SERMON TITLE: A Providential Plan
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1-3
SPEAKER: Matt Heft
DATE: 1-26-25
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Sermon Discussion Guide
Take notes here
Good morning, my name’s Matt Heft. I’m honored to serve as an elder for Gateway Church. I hope you know how much you’re loved by God, and Pastor Josh, and all of the elders at Gateway Church. We’re thankful for the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for letting me represent them and preach God’s Word to you this morning.
When someone other than Pastor Josh is preaching this year, we’re continuing our series on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. If you’re a believer here this morning, let me encourage you to spend more time with the Westminster Confession of Faith and the catechisms. There are so many theological, and really life questions, that can be answered through reading and understanding these documents. And if you’re an unbeliever, maybe you’ve quizzed that Christian friend all you can and they just don’t seem to have answers to some of your most difficult questions. Let me encourage you too, to take the Bible in one hand, and then allow this confession and catechisms to help you address some of those really hard questions that you’ve tried to ask, but no one seems to have answers for.
I have to be honest; these are hard sermons to prepare. Seriously. Taking the questions and answers in the shorter catechism, along with multiple scripture passages, trying to tie them all together in my mind, and then trying to convey coherent thoughts to you…it’s a challenge. But trust me, the challenge is good. It forces us to dig deep and understand truths from God that would be easier to just ignore. As difficult as it is to prepare these sermons, I’m sure it’s also hard to listen to them. As the ones speaking, we’ve had months to wrap our heads around these topics. You get hit with it cold when we start talking. So before I get started, I thought it might be helpful to highlight a few things that might make it easier for you to get as much as you can out of the sermons on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
First, if I were you, I’d want to have a resource with the entire Westminster Shorter Catechism, so that I could look at it myself. You’re in luck, the Gateway communications team has linked the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms to the Gateway website and our app. On the app, just click on Bible & Devotion at the bottom. From there, navigation is pretty easy.
Second, I always feel like I can understand and embrace something better when I know the background. Here’s a little history about the Westminster Confession of Faith from Wikipedia: (I know, I know, not good source material, but the easiest to come up with.)
Ok, so now we know where to find a copy of the Shorter Catechism and we have a little history. Finally, the shorter catechism, the one that we’re teaching through was written for children. That’s humbling. In fact, The Free Church of Scotland still gives a Bible to any child who can answer all 107 questions in one sitting!
Ok, so even though this material seems a bit tough, if the kids can get it, I know we can too. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 2. We’ll be there in a minute.
As we read in Genesis this morning, remember that God didn’t just give Adam and Eve a list of instructions and walk away. His Word was paired with his presence. God walked with them in the garden, embodying both the clarity of his Word and the life-giving guidance of his Spirit. In the same way, we’re called to live as Christians who rely on both—his Word to guide us and his Spirit to empower us.
We’re going to start with Question 12. Question 12 introduces us to a new section of the Catechism that talks about the Doctrine of Man in his Four-Fold State. The four-fold state of man includes innocence, sin, grace, and glory. Innocence, sin, grace, and glory are themes that you will hear as we preach through the Catechism this year. Let’s read question 12 and its answer.
Question: What did God’s providence specifically do for man whom he created?
Answer: After the creation God made a covenant with man to give him life, if he perfectly obeyed; God told him not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or he would die.
Before we go any further, let’s get ourselves anchored in Scripture. If you’re in Genesis chapter 2, look at verse 15. We’ll be reading from verse 15 through 17.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17 (NIV84)
Immediately after creation, this is the covenant that God made with man. We’ll come back to that in a few minutes. I want to go back to the question, as I read it again, listen for a word that’s been on repeat throughout this series. What did God’s providence specifically do for man whom he created? Did you hear it? The word “providence” or “God’s providence” keeps popping up as we go through the shorter catechism. How do we see God providing in the story of creation? Let’s walk through the creation account to see six different ways that God was providing not only for Adam and Eve, but for all of us.
In Genesis 1:28 it says, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28 (NIV84)
The first way God provided for Adam and Eve was through work. They were called to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over creation. Work was a blessing, though it became more difficult after the fall when God cursed the ground.
I know that work can be a drudgery at times. No matter what field you’re in, there are days that you can think of about one hundred other things you’d rather be doing. But I’m reminded of those verses in Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV84)
God’s provision of work wasn’t just something to keep Adam and Eve occupied —it was an opportunity for Adam and Eve to partner with God. They weren’t working alone. God’s Spirit was present, enabling them to fulfill their calling with joy and purpose. And today, we too are called to work with his Spirit empowering us. We don’t get a free pass to just fold our arms and do nothing, but it’s also wrong for us to grasp desperately trying to get meaning only out of our work.
So first, to whatever degree you’re able, get out there and work. And second, work at it with all your heart as if you’re working directly for the Lord. We should thank God for the blessing of work, even on those days we don’t feel like it. Work is a way God provides for us.
Our next sign of God’s providence is that he provided food.
Genesis 1:29 says, Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. Genesis 1:29 (NIV84)
God gave Adam and Eve an abundance of food. He provided them with an enjoyable way to nourish their bodies for the tasks that he called them to do. But even in this gift, God set boundaries. They couldn’t eat from one specific tree.
We, too, are blessed with food in abundance. Yet, like Adam and Eve, we face boundaries. Are we choosing what nourishes our bodies or indulging in things that cause us harm?
The next thing that God provided was marriage.
Genesis 2:18 says, The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 (NIV84)
The gift of marriage is wonderful and I don’t mean just that part. God created a way for a man and a woman to come together to walk through life. To be there for each other when one falls and needs help getting up. To have children together and raise them up in the fear of the Lord. Marriage is a wonderful gift. And I know that some are living in singleness, whether by choice or circumstances, but I think we can all agree that a Godly marriage paints a beautiful picture of how much God loves us and how we are to love each other. I’m thankful that God provided marriage between a husband and a wife from the very beginning.
A little later in the creation account, we see that God provided fellowship with himself.
Let’s read Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8 (NIV84)
I don’t think this was the first time that God was walking in the garden. I don’t think Adam and Eve were so unaccustomed to God being in the garden that it was his mere presence that scared them. I suspect that this fellowship with Adam and Eve was a common occurrence. God had an intimate, ongoing relationship with Adam and Eve.
Do you know that he wants that fellowship with you too? He’s willing to welcome you into that fellowship. How? You might ask. By spending time in his Word, prayer, and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide every aspect of our lives. By being word and spirit Christians. We have the opportunity to engage in this fellowship with God, the way Adam and Eve did.
Next, God provided a day of rest.
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:3 (NIV84)
Think back to 2020, yeah, right in the middle of COVID. Do you remember what our schedules were like? Suddenly, we had time to play games as a family, to do a puzzle together, to eat meals together, to read together. Now I’m not saying that everything was good then or how I want to keep doing life, but there was an aspect of all that that was restful. Do you think maybe, just maybe, that God gave us a day of rest for our own wellbeing? Maybe we don’t need to try so hard to come up with all the things that we should be allowed to do on any given Sunday, but instead, thank God for the opportunity to rest, to enjoy him, and to enjoy our family and friends. Maybe we treat the Sabbath like another back-breaking rule when it was meant to be a life-giving break.
Finally, and this is the last element of God’s providence I want to touch on,
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17 (NIV84)
In this one sentence, God introduces his first covenant, the Covenant of Life. All that Adam and Eve had to do was not eat from one tree in the garden. They were promised life in this beautiful garden, with meaningful work, food, a spouse, fellowship with God himself, a day of rest. They were promised life. All it took was perfect obedience by not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And because they had not yet been corrupted by sin, they actually had a chance of doing this.
I wonder how Adam and Eve did. (pretend you don’t already know) This leads us right into Question 13.
Question: Did our first parents remain as they were created?
Answer: Left to the freedom of their own wills, our first parents sinned against God and fell from their original condition.
We see this in Genesis chapter 3 verses 6 through 8.
Genesis 3:6-8 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:6-8 (NIV84)
And just like that, this Covenant of Life that God provided to Adam and Eve was broken. Can you imagine the amount of pain and guilt that they must have felt? God provided them with so many things and then he topped it off with providing them this Covenant of Life. But with one choice, one simple decision, they threw it all away. All hope was lost or was it?
God wasn’t surprised by Adam and Eve’s sin. God didn’t respond the way you and I would…uh, now what am I going to do? And suddenly, I have to try and figure out what to do. No, no, no, we don’t have to go far to see that even from the beginning, God had a plan.
In Genesis 3:15 it says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NIV84)
God had a plan from the very beginning. He was going to rescue the human race after the fall. The “he” in Genesis 3:15 is Jesus. Satan would strike, but only strike his heel. Through the power of the cross, Jesus crushed the head of Satan. This is the start of the Gospel.
Over in Kidway, we use a method for communicating the Gospel called God’s Plan for Me. The kids and teachers go over this each week, talking about Bible verses that support each part of the plan. They even made up motions to help them remember the five steps of God’s Plan for Me.
Alright, alright, let’s all try that together. God Rules, We Sinned, God Provided, Jesus Gives, We Respond. Wait, there’s a problem. I can hear your voices, but I don’t see anyone doing the motions. Let’s try it one last time. God Rules, We Sinned, God Provided, Jesus Gives, We Respond.
Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NIV84) Last summer when I preached at our outdoor service at On Target, I said, Creation grants Ownership. As the creator of the entire universe, including us, God rules everything. It is for him to do as he pleases. God rules.
We sinned. It’s becoming less and less popular in our culture to say this, but we have all sinned. Not only have we all sinned, we inherited our sin nature from Adam. Listen to what it says in the book of Romans.
Romans 5:12-14 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned – for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. Romans 5:12-14 (NIV84)
We cannot escape our sin. And just like Adam and Eve, our sin results in death.
God provided. I think it’s pretty cool that each week when the kids are in Kidway, they’re learning about the providence of God.
God provided us with Jesus, who never sinned throughout his entire life, and because he was born of a virgin, he didn’t even inherit the sin nature the way all the rest of us have. In other words, God provided a perfect sacrifice, who willingly went to the cross, so that we can be reinstated into a Covenant of Life.
Jesus gives. Because of this sin that I can’t get rid of on my own, I need someone to take it away. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice in place of all our sins. Jesus gave his body and his blood, if we will confess our sin and put our trust in him, he will give us his righteousness. Thank God that Jesus gives!
But we must still respond. We must accept this amazing way that God has provided for us. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, if we will respond in repentance and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will be renewed to life! Eternal life. Life after this life that will exceed anything we can ever dream up. But even in this life, I believe that we can have a life so abundant, so full of hope, that we would be foolish to turn down this free gift.
If you’re feeling a tug at your heart to respond to God this morning, I hope you’ll come find me, or Ed over at our North Main Campus, or any of our prayer teams to talk with them about how you can respond and begin a new life in Jesus Christ.
God Rules. We Sinned. God Provided. Jesus Gives. We Respond.
If you’re already a believer, we know that we need reminded of God’s plan for us on a daily basis. We need reminded of the simple truth of the Gospel. We also know that we need to be on guard.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 says, This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes. Ecclesiastes 7:29 (NIV84)
We go after so many schemes, so many bright shiny objects, so many things that we are sure will give us the next rush of adrenaline, the next thing to make us feel just a little bit better. We go in search of anything and everything, many schemes, but we don’t go in search of God, the one who made us. What are some of these schemes that we can fall prey to?
Let’s go back to the scene in the Garden of Eden. God comes and talks to Adam and Eve. Let’s look at Genesis 3:9-13 to see what happened.
Genesis 3:9-13 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:9-13 (NIV84)
Adam was quick to blame Eve, Eve was quick to blame the serpent. Adam and Eve both had so much to lose. They couldn’t let it be true that they had violated the Covenant of Life, because if they didn’t choose life, that must mean that death was the only remaining option.
The first scheme that I want to mention is the blame game. We’re quick to pass the buck onto someone else. And even if I can’t pass all the blame onto someone else, I at least want to make sure that the other person is taking their fair share (and maybe a little more). I understand. Seldom in our life are our actions completely detached from the actions of others.
I’ve got this bucket up here. And I’ve got this sponge. This sponge has been taking a dip in the pop that’s up here in this bucket. Now what happens when I squeeze the sponge? Yeah, pop comes out. Can you imagine if the sponge now turned to me and said, “look what you did. You made pop come out of me”. Sure. I’m the one who squeezed that sponge, but it’s because of what the sponge was soaking up that caused pop to come out.
Let’s bring this back to us, as I blame shift and accuse someone else, I’m not dealing with what’s going on in my own heart. I’m not dealing with the sin, and the ugliness that lives inside of me. You see, all of that got there somehow. And even though someone else may be what put the “squeeze” on me, it’s the choices I’ve made about what I’m going to soak up, what I’m going to allow to saturate me, that determines what is going to come out when I get squeezed by the pressures from others around me. The blame game didn’t work for Adam and Eve and it doesn’t work for us either.
2 Corinthians 11 gives us our next scheme that we can fall prey to.
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NIV84)
Sometimes I complicate the simple. I over-complicate what it should look like to be a Christ follower. Here we’re reminded that our primary focus should be our devotion to Christ, a sincere and pure devotion.
Let’s explore these words, sincere and pure, a little more. Many of the translations that I looked at substituted the word simple in place of the word sincere. So a simple and pure devotion to Christ. Let me try to explain what I think Paul is communicating with this verse. How was Eve deceived? The Lord gave Adam and Eve clear direction in the Garden of Eden. It was succinctly stated in just one or two verses. We all could reiterate it, subdue the earth, be fruitful and multiply, and don’t eat from one tree. The command was also pure. God did not have a hidden motive for telling Adam and Eve not to eat from that tree. Satan showed up and attempted to complicate the simple command. He attempted to portray God as having a hidden agenda. As Eve allowed Satan to complicate and smear God’s simple and pure command, she was deceived. And subsequently, Adam was too.
We allow the same thing to happen to us. We take this wonderful, free gift of the Gospel, but then we hear about this thing that sounds like a good idea and we elevate it to something that we must do. When we do that, we complicate the Gospel. Or we begin to think that God’s Word doesn’t really contain all I need for life and godliness, there must be something more. And so we take God’s Word and we begin to allow the world’s thoughts and opinions to inform what we read, instead of allowing the pure Word to wash over us. Let’s return to a simple and pure devotion to Christ.
And it may not be obvious, it may not be some major cataclysmic shift, but just like Eve, it will be something small. Oh, that’s not that big of deal, Oh, it’s ok if you do that just this one time. No, that’s not a pure devotion. And if we stand here in church on Sunday, nodding our heads during the sermon and singing out during the worship time, but all the while, we can’t wait to get back to what we really want to be doing, then our devotion isn’t very sincere either. Don’t let your minds be led astray the way Eve’s was.
Like we read in Ecclesiastes, there are many schemes that we chase after. We’re always in search of something more, something different. But eventually, one of the schemes that we can fall into is giving up.
You may feel like you’ve blown it. Like God called you to this sincere and pure devotion, but you ran as far the other direction as you possibly could. You’re in luck, there was actually a prophet in the Bible who did the same thing. Most of you have heard about Jonah, you know the guy that got swallowed up by a big fish because he was running in the opposite direction from where God told him to go. Jonah chapters 1 and 2 catalog the events of Jonah running away from God, but I love how Jonah chapter 3 starts, listen to this, Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time. Jonah 3:1 (NIV84)
After all that Jonah had done to run away, the LORD came to Jonah a second time. If you think you’ve run too far, if you think you’ve sinned too much, then let me encourage you to think of Jonah. And as you hear these words this morning, take it as the LORD calling to you a second time. You haven’t gone too far, you haven’t done too much wrong, you don’t have to give up. There is nothing you’ve done that God is not able to rescue you from. It is my hope that you’ll respond and take him up on his offer. We serve a God of second chances!!!
As we know, there are many other schemes that can throw us off track. Things that will and do distract us and keep us from focusing on the God of providence.
I’d like to wrap up this morning with an illustration.
I suspect nearly everyone here has some sin in their lives that just feels like it keeps coming back, again and again, and again. Or maybe it was just one sin, one time, but the guilt and the consequences of that sin, feel like a weight that you’ll never be able to unload.
I want you to imagine yourself going to the store with a broken arm or leg, but not one of these breaks with just a little swelling or a little pain. I mean a break like your foot is pointing the wrong way or your arm is twisted in the wrong direction.
Now I want you to picture one of the many fine medical professionals that we have here in our congregation running into you at the store. They try to make small talk, but they can’t help but notice your foot, or your arm. Being a good doctor or nurse, they say, “Hey, you know, you should really come into the office or the hospital and see me. I think I could really help you out with your um…issue. This is what I’m here for.”
And you respond, well, thank you! That’s so kind of you. Let me think about it and I’ll let you know. Knowing all along that although you have a tremendous need for their help, you aren’t going to take up their offer.
My friends, we all have something broken, but it’s not a bone. It’s our soul. Our sin, both the sin we inherited from Adam and our own sin, has broken our relationship with God. The same way that Adam & Eve’s sin broke their relationship with God. But Jesus stands there encouraging you to come to him. Can’t you just hear him saying, “I can help you with that. I can mend that brokenness that you feel. This is what I’m here for.”
The final question this morning is how are you going to respond? If you’ve never accepted the salvation offered by Jesus, let’s talk some more about the plan God has provided for you. And maybe some of you have accepted the gift of salvation, you’ve seen God provide in the ways we talked about this morning, but you also have turned from God in one or many areas of life and started running hard the other direction. Don’t give in to the schemes that will lead us far from God. And if you hear him calling to you a second, a third, or one hundredth time. Listen to his voice. That’s our savior calling you home.
Let’s pray. God, thank you for providing for us in all the ways that you have. Most of all, thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and the sin that we inherited from Adam. I pray that everyone here this morning would turn to you. Keep us from the schemes that keep us so far from you. Call to us a second time, just like Jonah, and draw us back to you again. Amen.
This morning, I pray that you’ll go knowing that we serve a God who has been faithful to provide from the very beginning. And he is faithful to call you back from your sin today. Go tell the world this good news. You are sent.
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