God is Sovereign

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning. Good morning, children. Good morning, children. Yeah, good morning. [00:00:44] A couple thoughts going through my mind. A question comes to mind, are you sovereign? Don't answer that so quick. I hope you say no. What does sovereign mean? Sovereignty. God's sovereignty I never thought about it this way before but what word is inside of the word sovereignty somebody tell me rain exactly so this morning I [00:01:15] want to look at our God's sovereignty and I thought when I started that it was A little subject, but it's not a little subject. God's sovereignty. Do you really believe that? You know, you ever sing the song, My God is so big? Why don't we sing My God is so big? Children, let's sing it, okay? My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do. [00:01:49] My God is so big, so strong and so mighty There's nothing my God cannot do The mountains are His, the rivers are His The stars are His handiwork too My God is so big, so strong and so mighty There's nothing my God cannot do for you Do you believe that? [00:02:21] That's what God's sovereignty, what does the word sovereignty mean? It means supreme in power, supreme in dominion. What's dominion? Do you know what dominion is? Dominion is supreme authority and controlling. power to direct, power to control, right of possession and use without being accountable. [00:02:56] I had to think of Jamaica and it was a, what do they call it? It wasn't a colony but Jamaica was under Great Britain's rule for 300 years. And so they had dominion over Jamaica. Another thing that I was thinking about was, do we believe Romans 8.28? Anybody quote it? I thought I could. I can normally when I'm not so fearful. [00:03:32] And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to whose purpose? His purpose. Not my purpose. Not our purpose. It's for His purpose. Do you believe that? I think that if we would see God's sovereignty, it would be a whole lot easier. But, you know, the other thing is when the waters are calm, [00:04:03] it's really easy to say, yes, we trust the Captain. Isn't that true? Another thing, in Matthew 6, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, Thine is the kingdom. We're really saying that God is sovereign. Thine is the kingdom. Do we believe that? Of course we'd all say we believe that. I don't have to try and convince us that He is sovereign. But for me, in a way, it's easy to forget. [00:04:38] I had to think of a sailboat on some nice cool waters, maybe down in the Caribbean, I don't know, where there are a lot of stars, I didn't think about the location. But out on the sea, you're on a sailboat, maybe it's a pretty big one, maybe 30 feet, 40 feet long, big old sail. And maybe you and your family are on there with somebody that has been sailing for 30, 40 years and really knows what he's doing. [00:05:14] And this captain really knows what he's doing. And a storm blows up and he is ordering everybody, everybody over to this side and pull that rope. And you don't know what to do. You don't know how to run this sailboat. You don't know how to keep it from tipping over. So you totally trust him. You do everything that he says. [00:05:49] You obviously, it's very easy for you to say, well, I don't know what I'm doing with this boat. Captain, you take over. We trust you. I wish that it was that easy in life when things get rough, when struggles come, when there's a death. And the thing that makes me so fearful this morning is that I don't know, I know about rough times, but I haven't lost a child, I haven't lost my mom and dad, anybody really close to me. [00:06:22] I remember when my grandpa Enos died, but I was pretty young. And so, you know, I haven't had, I was thinking of Glendon and Patty. I haven't had a spouse that has been diagnosed with cancer. I haven't had a child that has had to have back surgery with spinal bifida. And in the midst of that time, what comes to your mind? [00:06:58] Is God real? Does He care about me? Does He even love me? You ever feel that way? I felt that way. Does He love me? In Habakkuk, Habakkuk, however you want to say it. Maybe I'll say Habakkuk since that's the way I've always said it. Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, [00:07:33] though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls. What if all of a sudden one day your whole herd would be dead? Hold on. What is God doing? It's really hard to trust Him then. Are we trusting our captain? [00:08:09] Does God know, really know what he is doing? Did you ever ask the question, why did he let this happen? Did you ever ask the question, why doesn't he answer my prayer? And then maybe things get worse. And he says that when things get worse, you know what he has to say, maybe may not make a whole lot of sense. [00:08:43] He says, maybe he says that we are to tolerate the criticism that we're receiving. Maybe if it's a disaster, he's saying to endure it. Maybe he's saying that I am to love my enemy or my brother or my wife. He's saying, accept what I am allowing. Can we say, I know God knows what's best? Can we say, I know that I don't know. [00:09:15] I know He cares. Thinking of all that, and thinking of His sovereignty, I want to look at quite a few scriptures this morning. I want to start in Deuteronomy chapter 4. Therefore, verse 39, therefore know this day and consider it in your heart that the Lord himself is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. There is no other. [00:09:57] Now, I know that we would all, what I would like to do is just remind us that God is sovereign. He reigns. That means He's in control of everything. He's in control of you. He is in control of what happens to you. And He is good. There's a lot of times it's easy to say, yes, He's in control, but He's strong and He's powerful, but He's not good. Because of what He's allowing in my life. And then if you read verse 31 in chapter 4 [00:10:35] For the Lord your God is a merciful God He will not forsake you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them So right away we can claim that promise when we feel like God doesn't care and he doesn't love me 1 Chronicles chapter 29 At the end of David's life [00:11:14] in verse 10 Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly, and David said, Blessed are you, Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord. and you are exalted as head over all both riches and honor come from you and you reign over all in your hand is power and might [00:11:56] in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all then let's turn to Daniel chapter 4 Nebuchadnezzar here [00:12:43] This is right after the three Hebrew, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were saved. I think that Nebuchadnezzar here acknowledged God, but in verse 8 of chapter 4, he says, according to the name of my God, I wonder if he was still worshiping his own God, but he recognized the Spirit of God in Daniel. Because several times throughout the chapter he says, well there in verse 9, [00:13:23] I know that the Spirit of God is in you, verse 18, but you are able for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you. Then if you look at verse 35, All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth no one can restrain his hand or say to him, [00:13:59] What have you done? And then in verse 37 he says, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to cut down. Because if you remember in verse 28 through 33 or whatever, [00:14:30] So he was made, does it say ox? Was he an ox? No. Yeah. Well, he ate grass like oxen. So he was humiliated. Nebuchadnezzar was very proud. God, and I don't, you know, he maybe knew that God was great, but I like his confession here, or his profession, I want to say, maybe, that all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will. God's going to do whatever he wants to do, whatever he seems is best, even though we may not understand. [00:15:19] And then Isaiah chapter 45 verse 5. I am the Lord and there is no other. There is no God beside me. I will gird you, though you have not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I the Lord do all these things. [00:16:01] It's hard to remember that God creates peace and He creates calamity. That song that Jesus led, Jesus led, Jamie led this morning, Does Jesus Care? There's times when we really have to wonder. And, you know, in the midst of suffering, trials, sickness, injury, [00:16:35] I look back to Dave and I had to think of him losing his job. You really wonder. And Satan wants us to doubt. Just like he got Eve to doubt. Yea, hath God said? Did he really say that? And if we can doubt God, if he can get us to doubt him, he has a foothold. Are we going to trust Him or are we going to doubt His sovereignty and His goodness? [00:17:19] I was going to read, let's turn to Job. I know some of you have studied Job pretty good. And so you'll know that chapter 38, I'm not sure, 39, 40, especially 38 and 40. You should read over that sometime. It is amazing. Then the Lord answered Job chapter 38 out of the whirlwind and said, [00:17:55] Who is this who darkens counsels by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? You know, tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? or who laid its cornerstone. [00:18:27] And it just goes on and on. Verse 18, tell me if you know all this. You should just read down over those things. He's trying to make a statement. Job, look, you don't know everything. You know, we can stomp our feet and we can say, Lord, it's not fair. It is not fair that I have to go through this. I don't deserve this. Did Job deserve it? No. Sometimes, I think, somewhere in there he asks, can you set the heavens above the earth? [00:19:01] Oh, I like that one. Who do you think you are, you little ant? You can't do that. You can't set the heavens above the earth. Have you entered the treasury of snow or have you seen the treasury of hail? No. I just want us to, I don't even know if I should say that, because it's more, I feel like it's more for me than for anybody. [00:19:40] I'm just fearful because here I stand and say in the midst of the deepest, darkest time of your life, I need to stand on the Lord and say, hey, I trust in you. You know what you're doing. I know that you know what's best for me. I know that all things work together for good. According, you know, this is to glorify you. [00:20:12] It doesn't mean that we can't cry and grieve and have sorrow. No. No, but it means that we can trust in the Lord. Even in Genesis 50, if you look at the life of Joseph, you think of his life. Your brothers, can't imagine, your brothers sell you in slavery. You have to go through all, look at, oh, just, we could go over that. But in verse 20, it says, But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good [00:20:46] in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. And it was actually the family of Jesus, the ancestry of Jesus. And then if you look at John 11, when Lazarus was sick, When Lazarus was sick, in verse 4, when Jesus heard that, he said, [00:21:19] This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. And what happened? He kind of drug his feet and didn't make it there until he was four days dead. And, you know, surely they would have thought, Jesus, I don't know this story, I just thought about it and quickly found the verse. But then they say, if he would have been here, he wouldn't have died. You know, you could have been thinking, oh Lord, where are you at? [00:21:54] Why did you let this happen? If this would have happened, this would have happened, you know, maybe he wouldn't have died. But it was to honor and to glorify God through all of that. I want to go back to Isaiah chapter 44, verse 21 to 23. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. [00:22:31] I have formed you, you are my servant. O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. See, when we're in a rough time, here is God's promise. You know, God can, you can, if you look at some of these verses in the Old Testament, I'm going to make you do what, you know, he even says I'll put a hook in your nose and turn you back, you know. And it's, I create calamity and prosperity, you know, I allow evil. [00:23:05] How can God do that? How can God allow a bad thing to happen in your life? Sometimes we wonder, this little human mind of mine doesn't work so good in understanding why he would do that. But we have to believe that God knows what He is doing. Because He does. Verse 22, I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions. Hallelujah. And like a cloud your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it. Shout, you lower parts of the earth. [00:23:36] Break forth into singing, you mountains. O forest and every tree in it, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob. You can put any one of your names in there. He has redeemed Dave and glorified who? Glorified Dave or Mervin? He has redeemed Jeremy and glorified Jeremy? No. Glorifies himself in Israel. [00:24:08] It's all for the glory of God. Verse 9 of Isaiah 45 Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him who forms it, What are you making? Or shall your handiwork say, He who has no hands. You know, the little bench that you build, it has no say in it. [00:24:45] You're going to build him, you're going to make him. And so, as we go through rough times, God is wanting us to grow in Him. He's wanting us to lean on Him and look to Him and to trust in Him. Trust when the waters are deep and dangerous and dark. In Romans 8 then, in verse 31, remember verse 28 says, [00:25:31] And we know that all things work together. And then, I think I'll just keep reading there in verse 29. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, when He predestined these, He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? [00:26:07] If God is for us, who can be against us? You know, in the time of trouble, who can be against us? No one. Verse 32, He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. The furthermore is also risen, [00:26:39] who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Do you think this is what all those people, those martyrs in Hebrews chapter 11, was thinking about? You know, how else? Our forefathers who were martyred and all the disciples, they were trusting in the Lord because they knew that no matter what, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they said, hey, we are not going to bow down to anybody else. [00:27:14] We're not going to serve anybody else. God is true. And it was all that he would be glorified. Well, it's really easy. Everything came out in the wash. It was real good. It came out for the good. They didn't die, so He was glorified. But even if they would have died, they're still being glorified. No matter what happens, God is glorified. Verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Because of your tribulation, because of your distress, [00:27:45] because of persecution, or because of your famine, or because of your nakedness, or peril, or sword, is that going to separate you from the love of Christ? I wrote in big letters in my Bible, no, it's not gonna. As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Amen, somebody. Amen, somebody. [00:28:18] Amen. That was a Leroy Blackwood. Verse 38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, not even life, not even just living, nor angels, nor principalities, no powers Boy, it's really fast, easy to skip right over principalities or powers when they're all around us in this wicked world that we're living in, that we have to live in Nor things present, no matter the hard times that we're going through now [00:28:53] No matter the hard times that we're going to have to go through later Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing Shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen somebody I wish I could get excited about that up in the stump because sometimes that's what it takes to get it. Man, that is what keeps us during the rough times, [00:29:24] knowing that there's nothing anybody could ever do to separate us. Nothing, anything could ever happen that could separate us from the love of God. I wanted this morning, I didn't, you know, there's an aspect of this that I feel like I still need to mention. [00:30:00] You know, if we don't, if we doubt God, what does that mean? If I tell you that when I was 18 I could dunk a basketball, what would you all think? What would you think, Mervyn? When I was 18 I could dunk a basketball. What would you say? I know what Willis would say. What would you say, Willis? What? What? What would you say? [00:30:34] I doubt it. Yeah, right, you could. See, he doubts me. And so that means he doesn't believe me, right? What if he'd say, yeah, I believe you. Oh, I believe you. But I doubt it. He can't do that, can he? He doesn't believe me. Even though I said it, I said it. I'm not sure what Jamie's laughing about. You want to share with us all? So, if God says something and I doubt it, what am I saying? [00:31:10] I'm saying I don't believe Him. And I must say that there's been many times when I doubted Him. If we don't believe Him, is that just, well, we just don't believe Him, that's not a good thing. No, it's sin. It's flat out sin. So, when I ask myself the question, does God really care? And I think that there's a fine line, because sometimes we're down and we want to search for God. [00:31:41] Lord, do you really love me? Do you really care for me? I think there's a fine line in there where I feel like it's okay, you're seeking God. Not that you're doubting, but too soon it can move over into being a sin. Does God really love me? Does He care about me? So I think we need to be careful with that. I'm not sure how to say when it turns into sin. But if we doubt Him, if we doubt His Word, [00:32:14] if we doubt that we really have to do what His Word says, and there's so many commands in the Bible, so many rules if you want to call them rules, then we need to believe. In closing here, I want to go down some scripture here real quick. And I want us to be encouraged this morning in the rough times. [00:32:45] We each have our own different rough time. Maybe some of us would think, would hear a rough time and say, what's so rough about that? You should know about, you know, well, they're all rough. Maybe it's between husband and wife. Maybe it's between brothers and sisters, or maybe it's sickness, and there's so many different things that it could be. In Psalms 115, verse 12, the Lord is mindful of us. [00:33:18] He will bless us. He will bless the house of... put your name in there. He will bless the house... we can go right around the table. Bless the house of Elmer, of Dustin, and Brad. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, Jesus said that our Heavenly Father knows what you need. In Luke 12, it says that even the hairs, the very hairs of your head are numbered. [00:33:49] Then he says, fear not. 1 Peter 5, casting all your care on him for he careth for you. It's really easy to say that, but in the thick of things, do we really believe that? We could read Lamentations 3. There's so many. I was going to read more there, but time's about up. You know what? I'm going to. Lamentations 3, I've read it before several times here at church. [00:34:19] That whole chapter, 50-some, 60-some verses, I think, yeah, 66. He starts out, But I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light. Surely he has turned his hand against me time and time again throughout the day. He has aged my flesh and my skin and broken my bones. [00:34:50] He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and woe. He has set me in dark places, like the dead of long ago. He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out. He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone. He has made my paths crooked. He has been to me a bear, laying in wait, like a lion in ambush. He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces. [00:35:22] He has made me desolate. He has bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow. He has caused the arrows of his quiver to pierce my loins. I have become the ridicule of all my people, their taunting song all the day. He has filled me with bitterness. He has made me drink wormwood. He has also broken my teeth with gravel and covered me with ashes. You have moved my soul far from peace. I have forgotten prosperity. And I said, my strength and my hope have perished from the Lord. [00:36:01] Anybody feel that way? Ever? Wow. Verse 19, remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Though the Lord's mercies, and I want to say because of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning. [00:36:34] Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, therefore I hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. And it goes on and on. Verse 32, Therefore He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. There's a lot of other verses that are very encouraging [00:37:13] and sometimes troubling, but we can always be encouraged that we know God's Word is true We know that God is sovereign. He reigns. He is in absolute control of everything. I was telling Verba the other day, looking out the window, we got a big old white oak in our front yard. You know how you pull out a weed and those weeds that are so much fun to pull, the roots come out and everything just real easy, you know, soft ground. Imagine, you know, God can just say a word and just pluck that tree. Just like a weed, just like a simple little weed in soft soil. And He allows things in our life to draw us closer to Him. I believe that. [00:38:08] And He wants us to serve Him. He wants us to run to Him as a little child would when they're in trouble, when they're scared. He is sovereign. He is Lord and in complete control of heaven and earth. [00:38:40] He loves you and cares for you. And it's only He who knows what's best for you. So often times we think we know what's best. But God knows what's best every time. So I bless you as you take comfort in knowing that God loves you and cares for you.