to the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 10. It can be found on page 876 in the back of our Trinity Psalter hymnal. Now, if you are at all familiar with the Heidelberg Catechism and Lord's Day 9, it explained what it means when we say that we believe in God as our Father. And then Lord's Day 10 follows up on that with concerning providence. Now let's confess these two questions and answers responsibly as a congregation. Lord's Day 10 asks, what do you understand by the providence of God? Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God, by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity. And for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will, they can neither move nor be moved. your congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Lord's day nine, the catechism tells us that the eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our God and Father because of Jesus Christ. The same God that is the Father of the Lord Jesus has adopted us so that we are his children, his sons and daughters as well. But if there's a father-child relationship, also that implies a certain kind of, what should we say, responsibility, or a situation in which we benefit in amazing ways because of God's fatherly role. And so Lord's Day 10, the providence of God is spelled out for us. And the best way to think of that providence is suggested even by the answer in Lord's Day 10, namely to think of God's care for us, his providence, as his hand, his ever-present, powerful, disciplining, loving, and comforting hand, or hands. These hands hold all things up and rule all things, that nothing can move or be moved apart from his hand. And so I want to minister God's word to you this morning from John nine verses one through seven, but also the word of God as that is summarized in Lord's day 10 of the catechism under the theme, his fatherly hand shows his work. His fatherly hand shows his work. Our father's hands are always there upholding us, guiding us, disciplining us, comforting us. Now, Many of you are aware of the very shocking event that happened yesterday with the apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Now, I am old enough, I guess I'm dating myself now, I'm old enough to know exactly where I was when I heard the news that President John Kennedy was shot. Some of us remember the Challenger disaster. We remember where we were when we heard the news that President Reagan had been shot. He survived, but he was shot. Or where were you when we heard the news about the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001? Things that get our attention and are striking and sort of grab the headlines for many days on. Or we can think of other things more generally, earthquakes or tsunamis or hurricanes or fires and floods. So often after these events, they grab our attention, you'll hear people start to reflect and raise the question, well, something as horrible as 9-11, the terrorist attacks in 2001, where was God in all of these events? I guess God just sort of stepped back and let the devil take over for a moment. And if God is good and all-powerful, then the question is raised, well, if God is good, maybe he's not all-powerful. And so he wants to do well, but he just doesn't have the strength in certain situations. Or they flip the question around. Maybe God is all-powerful, but he's not always good. And so though he has the power, he allows these kinds of events, tragedies to affect people. Now those are hard questions. And they cross our minds. And it is not always easy, maybe not always possible to give an answer to the questions. And again, we think of where was God yesterday when a bullet grazed the ear of former President Trump. Had he been one inch over his head, he would be dead. And yet the providence of God was such that his life was spared. Well, all of these things, John Kennedy, Donald Trump, the astronauts on the Challenger, the people in the Twin Towers, and on and on and on, those who experienced a tsunami, all of them are creatures, which means they are not the creator. We are all creatures. The creator of heaven and earth, that is our father in heaven, stopped his good work of creating new things after the sixth day. He then rested. He did not create anything new after that. His hands no longer molded or shaped any new creature. The herbs and the grass were planted, as it were, by his hands. The rainy and The rainy seasons and dry seasons were all in place. The animals were formed by his hands. Even man himself, according to Genesis 2, was shaped from the dust of the earth, God as a potter. God breathes into his nostrils and man becomes a living being. Man in this world did not evolve by chance. Far from it, they came into existence by God's word, shaped by his powerful loving hands. But God doesn't stop there. His hands may have stopped creating, but they did not stop upholding, directing, guiding all things, moving all things, governing all things. The same fatherly hands that made the creation now undergird that creation. Deuteronomy 32 says that beneath us are the everlasting arms. Not that God literally has arms, it's a word picture. We think perhaps of a strong father who holds up his child. Underneath us are the everlasting arms. Now what do those hands of God provide? The hands of our Father in heaven provide vegetation, herbs and grass, corn and soybeans, oats and rye. His hands are in the forest at this moment to support the creation there in the forest so that all creatures look to God for sustenance. All the plants in your home are there because of God's creation, includes plants and his hands uphold them. His hands are always there. Now, when my mother would visit me on occasion, she's passed away a few years ago. She could take my dying plants and within two or three days before she left, they were alive again. I guess my mom had a green thumb. But our God has the ability to sustain all vegetation, all bird, all animal, all reptile life. All creatures need God's hands to exist and grow. God takes care of them. They flourish when his spirit gives life. When he withdraws his spirit, as Psalm 104 says, they are troubled and they die. God's power controls the weather. His hands bring the Arctic blasts in the winter. His hands kept last winter from being too severe. The weathermen aren't always accurate. I guess that's one of the professions in the world where you can miss the mark maybe 40 percent of the time and you can keep your job. But God knows exactly what the weather will be in every place in this world today. What knowledge, what might, what power, and he controls it all. Drought, barren years, sickness, poverty, death, The catechism mentioned those things as well. Now, providence is God upholding his creation up. After six days of creation, God stopped his creation work and he said, very good. Behold, it is really good. This is excellent work. Nothing flawed in it. So in God's original creation, there wasn't drought, barren years, sickness, poverty, death. Those things have come because of our sin. You sometimes hear people say we live in a broken world, and that's true. But what people sometimes fail to add is we live in a broken world because we have sinned. God's creation was flawless, but we have sinned. And because man sinned in the Garden of Eden, all those other unpleasant things have now entered God's creation. Now, sin cannot unravel God's creation. Sin cannot undo what God has made. But sin causes spoilage, damage to what God has made. And yet even the spoilage, the ruin, should we say the mold and the rust that enter our existence is under God's providence, always, everywhere. For, think of it, if drought, barren years, sickness, poverty, death itself, had power in and of themselves, would you dare to leave this building? I wouldn't. But they don't have a power in and of themselves to ruin God's creation. because if they had some kind of power and God is sort of out there battling against this great power, this great evil power, our lives would be filled with nervous anxiety. But even the bad in life is in our father's hands. You know, human beings, I think it was, I don't know if it was original with him, but Dr. Cornelius Ventile uses this illustration of what sinful man is like. It's like this father who holds the child on his lap. And the child slaps his father in the face. But the father doesn't throw his child down, it's his child. Sinful man often slaps God in the face. And yet this world continues because God's hands, his providence, uphold it. You know, the fact that God upholds a good creation, well, we can understand that. But the fact that God upholds in his arms a sinful creation, that's amazing. That's amazing. For God is under no obligation to maintain the existence of a sinful human race. But there's his love, his wonderful love, and his grace to his elect. Sin has brought trouble into the world. It has brought damage, and it has brought brokenness. Now sometimes people conclude that specific troubles are the result of specific sins. Now that's sort of the understanding that hovers over the story we read from John 9. Now, sometimes that could be true. And Christians say that when they have forgotten the moment of God's hands, the presence of his hands. Think of what goes on in John 9. Jesus has had a confrontation with the Pharisees and Jews, and they leave the temple. And as they're passing by, they happen to notice a man who is begging. Now beggars would go to holy shrines. You can even see that in some foreign countries where near churches the beggars will gather because they hope that the pious entering the church will have a few coins to give to them. Okay. And we learn in verse eight that the man had been, was a beggar. So he has congenital blindness. He was blind from his birth. And he's a beggar. and Jesus and his disciples take note of him, they see him. But the fact that this man had been blind from birth means he had never seen a glorious sunset of red and orange and pink. He had never seen his parents, their eyes or their smiles. He had never seen the temple or the people that entered there, passed him by. He had never seen books or fields. or dogs, or stars. God's hands covered his eyes. And he was a beggar. Because without eyesight, what kind of meaningful work would you be able to gain? And so his sustenance depends upon the generosity of those passing by. For him, God's providence meant sickness, barren years, poverty. He had never known nice clothes. He didn't own his own home. He didn't have two cars, a color TV, a smartphone, or a computer. The blind beggar never went away on vacations because God's hand kept those things from him. He knew no other way of life. and I don't know, we don't know. Were there moments in his life, in his heart where he felt angry at God's providence or maybe bitter? Now, why is this man a blind beggar? Chance, fate, bad karma, his stars were wrong. Well, the disciples avoid all these answers. They go back to an understanding that is more theologically nuanced because of their understanding of the Torah. Rabbi, teacher, who sinned? This man, the blind beggar, or his parents that he should be born blind? That's the discussion that they initiate with their question. Here's a blind beggar in the street and they want some theological discussion about his situation. Where can we point the blame that this man should be born blind? Now, there are three answers that could have been given. One might have been reincarnation. That is to say, when a person's body dies, their spirit enters a new form of life. If they've led a good life, their spirit goes into a better kind of body or life. If they have sinned, they've been a bad and evil person, their bad karma will take them to a lower form of life. But almost no Jew would have said that. The Jews were not Hindus. That just does not occur to them. And yet, brothers and sisters, you would be astonished what polls indicate how many Christians, people who say they are Christians, believe in reincarnation. It's deeply troubling. Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Now, some Jews held that sin was hereditary. and they would quote Exodus 20 verse 5 for support, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. That is to say, if the parents have sinned, the punishment for that sin is sometimes visited upon the children. The children will feel God's sharp and heavy hand. Now, there's some truth in that. There is some truth in that, that is to say, those who lead a sinful life of overindulgence, those who overindulge in alcohol or drugs during pregnancy can have an effect upon the life of their children. who sinned, this man or his parents. Other Jews held that children could sin in the womb. They would quote Genesis 25 verse 22 for support. There, Rebekah has twins in her womb, and the text tells us that they struggled together. And the rabbi said, well, what's going on there in the womb? There's no biblical support for this, but they said, Esau, the older son, is trying to kill, trying to murder Jacob. Our father, Jacob, an attempt on his life is in the womb and therefore God rejects Esau and he chooses for Jacob. You could sin in the womb, said some rabbis. So maybe this blind beggar had sinned in some way in the womb during pregnancy and he was now bearing the consequences of it in his life of blindness and poverty. And the disciples wanted Jesus to answer their question. Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Now, how can the Lord Jesus give an answer to a question that has been wrongly asked? The disciples' speculation ignored the plight of this blind beggar. Plus, they were forgetting the providence of God. that this is being demonstrated. For if they remember to think perhaps even of Psalm 104. they would not have asked these questions. He, God, set the mountains on their foundations so that they should never be moved. You, Lord, make the springs gush forth in the valleys. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth. You make darkness, and it is night when all the beasts go Go creep about Oh Lord how manifold are your works in wisdom you have made them all in Wisdom you have made them all Who is he talking about? Who is the psalmist speaking of it's our father Almighty God who has become our father because of Jesus Christ and All loving hands take care, his loving hands take care of all creatures. They move when he moves. They stop dead in their tracks when he puts up his hand and stops them. You see, congregation, the beautiful comfort that is conveyed to us in the word of God is such that it greatly enlarges our view of reality. It broadens the way we think of the world, of how life works, and of how our Father's hands show His handiwork in the day-to-day events of life. Because it is so easy, so very easy, to get caught up in our small corners, where we think we have a modicum, a kind of control, but then out of our small corners, there are events. and we don't control them. There are events out there that are maybe uncontrollable. Well, brothers and sisters, we control really very little, almost nothing, nothing. And Lord's Day 10 puts things into perspective. True, there's so much in life that we cannot control. But that doesn't mean that events are uncontrolled. We can't control things. but that doesn't mean that they're uncontrollable. Not at all. Not at all. We are part of a creation that is held together right now and at every moment by God the Father's hands. We are a part of a large, a very large picture that is drawn and colored by his powerful and loving hands. He knows your every joy, pain, sorrow, he knows the laughter and the tears, he knows all things because he is right there. never sleeping, never slumbering, always upholding with his strong arms and powerful hands. And now this puts John 9 and the disciples question into another perspective. They asked, who sinned? Well, that might be the right question sometimes, but often it is not. And to go down that rabbit trail just leads us astray. For the disciples, there were only two options, the man or his parents. Where do we pin the blame? Who sinned? What does Jesus say? No one sinned. Now, he's not saying they were not sinners. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, if you want to know why this man is a blind beggar, don't ask the question who sinned. But rather, this situation is what it is to show God's greater works. Greater works. Well, we read in the text, Jesus spits on the ground, he makes a mud pack, puts it on his eyes and tells him to go and wash. And he does, and he comes back seeing. Not because there was some medicinal power in the mud. No, but because the greater works of God must be seen. God will give sight to the blind. God will make the lame to walk and leap with joy. God will give hearing to the deaf. And in the end of history, God will raise all of his people again. All of them. young and old, male and female, red, yellow, black, and white, God's elect will all be raised with new bodies. And then we will experience the great reunion in glory and a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth. The greater works of God will flow out in each particular person's case. I can't wait. I don't know if it's growing old, but a little ache here and a pain there that don't go away. You young people don't know what that's like yet, but I assure you it's coming. But someday that will all be erased. and taken away when we all have bodies made by Christ's own glorious body. Now, I don't understand the biology of that, but I don't have to, do I? I don't have to figure that out now, but I wait for it with faith and hope because I'm a father who doesn't leave any stone unturned until he shows his greater works in us. greater works God will show in us. So what does that mean then? Well, you meet people in life. I mean, I can think of, I come from a farming background. They do everything right on the farm and yet the crops were poor because the rains didn't come or just when the crops looked excellent, there was a hailstorm that wiped them out. They did everything right. There are some people who they do everything right in business. They know how to market, they know how to advertise, they know how to move inventory, and the business doesn't do very well. How do you tell an arthritic person to be patient in terrible stiffness and pain? Patience doesn't deny the pain. Patience admits that the pain is there. Patience makes the pain bearable as you remember that whatever comes our way in God's providence, his hands provide for us for his greater glory. And someday that arthritis will be gone. Someday that cancer will be gone. Someday those aches and pains will simply be erased and not even a memory in our minds. Patience is a fruit of the spirit. Patience requires faith, believing in sovereignty, God's almighty sovereignty, which is not something to fear. It is something to be embraced because that sovereignty means he's got everlasting arms beneath us and a loving hand that holds us. On the other hand, there are some people who can bungle farming and yet they prosper somehow. There's others who do the same with their businesses and they make a profit. They're students, don't you just? grit your teeth, they hardly study and they get really good grades. I study and study and study and yeah, I guess a B is what I get. Now, when you prosper, are you thankful? Because the providence God means that we are patient in adversity, but thankful in prosperity. Thankful, thankful, thankful. Yes, God, everything that I have comes from your fatherly hand. Or do they forget God? You know, that's the temptation that we face. I think of Hosea 13 verse six. I fed my people, then they became proud, then they forgot me. I fed my people, then they became proud, they became fat, and then they forgot me. It's our Father's hand at work. No one sinned in John 9, the John 9 story. No, Jesus is not saying they're sinless. But to pin blame on any one of them is to miss the point that God will show his greater works through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus makes a mud pack. The man comes back seeing. I don't know what that is. If you're born blind, what is it like to suddenly see light and people and events? What is that? I don't know. Someday, all the blind will see. Someday, all the deaf will hear. Someday, all the lame will leap with joy. Thank you, Lord. Someday, the new creation will come. We exist in this Father's world where everything is working, moving, heading toward His glory. Jesus Christ makes sure of that. And our Father will have it no other way. When it is night, we don't work, He still does. When you are sick or poor or a slave, He's still there. When we are healthy, rich, and free, we become thankful in prayer. It's all from our Father's hands. We live in the present, we do not live in the past. In the present, we are either patient and thankful, sometimes in the same day, sometimes within the same hour. But whatever, patient or thankful, we have good confidence that whatever comes our way is not uncontrolled or uncontrollable, but it comes out of our Father's hand. What shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day. We are considered regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am assured that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation shall separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord. Brothers and sisters, this is great news. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious God, our Father, our Father. a Heavenly Father who is both willing and able to do all for us that we need and who cares for us in ways we do not always understand. But when we look back, Father, we see how you are guiding us and teaching us and leading us. And so, Father, give us faith, faith in you and in your providence, faith in the care that you have for us as a loving