Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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God’s Good Providence

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Romans 8 and the God Who Governs

We just want you to be present with us. We ask that your Holy Spirit, your gracious spirit would teach us, instruct us, enlighten us, move us, change us, transform us. Lord, we pray that we’d be good soil today. We would receive the word and there’d be much fruit that grows in our lives from your word. We pray that for ourselves and we pray the for our children that are going to class today. We ask for blessing on both of them and us. In your name we pray, amen.

If you would, open your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. We’re going to begin reading in verse 18. We all there? Romans 8, you there? Starting in verse 18. That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility or vanity, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption that is the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren, Moreover, whom he predestined these he also called, and whom he called these he also justified, and whom he justified these he also glorified.. What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine nakedness or peril or sword. As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“ You know there are only two views of life. One is called cosmic impersonalism. You like that? Did you bring your dictionary this morning? And that’s the view that things are either random or they are determined. But they both come down to the same fundamental fact that there’s no God, there’s no one guiding events, that things happen. We do not know, they just happen. This is a result of evolutionary thinking, of course. And this leads to a view of life which ultimately is nihilistic and hopeless. The Christian view is one of theistic providence. The Christian view is that God governs all things. And this text clearly bears that out. When talking about the sufferings of the fallen world as well as the persecutions of the church, Paul says right in the middle of that, he says, we know that all things work together for good. And some of the manuscripts say we know that God works all things together for good to those who love Him. In other words, we do not live in a random universe. We do not live in a universe that is just governed by fate. We live in the universe where God rules a man. Jesus said there’s not a hair of your head that God does not count, and in my case doesn’t take among counting. So this morning I wanted to talk about a few things regarding God’s good providence- dence. The sphere of His providence, the goal of His providence, the objects of of his providence and ultimately the comfort, the comfort of God’s providence. Now, first of all, the sphere. When we say that God is governing, what do we mean? We mean that God is governing all things. This is clearly the teaching, teaching of the Bible. It’s not that he governs a few things and not other things. It’s not as if there’s part of the world where God can’t intervene or act or do his work. The scripture tells us that God is governing all things. Do you want to see a few Bible verses? Okay. Isaiah 46. By the way, in Liberty, we believe in the Bible. Isaiah 46. Verse…

God Has a Purpose in All Things

There’s just so much in Isaiah. Have you read Isaiah lately? It’s amazing. I might change my verse. Hold on. Go to Isaiah 45.5. The Lord says, I am the Lord, there is no other. There is no God beside me. I will urge you, though you have not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create the darkness. I make peace and create calamity. the Lord do these things. Rain down you heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness bring up together. I the Lord have created it. Woe to him who strives with his maker. Let the pottery strive with the pottery of the earth. Shall the clay say to him who forms it, what are you doing? Or shall your handiwork say, He has no hands? In other words, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Woke to him who says to his father, what are you begetting, or to the woman, what have you brought forth? In other words, God is governing all things, and to strive with him is futile.

You will not win if you fight against God. But God has not only governed all things, but he governs especially in light of his love for his church. This is called not his general providence, but his special providence. He works in history to bless his people. We see this in the book of Ephesians if you want to turn there to chapter one, where Paul tells us about God’s care, really Christ’s governance, because the scepter is now in Jesus’ hand. If I can get to Ephesians, I’ll read it to you. Ephesians chapter 1. Where do we begin? So starting in verse 15, Paul is praying for us to know God, to understand our calling and all these wonderful things. And then he says, one of the things he’s praying is in verse 9, that we would know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named notice he does doesn’t say he’s above He’s far above. And not only far above, far above all, or every. Every sphere, every demon, every agency, every power that would attempt to destroy God’s church, Jesus is above it all. Not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. This sounds like a Romans 8 we just read, right? And he God put all things under his Christ feet and Gave him Christ to be the head over all things to the church Which is his body First Corinthians 15 and There are many such texts But just one more will read one more passage regarding this in first Corinthians 15 Paul is talking about the resurrection And then he goes on to talk about the ascension after the resurrection. He says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep [audio unclear] Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For he must reign, Jesus that is, he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.

And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says, all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted. In other words, all things, meaning God the Father, is under him, but all things, other than God the Father, are under his feet, even death. So Jesus is currently rating, and he’s governing in the interest of his church, and he is working in such a way to work out blessing for his people. So the doctrine of providence, of God’s good providence, I should say, is that nothing enters the life of the church or enters the life of the believer which is not permitted by the loving Father. Can you say amen to that? And by nothing, we mean nothing. What is God’s goal in His-good providence? Well, it’s good. Paul says in our text in of Romans 8 that God is working all things together for good, for good to those who love Him. In general this means that God is governing to fulfill His plan and His ultimate plan, as we learn from mainly Ephesians but other texts, God’s ultimate plan is to bring all things together in Christ. His ultimate plan is that all men would see that Christ is Lord. His ultimate plan is that when Jesus is revealed at his second coming, all men would then know who he is, what he has done, and they would then bow the knee to him, that every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is what God is doing in history. Now, a lot of times we can’t see how this event and that event and how this tragedy somewhere affects this or how this political leader has to do it. We can’t see how all these pieces fall together. But we can see through faith God’s purpose. We can see what God is doing by faith because He has told us what He’s doing. Now, let me do a footnote. When you read the Bible, you have to understand something when you read the Bible. Sometimes when you read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, or even the Gospels where there’s anything historical, when you read the Bible, there’s three kinds of passages. One, you know from the beginning what’s going on, because the word tells you.

Other passages as you read, you’re not really sure what’s going on, and then you get the moral of the story at the end. The third way is you read the passage and you go, huh? Because God doesn’t explain it to you. So you know you take an example like Job. Well when you read the book of Job in the beginning God tells you what he’s doing. Job’s a righteous man, the devil comes, doesn’t like Job, okay we’re gonna we’re gonna we’re gonna get Job to deny God. So you know really what’s going on as you read through the book of Job. So the question is, is Job going to deny God? That’s the question. That’s the suspense as you read. Is he going to deny? But when you read, for example, Daniel’s, I mean, Joseph’s experience, it doesn’t, I mean, he gets a dream and he says, you know, he has this dream about the sheaves bowing down and the sun and the moon. But it doesn’t tell you explicitly, God is going to put Joseph on the throne. You don’t know that. So you have to read the story. And then you begin to realize, oh, that dream was prophetic. And then he goes through betrayal. He’s betrayed by his brothers and he’s sold into slavery. He ends up in a prison. It’s a bad scene, right? Joseph’s going through bad, bad things. While he’s going through these terrible things, What is God doing? God’s fulfilling his purpose. Now here’s, and then when you get to the end, you say, oh my gosh, Joseph’s on the throne. The dream was prophetic. God was working through the betrayal and through the prison and through all, this was God’s plan to fulfill his will for Joseph. And then at the end of the book of Genesis, what does Joseph say to his brothers who betrayed him? for evil, God meant for good. That’s the lesson, but you get the moral of the story at the end, not at the beginning. Now take the book of Jonah. If you read the book of Jonah, you’re probably scratching your head. Because it’s like, and Jonah was angry. Amen. It’s like, [audio unclear]

What Is This Book Really About?

What is this book really about? What’s the lesson here? I say this because when we read scripture, we usually know either at the beginning or somewhere God’s narrating the events, but we forget the people in the events didn’t have the narration. Job didn’t know about Satan. I don’t think Joseph really knew. I mean, he had that dream, but I’m not sure he really, really, really knew that he was gonna end up on the throne of Egypt. Okay? And many other such situations. I was reading Mark about John the Baptist being in prison and being beheaded. Well, what’s John? We know what happened. We know why he got killed because he was preaching against sin, And Herod’s wife was convicted by his sin, and then she asked for his head. But did John really know all that was going on? Probably not. And so when we think about God’s providence, when we’re living it out, a lot of times we don’t know. We don’t know exactly what God is doing. We don’t know why something might be happening. We don’t understand this or understand that, but that’s okay. You don’t have to know everything, because what you need to know is you need to know God. That’s what you need to know. And you need to know his word. That’s what you need to know. And times of confusion in your Christian life are one of the purposes is designed to teach you faith, to teach you to rely on God’s word and not to rely on your environment or your feelings because neither of those are reliable.

We’ll come back to that a little more. Okay, so God’s purpose though is good in his general providence and especially in a special providence. In Romans 8 28 which we’ve read the whole passage here, Paul says we know that all things work together for good or God is working all things together for good. Okay, good. What does good mean? Now my personal version of good is peace and comfort.

That’s pretty good. You know, barbecue in the backyard on an afternoon? That’s pretty good. Well that’s not the good Paul’s talking about. God has a higher good than mere human goods. And in the context, the good that God is after in your life, the good that God is after in my life, is that we would be transformed into the image of Jesus. Let me say it again, God’s goal in your life, no matter what is going on in your life, no matter what you’re calling or your profession, God’s goal for his children is for each of them the same, and that is that they would be transformed into the image of his son Jesus Christ. And Paul tells us this right here. He says, for whom he foreknew, he says God’s working for good, and he’s talking about good in the midst of suffering by the way, whom he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. So God has this goal in mind in our lives. And this should provide consolation for us in times of suffering. Because God uses trial, tribulation, suffering to transform us into the image of His Son. Suffering sanctifies. Suffering sanctifies. James 1, We’ll come back to Romans in a second. You all know it, but we need to read it. I want you to see it in your Bible. Because God said it. James 1. James says, my brethren. 2. James 1, 2. My brethren and sister-in. Count it all joy. when you fall into various trials. Now that is one of the most convicting verses in the Bible. Is it not? I mean, is not our first response to murmur and complain? Grumble? Well, Jesus is like, hey, you know, I love you and all, so give me the good life. My brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance and that patients have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. God’s goal is to cause us to grow up and mature into the image of Jesus and trials are designed for that. Now at the time you’re going through a trial, you may not see the connection. You can’t see how this relates to that, but God does. God sees, He knows all things. And so He’s working in our lives in such a way that He knows what is best for us, even if we don’t understand it. So the Lord uses, well, one more, can I read one more? Romans 5, Romans 5. So it’s very in Romans. Paul had already alluded to this in Romans 5 verse 1. He says, therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God. Some verses say let us have peace. I believe it is not an exhortation, it’s a statement of fact, indicative. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through Whom also we have access, meaning to God, by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character, hope. Now, in both this passage and in the passage in James, we have to realize that both of them make this [audio unclear] use this word, we just read it and don’t think about it, but he says in both places, knowing. James says knowing the trials, Paul says in verse three, we glory and triple glory means we’re boasting about all the junk that’s happening. That’s what he’s saying. How can you brag about bad things happening to you? How can you brag about painful things happening to you? you must know something the world doesn’t know. What is it that we know? We know that tribulation works patience, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But we know it, first of all, by faith, because the word of God reveals it. But then as you go on in your walk with Christ, and you go through some battles, and you go through some hard times, you find that not only do you know it by faith, you know it by experience. It really is true. And then, you’re able to look back, and you’re able to see how things, which at one time were painful and difficult, God worked for your good. And so your experience testifies to your faith. So God is working good in the life of his church, in the life of believers, and that good is that he would transform us into the image of his son. But his son, as we’re told in Hebrews, learned obedience by the things that he suffered.

The File and the Furnace

I’d like to read a little Tozer to you. Is that OK? I’m reading actually a little bit about Tozer’s life the other day. And when he was a new, wasn’t a new Christian, he was, I think, a new pastor. Just going into the ministry, he was talking to an older, seasoned pastor, and he was, you know, he’s, you know how those young guys are, they’re just fireballs, right? We’re gonna do it. And he was telling this guy, I want to be sold out for Jesus, I want to love God more than, and the guy looked at him and said, then be prepared to suffer. This is what Tozo wrote years later.

The raptured Rutherford, now, Sammy Rutherford’s a famous Scottish preacher, if you don’t know him, get a book of his letters. Who could shout in the midst of serious and painful trials, praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace. The hammer is a useful tool, but the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only has an opponent, brutal merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it down out of sight and clinch it into place. That is the nails view of the hammer and it is accurate except for one thing. The nail forgets that both it and the hammer are servants of the same workman. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held by the workman and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter decides whose. head shall be beaten next and one hammer shall be used in the beating. That is his sovereign right. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workman and has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans, benign his kind by the way, for its future it will yield to the hammer without complaint. The file is a more painful, is more painful still, for its business is to bite into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges to shape the If the file has in truth no real will in the matter, but serves another master as the meadow. It is the master, and not the file that decides how much shall be eaten away, what shape the meadow shall take, and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the meadow accept the will of the master, and it will not try to dictate when or how it shall be filed. As for the furnace, it is the worst of all. Ruthless and savage, it leaps at every combustible thing that enters it and never relaxes its fury till it has reduced it all to shapeless ashes. All that refuses to burn is melted into a mass of helpless matter without will or purpose of its own. When everything is melted that will melt and all is burned that will burn, then and not till then the furnace calms down and rests from its destructive suree.“ And then Tozer goes on to say this, ”…with all this known to him, how could Rutherford find it in his heart to praise God for the hammer and the file and the furnace?“ The answer is simply that he loved the master of the hammer. He adored the workman who yielded the file and he worshiped the Lord who heated the furnace for the everlasting blessing of his children. He had felt the hammer till its rough beatings no longer hurt. He had endured the file till he had come actually to enjoy its biding. He had walked with God in the furnace so long that it had become as his natural habitat.

That does not overstate the facts and his letters reveal as much. This doctrine is this, does not find much sympathy among Christians in these soft and carnal days. We tend to think of Christianity as a, by which we can escape the penalty of past sins and attain to heaven at last. The flaming desire to be rid of every unholy thing and to put on the likeness of Christ at any cost is not often found among us. We expect to enter the everlasting kingdom of our Father and to sit down around the table of sages and saints and martyrs. And through the grace of God, Tovis says, maybe we shall, maybe we shall. But for the most of us, it could prove at first an embarrassing experience. Ours might be the silence of the untried soldier in the presence of the battle-hardened heroes who have fought the fight and won the victory and who have scarred to prove that they were present when the battle was joined. The devil, things and people, being what they are, it is necessary for God to use the hammer, the file and the furnace in his holy work of preparing a saint for true sainthood. It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.

God is working good in your life, in my life, in this community’s life, in the life of churches all around our nation and the world, and often that involves suffering. But it is for good. It is for good. Final comment, then I’d like to sing Christ Alone again, if we could. The third point is the object of God’s good providence. And back in Romans 8, 28, Paul says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. We must remember that although God’s love for us is not conditional, our experience of his love is. And it’s conditional on our response to his providence. When God is working in our lives, how we respond to his work really reflects how much we do love him, how much we do trust him. You see, Rutherford knew Christ and if you read his letters, his passion for Jesus is overwhelming. And because he knew the Lord, in a very profound, intimate way, he was able to trust him in the fire with the hammer, with the file. Because he knew holding these things. He knew that the hand holding these things was the nail-scarred hand. So as we go through trials and difficulties, which God means for our good and our sanctification, and even our healing, the question is, do we love God in return? Do we love God in return? What will our response be to God’s providence? You know, I’m just like all of you. I praise God in the peace, in the comfort, but I want to murmur and complain in the trials. But I believe we can get to a place in our Christian life where we thank God for the fire. I believe it’s attainable for every one of us. I believe we can thank God for the hammer. We don’t have to understand whether he’s making a cabinet or making a bookshelf. It doesn’t matter what he is making. [audio unclear] And of His great, great love for us.

If God Is For Us

Look at 31: What then shall we say to these things if God be for us who can be against us? Actually many people can. Hey you know Paul He’s talking to people here that if they open their mouth about embracing Christ, they lost their inheritance. They lost their father and mother. They lost their family. The early church was not getting applauded for coming to Christ. They were being shunned. They were being scorned. They were being ridiculed. They were being persecuted. And some of them were being put to death. And yet he says, God is for us. And the evidence of that is not your environment. The evidence of that is not whether or not you’re getting a promotion at work. The evidence of that is not how much money you’re making. The evidence of that is everything going smoothly in your family. That’s not the evidence of God’s love. The evidence of God’s love is the cross. He [audio unclear] God did. God did. And so, come hell or high water. No matter what is happening in your life, your family, your work situation, your church community, our nation, which is in utter, utter chaos. It doesn’t change the fact of what Jesus did on the cross. It doesn’t change the fact that the cross was God’s proof. I love you. And so we believe the Word of God in spite of circumstances, in spite in spite of all these things that will come against the church. Paul says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

More Than Conquerors

This is the love of Christ and the love of God that was demonstrated on the cross. Is there something that’s going to happen that will make Jesus fall off the cross? Is there something that’s going to happen which will make Jesus lay in the tomb? No. The crucifixion of Jesus, the burial of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus are historical facts. They are the grounds of our faith. We believe because it really happened. And the word of God says it happened because I love you. So shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or sword or parrot will these things separate us from the love of Christ? No. And then Paul quotes the Old Testament. For your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Even while being slaughtered, we know. Even while being slaughtered, we know that God loves us.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. I think a lot of modern versions say, outside of all these things, we’re more of the conquerors, in them, in them. We can conquer in them. You see, conquering doesn’t mean you prayed away. means you stand in it and you overcome through it.

I saw watching the news a while back, this actually a couple years ago, about some hurricanes in Florida. It talked about when the news came that the hurricane was coming, some people boarded up their windows, got their supplies, a couple of days supplies or whatever, and basically other people got in the car and took off. Fight or flight, right? Stand or run. And it struck me when I was watching it how that’s how we are. That’s how people are, but that’s how the church is. People hit a rough spot and they want to run. I understand that. I don’t like tough situations. I don’t like pain, I’m not a masochist, you know. I don’t like it any more than you do. Who likes conflict, who likes these things, nobody. But the sad part about the news was they talked about all the people that ran and then ended up not coming back. And how they ran out of fear, and they lost their beautiful, they just said. I’m not going to do that anymore. Our response to our environment, whether it’s individual, familial, work, church, nation, our response has got to be conditioned by one simple fact. You ready? Then I’m going to close. I know I’ve gone too long. You got to hear this if you don’t hear anything else. What is going on with you? You must interpret everything in your life through the lens of the cross.

You must, or you won’t understand anything. If you go through hard times and you don’t understand the cross, if you don’t look through the cross, I can tell you what’s going to happen. You’re going to get bitter. because God will bring trials. He will bring pain. And if you don’t see it through the lens of the cross, you’ll get bitter. And unfortunately, I’m not free to tell you the stories that I know, from personal experience, of people who loved God at one time, walked with God, worshiped God. And then when they came to hard times, Instead of responding to the, and understanding, and understanding the love of God was working. It’s becoming better, they became bitter. And the fruit of bitterness is ugly. It destroys people’s souls. It destroys the marriages. It destroys children. It destroys churches. It’s very ugly. And that’s why we’re exhorted repeatedly in scripture to put away anger, put away bitterness, put away unforgiveness, put this stuff away. It’s poison.

But if you can see through the lens of the cross, you won’t become bitter. You’ll grow and you’ll learn to thank God for the hammer and the file and the furnace.

Even though you may not understand all the details, He’s working all these things for your good because He loves you.

Amen.

See Through the Lens of the Cross

Amen. Let’s stand. Lord, your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are not our thoughts. But this one thing I know, Jesus, you have conquered sin, Satan, and death. And you have risen from the dead. This we know. And those of us who know you know it both from your word and from the testimony of your spirit in our hearts.

Jesus we thank you that your Father, as well as your spirit, as well as yourself, that you are all working in our lives to transform us into your beautiful image. Make us submissive to your will, Father. Make us submissive to your hand, Spirit. Make us submissive to your ways, Holy Spirit. So that you might accomplish your work. And that you would be glorified, Lord. You would be glorified in our lives. All God’s people said, Amen.