Thank you, Joy. Good morning.
Let's open this morning's service with the hymn that's on the back
of your bulletin. If you don't have a bulletin,
it's 449 in the hardback teminal with a few rewrites, just a few
word changes that put the gospel in it. So let's all stand together.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. God be the glory, great things
He hath done. So loved He His people and gave
them His Son. ? Who yielded his life and atonement
for sin ? And opened the life gate that they may go in ? Praise
the Lord, praise the Lord ? Let the earth hear his voice ? Praise
the Lord, praise the Lord ? Let his people rejoice the Father, through Jesus the
Son, and give him the glory, great things he hath done. ? O perfect redemption, the purchase
of blood ? To every believer the promise of God ? The vilest
offender who truly believes ? That sinner from Jesus a pardon receives
? Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ? Let the earth hear his
voice ? Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ? Let his people rejoice
? O come to the Father ? Through Jesus the Son ? And give him
the glory ? Great things he hath done Great things He hath taught
us, great things He hath done, and great are rejoicing through
Jesus the Son, but purer and higher greater will be. Our wonder, our transport, when
Jesus we see. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let his people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give him the glory, great things he hath done. Please be seated. Good morning. I like the words
of that a lot better. What a difference a couple of
changed words makes in the message. Same thing in the gospel, isn't
it? A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. And just a few changes of words. That really goes all the way
back to the garden at the very beginning, isn't it? When Satan
said, did God say that thou shalt not eat of the trees of the garden? That's not what God said. And
Eve corrected him. And then he changed it again.
So, that's his, always has been his
attempt to to rob our Lord of His glory by changing the message. The first text that we're going
to be looking at this morning can be found in Daniel chapter
4. Daniel chapter 4. Let's ask the Lord's blessings,
our Heavenly Father. We pray that you would be pleased
this morning to reveal to our hearts the great things that
thou hast done. Lord, we pray that you'd be pleased
to reveal the greatness of thy dear son and that you would cause
us to be able to bow and to believe and to worship. Lord, we confess to you this
morning that there's so much unbelief in our hearts and Lord,
we are so easily caught up in the things of this
world and or distracted from from you. We ask, Lord, that
in this hour that you would enable us to look and to live. Bless your word. Thank you for
it. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. The last several weeks we've
been in First Samuel. chapter 17 looking at the story
of David and Goliath. And I've been thinking a lot
about that and about how David took Goliath's own sword and
decapitated Goliath with his own sword. And how Our sovereign
God uses evil to accomplish his purpose. The Lord tells us in Psalm 76,
the wrath of man shall praise thee. The wrath of man shall
praise thee. And the remainder of wrath thou
shalt restrain. Whatever God doesn't use for
his glory, he restrains. And just thinking about how glorious
our Lord is in his sovereignty, in his sovereignty. And I've
titled this message, Our Sovereign Lord. Now, I'm sure that Some
years ago, I maybe would have titled a message like this, The
Sovereignty of God. But our hope is not in a doctrine. Our hope is in a God who is himself
absolutely sovereign. That word sovereign means to
reign supremely. unthreatened, does whatsoever he wills, with
whomsoever he wills, however he wills, and whenever he wills,
and he always does it right. You know, and I was thinking
about this word. It's not found in the Bible,
by the way. You might be surprised to hear
that, but the word sovereign and sovereignty are nowhere to
be found in God's Word. Yet, the truth of our God being
sovereign is on every page. It's on every page. The word
Trinity is not to be found anywhere in the Bible. And yet, it is
a word that we use to describe and to declare who our God is as one
God in three persons. God the Father having elected
his people before the foundation of the world in his sovereign
grace and his sovereign will. God the Son having accomplished
the salvation his people and God the Holy Spirit bringing
that message to the hearts of those whom God chose and Christ
died for. Triune Godhead and all three
members of the Trinity though they be one God when we say that
they're one God and three distinct persons what we mean is that
the attributes that apply to God apply to all three of them. Self-existence, I am, applies
to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Eternality applies
to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Immutability applies
to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Omnipotence applies
to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These glorious truths
that describe and define God and cannot be used to apply to
anything else apply to all three persons of the triune Godhead
and so we call it, we call the Lord a triune God or Trinity. Sovereignty like Trinity is not
found in God's Word and yet it is, as I said, we could turn
anywhere in the Bible pretty much and find a text that would
declare our God as sovereign. But I want us to look here at
Daniel chapter 4. Our God reigns supreme. He is
absolute. He is unlimited in his authority. He has the first and the final
word over all things in heaven and in earth. And Nebuchadnezzar
learned that lesson. And he says in Daniel chapter
four, verse 34, and at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up my eyes unto heaven. That's where we set our affections
on things above. Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. The Lord lifts our eyes toward
heaven. And in doing so, my understanding,
Nebuchadnezzar had thought that the greatness of his kingdom
had something to do with himself. And now he's been humbled to
see that it was all of the Lord. My understanding now returned
unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored
him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation. He reigns supreme. He is sovereign. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? Oh, what comfort, what hope we
have in knowing that our God reigns, that he's sovereign over
all the affairs of our lives and of this world. Turn back
with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes. Psalm, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Chapter three. And we'll begin
reading at verse 11. He hath made, he hath made everything
beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from beginning to the end. We look at our circumstances,
we look at the events of the world, and we can't figure out
what God's doing. It's not for us to know what
he's doing, it's for us to believe that he's doing it. Whatever
is being done, he's doing it. And I know that there is no good
in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life. And
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all his labors. It is the gift of God. It's all
we can do. We can't figure out what God's
doing. We see just a tip of the hand
of God at work. So the Lord's telling us to trust
him and to enjoy the things that he's given us. And then he goes
in verse four and says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it
shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. God doeth it that men should
fear before him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth
that which is past. Now what the Lord is telling
us there is that what's happening in time, that's where you and
I live, what's happening in time has already taken place in eternity. God has purposed it all from
beginning to end and that he is accomplishing his purpose
to glorify himself and to save his people. great comfort it is to know that
our God is sovereign. I was thinking about that passage
in Romans chapter 9 which is a quote from what Moses told
Pharaoh in Exodus chapter 9 that God raised you up for this very
purpose that he might show forth his glory and his power. Talking about Pharaoh, Pharaoh
was but a pawn in the hand of God accomplishing his purpose. in all the apparent confusions
of your life and my life and all the apparent confusions of
this world. And I use that word apparent
because there's nothing confusing about them. They only appear
to be confusing to us. All the apparent uncertainties,
all the questions of doubts and fears, we are certain We are
certain that our God reigns sovereign, supremely over all things and
that no man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Oh, may God enable us to commit,
as Peter said, to commit the keeping of our souls to him,
knowing that he is a faithful creator. He is the creator and
sustainer of all of life. You see, just as Goliath had
no idea that he was being used of God to accomplish his purpose,
Satan had no idea when he tempted Eve in the garden that he was
laying the very foundation upon which God would bless his people
with the fullness of his grace and of his glory. You see, God
had ordained the fall. He's the first cause of all things.
What we know of our sovereign God, in terms of his grace, his
mercy, his love, his power, his justice, is infinitely greater
than what Adam knew before the fall. Adam knew that God was powerful.
Adam walked with him in the cool. You see, the fall, though it
be completely our fault, was purposed of God in order for
God to demonstrate the fullness of His glory. And Satan was God's
devil and was being used in the hand of God in order to accomplish
the purpose of God to show forth the fullness of His grace and
of His glory. From the very beginning we see
the hand of our God in His sovereign purpose. glorifying himself. When Satan, by his hatred of
God, led the Jews to cry, crucify
him, crucify him, he did not know that he was putting into
action the very event that would accomplish the salvation of God's
people. Do we not see the sovereignty
of our God most gloriously demonstrated at the cross when men by their
wicked hands and fully responsible for what they had done were doing
nothing more than fulfilling the very purpose of God? Oh,
Child of God, our God reigns. He reigns. He's sovereign over
everything. When Satan was given permission
of God and he had to get permission of God in order to be able to
inflict so much pain and suffering on Job, He had no idea that he
was providing for every generation of God's people a demonstration
of God's grace and glory to sustain and provide for his people in
spite of the afflictions that he sends to them. When he filled Judas's heart. We're thinking about Goliath
being a picture of evil and the wrath of man praising him and
the remainder of wrath he restrains and the fulfilling of his purpose
in all things. When Satan filled Judas's heart
with greed and envy He did not know that Judas was
fulfilling God's prophecy and God's purpose and putting into
motion the very purpose of God in saving his people. So many examples, glorious examples. And you know, and you know, If
you know God is sovereign, you know the God who is sovereign,
you know that all things work together for good for them that
love God and those that are the called according to his purpose. You see, our sovereign God not
only does whatsoever he wills, whenever he wills, however he
wills and with whomever he wills, He always does it right. And
he doesn't just do it right. He does it best. The best, the
best that it can be is God's sovereign purpose. I like that old statement I've
heard many years ago. There's a lot of truth to it. If you and I had the power of
God, if we had the power of God, we'd change pretty much everything,
wouldn't we? If we had the knowledge of God,
we would change nothing, nothing. When Satan put into the hands
of those Roman soldiers a vine of thorns to be fashioned into
a mock crown, he had no idea that he was fulfilling God's
purpose, that they were fulfilling God's purpose to declare the
Lord Jesus Christ as King of the Jews. Matter of fact, when
Pilate wrote Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews and posted it
above the cross, Pilate had no idea that he was but a pawn in
the hand of God. That he was declaring to the
whole world who the Lord Jesus Christ is in the fullness of
his glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. Sovereignly accomplishing
the salvation of his people. Our God is sovereign. When Satan sifted Peter, and again, he had
to get permission from the Lord to do that, didn't he? The Lord
said to Peter, Satan has asked to sift thee. But I've prayed for thee that
your faith fail not. Peter, you're gonna fall and
you're gonna fail. But your faith's not going to
fail. Why? Because I prayed for you. I prayed for you. And when Satan was able, by the
very sovereign permission of God, to cause Peter to fall,
he had no idea what encouragement, what encouragement he would be
given to you and to me and to every believer that's ever been
in the times that they have forsaken the Lord and forgotten Him and
denied Him. You see, we see the hand of God in
all of these things, don't we? Can you see the hand of God?
Can you believe that it is God that is doing all things? Satan tempted David to take Bathsheba
and have her husband Uriah killed. He had no idea that David would
be used of God and brokenness over that experience to pin for
us Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Oh. What comfort it is to a sinner
to be able to read those words and know that the Lord is a God
of mercy, delights in mercy and is plenteous in forgiveness. Lot lingered, the scripture says,
He lingered behind, didn't he? And he had to be taken by the
hand and drawn out of Sodom. How many times have you and I
lingered? We've lingered in the things of this world. and what
comfort we have in knowing that our God will not let us remain
there. He will take us by the hand and
draw us out. When Caiaphas, the high priest,
he's the one that met with the Sanhedrin and he gave this counsel
when he said, one man should die for the people that the whole
nation perish not. God put those words in Caiaphas'
mouth. Caiaphas was just a poem in God's
hand being used to declare the truth of who the Lord Jesus was
and what he would do as our substitute, dying for the nation that the
whole nation perished not. Joseph revealed himself to his
brothers. after having been so falsely
accused and wrongly treated, what did Joseph say? You meant
it for evil but God meant it for good to bring salvation to
his people. You see, that's always the purpose
of God. The purpose of God is to glorify
himself in the saving of his people. We don't know. We're looking at the tapestry
from the backside of it, aren't we? We see a lot of mingled up
knots and things that don't make sense. God's on the other side
of that tapestry and He is weaving together a beautiful picture
of His grace and of His glory. And all we can do on this side
of the tapestry is just believe that our God Every time that
needle comes through and we see another thing that doesn't quite
make sense to us, we know that our God on the other side is
making all things beautiful in His time. In His time. Our God is sovereign, brethren.
He's sovereign. Is there any greater comfort?
Is there any greater truth that gives peace to the hearts of
God's people in the midst of their trials and troubles than
to know that God is sovereign? When Joseph's brothers came back
from Egypt and said to Jacob, you remember Joseph demanded
that Simeon stay behind and that the brothers go back and get
Benjamin and that they can't come back without Benjamin. And so they go to Jacob and say, the man in Egypt is requiring,
they didn't know it was the brother. The man in Egypt is requiring
our younger brother, Benjamin. And what did Jacob say? Jacob
said, Joseph is no more. That wasn't true. Simeon is no
more. That wasn't true. And now you
want to take Benjamin? And then he made this statement.
All these things are against me. You ever feel that way? All these things are against
me. No, they're not. No, they're not. Jacob was 130 years old at this
time. He would soon travel down to
Egypt and find out that Joseph not only was not no more, but
that Joseph was actually the prime minister of all of the
most powerful country in the world. The Pharaoh had given
everything over to his son's hand, and that he was going to
spend the next 17 years of his life in Goshen, the most fertile
land in all the Nile Valley, and that he was going to be provided
for by the best years of Jacob's life were yet ahead of him. And
he said, all these things are against me. Oh, no, they're not. No, they're not. They're not
against you, Jacob. Wait upon the Lord. He shall renew thy strength and
we shall mount up with wings as eagles and we shall run and
not be weary and we shall walk and not faint. That's what faith
in our Lord who is himself sovereign. When Naomi came back from Moab,
her husband and both of her sons died in a pagan land. And she
came back to Bethlehem and the people saw her and they said,
is that Naomi? Oh, she had aged terribly through
her trials and troubles. And Naomi said, don't call me
Naomi, call me Mara. for the Lord has dealt bitterly
with me. That's what Mara means. The Lord
has dealt bitterly with me. All these things have been against
me. She had no idea that she was going to become the mother-in-law
of the great-grandmother of King David and going to be in the
lineage of the coming of the Messiah and a main character
in God's Word for all time and eternity. She had no idea. The Lord has dealt with me bitterly.
Oh, no, he hasn't. No, he hasn't, Naomi. No, he
hasn't. Our God will sovereignly use
his ordained purpose and events to accomplish his purpose in
getting us to glory. when the Lord healed that man
who was born blind in John chapter 9. He was born blind. Who read that
this morning in the men's study? Ryan. And the Pharisees interrogate
him, but before that, Before that, the disciples asked the
Lord. They asked the Lord, why is this
man blind? Was it because of his sins or
because of the sins of his parents? Now here's a man that was born
into this world without the capacity to see. And now he's an adult. He'd never seen in his life.
And the Lord Jesus Christ said to the disciples, neither. Neither,
but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. God caused him to be born blind
for this very moment in time, that a miracle of grace might
be performed that would glorify God and give him sight, not just
physically, not just physical sight, Plenty of people in this
world that can see physically, but they're blind spiritually.
Because that blind man later comes back to the Lord, and the
Lord says to him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? And what did
he say? Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe? You have both seen him, and is he that is speaking to
you? And the blind man bowed and said, I believe, and he worshiped
him. The Lord gave him not just physical
sight but spiritual sight that God might be glorified. What does this, what does all
these examples say about your experiences and my experiences
and the circumstances of life, our God reigns. Our God reigns. What does it say about your sin? Well, make no mistake about it,
we are fully responsible for our sin. Fully responsible. Let no man
say when he is tempted, that I am tempted of God, for God
tempteth no man, neither can he be tempted with evil, but
each of us are drawn away by our own lust, and when lust conceives,
it bringeth forth sin, and sin bringeth forth death. We're fully
responsible for our sin, and yet here's the glorious truth,
brethren. Our God sovereignly, sovereignly uses our sin in order
to demonstrate his grace and his glory. For where sin abounds,
grace does much more abound. It's our sin that drives us to
Christ, is it not? When the Spirit of God comes,
he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of
judgment, of sin because they believe not on me. Yes, Lord,
it is my unbelief. that has caused me, has caused
me to look away and to rebel against thee. Oh Lord, have mercy
upon me, the sinner, the sinner. It was the publican's sin that
caused him to cry out for mercy. And it is your sin and my sin
that will cause us to cry out for mercy. It is truly man's righteousness
that keeps him from coming to Christ, not his sin. Sin is the very thing that God uses to cause us to see our need
for a Savior, a successful Savior, a sovereign Savior, a sovereign
Savior. One who is able to save to the
uttermost. One who sovereignly became the
surety of his people before time ever was. What is a surety? A surety is one that makes another
sure. Where does our surety come from?
You know, you, like me, have friends and family members that
want you to call them brother and they want you to rejoice
with them and their religious activities and you can't do it.
You can't do it. Why do they do that? And why
is it that you're not doing that with them? Answer's simple. They're looking
to you to be their surety. And you don't need them to be
your surety. You have a surety in heaven. You have a salvation that is
sure and steadfast and anchor for your soul. Christ is our surety. We don't
get our surety from the approval of men. We get it straight from our successful
sovereign savior. who makes his people sure. Our God reigns. Oh, we're not fatalistic about
this. You see, the difference between the sovereignty of God and the
God who is sovereign is that I talked to a lot of people that
write books on the sovereignty of God. I mean, yeah, but their
hope is in the doctrine. Our hope is in the living Lord.
And the difference between fatalism and believing that our God is
sovereign has to do with his person. If we just say, well,
you know, what will be will be, and we'll become fatalistic about
it. No, we're able to rejoice in
the Lord, always. And again, I say rejoice. We
don't just resign ourselves to the events of life in a fatalistic
attitude. And we don't raise our fist to
heaven in resentment against God for having ordained things
that are difficult. If we believe that our God is
sovereign, then we will rejoice in Him. Rejoice in Him. And again, I say, rejoice. Let
your gentleness be known unto all men. Why? Because the Lord
is at hand. The Lord's at hand. He's the
one doing these things. All right, let's take a break. Thank you.