After the Counsel of His Own Will (Ephesians 1:11-14) - Pastor Jonathan Williams

We're studying our confession of faith. Tonight

we're gonna come to this topic of providence

and I want to read a summary statement about

God's providential care for all things in his

church tonight from Ephesians chapter one, verses

11 through 12. So let's turn to Ephesians one.

We'll be there this evening for a little while.

before we enjoy some wonderful food and fellowship.

Ephesians chapter one, beginning in verse 11

through 12, this is Paul's great doxology of

encouragement to the Ephesian church, a church

that really felt very marginalized and alone

in the society in which they lived. And so he

breaks out into this long run -on sentence. of

praise to God and encouragement to God's people

for all that he has done for them. And one of

the things that he wants the Ephesians to know

most of all is how God is working in all their

circumstances. So let's hear that tonight, Ephesians

Ephesians 1:11

1 verse 11. In him, that is in Christ, we have

obtained an inheritance. having been predestined

according to the purpose of him who works all

things according to the counsel of his will so

that we who were the first to hope in Christ

might be to the praise of his glory. We're going

to focus our time on that. phrase from verse

11, who works all things according to the counsel

of his will and following tonight. Our confession

speaks of providence this way, touching on themes

there from those verses. In Westminster Confession

of Faith chapter five, section one, it says about

God's providence that God, the creator of all

things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern

all creatures, actions, and things from the greatest

even to the least by his most wise and holy providence

according to his infallible foreknowledge and

the free immutable counsel of his own will to

the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power,

justice, goodness, and mercy. Perhaps you've

said something like this before. That's a God

thing. Or that was providential. In fact, I've

used those very words. You may think in terms

of something happening that's rapid and say,

well, somebody was looking out for me upstairs.

Well, we say these things and we tend to believe,

because we tend to believe, I think, that God,

yes, intervenes in history, in current events,

but practically, at other times, we believe that

some things... are left to chance. Yes, God is

at work and he's active, but there are other

things that sort of are left to blind chance

or to luck or to fortune or to fate or whatever

mystical force is out there. So we need to see

this scripture. We need to appropriate the truth

of our confession, which is a summary of what

scripture teaches. And we need to see that God

is totally and sovereignly in control and operationally

at work in all of the details of this world.

It's a mystery. It's hard to understand. It leaves

us with unanswered questions, which we have to

trust that God has the answers to, and sometimes

we don't. But if we're going to understand truly

how majestic and sovereign our God is if we're

going to have spiritual Stability that trusts

God and praises God in every circumstance. We

need to see the depth of what is in the scripture

tonight Because God is actively governing and

preserving everything because he's actively and

actively preserving and governing everything

he is completely worthy of all of our trust and

completely worthy of all of our praise. We see

in the scripture that he works all things. Our

God works all things according to the counsel

of his will. The first thing I want us to see

is that nothing escapes His governing, his disposing,

his direction, his upholding care, he is at work

in all things and he's intimately connected with

every thread of history, every thread of your

life, every thread of Fairview's story down to

the last detail. Charles Spurgeon puts it so

beautifully and eloquently based upon scripture

which we'll study in detail supporting this statement.

But he says this about God's providential care.

Listen to this. So beautiful from Spurgeon. I

believe that every particle of dust that dances

in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or

less than God wishes. That every particle of

spray that dashes against the steamboat has its

orbit as well as the sun in the heavens. that

the chaff from the hand of the winterer is steered

as the stars in their courses. The creeping of

an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as

the march of the devastating pestilence. The

fall of the leaves from the poplar is as fully

ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche. Spurgeon

is saying. God is actively at work governing

and ordaining and ordering all things. And that's

what Paul is saying here. And in fact, scripture

shows us that over and over again throughout

the story of God's redemption, we see that He

is actively at work preserving and governing

all His creatures and all their actions. We're

gonna turn to some different passages tonight

so it'll be helpful for you to have your Bible

in front of you and I will read some as well.

But we see that God determines the beginning

from the end. That's one of the big things and

one of the first things I want us to see tonight.

God determines the beginning from the end. Daniel

chapter four. Daniel chapter four verse 35. Keep

one finger in Ephesians here. Daniel chapter

four. This is Nebuchadnezzar's confession here.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted

as nothing. And he does, according to his will

among the hosts of heaven, among the inhabitants

of the earth, no one can say, stay his hand or

say to him, what have you done? He does according

to his will. Nebuchadnezzar also confesses elsewhere

that God's purposes can't be thwarted, that he

declares the beginning from the end. He orders

also everyday ordinary events. All of the movements,

all of the actions, everything that happens in

our lives. Look with me at Proverbs chapter 16.

Proverbs 16 · chapter mention

Proverbs chapter 16 verse 9 puts it this way.

Proverbs 16:9

I'm having us turn to these places because I

think these are key texts that we need to remember

and key texts that we need to learn where they

are in order to understand the depth of God's

providential care. Look at Proverbs 16 verse

Proverbs 16:19

19. Or rather 16 verse nine. 16 verse nine, the

heart of man plants his way, but the Lord establishes

his steps. Acts chapter 17 verse 28 gives a similar

Acts 17:28

idea where it says that in him we live and move

and have our being. God orders our steps and

in all of mankind, not just his people's lives,

but in all of mankind, Paul speaks that everybody's

life, all of his movements are ordered by, governed

by, and directed by, in some way shaped by God,

who is totally in control. Our God is sovereign

over the free actions of men, even in our sanctification.

As we are called to labor for God, God says He's

also at work. You remember that scripture in

Philippians chapter 12 verse 13, work out your

salvation with fear and trembling for it is God

who is at work within you both to will and to

work according to his good pleasure. Yes, God

is at work even in the very things he's called

us to be responsible to do. God is at work in

the natural world, in the details of the cosmos,

in the details of the lives of ordinary animals.

Psalm 147 verse four. God determines the number

of the stars and he calls them by name Matthew

Matthew 10:29

chapter 10 verse 29 Jesus says are not two sparrows

sold for a penny and not one of them will fall

apart from your father Not one sparrow falls

to the ground apart from God's will not not one

star goes Missing because he calls them all by

name the great things in nature and even God's

smallest creatures are under His sovereign direction,

control, provision, the weather. Job and the

Lord have this great conversation, and God gives

Job this further deepening understanding of His

great sovereign majesty in Job chapter 38, where

Job 38 · chapter mention

He speaks to Job. and says to Job, have you entered

the storehouses of snow, or have you seen the

storehouses of hail, which I have reserved for

the time of trouble, for the day of battle and

war? Yes, our God is in charge of the weather.

You know, they don't know what the weather's

going to be. It seems like the more they predict

it, the less they can actually know. But God

does, because he has the storehouses of snow.

He's in charge of the times and the seasons.

And what comfort it is in this day when we look

out on the news and we see this conflict between

this world leader and that world leader and this

world leader said this thing about that world

leader and these two got in a spat with each

other and there's this constant seeming turmoil

in the western world and with the eastern world

now. What comfort it is to know that the Lord

of the universe is in charge of even the rulers

of this world. He says, in Daniel chapter two

verse 21, that he removes kings and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to

those who have understanding. Even the very decisions

that are being made right now in Washington DC

or Beijing or London or Moscow or Kiev or wherever

are not happening apart from God's sovereign.

Design, the King's heart, Proverbs 21, is a stream

of water in the hands of the Lord. He turns it

wherever He will. Yes, God is in charge over

the great ones and the little ones, even over

calamity. And I think this is the hardest thing

for us, isn't it? When we think about disaster,

when we think about pain, when we think about

evil, it is so hard sometimes for us because

we continue to ask why. Sometimes the Lord just

simply says it is so. Trust me. Amos 3 verse

Amos 3:6

6, the trumpet is blown in a city and the people

are not afraid. Does disaster come to a city

unless the Lord has done it? Yes, God is in charge

of the hurricanes, the earthquakes, the natural

calamities. And as hard as it is and as incomplete

as our knowledge is of evil, God is even at work

ordering evil for the good of His people. overruling

it, using it, directing it, disposing of evil

forces for his glory and our good. Study the

life of Joseph. Oh, study the life of Joseph

the next time it seems like you are in a mess

or in a pit that you'll never get out of. For

he was in a pit, and then he was in another pit,

and he was forgotten. Abandoned, given up for

dead. So many things happened to him and his

brothers knew that he had been wronged by them.

They had wronged him so much and they were afraid

towards the end of Joseph's story that he might

do something to them for all the wrong that they

had done to him. And how does he summarize it?

Well, Joseph knows that God was at work. God

was at work even in the evil that they intended

towards him. God meant it. Genesis 50. Verse

20, God meant it for good. Not even the demons

escape God's sovereign control. Not even Satan

is outside of his perfect plan. You remember

when Satan came to Job or Satan came to the Lord

seeking to afflict Job. Throughout that story,

Satan is not allowed to go any further than God

wills for God's purpose in Job's life. Even God

sends these evil spirits into the prophets in

1 Kings chapter 20 verse 22 through 23. I don't

1 Kings 20:22–23

know how to explain all of that other than the

scripture says it. You can look that passage

up, but you have to see and you have to know

that God was working out good ends through his

glorious and perfect means, yet without sin,

because God cannot sin, God cannot lie, God can't

tempt anyone. Still, he was sovereignly in charge

of the evil spirits using even their intentions.

for his glorious ends. I think understanding

God's providence in evil is best understood and

best accepted, maybe not understood, but accepted

when we look at the greatest evil ever perpetrated.

And I want us to look at that together. So let's

turn together to Acts chapter four, verse 27

and 28. We're covering a lot of ground tonight,

so we're flying at the speed of an SR -71 at

about 60 ,000 feet, if you're a military type,

but this is good for us because we are getting

a bird's eye view of how God providentially is

at work in all things. Acts chapter four, verse

27 through 28. This is the apostles, they're

summarizing what happened when Jesus was crucified.

What was actually going on? Where was God? What

was man's responsibility? How do we make sense?

How did the apostles help the Jews to make sense

of what happened there? Well, listen to what

they say here. For truly, in this city, there

were gathered. together against your holy servant

Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius

Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples

of Israel to do whatever your hand had predestined

to take place and so in that summary statement

even the very wicked actions of Pontius Pilate

and here let's not think for a moment that Herod

and Pontius Pilate were acting righteously. No,

theirs was the height of wickedness because they

put to death the least deserving of death. They

put to death the innocent Lord of glory. This

is the worst crime ever committed. This is the

greatest injustice ever done and God is the one

who predestined it. God is absolutely in charge

even over the worst of evil sometimes that doesn't

satisfy our intellectual curiosity yet the Bible

states it and so we must rejoice in it that God

is in charge in all things he works all things

after the counsel of his will he's at work in

all things and he's working them for our good

and he's working them after the counsel of his

will It's good to know that our God is not capricious.

It's good to know that our God takes counsel

in himself and that he has a will that will be

accomplished. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

He is most holy, wise, and pure. He cannot lie.

He cannot sin. He does not change his mind. Isn't

it good to know that your Lord doesn't change

his mind? He has a preconceived plan that he

works out. Yes, man is responsible for his sin.

Those things are held in tension in scripture,

but God is governing this world totally and completely

in a way that is suitable and doesn't require

any outside influence because it's according

to the counsel of his will. His will that's perfect,

powerful, loving. holy and governs all His creatures

and all their actions. He calls us to pray, He

calls us to plead with Him, but He doesn't need

our advice. He doesn't need our advice, no. He's

going to carry out His plan perfectly from the

sparrow that falls from the tree out there to

the steps you take tomorrow morning. And may

it encourage you, may it encourage you to know

that as He is working all things after the counsel

of His will, He is making all things beautiful

in His time. Remember this grand story of redemption,

that in the beginning there was a garden and

there was man, and there was perfect communion

with God, and then man fell into sin and everything

went bad. And the rest of the story is how God,

through a Redeemer, would put all things to right

and bring His people into a renewed creation,

into a garden city where things would be perfect

without the possibility of falling or sinning

again. That is the great goal for which God orders

all things. He is not capricious. He is not whimsical.

He has a purpose and a plan to make all things

beautiful in His time and in your life as well,

because you're part of that plan. His plans are

for good. to prosper his people, to give them

a hope and a future. Well, what does that future

look like? Well, you see a little bit of that

picture in verse 12. He is working all things.

Let's look at verse 12. Back in, we've been on

a little bit of a journey through the scriptures.

Let's go back to Ephesians chapter one, verse

12. Ephesians 1, 12. Who works all things according

to the counsel of his will, verse 12, so that

we who were the first to hope in Christ, might

be to the praise of His glory. Ah, there's the

goal with which He is ordering all things for

the life of the Ephesians. There's the goal for

which He is ordering all things in your life

and in my life. For those who were the first

to hope in Christ. See how He is working for

our greatest good. He's provided a certainty

of hope and secured that hope for you in Christ

with His own blood so that now, Paul would say

of you, you are seated in the heavenly places

in Christ Jesus. You may be seated in these pews,

but your life is also anchored in the throne

room of the King. You've been predestined. You've

been chosen before the foundation of the world

your salvation story from the beginning to the

end is decreed by God and all of the details

That will get you from grace to glory all of

those details. He's working out Right here right

now because he's the one who orders your steps

and in him you live and move and have your being

Do not think tonight that you exist apart from

His sovereign, loving, tender care. For we who

are the first to hope in Christ might be, and

here is the great goal to the praise of His glory.

You see why He's doing what He is doing so that

you would be an object of His glory. What higher

standing, what greater delight could you have

than to be an object of the King's glory? to

give Him glory. What higher privilege could it

be than to be a child of God called to hope in

Him and called to praise Him forever? What a

glorious thing it is to be a Christian. You exist

as the apple of His eye, to be a star in His

crown, to be a treasure to the praise of His

glory. And that's why He's working all things,

to bring you home, to be there with Him, to glory

in Him, to enjoy Him forever and evermore. Think

of that greatest glory you've enjoyed on earth,

whether it was your honeymoon, or the day you

graduated from something, or the time you got

that car, or that promotion, or whatever that

greatest joy is, it doesn't even compare, it

doesn't begin to compare to the endless joy and

delight that we were made for as we glory in

Him and He delights in us. That's the end for

which God is working all things according to

the counsel of His will so that you and I would

exist and be forever to the praise of His glory.

And so that's what God is doing in your life

right now. I don't know specifically what He's

doing in your stories and those things are part

of His secret counsel, Ecclesiastes chapter seven.

says that man doesn't know what is to be, but

there's still nothing left to chance. And though

we do not know exactly what is next, we know,

no matter what, what God is doing in what is

next. He is working out His glorious purpose

for your salvation so that you would be a treasure

to the praise of His glory. And so what is that?

do for us. Where does that leave us tonight?

Tonight is I leave you, but tonight is the Lord

doesn't leave you. It leaves us in a place where

we once again can trust Him. If He really is

working for this great and glorious end of our

salvation, of our glory and joy and Him forever,

then we really can trust Him all the way. We

can't know the future, but we know that God is

still at work bringing all things together for

our salvation. So rejoice in that. We know that

he has the best in store for us. Rejoice in that.

He's destined us for holiness. Let's rejoice

in that. His word and his mighty acts prove his

utter reliability so we can trust him for our

tomorrows because God has been our shepherd.

Hasn't He been your shepherd all your life long?

All the way? Hasn't your Savior led you? And

because He's been faithful all the way to you

and because He's been faithful to give you His

greatest gift, His only Son, can't you trust

that He will give you every other little thing

that you need on Monday morning? Calls us to

trust. And it calls us simply to praise him for

his glorious grace. John Flavel says, Providence

is like a curious piece of tap, I want you to

listen to this, because this is a beautiful quote.

Providence is like a curious piece of tapestry

made of a thousand shreds, which single appear

useless, but put together they represent a beautiful

history to the eye. We don't know. Looking at

all the threads of our life, how things fit together.

But once God has done his handiwork, there is

something beautiful to the praise of his glory.

So painful at times and sometimes it's so hard

to praise him in the midst of the sorrows and

the tragedies. But he is the God of our triumphs

and our joys as well as our tragedies and our

sorrows. And not one person, not one power, not

one event is left outside of his control, his

care, his disposition and direction. His providence

sustains and guides our every breath. He's working

in us to make us like his son and to bring us

home to be with him. That's something to sing

about. That's something to rejoice in. So let's

praise God. Because He gives you Himself and

right now, right now where you are, He is working

everything to accomplish His greatest good in

your life. Let's pray.