God's Protection, Provision, and Preservation (2 Kings 8) with Pastor Ryan Connellan

Well, I do invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings, chap sorry, 2nd Kings.

2 Kings chapter 8, as we continue our series along in this book.

2 Kings 8 · chapter mention

We won't read the whole chapter.

I do want to just uh uh draw our attention uh for the f to the first uh six verses or so.

We'll read this as we launch into this passage this evening.

If you're visiting with us, we've been spending some time over the last couple of months uh and actually years really looking at Old Testament narratives, and we've been in the book of 2 Kings for some time now.

So 2 Kings chapter 8, and we'll read verses 1 to 6, and then we'll pray and get stuck into this passage.

2 Kings 8 · chapter mention

The Word of God says, Then Elisha spoke to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine.

And furthermore it will come upon the land for seven years.

So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

It came to pass at the end of the seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land.

Then the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, please, all the great things that Elisha has done.

Now it happened, as he was telling the king, how he had restored the dead to life, that there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing to the king for her house and for her land, and Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.

And when the king asked the woman, she told him.

So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, Restore all that was hers and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.

That will finish us for the reading, but we'll look at the rest of the chapter later on in our message.

But let's come before the Lord in prayer.

Our great God, we come before you this evening, and we uh do indeed thank you for the word of God which is before us.

All scripture is given of inspiration and is profitable for us.

And so we uh by that uh promise and that confession, we come to this passage, knowing and believing that there is something in here which will uh bring glory to you and edification to your people.

Uh Lord, help me to explain and expound this passage clearly and accurately so that you may be glorified and your people be built up in their faith.

We pray these things in Jesus' precious name.

Amen.

I don't know if you've ever felt this way before, but I know I have at certain times.

But have you ever felt or thought that God has abandoned you or forgotten you, or maybe even completely forsaken you?

Certainly that's an experience that many individual Christians can go through at times, but that is also an experience that the church in the world can often feel as we look around, and it appears that things are not getting better, but perhaps getting worse, and things are getting harder and maybe not easier for Christians, then it's easy and tempting to think that God has forgotten us, or God has abandoned us, or God has maybe even forsaken us.

Perhaps it's the waves of disappointment that come across our lives, or the uh fires of persecution that seem to engulf us.

It feels like God no longer sees us or knows us or cares about us.

But I want to ensure or encourage all of us and remind all of us that what we're gonna see in this passage in 2 Kings chapter 8, perhaps not glaringly obvious at first glance, but is certainly there when we study and consider all that is going on, even as we continue on further in the chapter, is this wonderful promise that we see, this wonderful attribute or this aspect that we see that God provides, protects, and preserves his people for his glory.

2 Kings 8 · chapter mention

God provides, God protects, and God preserves his people for his glory.

And that is a wonderful promise that I think all of us need to be reminded of again and again and again, as sometimes we are tempted to feel that God may have abandoned us or forsaken us.

When you read through the books of the Kings, 1st and 2nd Kings, to be honest, it often feels like you're just listening to a broken record, doesn't it?

One king comes, the promise or the anticipation that this king will bring about godly change is there, and yet he ends up being a disappointment.

God sends a rebuke or a judgment, and it seems like the nation repents, and another king arises, and again and again and again, and on it goes like a drumbeat, where it's disappointment after disappointment after disappointment.

I wish I could tell you that 2 Kings chapter 8 is a different chapter, but it's not.

2 Kings 8 · chapter mention

It's another bit of that same drumbeat.

And it's one of those chapters that perhaps when you read it, you wonder, okay, there's nothing really significant or really dramatic ultimately that is going on here, not like the healing of Naaman or the calling down of fire from heaven on Mount Carmel by Elijah.

It's not one of those dramatic passages, but hidden, not really saying to say hidden, but certainly contained in this passage, we are going to see God fulfilling and keeping his covenant promises, even to a rebellious people.

But in that, we're going to see also his special provision and grace to someone that he cares for deeply.

Chapter 8 begins with the continuation of a story, and in some ways a bit of a conclusion of a story that we saw in chapter 4.

In chapter 4, we see the prophet Elisha, who is uh the man of God at this time.

Uh this uh office of a prophet is not one that brings about a lot of popularity or comfort.

Uh, he is always uh preaching and proclaiming uh to the nation and to the kings particularly to repent and to return to God.

That makes him uh not a very popular character.

Uh, but there's a particular woman who ministers to him in a very special way.

Uh this is known as we were introduced to her or in chapter four, and she comes back here in chapter eight, as the Shunammite woman, a woman from a particular land who provides for the prophet in his time of need, provides food and respite and rest for him when he is weary from all of his ministry.

But in chapter four, something very dramatic happens, and this is one of those dramatic passages where her son dies, and she calls for the man of God to come and help.

And of course, Elisha comes and uh, through the power of God through him, raises her son back to life again.

But you never really hear anything more about her after that passage until you get to chapter eight.

Now, following on from chapter seven, again, as we looked at last week, uh, we we again see the nation of Israel in a time of great distress and turmoil as they uh again continue in their constant rebellion, and God brings judgment upon them in various ways, mainly through the Syrian army and the Syrian king that that in uh that encompasses them and and and besieges them and causes great inflation and poverty and uh and even desperation to the point where they resort to cannibalism.

This is a a horrible time in their history.

And again, it is easy to think, and you can imagine being one of those people in the land of Israel, thinking, has God forsaken us?

Has God abandoned us?

Has God forgotten us?

This chapter in chapter eight begins with this continuation of this story of chapter four of the Shunammite woman and brings it to a little bit of a conclusion.

But even as we continue on, we're going to see that there is some new leadership that gets appointed, both in the Syrian camp and also in the camp of Judah.

But what is in the midst of what is clearly an act of judgment upon God's people here in chapter 8 is God declares a famine, and that enemies and wicked rulers are uh appointed uh even by God Himself, that God is again going to show himself faithful to his covenant promise that he made with King David.

And he was also going to show himself faithful to a woman who had shown and put her trust and faith in the God of this covenant.

And so, first of all, let's see God's protection and provision for his people, particularly in the case of this Shunammite woman.

I already mentioned that this is this woman who has cared for the prophet Elisha.

She has demonstrated that she is, although most in the nation of Israel were in a state of rebellion, this is a woman and and her household, and we're not told that she has a husband, so we're assuming that she's a widow of some kind, but she she is someone who has demonstrated faith.

She is someone who has not gone with the tide, she is someone who has not gone with the rest of the nation, but she is someone who stands out as someone who is actually trusting and depending upon the Lord and puts her faith in the Lord.

She demonstrates faith in chapter 4.

And so when we get to chapter 8, it picks up this way that Elisha goes to the woman, goes to the Shunammite woman, and warns her of a famine that is going to come.

And this famine, the Bible says, is a direct judgment of God upon his people.

We know that all natural disasters and all natural things that take place are under the sovereign hand of God.

The rain that fell this afternoon was because God had ordained and decreed that rain to fall.

But some natural disasters, particularly as you read in the Old Testament, are direct judgments upon God's people for their rebellion.

And this is one of those that is revealed to us by the prophet Elisha, that the Lord has called for a famine that is going to come upon the land for seven years.

Now, this took place in chapter not this particular famine, but we've seen a famine before take place as a result of the siege upon the uh the people of Israel by the Syrians.

And when you have a genuine famine in the land, this brings about all sorts of immense pain and disease and suffering.

Uh you know, we don't really experience to the same degree, and we should be very thankful of that, of uh, of a famine in the same way that they'd experienced it in the Old Testament and these and these particular lands.

Even today, when a famine hits, it's it's a disaster of epic proportions.

I mean, my my kids think that a famine is that when they open the fridge and there's nothing immediately available for them to eat at that very moment.

Is that how your kids think?

There's dad, there's nothing to eat.

Like you've got to be kidding me.

There is so much to eat.

You just don't want to spend the time actually making it.

That's not famine.

Famine is when you open the fridge and you open the pantry and you go to the supermarket and there's just nothing.

There is absolutely nothing.

That's real famine.

And so God has said, I am going to send a famine upon this land for seven years.

But in this judgment, God shows grace and mercy and compassion to a woman.

God in his kindness and in his care does not forget this woman who has shown great kindness to his prophet.

He sees her, he knows her.

He remembers her.

He cares for her.

And he sends Elisha to go and warn this woman of this impending judgment and says to them, You need to get out of the land for seven years because a famine is coming.

God provides for her.

And can we not see that in this moment of judgment we see God's tender compassion upon this woman?

This woman who had demonstrated faith.

This woman who was a woman of faith, that God sees her and knows her.

And even though he is bringing this chastisement upon a nation, a nation full of rebels, she falls into the same category as people like Rahab and Lot and Ruth, that God specifically casts his eye on and cares for them and removes them out of a place of judgment and out of a place of condemnation.

This is God's providential care for his special people.

You say, but wait a minute, weren't all Israel God's chosen people?

Yes, in one sense, yes, they were.

But we know that not all Israel was Israel, if you know what I mean.

Many of them were by Israel, by circumcision and by name only, but this is a woman who has who has obviously embraced all that God got what God has commanded, and embraced this covenant that God has given to her, and she has lived in a way that is pleasing to God, and so God is providing for her and protecting her.

We see that God's providence in his special care for his people.

And again, we know that God's providence is working in all areas of life, in every single affair, in every single natural uh thing that happens, God's providence is working all the time.

But always remember this that God does have a special providence towards his particular people.

He was providing for and protecting this one particular household, relieving them from the persecution and the judgment that was going to come.

You know, one thing it tells me about this, the fact that there's only one woman and one household that is that is given this particular message.

What a sad indictment, isn't it, on the nation of Israel?

What a sad revelation it is that out of all people in this land, there's just one household that God says, okay, remove them from my judgment, remove them from this turmoil, remove them from this situation and protect them and provide for them.

There wasn't anybody else.

This is a sad state of affairs that Israel finds itself in, and we see this again and again all throughout Scripture.

What a sad state that they have come to be in as there's only one family that is spared from this particular famine.

You know what I you say, how do I know this woman is a woman of faith?

Well, what does she do when the prophet of God comes to her?

She believes him.

She believes his word.

She believes that when God says through the prophet that a judgment is coming, that a famine is coming, that she needs to obey and hear and listen and heed that word and remove herself and get out of the land.

And so she does, and she goes down to the land of Philistines, the Philistines, which are hardly friends of the nation of Israel, but it was safer to dwell with the enemies of God than it was to be under the judgment of God in this particular case.

You see, she demonstrates her faith.

And what does her faith do?

Her faith spares her from the judgment of God.

What an amazing thing to behold when someone really truly believes God.

When someone believes God at his word, when someone takes God at his word.

This is what happens today, too, as people are warned, and as we warn people regularly of the upcoming judgment of God, that there is coming a day which is going to be far worse than any famine that can be experienced.

But there's going to be coming a day when you will stand before a holy God and give account, and God will judge you according to righteousness.

But if you flee and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, come to Him for refuge, receive the gift of salvation, that the judgment will fall upon Him and not upon you.

And so we urge people to believe that, to fall down before God, to trust God in His Word and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when you do, God will spare you from His judgment.

Have you placed your faith in Christ and in Christ alone?

Because judgment is coming.

God is going to judge.

But all who have fleed to Christ for salvation will find refuge.

And so this woman believes the message that the prophet tells her, and he goes down to the Philistine land.

For seven years she dwells there as a refugee.

And after the seven years is finished and the famine is over, she returns to her land.

Now it's not clearly stated here, but it's it's implied.

And if we understand the way things worked back in those days, what would have likely have happened is that her household and her fields and all of that belonged to her was her house's and her family's inheritance when the people came into the land under Joshua, and all the land was divided up.

Now her husband, I'm we're assuming, has passed away because she's clearly on her own here, but she has a child, she has a household of probably servants and everything that is there, and so she has left this household, and likely what has happened is she has placed her house and her fields and all of that under the care of a steward who was responsible for watching over things while she was away.

There's a parable in the New Testament that Jesus tells about a vineyard and a family that leaves their vineyard under the cares of stewards while they go and sojourn in another land.

And when they come back, they find that the stewards don't actually want to give the land back.

They've invoked squatters' rights, if you would.

And so when the lady comes back, the woman comes back out of the land of the Philistines, she goes to the king to appeal to get her land and her fields and her household back in her possession.

She is in a time of great need now.

And interestingly enough, and again in God's kind providence, the king just so happens to be having a conversation with Gehazi.

Who is Gehazi?

Gehazi was Elisha's servant.

Now there's a bit of questions that are going on here, and a number of commentators don't really understand exactly why Gehazi is there, because if we go back to chapter 6, Gehazi was struck with leprosy because he uh chased after Naaman and uh and got some payment that he wasn't owed, and so God judged him with leprosy.

So, what is he doing in the king's presence in the king's court?

We're not exactly sure.

Some speculate that God has healed him because he's repented.

Some speculate that this passage is out of order chronologically, um, and it's more about the theme, etc.

But regardless of that, we're not told.

But nevertheless, here is Elisha's servant Gehazi having a conversation with the king as this woman is coming into his court to appeal to get her land back.

And the king asks Gehazi this question tell me all the wonderful things that Elisha has been doing.

And he begins to tell him of the various miracles that the prophet has been performing and the messages that he's been preaching.

And he happens to mention that one of the things that has happened is that Elisha has raised the son, the dead son of a particular woman.

And he turns and look.

Wow, what a coincidence.

That particular woman is right here.

Can you see God's kindness in the timing of this event?

Has that happened to you in your Christian life in your life?

Where unbeknownst to you, you are just going about your daily business trying to get things particularly done, and God, in his kind providence, lines things up in an amazing way to ensure that justice is done and that right things and that your path is made straight, etc.

This is what's happening here.

You see, sometimes God's providence comes to us like Elisha coming and pronouncing something that's going to happen, and we obey that.

Sometimes it happens by these so-called what we would interpret as coincidences, but they're not coincidences, because God brings all these things together to accomplish his purposes and to bestow a kindness and grace upon this Shunammite woman.

And so the king looks, and lo and behold, here is this woman.

And it says that he appoints a certain officer for her, saying, Restore all that was hers and all the proceeds of the fields, all the money that was gained while she was away, from that day until she left the land until now.

And we see that in this passage, we've seen God's kindness and mercy upon this woman as she is spared from God's judgment.

But beyond that, we see God's kindness and grace as He bestows upon her and restores to her all that she thought that she had potentially lost.

And isn't this true of the Christian life?

Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is more than just simply a protection from God's judgment.

It's more than just getting a get out of hell free card.

But as this woman finds out, and as we find, it is bringing us under the special.

Kindness and providence of God, whereby He sees and knows our needs and provides for them in His own special and unique way.

This is providence, God providing for His people.

And so the question for all of us as we read and see God's provision and protection for this woman is one we are reminded and we are encouraged that God sees his people.

God knows his people.

God provides for his people.

God protects his people.

Reminded again, aren't we, in the New Testament, when Jesus tells us, he says, Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor they gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

And are you not more value than they are?

Do you rest and trust in God's kind provision and his providence and his care?

You see, God sees and knows his people, he cares for his church, and he will provide and protect his people.

The second aspect we see in this chapter is this is that God not only provides for and protects his people, but God preserves his people.

God preserves his people.

The following rest of the chapter, uh, we we'll read it, verse seven.

It says, Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick, and it was told to him, saying, The man of God has come here.

And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in your hand and go to the meet the man of God and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?

So Hazael went to meet him, and he took a present with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel loads, and he came and stood before him and said, Your son Ben Hadad, King of Syria, has sent me to you, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?

And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You shall certainly recover.

However, the Lord has shown me that he will really die.

Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept.

And Hazael said, Why is my Lord weeping?

He said, Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel, their strongholds you will set on fire, their young men you will kill with the sword, and you will dash their children and rip open their women with child.

So Hazael said, But what is your servant, a dog, that he should do this gross thing?

And Elisha said, Elisha said, The Lord has shown me that you will become king over Syria.

Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to you?

And he answered, and he told me that you would surely recover.

But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, so that he died.

And Hazael reigned in his place.

We'll stop there for the moment.

The chapter turns to a different scene.

And the second part of this chapter, chapter eight, brings about really a new era, in some ways, in the history of Israel.

It's the rise of a new enemy, a rise of a greater enemy.

Now, Syria had already been for a long time an enemy of the people of Israel, and even just in chapter 7, we saw how what terrible things they did and the suffering that they brought upon God's people.

They had been a thorn in the side of the flesh of Israel for a very long time.

But here in chapter 8, verses 7 to 15, we see that there's a new king that's going to be on the throne of Syria.

Ben Hadad, the king of Syria, is sick.

He's very sick.

And Elisha just so happens to be in Damascus.

Why is he in Damascus?

We have no idea.

We're not told.

But he's in Damascus.

And so the king of Syria sends a man by the name of Hazael to inquire of Elisha, the man of God.

Obviously, because of the healing of Naaman a few chapters earlier, word had obviously come back that Elisha was indeed a man of God and his word could be trusted.

And so Hazael comes to Elisha, similar to the way that Naaman came to Elisha with all sorts of gifts and presents, thinking that he could buy the word of the prophet.

Forty camel loads, he says.

Elisha, of course, doesn't care, doesn't take any of the uh gifts that are offered to him.

But nevertheless, uh Elisha speaking to Hazael confirms that Ben Hadad will recover from his illness.

But then God shows Elisha something far more terrifying.

It says there in verse 10 that the Lord has shown me that he will indeed really die.

And Elisha begins to stare into the eyes of Hazael, as God is revealing to him who the man is that is standing before him and what he is going to do to the people of Israel.

Elisha soon begins to weep.

He is torn, he is burdened, he is heartbroken, because God reveals to him what Hazael is going to be.

Interestingly enough, why is Hazael going to become the king in Syria?

If you were to go back to 1 Kings chapter 19, which we're not going to, but under the prophet Elijah, which was Elisha's predecessor, God had clearly told Elijah that he was going to appoint Hazael to be the king over Syria and Jehu to be king over Israel.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

So Hazael's appointment to be king was a fulfillment of the prophecy or the promise of God back in 1 Kings chapter 19, that God was going to use Hazael as a means of judgment upon his people.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

But even though Elisha knew that judgment upon Israel was what they deserved, and they were getting what was coming to them, as he begins to see the brutality and the nature of what Hazael was going to bring, it brought tears to his eyes.

And Hazael's response is telling.

As Elisha tells him that I have seen that you're going to kill our young men with a sword, and you're going to dash our children, and you're going to rip open the wombs of the women with child with child.

Absolute brutality.

And Hazael responds in shock.

He says, Am I a dog that should do this gross thing?

He thinks of himself quite highly.

What is Hazael a testimony of?

He's a testimony of the absolute depravity of mankind.

You know, not every evil dictator begins as a kindergarten kid just murdering and pillaging and killing and all sorts of things.

It begins small.

And it grows and grows and grows and grows and grows.

And we realize that in every human heart lies the potential for all sorts of wickedness and evil.

And even Hazael thinks there's no way I could possibly do all the things that Elisha tells me to do.

And yet the very next day he is murdering his own king.

Oh, do not think that our hearts are any different than Hazael's in any way.

So what would be the salvation from this tyrant?

This wicked king that is now appointed as the king of Syria, who is going to save the people?

Well, then we come to verses 16 down to the end of the chapter, and we see that two new kings get appointed in the land of Judah.

Now remember, the land of Judah is the southern kingdom.

It's the part of Israel, the southern part which is still under the covenant that God has made with David, the household of David.

The north is completely separated.

They've abandoned God's covenant relationship.

They are no longer in covenant with God, but the south is.

And so we're hoping and anticipating and thinking that the next king of Judah is going to be one that is going to defeat Hazael and all of his wickedness.

And yet we read in verse 16, in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been the king of Judah, that Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, began to reign as the king of Judah.

He was 32 years old when he became king.

He reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

And what?

He walks in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done.

For the daughter of Ahab was his wife.

Men, be careful who you marry.

If her mother's name is Jezebel, don't marry her.

Jehoram is not the savior of Judah.

And after he dies, verse 25, in the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram.

I know it gets a bit confusing, but Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign.

And Ahaziah was twenty two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel, and he walked in the house way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

Who is going to save Israel from this tyrant?

It wasn't another David or Solomon or Asa or Josiah.

And we're left at the end of chapter 8 again in just bitter disappointment.

And wondering, will Judah ever learn?

Will Israel ever learn?

The next two kings just follow in the footsteps of all the rebellious kings of the north.

And so this chapter seems to end in many ways without hope.

Has God abandoned his covenant people?

Has he forsaken them?

And in the midst of all of this disappointment, there's a verse that just pops out, and that's verse 19.

Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for the sake of his servant David, as he promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

Even though we've heard verses like this before in the Old Testament, I'm glad that they're there periodically again and again and again because it reminds us that God preserves his covenant people.

That once again, in the midst of Israel's unfaithfulness, that God remains faithful to his promises, to his covenant that he made with David, the king, and to his household, a covenant that would promise that the line of Judah, that the king, uh that the line of David would be preserved, and through that a lamp would come to bring light to the world.

A covenant that is follows on from God's promise to Abraham, a promise that meant that there was going to be a people through whom the Savior would come, narrowed down to the tribe of Judah, to the line of David.

God's covenant promise really ultimately is the only thing that is preserving these people from a complete annihilation under the hands of Hazael or any other enemy that comes their way.

God says there would be a light.

But that light is not any of the kings of Judah.

It's certainly not of the kings of Israel.

But rather, that lamp that would come to save a people, to bring light into the world and save his sons forever, would be the one lion of the tribe of Judah, the branch of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the light of the world, and the only one who saves us from all of our greatest enemies, that being sin and death.

You see, the only thing that preserves these people from utter annihilation is God's promise and God's covenant that he makes, and he swears by himself.

And if God allowed them to be wiped off the face of the earth, then he would be breaking his own covenant and therefore declaring himself unfaithful.

But God is always faithful.

And so you finish chapter 8, and it's like this wicked tyrant gets appointed in Syria.

These pathetic kings get appointed in Judah, and you're wondering where in the world is their hope?

And we're reminded in verse 19 that when all hope seems lost, when the world is against the people of God, and even when the people of God are against the true people of God, that we find comfort in the God who provides and protects and preserves.

And when it seems like things couldn't get any worse, when it seems like things can't get any worse in this world, in this life, remember God's covenant that He has made to us.

That's what we do every Lord's table.

We remember the covenant that God has made us in and brought us into and ratified with his blood.

And we are edified and encouraged and nourished spiritually as we are reminding again and again and again and again that there is actually hope.

That because God has made a covenant with us, that we are under his provision and his protection and his preservation, and that he will keep his church all the way to the end.

When the Lord Jesus returns, he returns to a church that is fully formed and built up.

It's not gone, it's all across the world because of God's covenant promise that he makes to us in the New Testament.

This covenant is strong enough to keep us in his grace all the way to glory.

And so as we look at the Shunammite woman, we see that God cares for, he protects, and he provides for his people.

Right now, under the bombs that are falling in the Middle East, God is providing for and protecting his people.

Right now, under persecution, God is providing for and protecting his people.

And I don't care what laws they pass in this nation, God will provide for and protect his people, and he will preserve his church in this land because he stakes his reputation and his name on it.

Stephen Sharnock says this the world may be a wilderness, but the church is a garden.

And if God waters the wilderness, will he not more tend to his garden?

If he oversees the flight of the birds, then how much more will he oversee the affairs of the church?

As the church is his treasure, he keeps a repository for his people and all that belongs to them.

He has a book of life for their names, a book of record for their members, a notebook for their speeches, a book of remembrance, and a book of providence for their preservation.

No matter how bad things get, no matter who sits on the throne of whatever nation surrounds us or whatever nation that we are in, God provides, protects, and preserves his people.

Let me ask you, are you part of God's people?

How do I get in to this covenant promise?

You get in by faith and faith alone.

Faith in Jesus Christ alone, the mediator of the better covenant, far better than the old covenant.

And so have you placed your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?

If not, you are going to come under the judgment of God.

It's inevitable.

You will face God's judgment and you will stand alone.

And none of us will stand and be able to stand and give account and say, yes, that we have fully kept all of God's requirements for ourselves.

But if you are under the protection of that covenant, you stand in Christ, and Christ bears all these things for you, and He promises to be with us even to the end of the age.

Continue on, brothers and sisters, no matter how hard things get.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.

Lord, please take the weakness of my words, Lord, and use it to encourage and bless your people.

Father, I pray that we would be reminded of that wonderful covenant promise you have made to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, forgive any of my failings, and Lord, take uh anything that I've missed, Lord, and and uh Father, speak to your people and and uh Lord, fill in those gaps.

Lord, we just do commit ourselves to you.

I bring your people before you today.

I lift them up to you.

I know they go out into the world this week, and Lord, they're going to be facing all sorts of trials and tribulations.

Lord, protect them, preserve them, keep their faith so that when we come again next week, we may be encouraged to walk faithfully with our God.

And we commit these things to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.