And now, gracious Father, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of the hearts of the people assembled here would be acceptable to you, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. We are moving on in our series of sermons on the Westminster Confession, and this morning we come to a somewhat difficult topic. We sang about it, I belong to Jesus, but do we really know what that means? The sermon title this morning is Providence, and I have in parenthesis Divine Compellence. The text that I've selected for this sermon this morning, and there are many texts that I could have selected, This one is from Acts 17, verses 22-28, and you will recognize this as Paul's defense of his belief system on Morris Hill in Athens. Acts 17, beginning at verse 22. Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with the inscription, To the Unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made for one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." For in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your poets have said, for we are also his offspring." In the book of Proverbs, in chapter 16 and verse 9, it says, A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps. God's providence is an essential ingredient in the existence of each one of us. To this point, Michael A. Obel, in his article entitled, God's Remarkable Providence, says this, and I quote, Fish, as the saying goes, are the last to ask what is water. Aside from the fact that fish were not created to ask questions, water is a medium of their existence. We, on the other hand, don't live in that element, so we find water noteworthy. Yet we can be like fish failing to marvel at something just as basic as water, but far more wonderful. All of us inhabit an element that is as constant a part of our lives as water is for fish. The element that we all swim in is God's holy, wise, and powerful governing preserving of us all and our actions, its providence, the medium of our existence, there never has been and never will be as much as a single nanosecond of any person's life that is not submerged in the infinite holiness, wisdom, and power of the Creator who preserves and governs us. Perhaps it's understandable that we humans take providence for granted." I think that I would add to this that many of us don't consider providence at all. We have the biblical case of Nebuchadnezzar that was read in your first, in your scripture lesson this morning. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, and Babylon was a very powerful nation. And Nebuchadnezzar had a couple of dreams, and Daniel, whose name was Belteshiah, was an interpreter of dreams. And Nebuchadnezzar had this dream, and he called Daniel to interpret the dream, and Daniel told him what the dream was. But Daniel said, may this happen to your enemies, not to you. Of course, I believe that Daniel knew it was going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar. But Nebuchadnezzar obviously, at this point, did not understand God's providential control. of everything and everyone in his world. So Nebuchadnezzar continued after Daniel told him what the dream was. Nebuchadnezzar walked on the roof of the palace and looked over the city of Babylon and thought about this great kingdom and he boasted. And the Lord struck him and made him like one of the wild beasts. to eat grass in the field, until seven times passed over him. That is, until God was completely finished humbling him. And after the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar, he made an amazing statement for a heathen. Someone asked me the other day, did I think Nebuchadnezzar was saved, and I said, my answer was, I don't know. I don't think so. That's my opinion. But this is what Nebuchadnezzar said after his senses returned to him and he was able to think properly. Daniel 4, verses 34 and 35, he says, And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done? Verse 37, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all of whose works are truth, and his ways justice. And those who walk in pride he is able to abate. One of the little quips that my theology professor laid on the class from time to time God is in charge of everything, or He isn't in charge of anything. And if He's not in charge of everything, then we don't have a God. God is able to abase those who walk in pride. And if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, it is because God put all of the conditions and all of the means in place for you to come to faith in Him. Now, the problem with divine concurrence, which I'll be speaking to a little later on, and the problem that we're confronted with, especially among those who have not given themselves to a serious, in-depth study of the Bible, is that we can't reconcile the validity of the secondary agent as over against first causes. God is the first cause of everything, and yet we are valid secondary agents. When I say I committed my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, I did it. God didn't do it for me, but God set everything in place so I would do that, and He knew I would do that before the foundation of the world. God is in charge of everything. I want to read for you, without comment, the chapter from the Confession on Providence. You may find this in the back of your hymnal. I think it's on page 8-something. I don't remember. But anyway, here is the article of Providence. God, the Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise, holy providence, according to the infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of His glory, of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy." Boy, that's a mouthful, isn't it? But this is solidly based on the Scriptures. Although the relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence He orders them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. God in His ordinary providence makes use of means yet is free to work without, above, and against them at His pleasure. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence that it extends itself even to the first fall. And all other sins of angels and men and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bonding, 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 holy and righteous neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does oftentimes leave for a season His own children to manifold temptation and the corruption of their own heart, to chasten them for their former sins or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness in their hearts, that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close and constant dependency for their support upon himself, and make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends." As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins doth bind and burden, from them he not only withholds his grace whereby they might have been enlightened in their understanding and wrought upon in their hearts, but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they have, and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin." and withal gives them over to their own lusts the temptation of the world and the power of Satan, whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves even under those means which God uses for the softening of others. As the providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner it takes care of his church, and disposes all things to the good they are." That's the article on poverty. Now, I didn't want to comment on this as we read it, except to say that this first paragraph is really dynamic. This article is so saturated with Scripture, anyone who reads the Scriptures in my opinion, are not doing themselves justice if they refuse to accept God's providence. When Paul was on Mars Hill—but before we get to that, let me tell you what the problem is. The problem in most difficult theological doctrine is that man wants to have some control. That's the problem. Now, the essence of that problem is that man in his sin nature does not want to be subject to God. I want to do it my way. In fact, Frank Sinatra made millions of dollars on the song, I Did It My Way. Well, if you want to do it your way, You can try to do that. But when you are doing it your way, God is still providentially controlling you. Hmm. How about that? Now the Apostle Paul was in Athens, in Greece. And Paul was an evangelical. He always witnessed to the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he went. And in Athens they didn't have, he wasn't availed of a synagogue, so he went to the place where the Senate met and he argued with the senators and the people there, they're termed in the Bible the Epicureans and the Stoics. These were philosophers who loved to sit around and talk about new ideas and new things and new religions. So Paul, when he got to the Areopagus, he said, to the people. Now, when I was passing by and observing your objects of worship, I saw that you had an altar with the inscription to the unknown God. That's the one I want to talk to you about. Now, you need to understand that Paul needed to be careful in his dialogue with these people, because this is the same court that condemned Socrates. And it condemned Socrates because Socrates brought to them the idea of another pagan god that they didn't know anything about, and they condemned him to die. And Paul probably knew that because Paul was a very highly educated man. So Paul, in his approach, didn't tell them that he was bringing them a new object of worship or a new religion, but he took what was there and he witnessed to them. Now, beloved, this is really an excellent lesson for us. When you go out to witness to people, and you talk to them, if you just listen, they will give you an opportunity to witness to them. But you have to listen, and you have to listen very carefully, and you can use their words to tell them why they need the Lord Jesus Christ in their lives. And this is what, basically what Paul was doing, to the unknown God. Now, unfortunately, this phrase, the unknown God, describes the attitude of many people inside of the church and most people outside of the church. That is, most people don't know who God is. They have, we have these, these ideas that we've, we've been programmed with from radio and television and the newspapers and all of that, and refer to God as a man of faith. Well, I think that that's blasphemy. Because God is holy, and righteous, and powerful, and infinite in his being, and loving, and merciful, and he's not a man. He created man. Now, the doctrine of providence has caused some people to come up with ideas that are quite contrary to the Bible. One of them is the idea of deism. Deism is a circumvention of providence because deism teaches that God created the world and everything in it, and he set these natural laws in place, and he went off and left it to run on its own. deism leaves off the fact that God is a transcendent personal God. God loves you so much until every hair on your head is numbered. How could it be that the deists are right when they say God went off and left it? But in order to get around the idea that God is the first cause, and causes me to do everything that I do, They come up with this philosophy. The other one is pantheism. The idea of pantheism is that God is in everything. And this is what prevails in most of the seminaries today. That God is in everything. He's in everything. He's in you, and He's in the seats that you're sitting on, and He's in the birds and the trees and the animals. He's in everything. He is what He created. That's the idea of pantheism. My theology professor used to say that in talking about divine concurrence, he used to say that God created bullfrogs but he doesn't go bumping along the ground. Now let me talk to you a bit about divine concurrence. Divine concurrence is the idea or the truth rather, that God is the first cause. Meaning that everything you do is caused by God. God does it 100%. And everything you do is done by you. You do it 100%. Is this difficult for us to deal with? Yes, it is. It's difficult for us to deal with because we forget that God does not exist in time and space. God created time and space. Now, God is the first cause of everything, and in Ephesians chapter 1 it says that we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. How could that be? Well, it can be because God omnipresent and omniscient. He is everywhere and He knows everything. Everything. There's nothing hidden from Almighty God. God knows your thoughts before you think them. Oh boy. This is the God who is. This is the unknown God that these people on Mars Hill in Athens were worshiping. He is the great God. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And Jesus said, And we quote this passage all the time, without me you can do nothing. You can't do anything without Jesus whether you know him as your Lord and Savior or not. Now I know that this isn't popular preaching today. We don't hear this in the church much today, but it's the truth. Without me you can do nothing. In him we live and move and have our being, Paul says. All of the actions of created men are 100% God, and all of the actions of created men are 100% man. We are valid secondary agents. Do we have free will? No. I'm going to talk about that in a couple of weeks. But providentially God causes all to act in such a way as to bring about His intended purposes for his own glory. Now you think about that in your own person. The things that you do, good, bad, or indifferent, are caused by the first cause to bring about the end that he has determined, his glory, even when you are being rebellious. God is using that to bring about His glory. When you read through the book of Genesis, you discover in Genesis that Jacob had 12 sons. And he loved Joseph because Joseph was the firstborn of the woman that he really loved. And Joseph was a dreamer and he wasn't very diplomatic and he told his brothers about the dream and the brothers got mad and they sold him into slavery. And Joseph was sold into slavery and he was in part of his house and part of his wife put her eyes on him and he ran away and she put him, she caused him to be put in jail and eventually he became Prime Minister of Egypt. And Joseph's brothers all came down to escape the famine And Joseph's father, Israel, died. After Israel died, the brothers came back, and if the count is in Genesis chapter 50, they came back and thought that Joseph was going to take vengeance on them. Joseph knew, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. Joseph said to his brother, what you did, you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. To save, as it is this day, much people alive. What Joseph's brothers did to him, God actually set the conditions in place so that they would do it. So that Joseph would end up being the Prime Minister of Egypt to save much people alive. God knows the end before the beginning. God is the great Creator of the world and all that is in it. He is Lord of all. He is Ruler of all. The Proverbs 21.1 says, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water. He turns it whithersoever he will. Now the king thinks, the kings and the presidents and the prime ministers think that they're doing their own thing. And God is controlling their heart. to bring about the end that he has predetermined. Hallelujah. Paul explains to the Athenians that God does not worship with men's hands. And beloved, I wish that I could communicate that to the world today. God does not worship with men's hands. The beauty of the edifice has nothing to do, in reality, with the worship of God. The worship of God depends on the heartfelt attitudes of the people who come to worship God. If you come to church this morning with a rebellious attitude, if you come to church this morning because of some reason other than a pure desire to worship God, you're wasting your time. You're not accomplishing anything by being here, but God caused you to be here. And because God caused you to be here, it is my responsibility to share the gospel with you, so that you will know that if you don't accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are going to die and spend an eternity in hell. That's God's judgment, that's not my judgment. Almighty God is comprehensively sufficient in and of Himself. He does not need you. He does not need me. He does not need anything. God created out of His consuming love. He loves, so He created. And He loves so much until He caused His Son to come to this sin-cursed earth to be sinned for you and me on the cross. That's the love of God. This God who is so great until he could cause everything to come into existence by a word of his power. Let it be. Let there be light, and there was light, and so on. Paul argues on Mars Hill that God is comprehensively sufficient. He's not worshipped with men's hands, for it is he who gives life and breath and all things to all people. If you are breathing right now, it's because God is giving you breath. If your heart is beating right now, God is causing your heart to beat. And God can cause your heart to stop anytime He gets ready. He has made from one blood all nations of men, or every nation of men, to dwell on the earth. Some of you may know that I have written a book on racism in the Church. And I think that the racism that we experience in this country today can largely be laid at the doorsteps of the Christian Church, because the Christian Church has not preached the whole counsel of God. Paul says here to the Athenians, who thought that they were something special, they were They thought that they came up out of that land there in Athens and they were a cut above every other nation in the world. So Paul was telling them that God has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth. Now it doesn't matter what we look like, we all came from the same source. We are all Adam's children. And to be a racist is to act contrary to the word and will of God. because racism is a result of sinful pride, nothing else. People think that they are better than other people, inherently better than other people, because they look different. Isn't that ridiculous? But the reason that racism permeates everything in this country today is because the church did not preach the whole counsel of God in the colonial era when it had an opportunity to do so. Our church is unusual. It ought to be very usual. Paul argues that this great God, this unknown God, the God that's unknown to you people, has manifested Himself to you, and He has determined even the bounds of your habitation. Do you live in a big fine house? Or do you live in a small house that's not so fine? Well, God made that determination. Do you have a job paying $200,000 a year? I hope you do. Our coffers would really be in good shape, wouldn't they? Do you have a job making $25,000? Now, I have to adjust my thinking with the times. There was a time when $25,000 was a tremendous salary. At one of our family gatherings recently, I told, I was reminding my children that the first house we bought in East Orange cost us $12,800, and they'd smile, they'd laugh. But that was a different time. So we have to keep up with the times. Now, what Paul does in this presentation on Mars Hill, is he confronts the Athenians with man's purpose. Man's purpose is to come to know, love, and serve God. That's the only reason you exist. God has engulfed us with the knowledge of God, and He has engrafted us with the knowledge of God. Now, by engulfing us in the knowledge of God, what I'm saying is that everything that we see represents order and a creator. So God has engulfed us in this knowledge of Him. Everything that's created has a creator. Everything that's made has a maker. So what we are engulfed in is the knowledge of God. You can't look up into the sky on a clear night and ignore a designer, because there is design there. You can't look at yourself and ignore a designer, because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. So God has engulfed us in the knowledge of God, but not only that, He has engrafted us with the knowledge of God. Everyone knows that there is a God. Now, you may deny it, and you may try to get away from it, and you may never come to church or say that, you know, my mama made me go to church when I was little, but I'm grown now, I don't have to do that anymore. Well, that's okay, you can do that. But when you do it, it's God who's really causing you to do it. He is the first cause, and He has His own glory in mind. The end is in glory. And He's going to do that. Now, it is Paul's argument in presenting this unknown God to these Athenians to eventually bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ. My purpose here in this message today is to make you aware that whatever you do, whatever you think, whatever you are, God is in control. God is in control. Now God, in His mercy and love for you personally, has sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come to this sin-cursed earth to be sinned for you on the cross. And if you read the book of Acts you'll find that Peter says in his first sermon that you Jews wickedly took Christ and hung him on a tree. But that's what God meant for you to do. So that he could pour out his blood so that our sins could be covered. Those of you who may be here who have not committed your life to Christ, you're in deep trouble. because tomorrow is not promised to you. In fact, the rest of this day is not promised to you. I think that in an attempt to preach the gospel, and I do have a love for God's people, I have a love for all people. And I want to see all people saved. I would like to see our church come to be an evangelical church that is noted by other churches and other people. That these people in this church really understand who God is. God is not unknown to us. We know who He is. He is the great sovereign Creator of this universe. He is Lord of lords, King of kings. He is the great God who controls everything. Everything is in His hands. I can do nothing apart from His good and perfect will. But I do it. When I do it, I do it. In Him, Paul says to the Athenians, We live and move and have our being. In Him we live and move and have our being. Now we read over that and don't think about it too much. But this is a very clear, succinct statement. That God is providentially in control of everything. You are not here this morning by accident. In fact there's no such thing as accident. There's no such thing as luck either. I'm not going to get on those subjects right now. I hope none of you are on your way to Atlantic City this afternoon. In Him we live and move and have our being, and without Him we can do nothing. The point being made here is that for we are all His offspring. We are all God's creatures. God owns us, He can dispose of us any way He pleases, but He has created us with wills. And He has created us so that we can love Him, we can change, we can submit to the preaching of the Gospel. We can admit that we are sinners. We can cry out to Jesus for salvation. And whosoever shall call on the Lord shall be saved. This God is so great. He was unknown to the men in the Areopaga on Mars Hill, but Paul made Him known. And interestingly, when you read our chapter 17, at the end of the chapter it said, they said, we'll hear you again of this matter. Some doubt it, but some believe. Hallelujah. Some doubt it, but some believe. God is providentially in control of everything, including you and me, and everything we do. So let us determined to live our lives in such a way that God is pleased with all of our actions. God is merciful and provident is that element that we swim in without knowing it. Amen. Our Father and our God, we do thank you so much that you are in control. We thank you that Satan, the small god of this world, is really not in control, but he can only go as far as you will allow him to go. And we pray, Lord, that we may go with a renewed gratitude to you, for your being, for the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the Holy Spirit that indwells us. that enables us to hear your word and do it. We pray your blessings upon each of us according to your word and according to your will. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.