God’s Providence Pt 1

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Wednesday, July the seventeenth, twenty twenty four. It is currently four fifty seven pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, if you're looking at the sermons two point oh app right, if you look at the Sermon's two point oh app really quick, just open it really fast, you will notice that there is only one live webcast, and that is the Theology Central webcast. There are no others. Now it's Wednesday, four fifty eight pm Central time. Now, if you know anything about the sermon's two point oh app you know that within the next hour there will be probably two hundred live webcasts. So we've got we've started right before all the others. We found that perfect time so that there are no other broadcasts. The ones that were earlier they have ended, and the ones that are about to begin haven't started. So here we come right at this perfect time. And that means what it No, it absolutely doesn't mean anything. I just happened to notice it, So I'm going to tell you, But it does mean that I have an opportunity then that when people are maybe looking or waiting for their favorite broadcaster to begin their live web their live Wednesday night webcast, they will say, wait, what's this theology central thing? And they will tune in, and when they tune in,

1:34 they're going to hear well, probably something they don't like, and then they're never going to listen again. So really, this is probably only guaranteeing that I lose, that I drive away any future listeners or followers on this particular app because you can hit the follow tab. Not followers like following me, but following the broadcast. You get the idea, right, Okay, so what are we going to do? Well? Earlier I did an introduction. Now, at first I just entitled the earlier broadcast God's Providence. That's all I did, and then I'm then when I got ready to do this one, I'm like, well, I can't do this one. Is God's Providence Part one? If that one says God's Providence, that would have to be a part one. Then I would make this part two. But now that's not really a part one. So what I did as I went back and changed the title to the last broadcast is God's Providence Introduction, because in that episode we kind of introduced what we're going to be doing over the next week. Maybe plus we're going to be diving in studying, looking at considering, meditating, struggling, possibly being greatly disturbed, and maybe have a lot of sleepless nights trying to wrap our minds around really two very important concepts.

2:50 We're obviously we're going to be focusing on God's Providence. That's going to be the main thing, but we're really kind of bringing two concepts together, God's eternal Decrees and God's Providence. Now these kind of we're gonna we're just gonna call this God's Providence. We really could break this down into God's Decrees in God's Providence, but we're gonna kind of bring them together at least to some level. And in the introductory episode, I told everyone, I gave everyone a number of assignments. I'm not going to go back and repeat all of them. Hopefully you've already started working on those assignments, and hopefully it's going to be I mean, well, I would like to say hopefully it's going to be very beneficial I think hopefully it just will. I believe it's a subject. Let me state it this way. Hopefully you will see and hopefully you will understand that this is a subject worthy of great consideration and a great amount of your time, and that you will dedicate the time to it and do all the things that I asked, so that when we are finished with this very and we may even extend it if we need to forever how long this study goes. When it's said and done, we can all walk away going and know it's gonna sound contradictory. On one way, I'm absolutely horrified.

4:02 I'm bothered, I'm frustrated. I'm upset about this concept of God's eternal decrease and God's providence. On the other hand, hopefully you'll walk away going. I don't know if I still truly understand it. IM a little confused. I know that both none of those sound very positive. I know what someone would say, No, what you want is when people are done hearing about God's providence and God's eternal decrees, they say, oh, how beautiful and how comforting, and it brings me great peace. I don't know how any rational person can look at God's providence and God's eternal decrees and say, oh, it brings me great comfort and great peace. I really don't know how you can do that. Like, I think, if you do that, what you're doing is you're only looking at God's providence and God's eternal decrees and the most positive light, and you're not willing to look about you know, It's like, don't open that door, keep that door locked. What's behind that door? No? No, no no, and you slap their hands, get away, get away? What but I want to look?

5:02 No? No, no, no, Look, there's God's providence, there's God's decrease. Yeah, but what's behind that door? No, don't go open that door, because once you open that door, you see, in a sense, the other side of God's providence, in God's eternal decrease. And ladies and gentlemen, I don't think it's going to bring you much comfort. I think it's going to keep you up at night. It's going to bother you, it's going to be it may frustrate you, and it may make you very very very very upset. And I think that if you never reach that, then you've never really struggled with these concepts. You've been fed the Disney version. You've been fed the Hallmark Channel version, and so much of Christianity, so much of church, just wants to give everyone the Disney fed version, the Hallmark version of so many deep philological issues, and we always just want to make it positive and uplifting. You just listen to a lot of well, I mean, I know it's somewhat dated in archaic now, but there was a time when you would listen to Christian radio. It was always the positive alternative, uplifting you, bringing you, you know, giving you a sense of peace and a time of trouble. And they would always hype it, and all of their promotions was about, you know, uplifting, encouraging, supporting, you know, peace. And it's like, well, if you're really dealing with the Bible and theology, I'm sorry, it's not all peace comfort. It's no, it's being confronted with some of the most difficult and in some ways brutal truths. I mean, just think about it. I mean, just it's so funny that Christianity is sometimes presented as you know, oh, you need encouragement, you need to be uplifted.

6:36 Will come to Christianity, the religion that believes that if you don't believe the right way and the right thing, you will burn for all eternity. But we're the religion that will bring you great peace and comfort. And he said, we believe that people who die who don't believe the right way will literally burn for all eternity. I'm sorry if that doesn't bother you at least a little bit. And here's what we do. Well, you know, you know, God has to judge sin, and we can I know all the right words, we can say all the right word. Well, God is holy and he can't talk. I understand all of that. Look I understand. I mean I could challenge you on some of that. If you really take it to us logical conclusion, it's still going to leave you very not comfortable. But what I find this is what I find so funny about it. One hand, we promote Christianities be all uplifting and peace and comfort and joy and all of this, while we at the same time hold this doctrine of people burning for all eternity. But here's what I noticed. What Christians do. It's in not all cases, but in many cases, Christians love to find a way to make everyone out there burn but anyone that they love, any family member, they always find a way to ensure that they're going to heaven. Well you know they and they will always find a way because they can't and handle the fact that it could be one of their loved ones who's burning for all eternity. What I'm trying to demonstrate is that there

8:07 are some very difficult concepts within Christianity and nobody likes. I mean, look, just consider it from this perspective. If you're still not convinced, just spend about an hour considering how utterly holy and perfect God is just really and and how he demands perfection inside of you, outside of you. And then just after you've spent an hour really grasping it, then just go find a mirror and look in it. And you're going to see someone who never comes close to that. And you're going to feel the guilt, and you're going to feel the shame, and you're going to feel the humiliation. And what we do is we spend all day, you know, covering ourself in fig leaves and a robe of self righteousness so that we feel good about ourselves.

8:52 Oh but I didn't do this, and oh look at how good I am. Well, the reality is no matter how good we think we are, we're all just messed up. I mean, it's just the reality. Not excusing it, but it's just the reality. So these issues are complicated and difficult. Now, why am I spending and deciding to look at this subject of God's providence and God's eternal decrease? Well, I'm doing so because when things get really really negative, right when I get really really frustrated or irritated about something going on in Christianity, I know I can continue to turn on the microphone and I can rant, and I can rave, and I can scream, and I can give hot takes and everybody's like, wow, did you hear? And it becomes like, you know, I'm known as the crazy guy who's yelling and screaming and met about everything. And it's easy just to continue down that path because the numbers usually increase when you when you give a hot take and you're yelling and screaming, usually you're going to be able to increase your numbers to a certain level. You'll drive some people away, but a lot of people will just tune in for the drama. Okay, I don't want to be that I don't want to be that. So when I find myself getting really angry or frustrated, I try to. I try, and I'm not saying I always do this very well, and you know all the times I fail to do it, and you know the times I've succeeded, because if you've been listening, you can you are better judge of this than I am. But there's times I always try to go time out.

10:18 Stop stop stop stop stop stop. All right, I know this has been negative. Now what can we do to try to engage in a positive study that we can dig into this from a doctrinal philological perspective. Look As as frustrated and irritated as I was getting at some of the sermons on Psalm eighty three, I think if you look at the totality of everything we've done on Psaw eighty three, it's been much more positive and trying and positive in this sense of trying to present an in depth teaching and explanation and study of Psaw eighty three and trying to find applications that work. I think it's been positive in that instead of just continuing to what in the world is going on with these sermons on saw me even though that's mentioned frequently, I'm still trying to do something more constructive. Let's put it that way in it and so the same thing is here. So we all know what happened on Saturday.

11:13 There was the assass assassination attempt that was made against Donald Trump. There was a shooter. He shot at Donald Trump. It basically clipped the ear of Donald Trump. I know there's some speculation was it actually a bullet or was it from something from the teleprompter that the bullet at the teleprompter and it send like glass and part that cut his ear. I know there's all kinds of wild speculation out there about that. But the point is he was he was hit by something and he was bleeding. I don't know if they've made an absolute confirmation yet. I know there was some back and forth I was seeing. I think I think it was earlier today, maybe I saw it, maybe it was yesterday. So I don't want to I want to be careful that if there's new information, I want to make sure we're at either way.

12:00 He was hit, he was wounded, and then the shooter was killed, and then two other people were wounded, and then a man by the name of Corey was shot and killed as well, and he was simply attending trying to protect his family when the shooting occurred. So all of that right, So obviously it was going to have to be talked about in some way, shape or form. So we started talking about it. I gave some of my initial thoughts, and I was very discouraged, and I just felt like this is going to be bad and where is this going to go? But I vowed to myself the one thing I wasn't going to do is I wasn't going to just start listening to all of the different podcasts out there that would cover it from a political standpoint. I wasn't going to get into the political arguments or the conspiratorial arguments. I was just going to try to avoid all of that as much as possible because that would just get ugly and frustrating and dark, and everybody was yelling and fighting and blaming, and I'm like, I'm just going to stay out. I know what I'll do. I'll look and see how the church is going to cover it, right, and see if the church is going to cover it, and because that'll give me an idea of how the church is thinking. Now are they thinking politically, biblically how are they thinking? And this will give me an idea where the church is going. Now. I have gone in great detail about all of my frustration, irritation, aggravation to downright ancher by how many in the church have handled the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. I mean, I am not going to go into that anymore. But the one thing that did come up

13:33 over and over and over was this concept of God's providence, of God's eternal decrees, and that it was in God's providence that God spared Donald Trump. He saved his life. He protected him in a sense, he may caused the bullet to go this direction and Trump to go this direction. It was a miracle. He was saved by the mighty hand of God. God intervened. It was a divine miracle, is the way many are putting it. But of course Corey who died, I don't I don't know what happened there. I don't know what God's providence. I don't want to talk about providence. That if it was providence for God to save Trump, then it was God's providence for Corey to die. If it was God's eternal decree, to save Trump. It was God's eternal decree for Corey to die. Now many Christians will just say, well, that's the way it is and shrugged their shoulders, but yeah, that's the way the way it is until your life is impacted. But everybody's been talking about providence. But in all the cases their discussed discussion of Providence has always been has only been from the positive side, not the negative. They've ignored the death and only looked at Donald Trump being spared and and and they don't really want to deal with it. So I'm thinking, okay, I could contende. I am going to continue to review some of the responses to the assassination attempt. We will continue to monitor it and watch it over the next week. But at the same time, that's all that's going to be is probably negative, negative, negative, negative, and frustration and frustration and frustration. So I thought, what can we

15:03 do, Well, we can. We can turn this into a discussion about providence. And that's what we're doing. So I told you to start looking on sermons two point oh app finding random sermons on the subject of Providence. I told you I was going to be pulling sermons from a specific series on the Mystery of Providence, The Mystery of Providence, which comes from a famous book, which I sent out a link on the church one app so that you can obtain that book. And so I'm going to the very first sermon in that series, and the Mystery of Providence that I told everyone about. I told you to follow it and you can download all of the sermons in the series. You really should. But I also told you start looking maybe for other sermons on the subject, because I will at least start reviewing these and then you can go back and listen to them. You should find plenty of content to keep you very much engaged in this subject. But I thought we would just jump in now and see where this goes. I don't know how long I'm gonna review this. The original idea was to do this broadcast hours ago because I thought I was going to be going to do something, and then all the waiting that and never okay, yeah, let's and God's providence today has been very frustrating. You see, how you see when you break down God's providence or God's eternal decrees to the very small details in life.

16:26 Was it God's eternal decree? And did God and his providence, guide, lead and direct that my circumstances today would be one in which I was told, you're going to need to go do this today to help out. Soma will let you know when that will be. Now, knowing my personality, when I know I have to go do something, I'm very bad at doing anything before that. That's why if I have a doctor's, a barman, anything, make it, make it at five in the morning. Make it. I want it the very first, so then it's over, because if it's at one in the afternoon, I will spend all morning going, well, okay, well I got an appointment at one, Well okay, I don't really want to do this. I got an appointment at one, Okay, I got okay, I'm just gonna leave it, leave at eleven.

17:11 Because I hate having something I know I have to do. I just like to get it done right. It's just my personality. So was it God's eternal decree and God's providence that this would work out in a way where I set around waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, getting absolutely nothing done, to only be told, well, we don't really need you now. Now I'm glad that everything worked out for everyone involved in the situation, and I guess I wasn't really needed. That's great. I offer my help for later, but in the meantime was See do I see that as in God's providence and God's eternal decree? That's exactly the way it was supposed to be. Now do then I bring myself to say I got frustrated, I got irritated, I got aggravated, I got bothered. Is that me demonstrating my lack of submission God's divine providence and his eternal decrees, which would mean I'm in a perpetual state of probably sin just in the way I handle God's eternal decrees and his providential directing of an upholding of all things.

18:22 I mean, come on, think about it. It can be, whether it can be, whatever the situation be, whatever the situation is. Do I see that coming from God's eternal decree and his providence? If you do, well, then what should we not respond in a radically different way? See, this is one of those concepts I keep trying to tell you. Theoretically, theoretically we say amen to, but in practice I don't know if we really see it to that great of detail. Look, I probably wouldn't even thought about it until because well, we've been talking about God's providence. I've now I've giving you the London Baptist Confession of Faith on God's Decrees and Providence now twice. We haven't gone through all of it, but we've read at least the first paragraph on both chapters, and so it's more in my mind. So today when I was getting frustrated, I'm like, well, this is you know what this demonstrates that I get irritated with God's providence.

19:18 I get irritated, irritated with God's decrees in the smallest detail. Forget the big things. I get irritated in the smallest things. Now, you may be more Godly than me, but I have a feeling you may not have even have thought about that today. All right, So when something irritates you here in the next hour, how are you going to look at it? So should we just stop the broadcast and have an alter call now? So we can all go to the altar and confess how we're not very submissive to God's eternal decrees and God's providence. You guys, go ahead and walk the aisle. I'm just gonna go ahead and go home, and because you know I'm more spiritual than the rest of you. I'm joking. All right, are you ready to hear this? Here we go, Here we go.

20:15 As you know, it's my habit over the summer, when so many of you are here and there, but some of you are here today, what are you doing here? So many people are here and there. Fourth of July coming up next week, and so forth, a wedding out of town, people going here and there. My goal is to select some of the best books ever written and to present to you some of their best ideas. We've covered a number of things over the summers in the past, and this year we're going to cover a book by Puritan named John Flable, and his book is called The Mystery of Providence. The Mystery of Providence. You'll be glad now. Hopefully I've already sent out a link to the book.

21:00 If you have the Church one app, you can just go to the notices tab and you should be able to find it. And I think if you look on the sermon's two point oh I don't know about the sermon's two point oh app. I think if you go to Beta dot summonaudio dot com and look for Theology Central. When you get to our page, I think you'll see the notice there with the link, so it takes you directly to the book. It's free. You don't have to buy anything. Thanks to moneargism dot com, the other ones who've made the book available in a PDF format. There's plenty of other people because I believe the book is not under any copyright, so you can find it free anywhere. Please Note and I think he's getting ready to say this, because I did hear the beginning of this. I think he's going to say the same thing. It's a work written by a Puritan that can be very tough reading for some. Sometimes there are language way too, just very poetic, and sometimes you may like that.

21:52 Sometimes it can make it very hard to really grasp what is being said, because sometimes you're like, I need this to be said in a much more direct way, not in a poetic, flowery way. Okay. So that so sometimes, and some may say Flabel is harder to read than other Puritans. You can draw your own conclusion, but note, there are I think there are a there's a modernized version floating around somewhere. It probably is available somewhere on Amazon. If you find a modernized version, you may want to really consider getting that, even if you have to pay for it. And I think there's an a B. I think he's going to say there's an abridged version, which if you don't have a lot of time, you may want to do that as well. All right, but that that book is a part of your assignment for this week. So hopefully you've got it all right. Now, Let's continue to know it's for really available online. You can download it and read it on your phone wherever you're going, or if you like the hardcover kind, you can get that. There is a modernized version out there. There isn't a bridge, it's a modernized version. If you're short of time, there's no excuse for you not to be knowing the providence of God this summer, and don't feel like you have to get the book and study it. I'm again trying to present to you again the leading ideas. But you will certainly be enriched and learn much more from the man himself. I will say that, and I will say, as he was saying, he's nice, you don't have to get the book. I'm saying you have to get the book. You have to read the book, and if you don't, I'm coming to your house knocking on the door and go, what's the problem. What's the problem. You can't read John Flavel's book

23:27 on the Mystery of Providence? And then you can say, well, according to God's eternal decrees and God's providence. No, I'm not so you are going to either accept God's eternal decrees and God's providence or are You're going to sit here on my door complaining at me? See? No, how does that work? See? How does that work? How does that work? You? See? I'm I'm trying to use these deep concepts and these very practical things to show you how every day you should be confronted with will wait a minute? Is that God's providence? Is that God's eternal decree? Son? Get Can I get? Hey? The next time your kids do something wrong? Can you get frustrated? Was that God's eternal decree? Was that God's Well? Man has responsibility? Well, I know, man. You can say man has responsibility. But if man has responsibility, they do have a responsibility. But are is that responsibility? Did they do that? Apart from God's eternal degrees and God's providence? Then that would mean God is not in control. God is not controlling it. If God is not controlling it, then God is not Like then see, you get into some really deep philosophical difficulties. And people always say free will. But even if you say free will, God gave the free will knowing what was going to happen, So then God ultimately is still response okay with then it just you see.

24:47 But yeah, I'm just trying to use it in practical ways to get you to think about it in a much more practical level. John Flabel is harder to read than some of the other authors we've read in some years past. The language is a bit not only old, but a little flowery, and that that does present an obstacle if you prefer the shorter, abridged version. I will not blame you at all, but it's something you can find online and have a sample if you like. I'm only going to cover half of the introduction this morning, but I will make more progress next week. Lord willing. Please note even he acknowledges how difficult Flateful is to read, he says, maybe more difficult than others. Now, I don't know if you're looking at the Puritans. I don't know how to rate which one's more difficult.

25:41 Okay, all right, I know this. I know this. I have tried two times to cover the Christian in complete Armor, and both times I ended humiliated and frustrated because you really just can't like and it's my own fault, right, because my mind, I love to do everything in very real, organic, like real time. So I'm like, hey, let's just take get a copy of these books, let's just open them, and let's just go right because and for the most part, I don't think I'm violating any copyright. I don't think that those books are I mean, all these books are written in sixteen seventeen hundreds, you know, like, you know, I think I think I'm pretty safe to go. I don't think I'm violating any copyright. But then when you start trying to read it and then analyze and critique it, you kind of realize this language is a nightmare to try to read. Stop, offer analysis, go back to read.

26:32 It's so poetic and flowery. And then sometimes you're like, well he just said that, and then you and then he just said that, and then you're like, well he just said that, Well he just said and then after fifteen pages. You're like, you've said the same thing fifteen times, fifteen different ways, and I know what you're thinking. That sounds like the Theology Central podcast. Sh how dare you be so disrespectful? Okay? But yeah, so when you start reading it, you can let me know if you find it difficult or not. And my goal is not to present to you the ideas of John Flavel or to present to you the great ideas of his book. My goal is to present to you the glories of the Lord in the mysteries of his providence, in order that you might trust and rejoice that such a God is your God. So don't get me wrong, please, Now see, that's how all churches approach it. We're going to study God's providence, all right, the glories of it, the joy in it.

27:33 It's so great, it's so amazing, it's so awesome. I'm going to argue, is it always that amazing and that awesome? Is it? Come on? Is it? Because I think there's some very difficult parts to this, right, So let's see where this goes. This book, though, is based on a verse in Psalm fifty seven, verse two. And I'm gonna be reading to you Psalm fifty seven this morning, as we begin, including the important superscription. That's what the scholars call it. I can't remember the other word for that. What's right above the Psalm that introduces it and gives it the setting in this case of when it was composed by King David. Here now from Psalm fifty seven to the chief musician set to do not destroy a mictam of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.

28:52 I want to stop right there now. The heading, however, whatever you want to name, you want to give it, that tam of David, that micktam. Do you see that? And if your Bible has the like heading there the mictam of David, please note you may want to circle that. Look that up. Make sure you know what a mictam is, what that's referencing. I'm not going to tell you right now. I'm assuming I will see if he says so, because I'm I don't want to do the teaching, you know, and then he teaches, well, yeah, I will respond to it if he does. But you want to know what that is, So circle that in your bible Micktam now, and just note there are there are those who make an argument, and I don't know if this is true, of if the argument, I don't remember how the argument went.

29:37 But there's some who say that these headings subscription. However, whatever the title you want to give to these little headings, some say that these headings belong to the previous som so in this in this sense, if you're looking at Psalm fifty six, that heading actually belongs to Psalm fifty five. That's what some argue, right. Some argue that I don't remember the historical argument for that, and I don't know if it works. I know I did. I don't remember how many years ago I I at least considered this theory. I think it was a journal from some seminary I can't remember, and I don't remember if it worked. I think we looked at a couple of palms, and some of them are like, well, that kind of works.

30:22 That heading seems to go with the previous sum and some of them like that makes absolutely no sense. And then others were like, well that you would think modern translators would be like, no, put that at the end of it. Make it like a footnote, don't make it the heading like if that's the head like. So, I'm not so sure about that theory. You can look it up to see whether there's any if you give any credence to it. I just want you to know it's out there. My job is to keep you from tossing to and fro with every wind of doctrine, and the best way to do so is let you hear of it here, so then when you hear somewhere else, you're familiar with it. Okay, So but that, mictam, what is that? Is that? Even how you say it? Make time? Okay? But what is it?

31:03 What is it? All right, let's continue. Be merciful to me. Oh God, be merciful to me. For my soul trusts in you, and in the shadow of your wings. I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God most High, to God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me. He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions. I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted, Oh God, above the heavens, Let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have dug a pit before me, into the midst of it. They themselves have fallen. My heart is steadfast, Oh God, My heart is steadfast.

32:20 I will sing and give praise. Awake my glory, awake, looped and harp, I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Oh Lord, among the peoples. I will sing to you among the nations, for your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, Oh God, above the heavens, Let your glory be above all the earth. I want to correct something really quick. I said the heading would belong to Psalm fifty five. I think, okay, was getting my numbers confused. It's numbers. I do that all the time, all right. Just note if you look at Psalm fifty six, a mictam of David, and also fifty seven, a mixtam of David. When he said in Micktam, I just I was looking down, and I just had my bible had Psalm fifty six in front of me, I saw mictam and like so no, so according to some the theory, and I don't even know how prevalent the theory was. So then this heading to Psalm fifty seven would actually belong to fifty six, and the heading to fifty six would belong to fifty five, and the heading to fifty five. And I don't even know if that really works, but I just wanted you to be familiar with it.

33:36 So we were in Psalm fifty seven. If I said Psalm fifty six, I apologize, did not mean to confuse anybody. We were in Psalm fifty seven, Psalm fifty seven. He just read it. Let me read it to you one more time. Be merciful to me, Oh God, be merciful to me. I'm reading from the New King James. Be merciful to me. Oh God, be merciful to me. For my soul trust in you. And then and the shadows of your wings, I will make my refuge unto these calamities have passed. I will cry out. I will cry out to God most High, to God who performs all things for me. Fifty seven to two is the key verse for the book by John Flavel on the mystery of Providence. So let me read that again. Verse two, I will cry out to God most High, to God who performs all things for me. That's an interesting phrase. Verse three. He shall send from heaven and save me. He reproaches the one who would swallow me up.

34:39 God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions. I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted, Oh God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have dug a pit before me. In the midst of it, they themselves have fallen. My heart is steadfast, Oh God, My heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise. Awake my glory, Awake lute and harp. I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Oh Lord, among the peoples. I will sing to you, among the nations, for your mercies reaches under the heavens, and your truth unto the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, Let your glory be above all the earth. Right now, now that we've clarified that, let's see where this goes. Let's pray our Father in Heaven.

35:34 We come again to this psalm written at such a great extremity, such desperation at this moment, and yet in his time, when everything else had failed him, you who were a mighty and a powerful deliverer to him. And so it is that we wish to have the same confidence that nothing know, nothing can separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, not nakedness or peril, or famine, or distress or sword. We often, like David, are shaken. We find our soul among the lions. We find our mouth crying out to You. We find our soul bowed down or bode down, weighed down with anxieties. We pray that in these seasons the precious lessons of Your providence would be again our tutors and instructors to bring us to You in Christ, and whom we pray Amen question, as a believer, should your hope, should your confidence? Should your trust be that nothing can separate you from the Love of God, no matter what you face that is eternally secure. Or should your trust be that the eternal, all powerful God will intervene to fix your circumstances, fix fix your situation, save you from your enemies, protect you from danger. Now some

37:07 people will say it should be both. But here's what I know. The only thing I can have any true trust in the only thing I can have any real assurances I know I'm getting ready to take off like a ninety nine percent of Christianity. The only thing I know I can have any true assurance in, the only thing I know I can be confident is is that nothing can separate me from the love of God. You know why, because in Christ Jesus, by imputed righteousness, I stand before Him and adopted child of God, perfect, holy, righteous and complete. And nothing can remove me from that position. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. Because I stand in Christ Jesus, my position is secure, It is eternal, It is firm. Nothing can move it unless someone can take away Christ imputed righteousness. I can't take it away. You can't take it away. My sin cannot take it away? All right? That I can be sure?

38:00 Can I be sure at all? That God will intervene to fix any problem. Can I have any confidence? Can I have confidence that God's going to take away the cancer? No? Can I have any confidence that God's gonna take away my seizures or my neurological issues? No? I mean I can go on and on and on and on. Can you have any confidence that if someone was to break into your house, God would protect you and you would not die? You can't have any confidence in that? You have any confident? Can you have any confidence that God's gonna protect your children? And nothing's good? You know, you can't have any confidence in that? He said, well, yes I can. No, you can't. There's no guarantee for any of that. None, zero, no confident. There can be no confidence and that which is not guaranteed in any way, shape or form. That's why Christians die of cancer, Christians get murdered, Christians get killed, Christians get paralyzed in car accidents. Their homes get destroyed by storms, Churches get burned to the ground. There are people come into churches with guns and kill people. I can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Children go to church and end up getting molested. There is literally no guarantee, no assurance, zero na nana that God will do anything like that, or am I putting forth a concept that you reject. Now, you may reject it, but I just don't know where. The only thing I can be sure of is nothing will separate me from the love of God.

39:28 I can't be assured that He's going to do anything else. I mean, I've been I've been a Christian for a very long time. I've watched Christians get cancer and die, of which Christians have heart attacks and die. I remember at my church in Bellevue, Nebraska, standing there, sitting there in the sanctuary watching a husband and they're too small. His two small children come to church the Sunday after their mother. I don't even think she was thirty five, I mean maybe, I mean she was young, young died of cancer. I mean that, in fact, she got diagnosed with cancer and she was gone, like it felt like three months. It was so fast, it was insane. And there were their young, young kids, their mom's gone. I mean, I can go story after story of things I've seen. I can talk about tragedy that happened to people in my church where their daughter was killed. So what confidence and trust can you have and what God will do? Or only in what God has done in Christ Jesus.

40:47 I can have confidence in the eternity. I can have confidence because I trust in God's word that they'll be there'll come a time there'll be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death. But can I trust that God's providence and that God's eternal decrees will work in a way that is well, that will lead to nothing but protecting and averting all danger and pain. And I can't have any confidence in that. David wrote the Psalm when it looked like his life had come to its end. King Saul had gone mad with hatred, envy, and fear of David, so that Saul even attempted the murder of his own son, the Crown Prince, when he helped his friend David escape. Later, when Saul tracked him down to a city of priests and he learned that David had deceived the lord's priests in that town in order to get supplies and a sword, Saul was so enraged that he put the entire priestly town to death. Please remember that story. I've talked about that at church Now, there were people in my church. We had strong disagreements on this. I'm like, David straight up lied here, David straight

42:19 up deceived, and other true people well David didn't really and they tried to justify what David did. But whatever you want to do with David, whether he lied or whether he deceived, let me make it very clear. All those priests die and David escapes. So if you want to talk about God's providence, God's eternal decrees, David is preserved and all the priests die, and it's very hard not to see that David straight up lied. Now, on one hand, I love that the story is in the Bible. You know why, because it means even the Bible, that the Bible that teaches God's sovereignty and his decree and his providence, even it contains stories that make you question God's providence, God's decrees, and God's even existence. Okay, because you're like, wait, wait, so God can intervene here to help spare, to save David. But he was just like all these priests, sorry, got's to go. I can't help you. There was now a nationwide man hunt. The king, his army, and the people were all out to get one man, David, he intended to flee the country.

43:44 In fact, he made it to Moab with his family, and he was able to get his parents and his relations settled safely over the border in Moab. But then the Lord directed David and his men to come back into Israel, in fact, to camp out in the wilderness that was not too many miles from Saul's residence. David lived there in the wilderness of Israel on a knife's edge for years. He spent many anxious days on the run, barely making narrow escapes from the jealous and murderous King Saul. And now at last Saul has hunted him down to one lonely part of the wilderness of Ngetti.

44:37 Now we're gonna well, I'm gonna pause this really quick. As he moves the story forward, I want you to go ahead and just write this down. I want you to make this a priority. I want you to look at first Samuel. I want you to write this down first Samuel twenty one. Okay. The story that I believe is found in First Samuel twenty one and twenty two, First Samuel twenty one and twenty two. In this narrative, David is fleeing from King Saul, who is seeking to kill him. David goes to the city of nob and the visits Emelek, the priest. Hemlek the priest okay if I can say his name correctly. David lies to a Hemelek, telling him that he is on a secret mission from King Saul and requests provisions and a weapon. A Hemelech gives David the consecrated bread and the sword of Goliath. However, Doag the Edomites, one of Saul's servants, witness this and later reports it to Saul and rage. Saul accuses Ahmelech and the other priest of conspiring with David. Despite a Hamelect's innocence, Saw orders their execution. Doag carries out the order, killing eighty five priest and then attacking Noah. This knob the city of priests, killing men, women, children, and livestock. Although the only priest is Abiathar escapes and flees to day and informing him of the massacre. Now that's how Ai describes it, and they they state that David lied. Now I don't again. I

46:08 had people in my church who argued with me. I still do this day. Don't really know where they are, Like he said, well, you don't really know, I mean maybe, I mean maybe, I mean And it's like, why do we have to make an excuse? Can we just say David was a sinner and he straight up lied? But whatever the case is, will we talk about God's providence, God's providential care and his eternal decrees looking after David, protecting David. He was david shield. Here was his rock, He was his refuge. Oh what a beautiful, powerful story, ladies and gentlemen, When you leave church this morning, I want you to trust that you have the same God as David had, and he will provide for you, and he will look out for you, and you can be you can have comfort, and you can have peace this evening, Praise God. Nobody like amen. And I'm in the back of the church going whoa, whoa, wha, Wait a minute, wait a minute. What about the eighty five priests that got killed? What about the men, women and children? Are livestock that got slaughtered because David straight upplied? And if if you don't believe he allied, if God can do that for David, why didn't he do for any of them? And then I'll be told, sh you're kind of cynical and you're kind of negative. You just don't understand how beautiful God's providence is. You just don't understand how beautiful his eternal decrees are. Well, it was beautiful for David, not so good for the children who were just like, you know, hanging out and next thing you know, here comes where everybody's being slaughtered. Well, David's good to go.

47:37 See when we talk about these providence in the eternal decrease, we got to look at these stories. So I want you to read. For Samuel twenty one and twenty two, I want you to see it. And I'm stating any of those names incorrectly. I'm just reading it, you know, right from it. For a Hemelech, I know Abyathar, we did an entire series on him, a Doe Egg And then I think there's what's city the Eata? Might I got that? Where's the other ohnob? Okay? Yeah, I think I got all of those correctly. So but I want you to look at it for yourself. First, Samuel twenty one, twenty two, just make it, make it a priority for Samuel twenty one and twenty two. But this time when you read First Samuel in twenty one and twenty two. This time, when you read First Samuel in twenty one twenty two. Yes, I want you to get the basic idea of what occurred, but I want you to look at it and light of God's eternal decree and God's providence. I want you to look at First Samuel twenty one, twenty two and light of God's eternal decree and God's providence. That's how I want you to read the story this time, and then let me know well how it feels. And David and his men have had to hide in the creeks of a cave, the cracks of a cave on the side. Saul and his army of three thousand choice men come to a halt at his cave,

49:19 and David, as he writes in this psalm, feels that God's net, assuming that Saul's net is coming down right on top of him. He's trapped in the cave, and Saul himself walks in in the sight of David and his men. What hope now remains. This psalm is written in extreme danger. As you can read from the title and the text of this psalm, David's soul is among the lions. As Flavol describes the scene, a powerful, enraged, implacable enemy has driven him into a hole of the rock and was now coming after him into that hole, where he lies in a cranny of the rock, expecting every moment to be drawn out to death.

50:12 Well, it's from these jaws of death that he cries in the words of this psalm, be merciful to me, Oh God, be merciful to me. From my soul trusts in you, and in the shadow of your wings, I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. Crying, of course, describes not merely prayer, but intense, fervent, anguished prayer. To cry is to pray in a holy passion. And so David pleads God's mercy that he might take refuge under the shadow of his wings. He calls upon his God as God most High, the God who performs all things for me, and that verse, that last verse will be the focus of our study today. In the now, his volumes doing crazy things. I apologize for that, but I can't. And there's all kinds of noise. I don't know what's going on. But here's the thing.

51:20 Here's what I want. Now. I want you to consider for Samuel twenty one and twenty two and light of God's eternal decrees and providence. But I also want you to consider for Samuel twenty one twenty two and light of Psalm fifty seven too, because here's David, the man who lies and all the rest of these people die. I want you to consider that tragic event and light of these words David saying, I will cry out to God most hie, to God who performs all things for me. Now, when we say God performs all things for me, did he then perform all things for and that David was spared and all those other people died. Our introduction to this great subject, David calls upon this most high God, that is the God who is overall, in other words, who rules overall, who performs all things. As my translation has it, I mean Saul is high, but his God is the most high. And second, he calls upon this God most High, who performs all things for me, not a god of fate or of arbitrary decree, but this God who loves David, who knew him before he was born, Who's cared for him all of his days, Who's

52:52 promised to fulfill all of his good purposes in David's life. This now is David's only strength and his hope. I mean in every season of life, I suppose, but especially in such dangerous and distressing, desperate times and when there is nothing else for him to hold on to, he is supported by this. God is his father, God most High, the one who fulfills his purposes for me. I ask you as we begin, is this your confidence? Is this your strength in the world, especially in distressing days? Is David's God your God? If he's not now, let me say this, My God is David's God. But can I have any confidence, any assurety that God will do for me practically how he protected and saved and preserved David. Can I have any assurance that God will do for me what he did for David, That He will intervene here, and intervene here, and intervene here. And I cannot have any assurance that God will intervene at any moment in time in anything. He may not stop this, he may not stop I have no assurance of any of that. Do you. Now you can have assurance that nothing can separate you from the love of God. You can have assurance that you in Christ Jesus, you have been saved for eternity, and there will come a time there will be no more pain, no

54:22 more suffering, no more debt. That is assured. But we sometimes want to go to these stories and see what God did for David? Is that your God? Do you have the same confidence in God? God? Yet? Do I have confidence in that God to do what he did? Then? Do you have the same confidence in the God of Moses? What is he gonna part the Red Sea? Is he gonna have food fall from heaven? He's gonna have water come from a rock? Is he gonna pour out plagues upon your enemies? Are you gonna wander around for forty years and your clothes doesn't wear out? See that's there there there. I think we have to draw somewhat of a distinction, don't we. Yet I'm hoping he will be by the end of the study, and we'll also see that this makes all the practical difference in the Christian life. I'm not going to be able to prove everything to you or to explain the nuances of everything. Today.

55:30 This is an introductory sermon, but I would like to introduce this summer study using this passage and to cover it in two parts. Number one, God performs all his purposes and number two, God performs all his purposes for us. God performs all his purposes. And God performs all his purposes for us. First, God performs all his purposes, and I have to explain some variation in the translation. Now of verse two, I have written, I will cry out to God most High, to God who performs all things for me. If you have the English Standard version, as many of you do, or the nas which is very similar, it says God who fulfills his purpose for me, which is not quite the same thing, God who fulfills his purpose for me. So the original carries both of these ideas at once, which makes it hard to represent in a single world word bringing everything to completion and doing so with a particular goal in mind. Same word is also translated in Psalm thirty eight to perfect, that the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. In other words, do everything, fulfill all of his purposes in a certain way for a certain end. Now I'm just going to throw

57:06 out a hypothetical or hypotheses, just kind of throw out a theory. Is it possible what we see God doing for David, is it specifically for David in accordance with the Davidic covenant that God made with David. So therefore David would have to be preserved, This would have to happen, and this have to happen so that everything would work just according to God's plan, that this like the same thing with Israel. God does this for Israel, and did this for Isem dies this for Israel. Which we sometimes want to take those promises and make them about us, but they never for us. These things are being done in accordance to his covenant promise with them and many of the many things with Abraham and so many of these individuals. God made specific promises, and the covenant he made specific very much including them, and we can't come along and go, well, then God's going to do the same for me. I'm not operating under that specif it covenant, am I, or if I'm attached to that covenant, I'm not necessarily attached to every specific one of those promises. There's promises made to Israel that we believe are only for Israel like land promises and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. There's other promises that we believe with that as part as the new Covenant that we have been grafted in, and we receive the Salvafic part of that covenant promise salvation and imputed righteousness eternity. How we translate this God who does all according to what his purpose in me for me? If we understand it that way,

58:39 then do we just kind of step back and go, well, okay, well, yeah, God performs everything according to the promise he made for David, or do we see this as a more general that, Hey, God accomplishes everything all of his purpose in you and Amy. Whatever his purpose is for you is eternal decree and his his providence, he will carry it out in you perfectly. Well does that include now, if we're going to talk about David, his lying, I mean, most people believe it for Samuel twenty one to twenty two is lying. He didn't something happen with David in the numbering of the people. Did something happen with David in the numbering of the people or did it not. I'm gonna look it up really quick.

59:39 Let me see if I can find something I'm asking Ai. I think it's second Samuel twenty four. Okay. David orders a census of Israel and Judah. Joe Abb, the commander of the army, carry out David's order. After nine months and twenty days, Joe Ab reports the number of fighting men to be eight hundred thousand in Israel five hundred thousand in Judah. David realizes his sin and praise for forgiveness. The prophet God, sent by God, offers David three punishment options. Three years of famine, three months of fleeing from the enemies, or three days of plague. David chooses the plague, preferring to fall into the hands of God rather than man. A plague strikes and kills seventy thousand people. So was David's eternal decree? Was a I'm sorry? Was God's eternal decree? God's providence performing all things for David?

1:00:44 Does that include David's lying where any priests are killed and then well, men, women, and children in the city are slaughtered, David numbering the people where seventy thousand people die, and David's adultery murdering of a woman's husband his polygamy, multiple wives, Like, well does all of that he said, Well, no, no, no, See God, God has nothing to do with that. God God, that's all outside of God. Okay, all right, So that's outside of God, all right. So then God only performs certain things, and then we perform other things. And some of the things we do are outside of God's decree and God's providence. Now, if you say, well, it's outside of God. So God couldn't stop it, God can't interfere, God can't controult God can't do anything to prevent it. So when we're saying God performs all things, are we saying only the things that He gave in the Covenant or all things that God is involved in? Everything for David? And is it for David? When seventy thousand people die, eighty priests die, the men and women in the city die, and a husband who didn't have any wasn't doing anything wrong, is killed. The Bible does not have a single word you see for providence as

1:02:15 we do in English. Providence that means God's upholding all things and governing all the affairs of this world in such a way that he would fulfill all of his holy and wise purposes in them. Although the Bible doesn't have a single word, it has no difficulty whatsoever in defining and describing that providence and praising God for it. In fact, I think it's one of the most precious teachings in the Bible that God, our God, is active in this world. He is intimately involved in your life and mine. God is not like someone who makes a clock and winds it up and then lets it run on its own, maybe only adjusting the time here or there. Oh No, God is intimately and continue involved in our daily lives and in all of creation.

1:03:02 Well, like what you say, what kind of things is in God's government of the world? What kind of things are under his control? Well, we read in Ephesians chapter one that God works all things according to the counsel of his will, all things, all things. David describes it very personally this way INSA one hundred and thirty nine in your book. They were all written the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious are your thoughts to me? Oh God, how great is the sum of them? Sounds a lot like fate, paris, the thought providence is very different from fate. According to the Greeks, fate is this impersonal force or kind of destiny. If you like that, you cannot escape no matter what you do. For example, no matter how Oedipus tried to avoid his fate that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he could not escape that fate. Fatalism is the view that it frankly does not matter what you do, because what happens to you is therefore inevitable.

1:04:21 Ka surah surah, whatever will be will be. Fatalism is taught in other world religions, and it makes people feel powerless, unable to take bold action or even to care, the very reverse of what Providence teaches us. Providence is the view that all things are in the hands ultimately of our good and loving personal God, without which his creatures could not even move. His power is sun. Now I want you to stroke with that difference between fatalism and providence. Fatalism is like, well, it doesn't matter what I do.

1:05:04 Providence supposedly is well, God, you can't even move without. But it isn't providence saying God controls everything. Is there a difference between fatalism and providence. Now many will try to draw a distinction. I want you to struggle with that distinction. I want you to struggle with God's eternal decrees and God's providence and the idea of fatalism. Doesn't the subject of God's eternal decree and providence lead to a kind of a fatalism to some Look, I know we would say that's not philologically right. But I want you to struggle with the difference. I want to see if you can draw that distinction yourself much that in Him we live and move and have our being. There is therefore nothing that takes place in this world. It does not do so by His permission, and not just a bear permission, but by His wise direction and government in such a way that our loving, good, personal God may orchestrate and direct everything toward His holy and wise ends or purposes. And that includes all of our free choices, which definitely do affect our future, but also bring His holy will infallibly to pass. And this providence, as we will see,

1:06:46 makes people very confident and bold, despite the evils in this world, despite their own profound lack of understanding and direction, and their own sinfulness, recognizing that in all these things godess yet in control. Now you can try to wrap your mind around that God's controlling, God's directing every single thing, but it doesn't stop your free choice. Well, my free choice can't go against God's governing decree. You can't go against it, right, I mean, it's going to work according to God's eternal decree in God's providence. Right now, this is where we're getting into the deep, deep, deep waters where people start having some very difficult, great de difficulties. And look, some people say, my job is to try to remove those difficulties. Absolutely not. My job is to hold your hand, walk you right up to the difficulty and say, look at it. Yeah, is that bothersome?

1:07:51 Is that troublesome? Join the club? Anyone who's even remotely honest with these things. Just consider and this discussion about David about let me go to the text, Go to the texts. I'm fifty seven, not fifty six. I do apologize. It still bothers me, but hey, I probably messed up according to God's eternal decree and God's providence. Right, No, yes, no, okay, I don't know. Right. I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. When God, we take God's eternal decrees and providence as doing all things, performing all things. However you want to translate this for David on behalf of David, however you want to understand this, He's controlling and guiding everything. Does that include, in some way, shape or form, David's lying and eighty priests dying and then the city being killed, including men, women, and children and animals. Does it include David numbering the people and seventy thousand people have to die? Does it include David committing adultery and having a woman's husband God, God couldn't even intervene and even bother to intervene to save the husband.

1:09:08 Oh, and the baby died, not David. And I see, this is the kind of stuff nobody wants to talk about from the pulpit. See if I try to talk about this from the pulpit, you're gonna, I guarantee you men would start bowing up and oh, how dare you say this? And women would be closing their bibles and crossing their arms and getting all mad at me, and I would get some mean letters and I'm not coming back to this church. How dare you say these things to me? This is horrifying I'm finished with you, and now I trust me. I know that that's how it would happen. And I understand that nobody wants to go to church to be confronted with what I'm confronting you with. But if you're going to use David as example of God's providence and working all things out, they can't ignore I mean, you can't ignore these stories. I mean he kind of hinted at one of these stories. I've given you three stories about David that you need to consider and light of God's providence. Right, the numbering of the the lying to the priest, first Samuel twenty one to twenty two, the numbering of the people, Second Samuel twenty four. And you can look where David commits the sin. Is it first Samuel? Is they see? Is it first Samuel? Sixteen? Let me look here, I could be wrong. Is this sixteen? Or is it second Samuel?

1:10:35 It must be is it second Samuel? Hang on? Yeah, I don't have it right here in front of me. You can find it where David commits his sin, you know, the sin? Yeah, that's all absolom. So it has to be in first Samuel. Has to be in first Samuel. Maybe yeah, I don't have it right here in front of me. I don't know why I'm forgetting the reference. Hang on, I can find it for you in just one second. It's gonna bother me. It'll take me just one second. I know some of you are screaming at me.

1:11:18 I'm sorry. After an hour of teaching, you gotta give me. You got to give me. Second Samuel eleven through twelve. All right, I was close. No, I wasn't. Second Samuel eleven through twelve. Yes, Second Samuel eleven through twelve. So I want you to consider when you think of Psalm fifty seven to two, God performing all things for David. I want you to and then you take God's providence, God's eternal decrees, and I want you to consider that and light of those stories, all right. The first one is David lying to lying to the pre and then all these people die for Samuel twenty one through twenty two, David numbering the people. Second Samuel twenty four, David sin with Bathsheba. That Second Samuel chapter eleven through twelve. Now, in the meantime, I do want you to listen to everything this man says in his series on Providence. Look he's doing a great job bringing all these things up, and I'm grateful. He's obviously going to look at this in a much more positive way than I am.

1:12:28 And that's perfectly okay because that's look, he wants to have a church, he's gotta I hate to say it, you do it my way. You're not gonna have a church. You do it my way. You're not gonna have a popular podcast. You do it my way. You're gonna drive more people away then, But someone's gonna be going, look, I believe in this Bible just like you believe it. I believe in the God just like you believe in God. Don't question my faith. Don't question my belief in God. But just because I believe in God and just because I believe in the Bible, doesn't mean I'm not gonna say, hey, ladies and gentlemen, there's some ugly dark side to this that we've got to be willing to acknowledge and be confronted with, because if we don't want to look at it, trust me, other people will point it out and go, what is wrong with your faith? And I know Christians just like now, whatever, whatever, you're just an unbeliever. Maybe you need a believer to go No, you need to look at this. This is some difficult questions that we have to consider. All right. So the series that we're listening to there, let me if I can find it really quick is I'll get you the name of the theistry, ministry and everything you need so that you can go find it. The name of the series is The Mystery of Providence.

1:13:35 The Mystery of Providence Redeemer Church, Dave ad Vance. Please go download all of them and listen to them multiple times if you desire. All right, we've gone seventy three minutes, and don't get mad at me. Did I go to seventy three minutes because it was God's eternal decree in Providence? Or did I go seventy three minutes just because I'm not very good at structuring a podcast in a timely manner. Or do I well, we hear that thunder, there's a storm coming, it's probably my email inbox right now? All right, all right, thanks for listening everyone, have a great day, great evening. God bless