My life has been and is a constant
verification of the fact that God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. So it is my delight every time
I have opportunity to talk to folks about God's providence. Turn with me, if you will, tonight
to Ephesians 1, and I want to talk to you as plainly as I can
from this book about predestination and providence. These inseparable
twins of grace are set before us in Ephesians 1, 11, in whom,
that is, in Christ, We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Divine providence is the daily,
constant, sovereign rule of our God over and in all things for
the accomplishment of his eternal purpose. It is God Almighty working
all things together after the counsel of his own will, working
all things together in time exactly according to his purpose of grace
in predestination. Predestination is the sovereign,
eternal, immutable, unalterable purpose of our God, by which
He ordained and ordered according to His own will, in His infinite
wisdom, all things that come to pass in time. What does that
mean? That means if we had it in our
power to change anything in the course of our lives or in the
course of history, we would be wise to say no. Leave things
exactly as God has ordered them. All things in time were ordered
by God in His wise decree before the world began. Divine providence
for you who are somewhat familiar with history, is often referred
to in the documents of our founding fathers and those of that era. And many folks look at references
to divine providence and say, there, that proves that this
was founded as a Christian nation. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Those men commonly referred to divine providence
as though divine providence were God. Divine providence is the
act of God executing his sovereign will. We don't worship providence,
we worship the God of providence. Deist worship providence. Divine
providence is God accomplishing his eternal predestination. Doing
in time what he purposed to do in eternity. Providence is God
sovereignly, absolutely bringing to pass in time all that He predestined
in eternity. Predestination is God's purpose
of grace. Providence is but the execution
of His purpose. Would to God we could understand
this. Hear me well. Be sure you understand
the doctrine of Holy Scripture with regard to God's providence.
Nothing comes to pass in time, absolutely nothing, in heaven,
earth, or hell that God did not purpose in eternity in sovereign
predestination. And nothing comes to pass in
time except that. which God sovereignly brings
to pass by his providence. Nothing in this world happens
by chance or fate or luck or accident. Nothing happens by
compelling circumstances. Everything is brought to pass
by the compelling hand of God's sovereign providence. That which
God predestined in eternity, He brings to pass in time. Now
let's see if I can make good on that from the book. It matters
not what I think, or you think, or anyone else thinks. What does
God say about His providence? Does it really include all things? Is it really the execution of
His eternal purpose? Absolutely. Look at just one
chapter in Scripture. Let me show you. Well, let's
look at two. Proverbs 16. Proverbs chapter 16. You can
all by now, I presume, quote from memory Psalm 76, 10. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath
wilt thou restrain. What a word. Here in Proverbs 16, verse 4. The Lord hath made what? What
does it say? All things. for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Even the wicked for the day of
the evil the wicked perform. Even the wicked for the day of
evil the wicked shall inherit in judgment. Verse 9. A man's
heart deviseth his way. We do that all the time. I got
up this morning and before I got out of bed I had my mind set
on some things I planned to do. You know what? I do that every
day. Every day I get up, got my mindset, what I plan to do.
But the Lord directeth his steps. Our plans are meaningless. Totally
meaningless. The Lord directs a man's steps.
Verse 33. The lot is cast into the lap.
Now, for you young folks who are not familiar with such a
term, we play games like Monopoly and roll dice. Whatever number
comes up, that's the number. Well, in ancient times, folks
cast lots to decide things. They cast lots into the lap. A man spread his robe and cast
a lot. What number is coming up? What's going to happen? What
shall the roll of the dice be? The lot is cast into the lap.
What could be more fortuitous than that? Which of you would
like to determine every time what the number on the dice is
going to be when you shake them up and roll them? My preacher,
that's impossible. You're right it is. You're right
it is, unless you're God Almighty. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof. Isn't that a wonderful word?
The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Verse 1 of chapter
21. The king's heart. Which king? Any of them you find. The ruler's
heart. The ruler of every nation. The
ruler of our nation. The rulers before and the rulers
yet to come. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As rivers of water, actually
he's talking about irrigation canals. As the canals that a
man puts out in his field to water his crops, he turns the
king's heart, whither so ever he will. We live in troublesome times. You have been hearing on the
news of the terrible, terrible uneasiness of everything in this
world politically. We, it appears, stand on the
brink of horrible, horrible things ahead. But what do you do? Leave it to the politicians to
negotiate all they can and plead with God Almighty to accomplish
as he will the good of his people, turning the hearts of kings exactly
as he will, doing his will on earth even as it's done in heaven,
and rest in the confident knowledge that he shall. Rest in the confident
knowledge that king's heart in every land is in his hand. And just exactly like you would
turn a hose to water a pot of flowers or turn the hose to wash
off the driveway, he turns the king's heart whithersoever he
will. No wonder. Nebuchadnezzar, when
his senses returned to him, said, I praised and honored him that
liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth, that includes you and me. are reputed as nothing. And he doeth not has done or
shall do, but doeth according to his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? For of him and through
him and to him are all things. Now our text is Ephesians 1.11.
And I've been studying this for weeks. I've read every commentary
I have in my library, every one I've given my hands on, numerous
times over the past several months. And the best commentary I have
yet found on Ephesians 1.11 is Romans 8.28. So let's go back to that very,
very familiar passage of scripture, Romans 8.28, and pray that God
the Holy Spirit will teach us what He here has written in His
Word. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. If God the Holy Spirit will teach
us and cause us to learn that which is written in these 25
words about God's adorable providence, working out his sovereign predestination,
I promise you, we will leave here in peace, rejoicing in our
God. Let me show you three or four
things here. First, the scripture speaks here
of that of which God's elect, every believing sinner is persuaded. Paul says, we know. Now that
word know refers to a knowledge that is beyond speculation. It
is a knowledge beyond theory. It's not just a doctrine. It's
not even the knowledge of sound judgment. It's not just a reasonable
persuasion, but rather it is the confident, assured persuasion
based upon fact, revelation, and experience. We know. I stand convinced. I am persuaded. And it is my prayer that God
will graciously and thoroughly, continually convince us as he
did the Apostle Paul. We, we who believe God, know. But how do we know? What's the
basis of our knowledge? Is this just a pipe dream or
is it sure enough a firm, established persuasion of the heart? We know
by the revelation of God Almighty in Holy Scripture. Matters not
how things appear to our outward eye. It matters not how things
may feel today. It matters not how other people
judge things. We know by the revelation of
God's Holy Word that He rules the universe absolutely in His
sovereign providence. Listen to this. Psalm 84. Turn
back there. Turn to Psalm 91. Psalm 91. Let
me read Psalm 84, 11. The Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. Now listen to this. No good thing
will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. What a word! God Almighty will never withhold
any good thing from you who are His. Nothing. Psalm 91. He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the All-Mighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God. In Him will I trust. I'm
abiding in Christ, the secret place of the Most High. I'm abiding
in that city of refuge where no harm can come to me. And look
what God says in verse 10. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. You mean,
preacher, you'll never get sick? No, I've had a little bit of
that. You mean, you'll never have pain? No, I've had a little
bit of that too. You mean, you'll never have distressing
circumstances in your life? No, I've had some of that too.
What's this mean? Neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling. What dwelling? Christ is my abiding
place. I am in him and one with him,
and no harm shall come to him. And that means no harm shall
come to me. A thousand may fall at my right
hand and 10,000 in front of me, but no harm shall come to me. When God sends judgment upon
a nation, upon a community, upon a family, judgment falls alike
outwardly upon the righteous and the wicked, just as he causes
the sun to shine and the rain to fall, both on the righteous
and the wicked. But no harm comes to his elect
any more than the falling of the rain brings grace to the
wicked. No plague shall come nigh thy
dwelling. Proverbs 12. We read, there shall
no evil happen to the just. I'm standing here just before
God because he has made me just. He has put away my sin. He's
washed me in the blood of His Son. He's redeemed me. He's justified
me. I stand here in the righteousness
of Christ just before God and God says there shall no evil
happen to the just. Now either that's true or God
Almighty can't be believed. That's true. I'm convinced. But
the wicked, the wicked shall be filled with mischief." God's
good providence doing us good fills the wicked with mischief,
with harm, with evil continually. We know these things and we walk
in the comfort of God's providence because He has given us the inner
witness of His Spirit, the anointing of the Spirit, by which we have
the mind of Christ and know all things. You see, those who are
taught of God learn the lessons He intends to teach. I try to
teach folks, and a good teacher exercises every method possible
to see to it that the student learns. But we are helpless to
make someone learn, not God Almighty. When He teaches, He teaches the
heart. by the persuasion of His grace, by the inner witness of
His Spirit with the Word, convincing men and women who are called
by His grace. And that means that we know that
God's providence is wise, adorable, and good. As we look back just
on what we've experienced, If I could hide my name so that
it didn't appear to be just the blusterings of a proud man like
I am, I could write a large volume just from what I've seen in my
life of God Almighty stepping in and changing the course of
history just for me. And that's just what I've seen,
and I can't see very far. That's just what I've observed
in the years of my adulthood. And that's not very much. I've
seen God work wondrously in things that I thought might surely destroy
me, only to do me good. Only to do me good. Well, Brother
Don, have you never experienced any harm? None from anybody anywhere. None. I didn't say I'd never
been hurt. I said, never experienced any
harm. Hurt's good for a fella. Pain's good for us. Difficulties
are good for us. No harm. No harm. Now, look at
the next word here. We know what? All things work
together. For good, only good. God's providence is the execution
of his good purpose of grace. It is his government of the universe. If we have a proper view of God's
providence, We will see the hand of God and rejoice in the hand
of God. See the heart of God and rejoice
in the heart of God in all the experiences of our lives. Let us never speak like the unbelieving
Philistines who said it was a chance that happened to us. No. God
give us grace and faith that we may look to him like Job of
old and say, the Lord giveth, and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. When Eli got word of his arrogant
sons and their haughty rebellion, being killed by God in judgment. Now, it's one thing to suddenly
find out that your son or daughter has been killed. It's another
thing to know without question Your son and daughter was killed
under the hand of God's wrath and God cast them into hell.
What do you do now? Where is God now? It is the Lord. He makes no mistakes. He does
no wrong. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. That's called faith. So that's
hard. That's the softest heart any
human being can imagine, for it is molded to God's will and
God's glory. You remember when Shemai came
out and cussed David? I mean, he saw his chance and
he thought this is it. God's going to show what this
man really is and cussed him for everything he was worth.
And David's servant Abishah said, let me go over and take his head
off his shoulders. And he was dead serious. David,
all you got to do is not say no. I'll go over there and kill
him right now. And David said, leave him alone. He couldn't
cuss me if the Lord hadn't said cuss David. And perhaps the Lord
will requite me good for his cursing this day. You see, God
our Father is not idle. He never needs to rest, recuperate,
or regroup. He's always on the job, always
accomplishing His will. His providence is a mysterious
thing. Who hath known to mind the Lord? His judgments are a great deep. But this I know, though His ways
are past finding out, God always has His way. His way is never
my way. Never. I've lived long enough in the
experience of His grace, I can tell you. God's way has never
one time, as I looked out at things and thought, now this
is the way things ought to go, it's never been that way. Not once. Not once. Never. But his way
is always right, and his way is always best. Always. God's providence is minute. Matthew chapter 10, our Lord
said, you see the sparrow I've junder? You can buy two of them
for a penny. That's about as cheap as anything
I know of. You buy two of them for a penny. Not one of those worthless birds,
I'm talking worthless, worthless birds, not one of them will fall
to the ground and pick up a little seed or fall to the ground in
death except your father does it. Not going to happen. Now,
children of God, you're of considerably more value than many sparrows.
Do you think your father won't feed you? You think your father
won't care for you? Our Lord said, the very hairs
of your head are all numbered. That is, they have all been counted
from eternity in God's decree and numbered every day. So that
day by day, the hair that falls out of your head is according
to God's purpose. Hair? That stuff you just pull
out a brush, throw it in a trash can and forget it? That stuff
you sweep up off the floor when the barber's done clipping your
head and you throw it away and forget it? You mean God cares
for that? The hairs of your head have all
been numbered by your father every day. Exactly according
as he numbered them from eternity. And God's providence includes
everything. Does the Lord really rule everything?
Everything. The Lord hath prepared his throne
in the heavens. His kingdom ruleth over all. Everything. When the children
of God stood before the Red Sea, the Lord God calls that sea to
part. and stand up like a solid concrete
wall, a wall of water, standing like a solid concrete wall and
dried up the mud in the Red Sea so that they went over a dry
shard across the sea. And when he caught their enemies
in the midst of the sea, he swept them away in his wrath. God calls
manna to fall in exact proportion to the needs of his children
for 40 years. The Lord God calls the earth
to open up to swallow up Korah and his followers. The Lord God
calls the burning and fiery furnace that consumed the enemies of
his children never to even cause the smell of smoke upon the bodies
of those who were cast into the flame. Nehemiah said, God has
his way in the whirlwind. In the whirlwind. I can't imagine
anything on this earth a greater description of God's absolute
sovereignty. I've never witnessed close up
a tornado. I've never witnessed it close
up. I've just seen the results. And I've seen pictures on television
set. most chaotic thing you ever saw
in your life. The results are chaotic in my
eyes. No chaos to that. Everything
moved in the whirlwind exactly according to God's predetermined
path, exactly according to His will, and fell out just according
to His will. God rules all things. He sends flies, frogs, and locusts
at His command, and takes them away at His command. When time
came for His servant Jonah to learn a lesson from Him, God
sends a whale to swallow Jonah. I love what Brother Donny Bales
said. Somebody asked him, said, you don't believe that Jonah
and the whale stuff do? You don't believe Jonah swallowed a whale? He said,
if this book said Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd believe it. Yeah. Yeah, God Almighty rules. Everything,
everything, even all people. Joseph's brethren sold him into
slavery, thought they were rid of him. And Joseph is finally
brought down to Egypt through a series of God's handiwork. He's lifted to the highest place
in Egypt, right next to Pharaoh, made prime minister of the richest,
most powerful nation in the world. And there he sits, exercising
dominion over all of Egypt to save much people alive. And at
the time when God appointed, there arose another Pharaoh who
knew not Joseph, who calls the children of Israel to cry unto
God by reason of their affliction. And at precisely the time, he
sends his servant Moses down to deliver the children of Israel.
But he hardens Pharaoh's heart. and hardens Pharaoh's heart,
and hardens Pharaoh's heart, and hardens Pharaoh's heart,
until at last the Lord God said, I know he will not hear you.
And he hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he might send his judgment
and calls Pharaoh to chase the children of Israel to his own
destruction. Our Heavenly Father rules everywhere,
all the time, everybody. He says, Not a dog shall bark
against you. Not what? Not what? Surely the wrath of man will
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
Someone says, well, are you making God the author of sin? Of course
not. You know better than that. You know better than that. God
tempts no man to evil because he's not tempted with evil. God
is not the causative force of evil, C.D. Cole wrote, but he
is the director of it. He's the controller of it. He's
the ruler of it. William Plummer made a statement
I read last week. I just got to share it with you.
He said, God, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, upholds, preserves,
and governs the worlds which he has made. All creatures from
the smallest insect, which is to be seen by the microscope,
up to the archangel which worships before the eternal throne. All
events from the falling of a hair of the head to the destruction
of nations by famine, pestilence, and war. All rule and authority
from that of a petty official to that of thrones and principalities
in heaven. The material universe, from the
least particle that floats in the sunbeam to the grandest system
of worlds, which roll in emicity, all hang dependent upon his powerful
providence. And Plummer goes on to make this
observation. If one link in the chain, if
one link Just one little particle dancing in the sunbeam. Ever
open the window in the morning, pull the shades and the sun shine
in and you see just little particles in the light. If one link in
the chain breaks, the whole fabric crashes to the ground. God rules
everything, everywhere, all the time, or nothing is ruled. God's providence works all things
together for good. For good. No event in history
is isolated from any other event. It's all linked together. We
tend to look at dots. I was watching either the History
Discovery Channel one night recently that talked about the turning
points in history. And that's what we watch. We
watch the little spots. These are our choke marks. This is
how we look at things. Nothing is just a spot in history. Everything is linked together.
All things work together for good. not necessarily our temporal
good, not necessarily our physical good, but all things work together
for the spiritual and eternal good of every chosen redeemed
sinner, and for the spiritual, eternal good of all God's elect
collectively. You see, that which is good for
the whole of God's elect is good for me. We have a terrible tendency
to judge what's good for other folks by what's good for us.
Turn it around the other way. What's good for you, my brother,
my sister, in Jesus Christ, is good for me. For it is good for
Christ and His glory. Actually, the fact is, That which
is truly good for me is often the exact opposite of that which
is presently, experimentally good for me. Let me see if I
can illustrate it for you. Better than 30 years ago, Brother
Henry Mahan went to preach in a prison in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Just preached there once, and God saved a man. a big black
man, used to be a boxer. A fella came up, just said to
me, said, are you Henry Mahan? And of course, Henry, you know,
he's not terribly big. He said I was a little bit uneasy,
but I said, yeah, I'm Henry Mahan. That fella just grabbed him around
the shoulders and hugged him. He said, I just got to hug the
man and preach the gospel of God's grace to him. He heard
him on the radio. From that day, I've been carrying
on correspondence with Tom DiGiorno. He's in prison for life. Second
time there, for murder. On one occasion, this is what
he wrote to me. If I had not been in prison for murder, I
would never have learned the gospel. No accidents with our God. Well,
does that excuse the murder? He would never dream of saying
such a thing. I wrote to him today, and as
I was writing to him, these words from my master came to my mind.
I have chosen you. Now hear me. He chose you in
eternal election, and he chose to whom, when, and where he would
bring you into this world. He chose from old eternity all
the influences that would mold your life. He chose from old
eternity the steps you would take, every one of them, from
the beginning to the end of your days. He chose the time, the
place, and the circumstances by which he would call you by
his grace. He chose where and how he will use you for his glory. He chose the place of your service
and the time of it. He chose from old eternity exactly
when, where, and how he will take you out of this world. He
chose to bring you up to glory with himself. That's God's good
providence and his predestination. It's good for me to know Christ
and be found in Him, no matter what it takes. And I'll be honest with you,
looking at what it took, if I had had any sense at all
I would never have chosen most of the steps I chose to take
in this world. Most of them. But God did. Because he is infinitely more
wise and infinitely gracious to this sinner. Sometimes he
will deal with the object of his love just as Absalom dealt
with Boaz. to get his attention. You remember
how Absalom kept calling for Boaz to come to him, and Boaz
wouldn't come, just kept ignoring him until Absalom set his barley
fields on fire. And that got his attention. He
lost everything. How much gold and a puff of smoke
in one day? And Boaz came and said, why did
you set my barley fields on fire? He says, because I intended to
get you right here. And God Almighty graciously, in great love, mercy
and grace, often sets the barley fields that His elect possess
on fire to bring them to Himself. And whatever it is that brings
us to Him, whatever it is that causes us to bow before His feet,
whatever it is that tends to wean us of this world. Whatever
it is that causes us to run after Him. Whatever it is that teaches
us to trust Him. Whatever it is that breaks off
our pride and self-confidence. Whatever it is that causes us
to cling to Christ and seek His glory is good for us. And God knows how to make the
mixture. It doesn't happen these days, but back in days gone by,
the pharmacist used to mix medicines. Man needed something, and the
pharmacist would put his medicines in his little bowl, and he'd
grind them and grind them and grind them and mix them together
and prepare just exactly the medicine. needed to treat the
particular illness of any individual. That's God's providence. He mixes
exactly the measure of pain and the measure of pleasure you need,
exactly the bitterness and the brightness you need, exactly
the poverty and the wealth you need. exactly the weakness and
the strength you need. All things work together for
good. Now listen, to them that love
God, to them who are thee called according
to his purpose, all things work together for you who love God,
for you who are thee called. And they all work together according
to his purpose, to bring you at last to be conformed to the
image of his dear son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. So let us bow before him and
welcome all his sovereign will, whatever it is. Worship him and
trust him. Amen. This is the hymn. Hymn number
200.