Well, dear young people, I ask you now to please turn your very prayerful attention to those words that I read to you there in the Gospel of Matthew in the chapter 10. And just as we start this afternoon, as you know, we're going through the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, that Reformed Confession of Faith. And we've come to the fifth chapter now entitled Of Divine Providence and I wish to just first of all begin by pointing you to a verse in Matthew chapter 10 in the verse 29 and then the verse 30 That speaks to this issue and the Lord Jesus Christ clearly sets forth here that God is over all things that God in his providence provides but he also indeed carries out all of his decree nothing happens and without God's determining it. And we read, I'll read for context, verse 28, and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And then the Lord says, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And then we read, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Not one sparrow will fall to the ground without God the Father, without God's determining it. And then he says, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. And so that's the application. Even your hairs are numbered, just as the sparrows are all known to God and not one of them shall fall to the ground. The Lord is addressing his disciples that he's just about to send out and we're told here he even gives them power to perform these many miracles. Everything is determined by God. The power he gives the disciples, he's given them life, we have our life, Our being in God, we are created by Him. He sustains the world, the universe, everything is kept in place by Him. All the animals, all the creatures, everything in this world, the cities that they were to go into and to preach the Word of God, and we're even told in this passage that they were not to take any food with them. They were not to take any of the necessities because God in His providence would provide for them. The places where they are not received, they are to remove themselves from those places and to go elsewhere. They have a more important work to do than to make friends here upon the earth. They are to go and to preach the gospel. We're even told in this passage as we read it, that even a man's own enemies will be of his own household. For the Lord has said concerning his people. Verse 35, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Now, how does this happen? Well, of course, God in his providence, when he makes somebody a Christian, the whole world changes for us, doesn't it? The world will not receive God's people. God doesn't put, as it were, evil disposition in men's hearts. But unsaved people have a natural variance against God's people. There is a natural evil disposition against the Lord and against the Lord's people. This is how he brings peace. When somebody is united by grace through faith and the work of Christ to another Christian, there's peace and now there's fellowship. Think of the Apostle Paul, who was once an enemy of the church, but all of a sudden, he now becomes the greatest asset and friend of the church. But the sword that comes, comes through our being united to Jesus Christ. Now, that may well be for some here today, you have difficulty in your family because now you've become a Christian. and the world hates you. So this is all by providence, isn't it? This is all by God ordering and decreeing everything in our lives. So we are thinking here in the fifth chapter now of our studies in the confession, it's entitled Of Divine Providence. Divine meaning God's providence. Whenever we speak of providence, We don't speak of a natural providence, we speak of divine providence because God has determined everything in this world. Things don't just happen, and you know, sometimes people use that word rather haphazardly, don't they? And they say, well, that's providential. And I'm not speaking about a Christian here using that term, but even worldlings, even people of this world use that term providence, don't they? They speak of providence or something being providential, as if it's meant to happen. But we use that word in its proper sense. The word really could be divided in two. Provide, dense. But who is it provided for and by? It's provided, God provides for his people, for the beasts of the field, for men. He provides for the world. Everything is dependent upon God. Even this earth, I suppose, spinning on its axis, the seasons, the summer, the winter, the rain, everything is by God. Even the place that we were born in, the country, the parents that we have, that has all been determined by a mighty God. Just very briefly there to the book of Acts and the 17th chapter. Acts 17. And you notice with me there in the verse 24, it says, God hath made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship with men's hands, as though he needed anything. seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. Now notice this, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. That's where you would live. He determined your first birth. where you would be born, what country you'd be born in, who your grandparents were. He determined everything, your looks. Everything has been determined by God. He is made of every nation by one blood. We all come from Adam. Paul here is on Mars Hill and addressing the Athenians, and they've got lots of idols to The various so-called gods, of course, there's only one God. And it's quite striking and quite ironic that there is, he finds, an idol made to the unknown God. And Paul says, I want to tell you about this unknown God. This is the God who hath made the world and all things. Look at the previous verse there, 23. He said, I find that you're rather superstitious. They're just trying to cover all their bases. The gods that they are bowing down to worship, they can touch, feel, and see, and even they can break those silly little gods. But our God is in the heavens, who has made all things by the power of his word. Now in our studies of the confession, so far we have I'll just go over the chapters. There's only been four that we've looked at. First of all, we began with the Holy Scriptures. And remember, the confession begins with the Scriptures and not with God, because it is in the Scriptures where we find out about God. But the Scriptures begin with that one verse, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And again, when we come to the Scriptures, the Bible doesn't begin with explaining that God is. It just tells us that God is. And man knows this. Man knows this by even creation, Romans chapter 1. Paul says, does he not, that even the invisible, by the invisible things that are made, that God has made, we can, by his invisible attributes, he has made the things that we see, so that man is without excuse. If you just turn there with me to Romans, At chapter 1, Paul mentions this, Romans chapter 1. Immediately after saying that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then he explains why the wrath of God is coming. Verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. What do they hold the truth about, down about, about God? Because he emphasizes verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, it's shown in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. God reveals himself by the power of creation. Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens and the earth declare the glory of God. So we thought about God and particularly, first of all, the Holy Scriptures. And then we thought in the second chapter of the doctrine of God and the Trinity. And we spent quite a bit of time there. And then we thought, naturally, of God's decree. It's seen as one eternal decree. And in that decree, even now as we're thinking of providence, do you see how this fits so perfectly? God has planned everything. So within that decree he has determined many things and that those many things are all part of one essential eternal decree. And ultimately all of that will culminate in his glory. And then Last time we thought of creation, fourthly, God's creation, how he has made the heavens and the earth. And then we thought of how he has made man utterly different to the animal kingdom, that he made man not only to have a body, but he made him a living soul. And he was made in the image of God and made to know God and to love him. and to worship him. How are we made in the image of God? Well, originally, in righteousness and in holiness. This is what the scriptures tell us. And when we're born again, we are renewed in that righteousness and holiness. Of course, we're only made righteous, perfectly righteous, in the Lord Jesus Christ. But when we're saved, God not only gives us the righteousness of his but He actually begins by His Spirit that begins to change us because He lives in us to sanctify us so that we have a new life conformed to righteousness and holiness. So we thought last time of creation in general, but the peculiar and the special creation that God brings about in somebody that is born again. Does the scripture not say, young people, whoever is in Christ is a new creature? You know, we should marvel at creation, of course. You know, we look out the window there and we see the beautiful things that God has made. What a lovely, sunny, although it's a winter afternoon, it's a lovely day and we see the beautiful things all around. But you know, The new creation in the soul is something that the angels surely must marvel over. We who once didn't love God, our hearts now are made to worship, to know, and to love God. And I hope that this afternoon as we consider this next chapter, and certainly we'll only be able to see just perhaps three of the paragraphs of the Confessions 5th chapter, that we'll see things that will cause our hearts to marvel, worship, and adore the Lord. Truly, when we come to study the Word of God, we're not studying it right unless it moves our hearts to love Him, to praise Him, to thank Him for all that He has done and all that He has vouchsafed to do in our souls and in the souls of others, how He will The scriptures say, the wrath of man shall praise God. Think of it. The wrath of man shall praise God. And then it goes on to say, and the remainder of wrath shall he restrain. Even the wrath of Pharaoh, think about it. That praised God, didn't it, in the end. And God restrains even the remainder of wrath that a man might have so that the world is not as a wicked place as it really could be. There are what we call the common operations of the Holy Spirit, indeed subduing even men's hearts right now so that the world is not as wicked as it could be. More on that later. We want to consider, as I said, this doctrine of divine providence. Firstly, let me say, since we thought last time of God's creation, since God not only created the world, but also upholds the world. The confession, you notice here, now naturally passes from that doctrine of creation to that of divine providence over his creation. Now you should all have reference sheets there with all the Bible references that I've prepared for you in the confession, and I hope that will be helpful. Well again, what does this word providence mean? But when you consider the etymology of this word, the study of it, the history of it, and how it came into being, you can actually see two words here. Providence. And ultimately, you might say, well, my parents have provided for me. And they, providence, there's providence in them, yes, but who gave your parents health, strength? Who sustains the world that they're in? God is behind everything, isn't he? He is providing. So you can see there the word providence. God extends his providence to man and all the world. He upholds all things the scriptures tell us. And if you just look at Ephesians 1, 11, you notice it says there, he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Now some people sometimes speak of secondary causes. But even when it comes to secondary causes, you can think of maybe how a good example would be the Lord Jesus Christ. How did he go to the cross? We could say, as the scriptures declare, he would be put to death by the hands of wicked men. But even that was in God's working out of everything, wasn't it? So you can see even the secondary causes of God. The powers of nature and even the will of man do not work independently of God. That's the first thing we would say. If you turn with me now, just look at the Confessions first statement, paragraph one. The God God, the good creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence. There's the word. To the end for which they were created according to his infallible knowledge and free and immutable or unchangeable counsel of his will. See, one will. the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy." And of course, there are copious amounts of references there. Now God, of course, is over all things, even men's hearts. If you just turn with me to that well-known proverb, Proverb 21, in the verse 1, I want you to see there how it refers to the fact that even the king's heart, and you can imagine maybe Pharaoh's heart. Do you remember how the Lord said, I hardened Pharaoh's heart? It says there in Proverbs 21 verse 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. Water, sometimes you think of a river, what we call meander, and there's all kinds of ways it goes, but the Lord can turn, as it were, the heart. It says, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He, that is God, turneth it whithersoever he will." Now, does this mean that God puts evil dispositions in men's hearts? No. I'll use an illustration in a moment that Stephen Charnock, the 17th century Puritan, often used. But let us just look at Pharaoh, and I'll come to that illustration in a moment. If you turn to Romans 9, and look at verse 14, Romans 9 verse 14, the Apostle Paul is speaking here about God hardening some men's hearts, and here particularly in purview is Pharaoh's heart, whom he hardened. Of course, we've got to realize we are born with a sinful and a wicked and a depraved heart. Man is naturally born averse to God. The carnal mind is enmity with God. It's not subject to God's will, neither indeed can it be. Romans 8, 7. But look at Romans 9, 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God, that showeth mercy. Now it says, For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Now you say, what do you mean, he will harden? Well, if you briefly turn with me there to Exodus and the fourth chapter, you'll notice there what the Lord says to Moses about Pharaoh. Moses is to go to Pharaoh with Aaron, his brother, and to say to Pharaoh, who's keeping the Hebrew people as slaves and will not release them, he's benefiting from their hard labor, he's using them, and they are multiplied now. to a great number of people, and they are being called now by the Lord out of this land, and Pharaoh will not let them go. And you notice in verse 21 it says, and the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh. Of course, Moses did do many wonderful acts, didn't he, by the Lord, the dividing of Many things, and then even the very last, the dividing of the Red Sea, even the turning of the Nile into blood, all the plagues, you can think of these ten plagues that came over Egypt. But all of those didn't incline Pharaoh's heart to the Lord, but actually made his heart even harder. And it says there, See that thou do all these wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thy hand. But I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. Now, you see, this was the problem. Pharaoh, because he was a sinner, because he wasn't saved, the more he was shown without a changed heart, the harder that heart actually became. Because the natural heart is against God. Now I said I'd use this illustration. Stephen Sharma, 17th century Puritan, used this illustration with wax and heat. So what he did, I'm sure you've taken some wax, maybe you take a candle, put it next to the stove. What happens? It softens. It softens. But take it away, it hardens, doesn't it? When somebody comes maybe to church, Or there's influence in a country. Maybe you can think here in England, there's Christian influence. That's a good thing. People's consciences can be troubled. People then can start to think differently. But then you remove that influence. What happens? Society becomes hard again, doesn't it? You see somebody, maybe they've gone to church for a while. They aren't regenerated. They're not saved. They come to church. And then they come away. A church is something happens, I don't know, something happens in their life and they stop coming to the church. And then you realize this is a different person. This person has become so hard. Sometimes this happens because God passes what we call judicial hardening over people. And God is right to do this. Men don't want to change. Men don't want to bend and bow to God. They are hard, naturally, hard in their hearts. Sometimes we speak, and I don't think it's a correct term, sometimes we hear the word common grace. Here I'm speaking about certain things that happen in life. Grace is very different to providence. Grace is something that cannot be rescinded. When God saved somebody by grace, he never forsakes that person. That's why I don't use that term common grace, but I prefer to use what the Puritans used, the common operations of the Holy Spirit, and the common operations of God in the world. For instance, we might even look at this country and say, well, the weather's really quite conducive, isn't it, to good living. But you might go somewhere else, to another part of the world, and you will see, particularly in places that are idolatrous, and I'm talking about of the most rank kind, where people worship cows and snakes. And you see all kinds of bad things happen, or some parts of the world that have become terribly sexually immoral. And you may think of the West Coast of America on that southern part by San Francisco where the fault lines lay in some places, in some areas, and there are great catastrophes. And sometimes there you sometimes see the judgments of God. And we could say that those are the operations of God. God is over all creation. And sometimes, for instance, we remember that if you look at history in the year 74 AD. A lot of people don't know this, but there was terrible homosexuality in Italy. And we know that Mount Vesuvius erupted. And they have discovered ancient artifacts of just how terribly sodomous that part of the world was. And the Italians are so ashamed, so embarrassed now, they've dug up in their excavation some of the pottery depicting some of the lewd, terrible acts of men. And we have to say that all things are of God. Sometimes judgments, volcanoes, earthquakes, famines. We are told in the Bible that these things are warnings to men. And it's interesting of the ancient 22 civilizations of this world, when they have succumbed, even like the Aztecs and the Incas, to sodomy, which is, we're told by Paul in Romans chapter 1, when God gives men over to a reprobate mind. Whenever you study those ancient civilizations, and now they have become extinct, one has to wonder, Was that the judgment of God? But of course, it tells you, even Paul says, nature tells you itself. And I, every time I'm confronted with somebody who wants to celebrate this which is evil, it's terrible, men with men and woman with woman, I've often reminded them, the human civilization would cease to exist, really, wouldn't it? if everybody was like that. It's against nature. It's against God. It's against creation. And I often remind them that they wouldn't even be alive if they didn't have a mother and a father. Now we speak of the common operations of the spirit. And so when we speak of these things we must be very careful. It's not grace. Grace is never rescinded from the recipients. The elect have been chosen from all eternity. So we don't use that word frivolously, grace. So we should speak in that way. Now there's some wrong views on providence and I want to bring them to your thoughts here this afternoon as we continue to make our way through this first paragraph. Maybe you've heard of this and it's important because there's a lot of There are a lot of novel ideas floating out there on the internet. Firstly, there is this false view of providence in terms of what they called deism. Now, maybe you've heard of deism. It's the false idea that God created the world, established its laws, and then has walked back away from the world. In other words, he's made everything, and now he just leaves it to see what happens. And if there's a problem, sometimes he comes in and he intervenes with the world. In other words, he's not over all the things that are taking place in this earth. In other words, it's kind of like the world and all that is in the world is like a clock that God has wound up and he just lets it run off. And sometimes he comes in, but only when really needed, does he come in and deal with matters. That God is not in the weather, that God doesn't send the storms. We'll see from Scripture how God sends the storms, how God sends the whale, how God sends all kinds of things in this world, how God is over every creature, over everything in this world. And then there's the false idea, and maybe you've heard this, of open deism. Have you heard that? Well, it is a false theological perspective that posits that God's knowledge and plans for the future are conditional to human free will. In other words, God doesn't know the future. God is entirely dependent upon men and their will. It's contrary to biblical theism. when we think of theism, and here, don't get confused, I'm using the word, deism and theism. Deism is a bad thing. Theism is a good thing, because it is about God being in control and ordering everything. And then there is what we call, and this is what the, particularly people who have these very strange ideas of God, like the Hindus, We speak of pantheistic conception. That's another false idea. The pantheists and pantheism conception does not recognize the distinction between God and the world. In other words, God is part of the world. And this is a very strange thing, isn't it? Like God could be in the tree. Like God could be in the hill or something like that. God can be in the sun. But that is not what the scriptures declare, and that is not what Christ declared. Even the Lord Jesus said, in the beginning, he made them both male and female, didn't he? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God is utterly separate, but he is not somehow detached from this world. He has determined everything in this world, everything that is going to happen. It's very important. In Acts 15 verse 18 we read, known unto God are all his works, not some of them, are all of his works from the beginning of the world. From when? From the beginning of the world. All of his acts. Remember what the Lord Jesus said, not a hair falls from your head, not a sparrow falls to the ground without your father's will. Every single leaf, every single microcosm is known to God. Every blade of grass redounds to God's glory. So there in chapter 5, paragraph 1, from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence to the end for which they were created according to his infallible foreknowledge and free and immutable counsel of his will, to the praise and the glory of his wisdom. Power, justice, infinite goodness and mercy. Now think about it. The billions of things that are taking place in this world right now has been decreed by God. Now that just blows the mind, doesn't it? When you think of how great the sun is, how great is the sun, you can't stare at the sun, not for very long until you go blind. Right? But think about this. God made the sun. How could we ever, as it were, gaze into his glory? Who created the sun? And not just the sun, but astrologers have discovered there are a plethora of suns, galaxies. made by God. And think of all the billions and billions and billions of things. I mean, there are over seven billion people living on this planet right now. But not only that, David says in Psalm 139, my thoughts are known of thee. Even afar off, even before I think them, God knows my thoughts. Well, he had to have known my thoughts because Christ Jesus died for my sins. He knew my heart. He knew all that I would ever do. This is amazing, isn't it? How great, how infinite God is in his power, in his wisdom, and in his providence. Now there are many things to prove this. Firstly, you notice the confession cites there Hebrews 1 verse 3. I'll read it to you. Speaking here of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is very God. It says, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, that is the Father, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Do you see the picture there? It speaks of Christ being on the cross, Christ, who even when he was on the cross, was upholding all things by the power of his word. Then, it says, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. When he was on the cross, Isaiah says, and we have words of how Christ Jesus there in Isaiah, it says, Christ speaking prophetically, And I trod the winepress alone, and my fury it upheld me. While he was dying on the cross, there was a fury in his heart. He who was the just dying for the unjust, he was very God on the cross, suffering and dying for his people. And it was his fury, but it was also his love for his people that was upholding him. Should not that make our hearts love him and praise him? for all that he is, and he was upholding the very universe at that time. It is amazing. And then, this very Lord Jesus, you notice even in that very passage there in Hebrews 1.8, the Father says, but to the Son he said, thy throne, O God. This very Son is God the Son. It's amazing. It's a good verse to give to the Jehovah's Witnesses. that deny the deity of Christ. And then you can read the confession sites there, Isaiah 46 verse 9. How God says, he will even call a ravenous bird from the east, a man that executes my counsel from a country. He says, my counsel shall stand, I shall do all my good pleasure. The Lord says there, I am the Lord and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. God declares the end from the beginning, the end. He can go back in time and tell you, I did this, I've done this. Have I not set the waters? Have I not set the planets in their orbit? Have I not sustained Palladius and the marvelous galaxies? Did I not make all things? Will I not perform my will and my good pleasure? This should make us tremble, surely, this afternoon, shouldn't it? God who knows even your thought right now, what you're thinking, whether you want to be here or not, He knows. Your heart, nothing is hidden from the eyes of Him, says the Apostle Paul in Hebrews, with whom we have to do. Right now, He knows your heart and my heart. The Lord Jesus who could read the hearts of men, don't think that He can't read them right now. He knows everything. Now, it goes on to say, paragraph two now, although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause and all things come to pass, notice that immutably and infallibly. Immutably means unchangeably. Infallibly means just as God has said. So that there is not anything before any by chance. or with his providence." We never use the word chance. There's no such thing as chance. Everything befalls by his providence. Yet by the same providence, he ordered them to fall out according to the nature of second causes. God will use the means, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. A good example, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ's death. If you turn just very briefly to Acts chapter 2, Peter hears preaching on the day of Pentecost to the guilty Jews. And you know this passage very well. Of course, you can turn to Holy Scripture, you can read of the way in which Christ would die, that he would suffer, that his hands would be pierced, that his side would be pierced, that he'd be crucified. And even his prayers are there in the Psalm 22, and so on. And Psalm 16, where David quotes from, and he says, ye men of Israel, hear ye these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know. Him being delivered, notice, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You see what Peter says here? It was determined by God, but you did it. God used these men. They are the secondary causes. It was the evil disposition of men that took the Lord to the cross. But unwittingly, God the Father would not spare his son in those last few hours on the cross, but he would be the sin bearer of his people. This is how God would save his people. He would take the punishment that they would do. This is staggering, isn't it? Men did it, and even Judas is spoken of. You can read many things about Judas, even in the Old Testament. But we are also told in Acts 1 that Judas fell by his own transgression. And it was for money. It was pride. He was just a lost man. But God used him to fulfill his purpose. Now, another example, you may think of Jonah the prophet. If you turn with me to the book of Jonah, and you find there in the book of Jonah, you know the story very well. Remember how Jonah the prophet was running away from his duty to preach to the wicked people of Nineveh. And well, he thought he knew better and he'd catch a ship going to Tarshish. And well, what happened? We're told in verse four of Jonah chapter one, but the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. It was the Lord that sent the wind. The Lord has the control over the sea, doesn't he? And there was a mighty tempest in the sea and the ship was like broken. And then you read that the mariners, they start to ask, what's the cause of all this? They know something's wrong. It's perhaps not the season for storms. Something's unusual. And they find Jonah asleep down in the bow of the ship. And they wake him up. And then we read in verse six there, what meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us. that we may perish not. These men were probably pantheists, believing in many gods. Well, you read, they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. And they threw Jonah in the sea. And then what happened? We're told that the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him. A whale, we're told, in the New Testament. Verse 17, of, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days, three nights. And then we're told, look at chapter two, verse three, when Jonah's praying, he says of the Lord, for thou hast cast me in the deep. It wasn't so, you see, Jonah saw that it wasn't so much the men that cast him, but Jonah saw that it was God. He recognized that this was of God. And you notice even the lot, the lot fell on Jonah. I want to take you to Proverbs 16.33. It says there, Proverbs 16.33, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You know, even if you were to throw a dice, we don't gamble and we don't take bets as Christians, that everything is known of God, isn't it? God knows which way that is going to roll, and so on. The lot is cast into the lap. How do they do these lots? Well, maybe you've heard of drawing the short straw, and sometimes that's what they did. They had different straws, and the shortest would be the loser or the winner. And the lot fell on Jonah. But you see, Jonah was guilty, wasn't he? The lot fell on Jonah. Everything is determined by God. And who threw him in the sea? Jonah acknowledges it wasn't so much the men, but it was God. And young people, you may have difficult things happen in your life. You have to realize that's of God. resist the will of God in a sense. There are many things that have happened to me and sometimes I don't understand why and then I realize God works all things together to them that love him, to them who are called according to his purpose. You know, Stephen Sharnock also spoke of practical atheism. What does that mean? Sometimes we can behave like We don't believe in God when we think he's not in control, when we think he's not ordering things. And that's the worst thing you can do. We sang, didn't we, in that Psalm 93, God is in the heavens. He reigns. He provides for you. He knows every need that you have. And he will provide. He will order. You see, the God of the Armenian, the God of false deity, should we say, is not in control. And where a God is not in control, there's no hope. There's no order. Everything is left to chance. Think of what the Lord Jesus said in that passage that we read. Don't take anything with you. It'll be provided. They were to learn a lesson there, that God would provide their needs. Fear not, he said to them. The Lord prepared the fish for Jonah. The Lord even prepared the men to throw him in the sea so that he might cry unto God in Jonah 2. And so you can see in our paragraph two, although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first calls and all things come to pass, immutably and infallibly, so that there is not anything that befalls any by chance. Now you remember that. Nothing happens by chance, but everything by God is planned, all without his providence. Yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. Sometimes it will have an effect on something else, and you just never know. It's like relationships that you have, friends that you meet, and then maybe that means you're going to meet somebody else, or you'll meet somebody else, and you can take the word of God to them. It's the Lord who opens the doors, isn't it? It's the Lord who gives all things. Paul said, I'll close with this. You remember Paul was due to head to Rome and to face Caesar Nero. And he was on a ship and there was a big storm that had come over called Euryclidon. And the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him, Paul, not a soul will will die and there were well over 370 men on that ship. He said they must remain on the ship. And Paul said, I believe God that it shall be even as it had been told me. There in Acts 27. And then he said to the centurion and soldiers, except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. You see the means was the ship and they had to stay on the ship. And God does use means, doesn't he? And then we're told at the end of the chapter, so it came to pass that they all escaped, all safe to land. The ship was utterly destroyed. And God had said to Paul, the ship will be destroyed, but not a soul will be lost. Now it's true with the Lord Jesus. Not one will be lost who trusts in him. I want you to think about it. Some terrible things have happened in this world. Our minds go back to 9-11 of 2001. Remember that day when the Twin Towers fell. And well over 5,000 people died. I'm not sure of the exact number. But it was an awful day. And we cannot excuse the wickedness of the terrorists and all that they did. It was horrendous, the wickedness of their heart. And those men will be judged for their sin. But you know, there were believers, no doubt, that died on that awful day. And even that was determined by God. But think of it. What a wicked world we live in. It was terrible that 5,000 people died that day. But you know, many, many children die in the wombs of their mothers, aborted. Terrible things happen in this world, don't they? And people don't cry out against these things. We become very desensitized to what is evil. We must remember we all deserve wrath. But what a mercy that God has revealed his son to us, if we're saved. When the millions, and in fact, as I said, there are over seven billion people on this earth right now. And the vast majority have never truly heard the true saving gospel. And many will pass into a lost eternity before long. And that's a sad thought, isn't it? We do go out and we preach the word, but you know, the Lord will direct his people and the Lord will open up hearts to receive his word. And people will come. But by and large, remember what the man said to the Lord Jesus Christ, are there few that be saved? Remember that question the young man put to the Lord Jesus, are there few that be saved or many? But the Lord addressed him personally, didn't he? What did he say? He didn't give him an answer at first. He said, strive to enter in. Christ is the way. Here's the truth. Strive to enter. Consider your own soul first. Maybe some of you listening are far off, you're lost, and you're concerned about providence and how many people are going to be saved. The question is, what about you? Strive to enter in. Enter in by the narrow gate or the narrow door. Christ said, I am the door and I am the way. It's a humble way. It's the way through his sufferings, through his death. Think of those people on that day of Pentecost, when Peter preached to them. He said, ye, by the hands of wicked men, God, rather, by the hands of wicked men, put Christ to death. And many of them were guilty, no doubt, of crying out, crucify him. But the Lord had forgiven many of them, no doubt. Save them. And that's, of course, all of grace. All many had ever merited is God's wrath, and all sinners have merited that. You can think of Joseph, how merciful he was to his brothers. When his father Jacob had died, they feared that Joseph was going to kill him. And he said to them, didn't he? He said, but as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. And there's a greater than Joseph, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is sovereign over all. and gave his life as a ransom for many. What men meant for evil in putting him to death, God the Father meant for good, to save many people, to take them to heaven. This is the blessed message of the gospel. May God bless his word. May we thank him for his providence, especially his providence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.