All right, good morning, everyone. Good to see your smiling faces today. And then welcome to those in the overflow room as well. We are moving on through the Westminster Confession to chapter five today. We do have seats, by the way. I think we've got several seats in the back and back there, seats in the overflow room. But before we get into the content this morning, let's go ahead and ask the Lord's help. Great God in heaven, we're so thankful for this day that is set aside for your worship. Lord, we're thankful for the Sabbath. We're thankful that we can rest from our weekly labors and cares, and that we can come before you as our God, our King, and worship you. And Lord, be taught from your Word as well. Lord, we ask today that we would hear from you, that our hearts would be open to receive the things that you have for us, that our ears would be open, our eyes would be open. We pray for our children that are beneath us at this moment. We ask that you would be with all of the Sunday School teachers and bless them today. In Christ's name, amen. So just in terms of review, and for those who are new, this is your first time here. We have started the series on the Westminster Confession of Faith. We're going through Confessing the Faith by Chad Van Dixhorn, kind of as our guide. And obviously, being a Presbyterian church, the Westminster Confession of Faith is our standard. It is what we hold to. And so what we're trying to do each week is to go through either a chapter or part of a chapter, which of course today we actually have a two-part series. We're going to do just about half of this chapter today, and then next Sunday, by God's grace, we're going to do the other half. But just in terms of review and where we've been, chapter one we covered of the Holy Scripture. Chapter two was of God and the Holy Trinity. Chapter three was of God's eternal decree. And then last week, Elder Steve took us through of creation. And of course, the first three chapters remind us of our God, our Trinitarian God, who has decreed all things. And then chapter four, of course, takes us into how God spoke all things into existence. And, of course, then it takes us on to Providence this week. But before we get there, I was just reflecting this past week, one of the good gifts that my mother gave to me and to my brother was teaching us. I wouldn't say Teaching was probably not the right word. It was forcing us in high school to memorize the entire Shorter Catechism. Not just the Shorter Catechism, but with scripture proofs as well. And so it was a lot to memorize. By the time I was a senior, we had to actually go to our pastor and And I think we only got one or two errors, and we were able to pass that by God's grace. But now as a 50-year-old, I still retain some of that in my brain. I'm losing a lot of things, but I'm still remembering some of those things that I learned, and I was just kind of reflecting on how as we're going through the confession chapter by chapter, if you go to the shorter or larger catechism, it's following the same pattern, the same order, right? So if you're teaching your kids at home and you're going through the catechisms at home, it's a great way to reinforce the things that we're learning in Sunday school. And I kinda wanna test myself here in front of all of you and see if I can still remember this. I'm gonna start at question seven, which is the decrees of God, and then I'm gonna go to question 11, which is where we are today, which is providence. So I'm gonna look down at the question and then I'm gonna look up and see if I can do this, all right? So check me if you know these. What are the decrees of God? The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. So that's question seven. All right, question eight. How does God execute His decrees? God executeth His decrees in the works of creation and providence. We did creation last week, and now we're coming to providence, and those things are always linked in the confession. All right. Question nine, this covers creation. What is the work of creation? The work of creation is God's making all things of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very good. And then one more question around creation. Question ten, how did God create man. God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. And I think I just knocked the camera over with that. And then that takes us to question 11, which is our study today. What are God's works of providence? And the answer to that is, God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. So this 50-year-old brain can still remember some of that, which is good. But I think it's just helpful to kind of see how the divine structured these things in such an orderly way, where they started, kind of where they're going to. which leads us then, of course, to the study today. And, you know, when we look at this doctrine of providence, when we talk about providence in our lives as Christians, sometimes it's in a very impersonal kind of a way where we understand as Reformed Christians, yes, I see God's providence, I believe in God's providence, I see it in the world around me, I see it in my life at times, But many times we don't see it or experience it in a very personal way. And my hope today and next week is as we go through this particular doctrine that we'll start to embody it more. We'll start to see it more and believe it more and have an increased faith because of this doctrine. But the reality of where we start is that by understanding that God's ways are different, that God's ways are higher than our ways, sometimes that means that God's ways seem to us to be perplexing. They seem to us to be hidden or mysterious or hard. And in fact, the Apostle Paul He uses a particular word to describe this in Romans 11.33. He says, What does this word, inscrutable, mean? Well, it means impossible to understand. It's beyond us. And that's why, as Christians, we often seek to encourage each other to trust in God's providence, to remember his invisible hand. and to rest in that knowledge that He is orchestrating everything for our good. When you think about providence in your life, you probably think maybe about big events, historic events, potentially, where you've seen God's providence. I always go back to 9-11. I can never get that out of my vision of when that happened, and just watching the events transpire, and watching what happened after that, and how much we talked about God's providence at that time in our churches. I remember coming to Catoctin eight, almost nine years ago, and how God had such a providential hand in bringing our family to this church. And I tell that story all the time, and I always use that word providence when I describe our journey to Catoctin. But how about you? I mean, I'm sure that there's many things in your life, whether it's losing a job or gaining a job, often you refer to that as God's providence. in your life, or perhaps it's losing a loved one. Perhaps it's a chronic illness that you experience and that you have to endure. Perhaps it's depression that is just sort of coming down upon you and causing you not to be able to see beyond your daily circumstances. There's many things in which we can see God's providence and God's hand in those circumstances. And sometimes we just simply don't have answers. We know that God is in these circumstances, but we can't explain them. We can't explain them to ourselves. We can't explain them to other people. But we tell ourselves and we tell others that God is in control. So today I want to just dive into these first three paragraphs. Hopefully you have a handout. I don't know if we have any extras in the back if you need one. What I did is I just put the three paragraphs at the top with the scripture proofs for each phrase. We're not going to go through each one today, just because of time. And then underneath that, we do have a supplemental book. It's a study guide that goes along with the main book. And I have those questions underneath. That's something that you can just dwell on later as you're reflecting upon this lesson and what the Lord is teaching you. So if I could have someone read the first paragraph very loudly so that those in the overflow room can hear as well. Yes, sir. The first paragraph, yes. free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise and the glory of His wisdom and power, justice, goodness, and mercy. Thank you. All right. So if I could have just a few people read some scripture passages, some scripture proofs here, starting with Psalm 145 verses 14 through 16. Psalm 145, 14 through 16. Yes. And then the next one will be Hebrews 1.3. Okay, Rick. Psalm, let's see. Yes, Psalm 135.6. Yes, sir. And then Acts 17.25-28. If I could get someone to do those verses. Yes, sir. Okay. So let's start at the top here with Psalm. 145, 14 through 16. Listen to, as these verses are being read, listen to some of the action verbs that you hear in these verses, okay? Psalm 145. The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy All right, did you hear those verbs? Upholds, opens hand, satisfies, desire. All right, Hebrews 1.3. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the work of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. All right, thank you. Let's see, Psalm 135, 6. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. Thank you. And then Acts 17, 25 through 28. Mind if I read verse 24, too? Sure, please. The God who made the world and everything else, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not lay in a temple made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed Thank you. So that last passage, the context there, of course, was Paul preaching to the skeptics in Athens and reasoning with them in regards to God's power and his providence. So to summarize the first paragraph here in chapter five, the confession is connecting providence with God's work of creation. So it's starting with the premise that because God has created all things, He then is governing all things. In other words, God is not aloof. God is not disengaged with the creation that he has made. He is actively involved in the world that he has created. He is directing everything that is great and small according to his sovereign plan. And I think this is important to remember. You know, oftentimes I think we can come to the conclusion that, well, God is somehow not concerned with the minimal things that are going on, the small things that are going on in my life or my heart, the fears, the concerns, what have you. But this truth teaches us that God is very concerned with the events of each of our lives. He's not surprised. He's not taken off guard by the things that are going on in our hearts and around us by our suffering. The God who made the universe, the galaxies, He knows the numbers of the hairs of our head. And for some of us, that's a complex thing because they're falling out a lot. I'm realizing that each day that I look in the sink in the morning, I'm like, where did this come from? But he knows, he knows the number of the hairs of our heads. He knows the fears of our hearts. He knows what's going on in our lives. He knows the events that are happening in our lives. And he knows the future. He's planned the future for us. And so when we look at this statement here, and we look at some of these scripture proofs, we can see that the Bible is just chock full of verses that testify to God upholding and directing, to God governing His creation. We read Psalm 135.6, and that teaches that God's providence extends to all parts of creation. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. All through Proverbs we see, and in this particular one in chapter 15, we see that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. In In Daniel, we didn't read Daniel here, but there's many places in Daniel where we see God's providential hand, where he changes the times and the seasons. We see in Daniel, and we use this in our prayers sometimes, right, when we're praying for our secular governments. We pray that the hand of the, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, right? And that comes, that idea comes from the book of Daniel where God is removing kings. He's setting up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what's in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. We read Acts, which declares that God, who made the world and everything in it, gives to all mankind life and breath. and everything. That word encompasses it all. I mean, there's nothing that's not included in that word. Having determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling places, for in Him we live and move and have our being. And of course, in Hebrews 1.3, it states that God, the Son, the second person of the Trinity, upholds the universe. by the word of His power. So we see that God is in control of everything, not only in our lives, but in heaven and in earth, in everything. Thomas Watson observes that God is not like a craftsman who builds a house and then leaves it. but He's like a pilot who steers the ship of the whole creation. That's a vivid image. It's a very different kind of a picture of someone who just simply builds a house and then walks away, but no, He is the captain of the ship. He's steering the ship that we are a part of. And that's an incredibly comforting thought, especially when we are going through very difficult times in our lives. This doctrine reminds us that while the precise purposes of God may be hidden from us, and sometimes they're hidden for a time, sometimes they're hidden our entire lives. Paul talks about the thorn in his side, and he prayed much for that to be removed. Did God ever remove that thorn from him? Did God ever reveal to him why he had that thorn? And so these are things that sometimes are hidden from our sight for entire lives, but we can still draw comfort from knowing that whatever happens to us comes from God's good and wise plan for us. I mentioned that the Proverbs is full of these types of reminders, and we look and see in Proverbs 3 that it says that He will make our paths straight. It says in chapter 16, it is the Lord who establishes our steps. These are comforting thoughts. R.C. Sproul said one time that there are no maverick molecules. I like that imagery. There's no molecules that are floating around that somehow have a mind of their own. He goes on to say that God's providence is one of the most comforting truths revealed in scripture. It reminds the believer that the loving Father revealed in the Bible knows all about our every need and fear even better than we do. And because He is the Lord, He can meet all our needs and assuage all our fears. So what a comforting truth that is. I love that that's where providence starts, kind of in the big picture. We were just commenting and joking in the time of prayer before this that Pastor Ben actually covered providence at a high level. for the youth study this past week. And I jokingly said, well, providentially you're here and you can answer all the difficult questions. So now that we've passed the high level concepts of providence, let's dig a little deeper into some more complex things. And we'll get into a more difficult concept of what's really called the distinction between the first and second causes. If I could have, Someone read the second paragraph in chapter five. Again, very loudly for all to hear. Jefferson. All right, thank you. If I could get several folks to read verses on this this morning. So Acts 2.23. Yes, Hannah. Let's see. Next, Isaiah 14.24 and 27. Yes, Mark. Let's see here. Genesis 8.22. Yes, sir. Okay, we'll stop there and just have You start with those verses, so Acts 2.23. This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. All right. This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed. All right. Isaiah 14, 24 and 27. Who will annul it? Who will turn it back? The Lord has purposed. Genesis 8, 22. Thank you. And let's see. Jeremiah 31, 35. Can have someone read that this morning? Yes. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea in its dreams for the All right, thank you. So, like I said at the beginning, it's important to see the order in which the divines have sort of set out how we're walking through these truths systematically. And if you recall from chapter 3, we went through the decrees of God, and I think it's important at this point to reflect back on chapter 3 and look at the language of of the first paragraph of chapter three and then look at the second paragraph of chapter five and look at the similarities to those two ideas. It says in chapter three, paragraph one, God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably ordain whatever whatsoever comes to pass. Yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established." Do you see the similarity of the language there, especially as it refers to the contingency of second causes? and what we just read in paragraph two, which says, although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. I think it's very important to pull these two thoughts together and just recognize that these are some of the most, these are some of the best worded, most tightly formed paragraphs in the entire confession. When we think about God's governance of creation, we need to sort of throw out of our heads, throw out the window this idea that suggests that God withdraws from the world on the one hand, or that he treats humans as robots on the other. Those are sort of the two ditches that we can fall into. One is deism, one is fatalism. The deism aspect is, of course, that God is this clockmaker. Somehow he winds up the clock and just walks away. and lets it run out. And then the other idea, of course, is that this fatalistic idea that God controls everything. And so therefore, we have no decisions to make as human beings. We have no will, we have nothing. We just simply go through life as robots while God makes all the decisions. And neither one of these, of course, is correct. But here's where it gets a little tricky and a little, I guess you would say, legal. By declaring God as the first or primary cause of all that comes to pass, and asserting the legitimacy of second causes, the Confession affirms this idea, which is sometimes called concursus, of divine sovereignty and human freedom, which means that God is accomplishing his purposes through the free choice of creatures and other secondary causes. And where do we see this idea kind of played out in scripture? What are some of those examples that we can think of of how these two things sort of come together? Can anyone? Yes, Hannah. I just read one. It was the hands of Wallace's men, but it's God's foreknowledge and plans. So they're both involved, but also Joseph talking to his brothers. There you go. Yes, yes, and that's one of the best examples in the Old Testament that Hannah was just describing, which is the whole story of Joseph, right? You remember that story? We remember that from Sunday school when we were kids, right? When Joseph is taken by his brothers by jealousy, he is meant to be killed, he's thrown in the pit, he's sold into slavery, and ultimately God rescues him. and uses him in his redeeming plan for the nation of Israel to save them not only from famine, but ultimately to fulfill the plan that he had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And remember on Joseph's deathbed, the very last scene in Genesis, Genesis 50, where Joseph is saying to his brothers, he says, I'm about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. But all of this to say at the very start of the brothers coming to Egypt and meeting with Joseph, what does Joseph say to them? He meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. So there you have these two ideas, evil men playing these things out, and you have God who is sovereign, and in his providence raises up Joseph, even through the means of his sinful brothers. So that's one idea. Another idea, perhaps, that you're thinking of is Pharaoh. We have this idea, right, that's talked about in the Old Testament and the New Testament, of this hardening of the heart. And what does the Scripture say that sometimes seems to conflict in how we hear it or read it? Anyone? Exactly, which is it, which is it, right? Did Pharaoh, yes, did Pharaoh harden his heart or did God harden Pharaoh's heart? And we're repeatedly told that Pharaoh's actions were the result of this hardening. And so these biblical texts illustrate this, what they call co-working or a convergence of divine and human wills. Gerhardus Foss explains the principle of concursus this way, he says, At this point, faith in God's co-working is most closely connected with our dependence upon him. He directs even our free acts, and however far above our comprehension may be the manner in which he does that, in any case it must be a co-working or concursus. Not matter, not fate, not chance can affect us if our freedom is to be maintained, but only the co-working of God. So here we see this idea that God is the primary, he is the ultimate cause of all things. But this statement, according to the confession summary of the Bible, does not negate the laws of nature, and it does not negate the free actions of humans. So in the mystery of God's providence, he's using ordinary and regular means to bring about his sovereign purposes. It's kind of mind-blowing, isn't it? I mean, it's very hard to sort of give a simple answer to this idea. Is it all God? And is it all man? Is it some God? Is it some man? We ask these questions, people ask these questions of us, and they're very complex to answer. J. Gresham Machen clarifies the relationship between God as the first cause of all things and second causes. Second causes, sometimes he He relates as gravity or the seasons, right? The seasons that we enjoy are for planting, for harvest, or simply our personal decisions, right? He says this, this is Machen, God makes use of second causes to accomplish what is in accordance with his eternal purpose. Second causes are not independent forces whose cooperation he needs, but they are means that he employs exactly as he will. And then maybe some of you have heard this illustration that Machen has used. He says, imagine you discover a bullet hole in a pane of glass. You would naturally conclude that the hole was caused by the passage of a bullet through the glass, which was caused by the firing of a gun, which was caused by the pulling of a trigger, which was caused by a person holding a gun. As Christians, we affirm that God is sovereign over everything, and since he ordains whatsoever comes to pass, he is the first cause of these events. Yet, we would not say that God pulled the trigger, nor would we attribute the breaking of the glass to God. Machen insists that the person who fired the gun is responsible for the damage caused by the bullet. God's providential rule does not nullify personal liability. interesting illustration. The Confession develops this principle to make the point that God is sovereign and we are responsible moral creatures. And since God is the first cause of everything that happens, all things come to pass, as this paragraph says, immutably and infallibly according to his predetermined design. In other words, God's eternal plan for the world is unchanging. and it's unfailing. Do we believe that? I think this is where it comes down to. I was reflecting with someone the other day. This past 30, 40 days, for me personally, in this market, in this industry, have been the most chaotic years I can ever recall in my entire career, probably my life. I've gone through very different emotions over the past few weeks. And my wife can attest to this because she's actually called me out on this several times. And in the process of seeing my industry, my company, other things around me, people's lives affected in this way, I can often be tempted to question, you know, why are these things happening to me? Why are these things happening to my friends? Why are these things happening to my company or my industry? This isn't fair. This isn't right. And yet, when you truly believe this doctrine of providence, you begin to understand that God has a much greater, much greater purpose for these things to be transpiring. Some of them correspond to my personal growth. Some of them... affect the world and the nation that we live in according to God's purpose, according to God's design that is not revealed to me. I don't know what that is, but I simply have to trust that he is doing what's right. And so it really has come down as I've spent time on this subject, it has become personal because I've realized that this isn't just simply an intellectual assignment that I give assent to, a creed, a confession that I give assent to. But this is something that should affect every fiber of my being in what I do every day, in how I live, in how I trust and have faith in the God that protects me and who loves me. And so, This is what this is saying to us, that God's eternal plan for the world is unchanging, it's unfailing, and He has ordered the events of history to transpire according to the nature, as it says here, of second causes. in His providence, in His grace, He is allowed for there to be second causes. And this particular paragraph says, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. And I want to be cognizant of time here, but very quickly, let me just cover those three aspects and what that means. And Van Dixhorn actually describes each of these. The first one, necessarily, Van Dixhorn says, necessarily, are things in which God has given us, such as the sun for light, the moon and stars for light at night. These are necessary things that God has set up for us. The next aspect is free or freely. And if you think back to, I think this has been a few months now since we covered this subject in Pastor Ben's sermons, but do you remember the cities of refuge that were set up in the Old Testament, specifically in Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 19? Do you remember how when a man would innocently or accidentally kill another man, he was free to preserve his life by fleeing to, running to a city of refuge? And this is this idea of free or freely. And then finally the idea of contingent. He uses the example of the prophet who told Ahab that he would die in battle and that the truthfulness, the reality of Ahab dying in battle was a contingency to establish whether or not the prophet was true or false. And so God allowed that to be a contingency, whether or not Ahab was to be killed, as to the veracity of what the prophet said. And so these are just three different aspects of second causes that the Confession describes for us necessarily, freely, or contingently. So it's important to understand that God has definitely decreed how each of these events would turn out, but He also decided that the functioning of things like the solar system would be a necessary cause for our light. He didn't have to do that. We could have light directly from God if he wanted to, but he set up these things for us, and that men would be saved or lost by their choice of a city of refuge, which was a free cause, and that the prophet's integrity would be dependent on someone's death, like Ahab. and this is God's design. So very quickly we'll get to the third section, and it's a very short one. If I could have someone again read that very loudly for all of us to hear, paragraph three. Yes, Ben. God in his ordinary province maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them. All right, so let's just cover a couple of passages here, scripture proofs, Isaiah 55, 10 and 11. Somebody can read that, yes. And then Job 34, 20. Someone else could read that. Yes, sir, Michael. All right, Isaiah 55. 55, 10 and 11. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. All right, thank you. And then Job 3420. In a moment they die. At midnight the people are shaken and passed away. And the mighty are taken away by no human hand. So this next section concerns, I mean, just simply put, concerns miracles. So when you read the first part of this paragraph, it says, God in his ordinary providence maketh use of means. And that's what we have covered so far. But it goes on to expand that view then to say, yet is free to work. without, outside, above, and against them at His pleasure. So the world that God has made, and this is the important truth here, the world that God has created is not closed to His intervention. The world that God created and designed and set up is not basically impervious to God's intervention. And normally God, yes, uses secondary means such as the laws of nature to accomplish his divine purposes, but he is not under any obligation to limit his providential rule to these means. And that's the important truth here. He may determine, like in the Red Sea, he may determine to part the waters. as in the Old Testament. He may determine to heal the sick. He may choose to cast out demons, or raise the dead, or we think back to 2 Kings and the iron that floated in the water, or the donkey that talked. These are all things in which God worked outside of the normal means that he had set up. These supernatural activities are not intended to contradict or undermine God's use of ordinary means, but are meant to broaden the scope of God's providential ruling. As Archibald Alexander Hodge says, the order of nature and miracles, instead of being in conflict, are the intimately correlated elements of one comprehensive system. God uses natural law, human actions, and divine miracles to accomplish his eternal and immutable plan for his glory. As I said, next week we're going to get into the four remaining sections of chapter five. But before I close today, I know we've got just a few minutes here. Any observations, comments, questions? Yes, sir. you're mentioning how we don't know God's providence. We can sort of sense, like in the situation you've gone through, situations I've gone through, it's a comfort, like we don't know how we got saved. Somewhere along your family line, some minister preached to your great-great-grandfather, and that brought you down, that the gospel came to you. Obviously when this person got saved, they had no idea they were giving the gospel to generations of their ancestry. And I take comfort in the first chapter of Matthew's gospel. There's no way that Tamar, when she was deceiving... Judah. Yeah, Judah. No, it's not Israel. Judah, that she was setting in motion eventually the coming of the Savior. Right. and coming of the King of David, King David. You read that passage, that chapter, when Rahab tied that resin, that she was giving a sign of the gospel for all of us to take heart in. God's providence is long term. We think in our, you know, three score and 10 years. No. So take comfort, read those passages. You know, what am I here for? I don't know. Let God take his time. Amen. Yeah. Thank you, Bill. Yes, Rick. This is such an important concept about God because if God's providence is not true, then what kind of God is he? That would mean that a man or some other force and overrule, over-rocking what God has decided. When something bad happens to people, how can God let this happen? Well, that's a question that comes up, but what's worse to think about, God was unable to prevent this from happening. So without this, we don't have a God that can really do anything. Any other thoughts, questions? I found a quote by John Piper. I actually wrote a book called Providence, and I thought this quote would be a really good one to end on this morning. And then maybe, Pastor Ben, if you would close this in prayer. Piper says, God has revealed his purposeful sovereignty over good and evil in order to humble human pride, intensify human worship, shatter human hopelessness, and put ballast in the battered boat of human faith, steel in the spine of human courage, gladness in the groans of affliction, and love in the heart that sees no way forward. Our Lord God, we thank you that you are not only the creator who has made all things and set into motion the laws of the universe and the dance of the heavens, but that you are the God who is with us in the unfolding of history, in the unfolding of creation, that you rule and reign over all your creatures and all their actions. And we thank you that in the person of Jesus Christ that you have entered into that story yourself. You have not only been the author of it all, but also the main character in this grand drama of redemption. And we thank you, Lord, that as we've heard about today, that your providence extends to all things, that it's not only in the big moments or the miraculous events, but it's in the ordinary unfolding of everyday causes, and that your will is worked out in every aspect of creation, that all of these threads that seem disparate and disconnected to us are drawn together into the tapestry of redemption. We thank you for the reminder of this truth. We pray that having had these things set before us today would not just be a kind of review of theology or philosophy that would sort of sit in the background of our minds, but that it would be like the glasses, low lenses through which we view the way that this week unfolds, the way that we respond to the events that you know are going to happen and yet we will be surprised by. So we pray that we would be people who could truly rest in your providence and recognize it and rejoice in it. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.