In our consideration of the Catechism, for those of you who are members here, you know that we have begun to consider the Apostles' Creed, which we confessed earlier. And in Lord's Day 9, we considered what we believe when we say, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And Lord's Day 10 then continues to consider this God, the Almighty Creator, discussing His providence. And in connection with, considering Lord's Day 10, we turn together to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, where we will read together, beginning at verse 16 through the end of the chapter. Focusing in a particular way in verses 22 through 31. Powerful sermon that Paul was able to preach there in Athens regarding the unknown God. Before we turn together to the Word of God, please also turn to page 17 in the back of this altar hymnal, to Lord's Day 10, page 17. There again, tonight we will express with our voices what it is we believe concerning these truths. Page 17, question 27 asks, What do you understand by the providence of God? Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which He upholds, as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them, that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but from His fatherly hand. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they can neither move nor be moved. We turn together to the Word of God, Acts 17, beginning at verse 16, as we give our attention to God's most holy Word. While Paul was waiting for them, that's Timothy and Silas, while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, what is this babbler trying to say? Others remarked, he seems to be advocating foreign gods. They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean. All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious, for as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. Now would you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands, and He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth. And He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, we are His offspring. Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, We want to hear you again on this subject. At that, Paul left the council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. There we end with a reading of God's Word. May he add his blessing to it. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we come to this passage, of course, we find Paul on his second missionary journey, but we also, in a sense, find him on the run for his life. He was not on the run for his life by his own choice, of course, but his Christian brothers, if we were to read beginning at the first verse of chapter 17, His Christian brothers had sent him from Thessalonica where the Jews became very, very angry with him and wanted to put him to death. They sent him from Thessalonica to Berea. And then once they found out that these angry Jews found out that Paul was there and were going to go there to get him, they sent him on to Athens. But here he is now in Athens of all places. And if his life was in danger for preaching the Gospel before, then surely it would be in danger in Athens. Now, we know, of course, that Athens, Greece, had quite a history. A history with regard to art and literature and philosophy. The glory days of Athens, of course, were over somewhat. They had existed maybe 300 to 500 years before. But still, at the time of Paul, Athens was very beautiful. It enjoyed fantastic architecture. It was the intellectual capital of the ancient world. And it is where Greek philosophy reigned supreme. which, of course, discussed the origin and the existence of all things and talked about different ideas with regard to divinity. And it was in Athens, as we read, that Paul encountered two particular schools of philosophy, the Epicurean school and the Stoic school, both of which enjoyed their birth somewhere around 300 B.C. Now, Epicureanism taught that there was no divine creator. There was no divine creator. Yet, Epicureanists were polytheistic. They believed in many gods, yet the gods, they said, had no influence in the world and no influence whatsoever on life. They were simply out there somewhere. And Epicureanism also taught that there was no afterlife and therefore no judgment. And it taught that pleasure is what counts. This life is all there is, so eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Pleasure, the absence of pain, the absence of anything bad, that's what they looked for. Stoics, on the other hand, were pantheists. They said that God is in everything, is a part of everything, and therefore everything is God as well. And Stoicism rejected the bodily resurrection. It said that everything was governed by fate. It said that we cannot avoid bad things. Whatever will be, will be. We simply have to calmly accept it, grin and bear it. These are some of the things that these two schools of philosophy taught, but both belief systems were completely opposed to Christianity. Completely opposed to everything that we confessed earlier tonight in the Apostles' Creed, the doctrine of God, of the soul, of sin, of redemption, of salvation in Christ, of the resurrection of the body, of life eternal. And that's what Paul faced in Athens, but also it was here in Athens that Paul encountered a culture that we might say was far from God-less, at least in one sense. Like mankind throughout the history of the world, the men of Athens had many gods. Too many to count. Maybe that's part of the reason John Calvin said that the natural heart is an idol factory. Paul found in Athens a city to be filled with temples and altars and statues. In fact, as we read, they wanted to be careful not to leave anybody out. So they also built an altar to an unknown God, just in case there was one, he encountered a culture that was not godless in that sense, but a culture that was godless in another sense. This culture that boasted of knowledge, high intellect, did not know the true God. And therefore it was here in Athens where we might think that Paul's preaching and teaching would surely get him killed. But God in his providence places Paul in Athens to preach and teach about the one and only God of providence. Now, the Catechism gives us a simple yet powerful picture of the providence of God when it talks about the hand of God. Now, boys and girls, we know that God doesn't literally have hands and feet like we do. He doesn't have a body. He is a spirit. But we also know that in Scripture, God speaks to us in such a way, coming down to our level, that we can understand Him. He talks about himself as having eyes and feet and hands and so forth. And therefore wisely the writers of the catechism borrow that same language. Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which he upholds as with his hand. All things in fact come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand. All creatures are so completely in his hand. The providence of God is about the hand of God. God's providence is more than simply the fact that He knows the future, which is true. It's more than simply the fact that He gives us all that we need, which is also true. But God's providence is about the ongoing existence and care of all that He has made, which serves the purpose of God's plan. Very simply, everything is in God's hand. Everything comes from God's hand. Everything is directed by God's hand. And therefore, we too are to depend on God's hand. Boys and girls, when I was young in Sunday school, and even in the Christian school I attended from time to time, we would sing, he's got the whole world in his hands. He's got the little tiny baby. He's got you and me, brother and sister. He's got the wind and the waves. He's got the whole world in his hands. And therefore, beloved, we consider tonight that Paul reveals the unknown God whose hand alone created, whose hand alone, whose hand faithfully governs, whose hand richly provides, and whose hand graciously redeems. And Paul reveals this unknown God with a powerful sermon. Again, in God's providence, Paul is given audience in the Areopagus, which we are to understand was a council of wise and learned men whose task it was to supervise, to watch over the education and the teaching that existed in Athens, especially with regard to religious matters. And as we read, they enjoyed new things. They wanted to hear about ideas that they had never heard before. And we also cannot overlook Paul's example. You see, Paul, we might expect he was moved there because his life was in danger. And we might think that, well, he's simply flying under the radar, you know? Waiting for Timothy and Silas to show up. But that's not what he's doing. He's not there on vacation like we would be to appreciate the history and the beauty and the architecture of Athens. But he is there doing, even in this situation, what God called him to do. He is preaching the Gospel. He's in the synagogue. And then he's in the marketplace. And that's what brought about the occasion to be here in the Areopagus before this council. And the Bible says that he is distressed. Also translated, he is angered. And we might say that it was a righteous anger because of their idolatry. And the offense that Paul knew that that brought to God. Athens, you see, was filled with idols. That's a simple statement, but as one ancient writer said, in some respects it was easier to find an idol in Athens than to find a man. Yet even with his righteous anger building up inside of him, notice Paul demonstrates, as he says in another place, being all things to all people. He speaks challengingly, yet charitably. We notice that in his address, men of Athens, simple to us. Yet that would have been an address of high esteem for them. They would have appreciated that. It would have caused them to say, hey, here's a man worth listening to. He respects us. And he also finds a point of connection. He finds a way in. He says, I notice that you are very religious. Notice a compliment. Now, in no way does Paul endorse their worship. In no way does he endorse their idolatry. And no way does he seem to say that their altar to the unknown God and their worship at this altar to the unknown God was in some way true worship of the one true God. Not at all. Instead, he points out their acknowledgement of what they don't know. And in essence, he very pastorally says, I think I can help you there. As he reveals the unknown God, first of all, whose hand alone created. He says, the God, the one and only who made the world and everything in it. And right away, he is standing up against Epicureanism, who said there is no creator. And against Stoicism, which says there are many gods. Yet those men couldn't argue with him, because by their own admission with this altar to the unknown God, they were saying, there might be one out there that we don't know about. Paul says his hand alone created. He is the God who made the world and everything, and he is the creator of heaven and earth. Notice, Paul knows his audience. He knows they're not Jews. He knows they did not know the Old Testament scriptures. And therefore, he does not come in barreling by saying, well, God says in Genesis 1, verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But yet Paul points to Genesis 1, verse 1. That God created everything. Nothing was left out. And Paul, in a sense, is telling them that this is the God of whom Isaiah says in Isaiah 40, who created the stars, who put them in place, who calls them by name, and by his power not one of them is missing. Paul is teaching them of the God who said to Job that it is the Lord who laid the earth's foundations. It is the Lord who sets the boundary of the sea. He is teaching them about the God of Matthew 10, of whom Jesus says cares for the sparrows and knows the number of the hairs on your head and mine because He is also the creator of the human race. Verse 25 says, He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Again, philosophy dealt with the origin of all things including man. So once again, Paul very tactfully and very pastorally, in essence, paraphrases Isaiah 42, verse 5, which says, This is what God the Lord says, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to His people and life to those who walk on it. And at the very same time, Paul points to their very own Greek philosophical heritage. In verse 28, he says, For in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring. There were some Greek philosophers that said in essence the same things regarding their gods, that in these gods we live and move and have our being. And there were two poets in particular, speaking of Zeus, that said we are his offspring. So again, Paul finds that point of connection and he takes that which is applied to Zeus and he applies it to the true God, to the unknown God. But very simply and very clearly, Paul preaches that this unknown God, beloved, does not exist by man's design or imagination. He does not depend on man to determine what kind of God He is. And He cannot be truly fashioned in the form of an idol in some way that does justice to His true being and nature. He cannot be contained in material things. He Himself is the God who created the men who make the idols. He created the things of which idols are made, but He is the very one who gives man His existence and life and breath. And also in the second place, He faithfully governs man and all creation with His hand. Paul says the God who made all these things is the Lord of heaven and earth. He is the Lord, the Master, the Ruler. And not only did God create all things, And He didn't, as some say, then move back and let it all take place as it would. But He faithfully governs it as the ruler. He is not just the God of the rain or the God of vegetation or the God of the mountains or the God of fertility or the God of anything else that man might assign to Him. But He is in charge of it all. He is the one who commands the wind and the rain. And he is also the one who directs the hearts of kings, as Proverbs 21, verse 1 says. He faithfully governs as the ruler, but also as the developer of races and nations. He created all of mankind from one and set them in their time. He determined their times and their places, when they would live and where they would live. Again, the philosophical teachings that were surrounding these men at this time is that if there is a God of some sort, which they didn't believe there was, at least he isn't involved in the details of man's life. He doesn't care what goes on down here. Paul's saying, no, he's determined every bit of it. And all of mankind has one thing in common. We are all one family, you see. For the Greeks, if you were not a Greek, you were a barbarian. You were of the lower class. Sometimes those of us of Dutch persuasion have joked, If you're not Dutch, you're not much. Hopefully we're joking when we say that. Yet Paul reminds the men of Athens that all people, no matter what color, no matter what tongue, are of the same family, the family of humanity. And Moses said that God set the boundaries for the people. And the men of Athens were to understand that they were who they were. They lived when and where they lived, not by chance, not by fate, but because God who made them determined it. It is God who truly controls birth. It is God who truly plans the size of a family, not us. It is God who has determined that we here would live in this day and age, in this country, in this place of prosperity, and not in a third world country. We don't know why. And He has determined that there would be some who do live in those third world countries where they don't have the riches that we enjoy here, But they struggle. They die at young ages. Again, we don't know why, but God has determined it. And He is also then, He faithfully governs as the upholder. Question 27 asks us again, What do you understand by the providence of God? Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which He upholds, as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures. He upholds all that He has made and makes sure that it continues to do what He made it to do. And so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand. All that he continues to uphold in its existence, those things that affect us in life, come from his hand. You see, beloved, without his power, which is always present, there's never a second when it's not, and is everywhere present, Without that power, nothing can continue to exist, including us. If God were to remove His hand of power even for a second, I suspect that everything would just disintegrate. It would be gone. But it's only by God's power that the laws of nature, gravity, the air temperature, the atmospheric pressure, the stars and their courses, it's only by God's power that the laws of nature continue to operate as He has made them. It's only by God's power that the laws of the human body continue to function as they do. You see, beloved, this is quite a confession that we make. And the question we need to ask ourselves seriously and sincerely is, do we believe it? I mean, after all, the Catechism was written 445 years ago, 1563. And Paul preached the sermon some 1,500 years before that. And we know so much more today than what they knew 455 years or 45 years ago, And especially back in Paul's day, at least we think. I mean, come on, think about this. Leaf and blade? Wow, fertilizer takes care of that. Rain and drought? Well, that's governed by high and low atmospheric pressure. Fruitful and lean years? Well, sure, we kind of take a chance with the rain, you might say, but that has to do with our planting and our planting and harvesting and irrigation systems and genetic engineering. Food and drink? Well, we have import and exports and canning and preservation and refrigeration technologies to help us out there, as well as transportation to move food around. Health and sickness, well, we can chalk that up to penicillin and vaccines and vitamins and using that gym membership that Pastor Donovan said this morning doesn't get used as it maybe ought to. Prosperity and poverty, well, again, we know that that's governed by trade and hard work and the economy. Do we really believe this? And by the grace of God, we say, yes, we do, because God himself says it. We don't just confess these things because they sound good. You can look on page 17 and look up all those scripture references there and see that everything that we confess and those questions and answers is strictly from the Word of God. But as well, think of what the Lord said to Job. When the Lord questions Job in chapters 38 and 39, Just a sampling. But verse 12, the Lord says, Have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place? Or verse 22, Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? And he asks in verse 25, Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain and a path for the thunderstorm to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass. And then I really like what the Lord says in chapter 39, verses 26 and 27. Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom? Does the eagle soar at your command? And of course the answer is no. Not by Job's command, not by your command, not by mine, but by the command of God. Nothing happens by chance. Whether you enjoy a bumper crop or a hailstorm wipes it out. Whether we have a beautiful day or a firestorm comes through and wipes out everything in its path. Whether you enjoy a healthy life or sickness is part of your life. Whether you enjoy success or you are struggling with failure, nothing happens by chance. In Proverbs 16, verse 33, the writer says, The lot is cast into the lap. Also translated, die, like dice, boys and girls. The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. Even when you play a board game with mom and dad and you throw that dice, whatever number of dots ends right side up, it's not luck. It's not chance. It's all subject to the will of God, to the power of God. In Proverbs 16, 9, the writer says, In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. How many times haven't you had it? You've planned to do something, and for whatever reason you couldn't do it, and you found out it was best that you didn't do it. The Lord determines His steps. And when it comes to the providence of God, no doubt like me, maybe you struggle because we cannot wrap our minds around this. We cannot understand how all of this works. We cannot understand how God uses the situations of life, how He uses the means, how He uses the laws of nature that He has created, how He uses our technology. We cannot even begin to understand how He uses sin and evil and our disobedience to carry out His plan. Yet He does. And through it all, His hand in the third place richly provides. Verse 24 says, again, that the Lord does not live in temples built by hands, and He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. He is not dependent on the hands of man. He needs nothing from man to make him who and what he is. He's not like us, like a sick man who needs a physician. But God needs nothing. He has completed Himself. Idols need temples to sit in where they might collect dust. And according to man's reasons, idols need to be supplied with sacrifices and offerings to appease them or to get them to act, to secure the services that man says that these so-called idol gods give. But the true God is the one of whom Solomon prayed, the heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. He is not dependent on the hand of man, but he is dependable. He does not need anything. Instead, he provides all things for everyone from his hand for our very existence. It's true for the animals. Psalm 104 says that He provides the springs that give the wild beasts their water. And we read in that chapter, Then all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified. The same is true of the whole earth. Psalm 104, verse 13, The earth is satisfied by the fruit of His work. And Jesus says of the plants that He clothes the lilies of the field. There's a bug flying around. Sorry about that. And the same is true for mankind, beloved. Very simply, Jesus says in Matthew 5.45, He causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. He richly provides. So maybe not the riches like you and I would like to see Him provide. But for this life, He provides us with the riches of existence, of hearts that beat from the moment He creates it to the time that we take our last breath, for lungs that breathe without us even thinking about it. For again, the laws that He has created to keep us in our place, He richly provides for our very existence. But also we know that as believers, He provides much more. And sometimes God provides a lack of what we think we need, and even sometimes He provides sickness and poverty for the purpose of drawing one to Himself, or for the purpose of drawing one closer to himself. Paul reveals the unknown God that he is nothing like the gods to whom man gives names, like Baal. He is nothing like the philosophies of Epicureanism or Stoicism or other philosophies of the world. But he is the one whose hand alone created, whose hand faithfully governs, whose hand richly provides, and in the last place, whose hand also graciously redeems those whom he has chosen. You see, notice again, Paul is not flying under the radar. He is doing what God has called him to do. His ultimate purpose is to introduce the men of Athens to the only God of salvation, the one that when you know him by faith, he reveals the foolishness of idolatry. Paul makes it clear that all of mankind whom God has created is called to seek God. God has determined their times and places. And then verse 27, God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. He's not saying, like the Stoics, that God is a part of everything. But God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. And wherever He has placed mankind, wherever man might call out to Him, He is to be found. But man is called to seek God from whom man has been separated because of sin. When he talks about reaching out, the idea there is that of stumbling around in darkness as if blind. It's also translated in some versions, groping around. Like you're blind and you're trying to feel your way around for something to hang on to. And that describes men of every nation, blind and groping around in sin, including the men of Athens. And Paul would have them and us know that in everything God does, he reveals himself. As he says in Romans chapter 1, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. In all that God does, He reveals Himself. And that means that the rising sun in the morning or the very fact that you and I are here tonight and we're breathing, that is a testimony to the truth of God and to the providence and the upholding power of God. Yet because of sin, man's heart is darkened. And Paul says they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. And the numerous altars and idols of Athens were proof that this was true of the men of Athens. They're blind. They're groping around as blind men. And this includes their altar to the unknown God is proof that they didn't truly know Him. But Paul was gently, yet firmly, he says, though you are very religious, you've got it all wrong. You're blind, but there is hope. In verse 30, he says, In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Again, the people of Athens were being taught that if there is a God, He doesn't care. He's not involved in the lives of the people. And we don't have to worry about the life to come because there isn't one. If there is one, I'm sure it's going to be fine. But we don't have to worry about our sin. We don't have to worry about a judgment of any sort. Paul says that's not the case. This unknown God, this one that you don't know, He is the true God who will judge. This unknown God will not tolerate challengers to His throne. He will not tolerate pretenders, imitators, fakes. who would only serve to destroy you and me, but He will judge those who reject Him. But there is redemption provided in Jesus Christ, who is the greatest provision of this unknown God, and who is the only way to know this unknown God. Again, as we were reminded this morning, as long as one is in paganism, they can never know the true God. They will never know the true God. The only way to know Him is through Jesus Christ. Redemption is provided in Jesus Christ, who was preached by Paul. Remember, that's why Paul was given this audience with this council. Because he was preaching the good news of Jesus Christ and the resurrection. And what's ironic is that earlier in verse 18, we read that they called him babbler. That word means seed picker. Referring to birds picking up seed that had been scattered on the ground. It became then known of men who would walk the marketplace and pick up scraps of food. And then it became part of Athenian slang for those who were outside their literary circles, who were considered to be ignorant, who were considered to be those who had picked up tidbits of knowledge that was not their own, and therefore they are speaking of second-hand things with nothing to back it up. Who is this babbler? Yet we know that Paul comes with the truth and the knowledge of the greatest teacher. And the one, of course, that if you don't know him by faith, you will be forever lost. That apart from him, you can never know the unknown God. Redemption is provided in Jesus Christ with a guaranteed result. As the Lord says in Proverbs chapter 8, I love those who seek me, and those who seek me find me. And, beloved, that was true for Paul's audience, and it is just as true for you and me today. Yet those who find their hope of salvation and their righteousness not in themselves but outside of themselves only in Jesus Christ, they find the true almighty God, the maker of heaven and earth, and they find the comfort of his fatherly hand. Because Jesus Christ paid for the sin and ignorance of his people and secured that saving relationship with God, his resurrection proves it. Yet those who reject and continue to worship and serve gods of their own making face eternal danger, and they will be judged by the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ for failing to recognize God's provision of life and breath and all things, for failing to recognize God's provision for eternal life in Jesus Christ. But for those who find him by the grace of God, to every single one who finds him by the grace of God, To them, He gives comfort for lives. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient when things go against us. The older version says, patient in adversity. Thankful when things go well. Thankful in prosperity. And for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they can neither move nor be moved. Now, we all know, even the boys and girls who have gotten hurt in some way, all know that we will face adversity. We will face bad things in life. But unlike the Stoics, we are not simply to grin and bear it. Sometimes we hear the phrase lately, it is what it is. If you think about it, that's a Stoic phrase. Obviously, things are what they are. But you see, when we face adversity, and it is what it is, We are to face it in faith. We are to face it with trust. And we can be patient, far from letting it drive us away from God. We can be patient knowing that God is using it for my good. He allows us to actively seek to get out of adverse situations using the means that He has given. But while we face it, we are to be content knowing that it's only temporary and knowing that the riches of heaven are mine. We will face adversity. we might enjoy prosperity. Things might go well for us. But unlike the Epicureans, we are not to indulge in it wildly that it would draw us away from God, that we might think that we are independent of God. But we are to recognize it as a gift from God and the result is to be praise and glory and thanksgiving directed to Him because it's a foretaste of the riches of heaven. But also we can be confident for the future of this life and the life to come knowing that God has his best for his children in mind and he will be faithful to complete it and he will keep us safe in his hand. Beloved, this message is for us and we are to be reminded to put away the idols of our own making or maybe not little trinkets that we bow down to but the idols of our own making like money and success and relationships or our own reason and intellect Whatever it might be, anything that we put in the place of God, the Heavenly Father, and the truth of Him. Anything in which we might put our confidence before God. Get rid of it. And we are to remember the one true God, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who upholds all that He has made, the one in whom we live and move and have our being, apart from whom nothing matters and there is no hope. And this is a message to be lived. In all situations and circumstances of this life, we are to give evidence, by the grace of God, of knowing, by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. And give evidence of living in confidence and in the comfort of His providing hand. And we are called to worship this God alone because of who He is, because of what He has done, because of what He is doing, because of what He will do. And this is a message that is to be preached to a dying, a blind, and a hopeless world of the only hope, Jesus Christ and his love. Of the one, only God who cares for us completely, perfectly, and eternally and is more powerful than anything else. That's why Paul wasn't afraid. You see, beloved, God's providence means his perfect care for you and me both now and forever. God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, we are so completely in his hand that as Jesus says, no one can snatch us out of it. Nothing can break us from his powerful hand. And once we know the true God through Jesus Christ by faith, he reveals the foolishness and the hopelessness of idolatry. As Psalm 115 says, They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have hands and feet, but they're useless. And those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. But as the Lord says in Psalm 144, Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. Why? Because He not only made you and me, but He sees to our care both now and forevermore in Christ Jesus. Amen.