God’s Providence Pt 1

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:08.119
Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast,

2
00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:15.320
making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Wednesday, July the

3
00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:20.640
seventeenth, twenty twenty four. It
is currently four fifty seven pm Central Time,

4
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:26.239
and I am coming to you live
from the Theology Central studio located right

5
00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:31.239
here in Abilene, Texas. Now, if you're looking at the sermons two

6
00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:34.240
point oh app right, if you
look at the Sermon's two point oh app

7
00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:37.840
really quick, just open it really
fast, you will notice that there is

8
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:42.159
only one live webcast, and that
is the Theology Central webcast. There are

9
00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:48.079
no others. Now it's Wednesday,
four fifty eight pm Central time. Now,

10
00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:51.240
if you know anything about the sermon's
two point oh app you know that

11
00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:57.920
within the next hour there will be
probably two hundred live webcasts. So we've

12
00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:03.000
got we've started right before all the
others. We found that perfect time so

13
00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:07.640
that there are no other broadcasts.
The ones that were earlier they have ended,

14
00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.120
and the ones that are about to
begin haven't started. So here we

15
00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:15.560
come right at this perfect time.
And that means what it No, it

16
00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:19.519
absolutely doesn't mean anything. I just
happened to notice it, So I'm going

17
00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:23.120
to tell you, But it does
mean that I have an opportunity then that

18
00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:26.280
when people are maybe looking or waiting
for their favorite broadcaster to begin their live

19
00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:30.480
web their live Wednesday night webcast,
they will say, wait, what's this

20
00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.120
theology central thing? And they will
tune in, and when they tune in,

21
00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:38.159
they're going to hear well, probably
something they don't like, and then

22
00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:42.079
they're never going to listen again.
So really, this is probably only guaranteeing

23
00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:48.959
that I lose, that I drive
away any future listeners or followers on this

24
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.799
particular app because you can hit the
follow tab. Not followers like following me,

25
00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:55.680
but following the broadcast. You get
the idea, right, Okay,

26
00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:00.920
so what are we going to do? Well? Earlier I did an introduction.

27
00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:06.840
Now, at first I just entitled
the earlier broadcast God's Providence. That's

28
00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.560
all I did, and then I'm
then when I got ready to do this

29
00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:10.919
one, I'm like, well,
I can't do this one. Is God's

30
00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:15.000
Providence Part one? If that one
says God's Providence, that would have to

31
00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:16.520
be a part one. Then I
would make this part two. But now

32
00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:21.319
that's not really a part one.
So what I did as I went back

33
00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:27.840
and changed the title to the last
broadcast is God's Providence Introduction, because in

34
00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:31.000
that episode we kind of introduced what
we're going to be doing over the next

35
00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:38.560
week. Maybe plus we're going to
be diving in studying, looking at considering,

36
00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:43.639
meditating, struggling, possibly being greatly
disturbed, and maybe have a lot

37
00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:50.199
of sleepless nights trying to wrap our
minds around really two very important concepts.

38
00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:53.479
We're obviously we're going to be focusing
on God's Providence. That's going to be

39
00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.840
the main thing, but we're really
kind of bringing two concepts together, God's

40
00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:01.159
eternal Decrees and God's Providence. Now
these kind of we're gonna we're just gonna

41
00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:05.159
call this God's Providence. We really
could break this down into God's Decrees in

42
00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.759
God's Providence, but we're gonna kind
of bring them together at least to some

43
00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:14.639
level. And in the introductory episode, I told everyone, I gave everyone

44
00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:16.360
a number of assignments. I'm not
going to go back and repeat all of

45
00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:21.840
them. Hopefully you've already started working
on those assignments, and hopefully it's going

46
00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.240
to be I mean, well,
I would like to say hopefully it's going

47
00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:30.639
to be very beneficial I think hopefully
it just will. I believe it's a

48
00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:34.360
subject. Let me state it this
way. Hopefully you will see and hopefully

49
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:40.159
you will understand that this is a
subject worthy of great consideration and a great

50
00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:46.039
amount of your time, and that
you will dedicate the time to it and

51
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.639
do all the things that I asked, so that when we are finished with

52
00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:53.199
this very and we may even extend
it if we need to forever how long

53
00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.039
this study goes. When it's said
and done, we can all walk away

54
00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:01.560
going and know it's gonna sound contradictory. On one way, I'm absolutely horrified.

55
00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:08.479
I'm bothered, I'm frustrated. I'm
upset about this concept of God's eternal

56
00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:13.039
decrease and God's providence. On the
other hand, hopefully you'll walk away going.

57
00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:15.519
I don't know if I still truly
understand it. IM a little confused.

58
00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.519
I know that both none of those
sound very positive. I know what

59
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.920
someone would say, No, what
you want is when people are done hearing

60
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:27.560
about God's providence and God's eternal decrees, they say, oh, how beautiful

61
00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:31.720
and how comforting, and it brings
me great peace. I don't know how

62
00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:39.360
any rational person can look at God's
providence and God's eternal decrees and say,

63
00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:43.439
oh, it brings me great comfort
and great peace. I really don't know

64
00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.439
how you can do that. Like, I think, if you do that,

65
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.439
what you're doing is you're only looking
at God's providence and God's eternal decrees

66
00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:54.240
and the most positive light, and
you're not willing to look about you know,

67
00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:59.279
It's like, don't open that door, keep that door locked. What's

68
00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:00.560
behind that door? No? No, no no, and you slap their

69
00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:02.759
hands, get away, get away? What but I want to look?

70
00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:04.839
No? No, no, no, Look, there's God's providence, there's

71
00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:08.839
God's decrease. Yeah, but what's
behind that door? No, don't go

72
00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.319
open that door, because once you
open that door, you see, in

73
00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:15.959
a sense, the other side of
God's providence, in God's eternal decrease.

74
00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.040
And ladies and gentlemen, I don't
think it's going to bring you much comfort.

75
00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:20.920
I think it's going to keep you
up at night. It's going to

76
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.720
bother you, it's going to be
it may frustrate you, and it may

77
00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:28.879
make you very very very very upset. And I think that if you never

78
00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.920
reach that, then you've never really
struggled with these concepts. You've been fed

79
00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:38.399
the Disney version. You've been fed
the Hallmark Channel version, and so much

80
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.360
of Christianity, so much of church, just wants to give everyone the Disney

81
00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:46.920
fed version, the Hallmark version of
so many deep philological issues, and we

82
00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.480
always just want to make it positive
and uplifting. You just listen to a

83
00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:54.319
lot of well, I mean,
I know it's somewhat dated in archaic now,

84
00:05:54.439 --> 00:05:56.560
but there was a time when you
would listen to Christian radio. It

85
00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:00.040
was always the positive alternative, uplifting
you, bringing you, you know,

86
00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:03.959
giving you a sense of peace and
a time of trouble. And they would

87
00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:08.839
always hype it, and all of
their promotions was about, you know,

88
00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:13.360
uplifting, encouraging, supporting, you
know, peace. And it's like,

89
00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:17.319
well, if you're really dealing with
the Bible and theology, I'm sorry,

90
00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:23.759
it's not all peace comfort. It's
no, it's being confronted with some of

91
00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:29.160
the most difficult and in some ways
brutal truths. I mean, just think

92
00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.040
about it. I mean, just
it's so funny that Christianity is sometimes presented

93
00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.920
as you know, oh, you
need encouragement, you need to be uplifted.

94
00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:42.319
Will come to Christianity, the religion
that believes that if you don't believe

95
00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:46.399
the right way and the right thing, you will burn for all eternity.

96
00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:50.560
But we're the religion that will bring
you great peace and comfort. And he

97
00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:56.199
said, we believe that people who
die who don't believe the right way will

98
00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:00.839
literally burn for all eternity. I'm
sorry if that doesn't bother you at least

99
00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:04.279
a little bit. And here's what
we do. Well, you know,

100
00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:08.560
you know, God has to judge
sin, and we can I know all

101
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.120
the right words, we can say
all the right word. Well, God

102
00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.839
is holy and he can't talk.
I understand all of that. Look I

103
00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:17.160
understand. I mean I could challenge
you on some of that. If you

104
00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.240
really take it to us logical conclusion, it's still going to leave you very

105
00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:24.920
not comfortable. But what I find
this is what I find so funny about

106
00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:29.560
it. One hand, we promote
Christianities be all uplifting and peace and comfort

107
00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:31.439
and joy and all of this,
while we at the same time hold this

108
00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:35.319
doctrine of people burning for all eternity. But here's what I noticed. What

109
00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:42.639
Christians do. It's in not all
cases, but in many cases, Christians

110
00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:47.600
love to find a way to make
everyone out there burn but anyone that they

111
00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:51.079
love, any family member, they
always find a way to ensure that they're

112
00:07:51.079 --> 00:07:56.720
going to heaven. Well you know
they and they will always find a way

113
00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:01.639
because they can't and handle the fact
that it could be one of their loved

114
00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:07.160
ones who's burning for all eternity.
What I'm trying to demonstrate is that there

115
00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.600
are some very difficult concepts within Christianity
and nobody likes. I mean, look,

116
00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.480
just consider it from this perspective.
If you're still not convinced, just

117
00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:24.279
spend about an hour considering how utterly
holy and perfect God is just really and

118
00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:28.639
and how he demands perfection inside of
you, outside of you. And then

119
00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.120
just after you've spent an hour really
grasping it, then just go find a

120
00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.519
mirror and look in it. And
you're going to see someone who never comes

121
00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.919
close to that. And you're going
to feel the guilt, and you're going

122
00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:43.919
to feel the shame, and you're
going to feel the humiliation. And what

123
00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.679
we do is we spend all day, you know, covering ourself in fig

124
00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:52.159
leaves and a robe of self righteousness
so that we feel good about ourselves.

125
00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.879
Oh but I didn't do this,
and oh look at how good I am.

126
00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:58.039
Well, the reality is no matter
how good we think we are,

127
00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.120
we're all just messed up. I
mean, it's just the reality. Not

128
00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:05.360
excusing it, but it's just the
reality. So these issues are complicated and

129
00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:13.159
difficult. Now, why am I
spending and deciding to look at this subject

130
00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:18.399
of God's providence and God's eternal decrease? Well, I'm doing so because when

131
00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:24.840
things get really really negative, right
when I get really really frustrated or irritated

132
00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:28.519
about something going on in Christianity,
I know I can continue to turn on

133
00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:33.600
the microphone and I can rant,
and I can rave, and I can

134
00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.279
scream, and I can give hot
takes and everybody's like, wow, did

135
00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.120
you hear? And it becomes like, you know, I'm known as the

136
00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:43.600
crazy guy who's yelling and screaming and
met about everything. And it's easy just

137
00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:50.240
to continue down that path because the
numbers usually increase when you when you give

138
00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:52.320
a hot take and you're yelling and
screaming, usually you're going to be able

139
00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:56.679
to increase your numbers to a certain
level. You'll drive some people away,

140
00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.279
but a lot of people will just
tune in for the drama. Okay,

141
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:01.879
I don't want to be that I
don't want to be that. So when

142
00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:07.480
I find myself getting really angry or
frustrated, I try to. I try,

143
00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:09.759
and I'm not saying I always do
this very well, and you know

144
00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:11.080
all the times I fail to do
it, and you know the times I've

145
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:15.840
succeeded, because if you've been listening, you can you are better judge of

146
00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.879
this than I am. But there's
times I always try to go time out.

147
00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.240
Stop stop stop stop stop stop.
All right, I know this has

148
00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.519
been negative. Now what can we
do to try to engage in a positive

149
00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:31.039
study that we can dig into this
from a doctrinal philological perspective. Look As

150
00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:35.759
as frustrated and irritated as I was
getting at some of the sermons on Psalm

151
00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.559
eighty three, I think if you
look at the totality of everything we've done

152
00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:45.000
on Psaw eighty three, it's been
much more positive and trying and positive in

153
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:50.120
this sense of trying to present an
in depth teaching and explanation and study of

154
00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:54.799
Psaw eighty three and trying to find
applications that work. I think it's been

155
00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.720
positive in that instead of just continuing
to what in the world is going on

156
00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:03.960
with these sermons on saw me even
though that's mentioned frequently, I'm still trying

157
00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:09.679
to do something more constructive. Let's
put it that way in it and so

158
00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:13.279
the same thing is here. So
we all know what happened on Saturday.

159
00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:22.399
There was the assass assassination attempt that
was made against Donald Trump. There was

160
00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:28.279
a shooter. He shot at Donald
Trump. It basically clipped the ear of

161
00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:33.200
Donald Trump. I know there's some
speculation was it actually a bullet or was

162
00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.759
it from something from the teleprompter that
the bullet at the teleprompter and it send

163
00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:39.600
like glass and part that cut his
ear. I know there's all kinds of

164
00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.759
wild speculation out there about that.
But the point is he was he was

165
00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:48.919
hit by something and he was bleeding. I don't know if they've made an

166
00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.480
absolute confirmation yet. I know there
was some back and forth I was seeing.

167
00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:54.639
I think I think it was earlier
today, maybe I saw it,

168
00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:56.720
maybe it was yesterday. So I
don't want to I want to be careful

169
00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:00.759
that if there's new information, I
want to make sure we're at either way.

170
00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:05.200
He was hit, he was wounded, and then the shooter was killed,

171
00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:07.159
and then two other people were wounded, and then a man by the

172
00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:11.360
name of Corey was shot and killed
as well, and he was simply attending

173
00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:18.360
trying to protect his family when the
shooting occurred. So all of that right,

174
00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.679
So obviously it was going to have
to be talked about in some way,

175
00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:24.679
shape or form. So we started
talking about it. I gave some

176
00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.639
of my initial thoughts, and I
was very discouraged, and I just felt

177
00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.879
like this is going to be bad
and where is this going to go?

178
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:37.039
But I vowed to myself the one
thing I wasn't going to do is I

179
00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.320
wasn't going to just start listening to
all of the different podcasts out there that

180
00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:46.519
would cover it from a political standpoint. I wasn't going to get into the

181
00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:50.159
political arguments or the conspiratorial arguments.
I was just going to try to avoid

182
00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.799
all of that as much as possible
because that would just get ugly and frustrating

183
00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:58.320
and dark, and everybody was yelling
and fighting and blaming, and I'm like,

184
00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.080
I'm just going to stay out.
I know what I'll do. I'll

185
00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.720
look and see how the church is
going to cover it, right, and

186
00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:07.679
see if the church is going to
cover it, and because that'll give me

187
00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:11.039
an idea of how the church is
thinking. Now are they thinking politically,

188
00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.200
biblically how are they thinking? And
this will give me an idea where the

189
00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:18.240
church is going. Now. I
have gone in great detail about all of

190
00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.960
my frustration, irritation, aggravation to
downright ancher by how many in the church

191
00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.679
have handled the assassination attempt against Donald
Trump. I mean, I am not

192
00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.960
going to go into that anymore.
But the one thing that did come up

193
00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.519
over and over and over was this
concept of God's providence, of God's eternal

194
00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:45.480
decrees, and that it was in
God's providence that God spared Donald Trump.

195
00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:48.799
He saved his life. He protected
him in a sense, he may caused

196
00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.120
the bullet to go this direction and
Trump to go this direction. It was

197
00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:58.039
a miracle. He was saved by
the mighty hand of God. God intervened.

198
00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:01.679
It was a divine miracle, is
the way many are putting it.

199
00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.720
But of course Corey who died,
I don't I don't know what happened there.

200
00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:09.360
I don't know what God's providence.
I don't want to talk about providence.

201
00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:11.519
That if it was providence for God
to save Trump, then it was

202
00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:16.000
God's providence for Corey to die.
If it was God's eternal decree, to

203
00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.399
save Trump. It was God's eternal
decree for Corey to die. Now many

204
00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:24.320
Christians will just say, well,
that's the way it is and shrugged their

205
00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:26.440
shoulders, but yeah, that's the
way the way it is until your life

206
00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:31.080
is impacted. But everybody's been talking
about providence. But in all the cases

207
00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:37.320
their discussed discussion of Providence has always
been has only been from the positive side,

208
00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:41.879
not the negative. They've ignored the
death and only looked at Donald Trump

209
00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:46.559
being spared and and and they don't
really want to deal with it. So

210
00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:48.080
I'm thinking, okay, I could
contende. I am going to continue to

211
00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:52.919
review some of the responses to the
assassination attempt. We will continue to monitor

212
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.120
it and watch it over the next
week. But at the same time,

213
00:14:56.759 --> 00:15:00.799
that's all that's going to be is
probably negative, negative, negative, negative,

214
00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.399
and frustration and frustration and frustration.
So I thought, what can we

215
00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:09.240
do, Well, we can.
We can turn this into a discussion about

216
00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.240
providence. And that's what we're doing. So I told you to start looking

217
00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:18.480
on sermons two point oh app finding
random sermons on the subject of Providence.

218
00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.759
I told you I was going to
be pulling sermons from a specific series on

219
00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:28.919
the Mystery of Providence, The Mystery
of Providence, which comes from a famous

220
00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:31.519
book, which I sent out a
link on the church one app so that

221
00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:35.720
you can obtain that book. And
so I'm going to the very first sermon

222
00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:37.639
in that series, and the Mystery
of Providence that I told everyone about.

223
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.559
I told you to follow it and
you can download all of the sermons in

224
00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:46.320
the series. You really should.
But I also told you start looking maybe

225
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.120
for other sermons on the subject,
because I will at least start reviewing these

226
00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:52.279
and then you can go back and
listen to them. You should find plenty

227
00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:58.240
of content to keep you very much
engaged in this subject. But I thought

228
00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:03.600
we would just jump in now and
see where this goes. I don't know

229
00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:07.399
how long I'm gonna review this.
The original idea was to do this broadcast

230
00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:11.399
hours ago because I thought I was
going to be going to do something,

231
00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:15.039
and then all the waiting that and
never okay, yeah, let's and God's

232
00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:21.039
providence today has been very frustrating.
You see, how you see when you

233
00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:26.080
break down God's providence or God's eternal
decrees to the very small details in life.

234
00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:33.039
Was it God's eternal decree? And
did God and his providence, guide,

235
00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:38.000
lead and direct that my circumstances today
would be one in which I was

236
00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.639
told, you're going to need to
go do this today to help out.

237
00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:48.279
Soma will let you know when that
will be. Now, knowing my personality,

238
00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:52.080
when I know I have to go
do something, I'm very bad at

239
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.000
doing anything before that. That's why
if I have a doctor's, a barman,

240
00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.559
anything, make it, make it
at five in the morning. Make

241
00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:00.720
it. I want it the very
first, so then it's over, because

242
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:03.319
if it's at one in the afternoon, I will spend all morning going,

243
00:17:03.359 --> 00:17:07.039
well, okay, well I got
an appointment at one, Well okay,

244
00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.759
I don't really want to do this. I got an appointment at one,

245
00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:11.720
Okay, I got okay, I'm
just gonna leave it, leave at eleven.

246
00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:15.559
Because I hate having something I know
I have to do. I just

247
00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.200
like to get it done right.
It's just my personality. So was it

248
00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:22.960
God's eternal decree and God's providence that
this would work out in a way where

249
00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.839
I set around waiting, waiting,
waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,

250
00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.839
getting absolutely nothing done, to only
be told, well, we don't really

251
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:34.319
need you now. Now I'm glad
that everything worked out for everyone involved in

252
00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:37.200
the situation, and I guess I
wasn't really needed. That's great. I

253
00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:41.559
offer my help for later, but
in the meantime was See do I see

254
00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:47.680
that as in God's providence and God's
eternal decree? That's exactly the way it

255
00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:51.880
was supposed to be. Now do
then I bring myself to say I got

256
00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:56.000
frustrated, I got irritated, I
got aggravated, I got bothered. Is

257
00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:03.720
that me demonstrating my lack of submission
God's divine providence and his eternal decrees,

258
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:12.960
which would mean I'm in a perpetual
state of probably sin just in the way

259
00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:21.920
I handle God's eternal decrees and his
providential directing of an upholding of all things.

260
00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:25.720
I mean, come on, think
about it. It can be,

261
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:30.440
whether it can be, whatever the
situation be, whatever the situation is.

262
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:37.200
Do I see that coming from God's
eternal decree and his providence? If you

263
00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:41.559
do, well, then what should
we not respond in a radically different way?

264
00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:44.519
See, this is one of those
concepts I keep trying to tell you.

265
00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:48.759
Theoretically, theoretically we say amen to, but in practice I don't know

266
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:53.359
if we really see it to that
great of detail. Look, I probably

267
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:57.480
wouldn't even thought about it until because
well, we've been talking about God's providence.

268
00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:03.480
I've now I've giving you the London
Baptist Confession of Faith on God's Decrees

269
00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:06.519
and Providence now twice. We haven't
gone through all of it, but we've

270
00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:11.519
read at least the first paragraph on
both chapters, and so it's more in

271
00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:14.480
my mind. So today when I
was getting frustrated, I'm like, well,

272
00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:18.039
this is you know what this demonstrates
that I get irritated with God's providence.

273
00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:23.480
I get irritated, irritated with God's
decrees in the smallest detail. Forget

274
00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:29.680
the big things. I get irritated
in the smallest things. Now, you

275
00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.319
may be more Godly than me,
but I have a feeling you may not

276
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:38.759
have even have thought about that today. All right, So when something irritates

277
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:44.079
you here in the next hour,
how are you going to look at it?

278
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:47.359
So should we just stop the broadcast
and have an alter call now?

279
00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:52.480
So we can all go to the
altar and confess how we're not very submissive

280
00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:56.000
to God's eternal decrees and God's providence. You guys, go ahead and walk

281
00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.920
the aisle. I'm just gonna go
ahead and go home, and because you

282
00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:03.000
know I'm more spiritual than the rest
of you. I'm joking. All right,

283
00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:08.759
are you ready to hear this?
Here we go, Here we go.

284
00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:19.119
As you know, it's my habit
over the summer, when so many

285
00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.480
of you are here and there,
but some of you are here today,

286
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.240
what are you doing here? So
many people are here and there. Fourth

287
00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:27.759
of July coming up next week,
and so forth, a wedding out of

288
00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:33.799
town, people going here and there. My goal is to select some of

289
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:40.920
the best books ever written and to
present to you some of their best ideas.

290
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:44.119
We've covered a number of things over
the summers in the past, and

291
00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.759
this year we're going to cover a
book by Puritan named John Flable, and

292
00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:56.119
his book is called The Mystery of
Providence. The Mystery of Providence. You'll

293
00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:00.039
be glad now. Hopefully I've already
sent out a link to the book.

294
00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.400
If you have the Church one app, you can just go to the notices

295
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.680
tab and you should be able to
find it. And I think if you

296
00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:10.359
look on the sermon's two point oh
I don't know about the sermon's two point

297
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.359
oh app. I think if you
go to Beta dot summonaudio dot com and

298
00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:15.720
look for Theology Central. When you
get to our page, I think you'll

299
00:21:15.720 --> 00:21:18.680
see the notice there with the link, so it takes you directly to the

300
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.720
book. It's free. You don't
have to buy anything. Thanks to moneargism

301
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:26.240
dot com, the other ones who've
made the book available in a PDF format.

302
00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.000
There's plenty of other people because I
believe the book is not under any

303
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:36.119
copyright, so you can find it
free anywhere. Please Note and I think

304
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:37.759
he's getting ready to say this,
because I did hear the beginning of this.

305
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.440
I think he's going to say the
same thing. It's a work written

306
00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:47.640
by a Puritan that can be very
tough reading for some. Sometimes there are

307
00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:52.599
language way too, just very poetic, and sometimes you may like that.

308
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.680
Sometimes it can make it very hard
to really grasp what is being said,

309
00:21:56.680 --> 00:21:59.319
because sometimes you're like, I need
this to be said in a much more

310
00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:03.119
direct way, not in a poetic, flowery way. Okay. So that

311
00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:07.039
so sometimes, and some may say
Flabel is harder to read than other Puritans.

312
00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:11.720
You can draw your own conclusion,
but note, there are I think

313
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.359
there are a there's a modernized version
floating around somewhere. It probably is available

314
00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:18.920
somewhere on Amazon. If you find
a modernized version, you may want to

315
00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:23.160
really consider getting that, even if
you have to pay for it. And

316
00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.519
I think there's an a B.
I think he's going to say there's an

317
00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:29.559
abridged version, which if you don't
have a lot of time, you may

318
00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:33.079
want to do that as well.
All right, but that that book is

319
00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:36.559
a part of your assignment for this
week. So hopefully you've got it all

320
00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:41.799
right. Now, Let's continue to
know it's for really available online. You

321
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:45.039
can download it and read it on
your phone wherever you're going, or if

322
00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:48.799
you like the hardcover kind, you
can get that. There is a modernized

323
00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:52.519
version out there. There isn't a
bridge, it's a modernized version. If

324
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.039
you're short of time, there's no
excuse for you not to be knowing the

325
00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:59.160
providence of God this summer, and
don't feel like you have to get the

326
00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:02.519
book and study it. I'm again
trying to present to you again the leading

327
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:07.400
ideas. But you will certainly be
enriched and learn much more from the man

328
00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:12.759
himself. I will say that,
and I will say, as he was

329
00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:17.799
saying, he's nice, you don't
have to get the book. I'm saying

330
00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:18.720
you have to get the book.
You have to read the book, and

331
00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:22.839
if you don't, I'm coming to
your house knocking on the door and go,

332
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:27.279
what's the problem. What's the problem. You can't read John Flavel's book

333
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:32.720
on the Mystery of Providence? And
then you can say, well, according

334
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:37.200
to God's eternal decrees and God's providence. No, I'm not so you are

335
00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:41.960
going to either accept God's eternal decrees
and God's providence or are You're going to

336
00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:45.880
sit here on my door complaining at
me? See? No, how does

337
00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.200
that work? See? How does
that work? How does that work?

338
00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:55.359
You? See? I'm I'm trying
to use these deep concepts and these very

339
00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:59.319
practical things to show you how every
day you should be confronted with will wait

340
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:04.119
a minute? Is that God's providence? Is that God's eternal decree? Son?

341
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:07.119
Get Can I get? Hey?
The next time your kids do something

342
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.240
wrong? Can you get frustrated?
Was that God's eternal decree? Was that

343
00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:14.880
God's Well? Man has responsibility?
Well, I know, man. You

344
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:18.720
can say man has responsibility. But
if man has responsibility, they do have

345
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.039
a responsibility. But are is that
responsibility? Did they do that? Apart

346
00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:26.279
from God's eternal degrees and God's providence? Then that would mean God is not

347
00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:29.519
in control. God is not controlling
it. If God is not controlling it,

348
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:36.200
then God is not Like then see, you get into some really deep

349
00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:40.039
philosophical difficulties. And people always say
free will. But even if you say

350
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:41.759
free will, God gave the free
will knowing what was going to happen,

351
00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:45.640
So then God ultimately is still response
okay with then it just you see.

352
00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:48.920
But yeah, I'm just trying to
use it in practical ways to get you

353
00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:55.519
to think about it in a much
more practical level. John Flabel is harder

354
00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:59.960
to read than some of the other
authors we've read in some years past.

355
00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:04.720
The language is a bit not only
old, but a little flowery, and

356
00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:14.119
that that does present an obstacle if
you prefer the shorter, abridged version.

357
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:19.720
I will not blame you at all, but it's something you can find online

358
00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:23.119
and have a sample if you like. I'm only going to cover half of

359
00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:30.559
the introduction this morning, but I
will make more progress next week. Lord

360
00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:36.799
willing. Please note even he acknowledges
how difficult Flateful is to read, he

361
00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:38.359
says, maybe more difficult than others. Now, I don't know if you're

362
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:41.599
looking at the Puritans. I don't
know how to rate which one's more difficult.

363
00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:47.119
Okay, all right, I know
this. I know this. I

364
00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:52.680
have tried two times to cover the
Christian in complete Armor, and both times

365
00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:59.039
I ended humiliated and frustrated because you
really just can't like and it's my own

366
00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:00.880
fault, right, because my mind, I love to do everything in very

367
00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:03.680
real, organic, like real time. So I'm like, hey, let's

368
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.880
just take get a copy of these
books, let's just open them, and

369
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:08.759
let's just go right because and for
the most part, I don't think I'm

370
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:12.160
violating any copyright. I don't think
that those books are I mean, all

371
00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:15.160
these books are written in sixteen seventeen
hundreds, you know, like, you

372
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:18.319
know, I think I think I'm
pretty safe to go. I don't think

373
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:21.799
I'm violating any copyright. But then
when you start trying to read it and

374
00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:26.119
then analyze and critique it, you
kind of realize this language is a nightmare

375
00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:32.519
to try to read. Stop,
offer analysis, go back to read.

376
00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:36.680
It's so poetic and flowery. And
then sometimes you're like, well he just

377
00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:38.519
said that, and then you and
then he just said that, and then

378
00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.880
you're like, well he just said
that, Well he just said and then

379
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:45.359
after fifteen pages. You're like,
you've said the same thing fifteen times,

380
00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:48.559
fifteen different ways, and I know
what you're thinking. That sounds like the

381
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:52.200
Theology Central podcast. Sh how dare
you be so disrespectful? Okay? But

382
00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:56.680
yeah, so when you start reading
it, you can let me know if

383
00:26:56.759 --> 00:27:04.680
you find it difficult or not.
And my goal is not to present to

384
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:08.359
you the ideas of John Flavel or
to present to you the great ideas of

385
00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:12.680
his book. My goal is to
present to you the glories of the Lord

386
00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:18.759
in the mysteries of his providence,
in order that you might trust and rejoice

387
00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:23.559
that such a God is your God. So don't get me wrong, please,

388
00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:26.839
Now see, that's how all churches
approach it. We're going to study

389
00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:33.319
God's providence, all right, the
glories of it, the joy in it.

390
00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:40.640
It's so great, it's so amazing, it's so awesome. I'm going

391
00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:47.480
to argue, is it always that
amazing and that awesome? Is it?

392
00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:52.759
Come on? Is it? Because
I think there's some very difficult parts to

393
00:27:52.880 --> 00:28:00.359
this, right, So let's see
where this goes. This book, though,

394
00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:06.400
is based on a verse in Psalm
fifty seven, verse two. And

395
00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:11.279
I'm gonna be reading to you Psalm
fifty seven this morning, as we begin,

396
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:18.599
including the important superscription. That's what
the scholars call it. I can't

397
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:22.759
remember the other word for that.
What's right above the Psalm that introduces it

398
00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:30.359
and gives it the setting in this
case of when it was composed by King

399
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:41.680
David. Here now from Psalm fifty
seven to the chief musician set to do

400
00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:49.720
not destroy a mictam of David when
he fled from Saul into the cave.

401
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:57.279
I want to stop right there now. The heading, however, whatever you

402
00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:00.200
want to name, you want to
give it, that tam of David,

403
00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:04.240
that micktam. Do you see that? And if your Bible has the like

404
00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:08.799
heading there the mictam of David,
please note you may want to circle that.

405
00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:11.039
Look that up. Make sure you
know what a mictam is, what

406
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:15.559
that's referencing. I'm not going to
tell you right now. I'm assuming I

407
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.440
will see if he says so,
because I'm I don't want to do the

408
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:21.319
teaching, you know, and then
he teaches, well, yeah, I

409
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:22.880
will respond to it if he does. But you want to know what that

410
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:27.480
is, So circle that in your
bible Micktam now, and just note there

411
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:33.759
are there are those who make an
argument, and I don't know if this

412
00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:37.440
is true, of if the argument, I don't remember how the argument went.

413
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:42.519
But there's some who say that these
headings subscription. However, whatever the

414
00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:47.920
title you want to give to these
little headings, some say that these headings

415
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:52.200
belong to the previous som so in
this in this sense, if you're looking

416
00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:57.160
at Psalm fifty six, that heading
actually belongs to Psalm fifty five. That's

417
00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:03.440
what some argue, right. Some
argue that I don't remember the historical argument

418
00:30:03.559 --> 00:30:07.359
for that, and I don't know
if it works. I know I did.

419
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:11.880
I don't remember how many years ago
I I at least considered this theory.

420
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:17.880
I think it was a journal from
some seminary I can't remember, and

421
00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:21.480
I don't remember if it worked.
I think we looked at a couple of

422
00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:22.759
palms, and some of them are
like, well, that kind of works.

423
00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:26.920
That heading seems to go with the
previous sum and some of them like

424
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.880
that makes absolutely no sense. And
then others were like, well that you

425
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.400
would think modern translators would be like, no, put that at the end

426
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:37.680
of it. Make it like a
footnote, don't make it the heading like

427
00:30:37.799 --> 00:30:41.839
if that's the head like. So, I'm not so sure about that theory.

428
00:30:41.880 --> 00:30:45.599
You can look it up to see
whether there's any if you give any

429
00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:47.759
credence to it. I just want
you to know it's out there. My

430
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:49.960
job is to keep you from tossing
to and fro with every wind of doctrine,

431
00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:52.519
and the best way to do so
is let you hear of it here,

432
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:56.000
so then when you hear somewhere else, you're familiar with it. Okay,

433
00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:59.680
So but that, mictam, what
is that? Is that? Even

434
00:30:59.720 --> 00:31:03.200
how you say it? Make time? Okay? But what is it?

435
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:11.000
What is it? All right,
let's continue. Be merciful to me.

436
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.400
Oh God, be merciful to me. For my soul trusts in you,

437
00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:22.640
and in the shadow of your wings. I will make my refuge until these

438
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:27.000
calamities have passed by. I will
cry out to God most High, to

439
00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:34.000
God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save

440
00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:38.720
me. He reproaches the one who
would swallow me up. God shall send

441
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:45.720
forth his mercy and his truth.
My soul is among lions. I lie

442
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:49.839
among the sons of men who are
set on fire, whose teeth are spears

443
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:56.680
and arrows, and their tongue a
sharp sword. Be exalted, Oh God,

444
00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:01.799
above the heavens, Let your glory
be above all the earth. They

445
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:08.319
have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They

446
00:32:08.359 --> 00:32:14.200
have dug a pit before me,
into the midst of it. They themselves

447
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:20.240
have fallen. My heart is steadfast, Oh God, My heart is steadfast.

448
00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:25.240
I will sing and give praise.
Awake my glory, awake, looped

449
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:30.839
and harp, I will awaken the
dawn. I will praise you, Oh

450
00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:34.839
Lord, among the peoples. I
will sing to you among the nations,

451
00:32:34.839 --> 00:32:38.359
for your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and your truth unto the clouds.

452
00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:45.000
Be exalted, Oh God, above
the heavens, Let your glory be above

453
00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:53.000
all the earth. I want to
correct something really quick. I said the

454
00:32:53.200 --> 00:33:00.440
heading would belong to Psalm fifty five. I think, okay, was getting

455
00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:01.559
my numbers confused. It's numbers.
I do that all the time, all

456
00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:07.640
right. Just note if you look
at Psalm fifty six, a mictam of

457
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.160
David, and also fifty seven,
a mixtam of David. When he said

458
00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:14.799
in Micktam, I just I was
looking down, and I just had my

459
00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:17.000
bible had Psalm fifty six in front
of me, I saw mictam and like

460
00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:22.480
so no, so according to some
the theory, and I don't even know

461
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:27.720
how prevalent the theory was. So
then this heading to Psalm fifty seven would

462
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:30.880
actually belong to fifty six, and
the heading to fifty six would belong to

463
00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:32.839
fifty five, and the heading to
fifty five. And I don't even know

464
00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:36.839
if that really works, but I
just wanted you to be familiar with it.

465
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:38.359
So we were in Psalm fifty seven. If I said Psalm fifty six,

466
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:43.559
I apologize, did not mean to
confuse anybody. We were in Psalm

467
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:47.079
fifty seven, Psalm fifty seven.
He just read it. Let me read

468
00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:51.319
it to you one more time.
Be merciful to me, Oh God,

469
00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:54.319
be merciful to me. I'm reading
from the New King James. Be merciful

470
00:33:54.359 --> 00:33:58.640
to me. Oh God, be
merciful to me. For my soul trust

471
00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:01.480
in you. And then and the
shadows of your wings, I will make

472
00:34:01.559 --> 00:34:08.559
my refuge unto these calamities have passed. I will cry out. I will

473
00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:15.880
cry out to God most High,
to God who performs all things for me.

474
00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:20.000
Fifty seven to two is the key
verse for the book by John Flavel

475
00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:22.199
on the mystery of Providence. So
let me read that again. Verse two,

476
00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:30.320
I will cry out to God most
High, to God who performs all

477
00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:35.559
things for me. That's an interesting
phrase. Verse three. He shall send

478
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:38.880
from heaven and save me. He
reproaches the one who would swallow me up.

479
00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:43.280
God shall send forth his mercy and
his truth. My soul is among

480
00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:45.639
lions. I lie among the sons
of men who are set on fire,

481
00:34:45.800 --> 00:34:50.599
whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword. Be

482
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:52.800
exalted, Oh God, above the
heavens. Let your glory be above all

483
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:55.960
the earth. They have prepared a
net for my steps. My soul is

484
00:34:57.000 --> 00:34:59.840
bowed down. They have dug a
pit before me. In the midst of

485
00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:02.480
it, they themselves have fallen.
My heart is steadfast, Oh God,

486
00:35:02.679 --> 00:35:07.280
My heart is steadfast. I will
sing and give praise. Awake my glory,

487
00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:09.760
Awake lute and harp. I will
awaken the dawn. I will praise

488
00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:13.360
you, Oh Lord, among the
peoples. I will sing to you,

489
00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:16.199
among the nations, for your mercies
reaches under the heavens, and your truth

490
00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:20.960
unto the clouds. Be exalted,
O God, above the heavens, Let

491
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:27.280
your glory be above all the earth. Right now, now that we've clarified

492
00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:34.159
that, let's see where this goes. Let's pray our Father in Heaven.

493
00:35:34.199 --> 00:35:39.079
We come again to this psalm written
at such a great extremity, such desperation

494
00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:44.800
at this moment, and yet in
his time, when everything else had failed

495
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:49.280
him, you who were a mighty
and a powerful deliverer to him. And

496
00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:52.679
so it is that we wish to
have the same confidence that nothing know,

497
00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:55.280
nothing can separate us from the Love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus

498
00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:00.880
our Lord, not nakedness or peril, or famine, or distress or sword.

499
00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:07.079
We often, like David, are
shaken. We find our soul among

500
00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:10.239
the lions. We find our mouth
crying out to You. We find our

501
00:36:10.280 --> 00:36:20.960
soul bowed down or bode down,
weighed down with anxieties. We pray that

502
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:27.760
in these seasons the precious lessons of
Your providence would be again our tutors and

503
00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:35.000
instructors to bring us to You in
Christ, and whom we pray Amen question,

504
00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:42.679
as a believer, should your hope, should your confidence? Should your

505
00:36:42.719 --> 00:36:46.960
trust be that nothing can separate you
from the Love of God, no matter

506
00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:53.199
what you face that is eternally secure. Or should your trust be that the

507
00:36:53.400 --> 00:37:00.320
eternal, all powerful God will intervene
to fix your circumstances, fix fix your

508
00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:07.039
situation, save you from your enemies, protect you from danger. Now some

509
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:09.920
people will say it should be both. But here's what I know. The

510
00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:15.400
only thing I can have any true
trust in the only thing I can have

511
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:19.159
any real assurances I know I'm getting
ready to take off like a ninety nine

512
00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:22.280
percent of Christianity. The only thing
I know I can have any true assurance

513
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:25.239
in, the only thing I know
I can be confident is is that nothing

514
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:29.519
can separate me from the love of
God. You know why, because in

515
00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:34.639
Christ Jesus, by imputed righteousness,
I stand before Him and adopted child of

516
00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:37.760
God, perfect, holy, righteous
and complete. And nothing can remove me

517
00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:42.960
from that position. Nothing can separate
me from the love of God. Because

518
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:46.360
I stand in Christ Jesus, my
position is secure, It is eternal,

519
00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:52.079
It is firm. Nothing can move
it unless someone can take away Christ imputed

520
00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:55.079
righteousness. I can't take it away. You can't take it away. My

521
00:37:55.480 --> 00:38:00.199
sin cannot take it away? All
right? That I can be sure?

522
00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:04.920
Can I be sure at all?
That God will intervene to fix any problem.

523
00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:12.679
Can I have any confidence? Can
I have confidence that God's going to

524
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:15.760
take away the cancer? No?
Can I have any confidence that God's gonna

525
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:20.960
take away my seizures or my neurological
issues? No? I mean I can

526
00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:22.480
go on and on and on and
on. Can you have any confidence that

527
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:25.480
if someone was to break into your
house, God would protect you and you

528
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:29.239
would not die? You can't have
any confidence in that? You have any

529
00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:31.320
confident? Can you have any confidence
that God's gonna protect your children? And

530
00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:35.840
nothing's good? You know, you
can't have any confidence in that? He

531
00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:37.400
said, well, yes I can. No, you can't. There's no

532
00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:42.920
guarantee for any of that. None, zero, no confident. There can

533
00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:46.679
be no confidence and that which is
not guaranteed in any way, shape or

534
00:38:46.760 --> 00:38:52.559
form. That's why Christians die of
cancer, Christians get murdered, Christians get

535
00:38:52.679 --> 00:38:57.639
killed, Christians get paralyzed in car
accidents. Their homes get destroyed by storms,

536
00:38:57.800 --> 00:39:00.880
Churches get burned to the ground.
There are people come into churches with

537
00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:02.280
guns and kill people. I can
go on and on and on and on

538
00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:05.400
and on and on and on and
on and on and on and on and

539
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:08.280
on. Children go to church and
end up getting molested. There is literally

540
00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:15.239
no guarantee, no assurance, zero
na nana that God will do anything like

541
00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:21.519
that, or am I putting forth
a concept that you reject. Now,

542
00:39:21.559 --> 00:39:24.440
you may reject it, but I
just don't know where. The only thing

543
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:27.960
I can be sure of is nothing
will separate me from the love of God.

544
00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:37.800
I can't be assured that He's going
to do anything else. I mean,

545
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.840
I've been I've been a Christian for
a very long time. I've watched

546
00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:46.960
Christians get cancer and die, of
which Christians have heart attacks and die.

547
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:52.440
I remember at my church in Bellevue, Nebraska, standing there, sitting there

548
00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:58.719
in the sanctuary watching a husband and
they're too small. His two small children

549
00:39:59.079 --> 00:40:02.119
come to church the Sunday after their
mother. I don't even think she was

550
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:07.039
thirty five, I mean maybe,
I mean she was young, young died

551
00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:09.920
of cancer. I mean that,
in fact, she got diagnosed with cancer

552
00:40:10.039 --> 00:40:13.920
and she was gone, like it
felt like three months. It was so

553
00:40:14.119 --> 00:40:17.960
fast, it was insane. And
there were their young, young kids,

554
00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:23.559
their mom's gone. I mean,
I can go story after story of things

555
00:40:23.559 --> 00:40:30.199
I've seen. I can talk about
tragedy that happened to people in my church

556
00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:42.639
where their daughter was killed. So
what confidence and trust can you have and

557
00:40:42.679 --> 00:40:46.760
what God will do? Or only
in what God has done in Christ Jesus.

558
00:40:47.639 --> 00:40:52.360
I can have confidence in the eternity. I can have confidence because I

559
00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:55.239
trust in God's word that they'll be
there'll come a time there'll be no more

560
00:40:55.280 --> 00:40:58.840
pain, no more suffering, no
more death. But can I trust that

561
00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:07.400
God's providence and that God's eternal decrees
will work in a way that is well,

562
00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:13.199
that will lead to nothing but protecting
and averting all danger and pain.

563
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:23.079
And I can't have any confidence in
that. David wrote the Psalm when it

564
00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:30.480
looked like his life had come to
its end. King Saul had gone mad

565
00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:38.400
with hatred, envy, and fear
of David, so that Saul even attempted

566
00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:44.079
the murder of his own son,
the Crown Prince, when he helped his

567
00:41:44.119 --> 00:41:50.880
friend David escape. Later, when
Saul tracked him down to a city of

568
00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:55.639
priests and he learned that David had
deceived the lord's priests in that town in

569
00:41:55.760 --> 00:42:04.320
order to get supplies and a sword, Saul was so enraged that he put

570
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:10.880
the entire priestly town to death.
Please remember that story. I've talked about

571
00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:15.800
that at church Now, there were
people in my church. We had strong

572
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:19.119
disagreements on this. I'm like,
David straight up lied here, David straight

573
00:42:19.239 --> 00:42:22.599
up deceived, and other true people
well David didn't really and they tried to

574
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:24.960
justify what David did. But whatever
you want to do with David, whether

575
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.840
he lied or whether he deceived,
let me make it very clear. All

576
00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:35.000
those priests die and David escapes.
So if you want to talk about God's

577
00:42:35.079 --> 00:42:42.599
providence, God's eternal decrees, David
is preserved and all the priests die,

578
00:42:42.760 --> 00:42:52.360
and it's very hard not to see
that David straight up lied. Now,

579
00:42:52.840 --> 00:42:58.400
on one hand, I love that
the story is in the Bible. You

580
00:42:58.440 --> 00:43:02.000
know why, because it means even
the Bible, that the Bible that teaches

581
00:43:02.039 --> 00:43:08.320
God's sovereignty and his decree and his
providence, even it contains stories that make

582
00:43:08.360 --> 00:43:13.920
you question God's providence, God's decrees, and God's even existence. Okay,

583
00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:16.559
because you're like, wait, wait, so God can intervene here to help

584
00:43:16.679 --> 00:43:20.880
spare, to save David. But
he was just like all these priests,

585
00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:30.199
sorry, got's to go. I
can't help you. There was now a

586
00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:36.760
nationwide man hunt. The king,
his army, and the people were all

587
00:43:36.960 --> 00:43:44.239
out to get one man, David, he intended to flee the country.

588
00:43:44.440 --> 00:43:45.920
In fact, he made it to
Moab with his family, and he was

589
00:43:45.960 --> 00:43:51.800
able to get his parents and his
relations settled safely over the border in Moab.

590
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:59.400
But then the Lord directed David and
his men to come back into Israel,

591
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:02.199
in fact, to camp out in
the wilderness that was not too many

592
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:12.559
miles from Saul's residence. David lived
there in the wilderness of Israel on a

593
00:44:12.599 --> 00:44:19.039
knife's edge for years. He spent
many anxious days on the run, barely

594
00:44:19.079 --> 00:44:25.360
making narrow escapes from the jealous and
murderous King Saul. And now at last

595
00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:34.199
Saul has hunted him down to one
lonely part of the wilderness of Ngetti.

596
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:40.719
Now we're gonna well, I'm gonna
pause this really quick. As he moves

597
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:44.880
the story forward, I want you
to go ahead and just write this down.

598
00:44:45.920 --> 00:44:50.679
I want you to make this a
priority. I want you to look

599
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:55.079
at first Samuel. I want you
to write this down first Samuel twenty one.

600
00:44:55.360 --> 00:45:01.280
Okay. The story that I believe
is found in First Samuel twenty one

601
00:45:01.480 --> 00:45:07.480
and twenty two, First Samuel twenty
one and twenty two. In this narrative,

602
00:45:07.559 --> 00:45:09.320
David is fleeing from King Saul,
who is seeking to kill him.

603
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:15.800
David goes to the city of nob
and the visits Emelek, the priest.

604
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:21.000
Hemlek the priest okay if I can
say his name correctly. David lies to

605
00:45:21.039 --> 00:45:23.719
a Hemelek, telling him that he
is on a secret mission from King Saul

606
00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:29.599
and requests provisions and a weapon.
A Hemelech gives David the consecrated bread and

607
00:45:29.639 --> 00:45:34.280
the sword of Goliath. However,
Doag the Edomites, one of Saul's servants,

608
00:45:34.280 --> 00:45:37.599
witness this and later reports it to
Saul and rage. Saul accuses Ahmelech

609
00:45:37.880 --> 00:45:43.519
and the other priest of conspiring with
David. Despite a Hamelect's innocence, Saw

610
00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:49.000
orders their execution. Doag carries out
the order, killing eighty five priest and

611
00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:52.360
then attacking Noah. This knob the
city of priests, killing men, women,

612
00:45:52.679 --> 00:45:59.719
children, and livestock. Although the
only priest is Abiathar escapes and flees

613
00:45:59.760 --> 00:46:05.599
to day and informing him of the
massacre. Now that's how Ai describes it,

614
00:46:05.880 --> 00:46:08.760
and they they state that David lied. Now I don't again. I

615
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:12.440
had people in my church who argued
with me. I still do this day.

616
00:46:12.519 --> 00:46:15.000
Don't really know where they are,
Like he said, well, you

617
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:17.519
don't really know, I mean maybe, I mean maybe, I mean And

618
00:46:19.079 --> 00:46:21.719
it's like, why do we have
to make an excuse? Can we just

619
00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:24.239
say David was a sinner and he
straight up lied? But whatever the case

620
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:30.760
is, will we talk about God's
providence, God's providential care and his eternal

621
00:46:30.760 --> 00:46:35.320
decrees looking after David, protecting David. He was david shield. Here was

622
00:46:35.360 --> 00:46:38.119
his rock, He was his refuge. Oh what a beautiful, powerful story,

623
00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:42.480
ladies and gentlemen, When you leave
church this morning, I want you

624
00:46:42.559 --> 00:46:45.440
to trust that you have the same
God as David had, and he will

625
00:46:45.480 --> 00:46:49.400
provide for you, and he will
look out for you, and you can

626
00:46:49.480 --> 00:46:52.079
be you can have comfort, and
you can have peace this evening, Praise

627
00:46:52.159 --> 00:46:55.119
God. Nobody like amen. And
I'm in the back of the church going

628
00:46:55.119 --> 00:46:57.880
whoa, whoa, wha, Wait
a minute, wait a minute. What

629
00:46:57.960 --> 00:47:00.960
about the eighty five priests that got
killed? What about the men, women

630
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:05.039
and children? Are livestock that got
slaughtered because David straight upplied? And if

631
00:47:05.079 --> 00:47:07.960
if you don't believe he allied,
if God can do that for David,

632
00:47:07.079 --> 00:47:13.639
why didn't he do for any of
them? And then I'll be told,

633
00:47:13.800 --> 00:47:16.880
sh you're kind of cynical and you're
kind of negative. You just don't understand

634
00:47:16.920 --> 00:47:22.480
how beautiful God's providence is. You
just don't understand how beautiful his eternal decrees

635
00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:27.440
are. Well, it was beautiful
for David, not so good for the

636
00:47:27.519 --> 00:47:29.880
children who were just like, you
know, hanging out and next thing you

637
00:47:29.920 --> 00:47:35.440
know, here comes where everybody's being
slaughtered. Well, David's good to go.

638
00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:42.320
See when we talk about these providence
in the eternal decrease, we got

639
00:47:42.360 --> 00:47:44.719
to look at these stories. So
I want you to read. For Samuel

640
00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:49.320
twenty one and twenty two, I
want you to see it. And I'm

641
00:47:49.400 --> 00:47:52.320
stating any of those names incorrectly.
I'm just reading it, you know,

642
00:47:52.440 --> 00:47:55.400
right from it. For a Hemelech, I know Abyathar, we did an

643
00:47:55.519 --> 00:48:00.440
entire series on him, a Doe
Egg And then I think there's what's city

644
00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:07.440
the Eata? Might I got that? Where's the other ohnob? Okay?

645
00:48:07.519 --> 00:48:10.000
Yeah, I think I got all
of those correctly. So but I want

646
00:48:10.039 --> 00:48:13.119
you to look at it for yourself. First, Samuel twenty one, twenty

647
00:48:13.119 --> 00:48:15.320
two, just make it, make
it a priority for Samuel twenty one and

648
00:48:15.360 --> 00:48:19.960
twenty two. But this time when
you read First Samuel in twenty one and

649
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.639
twenty two. This time, when
you read First Samuel in twenty one twenty

650
00:48:24.639 --> 00:48:29.039
two. Yes, I want you
to get the basic idea of what occurred,

651
00:48:29.159 --> 00:48:32.360
but I want you to look at
it and light of God's eternal decree

652
00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:37.880
and God's providence. I want you
to look at First Samuel twenty one,

653
00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:44.000
twenty two and light of God's eternal
decree and God's providence. That's how I

654
00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:46.599
want you to read the story this
time, and then let me know well

655
00:48:49.800 --> 00:49:00.960
how it feels. And David and
his men have had to hide in the

656
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:07.639
creeks of a cave, the cracks
of a cave on the side. Saul

657
00:49:07.159 --> 00:49:15.679
and his army of three thousand choice
men come to a halt at his cave,

658
00:49:19.679 --> 00:49:22.559
and David, as he writes in
this psalm, feels that God's net,

659
00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:25.559
assuming that Saul's net is coming down
right on top of him. He's

660
00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:35.079
trapped in the cave, and Saul
himself walks in in the sight of David

661
00:49:35.360 --> 00:49:44.320
and his men. What hope now
remains. This psalm is written in extreme

662
00:49:44.719 --> 00:49:47.960
danger. As you can read from
the title and the text of this psalm,

663
00:49:49.280 --> 00:49:52.119
David's soul is among the lions.
As Flavol describes the scene, a

664
00:49:52.360 --> 00:49:58.440
powerful, enraged, implacable enemy has
driven him into a hole of the rock

665
00:49:59.480 --> 00:50:04.639
and was now coming after him into
that hole, where he lies in a

666
00:50:04.679 --> 00:50:09.760
cranny of the rock, expecting every
moment to be drawn out to death.

667
00:50:12.440 --> 00:50:15.519
Well, it's from these jaws of
death that he cries in the words of

668
00:50:15.559 --> 00:50:17.800
this psalm, be merciful to me, Oh God, be merciful to me.

669
00:50:19.480 --> 00:50:22.599
From my soul trusts in you,
and in the shadow of your wings,

670
00:50:22.639 --> 00:50:27.280
I will make my refuge until these
calamities have passed by. I will

671
00:50:27.559 --> 00:50:34.840
cry out to God Most High,
to God who performs all things for me.

672
00:50:35.920 --> 00:50:40.400
Crying, of course, describes not
merely prayer, but intense, fervent,

673
00:50:40.679 --> 00:50:45.800
anguished prayer. To cry is to
pray in a holy passion. And

674
00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:52.119
so David pleads God's mercy that he
might take refuge under the shadow of his

675
00:50:52.199 --> 00:50:55.880
wings. He calls upon his God
as God most High, the God who

676
00:50:55.960 --> 00:51:07.800
performs all things for me, and
that verse, that last verse will be

677
00:51:07.880 --> 00:51:14.079
the focus of our study today.
In the now, his volumes doing crazy

678
00:51:14.079 --> 00:51:15.599
things. I apologize for that,
but I can't. And there's all kinds

679
00:51:15.639 --> 00:51:19.960
of noise. I don't know what's
going on. But here's the thing.

680
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:23.760
Here's what I want. Now.
I want you to consider for Samuel twenty

681
00:51:23.760 --> 00:51:27.880
one and twenty two and light of
God's eternal decrees and providence. But I

682
00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:31.840
also want you to consider for Samuel
twenty one twenty two and light of Psalm

683
00:51:31.880 --> 00:51:37.119
fifty seven too, because here's David, the man who lies and all the

684
00:51:37.159 --> 00:51:42.440
rest of these people die. I
want you to consider that tragic event and

685
00:51:42.519 --> 00:51:46.679
light of these words David saying,
I will cry out to God most hie,

686
00:51:49.800 --> 00:51:52.960
to God who performs all things for
me. Now, when we say

687
00:51:53.000 --> 00:52:00.960
God performs all things for me,
did he then perform all things for and

688
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:13.280
that David was spared and all those
other people died. Our introduction to this

689
00:52:13.360 --> 00:52:19.719
great subject, David calls upon this
most high God, that is the God

690
00:52:19.760 --> 00:52:25.239
who is overall, in other words, who rules overall, who performs all

691
00:52:25.360 --> 00:52:30.800
things. As my translation has it, I mean Saul is high, but

692
00:52:30.960 --> 00:52:37.719
his God is the most high.
And second, he calls upon this God

693
00:52:37.960 --> 00:52:43.639
most High, who performs all things
for me, not a god of fate

694
00:52:43.880 --> 00:52:49.239
or of arbitrary decree, but this
God who loves David, who knew him

695
00:52:49.239 --> 00:52:52.440
before he was born, Who's cared
for him all of his days, Who's

696
00:52:52.599 --> 00:52:59.480
promised to fulfill all of his good
purposes in David's life. This now is

697
00:52:59.559 --> 00:53:02.039
David's only strength and his hope.
I mean in every season of life,

698
00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:07.480
I suppose, but especially in such
dangerous and distressing, desperate times and when

699
00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:10.320
there is nothing else for him to
hold on to, he is supported by

700
00:53:10.360 --> 00:53:15.920
this. God is his father,
God most High, the one who fulfills

701
00:53:15.960 --> 00:53:21.320
his purposes for me. I ask
you as we begin, is this your

702
00:53:21.400 --> 00:53:29.960
confidence? Is this your strength in
the world, especially in distressing days?

703
00:53:30.519 --> 00:53:38.320
Is David's God your God? If
he's not now, let me say this,

704
00:53:38.840 --> 00:53:45.320
My God is David's God. But
can I have any confidence, any

705
00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:52.199
assurety that God will do for me
practically how he protected and saved and preserved

706
00:53:52.480 --> 00:53:55.440
David. Can I have any assurance
that God will do for me what he

707
00:53:55.480 --> 00:53:59.039
did for David, That He will
intervene here, and intervene here, and

708
00:53:59.079 --> 00:54:02.440
intervene here. And I cannot have
any assurance that God will intervene at any

709
00:54:02.480 --> 00:54:07.280
moment in time in anything. He
may not stop this, he may not

710
00:54:07.320 --> 00:54:10.840
stop I have no assurance of any
of that. Do you. Now you

711
00:54:10.880 --> 00:54:15.599
can have assurance that nothing can separate
you from the love of God. You

712
00:54:15.639 --> 00:54:20.639
can have assurance that you in Christ
Jesus, you have been saved for eternity,

713
00:54:20.760 --> 00:54:22.800
and there will come a time there
will be no more pain, no

714
00:54:22.840 --> 00:54:27.239
more suffering, no more debt.
That is assured. But we sometimes want

715
00:54:27.239 --> 00:54:30.000
to go to these stories and see
what God did for David? Is that

716
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:32.760
your God? Do you have the
same confidence in God? God? Yet?

717
00:54:32.840 --> 00:54:36.599
Do I have confidence in that God
to do what he did? Then?

718
00:54:37.159 --> 00:54:39.599
Do you have the same confidence in
the God of Moses? What is

719
00:54:39.599 --> 00:54:44.039
he gonna part the Red Sea?
Is he gonna have food fall from heaven?

720
00:54:45.880 --> 00:54:51.199
He's gonna have water come from a
rock? Is he gonna pour out

721
00:54:51.239 --> 00:54:58.239
plagues upon your enemies? Are you
gonna wander around for forty years and your

722
00:54:58.280 --> 00:55:08.960
clothes doesn't wear out? See that's
there there there. I think we have

723
00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:15.519
to draw somewhat of a distinction,
don't we. Yet I'm hoping he will

724
00:55:15.519 --> 00:55:22.159
be by the end of the study, and we'll also see that this makes

725
00:55:22.199 --> 00:55:25.800
all the practical difference in the Christian
life. I'm not going to be able

726
00:55:25.800 --> 00:55:30.360
to prove everything to you or to
explain the nuances of everything. Today.

727
00:55:30.400 --> 00:55:36.920
This is an introductory sermon, but
I would like to introduce this summer study

728
00:55:37.079 --> 00:55:42.599
using this passage and to cover it
in two parts. Number one, God

729
00:55:42.679 --> 00:55:47.039
performs all his purposes and number two, God performs all his purposes for us.

730
00:55:50.079 --> 00:55:53.360
God performs all his purposes. And
God performs all his purposes for us.

731
00:55:53.440 --> 00:56:00.159
First, God performs all his purposes, and I have to explain some

732
00:56:00.280 --> 00:56:05.440
variation in the translation. Now of
verse two, I have written, I

733
00:56:05.519 --> 00:56:09.760
will cry out to God most High, to God who performs all things for

734
00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:15.920
me. If you have the English
Standard version, as many of you do,

735
00:56:17.079 --> 00:56:22.679
or the nas which is very similar, it says God who fulfills his

736
00:56:22.880 --> 00:56:28.239
purpose for me, which is not
quite the same thing, God who fulfills

737
00:56:28.239 --> 00:56:35.079
his purpose for me. So the
original carries both of these ideas at once,

738
00:56:35.960 --> 00:56:39.400
which makes it hard to represent in
a single world word bringing everything to

739
00:56:39.480 --> 00:56:49.159
completion and doing so with a particular
goal in mind. Same word is also

740
00:56:49.199 --> 00:56:53.719
translated in Psalm thirty eight to perfect, that the Lord will perfect that which

741
00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:59.599
concerns me. In other words,
do everything, fulfill all of his purposes

742
00:57:00.239 --> 00:57:06.480
in a certain way for a certain
end. Now I'm just going to throw

743
00:57:06.519 --> 00:57:10.119
out a hypothetical or hypotheses, just
kind of throw out a theory. Is

744
00:57:10.159 --> 00:57:17.039
it possible what we see God doing
for David, is it specifically for David

745
00:57:17.639 --> 00:57:22.320
in accordance with the Davidic covenant that
God made with David. So therefore David

746
00:57:22.320 --> 00:57:24.639
would have to be preserved, This
would have to happen, and this have

747
00:57:24.719 --> 00:57:29.679
to happen so that everything would work
just according to God's plan, that this

748
00:57:29.960 --> 00:57:31.679
like the same thing with Israel.
God does this for Israel, and did

749
00:57:31.679 --> 00:57:36.000
this for Isem dies this for Israel. Which we sometimes want to take those

750
00:57:36.039 --> 00:57:38.320
promises and make them about us,
but they never for us. These things

751
00:57:38.320 --> 00:57:44.679
are being done in accordance to his
covenant promise with them and many of the

752
00:57:45.400 --> 00:57:50.079
many things with Abraham and so many
of these individuals. God made specific promises,

753
00:57:50.239 --> 00:57:53.559
and the covenant he made specific very
much including them, and we can't

754
00:57:53.559 --> 00:57:55.599
come along and go, well,
then God's going to do the same for

755
00:57:55.679 --> 00:58:00.679
me. I'm not operating under that
specif it covenant, am I, or

756
00:58:00.719 --> 00:58:07.119
if I'm attached to that covenant,
I'm not necessarily attached to every specific one

757
00:58:07.159 --> 00:58:10.199
of those promises. There's promises made
to Israel that we believe are only for

758
00:58:10.320 --> 00:58:15.039
Israel like land promises and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. There's

759
00:58:15.079 --> 00:58:17.719
other promises that we believe with that
as part as the new Covenant that we

760
00:58:19.239 --> 00:58:23.440
have been grafted in, and we
receive the Salvafic part of that covenant promise

761
00:58:23.800 --> 00:58:36.039
salvation and imputed righteousness eternity. How
we translate this God who does all according

762
00:58:36.400 --> 00:58:39.280
to what his purpose in me for
me? If we understand it that way,

763
00:58:39.400 --> 00:58:42.679
then do we just kind of step
back and go, well, okay,

764
00:58:42.719 --> 00:58:45.280
well, yeah, God performs everything
according to the promise he made for

765
00:58:45.360 --> 00:58:51.840
David, or do we see this
as a more general that, Hey,

766
00:58:51.960 --> 00:58:59.400
God accomplishes everything all of his purpose
in you and Amy. Whatever his purpose

767
00:58:59.480 --> 00:59:02.920
is for you is eternal decree and
his his providence, he will carry it

768
00:59:02.960 --> 00:59:09.519
out in you perfectly. Well does
that include now, if we're going to

769
00:59:09.559 --> 00:59:15.840
talk about David, his lying,
I mean, most people believe it for

770
00:59:15.880 --> 00:59:20.440
Samuel twenty one to twenty two is
lying. He didn't something happen with David

771
00:59:20.440 --> 00:59:24.639
in the numbering of the people.
Did something happen with David in the numbering

772
00:59:24.639 --> 00:59:35.800
of the people or did it not. I'm gonna look it up really quick.

773
00:59:39.559 --> 00:59:43.840
Let me see if I can find
something I'm asking Ai. I think

774
00:59:43.840 --> 00:59:54.119
it's second Samuel twenty four. Okay. David orders a census of Israel and

775
00:59:54.239 --> 01:00:00.639
Judah. Joe Abb, the commander
of the army, carry out David's order.

776
01:00:01.159 --> 01:00:05.480
After nine months and twenty days,
Joe Ab reports the number of fighting

777
01:00:05.519 --> 01:00:08.400
men to be eight hundred thousand in
Israel five hundred thousand in Judah. David

778
01:00:08.440 --> 01:00:15.440
realizes his sin and praise for forgiveness. The prophet God, sent by God,

779
01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:17.880
offers David three punishment options. Three
years of famine, three months of

780
01:00:17.920 --> 01:00:22.320
fleeing from the enemies, or three
days of plague. David chooses the plague,

781
01:00:22.480 --> 01:00:25.760
preferring to fall into the hands of
God rather than man. A plague

782
01:00:25.800 --> 01:00:37.960
strikes and kills seventy thousand people.
So was David's eternal decree? Was a

783
01:00:37.119 --> 01:00:44.159
I'm sorry? Was God's eternal decree? God's providence performing all things for David?

784
01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:49.599
Does that include David's lying where any
priests are killed and then well,

785
01:00:49.639 --> 01:00:52.880
men, women, and children in
the city are slaughtered, David numbering the

786
01:00:52.920 --> 01:01:01.079
people where seventy thousand people die,
and David's adultery murdering of a woman's husband

787
01:01:01.880 --> 01:01:13.239
his polygamy, multiple wives, Like, well does all of that he said,

788
01:01:13.239 --> 01:01:14.880
Well, no, no, no, See God, God has nothing

789
01:01:14.920 --> 01:01:16.639
to do with that. God God, that's all outside of God. Okay,

790
01:01:16.679 --> 01:01:20.239
all right, So that's outside of
God, all right. So then

791
01:01:20.320 --> 01:01:24.920
God only performs certain things, and
then we perform other things. And some

792
01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:32.199
of the things we do are outside
of God's decree and God's providence. Now,

793
01:01:32.360 --> 01:01:35.440
if you say, well, it's
outside of God. So God couldn't

794
01:01:35.440 --> 01:01:38.360
stop it, God can't interfere,
God can't controult God can't do anything to

795
01:01:38.440 --> 01:01:46.679
prevent it. So when we're saying
God performs all things, are we saying

796
01:01:46.760 --> 01:01:52.119
only the things that He gave in
the Covenant or all things that God is

797
01:01:52.199 --> 01:01:58.760
involved in? Everything for David?
And is it for David? When seventy

798
01:01:58.840 --> 01:02:01.559
thousand people die, eighty priests die, the men and women in the city

799
01:02:01.639 --> 01:02:06.599
die, and a husband who didn't
have any wasn't doing anything wrong, is

800
01:02:06.679 --> 01:02:15.559
killed. The Bible does not have
a single word you see for providence as

801
01:02:15.559 --> 01:02:20.960
we do in English. Providence that
means God's upholding all things and governing all

802
01:02:21.000 --> 01:02:23.679
the affairs of this world in such
a way that he would fulfill all of

803
01:02:23.719 --> 01:02:29.320
his holy and wise purposes in them. Although the Bible doesn't have a single

804
01:02:29.360 --> 01:02:35.880
word, it has no difficulty whatsoever
in defining and describing that providence and praising

805
01:02:35.920 --> 01:02:37.800
God for it. In fact,
I think it's one of the most precious

806
01:02:37.840 --> 01:02:44.719
teachings in the Bible that God,
our God, is active in this world.

807
01:02:45.119 --> 01:02:50.239
He is intimately involved in your life
and mine. God is not like

808
01:02:50.360 --> 01:02:52.760
someone who makes a clock and winds
it up and then lets it run on

809
01:02:52.880 --> 01:02:57.639
its own, maybe only adjusting the
time here or there. Oh No,

810
01:02:58.039 --> 01:03:01.840
God is intimately and continue involved in
our daily lives and in all of creation.

811
01:03:02.199 --> 01:03:07.039
Well, like what you say,
what kind of things is in God's

812
01:03:07.119 --> 01:03:10.320
government of the world? What kind
of things are under his control? Well,

813
01:03:10.480 --> 01:03:17.920
we read in Ephesians chapter one that
God works all things according to the

814
01:03:17.960 --> 01:03:25.679
counsel of his will, all things, all things. David describes it very

815
01:03:25.719 --> 01:03:30.880
personally this way INSA one hundred and
thirty nine in your book. They were

816
01:03:30.920 --> 01:03:35.360
all written the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of

817
01:03:35.400 --> 01:03:38.079
them. How precious are your thoughts
to me? Oh God, how great

818
01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:45.760
is the sum of them? Sounds
a lot like fate, paris, the

819
01:03:45.800 --> 01:03:51.599
thought providence is very different from fate. According to the Greeks, fate is

820
01:03:51.639 --> 01:03:55.159
this impersonal force or kind of destiny. If you like that, you cannot

821
01:03:55.239 --> 01:04:02.559
escape no matter what you do.
For example, no matter how Oedipus tried

822
01:04:02.639 --> 01:04:12.079
to avoid his fate that he would
kill his father and marry his mother,

823
01:04:12.400 --> 01:04:15.800
he could not escape that fate.
Fatalism is the view that it frankly does

824
01:04:15.840 --> 01:04:21.599
not matter what you do, because
what happens to you is therefore inevitable.

825
01:04:21.719 --> 01:04:29.920
Ka surah surah, whatever will be
will be. Fatalism is taught in other

826
01:04:29.960 --> 01:04:36.480
world religions, and it makes people
feel powerless, unable to take bold action

827
01:04:38.079 --> 01:04:43.840
or even to care, the very
reverse of what Providence teaches us. Providence

828
01:04:43.880 --> 01:04:47.360
is the view that all things are
in the hands ultimately of our good and

829
01:04:47.440 --> 01:04:56.000
loving personal God, without which his
creatures could not even move. His power

830
01:04:56.159 --> 01:05:01.280
is sun. Now I want you
to stroke with that difference between fatalism and

831
01:05:01.320 --> 01:05:04.360
providence. Fatalism is like, well, it doesn't matter what I do.

832
01:05:04.800 --> 01:05:10.519
Providence supposedly is well, God,
you can't even move without. But it

833
01:05:10.599 --> 01:05:18.559
isn't providence saying God controls everything.
Is there a difference between fatalism and providence.

834
01:05:18.920 --> 01:05:21.599
Now many will try to draw a
distinction. I want you to struggle

835
01:05:21.599 --> 01:05:26.440
with that distinction. I want you
to struggle with God's eternal decrees and God's

836
01:05:26.440 --> 01:05:30.880
providence and the idea of fatalism.
Doesn't the subject of God's eternal decree and

837
01:05:30.199 --> 01:05:33.519
providence lead to a kind of a
fatalism to some Look, I know we

838
01:05:33.519 --> 01:05:38.480
would say that's not philologically right.
But I want you to struggle with the

839
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:44.880
difference. I want to see if
you can draw that distinction yourself much that

840
01:05:45.760 --> 01:05:49.199
in Him we live and move and
have our being. There is therefore nothing

841
01:05:49.440 --> 01:05:55.639
that takes place in this world.
It does not do so by His permission,

842
01:05:55.960 --> 01:06:02.239
and not just a bear permission,
but by His wise direction and government

843
01:06:02.639 --> 01:06:11.960
in such a way that our loving, good, personal God may orchestrate and

844
01:06:12.280 --> 01:06:20.519
direct everything toward His holy and wise
ends or purposes. And that includes all

845
01:06:20.599 --> 01:06:33.639
of our free choices, which definitely
do affect our future, but also bring

846
01:06:33.679 --> 01:06:45.280
His holy will infallibly to pass.
And this providence, as we will see,

847
01:06:46.719 --> 01:06:51.559
makes people very confident and bold,
despite the evils in this world,

848
01:06:51.760 --> 01:06:59.039
despite their own profound lack of understanding
and direction, and their own sinfulness,

849
01:07:00.599 --> 01:07:10.360
recognizing that in all these things godess
yet in control. Now you can try

850
01:07:10.360 --> 01:07:15.159
to wrap your mind around that God's
controlling, God's directing every single thing,

851
01:07:16.000 --> 01:07:20.880
but it doesn't stop your free choice. Well, my free choice can't go

852
01:07:20.920 --> 01:07:26.760
against God's governing decree. You can't
go against it, right, I mean,

853
01:07:27.239 --> 01:07:30.639
it's going to work according to God's
eternal decree in God's providence. Right

854
01:07:34.039 --> 01:07:36.639
now, this is where we're getting
into the deep, deep, deep waters

855
01:07:36.719 --> 01:07:41.480
where people start having some very difficult, great de difficulties. And look,

856
01:07:42.480 --> 01:07:45.119
some people say, my job is
to try to remove those difficulties. Absolutely

857
01:07:45.199 --> 01:07:48.039
not. My job is to hold
your hand, walk you right up to

858
01:07:48.119 --> 01:07:51.239
the difficulty and say, look at
it. Yeah, is that bothersome?

859
01:07:51.320 --> 01:07:56.360
Is that troublesome? Join the club? Anyone who's even remotely honest with these

860
01:07:56.360 --> 01:08:01.159
things. Just consider and this discussion
about David about let me go to the

861
01:08:01.199 --> 01:08:05.000
text, Go to the texts.
I'm fifty seven, not fifty six.

862
01:08:05.119 --> 01:08:09.360
I do apologize. It still bothers
me, but hey, I probably messed

863
01:08:09.400 --> 01:08:13.199
up according to God's eternal decree and
God's providence. Right, No, yes,

864
01:08:13.239 --> 01:08:15.480
no, okay, I don't know. Right. I will cry out

865
01:08:15.519 --> 01:08:19.039
to God Most High, to God
who performs all things for me. When

866
01:08:19.119 --> 01:08:24.840
God, we take God's eternal decrees
and providence as doing all things, performing

867
01:08:24.880 --> 01:08:28.960
all things. However you want to
translate this for David on behalf of David,

868
01:08:29.159 --> 01:08:32.640
however you want to understand this,
He's controlling and guiding everything. Does

869
01:08:32.680 --> 01:08:39.880
that include, in some way,
shape or form, David's lying and eighty

870
01:08:39.920 --> 01:08:43.439
priests dying and then the city being
killed, including men, women, and

871
01:08:43.560 --> 01:08:50.079
children and animals. Does it include
David numbering the people and seventy thousand people

872
01:08:50.159 --> 01:08:57.600
have to die? Does it include
David committing adultery and having a woman's husband

873
01:08:57.920 --> 01:09:01.800
God, God couldn't even intervene and
even bother to intervene to save the husband.

874
01:09:08.199 --> 01:09:23.960
Oh, and the baby died,
not David. And I see,

875
01:09:23.960 --> 01:09:26.319
this is the kind of stuff nobody
wants to talk about from the pulpit.

876
01:09:27.079 --> 01:09:29.760
See if I try to talk about
this from the pulpit, you're gonna,

877
01:09:29.920 --> 01:09:32.600
I guarantee you men would start bowing
up and oh, how dare you say

878
01:09:32.640 --> 01:09:36.720
this? And women would be closing
their bibles and crossing their arms and getting

879
01:09:36.720 --> 01:09:40.399
all mad at me, and I
would get some mean letters and I'm not

880
01:09:40.439 --> 01:09:43.359
coming back to this church. How
dare you say these things to me?

881
01:09:43.560 --> 01:09:46.960
This is horrifying I'm finished with you, and now I trust me. I

882
01:09:47.039 --> 01:09:50.720
know that that's how it would happen. And I understand that nobody wants to

883
01:09:50.720 --> 01:09:55.079
go to church to be confronted with
what I'm confronting you with. But if

884
01:09:55.119 --> 01:09:59.720
you're going to use David as example
of God's providence and working all things out,

885
01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:03.479
they can't ignore I mean, you
can't ignore these stories. I mean

886
01:10:03.479 --> 01:10:06.680
he kind of hinted at one of
these stories. I've given you three stories

887
01:10:06.680 --> 01:10:12.039
about David that you need to consider
and light of God's providence. Right,

888
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:15.479
the numbering of the the lying to
the priest, first Samuel twenty one to

889
01:10:15.479 --> 01:10:19.880
twenty two, the numbering of the
people, Second Samuel twenty four. And

890
01:10:20.359 --> 01:10:24.399
you can look where David commits the
sin. Is it first Samuel? Is

891
01:10:24.399 --> 01:10:27.279
they see? Is it first Samuel? Sixteen? Let me look here,

892
01:10:28.479 --> 01:10:31.479
I could be wrong. Is this
sixteen? Or is it second Samuel?

893
01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:42.119
It must be is it second Samuel? Hang on? Yeah, I don't

894
01:10:42.119 --> 01:10:45.079
have it right here in front of
me. You can find it where David

895
01:10:45.079 --> 01:10:47.359
commits his sin, you know,
the sin? Yeah, that's all absolom.

896
01:10:47.439 --> 01:10:50.439
So it has to be in first
Samuel. Has to be in first

897
01:10:50.479 --> 01:11:03.279
Samuel. Maybe yeah, I don't
have it right here in front of me.

898
01:11:03.279 --> 01:11:11.079
I don't know why I'm forgetting the
reference. Hang on, I can

899
01:11:11.119 --> 01:11:16.000
find it for you in just one
second. It's gonna bother me. It'll

900
01:11:16.079 --> 01:11:18.399
take me just one second. I
know some of you are screaming at me.

901
01:11:18.760 --> 01:11:25.279
I'm sorry. After an hour of
teaching, you gotta give me.

902
01:11:28.800 --> 01:11:31.039
You got to give me. Second
Samuel eleven through twelve. All right,

903
01:11:31.039 --> 01:11:34.520
I was close. No, I
wasn't. Second Samuel eleven through twelve.

904
01:11:35.359 --> 01:11:42.560
Yes, Second Samuel eleven through twelve. So I want you to consider when

905
01:11:42.560 --> 01:11:47.039
you think of Psalm fifty seven to
two, God performing all things for David.

906
01:11:47.439 --> 01:11:50.840
I want you to and then you
take God's providence, God's eternal decrees,

907
01:11:50.920 --> 01:11:55.319
and I want you to consider that
and light of those stories, all

908
01:11:55.359 --> 01:12:00.520
right. The first one is David
lying to lying to the pre and then

909
01:12:00.840 --> 01:12:03.880
all these people die for Samuel twenty
one through twenty two, David numbering the

910
01:12:03.920 --> 01:12:09.399
people. Second Samuel twenty four,
David sin with Bathsheba. That Second Samuel

911
01:12:09.479 --> 01:12:15.119
chapter eleven through twelve. Now,
in the meantime, I do want you

912
01:12:15.199 --> 01:12:20.560
to listen to everything this man says
in his series on Providence. Look he's

913
01:12:20.600 --> 01:12:24.840
doing a great job bringing all these
things up, and I'm grateful. He's

914
01:12:24.880 --> 01:12:28.119
obviously going to look at this in
a much more positive way than I am.

915
01:12:28.359 --> 01:12:30.920
And that's perfectly okay because that's look, he wants to have a church,

916
01:12:31.119 --> 01:12:34.000
he's gotta I hate to say it, you do it my way.

917
01:12:34.119 --> 01:12:36.720
You're not gonna have a church.
You do it my way. You're not

918
01:12:36.720 --> 01:12:40.840
gonna have a popular podcast. You
do it my way. You're gonna drive

919
01:12:40.920 --> 01:12:44.359
more people away then, But someone's
gonna be going, look, I believe

920
01:12:44.399 --> 01:12:46.079
in this Bible just like you believe
it. I believe in the God just

921
01:12:46.119 --> 01:12:49.840
like you believe in God. Don't
question my faith. Don't question my belief

922
01:12:49.880 --> 01:12:54.520
in God. But just because I
believe in God and just because I believe

923
01:12:54.560 --> 01:12:57.279
in the Bible, doesn't mean I'm
not gonna say, hey, ladies and

924
01:12:57.359 --> 01:13:01.600
gentlemen, there's some ugly dark side
to this that we've got to be willing

925
01:13:01.640 --> 01:13:05.039
to acknowledge and be confronted with,
because if we don't want to look at

926
01:13:05.119 --> 01:13:09.399
it, trust me, other people
will point it out and go, what

927
01:13:09.479 --> 01:13:11.960
is wrong with your faith? And
I know Christians just like now, whatever,

928
01:13:12.039 --> 01:13:15.239
whatever, you're just an unbeliever.
Maybe you need a believer to go

929
01:13:15.399 --> 01:13:17.560
No, you need to look at
this. This is some difficult questions that

930
01:13:17.600 --> 01:13:23.680
we have to consider. All right. So the series that we're listening to

931
01:13:23.800 --> 01:13:28.920
there, let me if I can
find it really quick is I'll get you

932
01:13:28.960 --> 01:13:31.319
the name of the theistry, ministry
and everything you need so that you can

933
01:13:31.359 --> 01:13:35.560
go find it. The name of
the series is The Mystery of Providence.

934
01:13:35.960 --> 01:13:42.359
The Mystery of Providence Redeemer Church,
Dave ad Vance. Please go download all

935
01:13:42.399 --> 01:13:47.359
of them and listen to them multiple
times if you desire. All right,

936
01:13:47.399 --> 01:13:56.000
we've gone seventy three minutes, and
don't get mad at me. Did I

937
01:13:56.000 --> 01:14:00.039
go to seventy three minutes because it
was God's eternal decree in Providence? Or

938
01:14:00.079 --> 01:14:04.600
did I go seventy three minutes just
because I'm not very good at structuring a

939
01:14:04.600 --> 01:14:14.079
podcast in a timely manner. Or
do I well, we hear that thunder,

940
01:14:15.600 --> 01:14:18.640
there's a storm coming, it's probably
my email inbox right now? All

941
01:14:18.720 --> 01:14:21.199
right, all right, thanks for
listening everyone, have a great day,

942
01:14:21.279 --> 01:14:26.199
great evening. God bless