Providence

Thank you for having me and teach for today. If you open up your Bibles to Revelation 17, that will be our first. We're not gonna read it just yet, but I like to come to a Bible study with Bibles open. So we can have that ready as I start out with some comments. So what we're going to be studying tonight is Providence. As a doctrine of Providence and kind of where we're at, you can flip over to the back of your sheet and kind of see where we're at here. So we're in lesson five of eight of this systematic theology unit three, the decrees and works of God. And then next week, how we'll be following up with miracles. And miracles is kind of a great follow-on to Providence. And so we were joking around today that basically whatever I mess up, how it's going to feed into next week, you know, or whatever I'm unable to cover.

But this doctrine of Providence, to be honest, when the topics went out and we were — I was the first one to be able to say I would like to have this lesson — and by the graciousness of the elders, I was able to have that. And I think this is a very coveted doctrine to be able to teach. And I think it's the case because it's all over the Bible. This is all over the Bible. And hopefully after tonight, when you understand Providence, the verbs all throughout Scripture, the verbs, when it says God or the Lord and it gives a verb, it's gonna be all about Providence, where God is actively engaged in His creation. And so this is — I believe it's a very precious doctrine too, because it's often misunderstood. But it's all over Scripture. So we're gonna try to take it line by line here and very tenderly be able to go through it and explain things by expanding some of these thoughts, the definitions and various aspects of this theme of this doctrine of Providence.

And so what is Providence? Well, Providence encompasses the sovereign decrees of God, which were designed as He pursues a goal. If you want to fill in the blanks here first before we get into it. So we have: Providence is the continuous operation of God by which He makes all the events — that's the first blank, events — of the physical and moral universe fulfill His purpose. Events and purpose. Creation explains the existence of all things, like we covered a couple weeks ago. And then last week we did preservation, which explains the continuance of all things. And then tonight we're gonna be going over Providence, which explains the development and progress of all things. Providence explains the development and progress of all things.

So I think one of the reasons why this doctrine of Providence is misunderstood in our culture today, especially in American culture, is that we don't really know what a good king looks like. I think when we look at especially the level of a family, at the level of an organization, we don't really see that, and the examples are dwindling. And so I think we see this waning of understanding of this idea of a sovereign ruler, justly and lovingly ruling. And so I think that's one of the reasons why this is misunderstood. And so we have some very good examples of bad kings. We have very good examples of bad rulers. We don't have to look too far when you go and look at movies in Hollywood, you know, some families, just very tough. But we don't have to go very far to find bad rulers.

One of the things that we look for in this selfish culture is that we want to have like a grandfather-type ruler. If we have a ruler that is over us who is doing fatherly things, we're going to think, "Oh, this person is doing me wrong." Or this person — if there's anything that is against from what I'm saying — it could be, it's often misinterpreted today, that this person doing fatherly things is doing things incorrectly or unbiblically, or whatever the case is. And so we have a lot of bad examples today about fatherly. But we're going to try to unpack this thing today and look at the things that we read in the Bible.

God is not a king who delegates. God is not a king who delegates. He doesn't cross His fingers and hope that His creation makes it. He doesn't just wish upon a star. He is actively engaged with His creation as a king, as a sovereign ruler. And He does so in a way where He achieves His goal. And He achieves His purposes.

So in Revelation chapter 17, read with me in verses 14 through 17. Revelation 17:14: "These will wage war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." And He said to me, "The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." And it goes on. Let me skip to verse 17: "For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose and by giving" — listen, pay attention to these verbs in all the Scripture tonight — "by giving their kingdom to the beast until the words of God will be fulfilled."

I love to be able to skip to the end of Scripture and be able to read these things. One title that I love here about Christ is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And in this title, it doesn't take away the sovereignty of the individual — that we are kings and we are lords. But supremely, He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of Lords. Right. And so there's no sovereignty that is taken away from the self, but there is a supreme sovereignty in Christ.

So look at the front here on your worksheet. In Daniel chapter four, this is the point where Nebuchadnezzar is coming out of his kind of vegetable state where he's eating the grass, and he's learned his lesson right there in Daniel four. And so we're jumping in here on your sheet, and you can open up your Bibles to Daniel four if you want to read for yourself. This is Nebuchadnezzar praising God after this lesson that he has learned. And so he bursts out in prayer and song: "For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'"

So the application just for this section here, the definition of providence and just understanding the terminology, is: honor God and walk humbly before Him. And this application of honor — honor is another word that's highly misunderstood in our culture today. Honor is this idea of lifting up to a higher status. And so we can understand our own sovereignty, but understand that He is elevated above our sovereignty, and the places where we don't know — we don't know the secrets of the Lord. And we are not supposed to understand them if they're not revealed in Scripture. And so the application: honor God and walk humbly before Him. So honor and humbly are the two blanks.

So if we continue reading here, we're still in Daniel four on the front. It says, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven." Pay attention to the verbs — I want to foot-stomp the verbs all tonight. "All of whose works are truth and His ways justice, and those who walk in pride He is able to put down."

That's the God that we worship. That is the God whom we bow down to. That is the God whom we recognize as higher, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And now flip over on the back — I believe it is Psalm 135. This is another one. If you want to flip over in your Bible or read the verses on the back. Like I said, pay attention to these verbs, as these are the actions that God does.

Psalm 135:5-13: "For I know the Lord is great and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain. He brings the wind out of His treasuries. He destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. He sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and all his servants. He defeated many nations and slew mighty kings, Sihon, King of the Amorites, King of Bashan and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel, His people. Your name, O Lord, endures forever. Your name, O Lord, throughout all generations."

And that's the end of the Scripture there. So one thing I would like — we have so much Scripture here. And I know when we get into Scripture, you want to camp there and you might tune out, for whatever the case is. But thankfully, this is recorded. You can go back. Don't feel any pressure. These are blessed and precious Scriptures to be able to harp on the truth about God here.

Let's go to section two. And section two reads, "Providence is not mere foresight." Right? "Providence is not mere foresight. God indeed perfectly foreknows the future because He has decreed it."

"Because He has decreed it" is the blank.

"Providence is the outworking of God's decrees. There is no such thing as chance." That's the blank. There is no such thing as chance, which is a random event. Likewise, there is no such thing as fate — no such thing as fate is the next blank — "which is destiny by an impersonal force. God's providence directs all the events." God's providence directs all the events of history to reach their divinely appointed purpose.

So one thing that stands out to me about this truth here in section two is that God is a person. And to be in more detail, He is three persons united as one God, the Trinity.

And what I just said there about God can be unpacked and your mind would be blown by knowing these mysteries about everything that Scripture says about God and the world. Being three persons, He has a personality. He is relational. You can talk about so many different things about God being a person, and yet He is united as one in the Godhead — three persons. And so digging into this doctrine will blow your mind. There's a book called A Body of Divinity — it's been mentioned here before — A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson. A very good book to explain some of the things that Scripture says about the attributes of God and who God is. Such a great thing. Last year we also went through the attributes of God. You can go back to some of the things that we taught last year on the attributes of God. I believe understanding who God is is step one. If some of this is complicated and you're like, "No, I'm not too sure about that," I would encourage you to keep going back to the origins of who God is and do not sacrifice any sort of extreme primary attribute of God. And so understanding the attributes of God — very, very important.

One thing — the reason why I harp on that is the person of God — is because that directly compares to what chance is not. Chance is not a person. Chance doesn't have a mind. Chance doesn't have anything that forces any other will to make a decision or anything to that matter. To believe that circumstances happen by chance, or that certain outcomes are strictly by the cause of probability in itself, puts a personality on this idea of probability, which is a very false and inconsistent view of truth. We can state probabilities, right? We can understand math and understand the order of things, but to be able to say that order and chance in and of itself is causing events to happen is just irrational. It doesn't make sense. Only a person or being who has a mind can do those things.

And so when we look at this, it kind of goes back to what we studied about creation, what we studied about the decrees and works of God, what God did in creation — and understanding that He is the only being that existed before all things. And so that's very important to be able to understand. And so this is how we defend truth, brothers and sisters — by being able to understand who God is, His person, and what His word says about Him.

The verses on the front about this particular truth here are Psalm 103:19, "The Lord has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all." And then in Ephesians 1:11, which we've been studying on Sunday mornings, it says, "Who works" — speaking about God — "who works all things according to the counsel of His will." And so this is God who works. We're going back to the verb. He is actively working, and it's all things.

And so one of the things that Steve Lawson says — he has this sermon clip that I really like to listen to, our family goes through every now and then — he says, "Romans 8:28, it's still in the Bible." Romans 8:28 hasn't gone anywhere. It hasn't changed. And so Romans 8:28 is that about how God causes all things. Flip over there real quick to Romans 8.

Romans 8:28: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

And now after seeing that — very good verses there that follow that. But now flip over to the Psalm 90s. Psalm 90s. We have three Psalms that I want you to see in your own Bibles.

Psalm 93, Psalm 97, and Psalm 99 all start with the phrase, "The Lord reigns."

He is actively reigning. He didn't only reign when He created the world from nothing. He didn't only reign in the Old Testament. He didn't only reign when Christ hung on the cross. He didn't only reign when He inspired the New Testament by twelve commissioned apostles. "The Lord reigns then, the Lord reigns now, and He will reign."

Now flip — well, in Romans 11:36, it gives a very succinct phrase in all this. Romans 11:36: "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things."

So the application for section two is: rejoice that there is no chance, luck, or fate. Rejoice that there is no chance, luck, or fate.

In Proverbs 16:9, it talks about the mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps. That's in Proverbs 16:9, where the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.

So these first two sections here are very foundational to understanding Providence, right?

We're going to now, in these next few sections, dive in a little deeper. Section three talks about what exactly does God rule over? And so we have this wide range of things. Just as — so read with me here on the section three truth — "Just as the decrees of God are all-comprehending, so too is Providence. Providence embraces within its scope all things, both small and great. Nothing is too small" — it's the first blank — "Nothing is too small or too insignificant for Providence to direct. Nothing is too big for Providence. Nothing is too big for Providence. Nations, groups, and individuals are all part of God's care."

So we're starting to get into some specifics here in section three. We're kind of getting away from the theoretical of this doctrine, and we're going to be looking at these specifics. It's going to start to hit home for us here in the next few sections, because God is actively working right now. Think about what the word is doing right now and what the Holy Spirit is doing right now in each and every person here, in each and every person that is maybe listening on the video later on, and how God is going to work from what you're learning now about Him and His word, and how that's going to ripple.

But this is God. This is God, and nothing is too big and nothing is too small for God to have control over. And He can be very invasive, right? We are completely vulnerable to an all-knowing God. We are completely vulnerable to an all-powerful God. We are at His will. And so what we tend to do — I think as we get older and we become adults — we tend to clamp up and we tend to only trust ourselves. And understanding the margin of reign that God has can be very liberating. So we're going to get into that as we get into these doctrines with these verses.

I think the best way to look at these specifics — as far as who God is ruling over — is looking at Scripture itself. So the first one on the front is looking at the idea of the smallest. What we may think is the smallest of things that God reigns over. In Matthew 10:29-31 on the front there under section three, it says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you have more value than many sparrows."

Flip over on the back. So that's getting to what we may think is too small. On section three there on the top right of your sheet, we start with Jeremiah 32, and we're going to look at verses 17 and 27 of Jeremiah 32.

"Ah, Lord God, behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You." And then skipping to verse 27: "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?"

And then just going through these verses, Matthew 19:26: "But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'"

And then now we're going through the list here, but I want you to think about where this is in context for Job chapter 12, verses 19 through 25. Think about the book of Job, right? We're in this part here where it says in verse 19, "He leads princes away plundered and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes and disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges nations and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light and He makes them stagger like a drunken man."

This God of the Bible is not often understood today, is He not? When we start to read this, we're thinking, "Wow, I don't hear this kind of teaching in the Bible or in the culture today." Well, here we are, we're just reading Scripture in the context of truth.

And so as we continue reading now a Psalm — before we get into Psalm 33 here, I got a few others that we've read about in Psalms. Martin Luther, we talked about a little bit earlier and his wife — he often says, I'm going to paraphrase, "Romans is where I get my doctrine, and Psalms is where God has His thunder." And so what an amazing thing, if we're able to read Psalms as it is intended to be read — it's intended to be explained and to be preached to. And so we're under this exclamation of who God is. And so I want to put Psalms at a higher category in your mind here before we read.

Psalm 33:13-15 says, "The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling, He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions their hearts individually. He considers all their works."

And then in Proverbs 19:21, "There are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel — that will stand." Amen and amen to that.

Proverbs 20:24, "A man's steps are of the Lord. How then can a man understand his own way?"

And then Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever He wishes" — meaning God. He turns it wherever He wishes, the heart of a king. This is the God we serve, and this is an amazing thing.

So back on the front, the application here for section three is: trust God with every part of your life. Trust God with every part of your life.

Pretty easy for me to stand up here and tell you that, right? Pretty easy for me to come out here and say, "Hey, when you're in this tough time, or you're experiencing this pain and suffering, just trust God." Easy. Easy for me to say that.

So what happens then in hard times? When pain and suffering come your way, when overbearing challenges come your way, and you lose control of a situation, trusting in God is the wisest thing to do.

And one of the things that I often go back to is the great theologian of my mom, Proverbs 3:5-6. And even though I have it memorized, I do not want to mess it up. I'm going to turn there. And in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make" — see that verb again? — "He will make your paths straight."

I just want to continue reading here, but that gets the point home, I think, about trusting God with every part of your life. And there we have Scripture to back it up.

Section four here. Let's look at this phrase here. This next section four and section five are very similar, where they talk about how God's providence directs even — section four here — we're going to go over where God's providence directs the good acts of men. All right, and then in section five, we're going to look at how God's — or the providence — directs even the evil acts of men. So these are going to be two very interesting sections to be able to go through tonight.

But for section four, look over the good acts of men — the first blank, good. As we continue on in that part, "Providence embraces the natural influence, the influence of birth and surroundings, which prepare men for God's word and spirit. The circumstances of our life, such as our birth, our family," is the next blank. It says, "The circumstances of our life, such as our birth, our family, our health, our influences, etc., are all directed by His providence to bring us to faith in Christ in a life of obedience." So we have here: the first blank is good, and then family, health, and directed.

Most find this to be a very easy part of Providence to be able to come around to. Because like what I said earlier, this idea of a grandfather-type God — that all that God does is that grandfather, he's just up there with a gray beard, just blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, and that's all he does is just bless, bless, bless, bless, bless — and so that's kind of like what this section is saying. And so this is a pretty easy part of the doctrine of Providence to kind of come around to. But we're going to look at it and help expand it a little bit to get our understanding about how God directs the good acts of men here.

And I'm going to read in James chapter one. I know our youth are going through James, and so y'all, our ears are perked up here. James 1:17. God says — the Bible says here — "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above." This is this idea of God providing and directing the good acts of men. Think about your own physical birth. Who determined that? God did. Who led you to this church? God did. Who put the people in your family and formed them, formed their minds, formed their wills? They may give us a hard time every now and then. They may bless us every now and then, but God did. God put them in your life. Whether it's family or surrounding you with church, these are the things that God does in the good acts of men.

And when we think about that — what I forgot to say in section one as part of the definition of Providence — is when we start to look back: you think about just, for example, how you got here to this church. You may think back in your mind, what were the events that led me here? God ordered those events to put you in the seat you are in right now. God ordered those events to achieve the purpose of right now.

And the goal is what He accomplished. And the event that we're experiencing tonight, at this very moment, could be preparing you for another event tomorrow or later tonight. You may get on the phone with a family member and say, "Listen to what I learned." And you just get on the ripple effects of the events that God has ordered to achieve a greater purpose, to achieve His purpose. And so God directs the good acts of men in this way.

We think about, for instance, like birth — like God bringing a man and a woman, two sinners, couldn't find themselves together in a crazy thing — but God has brought two people together to be able to have a child. How amazing is that? The idea of love and the beauty of that — we could have another whole series, eight lessons on that. I mean, just the idea of God orchestrating love and orchestrating the procreation of birth. It's just an amazing thing, each and every one of these things about how God directs these good acts of men — men and women, right, all people — in this way.

And so, scripturally, when we're getting into this, let's look at some Scripture. Don't take my word for it. In Galatians 1:15-16, it reads here on the front, "God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles." It was God who separated the apostle Paul, as he is giving credit to God as the writer of these words here. And these are inspired and infallible, as we've studied in the previous lessons. "God who separated me from my mother's womb" — and then He called me through His grace for a purpose, right there in verse 16. So what an amazing thing that is.

So the application for this is: consider how you are His workmanship. Just consider — the word is consider — how you are His workmanship. I mean, think about the events that led you to today. Just think about it, just consider these things. It's worthy of considering. This considering will greatly increase your relationship with God. He wants you to dwell on the things that He has done for you. And this is a very important application. When we think about just reading this truth willy-nilly, like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get the idea. I get the truth." But the application here is just kind of pause and consider that. Just think about your life. Think about how God has intervened in your life and set ordered events to achieve the purposes that He has given to you. And I think in that — like we say — we need to count our blessings while we're doing that. What an amazing thing to be able to do. So consider how you are His workmanship.

So flip over on the back. And now we're still on section four here, down near the bottom right. In Jeremiah 10:23, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." And then in Philippians 2:12-13, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." I believe we've hit up on that verse a couple of times on Sunday mornings. And we know that Philippians 2:12-13 is part of our sanctification process about working out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But the important application to this particular truth is that God is working in you during this time. And so when we're in the process of considering how He has worked in our lives, we can know that He is working in you — if you are His, He's working in you. And what a treasure that truth is.

Also, what we've been studying on Sunday mornings is in Ephesians 1:3, where it talks about God blessing us — meaning those in Christ — with every spiritual blessing. That's in Ephesians 1:3, where God blesses us with every spiritual blessing.

And to unpack that, I would recommend going back to Pastor Casey's sermon. When we first started with Ephesians, that was a very wonderful sermon and very encouraging, to be able to know what spiritual blessing is and how God blesses us in that very intimate and precious way that those in Christ experience.

All right, section five — go back to your front. And this is — this is the kicker. This is the one that often stumbles a lot of people right here in section five. And so this is probably the section that how it's going to clean up next week — just kidding. All right. So let's tackle this together.

Section five here: Providence directs even the evil acts of men. In respect to men's evil, God's providence is never described as the producing cause of sin. Let me read that again. God's providence is never — is the blank. God's providence is never described as the producing cause of sin. Scripture describes providence over evil as preventative, permissive, directive, and determinative. So we have four bullets there. We're going to unpack each of these. We're not going to spend a whole lot — but I believe this section does require some consideration. These are very important truths to be able to understand how God directs even the evil acts of men.

So the first of four here is preventative — preventative providence — where God by His providence prevents sin, which would otherwise be committed. That He prevents sin is to be understood as a matter of grace, not of obligation. So right when we think about this, this is a positive action of preventing a person from sinning.

So flip over to Genesis chapter 20, verse six. If you want to flip there, you can. In Genesis chapter 20, verse six, we have this chapter where we have Abraham and Sarah, and Sarah is taken by this King Abimelech. And this king doesn't really know that he did that. Doesn't know that Sarah was Abraham's wife.

And so in verse six, it says here, "I also withheld you from sinning against Me." And it was God talking there, where God says, "I also withheld you from sinning against Me." And you think about that. God withheld Abimelech from sinning against Me, from sinning against God. And that is preventative and it achieved a purpose that God wanted to achieve.

Another example here — you can maybe write some of these other verses down because they're not listed on your worksheet. In Psalm 19:13, the prayer, the inspired and infallible word. Psalm 19:13 says, "Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me." So in that Psalm, in Psalm 19:13, it's an inspired and infallible prayer to ask God to keep me back from presumptuous sins. You know, it's like, it's what we talked about a little bit earlier. It seems a little invasive, but I need a little invasive every now and then. I have presumptuous sins and I need a superior being like God to intervene into my heart and to withhold my explosion of sinful desires. I need God to help me prevent that from happening. And so that is very much an act of grace, very much an act of love, to be able to be invasive like that — to keep His own children from sinning. That's in Psalm 19:13, that prayer.

And then a next verse talking about here — we're still with preventative providence. Hosea chapter two, verse six, it says, "Behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns and I will build a wall against her that she shall not find her paths."

So this verse is often taken out of context. You often hear prayers of, "I pray for a hedge of protection on so and so." That's an incorrect interpretation of this verse. So when we look at this verse here in Hosea chapter two, verse six — if you're interested about that, you may write it down and refer to it later. But the words here, "Behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns" — thorns is suffering.

This is a prayer to be able to put suffering in the path to prevent me from sinning. And so it is a prayer to be able to keep someone from sinning, to put suffering into their life. Put thorns in this person's way so they won't do a greater sin, or whatever the case is. That's the context of this verse here. It's God speaking. He's saying, "I will hedge up your way with thorns and I will build a wall against her that she shall not find her paths." And the wall is a restraint. And so we have suffering — talking about thorns — that's going to be put in the way to prevent further sin from happening. And you have a wall in this verse. And what we get from that is that God puts restraints into a person's life to be able to prevent them from sinning. Does that make sense? That's in Hosea chapter two, verse six.

So we have suffering and blockage as ways that God uses and directs evil acts of men to achieve His purpose.

Another way where God does this in preventative ways is parents, government, a church, traditions, customs, laws. If you're at a certain age — if God directs a disease into your life, God even ends your life or the lives of those around you — they're all part of preventative influences. And so these for this part of this teaching are talking about and giving examples of preventative providence.

When we think about what a government does — the role of government is to protect life, to provide order. Those types of things. Parents are to rule their families. And so there could be challenges, there could be blessings. But here in this context, we're talking about evil acts of men. There could be in these organizations, in these ways, God could direct evil acts of men in order to prevent you from doing something that God doesn't want you to do. And so God actively interferes by conscience and the Spirit. Think about that for a second.

I think a summarized word I've used here is invasive. And when I'm using the word invasive, I'm not implying any sort of violation of God's character, right? When I use that word — invasive — He is not doing something that is outside of His character. And so preventative providence — another way to look at it — shielding from temptation, causing a certain kind of calamity in your life so your sinful choices will not proceed into doing harm that God doesn't want you to do.

And if God doesn't want you to do it, you're not going to do it when it comes to His decreed, sovereign will. So we've talked about God's permissive will and His different types of will. We're not going to get into that a little bit. But if God decrees that you're not going to do it, you're not going to do it. I mean, it's like when you're reading the Bible, right? When you see a man or woman going in this direction and you're like, "Oh, boy, he's disobeying God again." And then you just know the outcome of what's going to happen. But never in the Bible do you read where God is doing something and it is overthrown by man or by any other force or being. And so that's one of the things to be able to understand — just the sovereign decreed will of God — by being able to understand that from a biblical point of view.

All right. Number two here in section five is permissive providence, permissive providence.

Let me read the blanks here. It's just permissive providence. Okay. Each of these lines here is very important to understand about God. So God permits men to cherish and manifest the evil disposition of their hearts. He permits that. We see it everywhere, and God permits us as human beings to relish in our sin. God permits that by His grace. And we understand that when we read Genesis — the penalty for violating any jot and tittle of the law is death.

And so any sort of sin that is happening that's not going immediately punished is permissive. This is permissive providence. And so this is like the negative act of withholding impediments from the path of the sinner. So it's like this force of this person who is going into a direction where there's some restraint. He may have — God may have done preventative types of actions. And then there's a permissive — like, okay, here you go. And it's like that force of that person, who is the origin of their own sin, is going. It's like a letting go, or a permission, an allowance for that person to continue in their sin. And that sin that that person is going down the course of their own choosing is in God's decreed will, but here in His providence, to achieve His greater purpose. But that person who is going to sin — God permitting you to be able to do that — it can initially be seen as very tragic, but it is the truth. It's just how God acts.

We see here in Romans chapter one, verses 24 and 28, where it uses the terms "God gave them over" or "God gave them up" in the lust of their hearts. Also, you can maybe write them down in the space there. Second Chronicles chapter 32, verse 31, where it's talking about Hezekiah and it says God left him to try him — or some translations say to test him — that he might know all that was in his heart. And so God left him — talking about Hezekiah — as a permissive act. He left him, and there goes Hezekiah into his sinful ways.

In Psalm 81:12-13, "So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels."

Real quick, a thought from this verse: how important and how vital it is to be in a biblical church. A biblical church will not just let you go, but if you're not in a church, you will go to your own counsel. You will go to wherever your sinful heart will take you. And being in a biblical church is a form of grace that God has put into your life if you're listening tonight.

Another verse here talking about permissive providence — where God directs the evil acts of men — is the Old Testament, 1 Samuel 18:10, where it talks about an evil spirit from God that came mightily upon Saul.

And we read and get the opportunity to keep reading through in 1 Samuel 18 the purpose for God doing that. That's one of the great things about having the full context of Scripture — we can see, okay, I know that God did this, where He purposefully gave — an evil spirit came mightily upon Saul there — and great things were accomplished because of that.

And when we think about evil in and of itself, it is God who created Satan. It is God who created Satan. Next time that you blame Satan or give him credit for the suffering or confusion in your life, remind yourself that God permitted this to happen by whatever means that He will. And so we have to be very careful when bad things happen, when pain comes into our life. Do not resort to complaining and shaking your fist at God.

But Satan is allowed to do these things that he does. And the secret things belong to the Lord, but it is the absolute truth that God permitted things to happen by using Satan and his dominions, and whatever the case is there.

The next form where providence directs even the evil acts of men is directive. Directive — an alternate term is overruling providence. So when you think about directive, we're going to think about someone who is overruling and channeling different things in certain directions — where they're going to go. "You go to the left, now you go to the right, now you stop, now you go." That's the idea of directive providence. And so God directs the evil acts of men to ends unforeseen and unintended by the agents, by us as human beings. We may not know and may not foresee when God directs us to go left or go right. I think it just kind of goes back to prayer, goes back to just being in His will, being in Scripture, being in continuous prayer, aligning your heart back to His will. And you're just at the point where, whatever you say, whatever happens, God — I'm in for the long run. And having that position is very important to be able to do.

Think about Joseph in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20. Towards the end of Genesis, it's like finally we understand the pain and the suffering of Joseph and how that kind of played out. And you think, wow, God was really doing something there. Is that how you treat your servant? All these thoughts could come through your mind — why is this happening to Joseph? So many different things. And Joseph comes around to the truth, and he himself states this in an infallible and inspired way, where he is speaking to his brothers who just did evil against him over these last several years. And then in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, he says, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring" — and then this is the important part where it relates to Providence — "to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive."

Also, I want you to flip over to Acts chapter 4.

Going back to the New Testament. In Acts chapter 4, in this relation to directive Providence, I love Acts because — and a lot of the epistles, right? — because it points to the importance and the critical nature of the gospel, the critical nature of the twenty-four hours that happened right at the upper room all the way to where Jesus says, "It is finished." And there are so many prophecies, so many things where God intended for those twenty-four hours to happen in that time.

This is Acts chapter 4, verses 27 and 28. Let me read those for you. Acts 4:27-28: "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur."

So what it's saying here is that God directed Herod and He directed Pontius Pilate to do evil acts. You can't get more evil than prosecuting the Son of God. And so we go right to the cross when we try to understand these things. And then we have here an apostolic interpretation of what just happened. And it says of this directive providence: "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." So this is a form of what God does in His providence.

In Exodus chapter four — we're going to go back and forth, I'm sorry, this is not sequential for easy flipping — but in Exodus chapter four, I can just tell you this, you can probably think about it from memory. God told Moses to go into Egypt and to tell Pharaoh, the king of that country, "Let my people go." And then what did God say to Moses about what He was going to do to him? He was going to harden his heart. And so that is very much a directive action. And it achieved a very much a great purpose, didn't it? Did it not?

And then in Exodus chapter 8, verse 15, we learned that Pharaoh also was the one who hardened his own heart.

And so when we think about this idea of directive providence, I want you to think of a volcano and lava, right? Just think of lava shooting out of a volcano — that represents the heart of man. And so there's the lava, and the lava is going to come out from all hearts of men, all of sin and falling short of the glory of God. We're going to study the doctrine of sin later on. I'm not going to get too much into original sin and all that type of thing, but we will get to it later. But the idea of directive providence — this idea of a volcano — when the lava comes out, it's like God directing which side of the mountain this destruction of sin is going to go down. And so God is going to be directively ordering events where lava comes down a mountain, and He's going to be channeling, "No, this lava — or this sin — is going to go in this direction, and this sin is going to go in that direction." And so you can almost see the grace again of God being directive when it comes to the effects of the sin that comes out of a person's heart, just like a volcano.

In Romans 9:17-18, this really gets to the crux of the matter here. Because when we start talking about directive providence, we may think that this is going outside the character of God. But in Romans 9:17-18, it says, "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.' So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires."

So like I said, we're not going to get into the doctrine of sin tonight. But all men rebel against God, which makes — now listen, listen to this part here — all men rebel against God, which makes all men subservient to His purposes.

We have violated His law. We deserve death. Any sort of breath that we're breathing right now, we're at the mercy of God. We are at His will to do whatever He wants to do with us. And so if He wants to use us in a way where it pleases Him to do certain things, that is what is going to happen if God decrees it like that. It makes all men subservient to His purposes.

Another thing when we're thinking about this directive providence is that God hardens no man's heart who has not first hardened it himself.

We have been born sinners and we have grown up in this selfish, sinful nature, and we are already hardening our own hearts first. And later on, God may do with that what He wills, but God hardens no man's heart who has not first hardened it himself. Persistence in certain inclinations and violations awakens the body and soul forces which are not under the control of the will, and which drive the man on the way he has chosen. And so we kind of see that after a time, it's just very natural for the hearts of men to do evil — it just kind of naturally comes out. And so it's an act of grace, really, where God intervenes with any sort of directive acts, whether they're good or whether they're evil.

The last one here is determinative providence. This is where God determines the bounds reached by the evil desires of His creatures and the measure of their effects. So we think about the consequences of sin. The consequences of sin are indefinite. The consequences of sin can do an unbounded amount of harm. I can think of a million things that a person can do that will be extremely harmful. You don't have to look very far. You look in the news and you see someone do something or make this choice, whatever. And if we think ourselves any better than that, we are wrong. We are all capable of doing anything that any person does. And so we see this idea of an indefinite — like, without God being determinative, we see an indefinite bound of consequences of our sin. I could harm people twenty-four seven, right? I could go around and I could just knock everyone I see in the face. I can just go around and knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. But what has God done? God has put in things involved where He has determined a government to restrain. He has determined people in their lives to bring them back into place. God has determined things to not get out of control. He has established bounds. And so that is a very, again, gracious thing for God to be determinative in His providence to be able to do. And it's not outside of His character where He would involve any sort of action with that.

I think one thing to look at in Scripture with this is in Job 1:12, where God said to Satan, "All that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." And that's what God said to Satan. It was very determinative. And so God was determined for that to happen within his power. And then if we read in Job chapter 2, verse 6, He says, "He is in your hand, only spare his life." Again, that's another verse where God is being very determinative.

Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 7 reads, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only there is One who now restrains until He is taken out of the way." And so we kind of see here where it's like talking about this hand of grace, and God is going to be very determinative on when He's going to withdraw His hand of grace. And so we go from this preventative to the determinative in that particular verse.

And then like we first started out in Revelation chapter 17, but a couple chapters over — Revelation chapter 20, verses 2 through 3 — where it reads, "And He laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." So one thing that I like to associate with the word determinative is bound, right? It's a restriction of an explosion of consequences of sin.

And so when we think about this of determinative providence, I think one idea that comes to mind really quick is this idea of free will. And so when we think about the union of God's will and human will — if we were to take one aspect of that and ascribe all the truth and all the glory to one side, we're going to sacrifice the truth on the other. So if we give — like, that God is the one who independently — I'm going to stumble on this, so I'm going to just stop right there. But this understanding of the union of the two wills — God's will and human will — is very important. And so how God and the creature are united is doubtless known, and is known only to God, like how that union does happen.

But one thing that we do know here in this determinative providence is that free beings are ruled. Free beings are ruled, but are ruled as free and in their freedom.

We are ruled even though we are free, and we are ruled. The freedom is not sacrificed to the control. The two coexist, each in its integrity. And so kind of the hammer drop after saying that — I actually saw this on Twitter today. This is a great illustration. There was a green light, right? There's this meme, right? And it had a green light. I totally messed it up — but anyway, I'm a horrible storyteller at home. Anyway, with the idea of a green light, right? You know, there's a red light where it'd be like a restriction of your free will. But God gives us a green light. God gives us a green light to do free will. But when we give a green light and this idea of understanding free will, let's look around and see who has the free will to stop sinning.

Think about that. When God has given us free will, but we do not have the free will to stop sinning — and that is, in my mind, a hammer drop to be able to understand free will in its right context of all of Scripture. That yes, we do have free will, but we need God's providence to be able to be preventative, permissive, directive, and determinative in the ways where He achieves His purpose. And that is very gracious, as we've looked at. So the application for this section five, getting back to your paper, is: be assured that God governs even evil acts.

Be assured that God governs even evil acts.

This next section is my favorite.

Where it reads, "God's providence is only grasped when we consider that Christ is the revealer of God. The providence of God has been at work from the very beginning to reveal the holiness and love of God in Christ." Those two blanks there: holiness and love of God in Christ.

"Christ's suffering for sin opens to us the very heart of God."

"With the cross in view, we can believe that God rules over all and directs all things."

Everyone got those blanks? We got holiness and love, in Christ's suffering.

All right, the next verse I'd like for you to read in your own Bibles is in Genesis chapter three.

Genesis chapter three, verse 15.

God is putting a curse upon the serpent.

And this is the first prophetic — the messianic prophecy — where God says, "And I will put enmity." Did you hear that? Did you catch the verb and the immediacy?

"And I will put enmity." That's God using evil acts, like we just talked about. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise Him on the heel."

This is such a great encouragement to know that this is God's redemptive plan all along. And we start reading through the Old Testament, and it is Christology all over the place, where we see Christ all throughout the Old Testament. And we see God's providence is very intentional in this Old Testament parade, where God the Father is parading His Son to be incarnated into this world.

And what a glorious thing that is — that ever since it was revealed in about 1400 BC to Moses, where the accounts of Genesis were given to Moses, and it was revealed at that time to the people of Israel — from 1400 BC until when Jesus was born, for 1,400 years, God was revealing Christ. He was ordering the events to achieve the purpose of what He intended to do, to accomplish the goal that He came to accomplish.

And so when you want to understand Providence, you look to Christ. This section six just slams it home. If you don't understand any of this other stuff and the terminologies get in the way, don't lose the Providence of Christ. Don't lose that. Hold on to that truth. That God intentionally put the tree in the garden in the first place. God intentionally — in the order of events — cursed the serpent first, and then the woman, and then the man, and then chapter four with Cain and Abel. And we're reading all the way through how God is unfolding these events all throughout His Scripture. And it is very providential. And the same happens today on this side of the cross, where God is still actively working in our lives today and ordering the events to accomplish the purpose that He wants.

And so salvation was not a cover-up operation. When we think about that, it's not like, "Oh, this is what we need — plan B now." This whole thing is God's plan A in the first place. It's not like there was a mistake and the man and woman did something that God didn't plan, so, "Oh, I have to have this plan now and cover up this whole idea." That's not the case. Salvation was not a cover-up operation. It is the primary act of God that showcases and glorifies Himself.

He spared Isaac, but the Father brings the knife down on His own Son.

So don't tell me that God doesn't control evil acts. The evil act of all evil acts is that God killed His own Son. There's no evil act that surpasses that. And so God killed His own Son, His only begotten Son, the Son whom He loved, Jesus.

Not only did He kill Him, it pleased Him. We read in — I believe Isaiah 53 — somewhere in Isaiah where God Himself prophesied this action, this evil act of killing His own Son, and being Jehovah Jireh, providing. He mounted Him on the altar and He killed Him. He bound Him up, and like we read, no one hollered stop, like for Abraham.

And so if we want to understand why He did that, flip over on the back and read 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 18 through 21.

"Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory."

Why? "That your faith and hope might be in God."

What a glorious truth that is. And so the application for this that we'll end on is: give yourself to Him who gave Himself for you.

"Give yourself to Him who gave Himself for you."