SPEAKER_00: Again, very thankful to be with y'all this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Before we uh dive into our uh sermon, I do want to announce um we will be having our uh fifth Sunday meeting in August.
SPEAKER_00: It will be uh August the uh the the last weekend of this month.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that's the 28th, uh, 29th, and 30th.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we will have Elder Danny Wisner uh from Georgia with us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he and his wife Lydia will be here with us.
SPEAKER_00: Um we will have services on Friday uh night.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we will have supper beginning at 6 o'clock and service at 7 on Friday night.
SPEAKER_00: We'll have Saturday morning service, lunch, Saturday afternoon service, no night service on Saturday, and then we'll have regular Sunday morning service, and Brother Danny is gonna be with us through Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh, but I did get a chance to talk with him this week, and uh he is excited about coming, and uh he's gonna stay in our home, and uh we are looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_00: But I had about a 45-minute conversation with him this week, and it was just good to hear that brother's voice, and he's excited about being here.
SPEAKER_00: And so, but uh Elder Danny Wisner will be with us on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of this month.
SPEAKER_00: So please uh pray for him and Sister Lydia as they uh travel here.
SPEAKER_00: Um also I want to give a little bit of a I said this I think last Sunday of a disclaimer, but uh I want to just be real honest with y'all folks.
SPEAKER_00: I bit off more than I could chew last Sunday and talking about the decrees of God because that is a big subject, and uh I want to back up and punt a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're gonna be on the decrees of God this morning, but I want to purposely break this up into a few individual sermons and take this a little smaller bite at a time, and so y'all bear with me as we do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so, but the title of our message today is Predestination, Providence, and Permission.
SPEAKER_00: What are the decrees of God?
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna be covering a little bit of the ground that we were in last Sunday and try to revisit that, kind of deal with that a little bit more slowly, and then we're gonna take this apart uh today.
SPEAKER_00: We are going to primarily be looking at providence of those three of predestination, providence, and permission.
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna primarily be looking at providence today, but just to give a little bit of background uh to catch you up to speed, um we are working our way through the Baptist Catechism, and one of those, and again, just a series of questions and answers.
SPEAKER_00: That's all that is.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a guide for us, brothers and sisters, to it's a good framework for us to look at and answer some of the hard questions of the Bible that sometimes you and I don't look at.
SPEAKER_00: And I just think it's a wonderful framework for us to do that.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is what are the decrees of God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is a decree?
SPEAKER_00: A decree is a predetermined purpose of God.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, what are some of those major decrees of God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, creation was a decree.
SPEAKER_00: God uh spoke into the darkness, created the light.
SPEAKER_00: Creation in all the things of the universe was a decree of God.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the predestination of a definite number of people in Christ, that is a decree of God.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, one of the things that we're going to, in the next couple weeks, we I hope to make clear is there is definitely a difference between predestination and providence.
SPEAKER_00: And this is something that has been a little bit more clarified for me in the last couple weeks in studying this, is that predestination only applies to God's people, period.
SPEAKER_00: Not to things, not to events, not to history.
SPEAKER_00: However, providence applies to history and things and events, but according to the scripture, predestination in particular is reserved for God's people.
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to be looking at that, the uh God's major decrees, creation, predestination of a definite number of people, and the means of that salvation, and also providence and God governing all of history and events.
SPEAKER_00: And also this morning, one of the things that we're going to look at in addition to providence is uh the theological concept referred to as dark providence as well.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope that'll bring some clarification.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive off into this.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned last Sunday that I wanted to give you a guiding verse.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm going to revisit a couple of these things, and then we're going to dive off into Providence, but I feel that I need to do this.
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 145, verse 17, we read, The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I tell you that verse is for you and I to understand that as Christians, we need to have settled in our mind that what God does and how God does it is always right.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you and I attempt at times to stand in judgment over God and say, God, I don't agree with what you did here, or I don't agree that you let this tragedy happen.
SPEAKER_00: And again, because I know that y'all heard the statement, there is nothing that happens that God doesn't cause or affect or allow, and that is true.
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you and I also need to understand that the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works.
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, you and I need to have established in our belief system that God is not the author of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Now we looked at that last Sunday in the book of James, that every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of Lights and so on.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to repreach that.
SPEAKER_00: But, brothers and sisters, God is not the author of sin.
SPEAKER_00: He cannot be tempted, nor tempteth he any man.
SPEAKER_00: And so God does not do sinful, wrong, ungodly things, nor does he institute or cause men to do sinful, wrong, and ungodly things.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is also a misunderstanding that a lot of people have about the teaching of predestination.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people that uh hear that word predestination, well, that means that God just sovereignly causes everything to happen.
SPEAKER_00: That I used the illustration last Sunday that God caused me to literally spill the coffee on my lap while I was driving and then run off the road and hit a tree and I was uh saved but do a tremendous amount of damage to my car.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Um God doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: The um so that is the idea of absolutism, meaning that some people who have a concept or a partial concept, an incorrect concept, of predestination believe that God predestines every individual thing that happens.
SPEAKER_00: He predestined for uh, you know, my car to get a flat tire out there because I ran over a nail that was in the parking lot where they were working on construction.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: That is not the case.
SPEAKER_00: Predestination applies, according to the Bible, about the salvation of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: Providence applies to events and history.
SPEAKER_00: And again, we're gonna have to break this up into parts, and it's too much of a subject for us to cover all that today, but we're gonna primarily be looking at providence today.
SPEAKER_00: So, God uses his providence to govern and affect the events in this world, history, so on.
SPEAKER_00: And providence, unlike predestination, providence still takes into man's will and his responsibilities.
SPEAKER_00: Man's will and his responsibilities.
SPEAKER_00: So let me give you a definition.
SPEAKER_00: So, and by the way, I want to be very clear with y'all this morning that, again, this is a very difficult subject to navigate.
SPEAKER_00: So I have relied on men that are a lot more educated than I am, and I have took uh great encouragement and knowledge from uh Elder Michael Goens, who is one of our Premier Baptist ministers.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this book that he's written, be ready to answer.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is a wonderful book, very well written, and I have gleaned a lot of information from here, him, and I want to give you this morning uh some of the things out of his book because I agree with him.
SPEAKER_00: I thought he stated it very well, but uh Providence, uh Brother Goins laid out for us three examples, or rather three statements, that will help us understand what providence is, and I want to give you those three, and then I want to back up and talk about them.
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing means so what is providence?
SPEAKER_00: Providence that God is personally concerned about the details of life.
SPEAKER_00: God is personally concerned about the details of life.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, providence means that God is actively involved in this world.
SPEAKER_00: That God is actively involved in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, providence means that God is in sovereign control of history.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, we're going to look at also the concept of dark providence.
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into it.
SPEAKER_00: So the first point of trying to explain what providence is and how God actually operates and works in this world is providence means that God is personally concerned about the details of life.
SPEAKER_00: If y'all will turn with me to Matthew chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew chapter 10, you will notice that if your Bible is written in red, that we are reading the words of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, I don't know why I always point that out because it doesn't matter if we're reading the black text or the red text, it's all the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: It's all inspired by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But for whatever reason, we tend to stand up and listen a little harder when it's the words of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But so in Matthew chapter 10, beginning in verse 29, we are going to get a few scriptures that show us how that God is personally concerned about the details of life.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're going to see, some of these details may even seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
SPEAKER_00: So let's begin reading.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 10, verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?
SPEAKER_00: And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
SPEAKER_00: But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
SPEAKER_00: Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
SPEAKER_00: Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, will I confess also before my father which is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the idea that there is not a sparrow that falls without the father knowing it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to tell y'all a story, and it's not uh it's not the most pleasant story.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna be graphic.
SPEAKER_00: Um we have a uh a few cats at our house, and yesterday, unfortunately, we had a new mama cat that uh wasn't a very good mama.
SPEAKER_00: And we found a handful of little kittens out in our barn, and uh she had abandoned them, and they were newborn.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they were new newborn, and she wasn't taking care of them, she wasn't doing what she should, and uh she had five kittens and four of them had died.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, covered up with ants in the dirt, they were not in a protected place, it was just it was not a pretty sight, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That was one little kitten, little bitty kitten, had to be less than a day old.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not trying to get too graphic.
SPEAKER_00: She was in the dirt in the middle of our dog pen, washed her off, cleaned her up.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Sister, she was itty bitty.
SPEAKER_00: But the mama wasn't having nothing to do with her.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Are we going to bottle feed a little kitten that doesn't even have their eyes open that's you know for weeks and try to nurse it back to health?
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, but I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Um for not being graphic, uh, I had to put down that little kitten.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I and I'm sorry to say that.
SPEAKER_00: But um I grew up in the south and in the on a farm, and um I thought that was a kindness to that little kitten that I knew was not going to survive.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why do I tell you that not so very good story?
SPEAKER_00: Because God knew that was gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what he just said?
SPEAKER_00: That are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, that by the way, a sparrow is kind of a have y'all ever been driving down the road and hit a bird in your car, or a rabbit, or something like that, a squirrel that ran across the road?
SPEAKER_00: You know, we wince a little bit, but we don't think a whole lot about that.
SPEAKER_00: We just go on about our business.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you understand that God knows every single sparrow that falls to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I told my children, uh, you know, all of my children have been involved in shooting sports, and I've taken my son and my daughters hunting.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they've killed deer.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I remember telling a story to my children that when I as a young man shot my first deer, that I felt a great sadness.
SPEAKER_00: That yes, I was glad to have shot that and harvested the meat for my family and we enjoyed that.
SPEAKER_00: But, brothers and sisters, when you take the life of another creature, there should be some level of sadness involved in that.
SPEAKER_00: And we should not take that lightly.
SPEAKER_00: When I had to, out of a kindness, put that little kitten down, I felt very sad that I had to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't want to do that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But I felt that I needed to do that for the benefit of that little creature.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want you to see is that something so small or insignificant that you literally are you and I are running over a squirrel in our car or a little bird that nobody sees or has seen falls to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit inspired the Lord Jesus Christ to tell us that are not two sparrows sold for a fathering, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, one of the definitions of providence is that providence is that God is personally concerned about the details of life.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a joyous thought?
SPEAKER_00: That there's not anything that God doesn't see or understand.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: But the very hairs of your head are numbered.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to take a guess how many's on my head?
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: And neither do you.
SPEAKER_00: How many uh ladies, how many do y'all lose on any given morning when you're brushing your hair?
SPEAKER_00: Anybent a guess at that?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you I have less than I did 20 years ago, and they're of a different color.
SPEAKER_00: But I have no clue how many they are.
SPEAKER_00: But but you understand that, well, Professor, we're just talking about a head of a man's hair and uh or a ladies, and you know, and some of us are bald, and some of us have full heads of hair, and you know, and that's kind of a, you know, we can wear a ball cap or we can do something.
SPEAKER_00: But you understand that Jesus said, but the very hairs of your head are numbered.
SPEAKER_00: God knows the exact number.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, doesn't that change daily?
SPEAKER_00: Just when we comb our hair.
SPEAKER_00: Well, but you guys, why would God care how many hairs are on my head, and why would God care if you had to put a little bitty cat down, or why would God care if I ran over a squirrel or if a sparrow fell?
SPEAKER_00: Because the by because the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible tells us that He cares.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about, I mean, let's be honest, have you ever really thought about the ramifications of what we're talking about?
SPEAKER_00: It's not an insignificant thing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Providence means that God is personally concerned about the details of life.
SPEAKER_00: Let's move on.
SPEAKER_00: Providence also means that God is actively involved in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Look at uh, let's stay in the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: And let's stay with the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Turn, if you will, to Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Providence means that God is actively involved in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 6, we're going to begin reading in verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, which ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, which ye shall put on, is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, well, stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, when he talks about taking thought, he's talking about being anxious or worrying about.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want y'all to take yourself out of 2026, and I want you to put yourself back into a saint of old 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, were those people who were poor and hungry, who were not wealthy, they were literally concerned about the fact that they would have clothes on their body, a roof on their head, and where their next meal came from in the evening, and especially those of the persecuted church, literally having clothing and food, safety, shelter, protection, those were absolute, imminent and main concerns for them every day.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus tells them, therefore, I say unto you, verse 25, take no thought for your life.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be worried about your life.
SPEAKER_00: What ye shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on, what you shall wear, is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment or clothing.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: Behold the fowls of the air, that's birds.
SPEAKER_00: For they sow not, neither do they reap.
SPEAKER_00: Nor gather into barns.
SPEAKER_00: Yet your heavenly father feedeth them.
SPEAKER_00: Are ye not much better than they?
SPEAKER_00: Now stop.
SPEAKER_00: I want you all to see this.
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of similar to the sparrow thing.
SPEAKER_00: Is that you and I, most of the time, I believe, when we've read this passage of scripture, we understand what the Lord is telling us not to be anxious, and the Lord is telling us what he's going to do for us.
SPEAKER_00: But have you and I glazed over the fact that the Lord feeds the birds?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the Lord feeds the birds, right?
SPEAKER_00: He makes sure they have food.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, why are there uh mosquitoes?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know that a purple marten eats like I don't know how many hundreds of mosquitoes a night.
SPEAKER_00: Brother says purple martens got to eat.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's one of the reasons why we have mosquitoes in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I wish purple martens didn't have to eat mosquitoes, wish they could eat something else.
SPEAKER_00: They probably can.
SPEAKER_00: They probably do.
SPEAKER_00: But one of their main diets is mosquitoes.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like mosquitoes.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think y'all do either.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, brothers and sisters, is that God makes sure the birds of the air are fed.
SPEAKER_00: And those birds, in the grand scheme of things, are insignificant compared to a child of God, to a Christian, to a saved soul.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, but Jesus says, Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, they don't go out there in the fields and sow grain, neither do they reap and gather into barns.
SPEAKER_00: They don't gather up wheat and put it in the barn so they can make bread.
SPEAKER_00: The birds don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Yet your heavenly father feedeth them, are ye not much better than they?
SPEAKER_00: God makes sure the birds are fed, God has made sure to execute his providence over you and is intervening in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, providence means that God is actively involved in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read on.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to say, which of you, by taking thought, that means worrying, can add one cubit under a stature, can make yourself a bigger man, a better man?
SPEAKER_00: And why take ye thought or worry about your clothing?
SPEAKER_00: Consider the lilies of the field, the flowers, how they grow up and they toil not, they don't work, neither do they spin, they don't spin yarn and make clothing.
SPEAKER_00: And yet I say unto you that even Solomon, that's in King Solomon, all of his wealth and grandeur, and all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
SPEAKER_00: That beautiful orchid or lily or rose is more beautiful than Solomon was.
SPEAKER_00: And Solomon went to great lengths to make sure that he was arrayed in the finest garments, to look the best, to be the wealthy man, to show himself a man of power and prestige.
SPEAKER_00: And God is saying, Christ is saying, you understand that this is not me as a southern and an old preacher just telling you some random story.
SPEAKER_00: You understand this is the illustration that Jesus Christ is giving us, right?
SPEAKER_00: You understand that.
SPEAKER_00: That he is comparing the greatest king that's ever lived, short of Jesus Christ, to a flower.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus Christ said that Solomon in all his glory was not as beautiful as one of those flowers that God made.
SPEAKER_00: So God made sure the flowers were clothed beautifully.
SPEAKER_00: Wherefore, verse 30, if God so clothed the grass of the field, that's the flower, which today is, today it exists, and tomorrow is cast in the oven, the sun burns it up, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, take no thought, worry not, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?
SPEAKER_00: For after all these things do the Gentiles, the heathens, seek, oh, I've got to make this happen.
SPEAKER_00: For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
SPEAKER_00: Um, brothers and sisters, God born to you again and saves you and sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for you.
SPEAKER_00: Does he not know that you and I need to eat?
SPEAKER_00: That you and I need to have clean water to drink, that we need a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs?
SPEAKER_00: And yet you and I worry sometimes about where is that going to come from?
SPEAKER_00: God knows what you and I stand in need of.
SPEAKER_00: And you understand that God's providence is actually Him being concerned and taking initiative and actively doing things in this world to make sure that, like this passage of scripture that Christ is explaining, that, hey, child of God, God makes sure that the birds of the field are fed, God makes sure that the flowers are clothed, and you're way more important than they are.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna make sure that you're taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: He's making, he's intervening, he is directly intervening in your life, and if you don't believe that, oh you have little faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is telling us.
SPEAKER_00: So providence means that God is actively involved in this world.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to say, verse 33, he tells us, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: The context of this chapter is that Jesus is telling us, Christian, make sure you seek the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, i.e., you're reading his word, you're uh following after him, you're following Christ, you're not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are rearing our children and our families in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are praying to him, we're being transformed, allowing him to burn the dross out of our.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, seek spiritual things, seek the things that are above.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus Christ is telling us, but seek ye first, as a first priority, the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, are added unto you as well.
SPEAKER_00: And what is the all these things?
SPEAKER_00: The food and the clothing, our basic necessities.
SPEAKER_00: God is saying, Don't you dare put your career and chasing, and by the way, uh the verses that we didn't read before this say you can't serve both God and money.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you can't have money or use money, because we do in this world, but you can't, money can't be your master where a man wants to spend 80, 90, 100 hours a week and let his career and work be his life and his job and his single focus, and then he sacrifices his family and the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I can't uh come to church on Sunday, brother Josh, because I got to work on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Get another job.
SPEAKER_00: Find another job.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're in church more than you're out of church.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not telling you that is a loud, boisterous preacher.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you the word of God says that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together because he's more important than you are, and your pride of making$100,000 a year, instead take a lesser job and make$80,000 a year, whatever the case may be.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm just throwing that out there.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that your family's gonna starve if you only make$50,000 a year versus making$100,000 a year?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: You might not have a brand new Mercedes.
SPEAKER_00: You might be driving an old Chevy pickup truck.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to serve God first and serve ourselves second.
SPEAKER_00: All I want you to see is that God is directly intervening in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, as an aside, uh, not only is God directly intervening in this world, but uh there are also uh other spiritual forces that are directly intervening in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all know that?
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Let me, real quick, we're gonna do this real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all turn if you will to Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and I'm not for a minute saying that Satan can thwart the things of God or that Satan is equal to God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that at all.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to point out to you that, brothers and sisters, there are people in this world that don't believe that spiritual things are real.
SPEAKER_00: They don't believe in God, they don't believe in heaven, they don't believe in Satan.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is very crystal clear that you and I are an eternal soul, that spiritual things are very real, and the spiritual world definitely affects this world, and you and I should be affected by God.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, by the way, our home is not even here, it's in heaven, right?
SPEAKER_00: That should be our focus.
SPEAKER_00: Well, look at Ephesians 6.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna see where those some of those negative things come in.
SPEAKER_00: We are exhorted by Paul in the Ephesian letter in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, well, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Now stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do not have physical armor that is in our closets at the house, or you and I warned of the church house this morning, that you and I were issued at the time of our baptism, that you and I can put that on and wear it out in public every day.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do not have a physical suit of armor to do that.
SPEAKER_00: So what is the Lord talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Put on the whole armor of God that you and I may be able to stand against the wiles.
SPEAKER_00: The word wiles means the crafty arts of the devil, the deceiver.
SPEAKER_00: For we, you and I, wrestle not against flesh and blood, other men, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
SPEAKER_00: Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins gird about with truth.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the armor.
SPEAKER_00: The truth, the word of God, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplications in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplications for all saints.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_00: I tell you that to say that God has told and equipped you and I with armor, spiritual armor, that you and I are to walk with him every day.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the spiritual world is real.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven is real, God is real, Satan is real, right?
SPEAKER_00: And God is actively intervening in this world to help you and I in the midst of history.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And there are evil things in this world and good things in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Real quick, third point about providence.
SPEAKER_00: Providence means that God is in sovereign control of history.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Psalm 103 and verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 103 and verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all.
SPEAKER_00: His father was sinful in preferring him.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord gave Joseph a vision about his brothers bowing down to him.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers got jealous in their sin.
SPEAKER_00: They sold him into slavery.
SPEAKER_00: A man bought him as a slave.
SPEAKER_00: He went into his home.
SPEAKER_00: This man's wife attempted to make Joseph sin and force him in an ungodly way.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph was falsely accused and put into prison.
SPEAKER_00: And while he was there, again, this young man is suffering long.
SPEAKER_00: While he was in prison, he interpreted a dream and helped the guy out, and that butler forgot about him.
SPEAKER_00: And years later, that butler remembered Joseph in prison and said, I know a man, Pharaoh, that's in prison that can interpret your dream because Pharaoh had a disturbing dream.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph was able to interpret that, and Pharaoh promoted him because of his wisdom to be second in command of all of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the end of the story, in the end of the story, Joseph was able to prepare for the coming famine of seven years and feed the Hebrew children in all of Egypt and be a great blessing to the Lord's people.
SPEAKER_00: And we read in Genesis chapter 50 what Joseph said about all that.
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis chapter 50 and verse 20, we read what Joseph's conclusion was about all that hardship that he had to endure as he was talking to his brothers.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in, let's begin in Genesis chapter 50, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: And it says, and his brethren also went and fell down before his face, that's before Joseph's face, which by the way God prophesied that they would do long ago when Joseph was a young man.
SPEAKER_00: And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold, we be thy servants, because they recognize that Joseph has been raised up to be a great man of power in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And look at what Joseph said, beginning of verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for I am in the place of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Joseph is saying that God has put me in this position to basically be a rescuer for y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Because if he had not raised me up and put me in all those situations, or allowed me rather, to be in all those situations to bring me here, then y'all would be starving to death right now.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying that he's God or that he is to be feared.
SPEAKER_00: He's just saying that it is God who has allowed me to be in a position of providing for y'all because of all these circumstances that has transpired.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: This is the key part.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 50 and 20.
SPEAKER_00: But as for you, my brothers, Joseph's brothers, ye thought evil against me.
SPEAKER_00: But God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people.
SPEAKER_00: So what I want y'all to see is that God did not make Joseph's brothers do what he did.
SPEAKER_00: God did not make the man's wife come on to Joseph and lust after him.
SPEAKER_00: God did not make the man in prison forget him in a sinful way.
SPEAKER_00: God did allow all of those things to happen to Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph says himself about all of that terribleness that transpired for so long.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You, my brothers, meant it for evil to me.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all wanted to kill me, murder me.
SPEAKER_00: You were, you know, you hated me.
SPEAKER_00: But God providentially intervened in these circumstances and turned it out for good, even using your wrong motives, to the end that this day much people would be blessed and fed and not starving to death of God's people and of Egypt and at the time so many in the world.
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
SPEAKER_00: Providence, brothers and sisters, is God sovereignly intervening and controlling history.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're almost done.
SPEAKER_00: I told you that we were going to talk about dark providence.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that sounds ominous.
SPEAKER_00: What does that even mean?
SPEAKER_00: I just shared you an example of dark providence.
SPEAKER_00: Why does God allow evil men?
SPEAKER_00: Why does God allow suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Why does God allow pain?
SPEAKER_00: And a perfect example of that is Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: His brothers sinfully acted against him.
SPEAKER_00: A heathen Egyptian woman sinfully acted against him.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph himself suffered much direct pain and suffering and loss and hardship.
SPEAKER_00: And God allowed all of that to happen to him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: He did.
SPEAKER_00: 100% he allowed that to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Did God cause the woman to be evil and to do evil?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Did God cause Joseph's brothers to be evil and to do evil?
SPEAKER_00: No, he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: But God took those circumstances and worked with them to bring about his God-glorifying ends to bring him glory and Joseph's benefit.
SPEAKER_00: That is actually dark providence.
SPEAKER_00: How a sovereign God who intervenes in this world does not have to, does not have to predetermine and predestinate every little individual thing.
SPEAKER_00: All right, well, I'm going to take two scoops of sugar in my coffee this morning and tomorrow I won't take one.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't have to cause a man to go down the road at 75 miles per hour and get pulled over by the highway patrolman and then get into an argument and one man shoot another man.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: That's the sinfulness of man, you understand.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't cause all those things.
SPEAKER_00: However, God can use any one of those things to his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to give you two last illustrations and we're done.
SPEAKER_00: Have any of y'all ladies ever done a, I think it's called cross-stitch?
SPEAKER_00: It's one of those things where you have like a little frame, whether it's square or round or oval, or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say you want to cross-stitch in there like a form of like a flower bouquet, or maybe you're uh stitching in there like a something to remember, like, you know, this is our anniversary date, or my uh granddaughter's graduating from high school or something, and you know, you have this little uh uh uh uh cloth and you know you weave in there, and on the front, it's a it's a beautiful image that the lady or even men that do it have made, and it's very understandable, it's very discernible.
SPEAKER_00: But have you ever flipped one of those things around on the back?
SPEAKER_00: And on the back of those, it looks like a mess of string, right?
SPEAKER_00: All of these strings going here and there and up around here, and from the back side, depending on how intricate they are, especially the more intricate ones, it just looks like a mess of string on the back side.
SPEAKER_00: But then you get around on the front side, and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: It's gorgeous, it makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_00: You see the image of this bouquet of flowers that was very meticulously hand-stitched on the front, but the back of the thing is not really pretty.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of messy, and it's kind of, you know, there are things, a string that ended here may go way across over here.
SPEAKER_00: See, sometimes mind and your understanding of God's providence is like the back of the picture.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You and I don't understand how all this weaves together to glorify and honor God and benefit us.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is concerned about us, because not a single sparrow falls without him knowing of it.
SPEAKER_00: And he knows what you and I stand in need of.
SPEAKER_00: God is not some callous God that just runs roughshod over his people and just tosses us around like pawns.
SPEAKER_00: No, he doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: He's a wonderful, loving father, who's the best example of a father that's ever been.
SPEAKER_00: I want to close with this.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Joe, I'm sorry, Brother Joe, Brother Michael Goens in his book, gave an example of a hymn that was a wonderful explanation of what you and I are talking about.
SPEAKER_00: So he quotes William Cowper, who is a man who lived from 1731 to 1800.
SPEAKER_00: And so Brother Golens quotes William Cowper made God's providence a regular theme of his hymns.
SPEAKER_00: The following hymn expresses the dark providence of God better than I could express it.
SPEAKER_00: And I agree with this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what Cowper's hymn says.
SPEAKER_00: God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.
SPEAKER_00: He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Deep in unfathomable minds of never-failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will.
SPEAKER_00: Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take.
SPEAKER_00: The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head.
SPEAKER_00: Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace.
SPEAKER_00: Behind a frowning providence, he has a smiling face.
SPEAKER_00: His purposes will ripen fast unfolding every hour.
SPEAKER_00: The blood may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
SPEAKER_00: Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain.
SPEAKER_00: God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not Joseph?
SPEAKER_00: We see all these terrible things that transpire to him.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph said, Y'all folks, my brothers, many for evil.
SPEAKER_00: But God took that and he made it into good.
SPEAKER_00: It blesses so many.
SPEAKER_00: And see, not only for Joshua, but but but Joseph had to go through all that.
SPEAKER_00: Through the suffering and pain and persecution and ridicule.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he did.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the dark providence of God that God allows those things to befall you and I here in this world to his own glorious and beautiful ends, and to his glory, and for the benefit of many, and also for Joseph's blessings, because you understand that on the other side of the storm, Joseph said, Amen and praise the Lord, you understand, right?
SPEAKER_00: God, I see now why I had to go through the valley of the shadow of death, as it were.
SPEAKER_00: I understand God on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, brothers and sisters, some of us, the other side is having an immortal glory.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this has been an encouragement to you.
SPEAKER_00: Talking about the providence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then hopefully next Sunday we'll be looking at God's predestination.
SPEAKER_00: To God be the glory.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to ask whether Don if you would come up and help us close in a word of song.
SPEAKER_00: The church doors are always open if you desire to unite with the membership of our church.