I invite you to take the Word of God, and let's turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, and let's begin reading at verse 28 to the end of the chapter in verse 39. The title of this morning's study is, The Triune God in Providence. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And this is the word of the living and holy God. On May 25, 1861, corresponding from Richmond, Virginia, on the eve of the war between the states, or to be more politically correct, the Civil War, General Robert E. Lee wrote to his wife, I have been trying, dearest Mary, ever since the receipt of your letter by Custis, to write to you. I sympathize deeply in your feelings at leaving your dear home. I have experienced them myself, and they are constantly revived. I fear we have not been grateful enough for the happiness there within our reach, and our Heavenly Father has found it necessary to deprive us of what He has given us. I acknowledge my ingratitude, my transgressions and my unworthiness and submit with resignation to what He thinks proper to inflict upon me. We must trust all then to Him. On another occasion during the war, General Lee was recuperating from an injury he had received when news arrived from home that his second daughter, Annie, had become ill with typhoid fever. Not long after this news, Lee received another letter informing him that Annie had died. Through the weight of his grief and tears at the loss of his precious daughter, Robert E. Lee wrote to his wife, Mary. I cannot express the anguish I feel at the death of my sweet Annie. To know that I shall never see her again on earth, that her place in our circle, which I always hoped one day to enjoy, is forever vacant, is agonizing in the extreme. But God, in this, as in all things, has mingled mercy with the blow in selecting that one best prepared to leave us. May you be able to join me in saying, His will be done. In July of 1863, after the Confederate Army's demoralizing defeat at Gettysburg, and during their retreat from Pennsylvania, which appeared doubtful they would even succeed, Robert E. Lee again showed where his heart was anchored. He corresponded with his wife. I trust that a merciful God, our only hope and refuge, will not desert us in this hour of need, and will deliver us by His almighty hand, that the whole world may recognize His power, and all hearts be lifted up in adoration and praise of His unbounded, loving kindness. We must, however, submit to His almighty will, whatever that may be. And finally, in April of 1865, after General Lee surrendered his army to the Union forces at Appomattox, he wrote these solemn but joyful words to his longtime friend, George E. Jones. We failed. We failed. But in the good providence of God, apparent failure often proves a blessing. The point of each of these snapshots from the life of Robert E. Lee is to simply show, beloved, that the conviction, comfort, and assurance of Lee in all trying circumstances was always in the good providence of God. In fact, Robert E. Lee is just one example among a multitude of Christians in his generation who believed strongly in God's wise works of providence. For the vast majority of believers and even unbelievers who lived in 18th and 19th century America, there seemed to be this ever-constant awareness of divine providence. An awareness that was so common that the very word providence became another name for God. Sadly, and even tragically, since those days in early America, the biblical truth and concept of God's providence has diminished significantly. One reason for this centers on the prevailing worldview of our ever-increasing secular culture. A culture which firmly believes that the world and everything in it operates apart from God by its own power and built-in laws. But when you combine this practical atheism of our American culture with the church's own departure from the biblical witness of God's sovereignty ruling the universe, it is little wonder that we live among a generation of Christians who have no keen sense whatsoever of God's providence. For most Christians, while they affirm that God created the universe, they do not affirm that God is upholding, sustaining, ordering, and ruling everything in the universe at all times. Instead, the theology we have today, which sits in the church pew, is what I call a peek-a-boo providence. This is the belief that affirms God's direct intervention in the world at certain points in history, but it denies His absolute and constant rule ordering all of history. God just peeks around the curtain of our lives every once in a while to let us know that He's there and He's got our back if we need Him. This is how many Christians in our day understand God's providence if they even have such a category in their mental filing system. Well, with this in mind, I want us this morning to consider the great subject of what I'm calling the Triune God in Providence. And the tremendous burden that I feel under the weight of this subject is to reclaim, reaffirm, and reestablish the biblical truth of what is called the providence of God. As I've just mentioned, the church today has largely departed from the truth of God's providence. In fact, when Jerry Bridges' book, Trusting God, was published in 1978, it was the first book written on providence in over a hundred years. Think about that. For nearly the first 80 years of the 20th century, the church saw not a single book written on the doctrine of divine providence. But even with the publication of Bridges' book on providence, along with a few others which have been written since that time, there is still a vast lack of knowledge and affirmation in the church that God rules and governs all things great and small. The residue of a whole century of secular humanism and theological liberalism continues to be heard and felt from the pulpit to the pew in most churches across this country. Hence the heavy burden that I deeply feel is set forth to you today with clarity, the truth of God's holy and wise providence. So as we enter our study, I want us to consider the triune God in providence from three different perspectives. First, we will define the triune God in providence. Second, we will attempt to see the triune God in Providence as we look specifically at Romans chapter 8. And then finally, we will consider what it means to prize the triune God in Providence. To begin with then, let's consider first defining the triune God in Providence. When we talk about the Providence of God, what is it exactly that we are referring to? How do we define and explain this biblical concept? Well, what is perhaps one of the best summary definitions of God's providence ever written in historical theology is what we read in chapter 5 of the 1689 Baptist Confession. In the first paragraph of this exposition on providence, the framers of our confession wrote this, God, the Good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom, upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, to the end for which they were created. God governs according to His infallible knowledge and the free and unchanging counsel of His own will for the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, boundless goodness, and mercy. The basic principle truth of this definition is that God is completely in charge of His world. While the Lord may have rested on the seventh day from creating this world, He has not ceased from ruling, reigning, directing, and ordering all events in this world. As our confession states it, God governs all creatures and things from the greatest even to the least. There is nothing, brothers and sisters, nothing in all this world, in all this universe, that is outside of God's sustaining, governing, care, control, and direction. For instance, our confession states that God upholds, directs, disposes, and governs, notice, all creatures. creatures, that is both man and beast. So for example, in Job 12, 14, God controls what man will build and achieve. If God tears down, we're told in Job, none can rebuild. If He shuts man in, none can open. In Daniel 2.21, we are told that God raises up kings and removes them. In Proverbs 16 and verse 9, God establishes the steps for every plan we make. And because of this truth in Proverbs 16.9, we are admonished in James 4.13-15 against making any plans about today or tomorrow without resigning the success of those plans to God's sovereign will. Listen to what James tells us. He says, Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. God's providence not only governs man in all his decisions and actions, God also controls the life of animals as well. This is the very thing our Lord Jesus Christ referred to in Matthew 10, 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. The falling of a sparrow, what we would even deem an insignificant sparrow, from its nest cannot happen apart from God's will. It was God's providential care and control of the animal kingdom which was used to humble Job and prove to him that while he acknowledged God's sovereign rule over his life, yet he had made wrong conclusions regarding the secret purposes of God's will. Such a revelation of God's vast sovereign power and government over the world actually provoked Job to confess in the end, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. However, God not only directs and rules all creatures, but our confession also states, notice, that He governs all things. He governs all things. This refers to inanimate objects like the heavens, trees, grass, the seas, rain, snow, ice, and all the seasons. Thus we're told in Daniel 2.21 that God changes the times and the seasons. In Job 37.6-12 we're told, for to the snow God says, fall to the earth. Likewise to the downpour, His mighty downpour. By the breath of God, ice is given and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture. The clouds scatter His lightning. They turn around and around by His guidance to accomplish all that He commands them on the face of the habitable world. Beloved, let us understand this today. There is simply nothing which takes place in this world, whether by man, beast, or the fall of rain and snow, that is not apart from God's all-wise, all-powerful control and direction. Providence therefore explains and describes God's ongoing activity of what He does in the world and what He has continued to do since He made the world at the very beginning. J. I. Packer put it this way. He said, if creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, Providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the Creator, according to His own will, keeps all creatures in being, involves Himself in all events, and directs all things to their appointed end. God's hand may be hidden, but His rule is absolute. But as important as it is, to understand that the providence of God refers to His absolute rule, ordering, sustaining, and governing all creatures and things. There's one more important quality of God's providence that we must recognize under this first point of defining what it means. Going back to our confession. We are told that God governs all creatures and things, and then listen to this, by His most wise and holy providence. The point of these words is to assure us that there is never anything arbitrary, frivolous, or capricious in what God orders and carries out under His providence. He does not govern the universe according to polls or political expediency, but by His most wise and holy counsel. Therefore, in everything which comes to pass in our lives, listen, we can trust God that He has ordered the very best circumstances for us, tailor-made, as it were, in His secret counsel, where there is no sin. The nature of divine providence is henceforth wise and holy. Applying this truth to suffering, Consider this observation given by R.C. Sproul. How does God relate to suffering? As far as I am concerned, nothing is more comforting to the Christian who is suffering than the doctrine of divine providence. If suffering from illness, I can look at it as a result of a chance invasion of microorganisms in my body, or I can say that even microorganisms are ultimately upheld, directed, and disposed by the wise and holy providence of God. At this time, my vocation is to be a teacher and a pastor. I believe that God has called me to perform these tasks. But tomorrow I may be so debilitated by an accident or disease that I am no longer physically able to exercise this vocation. This does not mean that I would cease to have a vocation. I would have a different vocation. My vocation then would be to remain faithful to God even when He has called me to suffer. If I view my pain, suffering, loneliness, and grief as a cosmic accident, then the futility of life exacerbates my pain. However, if I see these painful things as coming to me from the hand of a good, holy, and kind providence who is working all things together for my good, I will have a reason to endure it. That will not erase my pain. But it will help me to endure without bitterness." So then, when we are talking about the providence of God, let's get this straight. We are not talking here today about luck. We are not talking about chance or fate. These terms of the ideas and expressions of pagans whose view of this world and all that happens in this world is explained with no regard for a personal, sovereign, holy God. No. The truth of what goes on in this universe is that the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who together created it all, continues to uphold, direct, dispose, and govern everything which they have created by their supreme wisdom and holiness from the display of their glory as the one true and living God. This is how we define the providence of God. From defining the triune God in providence, let us now consider our second point of study, which is seeing the triune God in providence. Now, from the outset of this point, it must be said that seeing the triune God in providence is very difficult, if not near impossible, if we are straining to see God's providential hand exclusively from our own experience. Left to ourselves, even as Christians, we do not have the inward discernment which can accurately and precisely trace the workings and immediate purpose of what God is doing in any given moment of our lives. As J. I. Packer noted, God's hand of providence is invisible. So then, to title this particular point as seeing the triune God in providence might appear as an error in understanding. But while it is true that we cannot see God working in providence with our physical eyes, nor by our mere mental understanding, yet God has given us, beloved, the eyes to see His works of providence. by the revelation of His written Word. In God's Word, we not only have the affirmation of divine providence as we have already seen from our first point, but we also are given a glimpse to see the works of divine providence in our behalf. And to demonstrate this, I want us to turn now our attention to Romans chapter 8. The context of this chapter within the framework of Paul's letter to the church in Rome is to assure the believer in Christ of the security and certainty of final salvation. In other words, every Christian can be assured that since God has saved them, He will keep them saved to the very end. But to impact this in Romans 8, Paul shows us how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as the triune God, are each working together in actual history to bring all believers to eternal glory. Romans 8, therefore, gives us a divine vision to see the acts of divine providence securing, guarding, accomplishing, and consummating our very redemption. So, my burden under this point is to highlight, in just a few snapshots from Romans 8, exactly how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as the triune God, are working in providence to sustain, order, direct, and govern our final salvation. This treatment, of course, will not be exhaustive because of time. However, I do pray that enough will be covered here for us to see the triune God in the providence of our salvation. Now to begin with, we must start with Romans 8.28. This single statement expresses the overall works of God's providence in our salvation. Paul writes, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. The purpose Paul is referring to here is God's eternal decree whereby from eternity the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit determined to save a people out of Adam's fallen race. But the outworking of this redemptive decree or purpose is what God has been doing in time and history. The works of providence therefore, now understand this, the works of providence are nothing but the historical expression of God's eternal decree. And in the context of Romans 8.28, these providential works have to do with saving us and keeping us saved. So then, Paul says with absolute assurance that for those who love God and are called according to His purpose of salvation, all things work together for good. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are bringing every detail, circumstance, event, word, action, and thought of our lives to work together for the good and benefit of our final salvation. Does that just take your breath away? Think about this. No matter what happens in our life, no matter what happens in our life, the triune God is tying it in and bringing it together to form and fashion what will be the final outcome of our salvation. And what is that? Paul tells us in Romans 8.29, it is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Perfect conformity to the image of Christ is the good. That is the good which Rolands 8.28 promises that God is working all things together for. But what specifically is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit doing in time and history to fulfill this eternal decree of salvation? Well, notice in the first place, what God the Father has done. God the Father has fulfilled this saving decree first by sending His Son into this world as a sin offering in the place of His sinful people. In Romans chapter 8, in verse 3, we read, For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemns sin in the flesh. Here is the supreme work of providence by God the Father to fulfill His eternal purpose to save us. Sin's penalty and power were both judged and sentenced by the Father in the death of Christ His Son for His people. However, The redeeming works of providence by God the Father did not cease with the sending and sacrificing of Christ in our behalf. In Romans 8, verses 30-32, we see how the Father is responsible for calling us and justifying us in the experience of conversion and will ultimately glorify us as well. And we also see how the Father assures us with the promise that since He has done everything necessary to secure our salvation, then no adversary will ever rob us of our salvation. And our confidence that the Father is for us and nothing will undo His saving purpose, is due to the fact that He has given us His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at how Paul spells this out in Romans 8.32. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? The central point of this promise in verse 32 of Romans 8. is that if God the Father has already done the greatest thing of all for our salvation, then it is unthinkable that He should fail to continue His work in us until He has brought us to the final goal of ultimate perfection and glorification. This is how the Father is working all things together for our good. That is, the good of being conformed to the image of Christ. He sent Christ to live and die in our place. And as the result of what Christ accomplished, the Father has called us and justified us in time and is continuing to answer our every need on the basis of what Christ did to ultimately glorify us in Christ. In the second place, we also see the works of providence for our redemption by God the Son. God the Son, Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled the eternal saving decree to perfect us into His image. First, by coming into this world, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin to condemn sin in the flesh. Romans 8 and verse 3 tells us. In other words, God the Son came in the flesh as our substitute to live the life we never could, which is perfect obedience to the law, and die the death we all deserve, which is condemnation for our sins, in order that we would be put right with God. But this is not all. Secondly, not only did Christ live and die in our place, but He was also raised from the dead. Romans 8 and verse 34. Now here's a question. How does the resurrection work for the good of our ultimate redemption? How does the resurrection work for the good of our ultimate redemption? The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead following His death on the cross proves to us that His atoning sacrifice was accepted and approved by the Father. Moreover, the resurrection of Christ proclaims the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. What He did on the cross actually accomplished, get this, everything necessary to save us. And thirdly, We're told in Romans 8.34 that God the Son is right now interceding for us. He's interceding for us. The role of our Lord Jesus Christ at this very moment in providentially bringing us to final salvation. At this very moment, He is praying for us. Jesus is there at the right hand of the Father, representing every need we have to the Father, and all those petitions are being answered in order to secure our eternal salvation. This is how God the Son is working all things together to fulfill the eternal decree of our redemption. Finally, Romans chapter 8 also teaches us much about the works of providence carried out by God the Holy Spirit. Let me highlight here only two of those works in regards to our eternal redemption. First, there is the discipline of mortification. The discipline of mortification. In Romans 8.13, we're told that it is only by the Spirit that we can put to death the deeds of the body. the ongoing daily process of our sanctification, we face the ever-present down-drag of indwelling sin. The law of sin that Paul mentions and talks about in Romans chapter 7, the law of sin housed in our members works like a gravitational pull on our affections, thoughts, words, and deeds. But despite how strong and powerful the law of sin may be to us, Glory to God, we are not helpless victims to its temptations. We have God the Holy Spirit who enables and empowers us to crush, tap, root out, weaken, and subdue all known manifestations of indwelling sin. Looking all things together for the good of our salvation, the Holy Spirit strengthens us to conquer those fleshly desires that wage a daily war against our soul. Secondly, not only is there the discipline of mortification, but there is also the discipline of prayer. In Romans 8, verses 26 and 27, we read how the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The great point of these two verses within the context of Romans 8 is that as we suffer in this world with all the frustrations and agony of our fallen condition, the Holy Spirit, now get this, the Holy Spirit literally comes alongside us and participates in our groaning by supporting, comforting, and encouraging us along the way. To be more specific, The Holy Spirit actually works in us to help us persevere in all our weaknesses as we press on in this pilgrimage to ultimate glory. But it is in the matter of prayer where our great weakness is highlighted. As God the Holy Spirit is ordering, directing, and sustaining us in our pathway to ultimate glory, We're told that He comes alongside us as we are about to crumble under the load of this agony and not knowing what is the right thing to pray in a given situation. Can any of you relate to that? But it is there, Paul tells us, in that place, not knowing what to pray for as we ought, that the Holy Spirit helps us. He helps us. He consoles us. He comes to shoulder the burden with us. And how He does this is what's so amazing and encouraging. On the one hand, He intercedes for us. This means that He literally pleads our case with the Father, which translates our feeble attempts in praying over a situation into a petition that is according to the will of God. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit expresses groanings too deep for words. What does that mean? It means two things. First, that the Holy Spirit groans with us as a matter of tender empathy as He helps us in our weakness. Those groanings are expressing to our very spirit from the Holy Spirit as if to say, I understand. I'm with you. I'm with you here. Second, these groanings are too deep for words since they register the content of the Spirit's intercession to the Father in our behalf as, listen, as beyond what mere human words can possibly articulate or define. Moreover, As the Holy Spirit is interceding in our hearts with groaning to deeper words, the Father searches our hearts, knowing what the Holy Spirit is praying, and answers those prayers in perfect concert with His will. So in all these ways, in all these ways, we are able to see the Triune God in Providence. According to Romans chapter 8, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit united together to bring to pass in time and history the eternal purpose of salvation, which they have decreed before the foundation of the world. We see the Father sending and sacrificing His Son to save us, and then calling and justifying us on the basis of what Christ accomplished, which will render our ultimate glorification. Then we see the Son coming into the world to live and die for us, securing our salvation, being raised from the dead, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding in our behalf. And finally, we see the Holy Spirit who lives in us, consoling, empowering, directing, and sanctifying our pathway to reach our eternal destination of perfect conformity to the image of Christ our Lord. Oh, brothers and sisters, does this just not cause you to stagger back in awe and amazement at what the triune God is doing in our lives and the lives of His people every single day? An incredible, comforting, and encouraging vision God has given us to see His works of providence fulfilling His eternal decree to save you and me. So while we may not be able to see everything God is doing in our lives, we can at least be assured that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working all things together for the good of our redemption. God has at least given us the eyes to see how this work of providence is coming to pass. Lord, how am I going to make it across the finish line, as it were? How am I going to be secured to the very end? And God gives us Romans chapter 8. And He says, this is how I'm working it out. This is how I'm working it out. The Father, the Son, the Spirit together in concert, working together, to bring about our ultimate glorification. But now, having defined the Triune God in Providence and attempted to see the Triune God in Providence for our last point of study, let us consider prizing prizing the triune God in providence. This is of course our great point of application. This is where we should want the truth of the triune God in providence to be embraced with joy in our hearts. For it is one thing to say we believe in the providence of God, but it is quite another thing to live our lives in the conscious reality of this glorious truth. So, big million dollar question, how do we do this? How do we do this? How do we prize the triune God in providence? Well let me give you three suggestions. First, we need to preach the providence of God to ourselves every day. We need to preach the providence of God to ourselves every day. Now, I am obviously borrowing the language of a well-known axiom which says, preach the gospel to yourself every day. And while that should be something we really do, Yes, we should preach the gospel to ourselves every day. Beloved, I'm just as convinced that we need to reaffirm in prayer and praise the fact that God's works of providence are the holy, wise, and powerful acts by which He preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions. We need to preach the providence of God to ourselves every day. This means that passages like Proverbs 16 and verse 9 or Daniel 2.21 or Romans 8.28 should be put to memory and hidden in our hearts as a resource and refuge of solace, sanity and sanctification. For when we are treasuring God in providence, in His providence, then we will be free from the besetting sins of bitterness, anger, anxiety, worry, complaining and bickering when those times and seasons come that try men's souls. This is why General Stonewall Jackson, for example, could respond after the amputation of his arm due to having been mistakenly shot by his own men? You find me severely wounded, but not unhappy or depressed. I believe that it has been done according to the will of God. And I acquiesce entirely in His holy will. It may seem strange, but you never saw me more perfectly contented than I am today, for I am sure that my heavenly Father designs this affliction for my good." This is also why Joseph could look in the face of his hateful brothers with no desire for revenge. and say to them, as recorded in Genesis 15 verse 20, what you meant for evil, God meant it. It being the antecedent of the term evil. What you meant for evil, God meant it for good. Furthermore, the truth of God's good, holy, and wise providence is what gave the prophet Habakkuk the courage to say this. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation." You see, beloved, When we preach the providence of God to ourselves daily, we will grow in a sanctified courage and hope which is anchored firmly in the Lord. We will see that there is no need that we should give way to self-pity or acidity when we suffer, but rather give thanks in all circumstances. It was this truth of God's wise and holy works of providence that gave me, me personally, joy, peace and comfort as I faced the inevitable expulsion from a local church just over five years ago. In fact, as I stood before that church on March 19, 2006 and gave my farewell address, I did so, and I can say this with a completely clear conscience, I stood before that body of people, prizing the triune God in providence. I expressed to a large number of people on that Sunday morning, many of whom had only malice. and hatred for me, that quote, hear my exact words, while it is hard and even futile to trace God's hand in the events which unfold in our lives, yet what we do know is that God is in total control over every single circumstance and therefore there is nothing which takes place that is outside of His sovereign purpose and plan. Furthermore, because God is holy and loving, all-powerful and all-wise, we can be assured that in everything we are going through, God can be trusted completely without any reservation. Now, I doubt very serious if very many people even understood what I was saying, or for that matter, even cared. But for me, for me, that was not what mattered. What mattered to me was the fact that by God's grace, through the means of preaching the truth of His providence to myself for several years leading up to that day and hour, I was brought to a place where I was able to rest and rejoice in what God had ordained, even though so much of it was painful and afflictive. But nevertheless, I can honestly say to those people, in essence, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. This is the fruit of preaching the providence of God to ourselves every day. Secondly, we must remember that all God's works of providence for us as His people are working together for the good of our salvation. This is the great truth we've already considered from Romans 8 and verse 28. But I mention it here as a means of grace to exercise our hearts with greater joy in God and what He's ordered and is directing for every circumstance in our lives. Listen, as a child of God, we can say, this circumstance, whatever it is, this circumstance, God is working to conform me more into the image of Christ. Do you feel the weight of that? Do you really feel the weight of that, whatever the circumstance is? Now I grant you there are many circumstances in our lives where we may be walking away scratching our heads and wondering, now how is this conforming me to the image of Christ? I mean, Lord, did I really need this to make me more like Jesus? Well, who are we to question infinite wisdom? God knows best, right? God knows best. Yes, this is in my life to make me more like Christ. No matter what it is. Finally, prizing the Triune God in Providence is learning to submit quietly to His providence. This last point is one that I actually took from the Puritan, Thomas Watson, in his own exposition on the providence of God. Watson exhorted his readers. You know how good this is. Listen. He said, do not murmur at things that are ordered by divine wisdom. It is a sin as much to quarrel with God's providence as to deny His providence. Let us be content that God should rule the world. Learn to acquiesce in His will and submit to His providence. Does any affliction befall you? Remember, God sees it is that which is fit for you, or it would not come. Do you catch what he just said? Listen to that again. Remember, God sees it is that. Whatever that affliction is that has come into your life, God sees it is that which is fit for you. Or, it would not come. Your clothes cannot be so fit for you as your crosses. That is such a classic Puritan way of phrasing things. Your clothes cannot be so fit for you as your crosses. God's providence may sometimes be secret. I don't know what He's doing. I just know that He's doing. I know He's working. God's providence may sometimes be secret, but it is always wise. It is always wise. Now, of course, the key of this final exhortation, this last application, is that we learn to submit quietly to God's providence. This has to be learned. Are you catching that? Are you seeing what I'm putting in italics? Of course you are. You have the manuscript in front of you. This has to be learned. It is a part of the process of sanctification. For example, Joseph was not telling his brothers that what they meant for evil, God meant for good when he was first thrown into the pit. That's not when Joseph uttered those words. It would be 13 years later that those words would emerge. Joseph learned to submit quietly to God's providence. Paul the Apostle told the Philippian church that he had learned to be content in all circumstances. Philippians 4.11 The context of this contentment was learning to live without the financial support of the Philippian church. Now, how long did this take for Paul? How long did this take? It took ten years. It took ten years. Ten years of learning to submit quietly to God's providence, withholding the support of the Philippian church. And brothers and sisters, the same is true for every one of us. The same is true for every one of us. Prizing God in His providence does not turn on like a light switch. I wish it did. But it doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't come automatic to us. Our quiet and joyful submission to His works of providence? Listen closely. It is learned through many tears, through many disappointments, through many setbacks, and falling to the flesh. Sanctification is a life-long process. And prizing the triune God in prominence, as I've just mentioned, is a part of our sanctification. Praise be to God that even this, He is working together for our good. So, may we be encouraged today. And may we trust God that He will continue this work of grace in us all whereby we will grow each day to embrace with joy what our Triune God is ordering, what He is directing, what He is disposing and governing in every detail of our lives for His glory and for our ultimate good. in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen? Amen. Let us pray.