This morning we are continuing our series in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 5, concerning Providence. We're going to be looking this morning at 5.4 and 5.5, which I believe you should have in your bulletin. We'll begin with 5.4, a topic that we've already seen on multiple occasions when we considered the Divine Decree, but we revisit it here. Westminster Confession of Faith, 5.4. the almighty power, unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in His providence that it extendeth itself even to the first fall and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission. but such as have joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them in a manifold dispensation to his own holy ends. Yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin. In this section we're going to look at just one doctrine, summarizing really the whole of this, that God's providence comprehends and overrules the sins of angels and men. Here we're holding in tension really two doctrines and we've already wrestled with this some in chapter 3. two biblical truths that cannot be denied, but we must come up with some way of reconciling them or understanding them. The first is that God foreordains everything that comes to pass. We've looked at it time and time again, Ephesians 1.11, God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. All things. The divine decree comprehends all things and that means that God's decree comprehends sinful actions, the sins of angels and men. Here the divines actually specify that the fall was no surprise, there was no accident, but it was part of God's plan and decree right from the very beginning. You might ask yourself the question, why is it that the divines find it necessary to say such a thing? Well here you have a debate that if their period of time had been going on for more than a millennium, more than a thousand years, with the Pelagians and their stepchildren, all of the various groups that adopted their doctrine more or less. The Pelagians talked about God's relationship to evil being that of a bare permission. The analogy that's typically drawn is it's like God is up in a watchtower simply watching the train of history go by he might actively involve himself in some things but with sin he's withdrawn he's just simply watching and he doesn't ordain anything about it at all I wanted to try to sketch out the difference for you because it can be subtle the difference between this heterodox position of the Pelagians and the orthodox position if you can write this out I think it'll help you to see it Turretin draws this distinction, he said, the Pelagian position is this, that God does not will to hinder sin. You'll want to underline, does not will. He wills nothing concerning it. He's up in the watchtower, not involved with it at all. God does not will, and underline, does not will to hinder sin. He's idle in the matter of sin. But the orthodox position is that God wills, underline wills, not to hinder or prevent sin. So the difference is between God being idle, God does not will to hinder sin, and God actively willing not to hinder sin. There's quite a big difference there because here we have God efficaciously affirming the sins that angels and men This is really a necessary conclusion from what we already did in chapter 2 on the doctrine of God. God is omniscient. He knows all things and He is omnipotent. He has power over all things. Our sinful actions are an object of His will. In other words, He can prevent them at any time He is pleased to prevent them. So in order for Him not to present them, He actually needs to will. to not hinder, or to leave them alone, or to let them be. It seems like a very small thing, but the divines are wanting to say here that our God is not idle, but active. The decrees that these sins will come to pass, in other words, for example, sin is in the heart of a man, he wants to work it out, God could prevent him in several ways. God could snap out his life and prevent him. Withdraw the strength of his body and prevent him. Give him grace and prevent him. So God can prevent him, but he actively wills to restrain himself and let the man continue on in his sins. But it is an act of his will and properly a part of the divine decree. God is not up just in the watchtower watching these things go by. He is actively governing all things that come to pass that includes the first fall and sins of angels and men we can also see this very clearly God decreed the fall before the foundation of the world and we can be sure that this is true because he also decreed that he would provide a redeemer the solution of the problem before the foundation of the world turn in your Bible to Revelation chapter 13 So it was not only the problem, but the remedy that was decreed. And if the remedy was decreed before the foundation of the world, that means also the problem was decreed. Revelation chapter 13 verse 8, here speaking of the beast, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." See, there's a sense in which according to the divine decree, the Redeemer was purposed and provided before the difficulty even started, before the foundation of the world. So this is the first biblical truth that God foreordains everything that comes to pass, even human sins, but God is not the author or the approver of those sins. And we've looked at this as well in the book of James, chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. So here we've got these two truths. God foreordains everything that comes to pass, including sins, but he is not to be understood as the author or the approver of sins. Now, we have already looked at this problem, so let me just review. We actually looked at it from four different angles, and this morning I just want to put them together as a review to give you a comprehensive look at the whole of what we've already done. Facet number one, and again I don't think any of these quite handle the problem individually, but when you put them together you begin to see something of a relief or the tension between these two biblical truths. First of all, God decrees all things, it's true. But man's actions remain free. We spent a lot of time with that in chapter 3 of the Confession, so I'm not going to review all of that. But both of those things are true. God foreordains all things, but man's actions are free, and therefore, man is responsible for his free actions, the things that he does, and remains blameworthy. So you can't just foist the blameworthiness back on God. Paul cuts this off in Romans chapter 9 when he says, but you're going to say, well, who is God to blame us since he decrees all things? Why does he take issue with us? We're simply working out his decree. And he says, who are you to answer back to God? And we all know by first-hand experience that we are free and responsible, responsible for the things that we do. We could have acted otherwise. We could have acted better. The problem was our own hearts. We didn't want to. A second facet, it's true that God decrees all things, so he makes a decree of everything that's going to happen, but he commands man to be righteous, and he encourages him to be righteous. So it's not, as James says, he decrees that a man will sin, but he doesn't tempt the man to it, or encourage him to do it, but rather he commands him not to. we might say it like this before the foundation of the world God had decreed that Jonah would sin by running away from his call to go to Nineveh but God commanded him to go to Nineveh the righteous course and encouraged him to do it But Jonah ignored all of that, went on in his sin, but God of course overcame his sinfulness and got him to Nineveh anyway. But we see here that God is not tempting any man to sin, so he can't be said to be an approver of it when he is forbidding it and discouraging it. every step of the way. So we see in the commandments, for example, he commands righteousness, he forbids iniquity, and in the promises and threatenings we see he encourages righteousness and threatens us when we sin to discourage us from doing those things. So he can't be the author or the approver of it in that sense. A third facet, this was always the most helpful perspective for me God decrees all things, but He positively works grace in us. He positively works our salvation and sanctification. So he is a positive causality. In other words, if we're left to ourselves, we're not going to be saved. He must actively work in us to unite us to Jesus Christ. He has to give us the grace of faith, because we don't have it. He actively gives us the grace of repentance, because we don't have it. He actively sanctifies us, because we can't sanctify ourselves. And one day, he will ultimately glorify us, because we certainly can't glorify ourselves. He is actively working in all of those things. But with respect to human sinfulness, he doesn't act actively but rather negatively. He withdraws his influence and man runs along in his sinfulness. One of the great analogies for this principle is the sun actively produces or causes heat and light. Much as God actively causes or produces the graces of our salvation. Now, there's a sense in which we say the setting of the sun causes darkness and cold. But that's only because of its absence. You see, it's only because it's withdrawn itself that there is darkness and cold. In much the same way, God withdraws himself and man runs along in his own sinful inclination. So that's the third facet. And the fourth, God decrees all things, including human sinfulness, but they take their quality as sinful from the angelic and human agency. In other words, they take their quality as sinful from the acting agent. This is really the main point, I think, of what the divines are getting at here in 5.4. You might think of one particular event that involves a human sin. God's ends in it are holy, wise, just, and good. It's the human whose ends in it are sinful. You see, so the action actually takes its quality as sinful from the human agent. God's ends and his working in it are always holy, wise, just and good. Let's look at three texts concerning this that I think make this principle very clear. Acts chapter 2 verse 23, if you'll turn there with me. This is Peter's Pentecost sermon. Acts 2 verse 23, Him, that is Jesus Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. So here's one act or event, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. On the part of the acting agents, the men that crucified Him, it's called here wickedness. But ordained by God, here by His determinate counsel and foreknowledge, this is the great business of our redemption and we can't say anything but that God's acting in it and decreeing it is holy, wise, just and good. So here, one event, God's acting in it, all virtuous, man's acting in it, sinful. Another example. Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 concerning the bondage of Joseph. You remember the story. Joseph's older brothers are angry with him because of his dream and the interpretation of his dream that at some point they're all going to bow down to him, which comes to pass. They're angry with him. they sell him into slavery and he ends up in bondage in Egypt only to rise to become a father to Pharaoh a father even to the greatest king of all of the earth and ends up saving many people alive even his own family by his wisdom and by special revelation so Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 but as for you, ye thought evil against me so here a sinful human action they purposed an evil but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive so here God's ends holy just and good even in ordaining the sinful human action I like that language of overruling you see they intended an evil thing to destroy Joseph but God overrules their evil action to bring about good things and another text which I think is very suggestive Isaiah chapter 10 beginning in verse 6 here you have the judgment of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria and you have a discussion of what God's purposes are in that and what the Assyrian purposes are in that Isaiah chapter 10 verse 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. So this is God's intention and the charge that he gives to Assyria. But look, the Assyrian purpose is very different. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few. So here God has his righteous judgment in view, I'm judging this nation, I'm righteous in doing it. But we find that there is a great wickedness in Assyria, their intention is simply to tread down nations and destroy a great many, which is an evil intention. This discussion certainly doesn't answer all of the questions. That's why I titled this just relieving to a certain extent the tension. We see all of the time in the Bible both of these things working. God has decreed all things for holy, just, and good ends, including human sinfulness, but he's not the author or the approver of that. God decrees that human beings will sin particular sins, but he's not the author or prover of those things now we raise the question how do we teach this to our children and at first it's enough to teach them the two truths their brains will have to develop along a little bit more before they'll perceive the tension between the two and start to ask the question but when they begin to ask the questions encourage them to be patient and working their way through how do we put these things together because it's not easy and I think great mysteries continue to remain in theology how do we put these things together but encourage them to keep working through the harmony and to keep working at understanding because some scripture truths are difficult to put together and take great patience concerning your own work as adults There's a great treatment in Turretin's Elinctic Theology, and if you want to understand this better, I would suggest that you work through it. I had initially planned to work through it, but it would take almost two whole sermons to do it. So I just commend it to your reading, because what Turretin does is he takes you step by step. What is God's involvement in the human sin before the sin takes place, while the sin is taking place, and after it? And as you watch, as he takes you step by step, you see God's activity in it is always holy, just and good. And the sinful character always arises out of the man. But to go step by step through it really makes that very clear. So you want to work your way through that section. It's in the section on providence. Just go to the table of contents. The second section we wanted to look at this morning was 5.5. You find here that the confession of faith is not just full of heady doctrine, but they take up this section because of pastoral concern, one of the most poignant pastoral concerns that can be imagined. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasion of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends. So our doctrine is, for wise and holy ends, God sometimes leads his children to the corruption of their own hearts. This is a very painful pastoral problem and one that people frequently ask. Here I am struggling with a sin. Why doesn't God deliver me? Why doesn't he help me? You might say I've been pursuing a certain virtue, I've been wanting strength in prayer for example and yet I've been asking God concerning this and I seem to continue to languish. Why does he leave me like this? Why doesn't he help me? Because you know that God has the power to help you and sanctify you completely. He promises that he will do it. and on that great and glorious day he will do it in an instant sanctifying you is no difficulty whatsoever for God and so it raises the question as I'm here struggling along in this world's realm why doesn't he help me? when I cry out concerning his sin he doesn't necessarily deliver me immediately why is that? the divines give really two levels of answer here to this difficult problem the first is general They start off by identifying God as wise, righteous, and gracious. Now here they go back to chapter 2, just the nature of God. God is wise. He has his reasons for not sanctifying you completely right now, even if you don't understand what those reasons are. God is righteous. He's not short-changing you in the business of your sanctification. It's not evil for Him to do so, but He is always giving you more than what you deserve, and never less. So He's altogether righteous, and more than righteous in this affair, He is merciful. and God is also gracious it is good for you sometimes that you struggle with your sins so there they give a general answer based on the general character of God but then they go and they give us four reasons why God biblical reasons why God will leave a person in their sins for a time even his own dear children The first reason that they give is that God sometimes chastens us for former sins. To correct us or spank us for our former sins, He allows us to continue to struggle with them or with others. I'll just give you a common dynamic, one we're all familiar with. we commit some sort of a sin once and then twice and then three times and before you know it, it becomes a habit and now you've got a pattern of sinfulness and you go to God to break it but you find that breaking this habit of sinfulness is very difficult and we're being chastened for all of those former sins that we didn't seek God earlier now we are being spent for that as it were A very common example of how this happens, let's say for example that we neglect the means of grace, a sin, and then we're surprised that we don't have strength enough to resist and overcome other sins. You see, we're being left to those other sins to chasten us for our neglect of the means of grace. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5, We see this very dynamic in the teaching of the Apostle Paul. We looked at this text recently, but here we make a different use of it. You remember the context. Paul has been teaching about Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek, that Jesus Christ is part of a different priesthood, not the Aaronic priesthood. He couldn't. He wasn't a Levite. But he is called after the priesthood of Melchizedek. and Paul continues his discussion chapter 5 verse 11 rather he cuts off that discussion short and he says of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered seeing ye are dull of hearing for when for the time ye ought to be teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So here Paul is dealing with these Hebrew Christians who have not applied themselves to the preaching. They haven't been diligent in the apostolic preaching. They haven't developed as they should. They've been neglecting the means of grace. This is sin number one. But what condition do they find themselves in having committed that sin? They find themselves liable to a great many others here talked about as unskillful in discerning the difference between good and evil. And thus they stumble and fall into other kinds of sins. So it starts with one sin. neglected the means of grace and then God chastens them by leaving them to other sins leaving them unskillful in discerning good and evil so this is really our first use here when we feel powerless before a sin we should ask is God chastening me for some former sin? Is this some part of a sinful pattern, or have I been neglecting the means of grace to overcome these things? Is that perhaps the problem? It's a fruitful question to ask, and I think we make a good use of a struggle with some sort of sin by asking ourselves this question, by being chastened for a previous sin. You see, we might have a whole pattern of sinfulness that needs to be dealt with, and leaving us in our sinfulness reveals that pattern. a second use that God might make God sometimes withdraws to show us the corruption that yet remains in our own hearts Pride is a peculiar kind of sin because it's one of the few sins that actually becomes more dangerous the further along you go in your sanctification you know when you are first converted and you're coming out of a a struggle with all of your former sinfulness, you feel pretty gross. You feel pretty low. You know your sinfulness and the terrible contest in dealing with those things. But as you are improved by God's grace, and the more improvement you make, the more dangerous it becomes. You might begin to think, hey, haven't I really become something? Or, look at how I've changed. I sure feel pretty good about what I've done. and we begin to forget ourselves and how it is that we were changed so God sometimes will leave us to a particular kind of sin to humble us Hezekiah is a good example of this turn in your Bibles to 2nd Chronicles chapter 32 Hezekiah was a great king among the kings of Israel the scripture says there was none like him in faith He was a king that set his faith in Jehovah and trusted fully. You remember he trusted God during that difficult time of the Assyrian invasion where there was an army so large and so powerful around Jerusalem that it seemed that there was no escape and yet he goes and he spreads the matter before the Lord and the Lord delivers them. But Hezekiah became snared by pride. You see, God had blessed his work, he was wealthy and prosperous in everything that he did. God had honored him in so many ways, the deliverance of Jerusalem, the deliverance from disease, and he becomes a bit puffed up in all that God has done for him. 2 Chronicles 32 verse 31 After relating how excellent Hezekiah had been, the writer of the Chronicles goes on to say, how be it in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart. Now interpreters look at that last clause there, that he might know all that was in his heart, and they ask the question, to whom does the he refer to, the subject of that clause? Does it refer to God or to Hezekiah? Probably the answer is yes. It makes it plain pretty universally that there was corruption still remaining in Hezekiah's heart. It reveals his pride in this matter. Matthew Henry says this about poor Hezekiah at this point, God left him to himself to be proud of his wealth to keep him from being proud of his holiness. You see he had become puffed up concerning the prosperity of his wealth and God leaves him to that sin to keep him from becoming spiritually proud, to humble him in this affair. So God frequently will leave us to our corruptions to humble us and we make a good use of some failure in a sin if it humbles us and we are reminded of what we are really like in this great business of our redemption when we produce good works we have to remember all the time that they are good in so far that they proceed from the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ is to be praised for those things but in so far as we participate those things are mixed with evil That's our contribution, our fallenness, our filthiness, our sinfulness. So we have no occasion to be proud even when good things are produced from us. God is at work in us, both to will and to work of his own good pleasure. A third use that they give us, when we stumble and we struggle in our sins, it moves us to a closer dependence upon God. Turn in your Bibles to the 77th Psalm. Usually when we've struggled in sin, I don't want to talk about moving to a closer dependence upon God in the abstract, but rather in the concrete. When we struggle in sin, we show that we are dependent upon God by making use of the means that He's given us to deal with sin. We say we are dependent people. I need the reading of the Word of God. I need the preaching of the Word of God. I need prayer. I need the sacraments. Because in these things, God communicates His grace to me. and I'm in great need. Now here in the 77th Psalm we will see this dynamic as the psalmist reviews, he had entered into a difficulty, a difficult providence that caused him to stumble and fall and we'll also see the remedy that he sought to recover himself. I cried unto God with my voice, verse 1, even unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking, and so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with my own heart and my spirit-made diligent search." So here he's entered into a providential difficulty that has led him into a certain kind of searching of heart, all of which was not profitable for him. Look what happens. These are the questions he begins to ask himself. Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Doth His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah. These are certainly unsuitable thoughts concerning God, concerning His nature and also what He's revealed. are his promises going to fail forever he has asked himself because of his difficulty and notice what he acknowledges here in verse 10 and I said this is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high so he recognizes that the meditation of his own heart has been sinful at this point and he calls himself to remembrance a consideration of redemptive history, the covenantal history, verse 11. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings. So what does he do? He meditates upon the word of God and what is revealed about God and the works of God revealed there. And he meditates on God's providence, his ongoing works in the midst of his people to correct this. So we make a good use of the means of grace of a failure or falling in sin when we flee to God in the means of grace, seeking a solution there. It's a profitable use to make of a failure. And finally, And if I might say so, in recent days I have found this probably the most helpful of all. When we fall in sin, it ought to teach us to be more watchful in the future. I go here to the book of Job, which we've been reading. Job is not being chastened for any particular sin. the difficulty that he's entered into is not initially any sort of a chastisement but Elihu seems to intimate that the character of it did change because in some of Job's speeches he has reflected poorly upon God he has justified himself which in the book of Job is fine in the sense that Job is not being punished in this affliction but he's justified himself at God's expense and Elihu has said, are you going to justify yourself at God's expense? Is this appropriate? So he's reflected poorly upon God. But this teaches Job to be more watchful in the future about doing this sort of thing. So then you remember God shows up and God challenges him from the whirlwind concerning the things that he said. Who is this that darkens counsel without knowledge? Job, you're filling up the air with a lot of words, but you don't understand what you're saying. You speak without knowledge. And Job learns a very important lesson from all of this in chapter 40. He's not going to repeat his mistake. He's going to become more watchful about that sin in the future. And so the text says, Moreover, the Lord answered Job and said, Shall he that contended with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer. Yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. So you see, Job gets the point here. I've sinned, there's been folly in my words and I'm going to become more watchful about that starting now. I'm going to lay my hand upon my mouth and not proceed in this discussion any further. You talk, I'm going to listen and I'm going to be instructed here. So we make a good use of a sin or a failing when we become more watchful in the future. And we show ourselves to be very dull students when we just repeat the same sins and the same mistakes over and over and over again. Now, there's a lot of ways that you can, practically speaking, make use. But let me give you just one illustration, what I've been trying to do with this, and it has been helping me. I'm able to break up my day into, not just units of time, but tasks. Usually they last a certain amount of time, but say I might think, well, I'm going to work on sermon preparation, and that's going to take me about 90 minutes. So I'll start that time with prayer but I also know from my past experience and from my own sinful failings what sins are likely to beset me in the midst of that task during that time. Perhaps if my wife comes down and wants to have a discussion I'm going to meet her with a measure of grumpiness because I'm focused here. I was just trying to parse a very difficult verb and now I've got to turn the chair and have a discussion with my wife. A sin that's likely to beset me. you see in the midst of that or my mind might wander off to something else when I ought to be focusing so I might be able to identify one, two or three sins that normally beset me in the midst of that and purpose from the outset when my wife comes down I'm going to be sweet to her prepare myself to be watchful against that sin That's just one way that you can do it. That works with my schedule so that I can practically implement this. But it has been helping to self-consciously try to be watchful against the sins that have so easily beset me in the past so that I might be more fully conformed to the image of Christ. Let us pray. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb.com, by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N, Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. 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 is 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.