Basic Christianity , V

Anyway we're going to go ahead and get started. This is our fifth lesson in the basic Christianity series. Tonight it's on God's providence and that sounds a little bit familiar to you. It may be because Tim in lesson three had the decrees of God. Again we're using the breakdown of the Westminster Confession of Faith. And in week three Tim went over God's decrees and a major part of God's decrees involved the providence of God. So he gave us already. If you are keeping those handouts you go back to lesson three. The first part of what I have is kind of a summary and review of some of what Tim went over with us in terms of God's decrees. So just if some of it sounds a little bit familiar we tried not to change it because we didn't want to confuse you any more than maybe we normally would anyway. Let's go ahead and begin with Word of Prayer tonight. Father God thank you for all your good gifts. Thank you for the grace that is manifested in the Son Jesus Christ who went to the cross on our behalf who overcame death by your power and who reigns in might and glory and majesty as our Lord and as our intercessor at your right hand. Lord we rejoice to be known as your sons and daughters and to be called the people of faith. A faith that has come in Christ and even in its origin we find your work and your grace to bring us to faith. Lord we thank you for this time together this evening in which we could be part of your great and universal church in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Providence of God it is a broad thing it is not always easy to understand. I just want to warn you that I am as I told someone at our table I am power pointless so I mean this is what you get this is all I can do. I mean if I had to I could probably throw some slides together but my experience level is really really down there so Jerry's is probably a whole lot more exciting this is going to be very vanilla but just you know hopefully bear with me here. Right on your on your page there though right at the first okay it's working I wonder if we you know we got some people I was going to say it would be easier to see if we killed those lights down there if we won't leave anybody too much in the dark right it on the front page. Providence of God is sometimes interesting to get a handle on but I've got two definitions for Providence there right at the top of your page first one comes out of the Westminster Confession of Faith it's it's not noted on the screen but it is on your paper that's from the 5th chapter God maintains everything according to his will and for his glory. God's Providence as in many of things it's ultimately about him it's for his glory it's for his name say there are no loose ends in God's Providence which is completely comprehensive it extends to all things and all actions. God's will is utterly unconstrained and unlimited so there's a broad brush statement about Providence but let me give you just a little bit different one and this is from Wayne Grudham or Grudham depending on I'm not sure what the correct pronunciation is but he probably has the most understandable and comprehensive systematic theology that's been written in the last 40 or 50 years out right now he says God who is the creator and sustainer of all creation is continually involved with all created things in such a way they keep some existing cooperates with them in every action and directs them to fulfill his purposes so you get a little bit of different angle there when you talk about the Providence of God then you can't really just talk about one little picture or it's not like one slide of presentation it's a very broad brush and there was nothing happens apart from God's ordaining and nothing happens apart from his knowledge his approval and of course that gets into some very dicey things when we start talking about evil and people sin and accountability and responsibility we won't answer all those tonight by the way but but just to think about it in terms of God's Providence touches you in every aspect of your day to day life we've got you know for example we've got there the God's Providence is expressed in three ways these again are a review of what part of a sheet that Tim gave you in less than three I've added a few things to him but there are three things preservation concurrence and government that in a buck and a half will get you buck a cup of coffee I mean you know I know you're not going to be out there using these things every day but if it helps you to distinguish some of the things that are going on then that is fine the preservation just has to do with the fact that again God holds all things together Hebrews one three the Hebrew word there literally means to carry or to bear when it talks about God's preserving or Christ's preserving literally means that he's carrying or bearing the creation there is you know we don't take a breath without God's making it happen without his approval in a sense it as as minute as that is we would not be able to take a breath we would not be able to enjoy life without his moment by moment continuing and mating it's over all that he has made and that's part of that bearing or carrying that preservation again in Colossians 117 it says it a little differently in Christ in him all things hold together that's how we have our being he holds it all together and sustain the word sustaining comes to mind that's the nature of preservation and it's God's maintaining aspect of his providence over what we know one aspect of that as you think about it though has to do with the very study of science and a spin off of that would be our technology if we did not believe this if it were not true concerning the providence of God we could not really have a study of the field of science we couldn't have what we call science where we could build on any kind of foundation box because there would be no consistency yeah you know there would be no consistent orderly operation of the universe I mean you you couldn't have an elemental chart without how many is it up to now I know they keep making and finding new ones but the old days it was what 103 and now it's a lot more than that but you got the elemental chart you've got the laws of thermodynamics you've got all these other things I mean we couldn't count for example you need to know that if you put gasoline in your car every time you fill up that it's going to operate the same way that gasoline isn't going to suddenly change on you into bubble gum or something it's not going to suddenly stop working for you you need to know there's a consistency there that's we build the principles of science on the basis of a consistency to what God has created in his creation and it's his sustaining and maintaining that that allows the if you will the predictability or the certainty or the consistency of it what do you think it would be like if we woke up every day and gravity was kind of an iffy kind of thing we never quite knew what what percentage of gravity we would have every day it would just be catastrophic obviously but we take those things for granted our ability to to develop science and technology is totally founded on the providential maintenance of God over his creation of which we're part so just something to think about concurrence is the second aspect that was mentioned there under God's decrees and concurrence simply deals with this whole area of how God and his providential work cooperates with created things and every see I'm already getting behind here there we go I've had to jump ahead too I'm just not this isn't my this isn't in my DNA but I'm going to work at I promise I'll get better anyway it says God creates with created things in every action directing their distinctive properties calls them to act as they do God's cooperating with everything every action I mean it seems exhausting to us and yet it is the very nature of God in his in his sovereignty and his providential work and much of it is is beyond our ability to completely comprehend Ephesians 111 it's a mind-boggling verse in Ephesians 111 we read in him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will and you'll see that many of the verses and the passages and the events that we take a look at tonight if we have time how often it comes up that it's all about you'll hear again in it's about God's purposes it's about God's will we talk about our will and our purposes but they are always always subservient to our creator and Lord it's his will it's his purpose he's working it toward his ends not necessarily ours and it's just a very sobering sobering thing for the purpose of his will Ephesians 111 God and I'm not going to read through that there but it just these were things that we're mentioned before again to get a conference of picture of the the nature of God's province in animate creation animals randomly seemingly random events notice that wording all aspects of our lives is a better way to put it in events are fully caused by God and fully caused by the creature as well then down here moving to the next and again I'm trying to move through the first really page and I have two pages some of it was mentioned before in the third lesson although not as much detail but I'd like to really move beyond it to a few other implications and to some to some applications to make it more helpful to us than just this broad and brushstroke concerning providence the primary cause of everything is God okay you know if you had philosophy cast class they didn't make it as personal as God himself which we understand but they talked about the primary mover and all those good things he is the ultimate power which brings all things to pass he could affect everything by and of himself alone but it please God to use means outside of himself second causes to accomplish many things again God we know this already God doesn't need you and me he didn't need you and me when he determined to make his creation when he chose to breathe life into us out of the dust he didn't need us for that he doesn't need us now and but he chooses to use us he chooses to have a religious as he chose to have a relationship with us and ultimately through Christ to bring us to a redeeming and eternal relationship God chooses to have relationship but it's never something that is required or that he's dependent on we're dependent on him we are the creation he's not dependent on us but secondary causes can be people can be things can be circumstances that God chooses to use to accomplish his providential will and that can be the ordinary or extraordinary miraculous but it's always interesting what do you think about when you think about the providence of God how do you do you look at events that have happened in your own life in a certain perspective do you do you ever think well you know what does God have to do with this or you know did you ever wonder if maybe God missed something that somehow it got by him we know we know from scripture that can't happen but you know I heard it put once very humorously when that thing happened to you were you thinking that maybe God was busy counting the hairs on your friend's head because it says he knows the exact number of hairs on every one of our heads so maybe you know that's a pretty copper that's a pretty engulfing kind of regimen there so maybe he was caught up in counting your friend's hairs and he totally missed that rock that fell on you or something I mean I'm I'm being silly but you get the idea we can what is where's God and all that when something tragic happens where's God and all that when it's less than tragic you know I just use myself as an example because I'm I'm right here right now but you know many of you know I'm having some hard issues right now and we're hopefully close to getting at the bottom I actually got my little monitor on right here tonight got to turn it into maw I've been through this once before already so we're ongoing in that fact-finding situation but you know I didn't even know that I had an issue was that outside of God's providence of course not God ordained that Chris Ailer's at a certain point in his life was going to have some hard issues that he didn't even know about well you know maybe that's better than I don't know it's better unless you just keel over one day because you didn't know about it you know that I I overdid it on a hiking trip and southern Virginia on Memorial Day weekend I had it had the worst week of my life as far as my back I'm just having terrible back issues and I was in a barc allowed all week that's just not me but I wasn't going anywhere so when I was able to I went in saw my doctor and that's what began the ball rolling that eventually led to this discovery that something wasn't quite right with my heart well God ordained the heart issue but he also ordained the process by which it would be discovered again it could have been discovered by my collapsing out somewhere and I'm not trying to be able to gematic that may not have happened but instead interestingly he ordained through secondary causes that having these severe back problems led me to the doctor who kept pressing me until I finally went in got a physical and then they began to find out what was really going on I'd definitely see God's hand clearly and all that that was part of his providence he wasn't busy counting my friends hairs in the process and just missed that whole thing but but it still doesn't always help us to to understand exactly how the providence of God works in our line we maybe understand when we hear about the more specific redemptive aspect of God's providence which which is you know we taught when we use terms like predestination election but that's for a whole another time but the providence of God is a more general thing it happens with common grace in our lives it happens with special grace in our lives so just to think about that for a little bit what is the relationship here here's where it gets more dicey what is the relationship between the providential God and evil uh a on your sheet again God is not the author of evil or sin God does not cause people to sin or does he tempt them to sin we don't just make that up because we don't like the idea that God could be involved with that that's what James tells us as well as other passages that I I didn't cite God but but here's the other aspect of when we start to really look at it and there is a lot of scripture it's amazing in the Olden New Testament how much scripture there really is that addresses this area God allowed sin to enter into a sinless creation but his purposes are not forwarded by sin or evil okay God being God allows sin he knew sin was coming down the pipe again man has free will there are boundaries but we have free will once sin entered in of course there's the whole thing about man then only had the freedom to continue to to sin we did not have the freedom not to sin there's all those Latin phrases that I sent when Christ comes in and redeems the people for himself when our hearts are regenerating again this is another chapter down the road but just to touch there when our hearts are regenerated when Christ frees us from bondage it's not just declaring us righteous by his righteousness it's not just declaring us clean because of his atomah though all that is true but it means that we are no longer under bondage to have to sin we can choose then in Christ not to sin doesn't mean we never sin but we now whereas before we really didn't have the freedom not to sin we had a proclivity towards sin because of our fallen nature now we have the freedom in Christ to choose not to sin in given situations so there's a huge difference there because of our regenerated hearts and God's continuous sanctification but God allows sin to enter into a sinless creation but his purposes are not forwarded by sin or evil why because of God's power and position he is not awarded his his eternal decrees and purposes are not awarded as bad as sin and evil is he does use evil intent and events and circumstances to accomplish his purposes and now this next line I'm going to just ask you if you have a pen to just line through that the more I read it it's just too squishy in that sense the line I'm talking about is in that sense it maybe said that God indirectly brings about some kind of evil that that just didn't come out well and so just line on through that that's too it's too squishy what I was trying to say and there are again verses and these are these are some of the hard sayings if you will there are passages and verses in scripture that talk about God or dating evil that's a pretty hard statement isn't it and you almost want to say way to make Christ that can't be true the Bible can't say that it does and it says it in more than one place so what are we to make of that well again God part of providence is God ordains everything according to his will and purposes but in most cases he uses secondary causes he uses secondary means it's an indirect which is the word I was trying to use there so it is possible in other words because that God could ordain evil to happen in a certain situation but again remember what scriptures already said he is never the author of sin he is never the author of evil he does not tempt people directly to sin does again God and is managed to use his second and third causes he uses different events he can use circumstances someone bent that way already it serves his purposes such as Judas for example such as others to to do what they were going to do Tim went over that I'm not going to take the time it's on the very next it's on the very next slide in a second where he talked about Pharaoh hardening his own heart to not do what God called asked him to do through Moses and then at the same time it says that God was also working to affirm hardening his own heart from his point we still struggle with that and as scripture says that's exactly what was going on so God can ordain evil but but the distinction is he's not the author be he scripture is very clear that nowhere the last line there under be however nowhere to scripture blame God for evil or describe him as taking pleasure in it very important distinction there but it's still something that we struggle with and wrestle with from our finite position and mentality you got the whole example many of you are familiar with with Joseph his brothers as he said in chapter 50 what you meant for evil God meant for good in God's providential as well as redemptive work for the the children of Israel in their future preservation of Israel but at the same time his brothers were guilty of the sin of wanting to pretty much put Joseph to death maybe that wasn't all their intent but they they meant evil for their brother we can agree on that and and Joseph said he could see beyond that and see that in all my trials God had a purpose a providential purpose that far outstripped your own sinful intent and again we see that again in the scripture just for some other examples here that you have have up there Jonah and the sailors just to use one maybe it's not as familiar if you if you have a ball and turn to Jonah if not you want to just hang on there you remember when Jonah was given a command by God involving missions and evangelism and Jonah said no way Jose so to speak and went the other way a bold move I mean we all some of us kind of figuratively or in other ways we run from God when we're not listening to his spirit or conviction whatever but Jonah literally ran from God he put into motion some things that maybe some of us have thought about but haven't done and so Jonah is fleeing and he's on the ship and of course the storm comes out and in 113 and 14

keeping on the time there so in 114 we read this the great storm comes up they're not making any headway it's not looking good for them and Jonah tells them that he's the reason why God has raised the storm up and he basically tells them hey I'm in the problem throw me overboard pick me up and throw me into the sea replied it will become calm I knew that it is my fault I know this is my fault that this great storm has come upon you instead the man did their best to row back to land but they could not for the sea grew even wilder than before and then they cried out to the Lord oh Lord please do not let us die for taking this man's life do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man who you oh Lord have done as you pleased isn't interesting the sailors did not want to throw Jonah overboard they felt that in some sense their actions would would you know hold them accountable for murdering him at the same time as they're pleading to God they're recognizing that God is is intrinsically behind this whole whole operation as well so they're pleading to him to forgive them or to cleanse their hands from the whole deal that this is really your operation so don't hold us accountable and and they throw them in the sea well that's that's an interesting angle but then you go over to the third verse of chapter two and Jonah himself is you know in the belly of the fish is saying to the Lord you know in my distress I called upon you and you answered but then he says you hurled me into the deep into the very heart of the sea and the contents swirled about me and the waves and breakers swept over me Jonah understood that although those sailors were the secondary cause they were the instrument of what God was doing Jonah clearly saying God you did this to me and it wasn't a cusetory it was just stating the obvious God this is your doing I see what you're doing and I knew that frankly I deserved it but Jonah saw right through what the sailors were doing and saw that as directly from God's hand let's move a little more to the heart of it with the crucifixion of Christ a couple of passages there Acts 2 22 and 23 you've got you've got first Peter making a statement and later in chapter 4 you've got John but again it's revealing in terms of as we think about what God ordains in decrees comes about even though the outcome seems maybe horrible maybe egregious it may be evil God is working through and around the sinfulness of secondary causes and people to bring it about Acts 2 22 and 23 man I got to get this closer here this is I'm in between the chandeliers it sounds like a title for a book or something as the as the bell tolls whatever between the chandeliers anyway but now I urge you to keep up your courage because not one of you I wait a minute it helps if I get in the right spot here I'm on Acts 27 I'm getting ahead of myself okay Acts 2 22 and 23 honey I need new glasses all right Peter is talking here of course that famous message before the crowd at Pentecostment of Israel listen to this Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which God did among you through him get that which God did among you through him as you yourselves know this man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by naming him to the cross that God raised him from the dead in the same thing in which it talks about the acts of wicked men crucifying our Lord Jesus Christ it says he was handed over by God's set purpose and foreknowledge that is the providence of God that's that's the work of God and again we have to recognize that but we struggle sometimes when we see the interface of God's providence of his will and purpose being accomplished again nothing nothing Satan no one has the power to thwart his will his decrees and his purpose but sometimes it's hard to see that interfacing with the sinful acts of men that God can use to accomplish those purposes it's hard for us to differentiate completely between those two and yet it's it's a reality again in Acts 4 27 and 28 here John is speaking and he's actually addressing he's addressing the Lord indeed Herod in Pentecostment together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen so again and again we see it affirmed how the providence of God works even through some not evil personages and evil intentions but yet God is never guilty of sin or evil himself but he has and demonstrates the power to take again what others meant for evil and to bring the most beautiful good out of it even at the point ultimately of our salvation and redemption now Christ constantly referred to his father's will and decrees he constantly referenced to it when he was facing his disciples leaving him when he was facing difficulty hardship when they were trying to kill him and he set his face like a flint of Jerusalem he was constantly referring to the fact that he was there to do the will of his heavenly father and so he had a clear clear track on that Judas would be another example you know what that passage says it talks about Christ being delivered up according again to the purpose and the decree of God yet at the same breath and the same sentence it says whoa into him through whom he's delivered up meaning Judas again you have to be able to see the distinction there between God's providential overriding will and decree being carried out and using secondary situations Judas was guilty of betrayal he was guilty of his own self seeking I mean we can unpack all that but when we read something like that it almost makes it sound like oh well God is holding the gun to his head God made him do it so you know we need to feel sorry for Judas we need to think somehow this isn't right that's not what it is but God shows his power in being able to work his decrees and will will be carried out and he uses these means to do it but he himself is not affected by let's move on try to get all right the third aspect well God is in control and we are also responsible for actions there's that beautiful balance that we always kind of struggle to understand and we're not going to solve that tonight I hope I'm not disappointing I'm just letting you know we'll maybe get some insights into it but I'm not here to help you reconcile how God is in control and yet irresponsible for your own actions constantly sometimes that's hard for us again to put those things together the third aspect of providence is the government use the term government God has a purpose and all that he does in the world we've already kind of touched on some of that and directs all things in order that they accomplish his purposes and you're familiar with most of those passages to him and through him and for him are all things you know Romans 828 and you get a pretty good flavor that we're not going to spend a lot of time there I think Tim briefly listed mentioned that there are two major distinctions when we talk about God's will being done and again there's God's revealed will sometimes called his moral will and there's God's secretive or decorative will April was telling me when she typed this up typed it up for Tim for those two terms that she accidentally typed decorative or decorative instead of decree decree it is tricky instead of decreed I don't even know is that Joel is that spelled right how do you say that okay there I was getting it right I wasn't sure instead of decreed or she had decorative it's an easy mistake I guess but it's radically different God's I'm sure let's not go there anyway God's revealed will you know that this is representative of the scriptures that's God's revealed will to us it's not all of the will of God but the scriptures contain everything they are everything we need to know to be obedient to God and to know him truthfully and to worship him rightfully the scriptures you have the Ten Commandments sermon on the mount the sermon on the plane we can anything like that that is God's revealed more will now because again we do have free will within boundaries that's God's calling purpose for us that's part of his will but we can willfully break his laws we can break his commands and we've done those and we are accountable for that that's God's revealed will we we can see our sin through his revealed will when we fail either passively or actively to disobey but God's secret or decorative will is different this aspect of God's will is not known to us usually at the time that it's going on we don't see God's I mean we do see God's will be carried out but we can't put it together I'm always very suspicious of people say well I know what I know what God's will is for this whole scene or the situation or I know what's going on that is that is so in many cases presumptuous or else you've got someone who believes that they're being given extra revelation that's that's usually the case but we won't go there tonight either I'd say in most cases if you think you know what God's will is other than the revealed will and scripture the obvious things you probably don't but if you want to entertain yourself that's okay most of the time you're even looking backwards we'll know some of the secret will of God because a lot of it is what it's what's played out in history it's events that have happened it's things that have taken place and again either because God specifically ordained them or he allowed them even though they may be very evil terrible that's he may have allowed them even those things he shows his sovereign greatness that he can take those things that are evil and dastardly and in ways that we wouldn't understand then may not ever understand until glory he can bring good out of it he just may not choose to show or reveal to us how he's going to do that or when that's going to be revealed if it does become revealed we again we forget Isaiah 55 our thoughts are not his thoughts our ways are not his ways his are his are so much higher than ours he's the infinite one he's the potter we're the clay and we're we're sitting there as the clay so often saying God how can you do this or how can you shape me like this or how can you be ordering things like this when we don't even begin I mean if we could see our presumption for what it is it would be funny but we don't even begin to see what God is doing we don't have it's like we have one and this isn't even helpful because it's not accurate enough it's like we have one little pebble of a mosaic of 10 million pieces God's looking at all 10 million he's working with all 10 million pieces simultaneously we're looking at one piece and going God how could you do that or not do that it's it when you think about it it is rather rather presumptuous of us we need to do is have a greater sense of trust and that's one of the applications we'll get to and understand if you begin to get to know God better you know that you can trust him even in the things that you're you're not going to understand that we're never going to have a be able to wrap our arms around there's always going to be that even when we get to glory we're not going to suddenly become infinite we're eternal but we're not going to become infinite we're not going to be able to wrap our arms around everything that is popped into our mind to question and even in glory but it'll it will be enough for us believe me we will be satisfied but we won't we won't have infinite knowledge or understanding of God or how he works even then and and it'll be okay so anyway that's God's secretive will many of the times we don't understand it as it's going on around us and through us even okay God has made us responsible for our actions we've kind of touched on that which has real and eternally significant results again to use an example what that one verse I'll just jump to the verse down below I find that fascinating second Timothy 210 Paul the apostle says I endure everything for the sake of the elect this is Paul's final letter I mean this is right before he knows that they're not going to do good things to him in Rome I mean this is his last letter and he knows it he's not too far from glory so it's not that he was afraid of death but he knows he's right there and at the end of all that as he reflects back and he thinks about all the trials and everything that he's gone through and I'm never read about anybody that's gone through half of what the apostle Paul experienced as a servant and missionary of the Lord and yet he could say in this amazing statement I endure everything and you think about all those things mentioned and isn't it second Corinthians and all that he went through for the sake of the elect does that hit you somehow it's it's the wording he's talking about the elect he's talking about God's sheep and this is where sometimes again I think we still get a little bit bent out of shape when we start talking about those who are lacking those who are Lord Paul is saying they're the elect people that don't understand election they don't understand predestination they don't understand that it's God's work in the heart often if they hear someone using that kind of terminology say we know if you believe that why aren't you just sitting on your can 24-7 because it's it's all God excuse my French but it's all it's all God's work you don't really have anything to do with it why aren't you just the lazyest son of a gun to ever come down the pike and I have met some people who have say my theology is on order and that's about exactly what they're doing I said your theology isn't on order believe me your theology is way out of whack because if you understood what God is talking about here you would also understand that God not only holds us responsible as human beings under his providential and redemptive work but he employs us as his instruments as his tool secondary measure sounds kind of cold but God the primary uses us the secondary as his servants his missionaries you know how will they hear without the feet you know blessed are the feet of them will bring the word how are they here without a preacher I mean we can go on an onsite some of the most vibrant missionaries in recent history going back 700 years were empowered with the absolute certainty that there are no random people coming to faith that is God's elect and it's God's work that he does in the heart but they at the same time like Paul could say I will endure all kinds of hardship and everything that comes down the road in order that the elect will indeed be brought on in Paul had that balance of understanding this is God's work only he can change hearts but God has called me as his servant to go out there and to you know to break down the doors literally if necessary to do his will and spreading the beauty of the gospel and spreading the word and being a servant and being available for his purposes and I just it's in that succinct little verses just amazing to me with Paul's zeal that he could say that because some people would just that would change their whole behavior pattern if they misunderstood that the other thing here just it could be done put on you remember Paul again he was on his way to Rome he wasn't there yet in Acts 27 in Acts 27 22 through 31 you have that whole situation where just to speed us up here love it Paul warned them before they left they were trying to push you know the the I think the winter was coming and the weather was changing and it wasn't a good time to be sailing and they were trying to get in under the under the curtain so to speak kind of slide in the last minute before it became impossible to sail and navigate and they made a bad decision they pushed it and they went out when they shouldn't have Paul warned them he said if we go out it's going to be a time of great trial and calamity and they did it anyway now we're not listening to some prisoners going to room anyway so they get in the middle of this huge storm and things are not going well in fact the sailors believe they're not going to make it that's not a good sign when the sailors who are handling ship feel that way Acts 27 22 again if I can find it in this light they get this a little closer

this is very humbly but now I urge you to keep up your courage this is Paul now I urge you to keep up your courage because not one of you will be lost only the ship will be destroyed last night in angel god whose I am and whom I served stood beside me and told me do not be afraid the Lord has given you the lives of all those on the ship to be with you Paul and so here is a message from one of God's angels saying no one's going to be lost on the ship and Paul reports that but then you read down a little bit further okay so that must be gods willing to create you read down a little bit further and you find out that the sailors are not buying it they're trying to sneak out the side of the ship it's not good at all they're pretending to drop anchors at the bow but they're lowering a lifeboat and they're planning to head out on their own they know they're close to shore but they're afraid you know many many shorelines you hit reefs and other things before you ever get to the beach and they're afraid that's what it's going to happen they're just going to break up in the water and die so that's their fear so they're kind of doing their own plan they're just going to leave everybody else on the ship to their own resources which are not much Paul notices what they're doing and that's in verse 30 31 he goes to the centurion and he says okay then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers unless these men stay with the ship you cannot be saved now isn't that interesting God is just told Paul by means of an angel that no one's going to be lost so what what happened there suddenly Paul noticing what the sailors are doing springs in action goes to the authority figure the centurion and says I'm just going to clue you in what those guys are doing if you don't stop them we're all going to be lost what changed see that's the the interesting dynamic when we start talking about the providence of God we you know again it's from our perspective we want everything to be sealed you know her medically or something like that everything black and white everything clean nothing changed with regard to the decree or providence of God but again God is working through secondary means and causes and because of that they're free wilderness and now it's not going to thwart God's plan but with somehow within that secondary cause and I can't explain all this to you Paul understood when he saw what was going on all right God is promises he said this is going to take place but that's under the conditions that we had these guys are taking off and Paul was convicted that if they take off then it was no longer going to be an effect and so he what I what am I saying here when I'm focusing on is not boy you just never know when God's going to change the game plan or the rules that's not what's going on here it's it's men's actions and willful sin and other things but Paul what I want to point out is Paul moved on he didn't say well God has decreed that nobody's life's going to be lost I'm not going to worry about all those experienced sailors jumping off the ship and leaving us alone here we'll figure it out some hour God would just pick us up and a stiff win and land us on the beach like in some of those movies or something you know no Paul Paul was totally a believer in God's province and decree that what he'd heard was true but he also understood his responsibility to act when he saw what was going on was contrary to what it should be so he went to the center and and acted and it saved the day that's just a really interesting passage just to ponder and think about a little bit there when you see that dynamic going on okay conclusion and I'm kind of weird I've got conclusion then I have application you know we can either way you like it it's it's all right there okay get to the right page here all right you've already figured it out by now with regard to the providence of God as it's taught to us in scripture God doesn't make stuff up as he goes along some of you maybe survived that way I know a lot of us don't like to operate that way sometimes we do but we really don't want to but the reality is that God does not make it up as he goes along we only understand the shallows of the depths of God's will and only a portion of his will is revealed to us think about that we only even with all we have we only understand the shallows of the depths of God's revealed will to us much less his secretive will so only a portion of his will is revealed to us just we have to think about that because it keeps us humble keeps us humble about when we question sometimes what's going on or why it's not and by saying that I'm not saying we can ask those questions I mean I think God invites our honesty he wants us to be honest about our sin he wants us to be honest with him and going being able to go in confession and seek genuine repentance but we can also be honest about the things we're struggling with but there's a way in which we present them to him again all right we must admit this is kind of the bottom line under conclusion of these things we've gone over these different aspects again it's not exhausted we knew we wouldn't come to all these conclusions tonight we must admit that a mystery remains concerning the relationship of what God ordains to come to pass and at the same time holding us accountable for our actions there will always be a certain amount of tension there for us they're both true absolutely true and God's God's providential work and his decrees and will override they trump everything but there's always a tension for us to when we try to sort or parse that out or when we try to attribute something to God that is is not true like somehow God must must have evil on his hands we must have sin and temptation on his hands scripture clearly teaches that that is not the case so even though we may struggle to understand it that's not where the problem is the problem is with our ability to understand things truthfully and rightfully this is something that's been helpful to me I pass it on to you again that in a dollar 50 you'll get your cup of coffee anywhere except maybe Starbucks but I have found this definition very very helpful to me and it comes actually out of a little book that I think's been recommended already by J.I. Packard called evangelism and the sovereignty of God again two tricky things to put together there beautiful little book he just does such a clear job of it this was the single most helpful thing I got out of reading that book probably 25 years ago the term and 10 of me I just have to ask how many of you heard the term all right quite a few of you do you hear it in a sunny school class or small group something like that or not sure okay maybe read the book and 10 of me the definition for in 10 of me is an appearance of contradiction between conclusions which seem equally logical reasonable or necessary I know it sounds like a lot of high gluten words but basically it's just saying you look at something and there are two things that just don't seem like there's any way possible they can be compatible or they can even live next to each other that they can even occupy the same space and time that they can't do anything but constantly conflict that's what it's talking about it's an appearance of contradiction between conclusions which seem equally logical reasonable or necessary it is an apparent incompatibility between two apparent truths seemingly irreconcilable but both undeniable I'll give you the perfect well it's not the perfect example the imperfect example this actually with a little bit of alteration is a definition that science remember we talked about science having its existence based on God's providence back under preservation science more or less created the term and 10 of me to deal with things where they use scientific methods and they were able to prove different things that scientists couldn't reconcile with each other and yet their data confirmed absolutely that they were true but they could never they could not get them to go together I'm not a scientist I can't even using this example I can't even tell you why it's a problem I don't know enough to know that it shouldn't work but one of the things I gave as an example was concerning the transport of light in space I think and they talked about light transporting in waves wavelengths and also particles again if anybody can help me out with that afterward please tell me because I have no idea why that's a problem but somehow somehow take my word for it they've got in you know irrevocable data on both of these from the scientific process at least that they're both absolutely accurate and true and they absolutely have no ability to reconcile them with each other I don't know why they seem very reconcilable to me but but the people that should know that say there's no way they came up with this definition to explain that situation J. I. Packer took the definition and he said the only thing we need to add to the definition was appearance of so that's what I have added to the definition the scientific definition doesn't have appearance of because in the mind of the scientist it's an absolute contradiction they can't explain again remember that our thoughts are not his thoughts our ways are not his there is no contradiction in the will or the decree or the work of God whenever you're struggling with something understand there's no struggle from God's perspective even in things that you just absolutely can't put together God's providential will God sovereign will his election your human responsibility your free will God says there's no problem there with us we can't comprehend it we don't have that ability so maybe an enemy helps a little bit just to help you put it in a cubby space or something you know and understand that you're not going crazy but it's the appearance of or to us the seeming contradiction of things that are not contradictory they're true and the true because scripture says they're true so God is the infinite and eternal things as little one someday I may give you some more understanding of this you'll never have complete understanding but maybe you'll be content with what I give you but understand that I'm not I'm not conflictive I'm not schizophrenic I'm not struggling with it it absolutely is very clear in the mind of God so maybe it helps to to have that even though it doesn't answer all of our question all right real quickly just some application providence of God sounds so ethereal and so kind of out there slight what do I do with this Chris we've had a couple of kind of applications as we go on I'm just going to mention a few in the six or seven minutes that we have left and these are supposed to be numbered but dots will work again I can't complain because I can't do this I did adjust it in some stuff anyway all right first give thanks and gratitude you know first that's on five eight says give thanks always some one of three very similar you know there's there's reams of scripture concerning that we understand who God is as we get to understand how he's revealed himself to us and what his intentions are he is about doing his will and his purpose and his decrees will not be thwarted but even though it's for his purposes and his decrees he so much has your absolute best interest in mind as his child he loves Jeremiah thirty one three he loves you more uh you know then you can imagine that's uh I've loved you with an everlasting love is what it specifically says but God loves you more than you can begin to conceive or imagine and so there's never a time when we shouldn't be able to find things to be thankful of even the most difficult times when we're just sometimes that's difficult you know the thing that Lord the Lord is impressed upon me with this hard issue and it may turn out to be something real minor I hope we'll get word in a few days that that's the case but I keep being impressed with God thank you for putting me you know I might get out and get run over by bus tomorrow but but at least on the hard issue God thank you for putting me in a time when you you've revealed so much of your truth that men have been able to take and turn into great science as far as medically for hearts and stuff I mean they got a million ways to fix hearts that aren't working right today I mean a generation or two ago you know tough toast and I don't say that calcium it's just the reality of you know again within God's prominence I've been blessed enough to live in a time when they know what to do with this stuff I wouldn't have cool that's just I can't stop giving thanks enough for that I'm not not worried about the condition I'm just Lord thanks for put me in a place where they can at least have a clue about what to do about it that's just amazing to me so there's always ways that you can give thanks and gratitude trusting more again God works through us purposefully in order that our trust would constantly be growing as we see his provision providentially and in so many different ways his common grace as well as his special grace you know Psalm 121 talks about again Tim's one of his favorite Psalms you know from when it comes my help my help comes from the hills and you know about God's provision in times of stress and difficulty you know how in the world could David sleep when his enemies seemed to be constantly pursuing him when he was in the wilderness he could sleep because he had a trust that God was bigger than the situation that he was even his own life was at risk and he understood that God was in it and he trusted him Matthew 1029 31 just talking again it's about how much more valuable are you than the sparrows or the flowers of the field trusting more because God cares for you for more than you can imagine you are in God's loving hands you are not in the control of luck, chance, fate or karma very important I don't think there's a lot of Christians to go off on this stuff but it's amazing sometimes we'll use the terminology it's nothing about that God is in control patience may be kind of a self-explanatory God's timetable because of his will and decrees are often different it's almost always different than ours but again because he's looking at 10,000 pieces and we're looking at one that's out of place I think that we can afford to be patient with him I know it's hard and I'm not always successful with that myself but but we can learn greater patience because of the fact we see God is working constantly not just maintaining and preserving but he's in concurrence and government with his will your prayer life counts that might seem like kind of a random thing again we'd certainly understand that James 4-2 James 5 the prayers of a righteous man avail as much the passage James 4 and John 16 about you do not receive because you do not ask so God is saying come to me and prayer and ask it's meaningful it makes a difference I know many people kind of throw a prayer is a hard thing anyway because it involves patience and involves non-physical action and I think it's tougher for men because we're constantly thinking we have to be going we have to be doing something to demonstrate our value to we have to be so performance oriented that's not just limited to men but I think it really works against us in our prayer lives and and then when we start talking about well you know if God's decrees and will are not going to be thwarted what in Sam Hill do I need to be prayful my prayers are are not all that special well even if it wasn't true and we know that's often true God does more when we are praying and talking with him or listening to him actually which we don't do enough of God does more to change us oftentimes than he may even do through our prayers but God is obviously ordained the means the ends our prayers are powerful means and instruments for his will and decrees to be carried out we may not know always specifically what those are how often have you been convicted to pray for somebody when you're just driving along the car going along that's not a random thing God is saying I need you to be praying I need you to have this on your heart right now and to lift that up before the throne there's a mystery there but it is extremely valuable let me just mention a book to you if you struggle with this a little bit or you kind of have a lot of questions like that best book I've ever read on the subject of not how to pray but why we need to pray is from a professor I had in seminary and I get the royalties here Doug Kelly is his name and it's called if God already knows why pray great book and it's not real long huh Doug Kelly I think just the way it sounds but if God already knows and he does why pray great stuff about why we need to be prayer and now we need to see that God is using us instrumentally in praying last two I'm just going to mention their discipline as a part of God's providence first purposes in love and action is vital we got that example from Paul and the ship again sometimes we think that if we have our theology in order that it means we are not responsible or need to be called on the last thing I'll touch on now we're out of time just to the very last point there and there are resources on the back by the way back page there the grace leading to redemption just I know we've all been reminded of how how God could love a wretch like ourselves when we think about our sin and our you know he loved us when we didn't even care about him we didn't even know about him and it's just repeated again and again in God's story within the individual store as you look at even Job who went through tremendous suffering his wife understood something about providence she understood that God was involved with the suffering that Job was receiving there in chapter two what does she finally say to Job she she's tired of everything that's happening to them and happening to him she just says curse God and die now just that's not a sound a little bit like a Jewish mother but you know curse God and die and did she understand about the problems of God she understood that God had a hand on what was happening to Job even though he was using Satan to do it but it's interesting her view was obviously God's intent is for you to die well that wasn't it at all and if you go through that sometimes torture some difficult story of Job in 38 and 40 those chapters it actually reaches the point where Job has come from just restraining himself and only saying good things about God to where he becomes you know all right he's shaking his fist at God and saying you know how could you do this and how could you just be so brazen and how could you just that you just can't possibly know what what you're about doing this allowing this to happen and of course as you know he's brought back around to it but that whole scene where where Job is literally just shaking his fist at God as if he knew better and later on he of course repents of that as God shows him what he's doing but the beauty of that when you think about it and this has escaped me before but as I was looking at that again God could have turned his back on Job at that point Job was just shaking his fist at God and you you what's it what's it what's it you know God was working at his purposes but part of his purpose was to teach Job about himself and about who he was and he never he could have walked away God never let go of Job as difficult as a God he came back I mean he never left and he came and showed Job his glory in a sense and Job came to faith it's a story of Job's salvation after a whole lot of stuff that none of us would ever want to happen to anybody we knew but it's the beauty he saved one man by his decree and using any things but you think about it also that story is in God's truth for man's and man's and man's of people to also read not only so that they would understand a little bit more about suffering but they'd understand a little bit more about the God who redeems and saves that's a little bit of remote example Ruth and Paul are probably closer ones but we don't have time to go in that but it's it just struck me how amazing it is that the God would not turn away from his servant who felt very jaded and and tossed out he'd never let go of him and he came back and strengthen the relationship and and redeem him let's close with a brief word of prayer Heavenly Father thank you for this time thank you for this evening and Lord these things are bigger than the length of our arms to get around in our minds too but it doesn't mean that we can't understand them better it doesn't mean that we can't understand you better doesn't mean that we can't appreciate who you are and what you've done and what you've called us to be before you and we thank you for that and we thank you for your providential work in Christ's name amen