WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.640 I have limited voice in God's providence and so your handout is slightly larger than normal 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:15.599 ! Which is why it's taking longer to come through the machine. So the rule is if it's on the handout 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:21.760 ! You're reading it okay if it's not on the handout i'm going to say it and so that's going to save 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:29.199 me some voice let me pray as we begin let me pray father we do thank you that all things are in your 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:35.840 hands thank you that that extends to us this evening and we pray for your blessing and your help 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:41.840 as we look at your word and we pray that our our thoughts and meditations and our discussions 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:49.840 together would be useful to us and bring glory to you in Jesus name amen now if you've been with us 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:57.280 on these Sunday evenings say sammy needs one over here um i think that is thank you that would help 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:08.879 me yeah so we've not got one either oh yeah right uh we've been working our way through the 1689 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:17.520 london baptist confession of faith and i i should say and this is an important caveat which um i hope 00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:25.359 has been clear um but i'm going to say anyway is that the 1689 baptist confession is not the bible 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:32.959 right and it's not to be held in parallel with the bible um if i've given you the impression that it 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:37.920 should be um that was not my intention you know when you when you open the bible and read it you are 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:45.280 encountering god for yourself um those are his words they are inspired by him it is through those words that 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:56.000 the spirit uh brings us to encounter god himself you know i i think you can fairly say that there is a 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:02.480 direct connection between your health and maturity as a christian and your engagement with the word of god 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:09.759 um it's not the only mark of health but it is an essential mark of health you cannot be healthy 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:20.319 without regularly and consistently engaging with god's word um so that's that's crucial you can be a 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:27.919 healthy and mature christian without regularly engaging with the baptist 1689 confession of faith okay 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:37.599 um and i just want to make that clear um how well you know the 1689 confession is not necessarily a 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:44.719 sign of how healthy or mature you are as a christian but that doesn't mean it's not important and i just 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:51.759 want to give you a few reasons or three reasons uh why it is important the first reason is it is not the 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:59.439 product of one person's thinking your theological position and your ideas on these things is often just 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:06.400 the product of your own thinking um but that is not the same with the baptist confession of faith 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:12.640 in fact because it's so closely connected with the westminster confession of faith the savoy declaration 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:20.480 and it means that scholars from a wide spectrum of church backgrounds have thought that this is a good 00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:27.520 way of articulating the truth of god's words and so it means that the truths of the confessions 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:34.319 are recognized by a number of christians from across the spectrum so anglicans baptists independence 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:42.959 charismatics would all view the confessions in a high regard as a description of um of their faith 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:51.359 secondly is these theological positions have stood the test of time right my theological position has 00:03:51.359 --> 00:03:57.199 lasted only the years that i've been a christian which isn't really very long compared to the confessions 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:04.560 and the writers were trying to to summarize doctrines of the church in a way which was useful to the 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:12.079 church and has proved to be useful to the church for generations and generations so much so now you cannot 00:04:12.079 --> 00:04:18.000 write a church statement of faith without engaging with these historic confessions you don't have to 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:25.039 replicate them but you do at least have to engage with them because these are really the sort of barometer 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:31.520 or they have set the mark for how we describe what it is that we believe and so they have stood the test 00:04:31.520 --> 00:04:40.320 of time thirdly it's worth saying that they also come from the fires of persecution what i mean is that 00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:46.240 these confessions are written by people for whom getting these things right and articulating them properly 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.439 costs them very dearly you and i can probably believe what we like on some of the things in the 1689 00:04:53.439 --> 00:05:00.079 confession of faith with very little consequence for us personally it you know we even as a church we 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:05.839 have a breadth of opinion on some of the issues that are uh raised by the 1689 confession of faith and 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:11.600 that's good and it's right and and we've seen that over these evenings but for the people writing this 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:19.360 not just the 1689 confession but the other ones as well standing by those truths cost them their livelihoods 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:27.680 their homes their freedom even at times their lives there was a lot more at stake you want to be really 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:35.759 sure don't you that the doctrine that you're going to give your life for is stated truly and so that means 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:41.759 that there is a sort of clarity to these statements where every word matters that you and i probably don't 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:45.040 have when we're in conversation with one another about what we believe about called sovereignty 00:05:45.760 --> 00:05:51.680 because maybe we'll just think a bit less of each other if we don't describe it rightly now because 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:57.439 of those three reasons i think when it comes to these statements of historical theology we should take them 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:07.759 like teachers yeah they're not the bible but they are wise guides not infallible guides but wise guides 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:13.920 and so proverbs 19 says this about listening to advice or instruction it says someone 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.680 you see you didn't get the memo did you right okay if it's on the handout you say it not me 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:28.560 listen to advice and accept this and at the end you will be counted among the wives great thank you 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:35.680 yeah so we we listen don't we we engage with what it says and it we use it as a teacher to help us 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:42.160 and the contrast to that is if you stop listening to instruction and you will stray from the words of 00:06:42.160 --> 00:07:02.399 knowledge and you'll wander away and so we are this evening being taught about divine providence 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:06.479 not by infallible teachers but by teachers who are pointing us back to the word of god 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:14.159 now the way to start i think is with a definition of the word providence perhaps you've heard the word 00:07:14.159 --> 00:07:15.359 providence used by christians 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:22.479 it's uh it's the kind of thing that christians say isn't it you know oh it's all in god's providence 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:27.759 and it sounds like a very spiritual thing to say but we might just assume that we know what we mean 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:34.079 by that but let's try and drill down into a definition uh probably the the best way is to 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:40.399 is to break it down not the word itself prov in dense uh actually i think it's a it's a latin 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.560 meaning foresight isn't it probably pro and then something to do with vision um but that doesn't 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:53.439 really help us theologians have divided up providence into three aspects of what they mean by 00:07:53.439 --> 00:08:00.319 god's providence the first one is this is when we say that god is provident we mean that he preserves 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:07.279 the world that is that god doesn't just make the world and then clear off but rather that he is 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:13.839 actively involved in the preservation of the sustaining of the keeping of the world so hebrews 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:19.359 chapter one verse three someone other than clifford the sun is the radiance of god's glory and the 00:08:19.359 --> 00:08:26.959 exact representation of his being sustaining all things thanks mike so here the active involvement 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:34.639 of god the sun in keeping the world sustaining all things by his powerful word so you can you can say 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:43.360 can't you that um even the fact that this lectern stands up that the frailty of my voice is received 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:50.800 by the frailty of your ears is only because god the sun by the power of his word is sustaining 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:58.560 the universe in such a way that those things happen you know what we might call the laws of nature are 00:08:58.560 --> 00:09:07.519 really in fact the sustaining work of god in all things preserving and ordering and keeping the world 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:14.879 so that's the first thing preservation next is about concurrence in other words that god's rule works 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:20.559 alongside or concurrently with the responsibility and consequences of the actions of others 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:27.360 we might call these in the confessions call these secondary causes that is they are not the ultimate 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:33.600 cause of all things god alone is that but there are nevertheless secondary causes which are responsible for 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.600 what happens you might call it and sometimes it's called cooperation but that can sometimes give the 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:44.720 idea that you know these secondary causes are just on the same level as god's involvement which is not quite 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:52.639 right the secondary cause might have a different end in mind to the end that god is working you know the 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:58.800 the ends to which god is working in the burglaries that have happened in church this week is that we might 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:04.959 love him and trust him more i guarantee that is different to the ends to which the burglars were 00:10:04.959 --> 00:10:13.359 working this week right so the ends are different but yet there is still cooperation or uh concurrence 00:10:13.359 --> 00:10:22.959 between those two actions secondary causes have that different end in mind but are submissive to the ultimate 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:30.400 providential purpose of god robert strivens this is a longer one puts it like this someone want to read 00:10:30.400 --> 00:10:39.440 that for us okay the fatalists believe simply that what will be will be there is no point in looking left 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:45.040 and right when you cross the road because if you are going to be run over by the bus that is what will happen 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:51.439 and nothing you do or do not do will make any difference this is not biblical teaching or wise 00:10:51.439 --> 00:10:58.559 advice right just like i have to record here the bible makes very clear that humans have responsibility 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:04.319 and that they make decisions and choices which have real effects in the world more broadly it is clear 00:11:04.319 --> 00:11:12.240 from scripture that as we all know one event really does cause another if i swing a bat to bring it into 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:19.120 contact with a ball the ball will move that is not coincidence the two events are not unconnected 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:25.039 one causes the other the causation is real without my sweeping the path there would have been no movement 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:31.200 in the ball the confession calls these causes second causes to make clear that they are genuine causes 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.720 so that they are secondary to the first cause which is the providence of god without which no bat would 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:42.159 swing and no ball move first and second causes do not operate at the same level as second 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:48.159 causes are themselves completely dependent upon the first cause god's problems they are nevertheless 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:54.079 true causes human decisions and actions are thus significant and have real effects we are responsible 00:11:54.079 --> 00:12:02.240 creatures great thank you lola so that's concurrence thirdly and finally um the definition includes 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:10.159 government rule the idea that god is the first cause that he wills what will happen history is not random 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:18.639 his preservation and use of concurrence is for a purpose that he has in mind he is governing towards an end 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:25.759 and so these uh three things work together and that is what providence is god's preservation of the world 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:34.319 working concurrently with second causes to a purpose and a will of god in his governance over all things 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:41.760 the heidelberg catechism summarizes it like this it asks first the question what do you understand by the 00:12:41.760 --> 00:12:46.800 providence of god and then the answer is and prayer is going to read this for us the answer is 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:54.000 providence is the almighty and ever present power of god by which god upholds and as with his hand 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:00.879 heaven and earth and all creatures and so rules that leaf and blade rain and drought fruitful and lean years 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:07.919 food and drink health and sickness prosperity and poverty all things in fact come to us not by chance 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:18.000 great there you go so this idea that god rules in all things in a fatherly caring way for his people 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:25.599 so that you can say that whatever happens in your life has come to you by the fatherly hand of god 00:13:25.599 --> 00:13:32.159 however big or small significant or insignificant whether it's easy or whether it's difficult whether 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:37.600 it's sickness or whether it's health whether it's prosperity or poverty they have come to you not by 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:44.959 chance but by the will of god and the fatherly care of god who loves you and is involved in all things 00:13:45.839 --> 00:13:53.039 now before we go any further let's road test that from the bible and i've got two questions and i think 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:58.720 three passages so i want you to ask those two questions of the passage you might just choose one of 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:04.720 them or you might go for a few of them so um you're going to read the passages and then do the questions 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:10.800 what is the passage saying how does it affirm preservation concurrence and all government okay 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:15.840 go for that in twos or threes around where you're sitting for a few moments 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:25.040 okay let's um let's try working through these 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:38.799 um what is the um matthew passage saying about god's providence so two sparrows sold for a penny 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.159 what's what's it telling us 00:14:51.839 --> 00:14:52.319 yeah go on 00:14:55.039 --> 00:15:21.839 okay so it's a a lesser to greater things and it's as if if god's sovereign care extends to sparrows do 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:29.840 you not think it will extend to you also yeah um what about our proverbs 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:36.560 it's the secondary yeah 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:45.360 so every decision's from the lord but the not the still yeah yeah so there's a concurrence between the 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:52.159 the lot the decision the lot makes you know whether you draw the short straw but actually the lord 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:59.600 stands behind and over all things yeah i mean in the context of the book of proverbs there is not 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:03.600 necessarily a suggestion that you roll a dice to answer every question that you have in life that's 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:11.039 not what it's saying but it is saying that god's sovereign rule extends to essentially what we consider 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:17.039 chance happenings yeah yeah about the jeremiah passage 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:31.439 was that more difficult 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:37.440 yeah 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:53.440 yeah so lola helpfully pointed out that i didn't define governance very well so 00:16:53.440 --> 00:17:04.080 well you asked me to cover so governance is the idea that god has an end in mind yeah all things in 00:17:04.080 --> 00:17:12.320 this world will be under the feet of christ who will rule and reign in glory for all eternity okay and 00:17:12.320 --> 00:17:18.960 god is working to that end he is governing for a reason and for a purpose and a goal yeah and saying you're 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:28.240 absolutely right there is there is no area of our world over which god is not ruling like that so you 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:37.039 you cannot go to a place or a time or a situation in which god is not ruling and reigning um which is brilliant 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:46.880 isn't it absolutely fantastic um and then uh the acts passage this is incredible isn't it because in the 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:55.680 acts passage god stands behind where every person lives in the world and his reason that they are there 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:03.840 is that they might turn and seek him oh it's incredible isn't it god's providence and sovereign power over 00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:11.840 all things and every individual's lives yeah great let me try and anticipate three questions 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:17.839 that you might have firstly what about sin it leaves you with a question doesn't it what about there is 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:26.319 sin in the world how does that fit in with god's providence does god intend sin wickedness well let me say 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:32.959 two true things and then one sort of conclusion from that true thing which does not answer the question 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:40.240 but does at least give you a framework for thinking about it one god cannot sin right god is holy 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:47.839 and without sin the bible is clear on that from the beginning to the end the second thing that's 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:53.279 really clear in the bible is that sin cannot be god that what i mean by that is sin cannot be 00:18:54.640 --> 00:19:00.799 all-powerful sin cannot thwart god we don't live in a world where good and evil are fighting each other 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:06.160 and we're not sure what the outcome is going to be we live in a world where god rules and reigns and his 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:14.000 power is not thwarted by sin so sin must be weaker than god that leads you with the conclusion that 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:22.720 sinful actions must be part of god's plan without him being sinful or sin being in charge 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:32.560 so god's providence must extend to things which are sinful without god himself being responsible for those 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:43.919 sinful things and god's intentions behind even those sinful actions is good for us and for his glory 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:49.200 now that works out in a couple of ways doesn't it it means christians this is going to come as a shock to 00:19:49.200 --> 00:20:00.720 you but christians can sin you can sin i sin and god allows that intends that even 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:10.799 not to thwart his purpose for my life but even to accomplish it that he might humble me that he might 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:18.160 teach me my need for jesus over and over and over again that the consequences of my sin might discipline 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:26.160 me to return to the lord and also it works out in the lives of not christians as well who are allowed to 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:34.320 reject christ and to face the consequences of that and to be judged for it now that doesn't answer 00:20:34.320 --> 00:20:40.240 everything about sin but i think those are really important sort of markers to lay down secondly what 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:47.040 about miracles it leaves you with the question doesn't it that sometimes god sort of suspends or 00:20:47.040 --> 00:20:52.880 upends his normal providence or preservation of the natural order to do something extraordinary 00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:58.480 you can't have a doctrine of providence that doesn't also allow god the freedom to raise lazarus from the 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:06.160 dead or part the sea or make the axe head floats interestingly at cs lewis in his book miracles 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:11.600 argues that often what jesus is doing in his miracles is accelerating a natural process 00:21:11.600 --> 00:21:16.880 thus showing his power and providence over what we consider natural processes 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:30.400 so for example wine comes from water right it just takes grapes and a lot of time but jesus is able to 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:39.120 make wine from water like that why because he rules and reigns over what we call natural processes 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:48.639 you know fish do spawn more fish normally that takes ages but jesus rules and reigns over that and is able 00:21:48.639 --> 00:21:58.879 to feed 5 000 and from speeding up what we consider natural processes finally though perhaps you're wondering 00:21:58.879 --> 00:22:03.839 what about how providence works differently in the life of a christian and a non-christian 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:11.279 so one thing that becomes clear in the bible is that god's providence is of uh special reassurance to 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:18.799 god's own people providence is taught in scripture to assure christians of his care for them in all of 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:26.720 their lives god's fatherly care for his children romans 8 verse 28 says someone 00:22:36.399 --> 00:22:44.879 great now that doesn't mean that god doesn't preserve or uh cooperate and govern the lives of 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:50.400 unbelievers but rather that there's not a promise that it's in the same sense for their good and in 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:57.280 the same way god's providence might harden someone in their unbelief god's providence might take them 00:22:57.280 --> 00:23:04.000 away from the gospel not towards it now we don't and shouldn't speculate about how that works but providence 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:12.240 in romans 8 28 is is taught to the christian to underline god's loving care for them that he is 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:20.079 drawing then towards himself in all things he is intending for their good and their greatest christians 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:29.519 now there we go providence preservation concurrence and government not thwarted by sin doesn't actually 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:37.200 exclude the miraculous is at work in the lives of believers as a sign of god's care now then the 1689 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:46.240 confession chapter 5 divine providence states it like this and i think you should read those in your 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:54.080 groups and then you can do the little questions at the end and you've got five minutes which is not very 00:23:54.080 --> 00:23:58.960 long but you can have a go and see how far we get in five or seven minutes and then we'll 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:10.880 go okay sorry to interrupt your conversations 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:20.400 um we're gonna we're gonna finish there um if you've got more questions or comments you can come 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:28.400 and ask me because i've almost lost all my voice just to end with this and um mike and later and i were just 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:34.800 talking about this i thought this would be a really helpful way to end mark chapter 4 jesus in the 00:24:34.800 --> 00:24:42.400 boat in the storm how how do you know you've grasped the providence of god in your life in all things 00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:55.840 you are able to fall asleep in a boat in the storm right jesus in his humanity has as much to fear 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:02.639 from that storm as any of those disciples the difference is that he by the spirit 00:25:03.439 --> 00:25:10.399 fully and wholeheartedly trust the providence of his father to know that nothing is going to happen 00:25:10.399 --> 00:25:18.720 to him outside of the father's will and he is able to sleep and brothers and sisters that's it for you and 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:25.839 i isn't it that we are able to sleep in the storms of life because we know that our heavenly father 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:33.440 rules and reigns in all things for our good and for his glory and nothing in my life not a hair will 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:39.519 fall from my head although almost all of them have gone already without god's sovereign will 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:46.319 and intention and that's great news isn't it so praise god let me pray as i close 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:58.160 father thank you that you love us that you care for us and that all things in our lives are working 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:06.319 for our good and your glory help us to trust you and rest in you every day of our lives we pray 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:13.519 so help us especially tomorrow we ask that you would teach these things to our hearts that we might 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:27.679 sleep trusting you and resting in you in jesus name amen amen