Speaker Identification

Speaker 1 - Preacher / Program Host
The only audible speaker delivers the complete sermon, gives personal illustrations, directs someone named Mark to operate the lights, and closes the gathering. The transcript and recording title do not state the preacher's name, so no personal identity has been assigned.

Speaker 1: We are dealing with the providence of God, one of the greatest subjects in the Bible.

The word providence does not appear in the text, but neither does the word rapture. These are words we use constantly in our efforts to preach the gospel, even though they do not necessarily appear in that exact form in Scripture. The ideas are as plain as the nose on our faces because they are present in action and reaction.

God's providence is God's care for His creation. God not only created; He also cares for what He created.

A mother who is not worth a flip might have a child and then dispose of the child in one way or another, perhaps abandoning the child beside a road for someone else to find. God did not treat us that way, and He did not treat His creation that way.

Can you imagine what creation would be like if God had simply left it to itself? It takes only about fifteen minutes of honest study in science and creation to recognize that this system would not continue if someone were not winding the clock every day.

I was in a preacher's home a number of years ago, and he had a large eight-day clock, one of the largest I had ever seen. That thing made all kinds of noise. Horns blew and monkeys screamed. It made a racket at the top of the hour and another kind of racket at the bottom of the hour.

I asked, "How often do you have to wind that thing?"

He said, "About every three or four days."

I said, "I thought it was an eight-day clock."

He replied, "It is, but it runs down in about three and one-half days."

What if God had put this world here and said, "This is an eight-day clock. I am going to let it run down and wind it only every eight days"?

Listen: The world you live in, the earth you stand on, the sky you see, the air you breathe, and everything around us were created by the God of glory. Not only that, the God of glory consistently cares for it all.

I am in Genesis 1:1:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness" - underscore that word, darkness - "was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Now listen to this verse:

"And God said, Let there be" - what is that word? - "light."

God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The light came on.

Providence is the divine government of God by which He guides, guards, and orders His creation - all His creation - from the beginning.

You were not put here by accident. God did not put the sun, stars, or moon in the sky by accident. None of this happened accidentally. It is all purposeful. God has a purpose.

When God placed humankind on the earth, He did so because He had a purpose for us, not because humanity had a purpose independent of Him.

I could spend the entire night on this point, but let me state it quickly: Your purpose is to honor God. Very simply, your purpose is to honor God. If we do what God would have us do, we will honor Him. That is all there is to it.

Genesis 1 speaks of creation morning. God addressed a world that was void, without the shape we know today, and covered in darkness. He said, "Let there be light."

For a few moments tonight, within the subject of God's providence, I want to speak about light - L-I-G-H-T.

The light God spoke on creation morning came instantly to His creation. Did you hear that? It did not have to come from somewhere else and move to where God wanted it. God spoke, and it came to pass.

There are millions, billions, or perhaps even trillions of stars in space. We can see only a portion of them.

I remember being a boy and hearing a preacher - probably my father - speak about God's promise to Abraham. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky.

I knew there was a great deal of sand by the seashore, but I had never seen many stars. When you look up, you do not see all that many stars, do you? But you cannot see all the stars that are out there. We see only a token of what exists because space is filled with stars.

They are, if you will, nuclear reactors. Does that frighten you? The sun converts hydrogen into helium at 12.6 million degrees. That will fry your eggs, bake your bread, and burn your biscuits.

Did you hear what I said? Twelve-point-six million degrees. The sun is a huge nuclear ball in the sky, but it is not the only one. All those stars are not reflecting the sun's light as the moon does; they are reactors as well.

We do not even know how large they are. The comparison between the sun and the earth is unreal. That is a large ball - far too large to play with - and God spoke it into existence.

Now wait a minute. Let us discuss this for a second. God spoke it into existence at least 6,000 years ago, and it is still going. It is still going strong, in case you have not noticed.

Except for the rain, we have had warm temperatures during the past few days. Some friends in Florida call and say, "I wish I were up there."

One friend recently came through, stopped with us for a few hours, continued to Michigan, and then returned home to Florida. After arriving there, he called me.

He said, "It is 112 degrees down here. What is the temperature there, Pastor?"

I said, "It was 65 last night."

He replied, "I do not want to hear another word."

God put this system together and spoke it into existence. Today, the sun is still shining. By the way, the sun is still shining tonight.

Most of us thought as children that the sun went to sleep at night, but that is not how it works. The sun is shining on the other side of the globe. It does not go to sleep.

For all those years since our Lord spoke it into existence, the sun has continued doing what it does at 12.6 million degrees - moment by moment, day by day, hour by hour, and century after century. It is still doing what God created it to do.

When you look at creation, especially what I have mentioned tonight, how could you say there is no providence of God? Furthermore, how could you say there is no God?

Let me show you something. If you believe in God, you must necessarily believe in providence. The same evidence that proves God exists also demonstrates providence. The God who created is the God who sustains.

What if you had been born into this world and left entirely on your own? How helpless is a baby? Many times, I have looked into the faces of newborn babies and seen how helpless they are.

They need their mother. Amen? Yes. That is why God arranged it that way.

God's creation needs a father twenty-four hours a day. Creation needs a Father to watch over it and ensure that everything continues as it should.

We saw a tragedy just this past week in Hawaii. Things get out of hand on this earth. Is that right? Things get out of hand. Wind gets out of hand. Fire gets out of hand. Disease gets out of hand. We step back and ask, "Why are these things happening? Why does God allow such things to occur?"

Every new avenue comes at a cost. I wonder - and we may never know, perhaps not even in eternity - how many people died as this nation progressed toward the West Coast.

We do not have anywhere north to go. How many people died as they left the Old World and came to the New World? How many ships went down? How many souls were lost at sea? All of this came at a great price. Every new venture has a price.

God knew America was going to be discovered. Why did He create it at all? Some of us had forefathers here. If America had not been discovered, what would it be tonight? All of this is within God's design.

Who would have imagined, while people rode donkeys, horses, and wagons across the plains, that one day we would fly across those same plains, not to mention drive automobiles?

Can you imagine? In a matter of hours, we can drive farther than they could travel in a week or sometimes a month.

I will make a statement now. Listen: God is a God of speed. God is a God of velocity.

How do I know that? The Bible tells us that God is light. What did I read to you a moment ago? God spoke, and light came into existence.

As far as we can measure it, light travels at breathtaking speed. You could not exist while traveling that fast. The only time you will ever be able to travel that quickly is in your new body.

In all my study, I have never found anything that moves faster than light except a glorified body. That glorified body moves beyond the speed of light because it moves at the speed of thought.

Jesus left this earth after the resurrection. Remember the garden, when Jesus appeared to Mary and she could not touch Him? He said, "Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father."

Pay attention; I am showing you something. Do not miss this.

Forty-five minutes later, more than one woman fell at His feet, held Him, and worshiped Him. He did not say, "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father."

For that to happen, Jesus had to go to the Father, offer His blood for our sins on the mercy seat in glory - not the earthly mercy seat, but the one in glory after which Moses patterned the earthly mercy seat - and return to the earth.

Moses saw the real thing. Before God Almighty, Jesus Christ offered His blood as both High Priest and sacrifice. He then returned to the earth. Forty-five minutes later, women bowed at His feet, held Him, and He did not tell them not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father.

Would you say God is a God of speed?

God is light, and because He is light, He is necessarily associated with speed.

Mark, move over to those light switches for a moment. Turn them all off quickly. Now turn them back on.

If he had been a little quicker - that boy! See how quickly that happens?

The instant the light switches are turned on, light appears and darkness disappears. Are you grasping this? God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. When He comes on the scene, darkness disappears.

First John 1:5 plainly states that God is light. God is light.

Everything in creation is in motion. I do not understand all of this. I have tried to understand it. I have spoken to people who said they understood it, but they could not make me understand it. Either they were incapable of communicating, or I was incapable of understanding. We can accept either possibility.

The fact is that light itself is something only God could create.

Look at it again. What did I tell you the sun is? It is a nuclear reactor. Those reactors are all over space. On a dark night, you can see multitudes of them.

Then the sun rises. What happens to the stars? Does that mean the stars are no longer there? Absolutely not. The sun is so much brighter than the stars that they disappear in its light.

God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. When God's light is on the scene, all other lights go out.

No wonder God declared, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Anything humanity invents disappears in the presence of the light of God Himself.

No matter how proud, elevated, or lofty a person becomes, when God comes on the scene, that person disappears. Why? Because God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

This universe is beyond description. Let me take a moment here before moving on.

Everything out there is moving. We are moving. Remember, I told you that we are moving at nearly two million miles per hour while sitting here.

Did some of you not hear that? Do any of you have difficulty believing it? Just do not stick your head out the window. Can you imagine a bug hitting you in the forehead while traveling that fast?

Everything is moving. Light moves. Darkness moves, especially when light comes on. The planets move. The earth moves. The sun and moon move. Everything is moving at breakneck speed, so fast that we cannot fully calculate it.

One day, when you have time to let your mind wander, allow it to move into space and try to measure the depth of space. How much space is out there?

Remember, we are traveling through space. We do not park somewhere occasionally. We are moving through space at breakneck speed. Everything is moving.

Go with me for a moment to Los Angeles and get on the freeway. First of all, I am not going to Los Angeles, so I will let you go.

You get on the freeway and head down the highway. Everyone is traveling at ninety miles per hour. A poor fellow on the side has a blowout. What happens? A pileup occurs like you would not believe.

You read about 150-car pileups. Those incidents are real. I could tell you stories, but I will not do that now.

What I am trying to explain is that when everything moves at a high rate of speed, one thing going wrong produces consequences far worse than a bug on a windshield.

Imagine God allowing one star to slip out of its place. It collides with another, which collides with another, and eventually there is total chaos. We are moving through all of this at breakneck speed.

What if God had created everything and then left it alone, with no providential care? This has been going on for ages. It did not begin last night. It is still ticking better than an eight-day clock.

Why? Because there is a God in heaven who, in His providence, cares for His creation.

Listen: There will be chaos in creation, but it will occur in God's time. It is coming, and I do not believe it will be very long.

Is it not good of God to promise that He will take us away before everything is destroyed? Simon Peter said the elements will melt with fervent heat. It will all pass away.

Then, according to the promise, God will make it new - this time without the possibility of sin.

I have just told you something you do not understand. I know you do not understand it because I do not understand it. Who knows what a place without sin would be like? You have never lived in a place without sin.

God is going to recreate everything. The earth will again be populated by people who will not die and will not sin. God's creation will one day be populated by His people.

Let me take a moment to explain what I mean. If there is no death, and people on earth are procreating - which, I believe, they will be - those people will not be you and me. We will have glorified bodies like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and will dwell in a city called New Jerusalem.

God's people Israel will live on the earth. Those people will be like people today, except they will possess bodies like those Adam and Eve had in the garden before sin, and they will procreate.

How long will it take to have enough children to cover Tennessee? Do you understand what I am saying?

Next door is another planet. God's creation - not only the earth, but all creation - will be inhabited by His people.

You may ask, "How can that happen?"

How did this happen?

I once said this during a meeting. A fellow came to me and asked, "How in the world can that happen?"

I replied, "How did this happen? The same God."

If God wants to prepare a planet to be inhabited, all He has to do is prepare it. Do you know how He makes a planet inhabitable? He speaks. He speaks, and it becomes reality.

I have said all of that to say this: The providential God, the caretaking God, is both Creator and Caretaker. Just as surely as He is God, He cares for us.

Here is the beauty of God's providence: He cares for me, and He cares for you. Amen.

The other evening, I was outside looking at the sky and saw what we call a shooting star.

I said, "God, how long ago did that happen, and You allowed me to see it tonight?"

Did you hear what I said? That event could have happened eons ago, yet God allowed me to see it. Why? He wanted to remind me that He is God.

That is all we can do: be reminded.

Simon Peter said, in effect, "I am going to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance." That is all preachers can do. We stir up your minds and cause you to see again what you knew all along but had pushed aside and ignored.

God cares for you. He put this world together and allowed us to live on this earth.

He has also allowed us in America to live in relative peace for a long time. We have had wars elsewhere, and some of us have been there. But, as far as America itself is concerned, we have lived in relative peace since the Civil War.

It may not be that way next year. Do you suppose God knows? Yes, He does.

One more thought: Did God know the flood was coming? God went to Noah and said, "Noah, I want you to build an ark."

I can imagine Noah scratching his head and asking, "God, what in the world is an ark?"

You may say he did not do that. Noah was like I am. If God told me to build something I had never heard of, I would ask, "What is that, Lord?"

Noah probably asked, "Lord, what is an ark?" God gave him the design. Noah built it, and God sent the flood.

But what did God do? He cared for Noah and his family for one reason: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Are you not glad you found grace in the eyes of the Lord? I am. Hallelujah! I am grateful that I found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

What I am telling you is that, when the coming judgment arrives, we have an ark. Amen? Yes. God is going to take us out of here, perhaps sooner than you think. Maybe before daylight tomorrow, God will take us out of here.

I checked this afternoon, and there is nothing in this world for which I need to come back. I can leave everything behind. It will not make any difference.

Do you understand what I am saying? Realize that God cares for His children and will take us home. He will take us home. Whether one by one or all together, He will take us home.

Let us stand together. Let us bow our heads and close our eyes for a moment.