What Are God’s Purposes in a Recession?

00:00:00.000 | 2020, the year of the Great Lockdown, leading to what some are now calling the Great Coronavirus

00:00:10.160 | Recession. It was triggered by a strategic wager, sacrificed economic momentum in order

00:00:15.400 | to physically distance people, all with the goal of starving and killing off a spreading

00:00:20.240 | virus. It was a huge gamble, and it hurt. Our Great Coronavirus Recession has been compared

00:00:26.020 | to the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, even to the Great Depression of 1929 to 1933. Looking

00:00:33.360 | forward, some think the economy will bounce back to normal as soon as the virus is under

00:00:37.000 | control. Others are less optimistic and see a long road ahead. But the recession is here,

00:00:42.360 | and it will remain until God is done with it. We talked about this a couple of weeks

00:00:46.600 | back when I mentioned John Piper preached a sermon titled "What is the Recession for?"

00:00:51.440 | He preached it in the previous recession, back in February 1st, 2009. The Dow had been

00:00:57.160 | dropping but had not yet bottomed out by the time he preached the sermon. The entire sermon

00:01:01.440 | is worth listening to, but I especially want to go back to the beginning of that sermon.

00:01:05.680 | Here's how Pastor John began it.

00:01:07.800 | Father, our heart's desire now is that we not waste this recession. Forbid that we would

00:01:17.520 | let it go by with a preoccupation of anxiety or grumbling or clever financial maneuvering.

00:01:27.520 | Oh God, grant, I pray, that our ears would be open to what you are saying to the world.

00:01:35.760 | In France, in Tokyo, in New York, in Brasilia, may our eyes be open to what you are saying

00:01:47.840 | and doing. Don't let us sleep through the recession. May we learn, may we grow, may

00:01:57.600 | we hear, may we know your plan. Come, be our teacher in these days. I pray in Jesus' name,

00:02:08.880 | Amen.

00:02:10.120 | So this is a message about the recession and God's purposes in it. And when I use the term

00:02:16.280 | "recession," I don't have any careful, sophisticated definition in mind. I don't even know what

00:02:25.200 | the definition of a recession is. You hear it on the radio, so I think I know what they're

00:02:29.680 | talking about. I mean the financial setbacks like business slowdown, decreasing profits,

00:02:39.800 | massive layoffs, joblessness, thousands of foreclosures, personal and business bankruptcies,

00:02:51.240 | loss of retirement funds. I got a letter from the BGC today, my little white sheet, 29.97%

00:03:00.480 | lower than the last little white sheet I got from the retirement people down at the BGC.

00:03:05.840 | That's the sort of thing I mean by recession. And now more and more, all of the social and

00:03:15.480 | political upheavals that will accompany it. Witness France, for example, and probably

00:03:24.920 | more on the way. So God is sovereign, which is why you can speak in terms of purposes.

00:03:33.360 | God is sovereign over these things. He foresees them all. He causes or permits them all. And

00:03:40.960 | when he foresees and he causes or permits, it is always by design. So whatever comes

00:03:49.000 | to pass, comes to pass by God's design. However it comes to pass. The lot is cast in the lap.

00:03:59.240 | Every decision is from the Lord in Las Vegas. Many are the plans of the mind of a man, but

00:04:06.520 | the purpose of the Lord will stand on Wall Street. The Lord brings the council of the

00:04:12.800 | nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the peoples in Switzerland. The Lord declares

00:04:21.160 | the end from the beginning saying, "My council shall stand. I will accomplish all my purpose

00:04:28.480 | everywhere." So this is the foundation of understanding that we have when we ask, "So

00:04:36.800 | what are you up to today? What are the purposes of God in the recession?" And we're not left

00:04:45.280 | without an answer. There are many answers, but not all of them. God is up to billions

00:04:52.560 | and billions of things that you don't know about, I don't know about, we won't know about

00:04:57.600 | until we get to heaven. We trust Him for those, but He's up to five or six or a hundred things

00:05:03.440 | that we do know about because they're in the Bible. So those are the ones I want to talk

00:05:08.240 | about because those are the ones we have some authority to talk about and they're not unclear.

00:05:14.360 | I have time perhaps to do five. Here they are. I'll state them and then we'll unpack

00:05:19.480 | them. Number one, He intends in this recession to expose hidden sin and to bring us to repentance

00:05:25.440 | and cleansing. Number two, He intends to wake us up, I'm thinking us in the West in particularly,

00:05:33.040 | to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where they always have

00:05:38.760 | mega recession and nothing else. Number three, He intends to relocate the roots of our joy

00:05:48.360 | in His grace and not in our goods, in His mercy and not in our money, in His worth and

00:05:57.280 | not in our wealth. Number four, He intends to advance His saving mission in the world

00:06:06.200 | and spread the gospel like wildfire and grow His church precisely at a time when they have

00:06:13.320 | least resources to do it. And number five, He intends for the church to care for its

00:06:20.680 | hurting members and to grow in the gift of love so that no one is in need in the church

00:06:28.560 | of Jesus Christ, period.

00:06:30.600 | Amen. I would encourage you to listen to the entire message from February 1st, 2009 titled,

00:06:36.200 | What is the recession for? Some of God's purposes. You can find it online at DesiringGod.org.

00:06:42.880 | Thanks for listening. If you want new episodes of this podcast delivered to you, subscribe

00:06:46.280 | to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app in Spotify or by subscribing to DG's YouTube

00:06:51.000 | channel as well. To find other episodes in our archive or to submit a question to us

00:06:54.960 | of your own, do that online at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:07:00.920 | While does John Piper deny personal assurance, does he deny that Christians can enjoy assurance?

00:07:07.280 | Next time we'll need to address a quote that's found its way all over the internet attributed

00:07:11.600 | to him. That's next time on Friday. I'm Tony Reinke and we will see you then.

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What Are God’s Purposes in a Recession?

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