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Is the Doctrine of Providence Biblical (Part 2) · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Last time we tried to define the word providence and
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  Speaker 1: the doctrine of providence. Now the question turns to, is
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  Speaker 1: this doctrine biblical? It's what the Bible teaches. So here's
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  Speaker 1: the definition that we landed on. God's preserving and governing
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  Speaker 1: all his creatures, ordering them and all their actions for
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  Speaker 1: his glory. So a pervasive, sustaining, governing, ordering of all
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  Speaker 1: things in the universe. Is that biblical? And our focus
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  Speaker 1: in this session will be mainly on nature, not so
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  Speaker 1: much the actions of man, but what happens to man
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  Speaker 1: in nature. How pervasive is nature? the providence of God
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  Speaker 1: in man's surroundings. Let's start with Ephesians 1, 11. In Christ,
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  Speaker 1: we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of him, and here it comes, him who
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  Speaker 1: works all things according to the counsel of his will. Now,
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  Speaker 1: one of the things that's amazing about verse 11 of
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians 1 is.
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  Speaker 2: That that last phrase, that relative clause that begins with
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  Speaker 2: who isn't needed in order to make the point.
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  Speaker 1: He could have just said like this, in Christ we
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  Speaker 1: have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of his will. That's pretty strong. That by his will,
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  Speaker 1: through predestination, we have an inheritance. But he goes on
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  Speaker 1: to make it even stronger by saying, this one who
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  Speaker 1: has purposed according to the counsel of his will works
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  Speaker 1: all things. So he's adding a pervasive statement to buttress
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  Speaker 1: this particular statement.
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  Speaker 2: He works all things.
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  Speaker 1: After the counsel of his will. And it doesn't say
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  Speaker 1: he works in all things. That word can be used
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  Speaker 1: that way when it's followed by in. It's a direct
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  Speaker 1: object here.
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  Speaker 2: He works all things. He produces all things. He effects all.
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  Speaker 1: Things after the counsel of his will, which is an
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  Speaker 1: echo of lots of biblical texts like Isaiah 46, 9,
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  Speaker 1: I am God and there is no other. I am
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  Speaker 1: God and there is none like me. Declaring the end
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  Speaker 1: from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,
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  Speaker 1: saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all
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  Speaker 1: my purpose. And what's so amazing about that verse is
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  Speaker 1: that it begins with I am God. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: this is what it means for me to be God.
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  Speaker 1: My Godness consists in the fact that I don't just
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  Speaker 1: know the future, I do the future. I bring about
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  Speaker 1: my purposes, they happen. So all things are brought about
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  Speaker 1: by God's divine rule.
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  Speaker 2: Really?
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  Speaker 1: Really?
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  Speaker 2: All things... Proverbs 16, 33.
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  Speaker 1: The lot is cast in the lap, but every decision
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  Speaker 1: is from the Lord. Where does a statement like that
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  Speaker 1: come from? The roll of every dice in Las Vegas.
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  Speaker 1: Decision from the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Pull that lever.
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  Speaker 1: What comes up? That's from the Lord. That's pretty pervasive decision. Providence,
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  Speaker 1: that's what it says. My wife and I play Scrabble.
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  Speaker 1: We put our hand in the bag to pull out
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  Speaker 1: our seven letters or our three letters. Who decides what
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  Speaker 1: letters wind up in her hand and my hand?
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  Speaker 2: God does.
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  Speaker 1: We can talk more about that and the implications it
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  Speaker 1: has for marriage, relationships, and so on, but we won't
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  Speaker 1: do that here. Proverbs 135, verse 6, whatever the Lord pleases,
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  Speaker 1: he does.
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  Speaker 2: He does.
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  Speaker 1: In heaven, on earth, in the seas, all deeps, way
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  Speaker 1: out there where nobody's watching except God, he does what
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  Speaker 1: he pleases. Psalm 115.3, our God is in the heavens,
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  Speaker 1: he does all that he pleases.
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  Speaker 2: Pervasive providence. Fish obey him, Jonah 1. Worms obey him,
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  Speaker 2: Jonah 4.
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  Speaker 1: Lions shut their mouths when he says, shut your mouth,
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  Speaker 1: Daniel 6. Snakes become harmless and lie down with lambs
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  Speaker 1: when he says so, Isaiah 11. He makes the horse
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  Speaker 1: to leap, Job 39. Frogs, gnats, flies, locusts, you know
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  Speaker 1: the story, the Exodus. They all do his bidding. They come,
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  Speaker 1: they go. When he says, go tell them to go, Moses,
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  Speaker 1: they're gone. Tell them to come, they come. God rules now.
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  Speaker 1: all of nature like this. What about weather? Psalm 107, 25,
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  Speaker 1: he commanded and raised the stormy wind.
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  Speaker 2: Which lifted up the waves of the sea.
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  Speaker 1: Matthew 8, 27, the disciples said to Jesus, the disciples
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  Speaker 1: said of Jesus, what.
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  Speaker 2: Sort of man is this? Even the winds and the
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  Speaker 2: sea obey him.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus rises from the dead, Matthew 28, 18, and says,
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  Speaker 1: all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me.
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  Speaker 1: The wind and the waves still obey Jesus. To try
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  Speaker 1: to sweep this under the rug during hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis,
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  Speaker 1: floods is deceptive. Jesus rules the wind and the waves today,
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  Speaker 1: no less than he did when he was on earth.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 89, 8, Oh Lord, you rule the raging of
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  Speaker 1: the sea. So we're not trying to solve any problems
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  Speaker 1: right now that this raises for.
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  Speaker 2: Us in the goodness of God. We're just asking, is
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  Speaker 2: this biblical?
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  Speaker 1: Is this what's taught in the Bible that God is
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  Speaker 1: pervasive in his providential governance and sustenance and ordering of
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  Speaker 1: all things in nature? Psalm 148, 7, praise the Lord
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  Speaker 1: from the earth, fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy
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  Speaker 1: wind fulfilling his word. Psalm 105, 16, the implication is clear.
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  Speaker 1: He summons a famine on the land and breaks the
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  Speaker 1: supply of bread. Or Haggai 1, verse 11, and I have.
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  Speaker 2: Called for a drought on the land and the hills.
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  Speaker 1: So I conclude this is a picture, biblically, of a
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  Speaker 1: pervasively providential rule over all of nature in all of
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  Speaker 1: its aspects from the smallest to the biggest.
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  Speaker 2: And the question is, what impact should that have on us?
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  Speaker 2: Let me end with this.
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  Speaker 1: James 4, verse 13 to 17. Come now, you who say,
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  Speaker 1: today or tomorrow we will go into such and such
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  Speaker 1: a town, spend a year there, trade, make a profit. Yet,
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  Speaker 1: You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is
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  Speaker 1: your life? For you are a mist that appears for
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  Speaker 1: a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say,
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  Speaker 1: if the Lord wills, we will live and do this
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  Speaker 1: or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance.
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  Speaker 1: and all such boasting is evil. Wow. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Our lives are not in our hands.
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  Speaker 1: If the Lord wills, you will live. Another minute, I'll
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  Speaker 1: finish this talk if the Lord wills. If He doesn't,
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  Speaker 1: I die. And He does me no wrong.
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  Speaker 2: He rules.
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  Speaker 1: If the Lord wills, we live or do this or that.
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  Speaker 1: How sweeping can you get? How detailed can you get?
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  Speaker 1: Do this or that. Let's go do some business in Chicago. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you will get there and do this or that if
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  Speaker 1: the Lord wills. He is meticulously in charge of what
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  Speaker 1: happens to you.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore, oh, the effect this should have.
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  Speaker 1: On us of humbling us and causing us to live
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  Speaker 1: moment by moment before the face of an all-ruling God.
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  Speaker 2: One last thing.
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  Speaker 1: If the Lord wills, we will live and do this
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  Speaker 1: or that as it is in saying, things that don't
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  Speaker 1: show you believe that, you boast in your arrogance. All
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  Speaker 1: such boasting is evil. In other words, the doctrine of
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  Speaker 1: the providence of God leads us to a choice. Either
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  Speaker 1: you can live in the light of God's pervasive, all-ruling providence,
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  Speaker 1: or you can be arrogant. That's what James says in
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  Speaker 1: chapter 4, verse 17.