Mystery of Providence - Chapter 8

Good evening Now you guys may have noticed the chapter was very small short in stature, but You may have noticed a ton of scripture

And so what we're going to do is we're going to do a sword drill a very prolonged Sword drill and we're going to look at all 36 scripture references from this chapter

Which will be great I think so especially since you know as we even continue on with the topic of you know meditating on Providence a

Lot that we hear from him I think especially in the next passages is how the scripture itself speaks to the meditate it speaks to and Demonstrates how

Providence is meditated upon especially like we see from David We see all throughout the Old Testament a lot of this demonstrated to us

So be good to actually look to scripture for how we should be caring about these things so There are seven major points to start with first one

It is our duty To observe Providence to remember what God has done for us because he has commanded us to do so So points that he makes around why this is necessary Remember what

God has done so you may know his faithfulness. We're gonna look at Jeremiah 7 12 and Micah 6 5 for this

Jeremiah 7 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh where I made my name dwell at first and see what

I did to it Because of the evil of my people Israel So in this he's reminding us of how his people are not faithful to him in order to sort of foil in a sense how he

Is faithful to them constantly and remember how he has saved them from the evil that they would do and Micah 6 5 oh

My people remember what Balaam king of Moab devised and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal that you may know the righteous acts of the

Lord we recall Balaam the prophet and Balaam was a prophet who was told to speak evil against Israel yet He was not able to speak evil against Israel And so Lord is trying to remind them of how he had saved them from this great work from this great

Kings, right? Now flavor also reminds us to consider how

God supplies for his creation that He supplies for creation that is less significant than us.

It's a very classic passage Matthew 6 26 to 28 Look at the birds of the air

They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them

Are you not of more value than they and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow?

They neither toil nor spin It's interesting because it it is a passage also does remind us that God does care for not just ourselves

But for all of creation all of creation is under his stewardship under his joy that he has with them

But we have a special significance given to us because of the image of God within us So we should really be remembering that when

God When we think about what he has done for us and it should really just drive us to worship in that point, right?

Now major point to it is our duty because God has called its neglect sinful

So for us to neglect Thinking of his providence meditating upon it thanking him for is itself sinful a sin of I guess omission rather than commission.

Yes In a sense.

Yeah One is about you know We should actually do this saying one is if we haven't we have actually sinned and not doing so, right?

All right, Isaiah 26 11 for those God is displeased with ignore his works So only those he would be displeased with should be ignoring or the ones that he expects to ignore his work

So for us to do that is for him to become displeased with us. Oh Lord your hand is lifted up But they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people and be ashamed Let the fire for your adversaries consume them

God disciplines his people who ignore his workings. We can see this in Psalms and in Isaiah.

So Psalm 28 4 through 5 Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds give to them according to the work of their hands

Render them their due reward because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands

He will tear them down and build them up no more With Isaiah 5 12 to 13

They have lyre and harp Tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the

Lord or see the work of his hands Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge

Their honored men go hungry and their multitude is parched with thirst Recognize here that these people, you know, they have wine they have feasts

So they're not physically parsed and not physically starved, but God is pointing out to them that they are spiritually starved

They are spiritually parched. This is because they do not recognize the good that he has given them even in that feast so to us we should be

Sort of expecting God to give to us according to our deeds but also that require that deed one of those deeds we have is to regard his works to begin with and so for us to Disregard his works is to in a sense reject the good things that he's already given us

Now one more bit here. God may destroy men who disregard his works.

We can see in Job 34 He strikes them for their wickedness and a place for all to see

Because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways

So we can't expect this as like a constant rule. We're in this life We're gonna see

God destroy men for not giving him deference for not worshiping him for what he has done

However, we can't expect God to necessarily destroy those who disregard his works and necessarily destroy those who do not worship him

Just because we do not see it in this life does not mean we do not see it in eternity point

C The Holy Spirit brings our attention to God's providential works in Scripture So the

Holy Spirit itself as we read Scripture as we meditate upon it Should cause us to recognize the good works that God has already done for his people

Scripture frequently points this out to us Especially in delivering Israel from Egypt This is a constant motif throughout the

Bible of like remember how he has delivered his people remember how he has delivered them from Egypt Especially us as the church.

We should recognize that we've had a deliverance as well. We've been delivered from our sin We've been delivered from in a sense a spiritual is spiritual

Egypt that we've been stuck in since birth and so we can see this as well that we should just simply behold all the works of the

Lord and we can Find that in Psalm 9 16 Revelation 6 1 through 7 and Psalm 66 5 we're gonna go in that order so Psalm 9 16

The Lord has made himself known He has executed judgment the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands

Hey guy on Selah, so the Lord has made himself known. This is

Pointing out to us that this is what like this is the thing that he's given knowledge to all people first off He's made it known in Scripture what he has done

And this is also just historical narrative that people know of if we're thinking about deliverance from Israel, especially

This is something we should behold. It's not hidden under a basket is instead really out there for us to see

Revelation 6 1 through 7 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like Thunder come and I looked and behold a white horse

And its rider had a bow and the crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer When he opened the second seal

I heard the second living creature say come and out came another horse bright red Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth

So the people shouldn't slave one another and he was given a great sword When he opened the third seal

I heard the living creature say come and I looked and behold a black horse and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand

I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a Quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and wine

When he opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say come and in Psalm 66 5 come and see what

God has done. He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man Let's especially apply that to revelation 6 revelation 6 may seem pretty mysterious in a lot of different ways

However, this is revelation given to John that has then been passed down to the church

So it's something we should recognize this work that he has done and will be doing whatever it is

That's demonstrated in the scripture So there's even a sense in which because it's mysterious because it's difficult for us

Maybe to understand upon first reading we should actually spend time Meditating upon what God is trying to explain that he has done for us in this passage, right?

What he has done for the church and to redeem his people Next we cannot give praise to God for things.

We have not already recognized as his doing Put it simpler if he's done something

We have to recognize it as him who is behind it Right for us to actually give any kind of worship to him for it.

We can't give it You know, we can't just constantly say that this is the work of man This is the work of this particular individual who did it but rather God is behind all of these works that are done

Frequently so many examples of this through scripture. This is all in Psalm 107

So if you turn there, we'll be in one spot for a bit, which is nice Start with the verses

Well because it's relevant to it and those who observe what he has done are counted as wise so it's also a wise thing for us to recognize that the works are his doing and not simply the works of The man in front of us or the works of whatever it is.

It's in front of us It is wise to understand the deep workings of these things to be guided by him so Psalm 107 4 through 6

Some wandered in desert wastes finding no way to a city to dwell in Hungry and thirsty their soul fainted within them

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress verses 10 through 12

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death prisoners in affliction and in irons for they had rebelled against the words of God and Spurned the counsel of the

Most High So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor. They fell down with none to help

Verses 17 through 19 Some were fools through their sinful ways

Because of their iniquities suffered affliction They loathed any kind of food and they drew near to the gates of death

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered from their distress delivered them from their distress verse 23

Some went down to the sea and ships Doing business on the great waters

Verses 33 to 38 He turns rivers into a desert springs of water into thirsty ground a fruitful land into a salty waste

Because of the evil of its inhabitants He turns a desert into pools of water a parched land into springs of water and there he lets the hungry dwell and they

Establish a city to live in they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield

By his blessing they multiply greatly and he does not let their livestock diminish

He pours contempt on princes and makes them wander and trackless wastes, but he raises up the needy out of affliction

Makes their families like flocks Whoever is wise let him attend to these things.

Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord And if you look through a lot of these verses in this passage

You could sort of see how we as humans can easily divorce these things from the work of the Lord, right?

It's like the building of cities The drying of the land watering of the land the building of families.

This is not strictly the work of men this is a work of men guided by the hand of God and So it is a wise thing for us to actually recognize that and to recognize the

Lord's doing the Lord's workings and all That goes on day by day by day We do not maximally benefit from his providence unless we recognize them this has been

I've been seeing this in my own life since starting this book actually where a lot of the time is just like I See things happen

I know that the work of the Lord and I just let them slide by without notice without praise given to him I have some friends who

I can say are definitely shining examples of having done this Well, I just constantly hear them saying praise

God when things happen. I hear them say this in their work I know they do this in their work meetings. I know they do it no matter their company, but they find it very important outwardly and immediately praise

God for any work that he has clearly done in their lives and You'll hear it like five times a day from them if they're that kind of person and just realizing like that's not even enough

Is something that I'm trying to get in my head And so how can I like I can benefit from the things

God already is doing more so by Recognizing how he has done them in the way. I benefit.

It's not that the thing itself was made better but the relationship I have with God the

Understanding I have of what he's doing in my life and the just joy that I get to have in him is more great because of It and so to support this we have

Psalm 74 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness and I'll flavor put this under God's works being food to our faith

So his crushing of Leviathan which you can under if no matter which way you want to understand that right?

That crushing is a work of him and he's giving that work the benefits of that work to us as food for our praise for our recognition of him, right and And now separately to because of prior providences we can expect future ones

And there's a there's a long list of verses for this one. So we're going to take them slow first Samuel 37 17 37 and David said the

Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear Will deliver me from the hand of this

Philistine and Saul said to David go and the Lord be with you This is when he's before Goliath He's recognizing that the

Lord has been the one to save him from the bear save him from the lion Which he has used those as examples to the people to that I am worthy and willing and capable to go and fight this giant

But in the end David does especially in front of the king Demonstrate that this is only because of the

Lord. I know this is only because of the Lord and he is the only one That's going to save me here 2nd

Corinthians 1 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him

We have set our hope that he will deliver us again Obviously Paul here is talking about how

God himself has already delivered us from the deadly peril by taking us taking us out from a sinful nature and giving us a new heart and That he will continue to deliver us as he brings us into eternity with him and finally perfects us gives us glorification, right?

So that is why he has this hope It's why he has hope that we will be delivered as God has already done it before God will continue to be faithful He's not limited in that sense really in any sense

Matthew 16 9 Do you not yet perceive do you not?

Do you not remember the five lows for the five thousand and how many baskets gathered? This is rather than them

Recognizing what he has done It's Christ admonishing his apostles for not remembering what he has done and that by not remembering

That's the only reason that they don't have faith. He's gonna deliver them now in this situation And so we ourselves can look back to the things that he's done to serve those who are following him

We can look to how he's fed the many we can look to how he's delivered them from all kinds of pain and suffering and Recognize that he will continue to do the same for us

Numbers 14 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people According to the greatness of your steadfast love just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now so even in Even in the

Old Testament, they're recognizing that God will deliver them will forgive them as he has done before there is never an end to this thing

I'm going through Jeremiah with a group of men right now And it seems like the whole time you read it, especially in the beginning of where we are right now.

It's just time and again time and again talking about how Israel has failed and To uphold the covenant with the

Lord Yet still in Jeremiah, that's where we get some of the most clear proclamations of the gospel in the

Old Testament, right? And so this is something that God wants us to remember continually So he can prepare us for the greater deliverance that we have coming still

Isaiah 51 9 through 10 Awake awake put on strength. Oh arm of the

Lord awake as in days of old the generations of long ago Was it not you who cut

Rahab in pieces who pierced the dragon Was it not you who dried up the sea the waters of the great deep who made the depths of the sea?

away for the redeemed to pass over Talking about again delivering Egypt delivering

Israel from Egypt and parting the Red Sea for them if he can part the Red Sea What else can he do?

What else does he have dominion over something for us to just remember and recognize? Now point six more or less of seven

God often comes near to us when he works an act of providence in our lives and we means comes near to us he's talking about condescension that God is interacting with us and Coming near to our conditions so that we can understand we can you know

Recognize his work in the in the moment his work in the inner workings of our lives that he's not just You know off in the sky away from us.

He's not really off in any particular place. He is Everywhere he is immense. He is with every step of our life whether we are with or without him.

He is present So some examples in judgment with Malachi 3 5

God is present in judgments, then I will draw near to you for judgment I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers against the adulterers against those who swear falsely

Against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages The widow and the fatherless against those who thrust aside the sojourner and do not fear me says the

Lord of hosts This reminds me of the catechism for taking the name of the

Lord in vain and Here we go Yeah question 61.

What is the reason annexed to the third commandment? The reason annexed to the third commandment is that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment for men

Yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment So we should recognize that God is not going to let us slide in some sense

Like we can see man. Let us slide for thing after thing after thing We do have deliverance and forgiveness in Christ, but we should recognize that he is still a just father and he still

It will be present for the judgment of every act of our lives Psalm 145 18 when we call upon the

Lord The Lord is near to all who call on him to all who call on him in truth

You should remember that especially as we're praying tonight God comes near to us in this even just to listen to our supplications to listen to our requests and to listen to our praises

Hosea 9 7 for when God is correcting us the days of punishment have come the days of recompense have come

Israel shall know it the prophet is a fool The man of the Spirit is mad because of your great iniquity and great hatred

And now Psalm 106 4 for when

God saves and delivers us Remember me. Oh Lord when you show favor to your people help me when you save them

Job 10 12 when God preserves us You have granted me life and steadfast love and your care has preserved my spirit.

It's not a Indirect cause of God's working. It's directly God in his own care preserving our spirits preserving our bodies preserving everything about us it's not an incidental cause and Job 7 18 for when

God visits us Visit him every morning and test him every moment from the funny ends in a question, but Understanding and visiting as when we come near to him in worship when we come near to him in our prayer

He is in a sense of visiting us. Should we test him or should we thank him and recognize him for what he has already done?

now Sort of looping all the way back to point B again He wanted to reiterate in here that to not take notice of these things is sinful and gave us some more scripture to read for it

So Isaiah 1 3 the ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib

But Israel does not know my people do not understand So he's getting

He's you know this is Isaiah the rest of Isaiah is going to continuously remind us of how blind

Israel has been of how they've broken the covenant how They've failed to uphold their end

And this is how he starts off as telling them that they have not remembered and understood who he is

Zephaniah 3 2 She listens to no voice. She accepts no correction.

She does not trust in the Lord She does not draw near to her God Isaiah 26 10 if favor is shown to the wicked

He does not learn righteousness on the land of uprightness He deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the

Lord key there He deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the

Lord just to not recognize it It reminds me of again Street evangelism will show you a lot of these things where people are just completely unwilling to recognize how

God is behind all the Positive workings of their lives, whether it's the breath they're using to mock him or if it's

The fact that they can be out and about enjoying downtown San Jose There's just all sorts of ways where this becomes clear to you when you ask people who do not recognize

God for anything As should make you question how you are recognizing God in the particulars of your own life

In Jeremiah 5 3 Oh Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish you have consumed them, but they refuse to take correction

They have made their faces harder than rock and they have refused to repent in the next chapter he mentions

I don't know if we'll get to it next week though. Just ramp to split it up. He mentions to especially the unregenerate that those afflictions that God gives people that those are most likely to be the

Occasions by which they will it would be saved if they are to be saved That's something we can see in this passage here, too.

Is that God's striking man down? He's trying he's Disciplining them in some way and yet they refuse the correction

They refuse repentance or refuse these things and that itself is even more sin heaped upon whatever caused that to begin with And the last point as a whole

One cannot pray to God properly if one does not recognize

God's providential works And so let's look at Isaiah 26 8 And some more after that In the path of your judgments.

Oh Lord, we wait for you your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul is

F and I a 2 1 through 2 or Yes Gather together.

Yes gather a shameless nation before the decree takes effect Before the day passes away like chaff before there comes upon you the burning anger of the

Lord Before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord Amos 4 12

Therefore thus I will do to you. Oh Israel because I will do this to you prepare to meet your

God. Oh Israel And then lastly Isaiah 12 1 through 2

You will say in that day I will give thanks to you Oh Lord, for though you were angry with me your anger turned away that you might comfort me

Behold God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid For the

Lord God is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation I think especially as we pray tonight.

We should be I think a lot of times we rush through Five and six in a sense, so let's especially recognize within five

This final point that we have to recognize the providential works. He's done for us the greatest one being just giving us salvation