In the mid-1800s, a man by the
name of Horatio Spafford was a very successful, very wealthy,
well-known, influential businessman. And then in 1873, the Chicago
Fire destroyed everything he had. He decided to relocate his
family. And so while he was making arrangements
for final things with regard to his business, he sent his
wife and four daughters on a luxury liner to France, the largest,
most luxurious ship in the world. He kissed them goodbye, promised
him to meet them in France in a few weeks. Several days out
of port, That luxurious ship, sailing peacefully toward France,
was rammed, binding the ship, and it took the biggest, finest,
best ship in the world two hours to sink to the ocean floor. 226 people died. Nine days later,
the survivors landed safely in Cardiff, Wales, and Spafford
received a telegram with just two words. His wife wrote to
him, saved, alone. All four daughters had drowned
with those 226 people. As soon as possible, he booked
passage on a ship to Europe to join his wife. And on the way
there, the captain called him on the bridge one night. He said,
according to my calculations, We're now passing over the place
where your children were drowned. Spafford thanked the captain
and went back to his cabin and wrote these very familiar words.
When peace, like a river, attendeth thy way, when sorrows, like sea
billows, roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it
is well. it is well with my soul." That man who had lost his business,
his house, and his children said to a friend shortly after that,
I'm glad I can trust the Lord when it costs me something. Spafford's great-granddaughter
wrote to me and gave me that. I'm glad I can trust the Lord
when it costs me something. When he and his wife finally
met and embraced one another, she said, we've not lost our
children, we're only separated for a little while. How I pray that God might give
me such grace in the face of such trials. How can a man and
his wife bear such trials, such losses, such heartaches, with
such sweet composure? I mean composure. Composure. Pain, but composure. Hurting,
but composure. Deeply felt sorrow, but composure. We worship God. We worship God. And because pain
comes, and sorrow comes, and sickness comes, and death comes,
and bereavement comes, we still worship God. How can you? Spafford and his wife believed
something. They believed God. Not just facts, not just doctrines,
they believed God. God who works all things together
for good to them that love God. To them who are the called according
to his purpose. Open your Bibles with me to the
10th chapter of Matthew's gospel. Here our Lord sends out his 70
disciples to preach the gospel. And as he sends them out, he
tells them plainly not to provide anything for themselves and not
to keep anything they didn't need. That's exactly what he
told them. Don't provide anything for yourself
and don't keep anything you don't need. And he said, along the
way, you're going to meet with resistance and conflict and hardship
and heartache. The path you take is down the
path of resistance and conflict and hardship and heartache. There's no other path for you. There's no other path for believers
through this world. And he here assures us that all
who follow him, all who serve him, all who confess him in every
generation in this world shall be hated of all men. Their own
families will rise up against us. And in the midst of all these
things, he has one constant refrain. One constant refrain. This just
crossed my mind, so if I'm mistaken, forgive me. I don't think there's
anything our Lord said more often than this. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. In the midst of sickness, fear
not. In the midst of storms, fear
not. In the midst of persecution,
fear not. In darkness, fear not. In bright
sun persecution, fear not. It is I. Fear not. Our Savior teaches us why we
should never fear anybody or anything. or anybody or anything
you're gonna meet when you walk out that door. Anybody or anything
that comes up behind you when you're not expecting it. No reason
to fear. Here's why, verse 29. Are not
two sparrows sold for a farthing? About the most worthless birds
I reckon there are, sparrows. You can buy two of them for a
penny. and one of them shall not fall on the ground to get
a little piece of grain or a little flea or a die. Take it any way
you want to. That worthless sparrow is not
gonna drop on the ground without the decree, order, command of
your father. Without your father. But the
very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore,
ye are of more value than many sparrows. If your heavenly father
watches out for sparrows, if he feeds sparrows and he drops
them at their appointed time to death, reckon he won't take
care of you? Reckon he won't take care of
you? With these words, our Savior assures us that none of God's
elect shall ever be in any real danger of any kind or suffer
any real harm, for we're under the special, constant care and
protection of God. You and I who are Christ, you
who believe, young and old, we are under the special care, constant
protection of the triune God, so much so that the very hairs
of your head are all numbered. I see six things in that statement
which are a constant source of peace and encouragement to me. Here's the first one. The blessed
fact of divine predestination. Our Savior's words in verse 30
might better be translated, the very hairs of your head have
all been numbered. Now this is what the text is
saying. The Lord Jesus says, your heavenly Father so greatly
cares for you that before time was, He numbered exactly the
hairs on your head this minute when you got through combing
your hair today. Now we just had one child. Our
little girl is now I've got two grown children. I won't tell
you how old she is. Well, I will. She's 40. If I can think of it,
she's 47. I want to be sure to get that
right because sometimes I'll say we've been married 48 years
and she's 49. That's not right. She's 47. And we've been married
50 years almost. But I remember well when that
little girl was born. She helped me change diapers.
I didn't. I was a sorry husband by modern standards. Still am.
But I didn't change diapers. Shelby changed those diapers.
And she'd clean her up. And you know what she'd do? She'd
count her fingers and toes. Just like one of them was going
to fall off one morning. She'd count them. Every day and kiss them. I never saw it. And bless her
heart, Faith didn't have much hair. We didn't tape a ribbon
in her head so folks don't know she was a girl. But I never saw
Faith attempt to count her hair. She cared a lot, but not enough
to do that. She had other things pressing her than to sit down
and start counting hair on her head. That's kind of foolish.
No, no, no. Might have been foolish for her,
but not for God. Not for God. Before the world
began, he numbered the hairs on your head every day of your
existence. That's called tender special
care. That's called divine predestination. This is meticulous predestination. What does it tell us? God's sovereign
purpose of grace in predestination includes all that we do and all
that we experience all the time. You never experience anything
in time, my brother, my sister. There was not order of God for
you from eternity. And God has never done anything
to you. He performeth all things, what
does the book say? For me. He performeth all things for
me. For me! Everything for my benefit. Everything for my assistance.
Everything for my help. Everything! God performs for
me. As directly for me as if I were
the only creature on this planet called Earth. He performs all
things for me. Number two. The sentence reminds me of our
Heavenly Father's perfect knowledge of all things concerning us. Our God who predestinated all
things and rules all things, knows all things. Now that seems
a little bit redundant, but the scriptures make much of God's
knowledge. His omniscience, yes. He foreknows
some folks, that is he loves some folks from everlasting.
But God's knowledge is such that we ought to pay attention to
him making it known to us. Even the numbering of our hairs
tells us that we are well known by God. Now let me tell you what
I would expect from my daughter growing up. All her life. She's now 47 years old. If she
had trouble, if she had trouble, something come up really bothering
her, something really concerned her when she was 4, 40, or 47,
I expected her to be completely at ease if I just said two words,
I know. That means I'll take care of
it. I'll take care of it. I know.
I know. You don't have to worry about
that. Daddy knows. You don't have to worry about
those folks. Daddy knows. You don't have to worry about
that fella. Daddy knows. I'll take care of it." And she
used to say with regard to high school, she said, this place
needs a good dose of the fear of dawn in it. She understood. I put fear in folks that bother
you. I know. Hear me, child of God. Your father knows. Your father
knows you have need of all these things. He knows where you are. He knows your darkness. He's
the one who sent it. He knows your trouble. He's the one who
brought it. He knows your pain. He's the one who gave it. I have
a very dear friend in our congregation at home, Brother David Coleman. Many of you know him. Well, most
of you do. He's been down here with us in
meetings. He and his wife, his in-laws,
his family are going through some difficulties, have for the
last few years. But David has had some tough times, physically. And tough times physically, but
tough times emotionally. A lot of strain. And I try every now and then
to say to them, he and Teresa, I wouldn't have done this to
you for anything in the world. I wouldn't have brought this
on you, not for anything in the world. But he who loves you infinitely
more than we can imagine has done this for you. This is his
work for you, for you. His knowledge of us is constant
and entire, nothing lacking. His knowledge of us is the knowledge
of a tender, sympathetic father like none of us have ever known,
except him. His is the knowledge of a tender,
sympathetic father. Number three, the very hairs of your head are
all numbered, declares our Father's constant care. You're the apple
of His eye. He careth for you. Cast your
care on Him. You don't have to tell the world
about it, cast it on him. Matter of fact, if you cast it on him,
he probably won't talk much to anybody else about it. Cast it
on him. This is what the book of God
says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. He is a wall of fire around his
people. When I was a young man, I started
pastoring in West Virginia. I was 21 years old, and Brother
Elmer Harold, A very dear friend, an old man in the congregation
at that time, an old deacon, he stood up to pray one night
and he said, Lord, encamp round about us. And I thought, that's
kind of a strange way to pray. No, that's exactly what the psalmist
said. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about us. He is a wall
of fire around us so that nothing reaches and nothing harms us. The very hairs of your head are
all numbered. Tells me of the high, high honor
and high, high, very high esteem God has for his elect. Nobody
ever cared for me like that. Nobody ever cared for me like
that. The Lord God says, you're honorable because I have loved
you. I have loved you. How has he
loved me? Hearing his love, not that we
loved God, we didn't. We couldn't, we wouldn't, we
hated him. But he loved us and sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sins. He said, Israel, don't
be afraid. I've redeemed you. I've called
you by name. You belong to me. So when you
pass through the waters, I'll be with you. And through the
rivers, they'll not overflow you. And when you walk through
the fire, nobody will even think you've been in a smoking section. The flames shall not kindle upon
thee. Do you know what Daniel's friend Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego lost in the burning fiery furnace? Do you know what
they lost? The only thing they lost were
the wreaths that bound them. That's it, that's it. Nothing
gonna harm you. Nothing gonna harm you, not if
you're God's. He said, I am the Lord, your God. The Holy
One of Israel, your Savior. Now this is what I've done for
you. I gave Egypt for you. I gave Ethiopia for you. I gave
Sheba for you. I gave men for you, people for
your life. I raised up nations and I tread
down nations just for you. Now what was you gonna be afraid
of? I'm with you, I'm with you. Number five. Those words of our Redeemer,
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Remind me of the
promise of divine protection. Later in Luke's Gospel, our Savior
says, the numbering of our hairs tells us that God intends there
shall not an hair of your head perish. Trials are certain. Temptations are sure. Tribulations
are constant in this world. But there's no cause for fear. The very hairs of your head are
all numbered. While we live in this world,
we will experience much of trial. and temptation and tribulation. And we will fall often. Though
the righteous man fall seven times in a day, the Lord raises
him up. Why do you reckon he said seven
times in a day? He would have been more accurate
in numbering if he'd have said 7,000 times in a day. Why do
you reckon he said seven times in a day? Because seven is used
in the scripture to speak of totality, completion. And this is what Don Fortner
is in the totality of life's experience, falling and failure. Fall every time I think, everything
I do, mixed with sin, pride, selfishness, everything! Every
thought. God forgive me. Every thought. And the Lord raises him up. Before I think about having fallen,
he raises me up. The Lord raises him up. Number
six. When our Savior says the very
hairs of your head are all numbered, He is assuring us of the sweet,
sweet comfort of divine providence. That's the primary intent of
this word from our Redeemer's lips. The sparrow cannot fall
to the ground, neither can a hair fall from your head without your
Father's eternal decree in predestination and his deliberate direction
in providence. The knowledge and understanding
of God's providence I think is the comfort and strength of believing
hearts in the midst of trials and temptations and troubles.
Let me wrap my message up by telling you three brief important
facts revealed in this book about God's providence. Facts that
I have proved over and over again for 52 years. These are facts. Number one, God's providence
is mysterious. Turn over to Romans chapter 11.
I want you to see it. When you start to try to explain
God's providence, you're going to fumble up. God's providence
is mysterious. Beginning in Romans chapter 8,
verse 28, Paul just starts to describe God's providence. In
chapter 9, he speaks of vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy.
He speaks of God loving Jacob and Hadon Esau. He speaks in
chapter 10 of the accomplishment of redemption by the doing and
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 11, it says God's
gonna save all Israel by casting Israel away. He's gonna cast away the natural
seed that he might gather the spiritual seed so that all Israel
shall be saved. Now, try explaining that to a
man. Just try explaining that to a man. Here it is, Romans
11, 33. Oh, the depths. of the riches, both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath first
given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again. For
of him That's the source of him, of him. You want to blame somebody
for something? Start with God, of him. Did you hear that fellow cussing
you? Of him. Shemai, go cuss David. Of him,
of him. Let me go take his head off his
shoulder. Leave it alone. God told him to cuss me or he couldn't.
Of him. Is that what the book says? Is
that what David said about Shemai? Of him and through him. That's the means of accomplishment.
Shemai couldn't breathe, let alone cuss, if God didn't put
the breath in his nostrils and the words in his mouth. Is that
right? Either God rules or He doesn't. He either rules everywhere or
He rules nowhere. Through Him and to Him. When it's over, God's gonna get
the praise out of all of it. Are all things To whom be glory
forever, amen. God's judgments are a great deal.
His ways are past finding out. And I know this, God always has
his way. His ways are never our ways. Looks like we'd learned that. God never does things the way
we would. I've never seen it happen, have you? I have never
observed God do one thing the way I do it. Not one thing. His
ways are not our ways. His way is always right. I look back over my life and
there are a lot of things I mean a lot of things. I hope nobody ever finds out
about it. A lot of things. And I've
experienced a lot of things. I'm not going to tell you about
it. A lot of things. And I would never choose that
path for anybody. But I want to tell you something.
There's nothing I would change. Not one bitter pill. Not one
heartache. Not one pain. Nothing. I wouldn't
change one second of these 68 years. Not one. Because these days and these
hours and these minutes and these seconds were all precisely ordered
of my God for my everlasting good and that's good enough keep silence
all created things and wait your maker's nod my soul stands trembling
while she sings the honors of her God life Death and hell and
worlds unknown hang on his firm decree. He sits on no precarious
throne, nor borrows leave to be. Chained to his throne a volume
lies with all the fates of men, with every angel's form and size
drawn by the eternal pen. His providence unfolds the book
and makes his counsel shine, each opening leaf and every stroke
fulfills some bright design. Here he exalts neglected worms
to scepters in a crowd and then the following page he turns and
treads the monarch down. Not Gabriel asked the reason
why nor God the reason gives nor dares the favored angel pry
between the folded leaves. My God, I would not long to see
my fate with curious eyes. What gloomy lines are writ for
me, or what bright scenes may rise in thy fair book of life
and grace, may I but find my name recorded by electing grace
beneath my Lord the Lamb. That's good enough. That's good
enough. God's providence is God's sovereign
rule of the universe for the salvation of his chosen to the
praise of the glory of his grace. Everything God does and everything
that is and everything that comes to pass, God does. He may use the devil to accomplish
it, or he may use a devil dressed up like a woman, or the devil
dressed up like a man to accomplish it, but it's God's doing, and
it does it for the saving of his elect. God's providence is
mysterious. Second, God's providence is minute. The very hairs of your head are
all numbered. Pastor, that's minute detail,
even on my head. God's providence is minute. It's all-inclusive. God rules
everything, small and great, good and bad. righteous and wicked
absolutely all things everywhere all the time there's absolutely
nothing that is not under God's absolute rule all the time our
God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased
The Lord tells us over and over again of his absolute sovereign
rule of all things everywhere by him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. Everything in this vast
universe is God's. It's under God's control all
the time. When he wanted to make the worlds
he just willed it and there it is. Just that simple. In the beginning God made the
heavens and the earth. Well explain that. God didn't,
why should I? He understood it. I don't. In
the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. That's good enough. Just by the exercise of his will. just by the exercise of his will. The Lord God brought Israel out
of Egypt, and Pharaoh and his army, their horses breathing
hot down the backs of Israel, and God sent a pillar of cloud
in the middle of the night and got Pharaoh and the army confused,
and they're running around like this. And Israel's standing in
front of the Red Sea and they're murmuring and griping against
God. And Moses said, stand still! Stand still! Watch this! It's
called the salvation of the Lord. And God opened up the Red Sea. And they walked through as if
they were walking on asphalt. When I was in high school, after
God saved me in my last year of high school, we had an English
teacher. He had some problems. He was
the first black teacher I'd ever had. The first year we had black
teachers in school in Western South Carolina. It wasn't because
he was black. It would have been the same thing if he was white,
red, or turned upside, well he was turned upside down. But he
liked to poke fun at everything religious. She and I were the
only ones in the class who had any notions about things. He
said the Reed Sea, the Red Sea was really the Reed Sea. It just
had a little water in it about 18 inches deep. And this little
gal, she has spotted me. She said, wow. And that got his
attention. He said, what do you mean, wow?
She says, a greater miracle than I thought. He said, what do you mean? She
said, well, God, you mean to tell us God drowned the mightiest
army in the world in 18 inches of water? God controls everything, everything. He opens up the Jordan River.
Here comes Israel to take their land. he sends the whirlwind
and he has his way in it. When men crucified the Lord of
glory they simply did what God had before ordained must be done
for the saving of his people. Our great God is in total control
of brute beasts and irrational creatures too. When he sends
judgment He tells flies, frogs, and locusts where to go. And
he sends them into a land and keeps them from landing ocean
in that land. Tells them exactly where to go. He sends a great
fish specifically prepared so that that fish could swallow
up a living man and that living man live in that fish's belly
for three days and three nights in the bottom of the sea and
then spit him out. The Lord God told Peter, before
this night's over, Peter, you're gonna deny me three times. And you're gonna know this is
coming to pass exactly as I have said, and I have prayed for you.
Satan's desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, and
I'm gonna let him sift you, but it's gonna be with myself. And
I prayed for you that your faith fail not, but before the night's
over, you're gonna deny me three times. and you'll deny me once
and twice you'll hear the rooster crow and that's not going to
stop you you're going to deny me a third time and you'll hear
the rooster crow again and the rooster crowed right on cue both
times just because Christ said so the Lord hath prepared his
throne in the heavens his kingdom ruleth over all Our God, our
Heavenly Father, controls, absolutely controls, all creatures true
to. He controls all men, everywhere,
good and bad. Controls the good they do and
the evil they perform. All angels and all demons and
Satan himself are under God's total control. So that surely,
the psalmist says, the wrath of man will praise thee, and
the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain. Satan in Isaiah 14
said, I'm going to take over being God. And God said, oh no,
Satan's opposed to me. What am I going to do? No. He said, this is the purpose
that is purposed in the whole earth. This has come to pass
exactly as I intended. Do you know how God is portrayed
on his throne? Watch this. When I'm sitting down, I'm perfectly
at ease. If I get a little disturbed,
somebody might harm me, I'll get up. But if it's just an ant
buzzing around my head, I just sit and look at it. That's how
people even do it with man sometimes. They expect you to turn around
and sit and look at them. Don't ask them. Don't respond
to them. Who do you think you are to say
that to me? You're sick. I'm sick. Nothing disturbs God. Nothing makes God uneasy. Nothing shakes His heart. He
never paces the floor. He never bites His hands. He
never wrings His hands. Why should I? He's my God. Understand that? Oh, preachers,
we recognize God controls all the good things, good people.
They don't give me any trouble. I don't ever have any trouble
with good things, good people. Do you? Tell me who controls the
horrible things and the horrible people. I'll worship him. That's
what gives me trouble. God controls everybody and everything
all the time. He says, I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil. Who are you talking about? I
am the Lord, he said. I do all these things. God rules
absolutely. Satan is not a rival to God. He's God's devil. He's God's
devil under God's control all the time. He roars only when
God says, all right, you can roar now. That's all. Read the
book of Job one more time. We tend to misunderstand the
book of Job. Job came and he came and said, I was working
on Job. That ain't how it happened. God
said to the devil, have you thought about my boy Job? And they told
him, go do this, this, this, and this. And he came back to
give report again. Isn't that wonderful? He gives
report to God. He gives report to God, just
like one of your workers comes in, you send him on assignment,
and he comes back at the end of the day and gives you a report
on what he did. Gives report to God. And God said, have you
considered my servant Job? Satan roars where God says roar,
when God says roar, at no other time. and he doesn't have any
claws or any teeth, and he's on a chain, and Christ holds
the chain. He's God's house cat! That's exactly right, exactly
right. The Lord hath made all things,
what does the book say, for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. The lot is cast into the lap.
When I was a boy, I used to throw dice out behind the school. When I was in junior high school
and high school, we'd gamble a little bit. I'd throw dice.
Seven come eleven. Think I had something to do with
that. Blow it on those things. Shake them up. Roll them around. Throw
the dice. The lot's cast into the lap. If it comes up snake
eyes, God did it. It's exactly right. The king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord. Doesn't matter whether his name's
Obama or Trump. and as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever
he will. Now learn this third thing. God's
providence is mysterious. God's providence is minute. And
God's providence is good. Good. All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his medicine. No event in history is isolated
from any other event. All things work together. All things. Not necessarily for our immediate
good. Not even necessarily for our
temporal good. But all things work together
for spiritual good, for eternal good, not just to one believer
alone, but to the collective good of all God's elect. Everything. Actually, that which
is truly good for me is very often the exact opposite of what
is presently good. We have Laura Van Gogh back here. She's a pharmacist. I mean, she's
a top dog pharmacist. Dog's not a good word, is it?
She's a top-notch pharmacist and a dear friend of mine. And
in mixing medicine, I know nothing at all about it except what I've
tasted and experienced. They mix things together. Some
of them will kill you. With other medicines, they'll
help you. I've had cancer years ago. I came in just as they were
finishing using cobalt treatments and started using chemotherapy.
In those early days of chemotherapy, they didn't pinpoint stuff then.
They just poisoned you everywhere. And too much of it killed you.
The cobalt treatments, I still got tattoos on my back. My grandbabies used to have tattoos
all over the world. I don't remember when I finally
told them what they were, but they're still there. How come? Because they
put these huge lead blocks to try to protect my lungs and my
heart and my spine and my kidneys and my liver from the horrible
cobalt treatments that would cripple you or kill you. Doctors
were principally concerned with the treatments that wind up a
paraplegic or quadriplegic. How come? The medicine to make
you better. And I spent a year hugging a
commode every day. Every day. Every day. And look here. Here I am. How's that? The wise physicians
God gave me and the wise scientists and wise pharmacists God gave
me mixed together just the right concoction at just the right
time for my good. Our God wisely works everything
together so that you can't take out even a part of an atom. It all works together for good
to them that love God, to them who are called according to his
purpose. I have a friend unknown to me,
I don't think, I have met him but I don't remember him even
remember what he looks like. Jeff Schwent. For years he has
been sending out every day, a lot of you fellas get his grace gems. And a few weeks ago my wife called
my attention to one that he sent out. I put it in our bulletin
for today. And it kind of summarizes what I'm trying to tell you.
One Sunday morning at a small southern church, the new young
pastor called on one of his old deacons to lead the opening prayer. And the old deacon stood up and
bowed his head and said, Lord, I hate buttermilk. And the pastor
kind of opened one eye and wondered what was going on. And the deacon
continued, Lord, I hate lard. And now the young preacher was
really perplexed. And then the deacon continued, Lord, I ain't
too crazy about plain flour. But after you mix them all together
and bake them in a hot oven, I just love biscuits. Lord, help us to realize when
life gets hard, when things come up that we don't like, whenever
we don't understand what you're doing, that we need to wait and
see what you're making. After you get through mixing
and baking it, it'll be something even better than biscuits. Amen. I welcome all his sovereign
will, for all his will is love. And when I know not what he does,
I wait for light above. With this blessed assurance,
the very hairs of my head have all been numbered by my Heavenly
Father. That's good enough. Amen.