This morning we come to our final lesson in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 5. We'll be looking at Section 7. This is the last section on providence. And next we will begin looking at man, the fall, and sin in Chapter 6. But this morning we're just going to look at the one section and just one doctrine. Confession of Faith, 5-7. As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner it taketh care of his church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof. One doctrine I want to consider this morning, God is working all things together for the good of his church. In this section we have two biblical truths stressed, and we've already had both of them touched upon, but it is interesting that pastorally the divines want to stress this before we leave the chapter. We've had lots of sermons in the first truth, that God's providence extends to all of the things that he has made. He's in sovereign control over all of the things that he's made. He has a decree that is all-encompassing over the creation and it's being worked out in Providence. But here the divines want to stress to us that although his decree and his providence encompasses all things, he has a special eye toward his church, a special regard, a tender regard for his people and all of the things that he does. And this is the most precious truth. I want to look at two texts to demonstrate this doctrine and then spend the rest of the time making some applications. 2 Chronicles chapter 16. 2 Chronicles chapter 16 beginning in verse 1. In the sixth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah and built Ramah to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father. Behold, I have sent thee silver and gold. Go, break thy league with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may depart from me." And Ben-Hadad hearkened unto King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. And they smote Aijan, and Dan, and Abel Mayim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Rama, and let his work cease." Just so you can understand, it occurs to me that some background might be helpful, just so you can understand what's going on. Asa is the king of Judah and generally speaking a good king. Baasha is the king of the northern kingdom of Israel and he is taking an aggressive measure against the southern kingdom. he is building up Ra'amah he is fortifying a city just to the north of the southern kingdom so in the southern part of his kingdom he is fortifying a city which the south is taking to be an aggressive action here they are not going to let their citizens pass anymore down into the southern kingdom so what Asa does is he extends an olive branch to the king of Syria to break his league with the northern king and rather attack him instead. And it ends up being effective. The northern kingdom no longer has the resources to continue building up Rama, so they leave it. So Asa appears to have been successful in this enterprise. Verse 6 then Asa the king took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Rama and the timber thereof wherewith Baasha was building and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah so now he's going with the materials that were left build up defensive fortifications against the northern kingdom and at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said unto him Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, and with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars." Notice what the prophet is complaining of here. Asa has entered into a league with Syria. which may not be bad in and of itself but part of the problem here certainly has to do with Asa's heart Asa has trusted in Syria and not in the Lord and this is his great failing he forgot the precious truth that God had already demonstrated to him in other wars with larger armies which is that God takes special care of his people Anani reminds him of a truth that he should have known. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all of the earth. He's got an eye on his people and he's always ready to show himself mighty on their behalf. You've forgotten that truth, King Asa. That truth that you have learned from experience and from God's word and so from this time forward as God's judicial punishment, you're going to have wars. So here we see this general truth we've been talking about in the prophet saying, God has a special eye, a special regard for his people and all of the things that he's doing in his providence. Here you've got the big nations involved, the Ethiopians, the Lubims, a southern kingdom, a northern kingdom, Syria, and God said in all of this I have a special regard for what's going on with my people. You shouldn't have forgotten that precious truth, Asa. Another text I'll just read, we're all so familiar with it, we know it by heart. Romans 8.28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So here we're taught that in this big wide world, and all of the things that are going on in this big wide world, God is not only glorifying himself in all of it, But he's looking after the good and well-being of his people and working all things together for their good because he is greatly glorified in the benefits that he gives us. We have cited here just two texts. but if you think about it the whole structure of the Bible conveys this doctrine that God has his eye upon his people because from first to last from the creation to the eschaton this is a story about God's people and all of the other peoples of the earth are simply treated as an undifferentiated mass except for when they come into contact with God's people and become relevant to them they are simply the goyim the nations, the gentiles, a mass of people that God isn't particularly concerned with. Yes, He governs and superintends them, but here is special concern throughout all of the Word of God and throughout all of history is His people. That's what He highlights in His Word. From this I want to draw just three uses and spend the rest of our time looking at these uses. First of all, it's useful for our comfort. It really is a staggering thought that God is working all of the things that are going on around you for your good, for your spiritual benefit, and quite frequently for your temporal benefit, even when you don't see it. And that's the most comforting thought. there's a great many things around us that are confusing things that appear dismaying or discouraging but then we're called to remember this great truth concerning God's providence that all of it is good for us and that he's working all of it together for our good and I should stress here as a note but something that should never be forgotten he is not working all of these things together for our good because of our deserving but for Jesus sake because we are united to Christ another way of thinking about this doctrine is that the father always has a special regard to his son and so we are contemplated in our union with them and all of these things are in fulfillment of a promise to his son that he would give his son a people and that from that people he would receive great glory so it's all part of fulfilling the promise to his son Now I say that this ought to be a comforting doctrine and it is, but we have a second pastoral question that comes up which is how do I derive comfort from this doctrine practically speaking on a day by day basis? Pastor, how do I get at the comfort that is available to me in this doctrine? A couple of suggestions. First, you need to meditate upon this truth and you need to meditate upon it daily. this helps to work it into the fabric of our minds and our hearts so it's something that our very lives breathe as it were we all day by day have what you might call relatively small trials things that happen to all of us but we need to be convinced as we are facing these things that this is good for me that my father has his eye upon me and this is good for me this is part of his fatherly care for my soul some examples we've all experienced this your car breaks down and you have to get to work and you don't seem to have enough money to get it fixed these are the kinds of problems that we all have but as we're facing these things we have to look at it with the eye of faith remembering the promise and tell ourselves my father has his eye upon me this is good for me and good for my soul. If we can become convinced of this we wouldn't find ourselves grumbling at God's providence or so dismayed by his providence. We would look at these things with the eye of faith and say this is helping me. This is useful for my improvement. Recently we just had potty training in our house and this is another kind of example. I'm potty training the child and the child has just messed up the floor again in the seventh outfit of the day and it's a very frustrating sort of thing but to remember in the midst of this my father has his eye upon me and the child and this is good for me Even as frustrating as it is. You see this is part of working it into the very fabric of our being. But this isn't just a bunch of random things that are happening to us. This is our father training us up. You see. Not random. Purposeful. Directed by him and good for us. We are assured. Daily practice in these things will prepare us for the greater challenges. It's a scripture maxim. If we'll learn to be faithful in these small things, we'll be prepared to be faithful in greater things. So that when it comes time for harder things, I mean we have a tendency to become weak in the knees over small things. But when it's time to face bigger things, if we'll practice this daily, we'll be prepared. Because there will come a time for most of us when we have to face something like the loss of a spouse. Or a beloved child. And to be able to tell ourselves at that occasion that my father's providence is ruling over me and that this is good for me. and part of his tender care there's a most affecting story told about Luther as he was standing at the deathbed of one of his children he lost a little girl and then he leaves the room and he reproaches himself that he wasn't able to give glory to God as he ought in that situation this is God's providence to me God is caring for me in the midst of this this is good for me in spite of the fact that it's painful we're all going to face bigger things like that. And so it's wise for us to begin to practice this kind of thinking and all of the small things, all the irritating things that go on day by day. And all of us will face times when we will experience hard providences that we'll recognize as chastisements for our own sins. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12 These are among the greater trials. Frequently these are the times that we feel the sting of providence most because of our sins, but not always. But even if the sting of providence is small, when these things are brought on us because of our sins, we have an additional difficulty because we have the internal sting of our conscience. You see, and even with this, difficulties without and fears within, as the Apostle says. There are difficulties outside and difficulties inside. This is good for me. This is the way that my Father brings me along. Let's look at this text as the Apostle Paul works us through this bit of practice. Chapter 12, beginning in verse 5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked at him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. So hear what Paul is saying. Don't faint under the chastening and be comforted because that chastening is a very sign that the Lord loves you. and is taking care of you. That's a comforting thought even in the midst of difficulties. Verse 7. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. So submit yourself, be comforted, this is good for your soul he likens the fatherly chastisement of God to the chastisement that came from your human father and he said your human fathers messed it up sometimes and yet you gave them reverence and even that was very good for you that they were chastening you and he said how much more should we be willing to submit ourselves with peace and repose because our Heavenly Father only takes up the rod for our own good and never in mistake like a human father might and will, never in mistake, always rightly. Verse 11, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. here the apostles acknowledging it's not fun it's not fun to go through these things nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby you can be comforted this is a strange thing to say but I think you'll understand what I'm saying in the midst of these kinds of chastisements you can be comforted because the result is of greater value than your temporal comfort right now The peaceable fruits of righteousness are more valuable than being more comfortable providentially right now. And so even though you have external discomforts, you can be internally comforted that this is working righteousness in me. That's good. Verse 12. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed." So, you hear what Paul is saying, in the midst of this difficult chastisement, be encouraged, be comforted, it's good for you, good for your soul, going to bring forth the fruits of righteousness. So he said, lift up the hands that hang down, don't be discouraged, don't be dismayed of these things. but rather be comforted in the midst of them. So here's my first practical thing. We need to learn to meditate upon this great truth that God has a special eye to us in his providence. We need to do that daily. The second practical thing, how are we going to get comfort practically speaking out of this doctrine? We have to let this doctrine stimulate us to pray in faith. 1 Peter chapter 5, you don't have to turn here, just let me read the verses to you. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. You see, here Peter is teaching us that this doctrine that God has a special regard to you ought to encourage you in your prayers, to flee to Him in your prayers and cast all of your cares upon Him. Why can we do that with such comfort? Because He cares for you. It reminds you of the teaching of the Lord Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. He said, you come and you want to bring your many requests, and you should. but your father already knows what you have need of far better than you do and you don't have to multiply a great many words not that he's forbidding that but you don't have to multiply words as if your father will only hear you if you make a long speech you see, but your father is tenderly affected towards you already already to give you good things not a serpent or a stone but ready to give you bread and those things that are necessary for your nourishment and so I said this ought to stimulate us to go to God in prayer he's ready to hear us, anxious to answer and to fill our lives with good things the Puritans frequently do it like this it ought to stimulate your faith in the midst of prayer because God is not only mighty enough to answer you but he's favorably disposed to answer you ready to give you good things, wanting to give you good things James reminds us that every good and perfect gift that has already come to you has come from above and you ought to be comforted by that. We're told, the reason I bring up the matter of prayer is that when we pray in faith we are promised that it will bring comfort and peace to our souls. Turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4 just so you can follow my trajectory of thought we have the doctrine in front of us that God has a special regard to us in his providence he's working all things together for our good this ought to give us comfort but the pastoral question comes up how do I derive comfort from it? you will derive comfort by praying in faith knowing that God is favorably disposed to you and ready to give you the things that you ask And so Paul can say in Philippians chapter 4 verse 6, Be careful for nothing. Don't be disquieted in your souls. Don't be disquieted. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto him. Remember, he cares for you, as Peter said. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It's in the midst of believing prayer that we find peace. I've spread my needs before the Lord. I've pled his promises. I know that he's anxious to give me these things and he will give me these things as they are good for me and right faithfully. And with that in view, we find that a certain peace floods our souls. But it's only in the midst of believing prayer when we're firmly convinced that he will do all things for our good and that he's ready to give us good things when we believe those things in the midst of our prayer we'll find a great deal of peace indeed so our first use this ought to bring a good deal of comfort to us our second use is that it will keep us from what the Puritans called sinful shifts well what does that mean? let me demonstrate it from Aesop Asa forgot that God had a special regard to his people he lost sight of that truth because he felt threatened by the Northern Kingdom and that leads him into what the Puritans called sinful shifts he starts shifting about in Providence looking to secure himself because he's lost his confidence or forgotten that God will take care of him so now he's got to take up means that end up being sinful And so we must beware of temptation. Trials will come to us, but we cannot forget that even in the midst of these, God has a special regard to us, and they are good for us. I'll just give you one example, something I think probably at one time or another we've all faced. I owe more taxes than what I can pay or than what I'm comfortable paying. So what a great temptation it is to fudge that little document just a little bit. You see, we lose sight of the fact that God has promised that he's going to take care of us. And so we start shifting around for ourselves in a sinful kind of way to secure our own well-being. But we need not do this. God has a special eye upon us. We can do righteous things and commit ourselves to righteousness even if it appears to our temporal disadvantage to do so knowing that God is pleased with that and that He'll take care of us. And just so that I might seize the testimony of your own experience and your own conscience Isn't your whole life a very long testimony that God always takes care of you? You were frightened by this and that and tempted to take up this sinful measure and that sinful measure and none of it was necessary because here you are. God has always taken care of you and seen you to this point of well-being. And this is biblical because that's the very thing that the prophet pleads with Asa. Didn't God deliver you many times before against greater odds than this? How could you forget? Why did you have recourse to these sinful things to try to secure your own well-being? It wasn't necessary. It was never necessary. God takes care of you. And keeping this in mind will preserve us against temptation. So when trial comes and you're tempted to secure your own well-being by some sinful means, do not be tempted. Do those things that are right and cast yourself upon the care of God because He's promised He's working all of these things together for your good. Now if my first and my second use had some relationship to each other, now something completely different. Now I want to talk a little bit about the instruction of our children, a little bit about homeschooling which is something that I'm not want to do, I'm not accustomed to doing, I'm certainly no expert in it. But something that I've heard is a common criticism about all education really in the West for a great long time. During this postmodern era where men are saying that all cultures are really equally valid and so all histories of all peoples are equally important, the question comes why do you focus for example on the Roman Empire and not on the great dynasties of the Chinese? Why do you do that? Is it just some sort of Western bias and prejudice? you go to secular education and they'll say well it's where we live and so it seems like a good place to start but I think as Christian people we have a much more profound answer to this grounded in this very doctrine that God has a special regard to his people that when you look at the way God tells the history of the world the focus of the spotlight is always upon his good work of redemptive grace in his people The centerpiece of history is Jesus Christ and all of those that stand in union to him. That's the most important thing about history. And we'll talk about this in just a minute. I'm not saying that the others might not have relevance. But you don't teach the less important things first. Or the periphery before what's central. That doesn't make sense. Start with those things that are of first importance as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. I deliver unto you those things that are of first importance. We'll worry about the things of secondary importance in their proper time. Another way of framing this up. History is the study of God's providence. and we're taught by this doctrine and by all of the word of God that the things that are chiefly on God's heart concerning his providence is his own people God's work of redemption and his people in Jesus Christ so in history we're fully justified in focusing upon those things with our children as the things that are of first importance in their general education now as they become more specialized they might have reason to learn something about the history of the ancient Chinese or the ancient Japanese or something like that but these are the things of first importance for general education and your children cannot do without these things they can live a long and fruitful life and not ever know anything about ancient Japan but they can't live a long and fruitful life and not know about the redemption that came in Jesus Christ and how it came and how he has been faithful working this redemption in his people in all ages that will make for a sickly soul to be without that look at the way that the Bible handles all of these things we start with the creation and the creation of man but very quickly we have the fall and then the spotlight goes to the gospel the first proclamation of the gospel in the garden that God is going to bless Eve with a son that's going to crush the head of the serpent and he proclaims the gospel then in sacrament by clothing them with the skins of slain beasts a covering that comes through the death of another and right away the focus goes upon the godly line of Seth Now in the beginning we look at chapter 4 of Genesis and we say well the evil line of Cain is traced to some extent. Well why is that if what you're saying is true? Because what we're doing is we're tracing two genealogical paths to explain what happens to the people of God in Genesis chapter 6. The sons of God, that godly line of set, intermarry with the daughters of men. The wicked line of Cain that's just been described for you. See, they were relevant to the people of God. And when they intermarried, it resulted in a wickedness so profound that God destroyed the entire world by flood and preserved just one tiny little church in that ark. But you see how relevant it was for the people of God. you get off of the ark and you're going to get the table of nations this is basically the most detailed presentation that you're going to get of the Goyim the nations spread out the rest of the focus of the Bible is going to be at least for a little while the sons of Shem because that's where the gospel is going to be preserved in the midst of the sons of Eber or the Hebrew or the Hebrews as we say and so we're going to follow God's work of grace in the midst of the Hebrews his redemptive work in their midst but we are told to anticipate something there in Genesis chapter 9 you remember the prophecy of Noah God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem So Shem is going to come to preserve true religion for all of those ages. But Japheth, which if you look at the table of nations is largely the Europeans and the West, they are going to come to be dwellers in the tents of Shem, a participant of Shem's religion, even after Shem departs for a while. You see, Japheth comes to inhabit his tents. So is it unjustifiable to focus upon European history? No. because that's where the gospel went and it was prophesied that it would be so from ancient times that was where God was working his work of grace now as you follow Shem so if we back up here Old Testament times and you follow Shem and then the descendants of Abraham and how they preserve true religion as I mentioned earlier the rest of the nations are always treated in an undifferentiated sense until they become relevant for the people of God. So you come to learn something about the Egyptians, because of the Egyptian captivity. And you come to learn something about the four great kingdoms of Daniel, because they are going to oppress the people of God. In Daniel, God is going to tell us some detail concerning Babylon, concerning Persia, Tell us a little something about Greece and the way that they afflicted the people of God. Tell us about Rome. These foreign powers had a bearing upon God's people and so they become relevant. But to tell the story of God's people. Relevant to tell the story of God's people. They are not the chief actors upon the stage. They are supplemental characters. They play bit parts, as it were. Japheth and the Europeans came to dwell in the tents of Shem in fulfillment of the promise. The Jews are cut off as Paul said. He said, well not completely, I am a Jew, but the Jews as a people are cut off from true religion and denying the Christ and denying their Messiah. It's the Gentiles that embrace the gospel. This is one of the reasons, as interesting as it is, with our children we don't, generally speaking, start with rabbinic history. It's a nice thing to learn, it's a supplemental thing to learn, but the history of the church is prime. And, I think if we're teaching well, they'll start to become more aware of the history of rabbinic Judaism as it was in dialogue with Christianity through the Middle Ages, you see. but God's work of grace always remains central and it's interesting that even at the present time we are told that the sons of Japheth will take the gospel back to the sons of Shem that the Jews will be re-evangelized in Romans chapter 11 and the sons of Japheth have begun to take the gospel to the sons of Ham down in Africa but interesting in fulfillment of this prophecy that has been a project most difficultly done the sons of Japheth seem to have moved right in to the tents of Shem the evangelization of Africa has been notoriously difficult a thing difficult to do and only now after two thousand years removed being done with some great progress now One final thing, this is more than just studying church history in broad, because you might think, well, the study of church history, if I'm going to take that up, after apostolic times, well, what do I focus on in those things? I have a controversial recommendation, but one that I'm well assured of in my own mind. I do believe that John's apocalypse, gives the things that are most important in the mind of God concerning the history of the church from the time of John to his return. It's the rest of the story. zeal to speak to the condition of his people in all ages Jonathan Edwards when he came to the apocalypse said what else would you expect that God's going to tell you the rest of the story God as he was proclaimed in Isaiah as he proclaimed himself that he's the God that tells the condition of the ancient peoples and then tells the end from the beginning he speaks to all of history I expect the rest of the story when I come to the apocalypse the rest of the things that are important about the history of God's people, the things that God thinks are of first importance. And you say, well, how do I get at that? I have a book recommendation. It's no small project, but you'll never be sorry for having worked your way through it. E.B. Eliot's Hori Apocalypticae goes through, I think, with the most confidence that I've seen, unpacking the symbols and highlighting in each age what God thought were the most important issues for the church. So I bring this up to justify our pedagogy, what most of us would have done anyway, which is focusing on the history of the West, but I think it's most justifiable upon this doctrine. That yes, God superintends all things and there will be reasons for studying everything in history. If you're going to evangelize the Chinese, I'd recommend you learn something about the Chinese, or if God calls you to international business and you're going to do business with the Chinese, learn something about the Chinese and their history. But we're talking about the things of first importance and general education, and that's the history of the progress of God's redemption in the earth. 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And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions. since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.