Well, good evening, and welcome back to my very last evening service. Because then we're going to go to the afternoon service. Tonight, we'll be continuing our plot through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and we'll be looking at question 11, what are God's works of providence? And we'll be looking at this through the lens of Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21. So please turn there with me in your Bibles. I always turn in this guy here, and then I always read from my manuscript. All right, Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21. Please stand for the reading of God's word. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. So reads the Word of God, let us pray. Our God and Father, mighty King and Sovereign over all the cosmos. How often do we stray away from the truth that all things are in your hands, Lord? We ask for the eyes to see the providence that you give, the grace that you provide, Lord. We ask that you provide that same providence and grace this evening as this message be delivered, that we may grow up in knowledge of how good our father is, the good things he gives us, Lord. We ask this all to your glory and in your son's name, amen. You may be seated. The last 13 chapters of Genesis are that of one chain of events after another. Joseph's dreams, and then his father sending him to check up on his brothers, and the sudden plot of his brothers to sell him into bondage, and then his encounter with Potiphar's wife. the faulty memory of the cupbearer, the unexpected visit for food by Joseph's hungry brothers, and the joyful reunion of father and son. This all comes to a head in our text. We don't know if Jacob actually instructed his sons to plead for forgiveness, but what is clear is that they are all fallen into anxiety. fearful of their brother's justful wrath. In this text, we see a group of people who are given to fear of the unknown, and a man whose comfort, even in the face of his traitor brothers, comes from knowing what the works of providence are. Verses 20 and 21, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph not only knew the works of God's providence, but he had experienced them firsthand. This is why this text is a repeated scripture proof for providence. God is acting and God is in control. Our shorter catechism question, question 11, what are God's works of providence? Answer, God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. And this is our aim for tonight, to know the proper view on providence. We'll take it in three points. First, what is providence and the works in? Second, the obscured hand. And third, living in God's hands. So starting with our first point, our doctrine, what is providence? We have a whole slew of wonderful Christian words that theology provides for us, but all too often, many of us have been caught sitting and nodding as the preacher goes on about some fantastic word we know nothing about. At least that's true for me. None of these are more true than with providence. The catechism and our text gives us a clue as to what this means. It has something to do with God's control over all the action and activity in the world. And it's just that. Providence is God's sovereignty in action. His sovereign control over all creation as it happens right now. Kids, well, in fact, everyone, An easy way to remember providence and to make it distinct from ordinance. Ordinance, order, is the plan that was made long ago. And providence is the doing and keeping of the plan. God is in action over every little event and over every big event. God was in action and in control when Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers. He was also in control of the famine when Jacob and his sons were staring down starvation and fled to Egypt for food. And though the brothers could not see past their finite perception, Joseph comforted them with the essence of what the shorter catechism offers. God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all his creatures and all their actions. We can observe, even through Joseph's life, that not all of God's providence, his actions, are equal and the same. The gentle breeze on your face is providence, but it is a much different providence than, say, raising someone from the dead. And it would benefit us to know the different types and the distinctions between the providence our Father gives us. Commonly, there are three categories of providence. The first and most common of providence is what we call general providence. This is the Lord's natural and constant control over everything in the whole cosmos. Every drop of rain, every bolt of lightning, every normal thing that occurs Acts chapter 14 verse 17, yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. To the world, this is the laws of nature, physics. In general providence, God commonly uses the normal means of nature to achieve his ends. The sun is indeed, as physics suggests, on a set path flying through the cosmos, and yet every day God guides it along that path. The second category is special providence. Special providence is God's action of bending all of general providence to the benefit of the church. Romans 8 verse 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose. You've heard stories, I'm sure, of saints being blessed with surprise finances or surviving an accident that would normally prove fatal. This is the result of special providence. The Lord will direct all of the world to the betterment and care of Christ's church. While these stories are true in the cases of special providence, It is not the ultimate view in mind. God is bringing you and his whole church closer to salvation. That means that all things that occur, even and especially tragedies, are happening for your ultimate good and security. These things fall out so that you may depend more upon the Lord. Or they happen to reveal your heart. Or that in His own ways you are kept in His hands. Every tragic pain is thus ultimately a blessing. There are no tragedies in the long run, beloved. None at all. And finally, our third category, miracles. This is when God acts in a way that disregards all normal means to bring about something miraculous. But didn't I just explain this? escaping a near-death experience, being healed from a horrible disease. Aren't those miracles? No. at least not in the normal way that they occur. You see, in the way of special providence, we can pray for the health of a loved saint, and God will direct, say, the white blood cells to build up and overtake the illness, to battle their way to health. That is wonderful. And indeed, we can commonly say miraculous, But that is God using the normal means of the world to bring about something special. A miracle, though. The Lord works against what is common to nature. Remember in Romans chapter 4, verses 19 through 21, Paul looking back at Abraham and says that Abraham and Sarah's bodies were so old that they were dead. Sarah's womb was actually dead, unable to bear any children. And God did what is impossible to nature and brought life to it with a baby boy. Physics says that normally things that are dense like metal will sink in water, like that of an axe head. In 2 Kings 6, verse 6, Elisha is with a man who, while swinging his axe, the axe head flies off and lands in the River Jordan. The man who was using the axe was borrowing it. Uh-oh. But not to have his own brought to shame, God had the metal float on top of the water as if it were wood. 2 Kings 6, verse 6, then the man of God said, where did it fall? When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. When Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb in John 11, Lazarus had been dead and rotting for days. But at the moment that Jesus said, Lazarus, come out, all the dead fibers in the rotting body began to weave back together into muscles. Brain functions came back on out of nowhere, and a still heart began to beat. If a miracle is what happens when God works against what is natural, then a miracle occurs every time the lost becomes found. When a sinner, dead to God, comes to life in faith, it is a miracle when the saint repents. There is more wonder and miracle at work in the sinner who repents of their sins than there will ever be in the sustaining burning of the sun. Praise God that he does not depend on nature, but he can work without it. Now, at this point, there might be opposition that may suggest that the laws of nature and physics are the only surety we can have. Providence is not observable. Someone could say, science perfectly observes the movements of nature. Everything has a self-governing power. To this, we should all say, go back to school, or at least maybe a good one. There is no observable inherent power in anything to keep it from simply falling apart into nothingness. This is true for everything. This is true for the burning of the stars, for you, for me, for atoms and their quarks. For providence is more than just the actions and the ongoings of God, the catechism states that it is also in the preservation of all things. Right now, God is holding everything together, keeping it from falling apart into nothingness. Hebrews chapter one, verse three, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. All of this And there are still those who are not convinced. They are not convinced of providence because of a lack of, or a presence of, actually, proof found in nature. No. Instead, their heart tells them that this cannot be. Let's move on to our second point then, the obscured hand. When we read through scripture, we have the advantage of the reader's perspective. We can see the thoughts of men on paper, and at times we can see the explicit desires of God. But for the brothers of Joseph, their perspective was limited. They could not see beyond the impending threat upon their lives. And their reaction is a familiar one, fear. How many of us here have been in panic over what we do not know? Who has been worried about war and the death it could bring? Were you worried about the outcome of the elections and the national strife that would follow? The well-being of your children maybe? We fear because we do not know the hand of God as clearly as we desire to. We desire to know what he knows for our own security. This fear is different, though, from fearing the Lord. We should fear his wrath. We should fear losing communion with him. This is not the same as living in fear of tomorrow, no. If you fear the unknown, then certainly you are out of step with trusting with the Lord's careful hand. But still, this is not the unconvinced people that I am referring to. It is you, individual, wherever you are. You know you are the one who knows all too well that God is present. You know He is active and sees all things. And yet you feel, perhaps now or later, or at times in the past, that God has abandoned you. that he is active with everyone else but you. This may give the impression that there is permission in the seclusion of your heart for sin to go unnoticed. Soon, as time drags on, this private entertainment becomes habit. Yes, you know that the Lord can see it and hates it, but its secret is in your heart and yours alone. Oh, you can handle it. Repentance is a private thing, isn't it? Those are the lies that you tell yourself. But then you come to church and you begin to wonder, should I say this prayer with the fellowship? Should I partake of the Lord's Supper? Oh, I can handle it. God'll save me from this too. You know that God is sovereign, but your heart has convinced you that there are some things that he just leaves alone, you being one of them. Eventually, this will grow to a type of spiritual paranoia. If anyone finds you out, oh, the shame it will bring upon you. Days and weeks go by and you see no activity from the Lord. At the same time, you are well aware that this cannot continue. God will have his day. He will bring you to correction. And you think to yourself, when will he punish me? When will I be brought into the right? If this is you, you need to know the truth. During this time of quietness, of what you perceive as inactivity, oh no, God is acting with all intent for you. He is a father whose hand is not ready to strike, but rather it is open in invitation. He is saying, my undeserved grace is also a providence for you. The days that lacked retribution were instead filled with patience and opportunity for you to come. Do you see that in those times of quiet how much he loves you? Your sins are not private, and yet he still invites you, you who have worked in the dark. He has built up your desires for him. He has increased your sensitivity to sin. He is saying, come back to him through Christ. He will take every sin and wipe away every tear. He will take you in and set you free. The greatest of all providences has already taken place. Christ died for those who are faint of courage and for those who cannot see the love of God so clearly. Christ is inviting you through Matthew 11 verse 28, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. and I will give you rest. Do not live like this. Know that God is working for your good right now in the quiet. Every time you go without punishment, for your actions, the gospel should be ripping through your ears. Lay it before Christ. Come to his church. Come to his under shepherds. Come to Christ and sin no more. God's providence is more than the actions taken. It is fatherly care. And he is the most gentle father who is careful to let nothing go unnoticed. He has not forgotten you. He is being severely gracious with you. Let's move on to our points of application. Living in God's hand. What do our lives look like when we apply the knowledge of God's works of providence to our lives? Well, one point of application is that we should live an anxiety-free life. When you understand that God is in control of every aspect of reality, what is there to worry about? The most powerful judge, your God, is in control. And he has told you in his word that he is working everything toward your good. A town poor of water, it cannot destroy me. a global persecution of the church, it'll never happen. It will never be able to destroy it. Troubles with work? God will still find a way to preserve you. There is no fear to be had while in the Lord. What does that life look like on a man? A life in God's hands. One without fear? I'll tell you. It's a happy life. Every bit of providence dispensed to me is ultimately a blessing. Though I cannot see the immediate purpose, I can know the chief purpose. God desires to keep his church. We should believe like Joseph believed in the verse 20 of our text. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. My pain, my worries and fears, they may last for today. They may last for tomorrow or next week. But I know that ultimately, whatever is happening now will lead me to unending joy of communion in the house of my God. And that is a happy view. I'm not lying, it is relaxing. There is no dread on the news that can surmount the good providence of God towards his church, which of course leads us to this application. live a life of giving glory to God. We have seen his general providence. He is holding together everything right now. He is holding you together. He is holding the mountains and the sky together so that you may look and say, God of wonders. He shakes the earth and he darkens the skies for his glory and your awe of him. In his special providence, by the power of his word, he is holding the church together now as much as he is holding reality together. He will never let it fade away. He will never let you and your faith fade away. He will grow new churches where he pleases. He will stifle heresies and grow up leaders as he sees fit. Give God worship and glory for the miracles that he is doing. When did you believe? It was at that moment that God brought the dead to life. Is there a new soul in your family? Nature cannot produce that. Are you living as the brothers of Joseph who have been shown undeserved grace by a God who is patient with your sin? Give Him the glory. Or are you living as Joseph, knowing full well that your Lord works everything for your good? Give Him the glory. For your Father is wise, holy, and powerful, and governs all His creatures and their actions. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, powerful Father, what a relief, what a lightness of the heart that Christ has purchased for us. Oh, please convince us by way of your Spirit, Lord, to shed doubt, to shed fear and anxiety, that we may live as faithful sons and daughters, sure of our Father's good works, Lord. We ask that you are patient with us as we look to the left and the right and our doubts and fears grow. Continue to keep your arms open and hold on to us, Lord. May we grow into the confidence that your son has, knowing full well that The great Father cares for His whole church, Lord, that we may grow into the confidence of Christ, into His image. We pray for all this in His name, amen.