Alright, go with me if you would
back to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, let's read verse
6 again. This will be our text. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. I want to bring a message to
you tonight on our Lord being in absolute control of all things
at all times. God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. I sincerely hope by the end of
this message, I believe this. That's my goal. I want to believe
this. I have an outline for us. I didn't
have one Sunday morning. I have one now. We are going
to start by defining sovereignty. We're going to define what sovereign
means. Then we could go on and on and
on, seeing everything that God is sovereign over. For the sake
of time, we're going to see three things. We're going to define
God's sovereignty. We're going to see three things
that God is sovereign over, and then we're going to close with
our personal response to His sovereignty. All right, first,
what does sovereign mean? The end of verse six, it means
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. That's what it means. Omnipotent means the ruler of
all. It means almighty. The Lord God Almighty reigns. That means controls. That's what
reigns means. The Lord God Almighty controls. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy 6 verse 13 says, I give thee charge in the sight
of God who quickeneth all things. God quickens all things. And
before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good
confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable,
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his times
he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. If Jesus Christ is the
absolute sovereign, it means he is the king over every king. And He is the Lord over every
lord. It means He is the only potentate. That word means authority. He is the only authority. Jesus Christ is the only authority. No other man can do what He wants
to do in His heart. No other man. No other man, no
other spiritual being, not even the adversary himself can execute
the desire of his heart without permission from the throne of
the Lord God Omnipotent. No man, no thing, not even the
adversary. Authority had to be given in
order for Job to be touched. Authority had to be given. That's
what sovereign means. Absolute authority and control. Alright, now turn with me to
Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 28 says, and we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, most of
us have heard the story of the first time brother Henry Mahan
heard the gospel. He heard it from brother Rolf
Barnard. Brother Barnard, in a way that only he could, was
screaming at the top of his lungs, purpose. Right? Over and over and over again.
That's what hit home. That's what hit home. Everything
is on purpose. Every single thing is on purpose. Everything that happens, happens
according to His purpose. Every single thing. God has declared
words like predestinated, predetermined, foreordained, and every predestinated,
foreordained thing that He has purposed to happen, happens. That's sovereignty. That's what
sovereignty is. Alright now, point number two.
What is God sovereign over? We could say anything right now.
We can say anything. We can fill that blank in with
anything. For the sake of time, we're going
to summarize everything down into three things. The first
one is this. God is sovereign over all creation. All creation. Whether the creation
is in heaven or whether it's on earth. Everything and everyone
is subject to him. Look with me at Daniel chapter
4. Just after Ezekiel. Daniel chapter
4. Daniel 4 verse 34 says, And at
the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding 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, 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? The adversary and the angels
that followed him were inhabitants of heaven. Now they are inhabitants of the
earth. Doesn't make a bit of difference
either way. They could not stop his hand then. They cannot stop
his hand now. They are completely subject to
his authority and his will. In all of the adversaries, evil,
wicked works, all of them. All of those evil, wicked works.
Not one time has He ever taken one step outside of God's purpose. Not one time. Not one time has
anything taken a step outside of God's purpose. Not one time.
Joseph said, you meant it for evil. All those things you did,
they were doing, his brothers were doing what was in their
heart. They did what they wanted to do. You meant it for evil.
God meant that. What you did, God meant it. That
was foreordained. And he meant it for good. Hath
not the potter power over the clay? Everything that he has
made with his hands. Can he not mold it into whatever
he wants it to be? Solomon said, all the kings of
the earth, he said, the king's hearts are in the hand of the
Lord. He turns them however he wants
to turn them. Whatever he wants to do with them. It is not possible. It is not possible for a man
to go mad and cause a freak accident. It is not possible. There is no such thing as a freak
accident. There is only God's purpose. That's all there is. It does
not matter how unstable a situation may seem to be. There is no such
thing as an unstable situation. There is only God's purpose. That's all there is. Now, after
I wrote that, I second-guessed it, I went back over it, I called
somebody on it, said, you agree with that? Absolutely. There
is no such thing as a freak accident. There is no such thing as an
unstable, is everything not right there? There's no such thing
as an unstable situation. There's only God's purpose. That's
all there is. Now are people unstable in and
of themselves? We better believe it. But every single one of us unstable
people are under the absolute control of the sovereign God. Every one of us. Everything around
us is under the absolute control of the Sovereign God. We say
that the weather is unstable and it's causing natural disasters.
That's not so. The weather is doing what God
predetermined for it to do. Psalm 107 says, He commandeth
and raiseth the stormy wind. And then he makes the storm a
calm. He does all this. People say, how can that be? How? People are dying from this. How can that be? You have drought
over here and flooding over here and people are dying from it.
How can that be directly from the hand of God? What about crime? the pain, the hurt, the death
that it causes. How can that be within the realms
of God's authority and permission? Go with me over to Deuteronomy
32. Deuteronomy 32 verse 39 it says, see now that I even I am he and
there's no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and
I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand For
I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I live forever. If I wet
my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I
will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them
that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk
with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, and that with the
blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning
of revenge is upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his
people. And if you notice the word with
is in italics. Rejoice, O ye nations, his people. For he will
avenge the blood of his servants and will render vengeance to
his adversaries and will be merciful unto his land and to his people. God is not the author and he
is not the performer of sinful, wicked crime. He is not. But no crime takes place outside
of his authority, permission, and purpose. None of it does. I know that's hard to understand.
That's hard to understand. Very hard to understand. I do
not understand His direct purpose in everything that happens. I
do not understand directly what His will is in all the things
that happen. What His direct result should
be through everything that happens. But by His grace, I will not
and you will not deny His purpose in everything that happens. And by His grace, we're gonna
remember that all things, all things, whether they seem to
be good things, whether they seem to be bad things, all things
are for the good of His people, all things. Even in everything
we just read right there, He said, if I wet my glittering
sword, I'll make my arrows drunk with blood. Even in that, He
said, rejoice, O ye nations, His people. Rejoice in it. It's for your good. I'm going
to show mercy to my people. God is sovereign over all creation.
Here's the second thing. God is sovereign over all salvation. Go to John chapter 3. John chapter 3 verse 27. John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Sinners are saved by grace. Grace is a gift given. John said
that gift that is given comes directly from heaven. It comes
from heaven. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. Jonah said salvation is of the
Lord. It's of the Lord. It only comes
from and it is distributed by the Lord. That means all grace
that is given is sovereignly given. This is what our sign
means. Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church. We're saved by grace. We're saved
by grace. Everybody goes around saying we're saved by grace.
Oh no, we're saved by grace. Amazing grace. Don't we all love
grace? Well, that grace is sovereign
grace. Go to Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 15 says, For he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. I will
die for whom I will die. I will pour my blood on whom
I will pour my blood on. Who did he say he wanted to pour
his blood on? You know he pours his blood on
whoever he wants to pour his blood on. Who did he say he wanted
to pour his blood on? Sinners. Not the self-righteous. Not those
who like what they see in themselves. Sinners who hate what they see
in themselves. Sinners. Not those who are proud
of what they are, those who are ashamed. Sinners. Those who are
crying out for mercy. Lord, I need you to forgive me.
I need you to forgive me. He said, I'm sovereignly determined
to pour my life-giving, soul-cleansing, debt-paying blood on sinners.
Sinners who really need it. He cast out Pharisees and Sadducees,
cast them to the side. He drew harlots and publicans
to himself. He has sovereignly declared,
I'm the friend of sinners. I'll receive sinners gladly,
come and dine. That's who he says come and dine
to. God is sovereign over all creation. God is sovereign over
all salvation. Here's the third thing. God is
sovereign over you. God is sovereign over you. Go with me to Psalm 33. Psalm 33 verse 16 says, there
is no king saved by the multitude of an host. A mighty man is not
delivered by much strength. And horse is a vain thing for
safety. Neither shall he deliver any
by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him. upon them that hope in his mercy,
to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield, for our heart shall rejoice in
him because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy,
O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope. in thee. Everything
concerning us, everything concerning our health, everything concerning
our safety, everything concerning our well-being is in the hand
of our sovereign God. Everything. This is what He has
said to us. Look at Psalm 91. Psalm 91 verse
1. This is what our God has to say
to us. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day.
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday, a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten
thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of
the wicked." We say, did you hear about the terror that happened
over there? Yep. Yes, it did. God said, it's not
going to come to you. Verse nine, because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation,
there shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over thee
to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against the stone. Are you saying
that nothing that I consider to be bad or evil is ever going
to happen to me? Are you saying I'm never even
going to get sick? No. David also said, it is a good
thing that I've been afflicted. It's good for me that I have
been afflicted. What he's saying is, don't fear
the things that God is sovereignly in control of. He said that arrow
that flies by day, don't be afraid. They're flying. Don't be afraid. Every arrow that flies is being
sovereignly controlled by God. Every single one of them. Just
like that wicked king Ahab. He tried to escape God's judgment
on him. God said he was going to die
in battle, and he decided he was going to change his royal
clothes with another man and let him appear to be the king,
and he was going to go over here to the side and, in his mind,
get out of harm's way. And when the enemy came up to
the king, They realized it was not the king and that soldier,
he was frustrated, he just grabbed an arrow and shot at a venture right into his heart. God's purpose cannot be escaped. It cannot be escaped. We can
get a bigger horse. We can trade our chariot in for
another chariot that has higher sides on it. It cannot be escaped. On the other hand, if God is
not purposed for a matter to take place, it cannot take place. No matter what's in the heart
of man, it cannot take place. Nebuchadnezzar grabbed three
young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And he purposed
in his heart for them to be burned in a fiery furnace. And he threw
them in. But God had not given permission
for them to be burned in a fiery furnace. And they couldn't be.
They could not be. God brought them out without
even the smell of smoke on their clothes. And he did that to prove
his sovereignty. He proved His sovereignty. Our
God is sovereign. He's sovereign over all creation.
He's sovereign over all salvation. He's sovereign over you. He's
sovereign over me. And now let's ask the same question
our Lord asked Martha. Believest thou this? Do you believe this? Do we really
believe that our God is in absolute control of everything that pertains
to anything? And I'm asking this heart right
here, do I believe this? Do I believe
that He is in absolute control of everything that happens from
the third heaven all the way down to our life right here on
this earth? Every single thing. Do we really
believe that a sparrow is not allowed to die and fall to the
ground without first being given permission to do so? If we do,
what's our response to it? If we believe it, what's our
response to His sovereignty? We'll close with this. Go back
to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, the end of verse
6 says, The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Verse seven says, let
us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. Lord, thank you
for your sovereignty. Thank you. Thank you. Isn't that our hearts cry? Thank
you for your sovereignty. Don't we get so much peace and
comfort and rest every time we remember that God is truly sovereignly
in control. I forget it all the I forget
it all day, every day. As soon as I'm done with this
message, I will forget this. And then it will come back to
my mind. By His goodness and His grace
and His mercy, He will remind me, I am sovereign. And you are mine. And I'm for
you. And if I'm for you, nobody can
be against you. So much rest, so much peace knowing
he controls everything and everything he's controlling is for the good
of his people. Thank you. Thank you for sovereignty. All right, let's all stand together.