Back up to John 11. This morning we were looking at the glory of God's sovereign will as it unfolds through His divine providence. And then this evening or this afternoon, for a few minutes, we want to think about how are we to respond to this doctrine of God's providence? How do we respond to this. Before I say anything else about it, Brother Nathaniel Davis, would you pray for us? Amen. So again, John 11. I'm just going to read our text from this morning, 47 to 50. Then gathered the chief priest and the Pharisees, a council, and said, What do we, for this man, do with many miracles? If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and the nation.' And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." And as we said this morning, as the council took Caiaphas's advice here. What they ended up doing was doing exactly what God had in mind for them to do, and the result was exactly what they were trying to get away from, and so they could not override God's providence. I won't go through everything else we said this morning, but the question is, if God really is sovereign, and if God really is sovereign in the details of our life, How do we respond to something like that? If His sovereign providence is working all things together for our good, that is the difficult things, the hard things, the things that are seemingly bad, the things that we really don't want. How do we respond again in light of God's providence? There are many comforts, blessings, and benefits to embrace in the doctrines of God's providence. But the first point that I want to make here is that every single one of these comforts, of these blessings, of these benefits must be accessed as the Christian exercises faith. Every single one of these blessings, every single one of these comforts, every single one of these benefits are accessed by faith. Now, we talked about last Sunday afternoon the fact that we have the gift of faith and then we have the substance of faith. And the only way that we can receive the comfort and the power of faith is as we embrace and exercise the first two. So the point that I'm making in saying all that is it is not possible that just listening to the message as it is and not responding to it by embracing it through faith, it's not possible that you would receive comfort. It's not possible that you would receive benefit, that you would receive blessing. And what I mean by that is if the message this morning, if the doctrine of God's providence stirred your soul at all, It's because you believed it. I mean, it's because you not only believed it in an abstract way, but you chose to believe that this is true for me. This is true for my circumstances. This is true not only in the way God has dealt with me in the past, this is true for the way God's going to deal with me in the future. And so I don't know how else to say this, but when we look back on God's past blessings and the way that God has providentially dealt with us in the past, that can strengthen us. But the reality is you can't live today off yesterday's faith. His mercies are new every morning, and your faith has to be exercised afresh every morning, every day, every moment. And all that really means is after you've been given the ability, the gift of faith through grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, it means a few things. So first, in order. for this to happen. And I'm thinking about 1 John 5, 4, where this is that which overcomes the world, even our faith as it's exercised. So in order for this to happen, the Christian must learn to look beyond the doubts, the distortions and lies that are manufactured in our hearts and minds as it relates to our personal circumstances. Now, Satan is the father of lies. You know that. And you've heard me say before that nobody talks to you more than you do. We are constantly interpreting, perceiving. And if that is the case, another reality is perhaps in this area of discouragement and doubts. Perhaps it's also that nobody lies to you as much as you do. Maybe nobody lies to you as much as you do. Now, those lies can be influenced by the world, by the flesh, and by the devil. But in order for us to become doubtful and discouraged, the lie has to be embraced. It has to be taken as true. And there are plenty of times where as far as the outward circumstances go, It looks like anything is happening besides God working it together for our good. I mean, sometimes what we look at for face value, just on the outward appearance, even over a long period of time, can look discouraging. It can cause us to doubt. But again, brothers and sisters, the comfort that comes and the benefits and the blessings that come from this doctrine of God's providence is that we look through the eye of faith. We do not look simply at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. And we embrace and live off of those invisible realities that are nevertheless realities, which is that God is for us and that God is working in the details of our life and the discouraging ones and the ones that cause us to doubt and so forth and so on. He's doing something there. So, we've got to learn to look beyond the doubts, the distortions, and the lies that are manufactured in our own hearts and minds. Number two, after we've detected those, after we see those for what they are, then the Christian must choose to fix their hearts and minds on the truth about God the truth about His ways, the truth about His character, and how those things apply to their specific circumstance. So I'm thinking about Isaiah 26.3, that you will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon thee, because He trusts in thee. Okay? His mind is stayed, or her mind is stayed. It just means it's fixed. It's unwavering. It's there. And again, this is something that you must choose to do. Let's tie in something from what we've been doing on Wednesday nights. If it is true that the flesh is always constantly at war with the Spirit, and the Spirit is always and constantly and forever at war with the flesh, then it is a battle for you to fix your heart and your mind on the Lord. It is a battle for you to fight back against, again, the lies, the doubts, the distortions of the flesh. We should not be surprised whenever we come up against those things. Your flesh is working overtime. to try to kill your hope, to try to squelch out your faith, and to try to influence you to live as if God is not God in order to destroy your witness and really destroy your joy. That's a norm that we all face. Now, you may say, well, some people seem to be affected more than others. Well, that may be true. Not everybody is a job. Not everybody goes through everything. But the reality is your flesh is at war with you. And the only way to fight it is to walk in the spirit. which means walk in step with the Spirit, which begins with, I've got to speak the Spirit's truth into my heart, into my mind about the realities of my circumstance. He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. And He is still working today just like He worked then. And He loves me just like He loved His people then. And I'm not an exception to that. So we must choose to fix our hearts and our minds on the truth about God, the truth about his character, the truth about his ways and how these things apply to our specific situation. Now, the next thing, OK, the next thing is after we've detected these lies or after we've looked beyond the doubts, distortions, the lies, after we've chosen to fix our hearts and minds on the truth about God, His character and His ways. Then the Christian has to discern How would God have me to act or respond to these providential circumstances that He's brought or allowed into my life? Now, remember what I said this morning about the book of Proverbs. It is a book that is supposed to be a book of wisdom. I mean, that's what it is dedicated and devoted to. Imparting wisdom. Solomon wanted to impart wisdom to his son. And it's been a book that's been devoted to imparting wisdom to young and old as long as it's been around. That's the genre that it's written in. And yet, we said, part of what it means for us to walk in a wise way is to understand God's providential hand in our lives. And what I mean by that is not necessarily. Well, I say not necessarily. I don't even come close to meaning this. Not that we know exactly what God's doing in his providence because we don't. We do not know what God's detailed purposes are in why He allows things to happen. We have a big picture. His glory, our good. But we may not know exactly why God did this and why God did that. But brothers and sisters, if we can keep our hearts and minds fixed on His character and fixed on His ways, then the category or the reality that God is a God who works in providential ways among His people is a category that can bring comfort, it can bring strength, it can bring blessing to your life if you choose to fix your heart there. And then again, the question is, God would also have us in wisdom to discern, since He has allowed this into my life, what would He have me to do? What would He have me to do? How am I to respond? So I'm thinking about Deuteronomy 29.29 where Moses says, the secret things belong to the Lord. That's what we just got finished saying. We don't know God's tiny details as to why He's doing every little thing that He's doing. There are plenty of things that God brings into our lives, and we think they're all about us, and they almost have nothing to do with us. His purposes are for someone else or something else. And I don't mean that you're not being sanctified through it. I just mean those purposes are so far reaching, it's impossible for you to trace them. But as the text goes on, Deuteronomy 29.29, the secret things belong to the Lord But those things that He has revealed, He has given to us and to our children that we might do them. So while there are plenty of secret things in life that we don't know and that we can't uncover and that we'll never really understand, Alongside of all of those, God has revealed His will to us so that there's never a time to where we are left without any direction as to how we should move forward. And by that, I don't necessarily mean in some sort of a concrete way, but I mean in the way of wisdom. How do I honor God in this? How do I walk wisely through this? What are the principles that the Lord would have me to instill and to live off? In my life, it's a lot less about should I go route A and should I go route B, and it's more of either route I take, I've got to live a life that's honoring to the Lord. I've got to seek His kingdom first. I've got to love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. I've got to hear the Word and obey the Word, and I've got to move forward in light of what I know. And so it is only through a persistent wrestling in this that the Christian is going to experience the comforts, the benefits, and the blessings of faith that overcomes the world. Sometimes people mistakenly think that there are folks who access this blessing with zero effort. It's just easy for some people and it's hard for others. No, it's hard for everybody to look beyond the things that we can see. and to embrace the things that we can't see. But through life and through just practice, it becomes more and more accessible the more we do it. That is, recognizing that this is a lie from Satan. I cannot sit here and let this thought consume me. I cannot sit here and allow my heart to marinate in these doubtful lies of unbelief, because primarily they're lies about God, not really lies about me. By faith, I've got to embrace and fix my heart and mind on the truth about who God is and what God's doing. So, all that being said, I've got four more points here, but all that being said, These comforts can only be embraced by faith. And those four realities kind of give a progression as to how to actually access that. All right, so number one, how should we be responding in faith? What should be happening? Well, number one is kind of the negative version of it. So I would say this about the doctrine of God's providence. Number one, the doctrine of God's providence should not lead us to be careless or reckless. Now, the reason I even brought this up is because we see it in John 11. Now, remember what I said this morning. And remember, if you just read the Gospels, you know Jesus realizes that He was put on this earth for a particular hour. My hour has not yet come. He says that several times. He sends folks off and says, do not tell anybody who I am. Jesus realizes that He's here to do the Father's will. He knows what the Father's will is. And He also knows that no man can take His life from Him. He must lay it down. He must take it up again. He realizes that His Father is greater than all. I mean, again, Jesus is not deficient in His theology. He understands God and His providence. But notice what happens at the end of John 11. After the Pharisees get together, in verse 53, it says, Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put Him to death. Jesus, therefore, walked no more openly among the Jews, but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Aprium, and there He continued with His disciples. So Jesus knew that the Pharisees from that day forward were out to kill Him. Now, is it possible that Jesus could have just parked it in Jerusalem and bypassed, walked out of every entrapment that they had set? Well, yeah, of course it is. I mean, you know, there was one time where they took him and they wanted to throw him off a cliff and he just walked through the crowd. But it tells us here that, and we know that this is a response to the fact that they wanted to kill him because it says, Jesus, therefore, that this is the reason why he did not walk more openly or any more openly among the Jews, but went to an outside place. It was because he knew they were out to kill him. God's providence does not erase our responsibility for wisdom. Now, I'm using this in a human perspective at this point. Jesus could have done whatever he wanted to do, but he did this for a particular reason. He went off with his disciples in order to avoid the danger that was waiting on him there in Jerusalem. Why? Because his hour had not yet come. So God's providence did not lead him to be careless, reckless, and irresponsible. Number two, the rest of these are positives. Number two, the doctrine of God's providence should strengthen our confidence in God and in God's provisions. The doctrine of God's providence should strengthen our confidence in God and in His provision. So again, thinking about Psalm 115.3, our God is in the heavens and He has done whatsoever He is pleased. There's a lot of different reasons and a lot of different ways we can apply this. And I bring this up because I just know that for a lot of us, In election cycles, and particularly this election cycle, there's a lot of frenzy going on. You're getting 24 hour, seven days a week, updates and news about who's up and who's down and what's happening and what will happen and what might happen and about this and about that and it is just, well number one, it's designed to keep you glued to a particular station, whichever one it is. But number two, it can keep you unsettled all the way through November if you let it. Here's the reality. Our God is in the heavens and he's done whatsoever he is pleased. In the face of potential election interference, our God is in the heavens and he has done whatsoever he is pleased. In the face of anything else, our God is in the heavens and he has done whatsoever he is pleased. It doesn't mean that you bury your head in the sand, but it does mean that this is your peace, this is your confidence, that God is for me. Not that hopefully more than 50% of the country thinks just like I do. It's in God. It's not in people. It's not in results like that. Jesus would use this very doctrine in Matthew 6 that we looked at this morning to talk about the fact that it should bring comfort, it should bring peace and confidence in God and His character. Matthew 6, verse 24. Let me jump in verse 24. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought..." That just simply means do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body. What you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment. Behold, the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?" You see what he's using here? God providentially feeds the birds. Now he doesn't rain down worms. And there's not a feeding place that they all know to go to. They go to the ground and they find their food and the Lord does it day after day after day after day. And it's such a common thing. Unless we're really talking about this as far as God's providence, or maybe your hobby is that you're a birdwatcher, which not very many of you I don't think would be that. You don't ever even think about this. And it's God's miraculous, merciful provision for the fowl of the air, followed up with, do you not realize you're more important than these? I mean, if God provides for the fowl of the air, would He not much more provide for you and His providence? And you could go on and continue to see that this is supposed to bolster our confidence in God and in His character. Number three, the doctrine of God's providence should encourage us to humbly accept what God has allowed. The doctrine of God's providence should encourage us to humbly accept what God has allowed. Look at 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. In verse 5, at the end of that verse, he says, "...for God resisteth the proud, and He gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5. Now I'm in verse 6. "'Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.'" So here's the exhortation in verse 6. "'Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.'" The phrase hand of God there, we see metaphorically, we see this phrase used in scripture. We see it in the Psalms and we can see it in other places. And really what it is referring to is the hand of God's providence in your life. God's hand, the mighty hand of God, is the sovereign hand of God that has providentially brought you to the place where you are today. And what Peter is saying here is that in your anxieties, you will be tempted to try to kick out of that, to try to resist that, to try to undo that, or to at least try to resist accepting the realities of what the Lord has brought into your life. And Peter would say that is pride. Eventually, we have to get to the place. Now, providence and wisdom go together, so I'm not saying that if you're in a desperate spot and there are some things that you can do to alleviate some pain that you shouldn't be doing those. But I am saying as Christians, There are times where we have to accept reality for what it is. There are plenty of things that we have to face that we would not have chosen. But we were never in charge of choosing to begin with. God was. And what God chooses for us is better than anything we could choose for ourself if we could see it from an eternal perspective. Now notice that I said humbly accepting what God has allowed. I'm not saying that you all of a sudden humbly become giddy about what God has allowed. There are some parts of God's providence in your life and my life that I'm convinced we will not know the value of until we're in heaven. That being said, whatever God has allowed into our life can be recognized. as something that's come from His sovereign hand to accomplish His sovereign purpose. And it's been brought into our lives for us to accept and respond to in light of God's sovereign providence. Now, I'll also say that's way easier said than done. This is why Peter, right after he says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that is the mighty hand of His providential dealings in your life, casting all your cares upon Him because He cares for you. Plenty of anxieties, plenty of things that we struggle with, and we can cast those on Him because He cares for us. So, the doctrine of God's providence should not lead us to carelessness or recklessness. It should strengthen our confidence in God and His provisions. It should encourage us to humbly accept what God has allowed. And the last one here, the doctrine of God's providence should give us a hopeful outlook on life. The doctrine of God's providence should give Christians a hopeful outlook on life. There is, biblically speaking, there is no excuse outside of just unbelief. for a Christian to have a fixed outlook on life that is anything but hopeful. If we believe that our God is in the heavens and that He has done whatsoever He is pleased, if we believe that He is currently, right now, and will forever be working all things together for our good, Now again, a hopeful outlook on life doesn't mean that your head is in the clouds and you're ignoring the struggles and the realities of the difficulties of a fallen world. Really, it just means that you are confident that what God says He will do, He's going to do it. What God says He is doing, He is doing. It just simply means that you believe God. You're looking forward to the second coming. You're looking forward to the time when the sin and suffering of this world is no more. And you're also anticipating that until that time comes, the Lord is going to carry you through. So what I'm thinking about here is Lamentation 3, where Jeremiah says in verse 21, "...This I recall to my mind, and therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed, because His compassions fell not. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness." So this is not news to you. If you're here this afternoon, you know this already. God's mercies are new every single morning. That reality should give us a hopeful outlook on life. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't hard days. If all if every day was going to be easy, you would have no need for God's mercies. That would be irrelevant. but God's mercies are waiting on you every single day so that whenever you face the difficulties of life, one of the things that you can be hopeful of and confident in is that you do not face those by yourself and you do not face those in your own strength and in your own wisdom. The mercies of God are waiting on you every morning when you get up. Great is thy faithfulness. End of verse 23. In verse 24, "...the Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in Him." Now, Brother Davis mentioned this, I think, maybe this morning. He did this morning after we sang It is well with my soul." And he mentioned it again in a private conversation. But the fact that the Lord has opened our eyes to the reality that we've been redeemed from our sins, that we've been brought into His family, that all these truths concerning God's providential care is true for us. Well, the Lord is your portion. He's given Himself to you. He's given these truths to you. And so Jeremiah would say, Therefore will I hope in Him." There might be some waiting at a verse 25. I'm sorry. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. So, a hopeful outlook on life doesn't mean that you ignore anything that might be difficult. It means that you recognize God's mercies are new every morning and they're new for me. And so I'm going to take comfort and hope in that. It means that you recognize the Lord has made Himself my portion, my inheritance. And I'm going to respond to that as if that's real. God has given me realities about what it means that He's my portion, how He loves and cares for His people. And I'm in the fold. I'm in that number. and I'm not going to live as if I'm not. And so as we think about the providence of God and how we are to respond to it, we respond in faith and we wrestle to access the blessings and the benefits and the comforts. Let's pray. Father, as it relates to everything we said this morning and this afternoon, we have to say we believe. Would you help our unbelief You know how prone we are to believing a lie. You know how prone we are to just getting paralyzed in thoughts and interpretations and perceptions of life that are just not in line with who you are and how you work on your people's behalf. Father, we're so prone to believing that we've been defeated. And yet, you've told us we're more than conquerors. We have to view that through the lens of faith. And would You help us to do that? Give us the strength that we need to lean on You. In Jesus' name, Amen.