Hey everybody, this is James,
and this is a special edition of Theology On Call. It is now
March the 2nd, 2022, and this is the first live video I've
done since the last week of September last year. and I've not been doing well
physically and some other things, so I just appreciate all of your
patience and your prayers. This is sort of out of the blue,
but we are not meeting and teaching midweek right now and won't be
for the next few months, but Lord willing, we'll get back
to our regularly scheduled programming, if I can say it that way, in
the very near future. But I wanted to get on tonight
and talk a minute because I talked to a lot of people every day
all the time and throughout the day and I have been inundated
over the last few weeks, especially since all of the things going
on over in Europe and in Ukraine. And I've been inundated by people
saying, you know, why am I so fearful? How is God in control? And, you know, what am I supposed
to do with these things? What's going to happen to the
economy? What's going to happen to my children? How are we going
to survive? What happens if this happens?
And what happens if that happens? And what are we supposed to do?
And what does the Bible say? And the list goes on and on.
And I tell you, I would love to have the leisure to just sit
and talk and read and write and respond but life is extremely
busy and our household we have a lot of responsibilities because
we have five children and we have a grandchild and we have
all sorts of things that we have to take care of and with our
immediate family and our extended family and we have a church family
and we have a community at large that we're responsible for and
so we're just extremely busy at this season in life more so
than we've probably ever been And it is a lot of ministry.
It is also a lot of hands-on things. So I'm not gonna have
time to promise to do a lot of Broadcasting and as you'll notice
I'm not broadcasting this on Facebook live. I'm just going
to be doing this on YouTube now So this channel is going to be
the only place that you'll find it and then you can share it
on the other social platforms but for the for the most part
only the Sunday teaching is going to be on streamed on the social
media platforms outside of YouTube. So for that, let's just get started
tonight. Nothing formal, nothing fancy.
I just want to talk about God and His sovereignty. And so as
we are thinking about all that we've gone through over the last
two years, and as a world, not just as a culture, as a country,
but the world, the world has seen things that it has never
experienced in our living lifetime. although it has seen these things
and worse throughout history. For we who are alive this day,
this is some of the most difficult seasons and some of the oddest
circumstances we've ever been in. And so we don't know what
to do. And I know a lot of people look
to clergy, look to pastors, preachers, et cetera, counselors, doctors,
law enforcement, all sorts of civil servants and people of
that nature, and they all want answers. And there's something
we need to understand as believers. So I'm going to be talking from
a point of view as if you are a believer. And, you know, not
to assume anything, but I'm just letting you know. So some things
that I say are going to take for granted that you understand
the basics. of the gospel. That is the good
report of what God has done for His people. God has finished
the work of salvation for His people through Jesus Christ.
This was prophesied through the scriptures. This was given to
the first humans who were created for the sole purpose of God,
saving a people for Himself. And the good report is indeed
good news. And we call that God's gospel,
which is a transliterated word from the old Anglo word godspell,
which means good speech or good talk or good report. And so we
call it gospel now because that's sort of the way it ended up in
the vernacular being. And now it's written, but it's
truly what Jesus Christ, who is the God of heaven in human
form, came to earth to save His people from their sins through
His substitutional death, His substitutionary death. In other
words, He stood in our place for the ways of sin. And you
know this, beloved. and then he was raised to life
because he was not sinful and so therefore he did not deserve
death but he took death in our place and he proved that by being
raised to life took his life laid it down and took his life
and brought it back again so that we could be assured of the
promises that are found in the bible concerning this gospel
concerning this eternal life to which no person can receive,
no person can act upon in any way that would make God save
them. So salvation is all of grace,
it is all of Christ, it is all of God, and it is all a gift
and a finished work. And I don't want to get into
all of that, but this is important because, beloved, if you find
yourself in Christ today, if you are resting in Him by the
gift of faith, which is resting in the proclamation of this good
news, and the efficacy of it. That means that it worked, that
it did something. God has done that by His Spirit. It's not
something you can muster in your own mind. It's not a decision
that you've made to say, yeah, check the boxes. It is literally
and divinely a work of God in you. to rest and have assurance
in the blood of Christ and His death for your sins, knowing
what the Bible teaches, even in a simple way, about this predestinary
election and the sovereign and free grace of God through His
Son, Jesus, who is the Christ, the Holy Anointed One sent from
Him. So, without any more hesitation, let's get to the matter at hand.
Tonight, I want to talk about sovereignty. This is not going
to be an hour. It may not even be 15 minutes, though I've probably
already talked that long. But I want to talk about sovereignty.
And I want to talk about sovereignty from the position of Scripture
in a general sense. And then I want to get very specific
on some application. So as we look at the Word of
God and we see the Scripture teaching about sovereignty, we
see Isaiah chapter 46, starting in verse 8, where the Word says,
remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there
is no other. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, from the ancient times
things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will accomplish my purpose, calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I
will bring it to pass. I have purposed, and I will do
it. Now, beloved, for those of you
who know about Isaiah and that he was a prophet, that means
he spoke for God. God sent him to speak to a specific
circumstance, occasion, and people. Of course, his people. But I
mean, His people of that time, it's hard to really grasp this
in some ways. But beloved, we are able to look
at the Word of God and see the promise of God revealed to us
of Himself. Who is He? God's Word tells us
who He is. And the scripture there in Isaiah
46, and it couples, and I'll show you just a couple of things.
It's not an exhaustive night. I just want to encourage you
Christian, I want to encourage you, believer, I want to encourage
you, elect, beloved child of God, to not fear, because God
is sovereign. That means that God is the ruler
of. God is in control of. God is
fulfilling his decrees. God is accomplishing his purposes.
Whether the wind blows, or a bird flies, or a bomb falls, God is
in control of it all. He has purposed it all, He has
decreed it all, and everything is going according to His will,
according to His plan, and according to His purpose. That's what that
Scripture just taught us in Isaiah 46. And then there's other places
that we can look in Scripture that teach us that. We know that
The Bible teaches that no one can thwart the plans of God,
that no one can do anything that can change God's purposes, and
that God knows all things, and He's all-powerful, and all of
these things that the Scripture teaches us about our Heavenly
Father. The scripture shows us in creation that there was nothing,
then out of nothing God created everything and that God alone
is the one and the only one who can create life out of nothing. And in that creation, he's the
only one who can separate light from darkness. And in that separation,
he alone has the power and the authority and the sovereignty
to call what he deems good, good. And it is good because he called
it good. And so, beloved, we even see
the first humans, and all the separation of the animals, and
the land, and the water, and the sky, and the earth, and the
night, and the day, and the planets, and the sun, and the solar system,
and the infinite cosmos, and all of this stuff to prove God
is proving and revealing Himself as sovereign over all these things,
and He rules over all that He does, and He rules over all His
visible revelation, and He rules over everything, and this is
called His glory. When we see Him for who He is,
this is called His glory. So God has established to reveal
the fullness of His essence and His purposes, which is a reflection
of who He is in all that He does. And so, beloved, when we get
up every day, When we look at the world, and we look at the
news, and we look at our health, and it's a good report or a bad
report, we have relationships, and they fall apart or they stay
together. Whatever it may be, we pray that the Lord's will
is done, as Jesus taught us, because that is the best possible
outcome that could ever be. and that what God is purposing
is taking place. Now, it may not feel good, it
may not seem like it's got a good outcome, but I promise you it
does have a good outcome, and the outcome that is the greatest
is that God is revealed through it. He's revealed to be sovereign.
He's revealed to be all-knowing. He's revealed to Himself and
His work and all the things that He has purposed. And so as we
look at these things, the question is coming to mind probably for
many of you, well, how do we know what God has purposed? Well,
we don't know everything God has purposed, but we can look
from now to this morning, and then yesterday, and then all
the days and years back to the very first day of all things,
and we can say, ah, God purposed all these things. He purposed
all these things. Why did He do that? because He
knows best, and everything that He has purposed is after the
counsel of His will, not my will, not a knowledge of what I might
do. God doesn't look and learn about the future. He decrees
the future. And so there's the second thing
we need to understand, that God is sovereign, and He's sovereign,
and therefore He decrees all that takes place. And a decree
is just basically stating, this is my purpose, and it shall come
to pass. even if it's a bird flying from one place to another,
or a man walking from this place to the other place. That's the
simplicity of what Isaiah 46 10 teaches us, is that God is
in control of it. The scriptures teach us in Romans
chapter 8. We can look at that together
as we look here in Romans chapter 8, where the Bible shows us in
verse 28, starting right here in verse 28. And we know that
for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew,
He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order
that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those
whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called,
He also justified. And those whom He justified,
He also glorified. And this next question that Paul
asks here in Romans is, then what shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare
his own son, but gave him up for us, how will he not also
with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge
against God's elect? It is God who justifies. It is
So who is to condemn? Jesus Christ is the one who died.
More than that, who was raised from the dead, who is at the
right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. And this
is one of my favorite places in all of scripture, where it
says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation
or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger
or the sword? As it is written, for your sake,
we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep
to be slaughtered. Paul says, no, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him, Jesus Christ, who loved
us. For I am certain of this, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. And without spending an hour
on that, let me break it down for you very simply, is that
the scriptures teaching us there that God is sovereign in all
things, He works all things after the counsel of His will, and
even in the most horrifying circumstances that even take our lives, it
is for our good and for His glory, and ultimately to our eternal
joy, for we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. and that nothing
can separate us from the love of God for God has loved us eternally
and given us to his son who died on the cross in our place and
only in our place and that we are now secure and assured with
great confidence to know that nothing Nothing, not even God
Himself can separate us from His love because God does not
change. And it is not about who we are
or what we've done to establish His love for us. His love has
been for us before we were. And so with that, just be encouraged,
encouraged. There is no war. There is no
economic failing. There is no sickness or pandemic
that can separate us from the love of God. And all of those
things, as horrifying as they may be, and as frustrating and
fearful as that may cause us to be, are in God's perfect plan
for His people, which is ultimately to reveal Himself as who He is. So God is in the business of
exposing Himself to be the good, great, sovereign, loving, gracious,
and merciful God that He is, and He will do that for His people,
even in the midst of great darkness. So God is sovereign over all
things. He rules over all things, all
of creation, and creation in and of itself proves that, that
God is powerful and sovereign over all things. The scripture
teaches us that God is sovereign over the world. He's sovereign
over all the events and the happenings of the world. He's sovereign
over every person in the world. Paul would write to the Romans
and say that all authorities and all leaders and all governments
have been established by God. The Bible will further teach
us as we read all of it and begin to look and get this picture.
We see this taught in separate places, but all together, we
know that there's not a king or queen or ruler or dictator
or maniacal crazy person that's ever been in power that God did
not place there for his purposes. And so God is sovereign and his
decrees will be fulfilled. And for time's sake, I don't
want to talk about determinism and all that kind of stuff, but
let's just call this divine love, divine purpose, divine glory.
God has purposed all these things for himself. And we as his children,
as the beneficiaries of his loving grace, we are going to share
in his glory, even as we share in the sufferings of Christ.
So God is sovereign. God is in control. He rules and
fulfills his decrees in war, Everything that's taking place,
God has purposed and decreed. He's fulfilling His purposes
in this pandemic. He's fulfilling His purposes
with His people in His church. Even when bad things happen amongst
Christ's people, even when we hear about people supposedly
should love one another, but they don't, even though it is
sin when we do these things, God is sovereign over even our
sin. And he works even these things
out for his purposes. What man intends for evil, Joseph
says, speaking for the Lord, the Lord has intended for good.
And that's after Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. God used
that evil to bring about the grace needed to save, the mercy
needed to save his brothers and the nation in a famine. And so
there's a picture of Christ, a picture of what Christ does
and what Christ has accomplished for his people. So we see that
God is sovereign over the persecution of the church. God is sovereign
over the governments of the world. God is sovereign over elections.
God is sovereign over the economies and all wealth. Every dollar
that anybody has or doesn't have is because it is part of God's
purposes for Himself in the life of those people, and His purposes
are all accomplished. And that should give us a lot
of peace. Even in the midst of fear and
frustration, doubt, uncertainty, and destruction, we can have
peace that surpasses, as Paul would tell the Philippians, all
understanding. And so, beloved, I want you to
think about that for a moment. I want you to read the book of Philippians.
I want you to read the Gospel of John. I want you to read the
Bible, because in the reading, the simple discipline of reading
or listening, if you're not a reader, you can listen. There's many
audio options. You can listen to the scripture
and the Spirit of God will teach you and comfort you and guide
you and give you peace that surpasses all logical and worldly and fleshly
understanding because it is the peace of God and is the peace
of God to us, His people. And beloved, most of all, and
I remind us all, God is sovereign in salvation. God did not intend
to save every human being in the world. If he did, then they
would be saved. Christ did not die for every
human being in the world. Christ died for the elect of
God, and he finished the work of redemption. The blood of Jesus
paid the sin debt for his people. There is nothing that a person
can do to be saved except that the Holy Spirit of God has shown
them that they are saved. And that may rock against the
historical theological ideologies and philosophies and expressions
of how these things should be understood. But beloved, I'm
gonna tell you now, God has saved his people. The death of Jesus
Christ is not something to be looked upon and decided upon.
The death of Jesus Christ is a finished redemptive work, a
justice being fulfilled, reconciliation with God the Father in an instant.
And when we are granted that faith, to rest in that promise,
to know that proclamation is true, and that we are counted
in that number, it is because God has loved us with an everlasting
love, and His Spirit has taught us this truth, and all the other
things that we have fought through all the years, even religiously,
that we might have to do in order to be right before God have just
melted away. And finally, in that moment of
the new birth, we know that the only hope we have is the death
of Jesus. And the only promise we have
is the promise that His death has satisfied God's wrath for
us. and I could go on and on, but just remember, beloved, you
are blessed in Christ, you are loved eternally, and God's grace
is for you, and God's love is for you, and God's purposes are
being fulfilled this very day. And so I wanna thank you for
taking the time to just think about this. If you have questions,
you wanna talk, you'd like for me to talk about anything specifically
related to this, beloved, I'm happy. Just put it in the comments
or send me a message and I'm happy. to talk more. This is
sort of going to be the format as needed for Theology on Call
in the next few months until I get my schedule back on track,
but I do want to answer anything that you might have, and I love
you all, and please share this video with someone that you think
it might be an encouragement to them, and most importantly,
please pray for one another, and I look forward to seeing
you all very, very soon. Lord bless.