laid to waste. So there is no house, no entering
in from the land of Chittim. It is revealed to them. Now Tyre
is a seaport. It was a very, very wealthy city,
a large, very good seaport And trade would come through, pass
through there from all over the world. And they got wealthy because
of it. It's much like modern day New
York City, that where that city is situated is such a great port. It's become a very wealthy city.
Look at verse three. And by great waters, the sea
of Sihor, the harvest of the river is her revenue, and she
is a Mart of nations. She's a Mart of nations. If you
want to buy something from almost any country, you could go to
Tyre. because products and goods from all over the world came
to Tyre before they went out to other places. She's a march
of nations, just like New York City. And here's this huge, prosperous,
wealthy city. But the Lord says he's going
to lay it to waste. Those docks and that port, they're
all going to be destroyed. One of the writers said the sea
dried up and those ports We're way up here and the sea's way
back here. They're useless. The ships can't get to them.
I don't know how he knows that. That's what he said. There's
no way for boats to enter the city. And if they did, there'd
be no place to stay. All the houses and hotels, everything's
destroyed. There's no place for people to
live and there's no place for people to hide. There won't be
any shelter in the whole city. And the people will howl. Look
at verse six. He says, Pass ye over to Tarshish,
howl ye inhabitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city, whose
antiquity is of ancient days? Her own feet shall carry her
afar off to sojourn. The people are just amazed. This
is an ancient city. Everything's been like this forever. Back to the times of the ancients.
Our great, great, great grandparents lived in this wealthy, prosperous
seaport town too. But now they're going to howl.
Howl in just pain and agony because they lost everything they trusted
in. Everything they are proud of
is destroyed. Everything that made them happy,
gone. And that's what has to happen to us spiritually. If
the Lord is going to convert us, everything we trust in spiritually
has got to be laid to waste. Everything we trust in has got
to be destroyed. Our works, they've got to be
laid to waste. Our righteousness must be revealed
to us as filthy rags. Anything there is about us we
take pride in, it's got to be laid to waste. Anything about
ourselves that makes us happy, it's got to be destroyed. We
have to see there's no hiding place. We have no hiding place
in ourselves. There's no place of shelter from
God's wrath. And when we see, I've got no
hope. When we see everything I've ever
trusted in before has been destroyed, now we'll howl, we'll cry and
we'll mourn. If a person is one of God's elect,
the Lord, who's in control of every event on this earth, that
Lord's going to make things happen. He'll arrange things to happen
in just a certain way so that we lose all of our hope and we
begin to be shut up to Christ. But before that happens, we're
going to be brought low in hell. Second, the Lord will arrange
all the events of our life so that we're made to quit our works.
and be still." Verse 2, "...be still, ye inhabitants of the
isle, thou whom the merchants of Zidon that pass over the sea
have replenished." Now, the Lord said, be still. But when Tyre
was first laid to waste, I'm sure this happened. There are
merchants there. These are good businessmen. They're
smart. They've been in this business.
They know the business. They know how to make money.
So they began to try new business models. So that they could keep
everything going so they could keep up their standard of life.
You know, tire was constantly being replenished from all over
the earth. People were sending crops and goods and things and
there is constantly being replenished. But the Lord caused all that
revenue from all over the world to dry up so that the people
had to be still. They had to stop working because
they couldn't be replenished anymore. There's no business.
And usually this is what happens when a person first comes under
conviction of sin. You know what we do? We try to
do better. Our conscience bothers us and
we try to do better. We try to do more work, something
to take away the burden of that sin. But if we belong to Christ,
the Lord will eventually take away all of our works so we won't
trust in him anymore and we'll finally be still. We'll finally just be still,
because every time we try to do something, instead of making
the situation better, we make it worse. Look at Psalm 46. This
is an important lesson to be taught. Be still before the Lord. And the Lord's the one who's
able to teach us that, to be still. Being still and being
patient may be the hardest things for a human being to do, but
the Lord can teach us to do them. Look at Psalm 46, verse 8. Come, behold the works of the
Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh
wars to cease into the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow,
and cutteth the spear in thunder. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. Be still." Now look at everything the Lord's done. Behold
Him and be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among
the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Zechariah 2.13 says, Be silent,
O flesh, all flesh, before the Lord, for he's raised up out
of his holy habitation. When things like this start to
happen, maybe rather than asking why, why is this happening? Why
is this happening? What's going on here? Maybe we ought to be
still and be silent and look for God's glory. He may be rousing
himself up out of his holy habitation, And we just be still and wait
on him would be the best thing we could do. The Lord, before
he converts his people, can bring us to that point. We're going
to be still. Our works are going to stop. We're going to quit
having any hope and confidence in them. Third, the Lord will
arrange things so we become ashamed of ourselves, ashamed of our
sinful condition. Look at verse four. Be thou ashamed,
O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, even the strength of the sea.
Saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I
nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins. Now, this strength
of the sea, that's Tyre. Its strength was the sea, the
strength of this city. And apparently, the people in
Tyre quit having children. Now, I'm not exactly sure why.
Maybe all the men were dead. Maybe they just realized, I can't
feed the children of my God. I better not have any more. I
don't know, but they quit having children. Spiritually, this is
what happens to God's elect. We're brought to the place where
we see I can't produce any life. I can't produce any spiritual
life and I can't do anything to sustain any spiritual life.
We can't produce anything pure or good or righteous. That's
what it means here when it says nor bring up virgins. We can't
produce anything pure and good. And we've got to be brought to
the place where we're ashamed of ourselves before we'll ever
glory in the cross of Christ. Look at Saul of Tarsus when he
was in religion. What did old Saul glory in? He
gloryed in himself. He gloryed in his heritage. He's
a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He gloryed in his law keeping.
He could say like that rich young ruler, all these have I kept
from my youth up. He gloryed that he was a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. But then look at the Apostle
Paul after he was converted. Now Paul is ashamed of himself.
He's ashamed of what he is. He's ashamed of what he once
was. He said, Oh, wretched man. Not that I was. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Paul's ashamed. So he said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And God's elect will be brought
to that point before they're converted. They'll be brought
to the point that they've got no confidence in the flesh. in
their flesh or anybody else's. Look at verse 5. As at the report
concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report
of Tyre. Now, when Egypt sees what's happened
to Tyre, they're going to be greatly pained for a couple of
reasons. First of all, they're going to be greatly pained they
lost a good trading partner. This is where they sent all their,
you know, when the Nile flooded and they had these great crops,
you know, and harvest. That's where they sent it all
to Tyre. Well, they've lost a good trading partner. Secondly, they
were pained when they saw what happened to Tyre. You know what
they knew? We're next. What happened to them is going
to happen to us, and we're next. And this is what happens to God's
elect. We're brought to the point where we don't have any confidence
in the flesh. We look at the best of men. If
the best of men can't please God, if Saul of Tarsus can't
please God by what he has done and his heritage, then I know
I can't please God. And I'll die in my sins unless
God's merciful to me. And here's another thing about
this with Egypt. When the Lord brings you under
conviction of sin, you know who else starts to mourn? Your friends. They lost a trading partner.
You're not the same as you used to be because you started to
see the sinfulness of sin and you're just not the same as you
used to be. Now, everybody's mourning. You're mourning because
of your sin. Your friends are mourning because they lost a
partner in crime. Everybody's mourning. No confidence in the
flesh. Four. If we're God's elect, we're
going to learn this lesson. The Lord's going to show us he
is the one that's doing all this. This is not a random act. This
is not luck or bad luck. This is the Lord doing this.
Look at verse eight. Who hath taken this counsel against
Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose
traffickers are the honourable of the earth? The Lord of hosts
hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring
into contempt all the honourable of the earth. Pass through thy
land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish. There is no more strength."
He stretched out his hand over the sea. He shook the kingdoms. The Lord had given a commandment
against the merchant city. to destroy the strongholds thereof."
Now, the people of Tyre, they heard this prophecy and they
thought, who can do this? This is crazy talk. Who can do
this to such a great city? We're so strong. We're doing
so well. Our merchants, the merchant class,
they live as princes. I mean, they're like princes.
Our merchants, they're known as honorable and good people.
Who's going to take away our prosperity and our honor? Who
can do that? The Lord. That's who. The Lord's
going to take away all the strength of Tyre. He's going to stretch
out his hand over the sea and he's going to shake the kingdoms.
He's going to bring Nebuchadnezzar to Tyre to conquer it and to
destroy it. The Lord has given commandment.
This city is to be destroyed. And brother, it's going to be
destroyed. This is the Lord's commandment. Now, I love this
image. The Lord has a people, doesn't
he? The Lord has an elect people. Now, they're born in this world
of sinful people. And they're rich and increased
with goods in themselves. Now, they might be poor materially,
but in themselves, they think, oh, I'm rich and increased with
goods. I'm a good girl, good boy. So they've got no worries. And because they've got no worries,
they don't seek the Lord. So the Lord stretches His hand
out across the sea. And He starts to shake. He makes
things happen all over the world. And these events cause ramifications
in our life that bring us low. And that happens because the
Lord has given commandment His people be converted. He chose
them. He sent His Son to die for them.
And He has given commandment those people be converted. They
be given faith in Christ. So they can't stay like they
are. They can't stay where they are. So the Lord destroys everything
that they trust in so that they'll run to Christ for refuge. The
Holy Spirit comes and He opens our eyes and shows us, oh, I'm
not all right. I'm stained with sin. Now I see
how stained with sin I am. I thought I was white and holy
until the Holy Spirit showed stain of sin, the pollution of
our sins. So we disgust ourselves. That's
what he means here in verse 9. The Lord of hosts has purposed
it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt
all the honorable of the earth. That's not making all these other
people contemptible in my eyes. That's making me contemptible
in my eyes because I see the stain of my sin and oh, I'm ashamed. And we see it's the Lord doing
all this. Now, this is not just random
acts, you know. This is the Lord doing all this. Well, if it's the Lord doing
it, I'm not going to be able to find any place of rest, because
who can resist God's will? Who can stop His will? Verse
12, and he said, Thou should no more rejoice, so thou oppressed,
virgin, daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Chittim.
So if thou have no rest, it doesn't matter where you go, you're not
going to have any rest. We have to be brought to the
place. You're going to have to check out every one of them.
Every place you think you can hide and have rest, you're going
to have to go to every single one of them to find out there's
no rest there. Every option must be removed
so that the only hope left is Christ. And only then we go to
him. That's why the Lord just arranges
all these events to destroy everything we hope in. Now this is the Lord
working all things after the counsel of his own will for the
salvation of his people. This is the Lord working all
things together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to God's purpose. If God is determined to tear
down what we trust in, no man can stop it. Can anybody argue
with that? God Almighty has determined to
tear something down. No man can stop it because that's
God's will, right? Then by the same token, if God's
determined to save a sinner, to give him faith and to convert
him, what man can stop it? None, because this is God's will
and this is exactly what he's doing. He stretches his hand
out across the sea. You'd be amazed at the lengths
God will go to to see that one of his elect is brought to Christ. And he does it that way so that
we know, oh, this wasn't an accident. This wasn't something I just
decided to do one day. No, God did this, so there'd
be no mistaking it. God did it. So he gets all the
glory. And fifth, the means that God
uses to accomplish all this purpose of his is his word. It's his
gospel. Look at verse 13. Behold the
land of the Chaldeans. This people was not, till the
Assyrians founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness.
They set up the towers thereof. They raised up the palaces thereof,
and he brought it to ruin. Now this is what the Lord's saying.
He's going to use something that you consider insignificant to
conquer you and bring you to ruin. That's the Babylonians,
the Chaldeans. The people of Tyre had absolutely,
at this time, no regard for the Babylonians. Because at this
time in history, they were nothing. They were just some people living
out there in the wilderness. The Assyrians had a set up for
them, whatever it is that they had. They're nothing. And the
people of Tyre thought, you know, we're a whole lot stronger than
them. What have we got to worry about? They could never conquer
us. It would just be like if you heard on the news one day,
The Bahamas have declared war on the United States of America.
You just think, huh, and go about eating your dinner. You'd never
be worried. What are they to us? That's what
the city of Tyre thought. But when the Lord gave commandment,
the Babylonians grew strong and conquered the world. And the
Lord uses something that men consider very insignificant to
conquer the hearts of His people. He uses his gospel. He uses the
preaching of his word. Almost all men count that as
something very insignificant. Most so-called churches don't
even bother preaching anymore because they think it's insignificant.
But this is the means. What men think is something so
insignificant is the means that God uses to give a new heart
to his people, to conquer them and give them a new heart. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that
believe." Now, you might think it's insignificant, but this
is the means, the power that God uses to save His people.
And God uses something we think is insignificant. It's to conquer
us. It's the dunamis, the power of
God's Word. And when God gives commandment,
and He reaches across the sea, the gospel's going to come in
power. The power of the Holy Spirit
in God's elect. His people are going to be converted.
They're going to hear with the ear of faith, and they're going
to come to Christ. They may not even know where it's coming from.
It's coming from across the sea. It's coming out of left field.
I never knew that place was there. I never knew that man was preaching
the gospel there. But here it comes in power. Why
did I never hear it before? Because God never reached His
hand across the sea before. But when He does, nobody's too
far away from the arm of the Lord. He's going to bring them
to His Son. Now we're ruined in Adam. When
Adam sinned, all men were ruined. Guilty in sin. Made guilty in
Adam. And we didn't even know it. We
think we're just fine. Until God reaches His arm across
the sea, shakes the kingdoms, and shows us who and what we
are. And then we see ourselves. And it's like we're ruined all
over again. Now I see the ruin that I'm in. Everything we've
trusted in is ruined. So now we have no hope except
Christ and we come to Him. God's elect are ruined. They're
born ruined in Adam's nature, but they're not going to stay
that way. They're going to be restored to Christ. They're going
to be given life in Christ. Well, when will that happen?
This is my question. I'm always concerned about time.
All right. When is that going to happen? Tell me. I want to
know. I can tell you when it's going to happen. when it pleases
God. When it's a time according to
God's eternal purpose, his elect are going to be converted. And
this is the sixth thing we see. The Lord's going to teach us
that salvation is of the Lord. And when the blood is applied
and sinners are converted, it's when it pleases God. God already
knows the exact time he's going to call his elect and reveal
himself to his elect. We don't until he reveals himself.
That's what we see in verse 15. It shall come to pass in that
day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the
days of one king. And after the end of seventy
years shall Tyre sing as in Harlot, taking heart, go about the city,
thou Harlot that hast been forgotten, make sweet melodies, sing many
songs, that thou mayest be remembered." Now Tyre was destroyed at the
exact time appointed by God according to his purpose. And Tyre was
rebuilt and restored in God's purpose at the exact appointed
time of God. Babylon ruled Tyre for 70 years. Now, it says the reign of one
king. As far as I can gather, that's
the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his son, the reign of one man
and his son. And then Cyrus came and set him
free. Now, he says here, sing as a harlot. Now, he doesn't
mean God's people are going to go back to being religious harlots.
I don't know why this is the illustration that the Holy Spirit
used, but this is his illustration. This is a picture. The harlot
is a picture of commerce starting in Tyre again, and he's used
the harlot as an example. And when a harlot who'd been
out of business and now she's back in business, or maybe she'd
been forgotten and she wants to get back in business, she'd
walk the street singing and playing an instrument and saying it's
kind of like an advertisement, you know. When God comes in mercy. People are going to know it.
People are going to know God's given you life. He's restored
life to you. You're going to sing the song,
not of the harlot, but of his praise. Verse 17, it shall come
to pass after the end of 70 years that the Lord will visit Tyre
and she shall turn to her higher and shall commit fornication
with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Again, this is, she's still using this illustration of the harlot
when he talks about Committing fornication with all the kingdoms
of the earth means they're going to be trading partners, just
like they were before, trading with all the countries of the
earth and become a very wealthy, powerful city again. They're
going to be an international business power again. The Lord
destroyed them in his providence, in his time, according to his
purpose, and then he allowed them to be rebuilt. And when
they rebuilt, it looked just like they looked before. They
were just powerful and strong prosperous city again. And this
is what happens when God's elect are converted. They're destroyed. God destroys everything that
they ever had any hope of salvation in. And then the Lord visits
again. The Lord visited Tyre once and
it was destroyed. He waited 70 years and visited
again and it was restored. The Lord visits and we're destroyed. And then He visits again in mercy.
And we're restored. We're restored in Christ. We're
given righteousness in Christ. We're given eternal life in Christ.
And you know, we look the same on the outside. This tire looked
the same as it did before it was destroyed. We look the same.
But everything's different after we're converted. Look at verse
18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the
Lord. It shall not be treasured nor
laid up. For her merchandise shall be for them that dwell
before the Lord, to eat sufficiently and for durable clothing." Now,
the Lord converts you. On the outside, you're the same
as you ever were. You still have works. You still
have things that you do. But now, your works are not in
order to get salvation. Your works are not in order to
get God to be pleased with you. Your works are out of thanksgiving.
They're true works of righteousness and holiness, out of a thankful
heart. And you still have things that you treasure, that you treasure
up. After the Lord saves you, after he converts you, you still
have those things. But you do still appreciate earthly
treasures. You know, I've read some of the
writers and they say, oh, you know, all these earthly treasures
you don't have any interest in anymore. I don't know anybody
like that. I mean, I guess that sounds good.
I don't know anybody like that. You still appreciate these things.
But this is what you know. Your real treasure is Christ.
And you still appreciate these other things, but you wouldn't
trade them for him, because he's your treasure. You still have
a job and responsibilities. You go out and plant and work. Aaron, you've got to go out and
work tomorrow. That's the way it is every day. But now, you're going to work
out of a generous, loving heart. And you work to supply your need. But you don't hoard everything
up for yourself. You work. So supply your needs so you can
give to others who are in need. Support the gospel. There's still
things you need in this life and you appreciate fine things. You really do. There's no point
saying you don't appreciate fine things. Of course you do. But
you know what? Sufficient food is just fine. I can appreciate a five star
restaurant, but really sufficient food. That's fine. Lord, just
give me food convenient for me. And you still like fine clothes.
Who doesn't like nice clothes? But give me durable clothes.
Just give me good, durable clothes. You know, something that's going
to last. You know, that's fine. It'll let me save a little bit
of money so I can give and help people. And you know what? The fine clothes and the durable
clothes, Bob and me burn up the same way, same time. You know,
you see, you appreciate those things, but you keep them in
perspective. Because I know I need food and clothing. The Lord's
going to provide it. He will provide it. And you know
the reason I know that? Because now I'm feeding on Christ
the living bread. Now I have durable, eternal clothing. The righteousness of Christ.
I've been made righteous in Christ. So now I know the real value
of all these other things. Now this is God's purpose in
conversion. The Lord will do anything. in order to bring his elect to
Christ. Tyre was conquered by the Babylonians,
roughly the same time the Jews were conquered. The people of
Tyre, they're conquered, they're taken into captivity in Babylon. And when they got there, there
are some Jews, they've been captured and taken into captivity a little
while ago, and they put these people from Tyre in with these
Jews to teach them how to work, teach them what to do, you know,
in this job. And here they were, they met one another. They worked
with each other every day, talked to one another. They never would
have met one another unless the Jews were conquered over here
and taken to Babylon. The people from Tyre were conquered
from over here and taken to Babylon. That's how they met. They never
would have met any other way. And while they worked, they talked.
They talked about their life. They talked about where they
come from. They talked about religion. They talked about the
worship of the Lord. Some people from Tyre Curled
up their nose. That's crazy. That's foolish. Other people said. Tell me more
about that. Tell me about that. This is the
Lord reaching across the sea and shaking those kingdoms. He
brought those people. They said, tell me more about
that. Tell me more about these sacrifices, about the worship
of the true and living God. They spent 70 years working like
that. Then lo and behold, one day Cyrus
came. He set the Jews free. told him,
you go rebuild Jerusalem. At that time, he must have set
the people of Tyre free too. And he told them, go back to
Tyre and rebuild Tyre. And when they did, they brought
the worship of the Lord with them to that new city. Now will
the Lord really destroy nations? Will he really cause global recession
and global depression and cause tyranny to reign in parts of
the earth? just to bring a few heathen members of that city
of Tyre to Christ? Would he really do that? Look
in Isaiah 43. Yes, he does. He will do that. Isaiah 43, verse 3. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. I gave Ethiopia and Seba for
thee, since thou wast precious in my sight. Thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Therefore I will give men for
thee, and people for thy life." Yes, he will. He is going to
destroy nations and people in order to bring his elect to the
place where they hear the gospel. Will the Lord really destroy
nations? So one of his children has to
be on the run and come to a refugee camp so they can hear the gospel?
Would the Lord really do that? Yes, he would. God destroyed his son in order
to save his people from their sin. He destroyed his son to
put their sin away. He'll certainly raise up nations
and destroy nations so that his people will hear the gospel of
Christ. Now look at Matthew chapter 11. I want to show you the fulfillment
of this prophecy. This is such a blessing. In Matthew chapter 11, our Lord
here is speaking in verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities where most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chrazen! Woe unto
thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Now look over in
Acts chapter 21. The Lord must have proved his point. He must
have sent the gospel to Tyre and people repented in sackcloth
and ashes because look what we see in Acts chapter 21. Verse 2, finding a ship sailing over Phoenicia,
we went aboard and set forth. Now when we had discovered Cyprus,
we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed
at Tyre, for there the ship was to unlaid her burden. Tyre was
still this great port, the trading port, they were going to unload
their wares they had on the ship at Tyre. And finding disciples,
We tarried there seven days, whom said to Paul through the
Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And when we
had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way,
and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children,
till we were out of the city, and we kneeled down on the shore
and prayed. And we had taken our leave one
of another, and we took ship, and they returned home again."
The Apostle Paul found brethren, disciples. Now how did that happen? I don't know when it happened.
I don't know exactly what happened. But I do know this. At an exact
date, after an exact number of years set by the Lord, the gospel
came to tire. The Lord came there in power
and sinners were saved. Sinners were converted. It happened
because the time of salvation for some of God's elect had come.
Well, why Tyre, not some other city? I don't know. That's the Lord's business. Why
is the gospel in Ashland and not in other places? I don't
have any idea. That's the Lord's business. Well,
why this time and not some other time? I don't know. That's the
Lord's business. But this is God's providence
in conversion. He had some elect in that city.
And they heard the gospel. He sent the gospel to them and
they were converted. And here's our comfort. If the
Lord has purposed to save you, my friend, you will be saved. You'll be converted when Christ
is revealed to you and in you. And it will happen by any means
necessary. You know, I hear that they have,
you know, militaries going out to have operations. They say
by any means necessary. By any means necessary, the Lord
will bring you to your knees. He'll bring you to Christ. He'll
destroy everything that you have any hope of salvation in so that
you're left with no hope but Christ. And then the Lord will
convert us and we'll find our place of rest and comfort and
safety and assurance in Him. That's God's providence in conversion. Alright, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word. How we thank You that You are Lord of all. That there is nothing in this
creation that's outside of Your control. You directly control
everything that happens in this creation for one purpose. For Your glory and for the conversion
of Your people. For the redemption of Your people.
That Your people will come. to Christ, that you reveal your
Son to us and in us. Father, how thankful we are.
This salvation of your people that your Son purchased with
his own precious blood, his broken body and shed blood on Calvary's
tree is not left to chance. It's not left to our free will
or man's decision, but it's according to God's eternal purpose. And
how thankful we are because you're God. Your purpose shall come
to pass. Father, we pray it's your purpose
to save your people here in this place, in this town. We pray
that you'd cause your gospel to go out in power, that you
control all the events of providence and the events of someone's life,
that they'll hear the gospel, that you call them to repentance
and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. how thankful we are to know this
gospel will never be a failure. It will always accomplish the
purpose for until you send it. Father, we are thankful. We bow
before you in thanksgiving. We pray that you would bless
your word to the hearts of your people and to the glory of your
precious, matchless name. It is in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and for his sake we pray. Amen.