In his sermon, Mike Davenport discusses the complex topic of divine providence as outlined in the 1689 SLBC, focusing on paragraphs 5 to 7. He explains that God, in His wisdom, righteousness, and grace, sometimes leaves His children to face temptations and their own heart's corruption for several interconnected reasons: to chastise them for past sins, to reveal the hidden strength of their corruption, and to foster a closer dependence on Him. Davenport warns that this is a frequent occurrence meant to humble believers and increase their watchfulness against sin. He highlights how assurance of salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit and that sometimes a lack of assurance can lead believers to depend more on Christ. The sermon contrasts God's dealings with His people versus the wicked, noting that He blinds and hardens the latter due to their wickedness. Davenport also emphasizes the special care God has for His church, working all things for its good, and calls listeners to examine their hearts and responses to God's providence.

Continue on in chapter 5 of our confession. Lord willing we'll continue by looking at paragraphs 5, 6, and 7 of divine providence. Paragraph five. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruptions of their own hearts to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for other just and holy ends, so that whatsoever befalls any of His elect is by His appointment for His glory and their good." So as the writers seek to deal with a difficult subject, they want us at the outset to be certain of the character and attributes of God lest our experience dictate our thinking about Him. And That's often what happens, isn't it?

Things come up in the providence of God, and these circumstances dictate what we think of God, how we think of Him, how we see Him. Do you remember the words of the hymn that I quoted in the Sunday morning message last week? Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. So often that's the way we go about it. We seek to understand and judge what God is doing by our feeble sense.

What I feel like, I feel like, when I see this and I experience that, and we judge God by feeble sense. How often are we prone to hard faults of God when things do not go our way? Or we are tempted to think that God has somehow become uninvolved or he's distant. So the writers begin this paragraph with a reminder that the God of Providence is most wise. The God of Providence is most righteous, and the God of Providence is most gracious in all of His dealings with all of His people.

So this is the one from whom these things come, the things that they're getting ready to talk about and to share come from this God. Most wise, most righteous, and most gracious. So after introducing The first cause that we studied last week, God is the first cause, after introducing the first cause of this particular providential acting, this great God of ours, they point to a particular providence or happenings of providence that God brings into the lives of His children, leaving them for a season to manifold temptations and to the corruptions of their own hearts. So note a few things that they highlight as they write in the confession. First of all, doth leave.

God doth leave. Doth leave. God doth leave. He removes, He removes His sustaining, keeping, protecting protecting influence. He leaves us in a susceptible state and he has not removed his presence.

Okay, it's not a removal of his presence. God does not, cannot remove his presence. He is omnipresent. Okay? God will be in hell throughout all eternity, But there will be none of His mercy, none of His grace, none of His good gifts present, but He will be there judging unbelievers for all eternity.

So it's not that His presence is gone, but He simply removes his supernatural provision from his people and he doth leave often times. Often times. This means frequently. This is a hard pill to swallow frequently God does this many times God does this in the lives of his children. They don't use were a word like occasionally They don't use a word like occasionally.

They don't use a word like sometimes or rarely. That's what we would like, right? God rarely does this. He sometimes does this. He occasionally – that's not the word they use – God oftentimes leaves.

And they are convinced by Scripture and by the examples given to us in Scripture of this fact that God oftentimes leaves His children. But the next words, for a season, for a season, And we heard that this morning, right? When our brother was preaching to us, he talked about these trials. It's not forever. There's an end to them.

There's a restoration at the end. All right, we saw that in the Psalms last week That God has an intended purpose. There is rest there is relief at the end of those anxieties that Persecution that which we are undergoing is for a season. He does not leave us in this state forever. It is for a season, a period of time that is dictated by Him who is most wise, most righteous, and most gracious." And we see this wisdom, this righteousness, this graciousness to us in that it's for a season.

Bless God, it's for a season. But then we have the words, his own children. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does oftentimes leave for a season his own children. Not the children of another, his own, his own. Those whom he has bought with the shedding of his own blood, his bride, his body.

Hebrews 12, 7 and 8 remind us of this fact. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten but if you are without chastening and I would add if you are without this leaving of God oftentimes for a season if you're without it of which all who are his sons have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons." Now to what does he leave these, his children, frequently? Well it's to manifold temptations and the corruptions of our own hearts. To manifold temptations and to the corruption of our own hearts.

That is, to temptations without and corruptions within. So there's a susceptibility. God removes His grace that sustains and keeps and leaves us to temptation without and the corruption that is within. We are then given the reasons why, because that's the first question, right? We don't have to be five years old to ask that question, why?

Why? Why would God oftentimes leave His own children to this? Will they give the reasons why? And they state three reasons. And please note that they use the word and in between these reasons.

They purposefully choose this word and and not the word or. There's a connectivity between these reasons stated. In fact, oftentimes you can find within the heart of a Christian all three of these at work in God's leaving them. All three of these can be at work. And so they choose the word and to show a connectivity between these three reasons.

The first reason they give as to why God would do this with His own children and do it oftentimes is to chastise them for their former sins or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts that they may be humbled. There is a pruning that is going on for the purpose of humbling. God deals with real and actual sin in the form of chastisement, but he also often peels back the cover of our hearts in order that we may see clearly the hidden strength – note those words – the hidden strength of the remaining corruption and deceitfulness of our own renewed hearts. It doesn't undo what God has done. There is a renewed heart.

The heart of stone has been taken out, a heart of flesh put in, but even in the renewed heart there's a deceitfulness. There's that law that Paul talks about that still works in my members such that I Oftentimes there's that word oftentimes find myself doing the things that I hate and the things that I love I do not do and so God peels back the cover to reveal unto us not to him he knows he knows But as to discover unto them unto us This hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of our hearts But there's a another reason and it's to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself. To raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself. So a distance is created to increase reliance, a distance in order to create a reliance upon Him. You know, many Christians long for assurance of their salvation.

And if I asked you to raise your hand how many of you would love to have the strongest of assurance every hand of every Christian would go up in this place we all desire that many are plagued with a lack of assurance and a struggle with doubts. But you know, assurance is truly a work of the Holy Spirit. Assurance is a work of the Holy Spirit. But this doctrine of the providence of God also points to the reality that sometimes a lack of assurance is often at the hand of the same Spirit To peel back, for Him to draw back and then to peel back the door of our heart to see this hidden strength. If struggle over and desire for true assurance are the work of the Spirit, then the intended purpose behind His work is to raise the Christian to a closer and constant dependence upon Christ for all support.

So don't despise the work of the Spirit. Don't despise the work of the Spirit. His Providence issues forth from wisdom, from righteousness, and from grace. The Puritans often said, let God plow. He intends a crop.

Let God plow. He intends a crop. But thirdly, we see the third reason is to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for other just and holy ends. To make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for other just and holy ends, to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin. So having been chastised for former sins and discovering afresh the strength of the inner corruption still found in the heart, having seen the results of failing to depend upon Christ for sustenance in life, the heart is moved to a greater sense and need for watchfulness lest it finds other occasions of sin.

Children think with me just a minute. You who are older, think back about the days when you made that transition from a bike with training wheels to one without. Some of you may be in the midst of that right now or maybe that's just around the corner for the youngest. That bike has the training wheels. You're free.

You can go wherever you want to. You have confidence. Then dad takes the training wheels off. And what happens for a while, dad holds the back of that bike and tries his best to keep up as you ride along and he's holding the back. You don't see him.

At first, you know he's there because just just have confidence in me I've got you I've got you and then comes that time dad I got it okay let go I'm fine I have it well guess what We as dads know oftentimes not ready. The child doesn't quite have it. He's not there yet. She's not there yet. But what do we as dads sometimes do?

Okay. You got it? And then two pedals, three pedals, and you start to see the lean in a crash, right? We as fathers know that that's good. It's good for our children to see you don't have it all together.

You're not there yet. You're more dependent upon Dad holding the back of that bike even though you can't see him he's there he's keeping you steady and it creates more of a watchfulness and you're not so ready to say I got it you can let go now I'm fine and it's it's for the child's good well that only in a small way kind of gives a picture of what God will do sometimes, but He does it and He's most wise, most righteous, and most gracious in even this providence. These things were all at work in the life of Peter. Peter's spirit was indeed willing, but his flesh was weak. He failed to grasp, he failed to understand the hidden strength of the corruption that remained in his own heart.

There was a lack of humility. He failed to see how dependent he was for the grace needed to keep his own heart. Having heard Jesus, having heard Jesus say, assuredly assuredly all the disciples would stumble that night Peter boldly answered even if all are made to stumble because of you. I will never be made to stumble." Then in reply to Jesus's answer to that, that he would actually deny Christ three times that very night, Peter's not done. He said, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

Well, the scenario ends, as we all well know, Peter and the other two disciples sleeping in the garden at a time that Jesus said required watchfulness and prayer lest they enter into temptation. Well Luke's gospel kind of pulls the curtain back and let us let us see what's happening behind what's what's you see on the stage. He pulls the curtain back and Jesus declares to him, Peter, Satan has asked for you. He wants to sift your soul like wheat. He wants to sift you like wheat.

In no way are we led to believe that Jesus denies this request from Satan. Satan has asked for you to sift you like wheat. There's no indication that Jesus said, nope, he's off limits. Rather, we see Jesus saying, I have prayed for you Peter, that when you are Restored to me that you will feed my sheep Rather than saying no no no no no Satan you you can't have Peter you can't sift him like wheat Jesus said I prayed for you Peter Satan's going to sift you, but I prayed for you that your faith would not fail. And you are going to fall, but I prayed for your restoration.

And so we see it in the very life of Peter, yet we also see in the life of Peter the working out of the reasons stated here in the text. Peter is chastised for his sin. He denied Christ. He's chastised for that former sin. The hidden strength of the corruption of his heart is revealed.

Oh, you're not gonna be made to stumble? You're not going to deny me three times? You're going to die with me this very night? He pulls back the cover, and Peter sees his own heart. And when Christ's eyes lock with Peter's there in the courtyard, Peter weeps.

He weeps. Why is he weeping? His heart has been revealed. There's a hidden he didn't have a clue of. Because of this, We see also a new dependence.

We see a new dependence on the Savior. They talk of this, right? It's to set a more constant dependence upon Christ for everything. And Peter has a new dependence on his Savior. Peter goes from a man frightened by a servant girl to a man who stands before thousands at Pentecost and says, you, You, you, you, you with murderous hands crucified God himself.

Here's the new dependence from a servant girl, no, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know the man. To say, I know the man, and you murdered him. Here's the new dependence that has come about because of God having left Peter for a season to manifold temptations and the corruption of his own heart. And having seen his own heart, Peter is more aware of the soberness and the vigilance that's needed in watchfulness, knowing that the devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour therefore be watchful be this is the man who fell asleep in the garden I'm tired watch and pray I hear you I'm tired but he says be sober be vigilant why He's been aroused to a new watchfulness he didn't have in the garden.

Why is he aroused to this new watchfulness? Because God left him for a season to these manifold temptations and the corruption of his own heart. Well The writers of the confession close this paragraph by assuring all of God's people that everything that happens to them, everything that happens in their lives comes by means of His providence, that it is all appointed by God Himself, that it will redound to His glory and that it will result in our good. C.H. Spurgeon wrote the following in regards to the promise found in Romans 8 28.

We all love that verse, Romans 8 28, and in morning and evening, this was one of the morning things that might have been from August the 5th, But Spurgeon wrote this, upon some points a believer is absolutely sure. He knows, for instance, that God sits in the stern sheets of the vessel when it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world's tiller and that whatever providence may drift or wherever it may drift, Jehovah steers it. That reassuring knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters and sees the Spirit of Jesus treading the billows and he hears a voice saying, It is I, be not afraid.

He knows too that God is always wise and knowing this he is confident that there can be no accidents, no mistakes, that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He can say, if I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have, if God so wills. The worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall to me if God ordains it. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. The Christian does not merely hold this as a theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact.

Everything has worked for good as yet. The poisonous drugs mixed in fit proportions have worked the cure. The sharp cuts of the lancet have cleansed out the proud flesh and facilitated the healing. Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results. And so believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings good out of evil, the believer's heart is assured and he is enabled calmly to meet each trial as it comes.

The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray, send me what thou wilt, my God, so long as it comes from thee. Never came there an ill portion from thy table to any of thy children Say not my soul from whence can God relieve my care? Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere His method is sublime his heart profoundly kind God never is before his time and never is behind So paragraph 6 as for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as the righteous judge, for former sin doth blind and hardened, from them He not only withholdeth His grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understanding and wrought upon their hearts, but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin and with all gives them over to their own lusts the temptation of the world and the power of Satan whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves even under those means which God useth for the softening of others. So this paragraph differentiates God's dealings with the wicked and ungodly from his dealings with his own people laid out before us in the paragraph before.

As a result of their sinfulness, he blinds and hardens them more. He withholds His grace so that their foolish hearts are darkened. It's like the the light outside right at 530 and 6 o'clock now it just goes darker and darker. That's what God does to these. Sometimes God goes as far as to remove all of His blessings and gifts that come through common grace and then expose the wicked to things that will further draw out their corruption.

He leaves them to their own lusts. He leaves them to the temptations of the world and he leaves them to the power of Satan, and not for a season, but for all eternity. And by this providential hand of God, the sinner hardens himself more and more under the very means that God uses to soften the hearts of others. And we see the realities of these things, do we not, in the life of Pharaoh? Because of his wickedness and ungodliness, God blinded and hardened his heart.

And the means that God used to soften and prepare the hearts of his people, to respond to Moses and to leave Egypt, the very things that he brought to the land of Egypt, those very means he used to harden the heart of Pharaoh. And then his lust for power and for revenge and for God's place led to Pharaoh's ultimate destruction. And so the writers here declare the purposes of God for His people are totally different than the purposes that He has for the wicked and for the ungodly. And then paragraph seven, as the providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner it taketh care of His church, and disposeth of all things to the good thereof." The blessings of God in this life come to all creatures. God sends His rain, His sunshine, and general blessings.

He sends them on the just and on the unjust as well. And God is working all things according to His own counsel, according to his own degree, by the hand of his own providence, he's doing all of these things. And in general, it reaches all creatures. But there's a special manner, a special manner that God's providence takes in the care of His church. And I would go so far as to say God does this for me as an individual.

He does this for you as an individual. He's bringing His hand of providence and making all things work together for your good. But there's a special manner in which God does this for the care of His church, His bride, His body. Again, in America we think so individualism, it just kind of rules our thinking, that we think of ourselves in light of Jesus Christ and we fail often to really contemplate the bride, the body, and the importance of the church. Psalm 87 verses 2 & 3 says, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. And that's what this last paragraph is talking about, this special manner of the providence of God for the good of His church. So I want to close by bringing just one application. Just one application. We have read of the distinguishing, differentiating providence of God.

A distinguishing, a differentiating providence of God. God deals with His people in a special way, and He deals with the wicked in a totally different way. Where are you? Where are you? When God reveals sin in your life, When He leaves you for a season to manifold temptations, when He leaves you for a season to the corruptions of your own heart, what is the response of your heart?

What is the response? A response of crushing or a response of liberation? A response of humility or a response of boldness, a response of watchfulness against sin, or an anticipation and longing for more fulfilling of the desires of the flesh. Is God drawing you to a greater dependence upon Christ, or are you experiencing an increasing comfortability in your sin? The writers have made a huge distinction.

They have given the reasons that God leaves His own people, oftentimes for a season, to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own heart. It's for punishment of sin to reveal the hidden strength of the corruption that remains, that we might be humbled. It's in order to draw us out to a greater dependence upon Him, and it's to set us on a path of vigilance, soberness, and watchfulness. Is that how you respond to God's providence in those seasons. If not, then beware lest your heart is being hardened.

Beware lest you be given over to more of the same lusts, to the temptations of the world and to the power of the devil. May God give us help and grace to understand and to test our own hearts even by the truths that we find in this confession of God's providence in the lives of His creatures. Well, let's look to Him in prayer. Oh God, thank You for Your many mercies to us. Thank You for revealing these things and for guiding the pen of these men to think well upon the words that they placed here, the reason they put them here, the biblical proof for why they put them into this confession.

And Lord, thank You for giving this confession to us. It is truly a gift to Your church to have had such a confession passed down for so many generations. Lord, help us to consider it more. And Lord, may the consideration of it draw our hearts out more in love to you and more in love For your word in Christ's name we pray all these things. Amen.