Predestination & Providence,
Perseverance & Preservation
By Elder Ronald Lawrence
[Note: The following is a transcript of the sermon preached by Elder Ronald Lawrence at the Winter Garden Church at the 2006 Florida Fellowship Meeting. I asked Elder Lawrence for permission to publish the sermon. I hope you are as edified and instructed by it, as those were, who heard it the first time. hlh]
The Sermon
I would like to take some fundamental subjects, and put them together, if it is the Lord’s will. They all begin with the letter P. I think these are very important subjects, and if you do not get them right, you are going to be building improperly. They are predestination, providence, perse-verance, and preservation.
They all begin with the letter P, and they are all very important subjects. They are all found within the contents of God’s word, and when you rightly divide them, and put them together, they fit together perfectly. They contain great truths that will bring great peace, and comfort, and joy to the people of God.
But when they get intermingled, and overlapping, some-times perversions can come out of these subjects that will disturb the Lord’s people, and will certainly rob them of their peace and joy.
These are all biblical subjects, and I can assure you that the Bible has something to say about predestination. I can assure you the Bible has something to say about preservation, and perseverance and providence. Sometimes people will be talking to you about predestination, and they are really talking about providence. Sometimes they get perseverance and preservation mixed up, and people oftentimes leave a little confused, not understanding what in the world is being said. The Lord is “not the author of confusion,” according to 1 Cor. 14:33, and I believe that. He is the author “of peace as in all churches.”
So I would like to say a little about all four of these this morning, if it be the Lord’s will—if he will bless us—and hopefully it will be clear when it is all over with.
Predestination
First of all, predestination is a wonderful subject, isn’t it? A form of the word predestinate or predestinated is used four times in the scriptures, and when you just simply take what the scriptures say about it, it is a wonderful doctrine that brings great joy to the child of God.
Obviously, there are perversions of that doctrine. If I believed what a lot of people believe about it, I would not want to believe it was in the Bible, either. Some people are actually told by men of God (or supposed men of God) that it is not even in the Word of God. All you have to do is read for yourself and you know that is not true. And then they try to explain it away, but it is not to be explained away, it is just simply to be explained.
[Chosen in him] When we look over here in the book of Ephesians, chapter one, verses four and five, Paul says, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his own will.”
I don’t see anything too harmful in that statement, do you? That seems pretty good to me to know that I have been adopted out of one family into another family. When I begin to look at Adam’s family and the family of the Lord Jesus Christ, that looks like a good thing to me. I have been taken out of Adam’s family, and put in the family of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was speaking to a sister one time. She was not a believer of these things, and she would come out to the church where I was to hear me preach. We were together in a home one time, and I went through this with her. I told her, “I just want you to read these verses to me, and tell me what they say.” So she did, and she got to verse five, where it says, “And having predestinated….”
And when she started to read it, she could hardly bring herself to say predestinated. She just could hardly bring herself to say it. She said, “Having pre…., pre….”
I said, “It’s predestinated, just come on out with it; come on out with it.”
So she finally came out with it. And I said, “Now tell me what that said.”
She said, “Well, it says that he has chosen us in him, and has predestinated us unto the adoption of children.”
I said, “That is exactly right; I did not tell you that; you told me that. You did not have anybody to mislead you, or misguide you. You just read it, and accepted what it said.” And I said, “That is not so bad, is it? That God has predestinated you unto the adoption of children?” She had to admit that sounded okay.
“We come on over to the eleventh verse, and Paul says, “In whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”
[An inheritance] “In verse five and verse eleven we read about a will, and that is not man’s will; that is God’s will. And then we are told that we have obtained an inheritance, according to him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Predestination involves the fact that one day you will come to the full and total possession of an inheritance. Then the apostle tells us this inheritance is ‘incorruptible, and undefiled, and fadeth not away, and reserved in heaven for you.’ Now, that is not so bad, is it?”
When you read those verses, and accept exactly what it says, it is a wonderful truth—to know that we have an inheritance that is so much different than earthly inheritances. Those inheritances are wasted oftentimes, and people just let it go right through their fingers. But this inheritance is incorruptible; it is undefiled; and it fades not away; and it has been reserved in heaven for you.
And the you there in 1 Peter, chapter one, is the elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Called according to his purpose] Then we come to Rom. 8:28-30, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who love the Lord, who are the called according to his purpose.”
Obviously, this text embraces those who love the Lord, and I can assure you this morning that not everybody loves the Lord. For those who do not love the Lord, the Lord does not love them, either. But all who love the Lord, the Lord loves them. That is just plain and simple.
The fact of the matter is this: everybody that is going to be in heaven will be there, because they loved the Lord. Nobody will be in heaven that does not love the Lord, and nobody will be in hell that loves the Lord. I don’t know how it gets any better than that. Everybody who sincerely desires to be with the Lord in heaven, and who loves the Lord during their lifetime will be in heaven some sweet day, because they would not love the Lord if the Lord had not already loved them. So this text is for those who love the Lord, and they love him according to the will of him who called them according to his purpose.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Well, that sounds pretty good to me. Brother Compton mentioned it last night. He said, “I kind of like that destination.” I do, too. I just kind of like the idea that my destination is a place called heaven. When I compare what the Bible says about heaven with this earth in which I am living, it sounds like a pretty good situation to me.
“For whom he did foreknow….” There are some people that he knew in a very intimate way. He certainly knows all nations, all people, all humanity; but these are people he knew in a way that he did not know other people.
[If God be for us] “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, he also justified, and whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things. If God be for us, who can be against us?”
It is wonderful to know, this morning, that God is for you in his foreknowledge. God is for you in predestination. God is for you in calling. God is for you in justification. God is for you in glorification. And, therefore, we ought to have a lot of good things to say about that.
[No double predestination] There are some people who have been told that the Bible preaches double predestination. That is not true. No man has been predestinated to go to hell. He will get there quite well on his own. But the Lord’s people have been predestinated to be with the Lord in heaven, some sweet day.
Then we notice that predestination does not involve acts, and actions of behavior, and events. It involves people. Your destination has been prearranged, and predetermined of God, and that destination is heaven. That is what predestination is all about—nothing more, and nothing less. That is it.
I have just given it to you in a nutshell, this morning, and I believe exactly what God’s Word says about that, that we, indeed, are a predestinated people, that heaven is our destination. There is no way you are not going to end up there someday, because you are preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Preservation
We will move on to preservation. This word is used both in the Old and New Testaments. We will just use those in the New Testament, this morning. We look over here in 2 Tim. 4:18. Paul says, “For the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.” There are two very wonderful truths in that verse. “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work,” and I can assure you the day will come, when you will be delivered from every evil work.
“And will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.” There is a heavenly kingdom, that you have been preserved unto. God is the one who has done the delivering, and God is the one who has done the preserving.
[Preserved in Christ] We go to the book of Jude, the opening verse. “Jude, the servant Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them who are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.” We have a beautiful picture of the three-in-one Godhead. It is God who sanctified you; it is Christ who has preserved you, and the Holy Spirit who has called you, and you are preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The idea of preserving something is to keep it from spoiling. If it is preserved, it will be kept until the time for it to be used. If you have ever preserved anything, and you opened it up and it was spoiled, you never did preserve it to begin with. If you had preserved it, it would not be spoiled, when you open it up. If it is done properly, it is preserved and it will be okay, when you open it up, no matter how long down the road it is.
So, how long will the Lord’s people be preserved? They are preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ—eternally. Our Lord said in Rev. 1:18, “I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death.” I don’t know of anybody else I would rather have for the keys of hell and death to be in the hands of than the Lord Jesus Christ. He has got “the keys of hell and death.”
“I am he that liveth….” “I was dead [that is a fact]; but I am alive forevermore.” That is also a fact. And, so, we are preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Preserved blameless] We look in 1 Thess. 5:23, and the apostle says, “I pray that the God of peace sanctify you wholly [that is w-h-o-l-l-y] and your whole spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Lord is coming, and your soul, and your spirit, and your body are being preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That sounds pretty good to me. The three-in-one, the parts we have, body, soul, and spirit, all three were loved of God. All three were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and all three will be in heaven some day, because we are preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are preserved in the Savior himself.
[Eternal security] That is preservation; it is often referred as eternal security. And certainly there are many verses that teach us that. In John 14:19,20, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in his last words to his disciples before going to the cross. He says, “In a little while the world shall see me no more, but ye see me, and my Father is in me, and I in you, and you in me.” Now, that is tied up pretty tight, isn’t it?
It is kind of hard to imagine how we can be in Christ, and Christ in us at the same time, but that is the truth. If you love the Lord, Christ is in you. And if Christ is in you, you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the time is going to come that “the world will no more see me, but ye see me, and ye shall know [here is something ye shall know] that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”
[Safe in his hand] In John, chapter ten, verse twenty seven, the Lord Jesus Christ said, “But my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no man can pluck them out of my hand. And my Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father’s hand, for I and my Father are one.”
Now, if you are in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, the hand of the Father, and someone wants to get you out of that hand, they are going to have to be stronger than the Lord. If I have something in my hand, and you want to get it out of my hand, and I don’t want you to have it, for you to get it, you are going to have to be stronger than me. Some of you would not be, some of you would be, perhaps. But I am talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father; if you can tell me someone stronger than Christ, stronger than God the Father, then I will just have to back off from what I am preaching.
But I do not know of anybody, who is stronger than Christ, who is stronger than the Father “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” He has all power in heaven and earth. He says, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again; no man taketh it from me.” So I am going to tell you that if you are in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are there forever.
You cannot fall out of the hand of the Lord. You cannot be plucked out of the hand of the Lord. You cannot be taken out of the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is called eternal security.
[The Father’s will] Now, look at John 6:38,39. The Lord says, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of the him which hath sent me, and this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it again at the last day.” That is plain, isn’t it? That is very plain; that is very clear. He is not going to lose anything. He is going to raise it up again at the last day. That is eternal security.
Now, look at Romans, chapter eight, verse 35, the seventh question. Getting down to the last of the seven questions the apostle Paul asked in that chapter, he says, “Who shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?” The love of God is in Christ Jesus. He says, “Who shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Shall tribulation, trials, nakedness, peril, sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
We are not just conquerors; we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
He say, “As it is written, we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. But I am persuaded….”
I like to hear men who preach in a persuading way, don’t you? I never have enjoyed preachers, who preach apologetically. I am using that expression from the standpoint that they are apologizing for what they preach. They are doubtful about what they are preaching. They are not sure about what they are preaching. They say, “I think it could be. It might be. I am not really sure what it is, but, anyway, I am going to give it my best shot.”
I never have liked to hear that kind of preaching. I want people to believe, when I am preaching, that I believe what I believe, whether you believe it or not. At least, I want you to get that impression from me.
So Paul says, “I am persuaded….” Here is something he was persuaded in. Paul was a persuading preacher, but he used the Word of God to persuade God’s people. He did not use lolly-pops and hay-rides, and things like that. He used the Word of God. “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your Lord.” I don’t see how you can get it any tighter than that.
That last expression, “nor any other creature,” is a catchall. If you don’t feel like you can find yourself in all the rest of those things, which I certainly do, then he is going to say, “neither can any other creature separate you from the love of God.” You cannot be separated from God’s love. That is a biblical fact.
[An inheritance] But come over to 1 Peter, chapter one, once again. Peter is speaking about an inheritance, and says this inheritance is “incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day.”
You are being kept this morning. Now the question is: who is keeping you? Is the preacher keeping you? Then you are in deep trouble. Are your parents keeping you? You are in deep trouble. If the church is keeping you, you are in deep trouble. Who is keeping you this morning? That is a very important question.
[The great shepherd] Let’s go over here to the last verse of 1 Peter, chapter two. He says, “For ye were as sheep going astray, but now are ye returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.” That word shepherd means keeper, and the word bishop means in charge of. Now, in Adam, you were going astray, but in Christ you are now “returned unto the shepherd.”
We are talking about the great shepherd, the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, the reigning shepherd, and the returning shepherd—not the under-shepherd. The shepherd there is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the keeper of your soul. That word bishop means in charge of. So Christ is in charge of seeing that you stay safe.
What I am trying to tell you is that if you are once saved, you are always saved, if Christ did the saving. Now, if somebody else did the saving, you have got some problems. If God did not do the saving, you have got a serious problem. If God did the saving, you are saved. That is all there is to it, because he is keeping your soul; he is in charge of seeing to it that you are saved, that you are preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Never asleep] In the one hundred and twenty-first Psalm, David says, “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” A man who is a guard, or watching over something, if he sleeps, somebody might come in there, and overpower him, or whatever. But Christ never slumbers, and he never sleeps.
That reminds me of a situation in Elijah’s day, when they had that contest, and all the false prophets of Baal were calling upon Baal, and they were trying to get fire to come down and consume their offering, and there was just simply no response.
And finally, Elijah could not take it any longer, and he said, “Well, I guess your god is pursuing. I guess he is on a journey. I guess he is talking, or maybe he is asleep.” He just could not hold it back any longer. I can understand that. He just could not wait for the opportunity to tell them, “Well, your god may be walking. He may be talking. He may be on a journey. He may be pursuing. In other words, he is just out of pocket. If he is not out of pocket, I guess he is taking a nap or something. He is over there sleeping and slumbering.”
Elijah called upon his God. He was not on a journey. He was not talking, and he was not pursuing. He was not slumbering. He was not sleeping. He called upon his God. Our God is available 24/7. Twenty four hours a day, and seven days a week. There is never a time, my friends, when you have got a problem, that God is not alert to that problem. He will hear you when you cry and you pray unto him. He neither slumbers nor sleep. He is our keeper.
[David] Jesse had eight sons. When the prophet Samuel went down to find that son God was going to anoint to be king of Israel, he paraded the first seven by Samuel, and David was not in the bunch. He said, “Don’t you have one more?”
He says, “Well, I have got one more,” and I want this point out of this. “He is just a little lad, and a keeper of the sheep.”
I would say he was a pretty good keeper, wouldn’t you? He slew a bear, and he slew a lion to be sure not one lamb was missing out of that flock. He was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I can assure you that Christ did more than slay a lamb and a bear. He slew Satan himself. Satan has been slain, brethren. He has been destroyed through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, through his death, burial, and resurrection. He has been defeated. He is a goner, by the way. He may not realize it, but he is a goner.
Perseverance
Let’s talk a little bit about perseverance, because things get twisted a lot of times. Sometimes they get to where they are even afraid to say the word. Well, I am not afraid to say the word.
It is a Biblical word, and we are going to find it over in Ephesians, chapter six. Beginning about verse ten, the apostle Paul says to the church at Ephesus, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, that ye might stand against the wiles of the devil.” This is the context the word is found in—“against the wiles of the devil.”
He starts then to talk about “putting on the whole armor of God.” He starts off by, “having our loins girt about with truth.” That is pretty important, isn’t it? The Lord said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” You need to have your loins girt about with truth.
Then he says, “Put on the breastplate of righteousness,” then we have our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Then we are going to have “the shield faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Then he said we are going to put on “the helmet of salvation.” Then we are going to have “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” You are ready for battle.
Both offensively and defensively you are ready for battle. Notice, you have defensive armor on, and you have got the sword of the Spirit, which is used for offense—both ways.
Then he says, “Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” This shows you how important prayer is. Somebody says, “Prayer does not really change anything.” Well, they have never read the Bible. “Pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
In the book of James he says, “The effectual prayer of the righteous man availeth much.” That sounds to me like it does change things. “Pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Why pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, if it does not change anything? “Pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for the saints….” That word perseverance means to be constantly diligent. It has the idea of endurance—constantly diligent. Not all God’s people are constantly diligent, are they?
There are some real rewards for the diligent, by the way. In Hebrews eleven, six, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Not all the Lord’s people are diligently following the Lord. They are not constantly diligent in their service to Christ. Sometimes they get sidetracked. Sometimes they fall off the beaten path. They are not always in that category. Sometimes they make it, and sometimes they don’t.
[John the Baptist] There was a man by the name of John the Baptist who persevered to the end. Acts thirteen, twenty five, says, “As he fulfilled his course.” John the Baptist was beheaded, but I am telling you he “fulfilled his course.”
[Paul the apostle] Paul the apostle says in Second Timothy four and six, “The time of my departure is at hand, and I am now ready to be offered.” He says, “I have fought a good fight; I have kept the faith; I have finished my course.” The apostle Paul finished with an honorable discharge. He persevered in faith and holiness unto the end. Not all God’s people do that.
In Second Timothy, four and ten, Paul says, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.” Here is a man who had walked with the apostle Paul; he had been a companion with the apostle Paul, but now he has forsaken the apostle Paul. Why, because he “loved this present world.”
We can love this world we live in. There is a part of our nature that loves the world. That is why we are warned in the Word of God not to be friends of the world, to love not the world, not to be conformed to the world, to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Why are all those admonitions there? Because we have a nature, a human nature, that really likes this world.
[Lot] We find that exemplified in a man by the name of Lot in Genesis, chapter nineteen. Lot was a nephew of Abraham, and there was some strife between the herdmen of Lot and the herdmen of Abraham. Abraham made a wise statement. He said, “We be brethren, and these things ought not to be.” That is still true today. “These things ought not to be; there should be no strife between brethren.” He says, “You go ahead and pick you out a location, and you can take it, and I will go in another direction.
Lot made a bad mistake, because he looked out, and did not look up. Your outlook is only going to be as good as your uplook. If you are not looking up, then you are not going to have a good outlook. He looked out and did not look up. He did not look up to the Lord. He did not look to God for guidance. He just looked out and saw the well watered plains of Jordan, and all the glittering lights, and the attractiveness of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he made a very foolish decision. He pitched his tent toward Sodom and Gomorrah. He is dwelling in those wicked cities.
I know according to Second Peter, chapter two, he is a child of God. We are told that he was a just man, and a righteous man. That is not from the standpoint of the life he was living, but because he was a child of God, and made just through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and made righteous by the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He just made a foolish decision. He is an example of somebody walking in the wide and broad way that leads to destruction.
We are told in Second Peter, chapter two, that “his righteous soul was vexed from day to day.” The word vexed is used twice there. The first time it is used, it means to wear down. The second time, it means he was tortured. There was something about Lot that made him very uncomfortable in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not comfortable with the surroundings, but he stayed. Why didn’t he leave; I don’t know. I don’t know why he did not leave.
That is why the Lord said, “Truly, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Sometimes, we underestimate just how weak the flesh can be. And we don’t give credit enough to how willing the spirit can be sometimes. But the Lord said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Here is an example of weakness of human flesh. Here is a man who made a very foolish decision. He is living in Sodom and Gomorrah. His righteous soul is “vexed from day to day” with their wicked and evil deeds.
We are going to find the Lord being very gracious and merciful. He is going to deliver Lot and his wife out of that city.
His two son-in-laws stay there, because the testimony of Lot was not strong enough for them to actually have confidence in him when he told them the city was going to be destroyed. So they stayed there and they are going to be destroyed. His wife, two daughters, and Lot leave that place, and the command is, “Don’t look back.”
His wife turned and looked back, and the Lord tells us in the gospel of Luke, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Why? She looked back and became a pillar of salt.
The last time we read anything about Lot in Genesis, chapter nineteen, he is in an immoral relationship with his two daughters; they are going to bear two sons by him, and he is drunk. Hardly an example of perseverance. He did not persevere, did he? Obviously not.
[Solomon] I look in the book of First Kings. We are going to talk about Solomon for a minute. In the first ten chapters of the book of First Kings everything is glorious in the life of Solomon. In chapter eight you read about the blessings of Solomon. In chapter nine you read about the sacrifice of Solomon. In chapter ten you read about his experience with the Queen of Sheba. Chapter eleven starts off like this, “But, Solomon loved many strange women.” He had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines. Can you imagine that? I just cannot imagine that.
But can you imagine the joy of whoever was taking care of the cosmetics in that day? Can you imagine the commission just in his own family, with seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines? And the Bible says, “His heart clave unto them, and they turned his heart from God.” And that entire chapter is about Solomon’s idolatry.
First Kings eight is about blessing. Chapter nine is sacrifice. Chapter ten is his experience with the Queen of Sheba. Chapter eleven is all about his idolatry, and his death. In the eleventh chapter the last days of Solomon are hardly anything to compare with his life in the first ten chapters.
Where is Solomon, today? I believe he is in glory. He ended up in idolatry—in gross idolatry. He had wives from all the nations of that land whereof the Lord told him, “Do not mingle with them; do not get involved with them; do not go after them, and they will not go after you, because they will turn your heart from God.” And they turned his heart from God.
[Samson] Take a man by the name of Samson. What an interesting character. Beginning in Judges thirteen through seventeen, he seems to be a whole lot like Solomon. It is going to end a lot different. He was a man who did superhuman feats. He took three hundred foxes one time, and tied their tails together, and put a firebrand in the midst of it, and send them out into the cornfields of the Philistines. They burnt it all up.
He got a new jawbone of an ass, and slew a thousand men with it. He did superhuman things, because God gave him superhuman strength. But we come to the last days of Samson, he reveals where his strength comes from. His eyes were put out. He lost his eyesight. He lost his testimony. He lost his strength. He just lost a lot of things.
And then, he prayed to God one more time, that God would give him strength that he might avenge his enemies for the loss of his eyes. Even his prayer at the end, I did not think was very God-honoring. It was more selfish than anything else. But God answered that prayer, and he pulls the two pillars down, and several thousand Philistines were slain, along with Samson himself. Samson died in that. He slew more in his death than he did while he was living.
Some people have the idea that if you commit suicide you can’t go to heaven. I am going to tell you something about Samson. He is over here, tucked away in Hebrews eleven. When you come to Hebrews, chapter eleven, that great chapter on faith, you are going to work your way from Abel all the way to Rahab the harlot. And then Paul says in Hebrews eleven, “If I had time, I would tell you more, but I don’t have time to tell you about Samson. I don’t have time to tell you about David, and Jephthae, and Barak. But Samson is right there.”
“Who through faith….” This man did things through faith. If he did it through faith, he was a child of God. He gives a long list of things he did through faith, because God gave him the faith. He winds up dying, when he pulls those pillars down—hardly a picture of perseverance.
[The rich young ruler] In Mark, chapter ten, I read about a man who is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. All three of these writers are going to tell us about him, but I want Mark’s account. In Mark chapter ten, we find a man who asked the Lord what we might think is a strange question. But if you don’t know the truth, it is probably not so strange. He says, “Master, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life?” We are not going into the details of this conversation. I just want to get down to end where the Lord said, “One thing thou lackest.” He says, “What is it?” He says, “Go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.”
The Bible says, “The man went away very grieved, because he had great possessions.” In other words, he did not do what the Lord said. He disobeyed the Lord. He was already guilty of being covetous. The Lord knew that. That is why he saved the last commandment to deal with him.
But here is what the Bible says. “And the Lord beholding him, loved him.” Now please tell me, how the Lord loved a man that is not going to be in heaven? Here is a man that is going to be in heaven one day, but he did not enjoy heavenly things while he lived here.
He had great possessions, but the possessions had him. That was the problem. There is nothing wrong with material possessions as long as the material possessions don’t get hold of you. When they possess you, rather than you possessing them, then you have got a problem.
“The Lord beholding him loved him,” but he went away grieving and sad. This is not a picture of a happy child of God. This is not a picture of an obedient child of God. This is not a picture of a child of God who is faithful and dedicated in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, because he did not want to part with the things that were very close and dear to him. They were more dear to him than Christ was.
That is why the Lord said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” You see where the man’s treasure was.
[King Agrippa] Let’s look over here in Acts, chapter twenty-six, at a man by the name of Agrippa—King Agrippa. Paul the Apostle was a prisoner, and he came before King Agrippa. I want you to listen to a little testimony that Paul gives Agrippa before Agrippa gives a statement to Paul.
He says, “Agrippa, I am glad I am before you, because you are an expert in the customs of the Jews.” Well, that is one thing. A natural man can do that. But he said, “I know thou knowest these things, because these things were not done in a corner.” “I know you know these things.” “Believest thou the prophets; I know thou believest the prophets.”
1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believest that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” “Believest thou the prophets; I know thou believest the prophets.” But what did the prophets preach, and write about? They wrote about Christ.
Isaiah, 53:3, “Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the Lord revealed? He shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.” Here is a man who was smitten for us. Here is a man who bore our transgres-sions. Here is a man who bore our burdens, and our trials, and our tribulations. Here is the shepherd of the sheep, my friends, described in the words of Isaiah, chapter fifty-three. There can be no question; he is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. “Believest thou the prophets, Agrippa? I know thou believest.”
When he got through, Agrippa made this statement. “Almost, Paul, thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Not all children of God are Christians. All true Christians are children of God, but not all God’s children are Christians.
There is a strict definition given us in the Bible of what a real Christian is all about. It is much different to what the world gives us. Nevertheless, he says, “Almost thou persuadest me, Paul, to be a Christian.”
The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. But what Paul preached to Agrippa was not foolishness. It was something that got next to the heart of King Agrippa. I see Agrippa sitting on that throne in his royal apparel, with a crown of gold on his head. I see a man with wealth, and riches, and power, and authority.
Then I look down there at the Apostle Paul, and he looks like a poor man. He looks like a man of the streets, no doubt, with his garments all torn. There was no crown on his head, no royal apparel around him. Here is Agrippa, and there is Paul, and Agrippa says, “Almost, Paul, thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
Paul said, “I wish that all that are here this day were not almost, but altogether, such as I am, except for these bonds. I would not put these bonds on anybody. But as far as the rest of the journey my friends, I wish that all that are here this day were Christians.”
I don’t have any doubt where Agrippa is. He believed the prophets. He was almost persuaded. He was almost persuaded with one sermon. I have been preaching sermons, after sermons, after sermons to some people, and I don’t think they are half way persuaded. I don’t know what the problem is. I really don’t.
I would feel pretty good if I preached one time to one man, and he said, “You know, you just almost got me, today. You almost persuaded me, today.”
“Well, please come back, and give me another chance to finish the job.”
“In fact, we will just pick it up right here. I have got the time, if you do.”
I have told people, “If you will just give me time, I don’t have to preach an hour every time. Just give me fifty-nine minutes.”
I have got thirty minute sermons, ten minutes sermons, five minute sermons. Just give me whatever time you got. I will put it together.
I don’t have any doubt where he is.
Providence
Let me talk to you about providence. I believe God is very active in the lives of his people. When I think of providence, I think of something positive, not negative. I used to hear people say, “Well, I will be there Sunday, if I am not providentially hindered.” It sounded to me like they were blaming God. God does not hinder you. God helps you. He enables you. He enables you to do his commandments. God gives you power. God gives you strength. God gives you knowledge, and understanding, and wisdom. God gives you whatever is necessary to do what he has told you to do. “If you love me, keep my command-ments,” is the commandment Christ gave the disciples.
There is general providence, ordinary providence, and there is extraordinary providence. Every one of us who are here this day have already enjoyed the general providence of God. You are here. You are breathing. You’ve got life. You probably ate breakfast. You got a good night’s rest. You have nice apparel, a nice automobile to get here. That is the general providence of God.
In Matt. 5:45, our Lord tells his disciples that he allows the sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends his rain on the just and on the unjust. When that sun rises, it shines on all the wicked as well as all the righteous. When the rain comes down, in a general sense, it benefits the unjust as well as the just. That is God’s general providence for mankind, and he has been providing for mankind for 6,000 years.
Isaiah fifty-five, “The rain and snow comes down from heaven, and waters the earth, and gives seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.” He has been providing for the inhabitants of this earth for 6,000 years.
But I also believe in the special, extraordinary providence of God. Don’t you? God made a promise in Genesis chapter twelve to Abraham, that through him and his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. In order for that to come to pass, God had to do a lot of overruling down through the ages.
[Joseph] He overruled in Joseph’s life. In Genesis thirty-seven through fifty you read about the life of this man. You tell me how a Jewish boy, who starts out in a pit in Genesis thirty-seven, and winds up the second in command in all of Egypt. You tell me that. That is the providence of God.
We don’t have time to go into detail about him this morning. It is a wonderful and glorious story of God overruling and God overriding. I thank God for God’s overruling and overriding providence, because I have not always made good decisions and wise decisions. And neither have you. We are all in the same boat.
And yet God has spared my life, and delivered my life through many trials, and tribulations, and gave me directions, when I did not know which way to go. He took care of me, when I did not know how to take care of myself—which is about all the time. We see God overruling and God overriding in his wonderful providence.
[The 3 Hebrew children] I look at the life of those three Hebrew children. They were put in that fiery furnace. They did not bow down to the sound of those musical instruments. They were faithful to God, and they were put in there, and they would have been consumed under normal circumstances. When the king looks in, he said, “Behold, I put in three, and I see four, and one is like unto the Son of God.”
He was their shield. He was their buckler. He was their salvation. The smell of smoke was not on their clothes. Not a hair on their head was singed. That is the extraordinary providence of God.
[Daniel] Daniel was in that den of lions, and it was not just a lion’s den. It was a den of lions. A den of lions has lions in it. A lion’s den might be empty. This den was not empty. It is a den of lions.
You are going to find the next morning, where old Daniel slept very well. The king could not sleep. The king had all the fancy things money can buy. Money can buy a bed, but it cannot buy sleep. It can buy food, but it cannot buy an appetite.
And that king couldn’t sleep a lick that night. But old Daniel had a nice time. I always visualize that in my mind, of Daniel using the neck of that lion for a pillow—kind of put his head over there, put his arm around the old lion, had a little conversation.
And so the next morning, you are going to find that when the king comes there, he says, “Can the God whom thou servest deliver thee.” He says, “Oh, king live forever.” That is the extraordinary providence of God. God delivered him out of that den of lions.
Those, who were working behind the scenes, and who brought all that about, were themselves put into the den of lions, and all their bones were crushed—showing me the lions were not decrepit. They were not clawless and toothless. There were ferocious lions in that den of lions, and they crushed and killed all those who were put in there.
[Paul] We come to Acts chapter twenty-seven, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. We read about the apostle Paul in that ship, when he was on his way to Rome. There were two hundred and seventy-six prisoners on that ship, and except for about four people, they are all wicked and evil men. They go days after days after days, and nights after nights, after nights, without any light. And any hope of being saved is now gone. Days and days have gone by. They have no hope of being saved.
Then the Lord sent an angel to Paul, and gives him a message. He says, “The ship will be destroyed, but everybody on this ship will be spared and delivered. Not one man’s life is going to be lost. Paul gets them all together.
Paul tried to tell them not to take that voyage to begin with. They would not listen to him, and when he got a chance he told them about it, too. I am sure you have never been tempted to tell somebody, “I told you so,” have you? But the apostle Paul was, and he took advantage of it and he told them so.
He said, “I am going to tell one other thing. The angel of the God I belong to appeared to me last night, and he told me the ship will be destroyed, but every man’s life will be spared, and I believe God.
He did not know how it was going to happen, but God said it, and he believed it. Don’t come telling me God said it, and you believe it, and that settles it. If God said it, it is settled whether you believe it or not. So if God said it, it is settled right then. His word is settled in heaven, and because his word is settled in heaven, I believe it.
And so he said, “You are going to be spared. You are going to be delivered.” He said, “Be of good cheer.” Can you imagine how those on the other side felt. “He is telling us to be in circumstances like this, and be of good cheer.” But he had a heavenly message. He had a message from heaven that gave him a reason to be cheerful.
Then you come to the end of that chapter. The Bible says the prisoners would have been slain. The command was for the prisoners to be slain lest they swim and get away. But because the centurion wanted to save Paul, he prevented it from happening.
The ship came apart, and those that could swim made it to shore. Some made it to shore on boards and pieces of the ship. In the last verse of that chapter, it tells us that every man made it safely to shore.
And did you catch something in that? All those prisoners were spared because of Paul. Because the centurion was not going to allow Paul to be slain, all the prisoners escaped without any harm coming to them. God’s word came to pass just like he said. That is providence.
Predestination, preservation, perseverance, providence, I want it all. I am not going to compromise. I want it all.
THE END