What Is God's Purpose In Providence- Part 3

Every professing church member must be careful not to read into the Scriptures something that is not there. This is a common thing with church people today. That which is read into the Scriptures usually becomes the doctrine or beliefs of those people. Many times they will die for what they believe.

This is the third part of the series on providence. The passage that has been studied for three weeks is Romans 8:28-39. There is no greater passage of Scripture. It all deals with God’s purpose being revealed in providence. Providence is the government of God. This is a favorite text to most “church-going” people today. Do we know what it really contains? Blessed is the person in whose mind the principle of Romans 8:28-39 is fixed or firmly implanted. In studying about the providence of God, we will be referring to King David who followed Saul, the first king, who was chosen by men. Saul was the people’s choice, and they had made the wrong choice democratically. Read I Samuel 16. The only perfect government will be that under the Lord Jesus Christ in the perfect kingdom at His second coming, but many things must happen before that time. David was God’s choice, and Saul was the people’s choice. Just as Saul’s rule was ended by defeat and death, the kingdom of David must wait for God’s time to take the throne—referring to the greater David, the Lord Jesus Himself. David was a type of the One yet to come.

Psalm 57 gives the fact of God and the faith and foes of David. He was being hunted by Saul, and he had found refuge in the cave Adullam, which offered no retreat, humanly speaking. However, he had providence. There is an application in that for us today. We do not know where the terrorists will strike next, but we have providence. David prayed, “Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in Thee; And in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge, Until destruction passes by. I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth. My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Thy glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah. My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!” (Ps. 57:1-7 NASB). (Note the word “selah” that appears throughout the Psalms. It has been interpreted many ways such as stop, look, and listen; but one of the greatest interpretations is “just think of that.”) This Psalm is talking about providence during a crucial time in the life of David. Do you suppose that at Christ’s judgment seat we will have a “read-out” of God’s book of providence?

The greatness of God is a glorious and unsearchable mystery. “For the LORD most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us, And nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah” (Ps. 47:2-4 NASB). The condescension of the most High God to men is also a profound mystery. “For though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly; but the haughty He knows from afar” (Ps. 138:6 NASB). However, when condescension and exaltation meet together in history, they make up a matchless mystery—the most High performing all things for poor, distressed sinners whom the Father chose in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.

There is a twofold consideration of providence—special and general. Special is manifested in such passages as John 17:1-3, Ephesians 1:22 and 23, and I Timothy 4:9 and 10. Christ’s High Priestly prayer states, “These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee, even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:1-3 NASB). Paul said to the Ephesian Assembly that had been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church [ekklesia, assembly], which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22, 23 NASB). Paul said to Timothy, “It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers” (I Tim. 4:9, 10 NASB). We learn from these Scriptures that the elect are God’s special care and charge. Therefore, all that providence does for the unsaved is to feed them until the sentence is executed. These are some inferences from this fact: (1) “in Him [God] we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28 NASB). We cannot exist without God. Whether saved or unsaved, chosen or passed by, a person cannot live without God. The passage in Acts 17:28 was Paul’s general sermon given before the intelligentsia of his age that he was debating. (2) The Father in heaven “…causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45 NASB). That is general. So, there is a difference between the general and the special providence of God.

If no sin were punished in time, providence would fail to promote good government. On the other hand, if all sin were punished in time, no future punishment could be expected. The purpose of the book of Esther is to demonstrate the providential care of God over the people, providential as distinct from what we call miraculous. We must be witnesses of providential overruling as distinct from supernatural intervening. This does not mean that providence is not supernatural, but we are speaking in the sense of miraculous. God’s control is a secret.

Providence is not “what is must be,” but “what is works together for His covenant people.” While the stoic is indifferent to pleasure or pain in providence, the Christian believes it is working together for his good. Whatever is done under the heavens in time, there was a purpose in eternity. For the execution of that purpose a time was fixed, and at that fixed time it is brought about by the providence of God. If God were to withdraw His supporting hand and preserving power, the whole fabric of the world would fall to pieces. The same is true in reference to the security of His people.

Providence is never appointed as a guide for one’s life. That is a warning for those who say they are waiting on providence to discover their duty. Providence reveals God’s path rather than pointing out our path. It is not God’s purpose, which is hidden in His eternal decree, that is our rule of faith and duty. Our faith and duty come from God’s once-for-all given body of faith or belief (Jude 3). The Scriptures are complete. All the information that we will ever have is not going to be given to us by some prophet in the future. It has already been given. It is sealed and complete in the Book that we call the Bible. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures constitute the only standard for the saints of God. Some religionists make “tradition” equal to the Bible. Others make “experience” equal. Finally, many today are saying “tongues”, “word of knowledge”, and “visions” are equal to Scripture. All these things are purely subjective and cannot be proved.

Providences often become occasions for sinning. When Jonah was told to go to Nineveh, he found a ship which was going to Tarshish. He did not want to go to Nineveh. He paid the fare and went down to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD (Jonah 1:1-3). Thus, we see the fact that providences often make occasions for saints to sin. Therefore, providence has become to this religious and apostate age an occasion for serious crises. Providence has made it possible in this age of crisis for anything to be embraced if it gets a crowd. Such teaching as grace without judgment, love without justice, forgiveness without redemption, and regeneration without the Holy Spirit prove our serious juncture.

It is impossible to study providence without meeting the distinction between providence as sustenance and providence as government. Sustenance means preservation, and government means rule. The sustenance and government of God should never be isolated from each other. They should be viewed as two aspects of one almighty and omnipresent act of God. Paul said, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36 NASB). He also said, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17 NASB).

Sustenance has to do with the entire process in which all things move toward God’s arranged conclusion. How can human dependence upon God leave room for creaturely activity and human responsibility? This problem is referred to by the term “the doctrine of concurrence (cooperation).” Cooperation is not meant to show that God’s activity excludes or annuls human enterprise, but that human activity becomes the more significant as the activity of God reveals itself more completely. Divine activity is all inclusive but not all exclusive. That is why Paul said, “For we [the recipients of grace] are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10 NASB). The apostle also said, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12, 13 NASB). We are not reading into the Scriptures what is not there, but what is there. The verse in Ephesians shows a creative work of God—our relationship to Him. When it comes to living for Christ (Phil. 2:12, 13), we work out our salvation because it is God who works in us to will and do.

Working out one’s salvation is not easy, because it requires great effort. Our salvation is a process which God commands believers to work out in themselves. The Greek verb used in Philippians 2:12 is the present middle imperative of katergadzomai, which means to work out, accomplish, bring about, or to make ready. The middle voice represents the subject as participating in the results of having been regenerated when the Christian was passive in his regeneration. God puts something in the Christian who then works it out. The “process” is not the initial regeneration by the Holy Spirit in which the person was completely passive (John 3:8). It is the second part of a threefold salvation spoken of by Paul: “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who [1] delivered us from so great a peril of death, and [2] will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He [3] will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many” (II Cor. 1:8-11 NASB). The final act of our threefold salvation will be the redemption of the body. (Read Rom. 8:22, 23 and II Cor. 4:16-5:1.)

The salvation of the elect is a threefold process. (1) God commands the chosen one to work out what He has wrought in him. An unregenerate person cannot be working out something that has never been wrought in him. Therefore, grace has been given the elect in regeneration in order that he shall, with God’s operating power in him, fulfill God’s appointed purpose in his life (Eph. 2:10). Christ’s death at Calvary and justification before God the Father were not accomplished by the recipient. (2) Regeneration and imputed righteousness are wrought in the chosen person but not by him. (3) Works subsequent to regeneration are wrought in us and by us when God’s will becomes our will. “…for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse [willingly determined not to do what is expected or desired] generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. And you too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me” (Phil. 2:13-18 NASB). Therefore, Christians must be willing to make whatever sacrifice circumstances may demand, because we are the instruments of God’s inward working.

God enters every second cause, thus causing both its willing and working according to His good pleasure. How are we to understand this in respect to sin? How can we conceive of God’s cooperation in sin? Does cooperation include sin, or is it only in good works that we may speak of God’s cooperation? To escape the dilemma of making God the cause of sin, the distinction between “form” and “matter” is generally used. Some formulate it in the following manner: “Man speaks, acts, and believes; and it is God alone who lends the sinner all the life and energy he needs to commit a sin.” We might add at this point, Paul’s statement in his Mars Hill address: “…in Him [God] we live and move and exist…” (Acts 17:28 NASB). God controls every breath of air and every heartbeat. Does this mean that man receives ability from God and then misuses it? Does the gift of ability have anything to do with its use or abuse? It is true that the sinner receives his ability from God and then misuses it, but this does not explain cooperation. It might be said that it only takes the sharp edge off the problem.

The only solution to the problem is found in confession of guilt and in faith. The believer will not say, “I did that sinful act, because God worked in me to will and do that sinful act.” The believer confesses that God is not the Author of sin, because the sinner confesses his own sin. Rather than solving the problem by way of the concurrence doctrine, some use the term “permission.” The term permission allows the sinner to decide in freedom against God’s command. Some say, “Permitting sin is not committing sin.” Is this the proper way to handle “permitting”?

The Bible directs attention to God’s sovereign rule over all things. “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, What are you doing? Or the thing you are making say, He has no hands”? (Is. 45:9 NASB). It is remarkable that Scripture never presents providence in its relation to sin by way of argument, but always in the historical actuality of God’s invincible power and our continual responsibility. Therefore, God is never described as leading Judas to the act of betrayal of Christ. His enemies are portrayed as enterprising, but not able to escape God’s supremacy. “For truly in this city there were gathered against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur” (Acts 4:27, 28 NASB). Divine revelation does not let us penetrate this harmony.