Now I want to make one more stab
at preaching the gospel doctrine of God's providence to you this
evening. Turn with me, if you will, to
Ezekiel chapter one. The prophet of Ezekiel, the first
chapter. Just hold your Bibles open in
this place in the scriptures. God saves his elect by purpose. His sovereign, eternal purpose. We call it election and predestination. He chose a people to whom he
said, I will be gracious. I will be your God and you shall
be my people. God saves his elect by purchase,
special, specific, divine purchase. The Lord Jesus Christ, as Lindsay
read just a little while ago, laid down his life for the sheep
to purchase his sheep out from under the curse of God's holy
law and to bring about our everlasting salvation, having obtained eternal
redemption for us by the shedding of his blood. And God saves his
people by sovereign power. He sends His Spirit. The wind
blows where it will. You hear the sound thereof, and
you cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. So then it is not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now how does God bring all this to pass? By arranging everything
from eternity. to accomplish his purpose. And
sovereignly, daily, hourly, moment by moment, second by second,
manipulating everything. I mean down to your passions. Everything. I mean everything
in heaven, everything in earth, and everything in hell, to accomplish
his purpose of grace. That's God's providence. Let's
read it here. Ezekiel chapter one. God was
about to send his prophet, this priest, to reprove the rebellious
children of Israel, and just before he did, he gives him a
vision, a rather strange vision, a vision of wheels. And in this
vision of wheels, the prophet was given the confidence and
the assurance he needed to serve and speak for God in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation. Let's begin reading at verse
15. I encourage you when you go home to read the entire chapter,
but let's just read four or five verses here tonight. Now, as
I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel. I want you
to make note of this. Mark it. One wheel. That's important. Upon the earth by the living
creatures with four faces. You see this frequently in the
scriptures. The appearance of the wheels. Now you've got many
wheels. And their work was likened to
the color of beryl or sea green. And they four had one likeness. and their appearance and their
work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. That's
important too. When they went, they went upon
their four sides and they turned not. Now mark that. No variation,
no turning, no alteration. They turned not when they went.
As for their rings, the rings of the wheels, they were so high
that they were dreadful. Astonishing. And their rings
were full of eyes. Read on. Full of eyes round about
them four. And when the living creatures
went, the wheels went. They went by them. And when the
living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels
were lifted up from the earth. Now this vision of the wheel
shown to Ezekiel and displays to him the wonder of God's providence
and it is this which assures him and assures us of the certain
accomplishment of God's purpose. How do you know that the prophecies
of scripture are so? How do you know they're going
to come to pass? How do you know that God's sovereign predestination
and his purpose of grace from eternity will with absolute certainty
be brought to pass? Because our God's in charge.
The heavens do rule. Our God governs this universe.
Now I want to make a few statements concerning this vision that Ezekiel
had of these wheels and what it teaches us about God's providence.
Let's move along quickly, but I want you to get these several
statements that I want to make. Number one, The most obvious
point here is that God's providence is compared to a wheel. Both
the Romans and the Greeks in their ancient writings and in
poetry as well compared divine providence to a wheel, but that's
got nothing to do with this passage. Ezekiel received the vision by
direct revelation from God. That makes it authoritative.
And so Ezekiel declares to us that which God reveals to him
and says divine providence is compared to a wheel. Let me show
you how. And that part of the wheel that's
now on the top is soon gonna be on the bottom. And what's
on the bottom soon will be on top. Now that's nothing deep
or profound, that's just so. You watch a wheel move and everything's
constantly in motion, everything. In other words, God brings about
drastic, unexpected changes in the lives of men. in the affairs
of nations and in the affairs of the world exactly as it pleases
him. One day you moving along and
your life just seems to be a dreamboat, you know, everything just hunky-dory
going just exactly like you want it and then the wheel turns and
it seems like God's turned all hell loose on you. but that's in God's providence.
No mistakes, no accident, no chance, no fortuitous circumstance. He brings poverty and then He
brings riches. He brings sickness and He brings
health. He brings fame and then suddenly
He brings disrepute. He gives peace and He makes war. Here's something else. There's
one part of the wheel that always stays the same, never turns.
That's the axle. You fellas, I don't know, there's
brown beans and cornbread stuff here, but it's good. The axle,
it never moves. It never moves, it's always steady. Always, always exactly, perfectly
still. We undergo changes. Our lives
are checkered with change, but the axle upon which the wheel
of God's providence turns never changes. That's his everlasting
covenant of grace, his everlasting love, his everlasting mercy,
his everlasting purpose. Our God declares, I am the Lord,
I change not. Bless his name. Therefore you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. God's purpose never varies. He is of one mind. Who can turn
him? Folks, talk nonsense. We're talking about God changing.
You say prayer changes God? What stupidity. What stupidity! True prayer is what God puts
in your heart. It doesn't change Him. True prayer
is something God does in you, not something you do for Him.
True prayer is God's work, not your work. It's the work of His
Spirit in you. And it's exactly according to
His purpose. God's love never changes. Having loved His own
which were in the world, He loved them to the end. I read a statement
by A.W. Tozer, the founder of the Christian
Missionary Alliance Church some time back, and he has written
lots of good things, like most religious folks have, but he
said, I believe that God loves all men until at last they die
and are brought to judgment, and then God turns against them
in hatred and wrath. That's fickle as the sand. That's
shifting as the sea. That's not God. He says, having
loved his own, he loved them to the end. God's grace never
changes. His gifts and callings are without
repentance. His faithfulness is always the
same. Listen to this. Though we believe
not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. And then
when a wheel moves real fast, The only thing you can see is
just a circle. That's all you can see. You try to watch one of these
real fancy cars, they got $500 wheels on them, you know, and
you, of course that's talking, aging me, I know you can't buy
them for that anymore, but you see them running down the road,
all shined up, try to count the spokes in them. Well, you can't
do it. If you're trying to look for
the spokes, you'll miss everything because the wheel's constantly
moving. Now, this is what I'm saying. Instead of looking at
the parts of things, we need to learn to look at the whole
course of events in history, in our lives, in the affairs
of God's church, in all things. Look at the whole picture. When
we look at things as a whole, we see one round circle of symmetry. Teaching us that God is wise,
just, and good. Now, most folks like to investigate
spokes. Thing to do is look at the whole
wheel. Look at the whole thing. Don't try to figure out what
God's doing right now. You'll never figure it out. Don't
try to figure out why God sent you tumbling down that ladder.
You'll never figure it out. Don't try to figure out why this
particular heartache came, or this particular sorrow, or this
particular joy. Don't place too much emphasis
on any single event, but look at the whole picture. Let me
give you the best illustration I know of. I've told you many
times, Brother Henry Mahan's granddaughter, Carrie, she came
in one day when she was eight or nine years old. Remarkable
girl for eight or nine years old. And she walked into him
to study, and he said, well, Carey, have you had a good day,
honey? And she said, Bob Paul, I've had a horrible day, but
I've had a great life. That's exactly the case. Rex,
we've had some horrible days. Oh, but what a life. And we haven't
seen anything yet. In some mysterious way, this
is the second thing, God's providence is intimately connected with
the heavenly angels. I've read books on angeology,
and I'm convinced nobody knows much more about it than I do,
and I don't know anything. But here in verse 15, the prophet
says, now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel
upon the earth by the living creatures with his four faces.
These living creatures are regarded by almost all the writers, both
ancient and modern, as being the heavenly angels. And there
is an obvious, intimate connection between these living creatures
and the wheels of God's providence. I'm certain of this. The angels
of God have a great deal more to do with our lives and the
affairs of this world than any of us realize. In 2 Kings, we
won't read it now, You remember how the angel of the Lord came
and put Sennacherib to flight and saved the children of Israel
from destruction? An angel of the Lord came and destroyed of
the Assyrians 104 score 5,000 men one night. How come? Because he's protecting Israel.
The angels of God came and ministered to our Lord Jesus. We're told
in Luke 22, they strengthened him. Now I don't know how they
could do that, I got no idea. He didn't need any strength from
them as God, and he didn't need any strength from them as a man.
He's perfect in all his being. I suspect what they did is they
came and whispered in his ear, and encouraged him with the promises
of God and the covenant, and the promises God made to him
as our surety. But whatever the case is, they
came and strengthened him. And then we're told that God's
saints have their angels who watch over them. Our Lord warned,
take heed that you despise not one of these little ones. For
I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven. And Bobby, the little
ones, he's talking about you. He's not talking about all babies
having their guardian angel. No, no, no, no. He's talking
about believers. These, his little children. In
Psalm 91, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee
in all thy ways. That's a prophecy concerning
our Lord Jesus, yes. And it's also a statement concerning
every believer. The angels of God watch over
them and keep them in all their ways even before they become
believers. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hold
your hands here in Ezekiel. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Let
me show you. The apostle here declares by
inspiration, the angels of God are ministering spirits sent
forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of eternal
salvation. You see that, verse 14? Are they
not all ministering spirits? sent forth to minister to them
who shall be heirs of salvation. That is to say the angels of
God are sent forth by our Father on the errand of grace and mercy
to minister to and protect and watch over and defend His elect
until the day of their calling and keep them in all their ways. Larry and I were chatting the
other night and sometimes I Remembering the past is horribly evil because
you begin to reminisce about ungodliness and that's horrible. But oh my soul let us never forget
what God in his prevenient mercy and grace sending forth his angels
has done and kept us from hell because he loved us and would
not let us go. His angels watch over his own.
There's an intimate connection then between the angels of God
and His providence. The two always go together. We read here in the Scriptures
how when the living creatures moved, the wheels moved. We read
here in the Scriptures in John chapter 5. You remember when
the impotent man was by the pool of water? The Scripture says
an angel moved the water. Now, those things we recognize
clearly revealed in the Word of God. Thirdly, God's providence
is compared to a wheel. And God's providence is intimately
connected with those ministering spirits specifically created
by God to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation.
And God's providence is universal. Look at verse 15 again. Now as
I beheld the living creatures behold one wheel upon the earth
by the living creatures. with his four eyes. It's represented
here as one wheel on the earth with four eyes facing north,
south, east, and west. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. I recall the, I'm sure now many
of you have seen these, but first time I ever saw a portrait done
that I can recall, the first time I ever saw it, where the
eyes just seem to follow you wherever you go. Ever seen those?
Weird looking thing, never saw one before. I was a kid in junior
high school and the principal who used to take out his rubber
hose and work me over died while I was in school. And they had
a picture of him hanging on a wall. And I'm not joking, it was plum
eerie to see that fellow still watching me. I'd walk down the
hall and I mean, till you got out of sight,
he was watching you. That's a poor illustration, but
it illustrates exactly what it's saying here. God's eye is on
you, specifically, always, everywhere. always on you. His hand holds
you. Are you listening to me, child
of God? His hand holds you. If that doesn't give you some
boldness, if that doesn't give you some courage, I don't know
what will. His presence is with you, always, in all circumstances,
in all the fullness of His being. As fully concentrated on you,
Ron would, as if you were the only creature in His universe. His eye, His hand, His being
is for you. We just had the delight of watching
our daughter give birth to her first child. And we had the blessed privilege
of understanding and knowing as God's children in this world,
I can't speak for that child. I pray God will have mercy on
her soul. But I can't speak for me. And I can't speak for her
grandma. I can't speak for you who know
God. He's with you in the labor room. And he's with you in birth. And he's with you in sickness.
He's with you in life. He's with you in death. He'll
be with you in glory. And he's with you in all circumstances
in between. Always. Fourthly, God's providence
is uniform. Look at verse 16. The appearance of the wheels
and their work was likened to the color of beryl. And they
had, they forehad one likeness. And their appearance and their
work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. Now he
speaks here of one likeness, a wheel inside a wheel. And their
work, all one work. There were four wheels with four
faces and one wheel with one likeness. What on earth does
that mean? It simply means that God's providence
is one piece of machinery. We sometimes, as I said, look
at the spokes. And we think God's providence
contradicts itself. One event contradicts another.
And so how could God do this and then God do that? How can
the same God both bring light and bring darkness? How can the
same God create peace and create evil? How can God and the same
God rule everything? Absolutely, surely there's contradiction. Oh no, we can't see things in
their fullness and in their completion, but the wheel of providence is
one. The work of providence is one.
You remember the message Rex brought to us on Joseph? Joseph said to his brethren,
I'm in the place of God. You meant it for evil, God meant
it for good. To bring to pass as it is this
day, to save much people alive. You remember when Paul was taken
prisoner, and he is on this boat headed to Jerusalem. He's going
to have to go to Rome. He's got to go to Jerusalem.
And he's sailing. At the same time he left port,
read Acts 27 carefully. At the very same time he left
port, another ship left port and sailed directly in its course
with no interruption. But here's God's servant, the
Apostle Paul. He gets caught in a terrible, terrible tornado
or hurricane, something of the kind, a terrible, terrible wind
that came and tore the ship all to pieces and landed him on the
Isle of Miletus. Well, God must be frowning on
him. No, not at all. There was a man there by the
name of Publius, a pagan king, a pagan chieftain who must hear
the gospel of God's grace. And so Paul stops that long enough
to preach to him, and on his way he goes. Exactly according
to God's purpose. Everything comes to pass exactly
as God has purposed from eternity. Oh, God give us now faith to
see what we will never see fully till we stand with him in glory.
I recall some years ago, I've forgotten the circumstances,
I read a story. of a lady who was over in the
east, and she was looking over these rugs. She had heard all her life about
these Persian rugs, those Persians made, hand-stitched carpets.
And she came to a place where she was supposed to be able to
find these rugs, and she saw these things hanging. And all
she saw was a bunch of knots and threads. And she thought,
well, I don't know what's so interesting about that. And somebody
came to her and said, ma'am, you're looking at the wrong side.
And she stepped around, and there's that beautiful, beautiful, intricate
detail of tapestry and fine craftsmanship. And she just stands back in awe. Now listen to me. Lindsay, the
best we can do here, we're looking at the wrong side. The best we
can do. Oh, but when we see things from
the other side. Never has there been such meticulous,
intricate detail in any work performed by man. God's providence
is one perfect uniform work. He makes no mistakes. Fifthly,
his providence is compared to the sea. Their work was likened
to the color of beryl. Beryl was a gemstone that's sea
green in color. John Gill suggested, and I think
it's as good a suggestion as I found on this, that the word
beryl is sometimes used for the sea and certainly God's providence
is properly compared to the sea or to the ocean because of its
vastness. Some of you fellows have been
out to sea. and you get out past where you can see any land, all
you can see is the sea and the sky. And that vast, vast sea
can just as easily float all the Navy ships in the world as
it can one little feather. and God's providence is vast
beyond imagination, infinitely vast. It's compared to a sea
for its motion, for it is never still, and compared to a sea
for its unmanageability. Men have fenced in acres and
acres and acres, say this is mine on the earth, but no man
fences in the sea. Nobody manages the sea except
God Almighty, and nobody manages the affairs of this world at
any point. except God Almighty, nobody.
Sixthly, God's providence is intricate. Ezekiel said it had
the appearance of a wheel in the middle of a wheel. I take
that to mean that it is detailed, so thoroughly meshed in all its
details that all the affairs of time in the universe are one
great work of providence. And I remind you one more time
what the object of that work is. God's purpose in everything
is the salvation of his elect. Now you read Isaiah 43. I remind
you again and again, God said I gave Ethiopia, Saba, nations,
people, men for you, for your life. He still does. He still
does. Soviet Union toppled. God opens
the door and evangelical press is going in there with their
books. Brother Mahan's commentary has been translated. I got a
letter a while back from the translator over there. He said
there was a thing about publishing the commentary or the book on
the church that I wrote some years back. Those things going
out and God may shut it down this quick. But God opens the
door and opens the way for his word to go to chosen centers
to call out his elect at the appointed time of mercy. But
what's he doing in all this stuff? What's God doing in all the affairs
of the world, the horrible atrocities and the great boons and bounties? What's he doing? Isaiah 64, I believe it is. He is making
himself a great and a glorious name. That's what he's doing. And I'll tell you what, Paul,
that's what I want him to do. Make his name great and glorious,
no matter what he has to do with you or me, with me and mine or
you and yours. Seventh, the providence of God
always moves in a straight path. Look at verse 17. When they went,
They went upon their four sides, and they turned not when they
went. God ordained His purpose of grace
in all things necessary to accomplish the saving of His people and
the glory of His name from eternity. And when He's done, every one
of those chosen, redeemed, called sinners shall stand with Him
in glory to the praise of the glory of His great name. And
everything that has been, is, or shall hereafter be, moves
in a straight path to accomplish that purpose. Everything. No
variableness, no change with God. God's providence is utterly amazing. The prophet says here in verse
18, as for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful,
and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. God sovereignly brings to pass
everything that happens, men and devils in a sense, do what
they will. There's no question about that.
Somebody says, you fellas preach and talk like God's got everybody
as robots in this world. Well, let me tell you something.
He so intricately, fully, absolutely controls the very demons of hell
that they do nothing except what he has purposed to be done as
though they were robots. And yet, They do exactly what
they choose to do. And wicked ungodly men are so
ruled by God Almighty they could not be more accurately ruled
as if they were robots. But they do exactly what they
purpose to do. The Lord God took wicked men
by their wicked wills with their wicked hands and nailed his son
to the cursed tree to accomplish his glorious purpose. And they
did it because they hated the Son of God. That's just exactly
what the scriptures teach. C.H. Spurgeon made this statement,
and he was exactly right. He said, there is no halfway
between God Almighty, who worketh all things according to the good
pleasure of His will, and no God at all. No halfway between
God who absolutely rules and utter atheism. A God who does
not rule is not God, but just an idolatrous figment of man's
imagination. Divine providence full of wisdom,
eyes all around. And God's providence, it's all
his work. You read the rest of this chapter,
You'll see in verse 20 that it's accomplished by God's Spirit.
In verse 24, according to His decree. In verse 26, according
to the rule of His throne. In verse 26 again, by the power
of His Son, that man sitting on His throne. And then according
to His covenant, according to that bow which surrounds His
throne. God's providence is all for the glory of the Lord. Now listen, listen to me. Before
such a great and glorious Lord God, there's only one thing for
us to do. Bow down and worship. This is
what the prophet said. When I saw it, I fell upon my
face and I heard the voice of one that spoke. And this is what
he said. It is I. Be not afraid. Amen. Amen.