you Amen. I'm sorry. Amen. Amen. Our call to worship this morning comes from Psalm 103. Let's prepare our hearts to worship God in a moment of silent prayer. Praise God, the bloom of the sin's flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, all God, even below. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Grace, mercy, and peace be granted unto you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ through the operation of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's worship God by singing Psalm 103F. The call to worship this morning came from Psalm 103. Let's sing part of that now. The four stanzas, all four of 103F. His dominion He is one and the alone. Let's examine our hearts and lives now in the light of God's law. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rusted the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. A positive summary of the law according to the Lord Jesus Christ is this, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Having heard God's law, let's respond now by singing from Psalm 119 F. Let's sing all the stanzas, all four of 119F. And won't this day thy judgment board take not thy truth from me? Then in thy law forevermore my dignity won't shall be. and liberty, because thy truth I see, thy truth before the kings of earth, with openness I will speak. and love shall still be joy in heart. With reverence I will hear the laws, and believe them in my heart. Let's call upon our God together in prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, we confess Thee to be God alone. We confess that Thou art the Almighty and the Sovereign God. We know that Thou dost reign over all things in heaven above and on earth below, that no creature can move except Thou dost will it. We're thankful that we have Thee as our Heavenly Father. So that we know all of Thy power and might and sovereignty is exercised on our behalf for our good and our salvation. So that we don't live in dread terror of Thee as a God who is distant and cold in power. But we know Thee to be a Father who dwells very near to us, who loves us, and who does us good and not evil all of the days of our life. We pray that Thou wilt humble us under Thy mighty hand. So often in our pride, we consider our life in our own hands We believe that all things depend upon us, our strength, our understanding. When we have much, we are tempted to think that these things have come by way of our own abilities and strength. We pray that Thou wilt humble us to live in the light of Thy sovereignty. so that we know for ourselves, personally, how dependent we are upon Thee. We're dependent upon Thee for all things. For every breath in our lungs, for every beat of our hearts, for every day of life here below, Thou knowest our going out, our coming in, and all of our ways are in Thy hand. Pray Father that Thou will bestow upon us what we stand in need of for daily life, for our bodies. Continue to provide for our needs. Grant to us also the needs of our souls. We stand in need of to live as Thy children in the midst of this world. Pray for the forgiveness of our sins. We sin so often against Thee. We've done that already this morning. We know that even our holy activity of worship is polluted by sins, weaknesses, the failures of heart and mind, and the distractions of this world. So we plead with Thee for the sake of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Forgive us of our many transgressions. Grant us also daily grace and strength to grow in the Christian life. To grow in faith. To be conformed to the image of Thy Son. Be more Christ-like in our thoughts, our desires, and in our actions. Deliver us from temptation. Guard us from the way of sin. Deliver us from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Give us the grace to walk humbly before Thee. to live as witnesses of Thee in the midst of this world. Grant us comfort, Father, in the light of the many struggles that Thou has sent into our lives. There are so many in our congregation at present with different struggles and afflictions that they're dealing with. Some known publicly, others bearing very private burdens. Continue to give to us the strength to bear these struggles with patience, submitting ourselves to Thy goodwill for our lives. Continue to pray for Geis and Elissa, for their newborn daughter Colette. Pray for her continued growth. Pray for development, for strength, And if it be thy will then the ability to come out of the hospital and to go home. Pray sustain Geis and Elissa through the busyness of life that revolves around the hospital. Grant them patience as well as they wait upon thee and thy will. Pray for aged members and some of the afflictions of old age, the deterioration of body and of mind that they experience. Give to them grace in these last years of their lives as they bear these afflictions. Pray for our widows and widower. in the loss and the loneliness that they continue to experience. Cause them to know thy nearness and presence and friendship in their loneliness. Pray for our members who are unable to meet with us for worship regularly because of old age and affliction. Continue to provide for them the spiritual nourishment that their souls stand in need of. Grant to us as well grace to demonstrate to them the communion of the body of Jesus Christ still. Pray for others who are dealing with afflictions of the body, sickness, disease, chronic pain. According to Thy will, give a measure of healing. Pray for the lonely. For those who are discouraged, disappointed. Pray for the anxious. for the cast down, the despairing, the hopeless, whose way is in a deep pit of despair. We pray, lift up and give hope. Cause the light of Thy countenance to give joy and peace. Pray for those who are dealing with family struggles, difficulties in relationships with others who've been sinfully abandoned, who've been sinfully cut off. Pray for those who are hurting because they've been sinned against, been dealt with unjustly. Pray for those who've been oppressed and abused. There are so many struggles, Father, and yet we know that nothing happens by chance. It all comes from Thy hand. Strengthen our faith truly to believe that. Give us the grace to live in the light of that, so that we walk not by sight, considering merely our circumstances of life, but give us the grace to walk by faith. Look up. and to rest in Thee. Even when we don't understand Thy way for us, even when we don't understand fully Thy purposes, give to us a childlike trust and faith in Thee, knowing that Thou dost work all for our advantage, averting all evil or turning it to our profit. Continue, Father, to bless us as a congregation. Thankful for the communion that we enjoy. Thankful for the time that we could enjoy last night at the church picnic together as a congregation. Bless that time to us as well. Especially, we're grateful to be here together in this holy activity of public worship and to stand in thy presence and to sing thy praises. Cause this time to be a blessing to us. Deliver us from the cares and the concerns of our ordinary daily life. Father, take us outside of and away from ourselves and a concern about ourselves and lift our thoughts, our hearts up on high as we praise Thee and meditate upon Thee in Thy greatness and Thy glory. Grant to us, Father, unity and peace, brotherly love one for another, and spiritual growth and health as a congregation. And for all this, Father, we come humbly, not pleading our own merits or deservedness, but humbly, Father, hear us. For Jesus' sake, Amen. We worship God in the giving of our offerings, first of all for our general fund, and then secondly for the free Christian school in Edgerton, Minnesota. Oh. Let's sing Psalm 104B. Psalm 104B. The sermon this morning has to do with the doctrine of providence, God's rule and governing over all things in his creation. And we sing of that idea here of God's rule over all the different parts of his creation, all the different creatures. Let's sing the first three stanzas and then stanzas five and six. The first three and then five and six. And the deep, oppressed and empty supplies, Supplying the fragile and the sick and sore, With bread in abundance, with wine and with oil. by wisdom divine. A small change he would do just for God's design. Thus he bears his safety, thus shifts to and fro, and creatures like the bird he shall do so. love to thee for their fruit. Thy hand opens wide, they gather the good. Thy grace We read God's holy word this morning from Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore, his people return hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction, How are they brought into desolation as, in a moment, they are utterly consumed with terrors? As a dream, when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before Thee. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish. Hell has destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works. The basis of that word of God and many other passages of the scripture is the teaching of our Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 10. Lords, day 10 is found in the back of our New Psalters on page 588. There we read this. What dost thou mean by the providence of God? The almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were, by his hand he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures. So that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things, come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, by His providence doth still uphold all things. that we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, that in all things which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, this Lord's Day is one of our favorites because it teaches the doctrine of God's providence, which is such an important part of our comfort for living and dying. The truth of God's providence, very simply, is that God rules and directs everything in His creation. All of the movements of the heavenly bodies. The movement of sun, moon, earth. All of the forces in the creation. Storms and wind. All of the different creatures. and all of the events of human history and all the circumstances of the lives of each person, all directed, governed by God in His providence. The truth of providence for the Christian is especially that God directs all things in His care for us, His people. We do not need to live in fear that in his governing of the whole of the universe, God might overlook little me and the circumstances of my life and my needs. Because God in His providence not only governs and directs all things, God cares for His people with a fatherly care. And the truth of providence is even more than that. It's not only that God cares for me while He's also governing all of the big things of the universe. The truth of providence is that God is governing all of these things in the creation for me. and for all of His people for our good. The doctrine of God's providence is a precious comfort to us as believers. And yet, sadly, there are many times in our lives where we do not live mindful of the truth of God's providence. Perhaps in the extraordinary events of life, we remember that God ordained these things, but so often in the ordinary, we forget Him. And we live as if God is not close to us and directing the circumstances of life. Even when times are difficult and there are struggles that God sends into our lives, it's easy for us to have our focus be very narrowly on fixing whatever this struggle is, rather than thinking about God and what God is teaching us in that season of life. So it's good for us to hear again preached the doctrine of God's providence. Not only that we're reaffirmed in what we believe about that doctrine, but also so that truth is very deeply impressed upon our hearts and upon our lives. Consider the Word of God this morning taking as our theme, I believe in the God of Providence. First, let's consider the idea of providence. Secondly, we'll look at the goal or the purpose of God in His providence. And then thirdly, consider what the advantage is to us of God's providence. The Lord's Day 10 gives a good definition of what providence is. Providence is the almighty, everywhere present power of God whereby he upholds and governs all of his creation. There are two main elements to that definition and to the doctrine of providence. First of all, God's providence is his almighty power whereby he upholds his creation. That upholding work of God means that God preserves His creation. He causes the creation and all of the different creatures to continue to exist from moment to moment. God's upholding all things in His providence includes the ordinary manner in which God is pleased to preserve creation in His creatures. It includes the fact that God provides for His creatures. He gives food and drink. He gives life and breath. He gives home and clothing to all of His creatures so that they continue to have their existence. We may lose sight of that in the scientific age in which we presently live. It's very easy for us. to look at the creation and to think everything continues to exist because there are all these natural processes, these natural laws in the creation. Why does the creation continue to exist? Well, because of gravity and the power of electricity and the water cycle and all of these other natural laws and natural processes that keep everything going. It's certainly true that God has created all things and ordained these different laws and powers in the creation. But even though we understand these things and we can study these things, we may lose sight of the fact that behind all of these things, it's God who's preserving his creation. In the end, it's not gravity and electricity and the water cycle that make all things continue to exist. Heavenly bodies would not remain in their courses, and the ocean would not stay within its bounds, and the seasons wouldn't take their turns, and the earth would not provide its fruit. Except God is, by His providence, upholding His creation and providing for His creatures. And that means that God is very close to His creation. God is not a God who is far off, this cold, distant deity who really has nothing to do with His creation. Having created, God in His providence preserves and is very close to His creation. Secondly, the doctrine of providence means that God governs His creation. First of all, He upholds it, and secondly, He governs it. God's governing of His creation means that He rules, He ordains, and He directs everything that takes place in the creation. God is the one who rules and directs all of the movements of the heavenly bodies, of the earth, all of the creatures. God is the one who in his providence directs governs, rules, the affairs of men, all of the events of human history, the rise and the fall of nations, all the different fluctuations of the economy, all is directed by God's providence. And that includes all of the circumstances of our own lives personally. From the moment that we're born until the moment when God is going to take us in death with all of the joys that we experience and all of the sorrows of earthly life. Every circumstance of the life of everyone is governed and directed by God in His providence. And that by his hand, God upholds and governs all things in his providence by his hand. Three different times in Lords Day 10, there's reference made to God's hand. There's a reference to that as well here in Psalm 73. Verse 23, nevertheless I am continually with me, thou hast hold in me by my right hand. Doctrine of Providence is the truth with respect to God's hand. The hand is representative of power and the ability to accomplish some work. Think of everything that we do with our hands, that we're able to accomplish with them. With our hand, the mechanic turns a wrench, and the mother holds a baby, and we write as students in school With our hand, we have the power to accomplish work. God's hand is the hand. God's hand is almighty. By His hand, He's able to accomplish all of His good pleasure. There's nothing that can stay or stop His hand. By His hand, God holds up the whole of the universe moment by moment. Why is it that it continues to exist and it all doesn't fall away and fall apart? It's because God's hand is underneath it and God's hand is holding up the whole of the creation and all of the creatures. Why is it that things happen as they do in God's creation? Why is it that history is carried out the way it does? It's because God's hand is directing it at every moment. God's hand is moving each of His creatures, directing all of human history, and ordaining all things to accomplish His good pleasure and directing them to the goal that He's determined for all things. Providence, very simply, is God's mighty hand. And the hand of God are all things. That's an important element of the doctrine of providence. It answers the question, what's included? Is there a limit? Are there some things that are outside of God's providential rule and control? And the answer is, there's nothing. God's providence is all comprehensive. God upholds and governs all things. All things are in the hand of the God of providence. God by His hand directs all of the vast expanses of the heavens above. All of the stars and all of the different things out there in God's universe, all the different galaxies. Things that are beyond our sight, beyond our knowledge, directed by God. God at every moment governs the weather, the rotation of the earth and its orbit around the sun and the movement of the moon and all of the wind and the waves and the powers in the creation. God upholds and governs in His providence all of His creatures. All of the creatures that live down in the deepest depths of the ocean. All the creatures upon the land. All the creatures in the sky from the vast and the mighty to the tiny and the microscopic. God in His providence upholds and governs the life of every human being including you and me. God by His own hand knit us together stitch by stitch in our mother's womb so that who we are is exactly as God has determined who we are to be. And God is the one who governs every aspect of our life. Nothing stands outside of God's providential rule. That includes the sins of men and of devils. It's one of the harder aspects of the truth of God's providence for us to understand, and yet it is part of the doctrine of God's providence. God rules sovereignly over the sins of men. When we say that, there are some who find that too hard to believe. They say that if God is sovereign over the sins of men, that must mean that God forces men to sin, that God is the author of sin, that He's culpable for sin. Well, it's the case that God is sovereign over sin that does not make God the author of sin or responsible for sin. Word of God is very plain that God also in his providence rules over the sins of men. Think for example of what Joseph confessed in Genesis chapter 50. This is after all this long history of all the sins that were committed against him by his brothers and then what was done to him unjustly in Egypt as he was imprisoned wrongfully. And Joseph confesses in Genesis 50 verse 20, but as for you, Talking to his brothers, he thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. God was sovereign over that and had a good purpose in the sufferings of Joseph. Think of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sins of the unbelieving Jews in the wicked world as they condemned Him and nailed Him to the cross. Peter says in Acts 2 verse 23, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Unbelieving men were responsible for that sin and yet ultimately it was according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God's sovereignty over the sins of men does not mean that God is the author of sin. It doesn't mean that God forces men against their will to sin. Every man sins by his own will. He himself is responsible for sin. He can never blame God and say that God dragged him into this sin against his will. Every man must confess that he himself is guilty and responsible. At the same time that man remains responsible for his sin, yet God reigns sovereign and supreme. And God has determined and directed all of these circumstances of life, including the sins of men, to accomplish His good purposes. Without in any way Indicating that sin is a good thing, sin remains sin, God uses the sins of men to accomplish what are his good purposes. And then the providence of God also includes the seeming evils and the hard things of our lives. This is another of the difficult aspects of the doctrine of God's providence. And yet is the truth of God's word that God in His providence is the one who directs all of the hard struggles and afflictions of earthly life. That's something that the psalmist Asaph was wrestling with here in Psalm 73. Asaph looked out at the lives of others who were ungodly and it seemed to him like their life was very easy and free of trouble. He says in verses 2 and 3, but as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. He's despairing here. He says, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And in the verses that follows describes how it seems like their life is free of care and they're prospering. And he compares that to his own life. It says in verse 14, for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. My life is filled with all kinds of struggle. And he can't understand this. He can't wrap his mind around it until verse 17, I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. And now he understands in the light of God's providence what God is doing in the lives of the ungodly. Surely thou did set them in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction. And he also understands in the light of God's providence what God is doing in his life with all of these chastenings and afflictions. So foolish was I, yet ignorant I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." In the sanctuary of God, he's come to understand the providence of God. And that God is sovereign over all of these struggles and afflictions of life as well. And that's the lot of God's people in this world. Yes, there are times of joy and there's prosperity that God gives, but so often our way is the way of affliction. It's the bearing of a cross. There are many of God's people with various physical infirmities. sickness and pain and breakdown of body and mind, or the care of loved ones who are dealing with all of these struggles. There's loss in death. Loss of a spouse, the loss of a parent, the loss of a child. There's poverty. the failure of a business, the loss of a job, the difficulty to make ends meet, the downturn of an economy. There's disappointment, discouragement that we face. We had these hopes and we made these plans and there were these desires that we had and none of that's come to fruition. There's crushing loneliness. Troubles in marriage. Problems with children. Difficulties in family relationships. Being sinned against. Being dealt with unjustly. Being terribly hurt and abused by others. There's all these struggles of life. And when we consider some of these things, we think, How is this from the hand of God? Being sinned against that grievously? Hurt that badly? Abused? How is that from the hand of God? Yet we believe all things including the hardest and the most painful things that a person can experience in earthly life. All things come from the hand of the God of providence. Which means that the truth of providence is a matter of faith. It's truly only known to believers. How is it that God can be sovereign over the sins of men and yet not responsible for those sins and being the author of sin. Ultimately, it's a matter of faith to believe that. I always said that God is a good God and Father, and yet sends all of these hardships and sufferings into our life. Unimaginable difficulty. It's a matter of faith. We're not able always to connect all the dots and to understand exactly God's purposes in these things, and yet in faith, we believe it. And yet how often don't we live below the level of faith? How often do we live life without a thought of God and of His providence? We wake up in the morning without hardly a thought that God is the one who preserved us and gave us another day of life. We open up the fridge in the morning without a thought that God is the one who's provided us with our daily bread. We drive to work or to school without thought of the fact that God is the one who kept us safe and preserved us. We pass a beautiful field of flowers without thinking God's the one who made them grow. We complain about the weather, it's too hot, it's too rainy, it's too cold, without thinking, no, God is the one who's determined this for today. We get angry about something that doesn't go our way, some annoyance in earthly life, without realizing God is the one who ordained this. Whatever has upset me, whatever has happened that hasn't gone my way, whatever annoyance has just taken place, God is the one who's determined this. Is it the case that we don't speak that way about our life and about God? Because we think that's too pious? We believe the truth of providence. We believe in the God of providence. And that's to govern every step of our way through this earthly life. At every point we are to live in the light of the truth of God's providence. God in His providence, His almighty everywhere present power to uphold and to govern His creation God has a goal. God's governing and directing all things for a purpose. Those who hate God and deny the truth of His providence, like to present God and His providence in caricature form. They say, well, if you as a Christian believe in God's providence, you're believing in this God who's vain, who's selfish, who's fickle, who's capricious, who simply rules over the affairs of men, for himself and he likes to mess with mankind in order just to make their life difficult. That's the God that you believe in if you believe that he rules over everything in this world. Well, that's a caricature certainly of God and of his providence, but think about the flip side of that. For a person who doesn't have God, doesn't believe in the truth of God's providence, what is life? Life is accident. It's chance. Why do things happen the way they do? They just happen that way. There's no rhyme or reason to it. There's no ultimate purpose that stands behind it. Life is basically aimless. There's no goal that all things are being directed toward. We simply live and then we die. We eat and drink and marry. Because life doesn't really have a purpose. It doesn't have a goal. Think about how empty that is. How empty life is if it's all random, and it's all by accident, and there's no goal, and there's no purpose, and there's no God who's ruling over all of these things. That kind of life is absolutely empty. God rules. God rules with a goal, That all things are working towards. There's a purpose in His providential rule over all things. What stands behind God's rule over all things in time and history is His eternal counsel or decree. That's not stated. here in Lord's Day 10, but if you go back to Lord's Day 9, it mentions God's providence there in connection with God's counsel. It says regarding God, who of nothing made heaven and earth with all that is in them, who likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and providence. God's counsel was referred to as well here in Psalm 73. Verse 24, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. God's counsel is his eternal decree, his eternal plan. Before he laid the foundations of the world, before human history, God in eternity planned out and determined everything that would take place. God in eternity not only decreed the eternal destiny of men and of angels, election and reprobation, but God in His eternal decree also planned out and determined all of the events of history and all of the circumstances of the lives of His creatures. Down to the minutest of details that seem to us to be so inconsequential like when a hair falls out of our head. God determined it in His counsel in eternity. God's providence refers to the execution of that counsel. The carrying out of that plan in time and in history. There's an inseparable connection between God's counsel and His providence. He determined it in His counsel. He carries it out exactly in His providence. And in determining all things in his eternal counsel, God had the end in view from the beginning. From eternity, God determined the goal, the purpose. What is this all aiming at? And then he's determined everything that's going to happen so that it serves that goal and that purpose. What is that goal? What is all things aiming at? Well, we know from the Word of God that ultimately the answer to that question is the glory of God. The honor of His own name. God is directing everything in His providence to that greatest goal. The honor of His own name. The glory of God Himself. The demonstration of the fact that God is God. Even things that aren't written in the history books and things that might go unnoticed by us. God is directing those things to His glory. Why is it that a whale jumps out of the ocean and splashes magnificently in the ocean and no one's around to see it? God directs that for His glory. Why does the wind blow and the rain fall and plants grow? Well, God directs all of that for His glory to demonstrate God is God. And the same thing in all of the big events of human history, in all the circumstances of our lives, ultimately, for the demonstration of God's glory as God. To say that the goal of God's providence is His glory is also to say that the goal of His providence is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this isn't something separate. These two are one and the same. They're intimately connected because God is pleased ultimately to glorify Himself through the work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1, verses 16 and following, We read this, all things were created by Him, that's Jesus Christ, all things were created by Jesus and for Jesus. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. All things were made by Him and for Him. Everything had Jesus Christ in view. All things were determined by God to lead to the coming of Jesus Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, His death upon the cross, and His resurrection again from the dead. The cross and the empty tomb are the heart and the center of human history. Everything was being directed to that end and goal. Now, through the New Testament, God is directing all things to the coming again of Jesus Christ so that every event in the 2,000 years since Jesus ascended up into heaven, everything is being directed to serve that goal. The end of all things and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the judgment day. Everything is for Jesus Christ. And to say then that the goal of God's providence is His glory, to say the goal is the Lord Jesus Christ, is to say also that the goal of God's providence is the good and the salvation of God's church and of us as members. And again, that's not a bunch of different things, it's all one and the same. We confess in Lord's Day 1, when we confess what our only comfort in life and death is, part of that is, all things must be subservient to my salvation. Everything serves the salvation of God's people. God has determined that everything will serve the gathering of His people out of the nations. So that every single one of His children is brought to faith and converted. And the church is gathered throughout human history. Everything serves that. And everything serves the good and the salvation of us personally as God's people. Think about all of the grand events of human history. rise of kings and presidents and the fall of them, the wars between nations, the fluctuations of the economy, these massive things that take place in the world that seem to us to be so grand and we're so small and puny and inconsequential and yet all of these things are for me, for my good and my salvation as a child of God. And that includes the hard things of earthly life. All of the disappointments, all of the struggles. We know not only does God rule over them, God send them, but he's doing that with a purpose. There's a goal. There's an end in view with those things. And that goal and end is my good. Ultimately. My salvation. It says, Psalm 73 verse 24 says, Thou shalt guide me without counsel and afterward receive me to glory. All of the things in God's perfect plan for my life are leading to that ultimate goal when He's going to receive me into glory. My salvation. I don't always understand that, I don't always see how this suffering is going to serve that end, and yet by faith I believe that. There's a goal, there's a purpose, there's something good that God is working through this. Ultimately it's going to serve my salvation. But a precious truth is the truth of God's providence, important for our comfort in living and in dying, that we believe in and belong to the God of providence. This doctrine that we confess and believe and love is of the greatest advantage for us then. Heidelberg Catechism lays out three things when it talks about the advantage of believing the doctrine of providence. First of all, the advantage for us in believing the truth of God's providence is that we learn patience in adversity. Patience is not something that comes naturally to us. It's not something people are born with and other people are not born with. Patience is a gift of God. All of us by nature are prone to respond to the adversity, the hard things that God sends into our lives in a wrong way. We're tempted to respond to God's heavy hand of adversity by being impatient, discontented, Angry towards God. Bitter with respect to the circumstances of our life. We're prone to being envious of others like the psalmist here. So that when we compare their life to our life, we say their life seems so easy. Why is my life so hard? And I wish that my life was like their life. We're prone to go down even into the deepest despair. To think that these hard things in life must mean that God is against me. God's cut me off. I'm separated from His love. And to feel so hopeless and despairing. We need to learn patience. Patience, true patience in adversity is not merely the grit your teeth and just bear it and I'm going to get through it. Patience is not resignation, not going to change anyway, so I better just live with the way that it's going to be. That's not patience. Patience is a gift of God whereby we willingly, even cheerfully, submit to God's will for our life, looking up to Him. Patience is born out of faith in the God of providence. Believing that God is sovereign over all of these circumstances of my life so that the hard things don't come by chance, but from the hand of God. And believing that God is good. He's my Father. That this providence is not the providence of a distant, angry God, but is the providential hand of my Father, for Jesus' sake, who loves me. Believing the truth of providence. Looking beyond our circumstances, up to God, trusting in Him. We learn patience in adversity. Secondly, the advantage for us in believing God's providence is that we learn to be grateful in prosperity. That's equally as hard as learning patience in adversity. If you give us the choice, we'd say, I don't want the adversity, I'll take the prosperity. That's easier. That's not always so easy for us spiritually. In fact, that can be spiritually detrimental for us. Because when things are going well in our life, when we have an abundance of earthly things, and life is going the way that we would want it to go, In those circumstances, it's very easy for us to lose sight of God. To live our life without a thought of God, and God being the one to provide us with all of these things. To begin to think that the reason why I have all of these things is because of what I've done, because of my hard work, and my good business sense, and my wise directing of my life. And though we can say then that we're thankful for all these things that we have, that's not true gratitude. True gratitude is born out of faith in the God of Providence. When in those circumstances of prosperity and humility, we look up And we confess all of this comes from the hand of God. And that's not just a token statement that we say, yep, God gave me all of these things. But we truly believe that. And that lives in our consciousness. That I don't have any of this. Except God in his providence has given that. I don't have any of these earthly needs provided. I don't have health and strength for me and for my children. Things aren't going the way in my life because I've ordained it that way. It's all because of what God has done. And when I truly believe in my prosperity that God is the God of providence, then we live in real thanksgiving to God. We're truly grateful for what God has done in our lives and in providing for us. And then third, first, patience in adversity. Secondly, gratitude in prosperity. Third, we trust God for the future. That's really summing up that last part of answer 28 when it says we place our firm trust in our faithful. Back up a minute. That and all things which may hereafter be false in the future. We place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father that nothing shall separate us from His love. With respect to the future, there are dangers as well. There's the danger of self-sufficiency. I'm strong. I'm healthy. Whatever the future brings, I can handle it. I'll get through it. I've done it before. I'll do it again. One of the other dangers with respect to the future is anxiety, worry, fear. Imagining all of the things that are going to come to me in the future. Beginning to envision the worst possible scenarios. Living in dread terror of these unknown difficulties to come in the future. Fills us with fear and worry. That's not the proper way in which we're to look at the future. That's not the way of faith. Believing the truth of God's providence, we do not look at the future with a proud self-sufficiency. It's not, I'll get through it because I've done it before, and I'll be strong enough for whatever gets thrown my way. Trusting in the God of providence means we trust Him for the future. That we wholly are dependent upon Him to sustain us for whatever may come. The reason why we've been upheld in the past is because God has upheld us. And the only reason we're going to be upheld in what comes in the future is because God is going to uphold us. Believing the truth of God's providence, we're also kept from living in fear and anxiety. The truth of God's providence lives in our soul. We know that God holds the future in His hand. There's no surprises. Not for God. There's nothing that's too great for Him. Too hard. Though it's outside of our control. And that's always the struggle when we're anxious. We'd love for the future to be all organized and expected and under our control. Because if it's under our control, then we feel like we can handle it. Not in our control, but we know it's in God's control. And there's no safer place to be than to know that we're in the hands of God. Whatever is going to happen in the future, and I don't know what it's going to be, and I can't anticipate it all, and it's out of my control. I know right where I am, I rest in the hands of a Father who loves me. None of these things are going to cut me off from His love. But in love, He's going to direct all these things for my good and salvation. He's going to hold me up through them all. The precious comfort is the comfort of God's providence. Believing the providence of God We learn to be patient in adversity and we learn truly to be thankful in our prosperity. And we grow in our childlike dependence upon God for the future. Continue in faith to believe, truly believe, the truth of providence. Not just as a doctrine truly to believe in, trust in the God and Father Providence. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, there's none like Thee. There's none in heaven above, not in earth below. or under the earth that can compare to Thee. Thou art God alone. What a joy for us to know Thee as our Father. Know Thy unbreakable love. Know Thy sovereign rule over all things. For our good to know that Thou art for us, not against us. So strengthen our faith, so often weak. By Thy Word and by Thy Spirit now, strengthen our faith so that we walk trusting in Thee, dependent upon Thee at all times for all things. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's sing Psalm 73. Variation C, Psalm 73. It's old 203, well known and familiar to us. Let's sing all the stanzas, all five. I'll be there by your side. eternally. God to see. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen. We pray that you were edified by the preaching of the gospel today. Please join us for worship if you are ever in the area. For more information about our church, beliefs, or worship times, please visit our website at prccrete.org.