Understanding now what I could
never have understood before, I observe and realize that my
life has been and is a constant testimony to the fact and a verification
of the fact that God moves in a mysterious way his wonders
to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea. He rides upon the storm. And therefore, I want one more
time to speak to you and rejoice to preach to you about the providence
of our God. I just read again in Psalm 107. I encourage you to read that
Psalm at your leisure. The Psalmist writing by inspiration
declares that whoso is wise and will observe these things. And
if you go back and read the psalm, you'll see how that the psalmist
is speaking of all the various ways in which God deals with
men, to bring them down, to strip them, to humble them, to break
them. How that God in his providence
deals with the souls of his elect, ultimately to grant them life
and faith in Christ. What the psalmist says, whoso
is wise and will observe these things, the judgments of God
in providence, the works of God in providence, all the work of
God's hands day by day, even they shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord. This which God has done and that
which he is doing and all that he shall do is but the expression,
the display, and the work of the loving kindness of our God
for his elect. Now God make me wise and make
me learn that. Divine providence is the daily,
constant, sovereign rule of our God over all things for the accomplishment
of his eternal purpose of grace and predestination. Predestination
is God's sovereign, eternal, unalterable purpose by which
he has ordained from eternity and ordered from eternity, according
to his own good pleasure and sovereign will, all things which
come to pass in time. That's predestination. Providence
is doing it. Predestination is what God purposed. Providence is God bringing to
pass in time what He purposed in eternity. We recognize according
to the book of God that God in heaven predestinated everything
that is, has been, or shall hereafter be. And we recognize that God
in providence so governs the universe, so completely rules
and disposes of all things in the universe, not just on this
earth, but in heaven, earth, and hell, in all high places,
and in all deep places. He rules everything and everybody,
absolutely, for the accomplishing of his eternal purpose of grace
in predestination. Somebody talks about the plan
of God, as if the plan of God is, you know, it's kind of up
for grabs. We make our plans, and we say,
like, this is what I'm planning to do, but if it rains, I can't.
This is what I'm planning to do, but if the car gets flat
tire, I can't. That's not God's plan. God's
plan is absolute. and unalterable because His plan
is the plan of God Almighty and depends on no conditions. It
is His purpose of grace in predestination. Providence is the daily execution
of God's plan. Now hear me well. Be sure you
understand the doctrine of Holy Scripture with regard to divine
providence. Nothing in the universe, nothing,
not even the thought of a man, nothing in the universe happens
by luck, chance, fortune, or accident. Everything which comes
to pass in time was purposed by our God in eternity and is
brought to pass in time by his wise, adorable, and good providence. Nothing just comes to pass. It comes to pass according to
God's purpose and according to God's power. And all that comes
to pass in time is that which God purposed in eternity, in
sovereign predestination. Nothing comes to pass in time
except that which God sovereignly brings to pass according to His
own purpose of grace in eternity. That which God predestinated
in eternity and brings to pass in time in his providence is
for the good of his people and for the glory of his own great
name. Now, I'm going to work my way
to our text, but I want us to read several portions of scripture,
because I've just made some statements that to most people seem just
utterly astounding, unbelievable, to most people who are unfamiliar
with the scriptures. unfamiliar with Christianity
and unfamiliar with God. Most religious people, these
things would sound just unbelievable, astounding, contrary to Scripture.
But I want you to see in the Word of God that what I have
said and what I shall yet say is exactly the doctrine of Holy
Scripture. Turn with me to Psalm 76. Psalm
76. Now I'm going to read just a
few portions of scripture. And when I've read these few
portions of scripture, I would challenge anyone to suggest that
these scriptures teach anything other than what I've just declared.
That God Almighty in His good providence sovereignly brings
to pass all things exactly according to His will and purpose of grace
and divine predestination. The wise man tells us plainly
that the scriptures are the word of God given by inspiration.
And here we read in Psalm 76 verse 10. Surely the wrath of
man shall praise thee. And the remainder of wrath wilt
thou restrain. Sometimes we get ourselves in
dangerous, precarious, perilous situations, and we wonder what
this person's going to do, what that's going to do. I think unceasingly
from this text of Scripture, the wrath of man will praise
Him. And the remainder of wrath, anything that wouldn't praise
Him, He's not going to let anybody do. That's just what the text
says. All things are of God. Look at
Proverbs 16. Now, we won't read the whole
chapter, but I want to pick up three or four, maybe five verses in
this chapter, and it'll whet your appetite to understand the
whole thing. Proverbs 16, verse four. The Lord hath made all
things. Now, about everybody say they
believe that, but read the next two words. The Lord hath made
all things for himself. God made everything that is for
himself. Yea, even the wicked, for the
day of evil. And the word means the day of
judgment. The Lord said to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that all my name might be declared, that
I might declare my name in you, that all the world might know
by what I do with you that I'm God indeed. He said, Pharaoh,
I raised you up, so I'll dump your carcass in the Red Sea,
and everybody would thereby understand that I'm God. And I have yet
to meet anybody who speaks English who hadn't heard the tale of
Pharaoh and what happened to him at Red Sea. They understand the one
who ducked him in the river is God. He said the Lord made all
things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Look in verse 9. A man's heart deviseth his way. This is what I'm going to do.
Let's hang on and see. A man's heart deviseth his way,
but the Lord directs his step. Verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap.
Now we don't cast lots anymore. It was something similar to throwing
dice. Take those dice and shake them
up. Seven come eleven, roll them out. The whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. You mean preacher? God even determines
How those little cubes roll around, which numbers come up? Oh, yeah.
He determined it from eternity and brings it to pass in time.
And that fact is as much a display of his glorious godhood as is
the fact that his son hung on the tree and redeemed us. You
understand that? He's God over everything. Look
in Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21, verse 1. The king's
heart. Now, we don't have any in our
land, and we hardly even know what a king is. But a king in
these days was the most powerful human being in any nation sitting
on any throne. The king had absolute power to
do anything he wanted to do with anybody he wanted to do it, except
for one thing. He was in God's hands, and he
still is. The king's heart, not just his
arm, Not just his Senate, not just his Congress, not just his
thoughts, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the
rivers of water, he turneth it, whithersoever he will. Down in
Mississippi, Shelby and I driving along, and they raised a lot
of rice, and they had these canals, and you see, I guess they have
some kind of specific equipment, I haven't seen them work it,
but they re-eject portions of the fields. And they dig the
canals so they can flood their fields. And they put them wherever
they want them. It's just dirt. They turn the
water in any direction they want to. This is exactly what God
says about the king's heart. Like canals in an irrigation
field, God turns the king's heart wherever he wants, wherever he
will. Look in Isaiah 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God. And there is none else. Now,
what he's saying is this. I'm God. This is how I describe
myself. And there's no other God besides
me. And there's no God other than this God who does exactly
as I now describe myself. Look at it. I am God and there
is none like me. Verse 10. Declaring the end from
the beginning. What does that mean? That means
he declares from eternity. what he's going to do in the
end of all things, and then he begins doing it. That's exactly
what it means. Now, you hear these prophecy
yahoos, they come along, they got all kinds of predictions
and say the Lord's going to do this, the Lord's going to do
that, this is going to happen. When the Lord comes again, this is
going to happen at the end. We had some watchtower fellow, Russellite,
come by and left a tract on the door, asked a question, who's
really in charge of this world? And somebody actually spent good
money to say the devil's in charge of this world. I mean, spend
good money, send it all over the world. The devil's in charge.
I wonder when they reckon he's going to give up charge. But
one of these days, the Lord's going to be in charge again.
Just exactly how do you have any basis? for believing any
promise in Holy Scripture or any prophecy of the Word of God. If you do not understand that
God Almighty declared the end of the thing from the beginning
and only on the basis of His sovereignty can we believe His
Word to be true. Read on. Read what it says. Declaring
the end of the thing from the beginning, verse 10, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done. This is what
it said. My counsel shall stand. and I will do all my pleasure. Everything that pleases me is
what I'm doing. Everything. Reno, Elijah, you
better flee from Jezebel. She's going to kill you if she
can. But I'll tell you what, I'll send a raven to feed you
every day. A raven Now maybe a parrot, maybe
a dog, maybe a cat, but a raven? Who ever heard of a raven feeding
anything? Hardly feeds its own young. Carnivorous
bird? This is what he says, calling
a ravenous bird from the east. He says to his children down
in Babylonian captivity, he said, I'll tell you what I'm going
to do. I'm going to raise up a king by the name of Cyrus. And that king,
that pagan king is going to come. He's going to come by this gate,
down by this river, walking this road, and he's going to bring
you out. Now, how are you going to accomplish
that? The man that executed my counsel from a far country. Yeah, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I purposed it. I will also do
it. That's God. That's God. All right, look in Daniel chapter
4. Daniel chapter 4. Verse 34. Old brother Nebuchadnezzar. I
recall when I was in college, the first year I was in school
at Springfield, Missouri, they passed a rule that you couldn't
talk about predestination or election unless you was cussing
it. And the only way they could ever deal with Daniel chapter
4, the only way they could ever deal with it, you know what they
said? They said this wasn't inspired. This was written by a pagan. Well, this pagan knew more about
God than the preacher did who was telling me about that. In
Daniel chapter 4 verse 35, at the end of the days, after I'd
been crawling around like a wild beast in the field, at the end
of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven.
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation
to generation." That means he's always been king, and that means
he's been ruling ever since Adam took his first breath, and he's
going to keep on ruling until the sons of Adam quit breathing.
And all the inhabitants of the earth All of us, all of us are
reputed as nothing. And he, he who is God, he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and nobody's going to slap him on
the wrist and say, stop doing that. None can stay his head
or say unto him, what doest thou? Look at verse 37. Now, now, since
I know who he is, Since I know who he is, now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works
are truth and his ways judgment. And those that walk in pride,
he's able to abase. I've done found out. All right, look at Romans chapter
11. In the Bible classes, Lindsay
is rapidly approaching this 11th chapter of Romans. And in chapters
9, 10, and 11, The Apostle Paul, wrapping up his doctrinal portion
of the Book of Romans, is instructing us plainly how that God's purpose
from eternity was not merely the salvation of a few Jews over
in Palestine, but the salvation of His Israel, the Israel of
God, His elect, scattered through all the nations of the earth,
through the blood atonement of His Son and the gracious effectual
call of His Spirit. And the gospel will go forth
into all the world, so that the Gentiles chosen of God might
be brought in, and so all the fullness of the Gentiles would
be brought in, and all Israel shall be saved. Now in order
to accomplish this, it was necessary that the Jews reject Christ.
It was necessary that they provoke the Romans to nail him to the
cursed tree. It was necessary that the Jews be blinded and
be cut off, that the physical nation be brought under the judgment
of God. And somebody looks at that and
says, well, what's happening? How can this happen that blindness
in part has happened to Israel so that the light of the gospel
might go to the Gentiles and God call his elect by thus blinding
and judging that nation? Look at verse 33 of Romans chapter
11. When the Apostle Paul, who wrote these three chapters, when
he comes to the conclusion of this matter and considers how
that God has in grace and in mercy sent judgment to the reprobate,
that he might give life and mercy and grace to the chosen, he says
in verse 33, Oh, the death. Oh, the death. 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 unto
him again? For of him I've told you so many
times, be sure you get it. That means here's the source.
Of. That's a word of source. Of Him. And through Him. That's the word
of channel or the word of execution. Through Him. All things came
from Him. All things are brought to pass
through Him. Look at it now. And to Him. and
their ultimate end are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Now that's the Bible's description
of God's providence. Look at one more text of scripture.
I'll give you a brief, brief summary of this text and the
Lord willing, we'll come back to it again another time. Romans
chapter eight and verse 28. Here in these 25 verses, God the Holy Spirit uses a text
of scripture, I suppose, that is more often quoted, partially
at least, than any other portion of scripture other than John
3.16, and is less understood by most people, I dare say, even
than John 3.16. Romans chapter 8, verse 28, and
we know that all things work together for good, to them that
love God, to them who are thee called according to his purpose. May God the Holy Spirit inscribe
those words in our very hearts. Teach us to understand it. Teach
us to believe it. Teach us to walk in the light
of it. Here is a delightful persuasion. We know. We know. The word know here is
not a word for speculative knowledge. It is not a word for theory.
It's not a word for doctrine. It's not even a word for philosophy,
logic, or sound reason. It is a knowledge of confident,
assured persuasion based upon fact and experience. We know. We know these things by the revelation
of God's word. I just read it to you. You can
read through the scriptures over and over and over again. The
Lord is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. There shall no evil happen to
the just, but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. The
Lord God speaks as he represents his church in Gomer and himself
in Hosea and he declares, in that day when I'm married to
you, I will make a covenant for them with the beast of the field
and the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground
and I'll break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the
earth and I'll make them to lie down safely. We know, we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God.
We know these things, and we walk in the comfort of these
things. The comfort of God's good, wise, adorable providence,
because we've been taught these things by the word of God and
by the inner witness of God's spirit in our own souls, as he
teaches us the things of God. The apostle John said, you have
an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. He said,
he that is born of God, he has the mind of Christ. He understands
everything. The believer is a man or a woman
who has been taught of God and understands those things pertaining
to the character of God and the work of God necessary for his
soul salvation and his comfort in this world. We know. We know. These are not debatable issues.
We know the wisdom, goodness, and grace of God's adorable providence. because we've experienced it. Ralph Barnard used to say, nobody
believes anything they haven't experienced. I asked him one
time, I said, Mr. Barnard, do you really believe
everything in that book? He said, Oh, no, no, no. He said, I've
read it all, but haven't experienced it all yet. We only believe what
we've experienced. We who are born of God are persuaded. really persuaded of what Paul
teaches here, we know. If you have this persuasion,
it'll keep your soul in peace. Indeed, it's the only thing that
will keep your soul in peace when sorrows like sea billows
roll. Now then, here the apostle describes
for us divine providence. We know that all things work
together for good. Believers are not like the babbling
fools who would dare to instruct God and say, if I were God, I'd
do. If there's a God in heaven, then
wow, the sickness and the famine and the war and the pestilence
and the disease and the sorrow and the death and trouble that
men endure. Surely that's evidence that God doesn't rule. Oh, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. God Almighty doesn't answer to
men. He doesn't bow to your judgment.
Believers don't talk like that. Believers don't speak like the
Philistines and say, it was a chance that happened to us. Oh, no. We speak like Job. Naked came
I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave, Lord take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Samuel came to Eli and he said, Eli, You've been a pretty good priest,
but you've been a lousy daddy. Because you didn't withstand
your sons and correct them when it was in your power to do so.
And because you've been such a lousy father, I'm going to
kill them both and take the priesthood away from your family. That's
pretty sharp. That's pretty sharp. This was
Eli's response. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. David fleeing from his son Absalom
because of his sin with Bathsheba in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
And Shemai comes out and starts doing dirt in the air and leaping
and dancing. Aha! Look at you now! Look at
you now! And starts to cuss. David called
him everything under the shining sun except a legitimately born
son. And Abishah said, let me go over
there and kill that fellow. And this was David's response.
Let him alone. Let him cuss away. For the Lord
had bitten him. You mean the Lord told him to
cuss? No, but that's what David meant.
That's what he said. The Lord had bitten him. It may
be. Here's my conclusion of this.
It may be the Lord will look on my affliction and the Lord
will requite me good for his cussing this day." Our God is not idle. He is the
one person who's always on the job. He never needs to rest,
never needs to recuperate, never needs to regroup, never is in
confusion. God Almighty, our God and Heavenly
Father is always at work. doing exactly according to his
purpose in all things with all people at all times for the saving
of those sinners chosen by his grace, redeemed by his darling
son who shall be called by the power and grace of his Holy Spirit. Now the Lord willing, I want
us to spend a little time meditating on this, preaching on this, I'm
going to come back to this text another time next Tuesday, the
Lord willing. I ask you to read over Psalm
107, read over the 91st Psalm, read this eighth chapter of Romans
and seek from God, the Holy Spirit, some understanding in the wonders
and mysteries of his providence. Truly, God moves in a mysterious
way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea. He rides upon the storm deep, deep, deep in unfathomable
minds of never failing skill. He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. Amen.