We turn in Holy Scripture this morning to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. In the light of the last part of that chapter in particular, as well as several other portions of scripture, I call your attention this morning to the instruction of our Heidelberg Catechism in Lords Day 10. Lord's Day 10 has two questions and answers, 27 and 28. What dost thou mean by the providence of God? The almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures, so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come not by chance but by his fatherly hand. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created and by his providence doth still uphold all things? That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and that in all things which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love, since all creatures are so in his hand that without his will, they cannot so much as move. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, today in the consideration of Lord's Day 10, we are brought before one of the most beautiful and comforting truths that God has revealed to us concerning himself. Last week, the Heidelberg Catechism in Lourdes A9 unfolded from scripture the beautiful relationship in which we stand to the glorious God who is God alone. You remember that our sin had separated us from God who is perfectly holy, that we might be restored to his fellowship, reconciled unto him, that guilt had to be removed. And the satisfaction of God's justice had to be made and could only be made by the one who is in the same person, true God and true man. So we were brought to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And last week we saw that in our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom we are now one with a living faith, and for his sake is now, and let's join the catechism in a personal confession, my God and my Father, and further, Unlike any earthly father, I rely so entirely upon my heavenly father that I have no doubt, but he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body. And further, that he will make whatever evils he sends upon me in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage. For he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful father. In that connection and providing the foundation for that confession concerning God as my father, Lord Zainine called attention only parenthetically to the truth that our God is the creator who of nothing made heaven and earth and all that is in them, but also that he upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and providence, and that in order that he accomplishes what he has purposed for me and for his church, that is our salvation in Christ Jesus. the truth of God's providence, now unfolded from Holy Scripture in Lord's Day 10, is not only the testimony of God's word, but has been proven throughout the history of the church and in our own lives. And so David, in Psalm 18, verse 30, testified, as for God, his way is perfect. We might question that. We might not see that in a given circumstance and situation. But not only has God taught us that his way is perfect, he's proven it. And so the inspired psalmist immediately adds, the word of the Lord is tried, it's proven. And so this morning, as we consider the doctrine of providence, we do so also in the light of 2 Corinthians 4, verses 17 and 18. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And that 18th verse reminds us that our consideration of this truth of God's providence is one of faith, faith which lays hold of Christ and lays hold of his word as the wonder of this truth, is set before us. So we consider then providence, our father's hand. And as we use that figure of our almighty God's hand, we see in God's providence, first of all, his almighty hand, secondly, his everywhere present hand, and finally, his fatherly hand. As Lord Satan unfolds this truth of God's providence, it does so by pointing us, pointing to that providence as the divine unfolding of the almighty and everywhere present power of God. When we speak of providence in terms of God's almighty hand We're speaking of his sovereignty, God's sovereignty. And that basic principle of the Reformed faith is something that we teach our catechumens when we speak about the very first verse of the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And we tell them that in that first verse of the Bible, the most important word is God. The creation account tells us God is God. He's not only the one before whom all must bow, there is none like him. He not only created this world in which we have our temporary home, but he owns it and is at work in everything, ruling all things to the end that he has determined in his sovereign good pleasure and that his purpose be accomplished. Do you think of that? That's true even concerning the fall of man. and the development of sin in the world. Nothing is outside God's sovereign rule and control. So he says, for example, in Isaiah 45, verses five through seven, I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. It is dishonoring to God to suppose that he is throwing up his arms in despair at the development of sin in the world, that he doesn't know what to do about what is taking place. In Isaiah 46, verses nine through 11, Jehovah God speaks. Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country, Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. Furthermore, when we talk about the sovereignty of God, also as it comes to expression in the wonderful truth known as God's providence, we have to realize that underlying this doctrine as we confess it, is the sovereignty of God in our salvation. How is it, after all, that you and I make this confession? How is it that we, as we shall consider a little later, place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father and know that nothing shall separate us from his love? How is it that we can confess that? It's because he has saved us in his only begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has saved us sovereignly, powerfully, according to his own sovereign good pleasure. Do you believe that? That can't be because of anything in you or in me. He saved us when we were yet sinners, Romans 5 verse 8. He has done that which no one else could do in taking those dead in sin, because that's what we were, and giving us life in Christ, resurrection life, everlasting life. No greater demonstration of God's sovereignty can there be. And the doctrine of providence unfolds to us the wonder that everything God does in creation, in history, and in our own lives is worked with purpose, that of saving his people in Christ, gathering his precious bride that he has given to his church from eternity. Our calling in considering the wonder of God's providence as we see this truth as his almighty hand is to bow in awe before the sovereignty of God and to be thankful that the one who alone is sovereign is our father for Jesus' sake. The struggle of our sinful flesh is to fail to acknowledge that truth. When you think of this in terms of what we confessed back in Lord's Day One, when we confess that our only comfort is that we are not our own, but belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, the sad reality is that our own lives often don't reflect that confession. Every time we sin, We, as much as say, I don't acknowledge God to be my sovereign, to rule over me, I will do as I please. Every time we speak evil, or in a way that's not edifying to one another, every time we denigrate one another, cut someone down with backbiting, What we are really saying is, my tongue is my own. I will do what I want. I will say what I want to say. God is not Lord over my tongue. Every time our hearts wander and we pursue the lusts of our flesh, we attempt to remove God from his throne and give the evil one a place that belongs only to the Almighty God. Sin is treason against the Most High Majesty of God, who alone is sovereign. The God whom we serve and who we confess as our Father for Jesus' sake is an awesome God. Knowing him as we do, We stand in awe of God's absolute sovereignty, the inescapable testimony of his handiwork in the whole created order round about us. We sing in Psalm 8, verses three and four, when I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him. When a heavy thunderstorm passes through the area and you see flashes of lightning and hear the booming thunder, whose voice do you hear? Whose voice do you hear when you are in the mountains and witness one of those afternoon thunderstorms? and the air is filled with electricity and the mountains seem to shake as the thunder reverberates through the canyons with astounding decimals. Whose voice do you hear? Whose voice do you hear in that water rushing down the canyons with the spring runoff? When you reflect upon the power of the floods, that came cascading down Thompson Canyon in recent years, dislodging massive boulders, moving hillsides, destroying buildings, destroying roads, even carving out new riverbed in some areas. Are you reminded that you have seen not merely the power of water, but the power of God's almighty hand? You parents who have observed the birth of a child, do you recognize in that gift the powerful hand of God? So that you confess with the psalmist in Psalm 139 verse 14, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made How marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Do you see the almighty power of God? When you look up at the night skies, in the darkness of the mountains or in a place away from the city lights, and see the innumerable stars and constellations and the planets, Do you see his almighty hand as he, as it were, throws the meteors across the sky? Have you stood on the rocky shore of an ocean during a storm and seen the raging seas crashing upon the rocks with a deafening roar? Have you known that you were witnessing the almighty hand of God in his creation? Can you picture in your mind and hear the thundering hooves of a herd of buffalo? Have you seen a hummingbird with wings flapping from 50 to 200 beats per second, the only bird able to fly backwards? Have you remembered that these magnificent creatures were not only created by, but are upheld by the almighty hand of God? We're surrounded by the truth of God's providence. With his almighty hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures, making provision for his creatures in the herbs and grass, sending rain, but sometimes withholding rain and using drought to accomplish his purpose. He's the one who with his almighty hand provides meat and drink to his creatures in fruitful and barren years so that we confess with the psalmist in Psalm 145, Verses 15 and following, the eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand and satisfyest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. So mindful of God's almighty hand, the sovereign government of his providential care, the psalmist says in verses 10 through 12 of the same psalm, all thy work shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saint shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. But the Bible tells us still more concerning God's providence as the work of his almighty hand. The catechism, after referring to various aspects of the created order as the domain of God's almighty hand of providence, also mentioning health and sickness riches and poverty, realizes that the list could go on for pages, and thus concludes by saying, yea, and all things come not by chance, but by God's fatherly hand. It's in connection with those all things that I call attention to Jeremiah's prophecy In chapter 27, as the last king of Judah took the throne, King Hezekiah, roughly 600 years before the coming of Christ, and Zedekiah was really a puppet king, given his throne by the king of Babylon, God sent his prophet, Jeremiah, with a message. He referred to the beginning of Zedekiah's reign when Jehovah of Hos, the God of Israel, sent this message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. And I refer now to verses five and following of Jeremiah 27. The Lord of Hos said, I have made the earth, the man and the beasts that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm and have given it unto whom it seemed to meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him and it all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son until the very time of his land come. And then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence until I have consumed them by his hand. And then verse 11, but the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord, and they shall till it and dwell therein." And then followed the same warning to King Hezekiah of Judah. Judah was to submit to the chastening hand of God by submitting to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, until the Lord himself restore his people to the place he had given them in the promised land. And we learn from history that Zedekiah rejected the word of the Lord through his prophet Jeremiah, and that Israel fell into a 70-year period of captivity, that 70 years also being determined by the sovereign hand of the Almighty God. God's providence. What a wonderful truth. God working all things to accomplish the salvation of his church, a church that's often wayward, that a people that often refuses to hear him, that bears many chastisements, but God by his almighty hand saves and works all things to the salvation of his people in Christ. Well, do we remember that as we live in a world of increasing wickedness and in a country where the very name of Jehovah and his son, Jehovah's salvation, Jesus Christ, is held up to open contempt, where the colors of the rainbow given by God to Noah as a testimony of his covenant faithfulness. After the flood, Genesis 9 is now turned into a flag, celebrating shameful behavior in open defiance of God's word, and given by our government a month designated the month of pride. That happened already 25 years ago by declaration of the then President Clinton. Well do we remember as we see the growing hatred toward God's truth and toward churches that would be faithful to God's authoritative word that God rules all things by his almighty hand and is accomplishing His purpose, even should our lives become more and more difficult, when we stand before the current political scene and might easily despair at the dearth of those who would faithfully uphold the constitution of our great republic, At the dearth of those who even recognize the ancient divine roots of the rule of law, well, we remember, people of God, that our God rules all things by his almighty hand. Well, do we remember Proverbs 21, verse 1? The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will. I recently read a book, not a theological book, a historical history book entitled The Abyss by Max Hastings about the Cuban Missile Crisis. and the intricacies of what was taking place between the United States and the Soviet Union. That incident happened in 1962 when I was a small child. Probably is given very little coverage in history classes today. But what struck me in reading the book was how the United States and the Soviet Union were within a hair's breadth of a nuclear war. And yet, in reading about all the surrounding events taken from the historical record, I could observe with wonder how God turned every event to prevent that annihilation. And moreover, he did so because the end could not yet come. Because some of you had yet to be born and gathered into his church, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, his covenant family. The end could not yet come because God's purpose in the salvation of his church had not yet been accomplished. And so today, God continues his work in his providence, and therefore by his almighty hand, upholding and governing all things, so that nothing comes by chance, but by his fatherly hand. Providence is also the exercise of God's everywhere present hand. You may have picked up on that already by the many different references to the working of God's almighty hand. God's providence is also the revelation and outworking of his omnipresence, the fact that he is everywhere present. Turning back to Jeremiah for a moment, in Jeremiah chapter 23, The Lord rebukes the unfaithful pastors, the false prophets of Jeremiah's day. And those unfaithful pastors bore such an influence upon the church that Jeremiah's proclamation of God's truth was readily rejected by the majority of the children of Judah. The Lord promised that he would visit upon those men the evil of their doing. And to the comfort of his people, the Lord said, in verses three and four of Jeremiah 23, and I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase, and I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, and neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. And that salvation that he promises his people shall come in the Messiah, the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. For this is what the Lord says in the immediately following verses, verses five and six, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. But when you read on in that chapter, you also find that it is only a remnant that shall be saved. Even among those who hear God's faithful prophets, such as Jeremiah, most will give ear to those who are unfaithful. and will continue living as if God is way out there somewhere, as if he pays no attention, doesn't see what I'm doing. So again, the Lord confronts those who claim to be his, but who do not lay hold of his promise Messiah by faith, and therefore who disregard his word, verses 23 and 24, Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? He sees everything. He's everywhere present. Nothing escapes him. So when he sends his word, he says, is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Do you ever have it when something said in a sermon hits you right between the eyes? As though the minister knows what's going on in your life and in your home, knows your secret sins, though the preacher knows nothing about it. God does. God does. And sometimes he knows it is necessary that the word comes to us like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. that we might humble ourselves before him and repent and lay hold of Christ's righteousness alone. God is at work by his everywhere present hand, as it were. But that also means that God is always with us in our time of need. that the truth of God's providence speaks of his everywhere present hand is also a reminder that in your life and mine, through all the joys as well as the sorrows, through the peaceful times as well as those times when it seems that our world has been thrown upside down, God is present. He's present upholding us by his hand. In times of prosperity, he is present. After all, he's the one who gives us healthy bodies and minds to exercise faithful stewardship and to give us pleasure in the good gifts that he has given us. But don't forget, he's also present when we suffer hardship, perhaps the loss of a job or health, the loss of income that we had become quite accustomed to. He's there to see to our needs, to provide our daily bread. Let's remember that should we live during those days when we will no longer be able to buy or sell. Our Heavenly Father's hand is present with us, holding us, guiding us, providing for us, accomplishing the best end for us, for his way is perfect. Nothing comes by chance, but by his fatherly hand. Remember that in times of affliction. The Lord knows none of us would choose affliction. And some among us even suffer debilitating affliction. The Lord leads us in very trying ways sometimes. He knows what he's doing. He's also with us every step of the way. And so we see finally that this beautiful truth of God's providence is impressed upon us as the working of God's fatherly hand. And because we belong to his family, and he is our father for Jesus' sake, we may confess that all things work together for our good. We saw that in the closing verses of 2 Corinthians 4, which chapter we read earlier. There in verses 17 and 18, we read, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now you realize that when the apostle speaks of our light affliction working for us, he's speaking about God using our affliction as a means to accomplish what in the moment we can't see. God is at work in our affliction. And those afflictions might be tremendous burdens for us to bear, weighty in the sorrows that they bring us, but the apostle refers to them as light. They are light in comparison to the weight of glory. The fact is the glory that awaits us and unto which God is at work even in our afflictions is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. But then you also realize that we can agree with this and make this our confession only by faith. So verse 18 is a continuation of what the inspired apostle writes in verse 17. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Faith is that which unites us to Christ and gives us all the blessings of salvation, including that glory that awaits us. And therefore, by faith, we also see the wonder of God's fatherly hand, even when that hand seems to rest so heavily upon us. Then we also see the tremendous advantage that we might know that God has created and by his providence does still uphold all things. First, in knowing this truth, not merely intellectually, but with the knowledge of faith, we may be patient in adversity. The idea of patience is that of a steadfast endurance in faithfulness to God in the face of adversity. Patience, you realize, is something God must work in us and must teach us. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 5, testifying of the peace that we have with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and being justified by him, also testify that by Jesus Christ, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. But in that life, God doesn't remove us from difficulties. He doesn't take away our trials and tribulations. In fact, sometimes it is as Christians that our tribulations increase. And yet the apostle testifies in verse three, and not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulations work with patience. Now again, as we saw, In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 17, so also here, when we read that tribulations worketh patience, we understand that God, by his almighty hand, his fatherly hand, uses tribulation to work for us. And among that which tribulations work for us is patience. But how does he do that? After all, doesn't tribulation try our patience? Scripture gives us several examples of which I call attention briefly only to one, Job. Job is an example of patience, as Scripture reminds us in James 5, verse 11. Some among us have faced difficult trials. Some have endured painful circumstances, but none among us has suffered as Job suffered. Job, you realize, was not always patient. He struggled, sometimes intensely, yet he endured. He endured in faithfulness to God. God gave him patience that was noteworthy and left an example for the church of all ages. But that patience came only as Job kept his eyes of faith fixed upon his Redeemer. When Job suffered, all the loss recorded for us in the last part of Job chapter one. He might have focused his attention immediately upon the attacks of those wretched Sabaeans and Chaldeans, and then his thoughts would have been consumed by revenge. When he heard of the fire that fell from heaven, and consumed all Job's sheep and shepherds but one, and of the tornado-like wind that destroyed the house where all Job's children were gathered, taking the lives of every one of them, Job might have raised his fist at God and questioned God's ways as he in weakness would later do. But Job kept his eyes fixed upon his Redeemer, knowing his own relationship to the ever-faithful Jehovah. And so by faith he endured those most grievous trials, confessing, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Even amidst Job's greatest struggles, when his patience waned and his discontent grew, yet when he lifted up his eyes to his faithful Jehovah, his covenant God, he made some of the most beautiful confessions that are found in the Bible. Patient in adversity. That's the benefit listed first in our catechism. Second, recognizing God's fatherly hand in our lives and his tender care for us in all things, we may be thankful. The catechism speaks of being thankful in prosperity. Well, you understand we are called to be thankful in all things, aren't we? So why does the catechism only speak of thankful in prosperity? Well, it's because in prosperity, usually when we're least thankful, when we begin to take things for granted. Our sinful flesh looks proudly at ourselves and our own accomplishments as the reason for our prosperity. We ought to be thankful to those who in any way contribute to our benefit and to our prosperity. Whether a surgeon who treats you and provides you opportunity for restored health, or those customers that contribute to your bottom line, or your teachers who provide you with an education that serves your spiritual welfare and your future prosperity, they are all instruments in God's hands. But God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. From him we receive all that we enjoy. Recognizing his fatherly hand will compel us also to be thankful in prosperity and not to lose a godly perspective when it comes to the things of this earth. Finally, in our knowledge of this truth, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father. How shall we not trust Him? Knowing that nothing shall separate us from His love, and knowing that all creatures are so in His hand that without His will, they cannot so much as move. Whatever the dangers we face, whatever the trials, we have confidence in the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father. For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Amen. Heavenly Father, we give thanks to thee for revealing thyself to us. as the sovereign God, and as the sovereign God who has loved us from eternity in Christ Jesus, and called us unto thee, and thus continue to work all things to our final gathering into our heavenly home. Strengthen our faith, Grant that we may continue to live in this confidence. Hear our prayers for Jesus' sake, amen.