If you will, be turning to Romans
chapter 3. The title of my message tonight
is, Does God Want? Does God Want? Does God get frustrated? Is God
wanting things to happen? Does He want things for you and
just really hopes it plays out that way? Is God reacting to
what's going on in this world? Does He try to do things? Does
He attempt to accomplish what He does? Many people speak like
that. Most preachers in this world,
they have that as their message. And either they boldly come out
and say it, or it's mixed in between the lines. But they do not honor God speaking
that way. They don't fear Him. They don't know Him. You can't
be afraid of someone that you've never heard of and don't know,
can you? Where can we find these answers?
Where can they find these answers? How can we know if God's dependent
on us or if we're dependent on Him? We have a great advantage. You have a great advantage. I have a great advantage. world
that we're in has a great advantage to understand these things. And
that's because we have the written word of the Lord. We have these
scriptures given to us. There in Romans 3, verse 1, Paul
says, What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there
of circumcision? Much every way. chiefly because
that unto them were committed the oracles." That means the
utterance, the word. The oracles of God. We have a
great privilege in having the written word of God. It's the
most valuable possession you have in your home. Paul says this is our chief benefit. All things the Lord gave us physically
on this earth. and what He physically gave the
physical nation of Israel and the spiritual nation of Israel.
He gave us His Word. We have this. So let us always
answer our questions about God from this Word and not from our
thoughts. Not from other men's thoughts. We'll be turning to
several scriptures tonight, and if you don't have a Bible, get
one and turn along. Try the spirits to see if they're
of God. Make sure that whatever a man tells you goes along with
these scriptures. I don't want to hear what man
has to think. I don't want to hear what the
commentators have to say if it goes against this Word. You shouldn't
hear what I have to say if it goes against this Word. How can
we know? We turn along and look. It should raise some questions
in folks. Man, instead of saying one thing
that the Lord tries to do everything, these scriptures declare a different
God. They should ask those questions. Why is it different? I ask that
question. I don't want to hear advice.
I want to hear the truth. In hard times, advice ain't going
to do you no good. I want to know the truth. Look into the scriptures of the
utmost importance. If I have a message from God,
it is His Word to you. It's not something I've conjured
up. If it doesn't agree with the
Scriptures, then it's not His Word, is it? The Apostle Paul
tells us in Galatians 4, nevertheless, what saith the Scriptures? We
looked at that last weekend. Some people have told me, well,
you rely too much on the Apostle Paul. He wrote the good bulk
of the New Testament, didn't he? The Lord used him mightily.
But is he just a wild card? Is he the only one that's given
this solid advice? John wrote, many of the people
therefore when they heard this saying said, of a truth this
is a prophet. Others said this is the Christ
but some said shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the
scriptures said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out
of the town of Bethlehem where David was? John was concerned
about the Scriptures. What did the Scriptures say?
The Holy Word of God declares Christ's coming, doesn't it?
James asked, do you think that the Scriptures saith in vain,
the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Doesn't the
Holy Word of God declare that men are evil, that we drink iniquity
like water, all flesh is grass? That's what the book says. Christ
was fulfilling Psalm 82 when He spoke to the Jews there in
John chapter 10 and said, Jesus answered them, is it not written
in your law? In the Old Testament Bible that
they carried. I said, ye are gods. If He called them gods,
unto whom the word of God came and the Scriptures cannot be
broken. What the Lord has declared can't change. It didn't change
and we have a record of that in the New Testament, don't we?
Everything declared that happened in Christ's life, where he was
born, how long he would be here, what he would accomplish, how
he would die, how they cast lots on his garments, everything.
The crown of thorns he'd wear. Everything was declared and it
can't be broken. The Bible in our hands plainly shows us our
ruin. It plainly shows cross full redemption
and the Spirit's total work in regeneration. That's the advantage that the
nation of Israel had since the times of Moses. When Moses began
writing, that's what these Jews 2,000 years ago had. That's the advantage that happened
in Europe when Luther was going through a bad virus, a bad plague. Gutenberg had a printing press,
didn't he? That was a great advantage. How else, bless the world, did
the Lord use that? And our advantage now is the written Word of God.
But the Lord in His infinite wisdom, He's preserved this.
These writings are His covenant to His people. His promises,
His decrees, So in a written book, something we can carry,
we can look at. Did he want to preserve it? Or
did he preserve it? I don't think he wanted to preserve
it. He did, didn't he? Okay, Ethiopian eunuch, he sends
a servant to remind us and show us what these texts mean. Who
these texts are about. He sends his preachers to show
Christ's person and Christ's work, the person and work of
Christ, who He is and what He's done. With that, let's look at
this question that Paul asks these Romans in verse 3. This
will be our first point. The Scriptures declare a sovereign
God. Romans 3.3 says, For what if some did not believe? Shall
their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? If some
don't believe, will that ruin the faithfulness of God to His
Word, to His people, that covenant that He made with His Son? If
someone doesn't believe, does that destroy his faithfulness? If some don't believe, does that
make his providence empty? Does it make his providence null
and void? Does that cancel his intent? If some don't believe, does that
mean they will defeat the will of God? Does man's free will override
the Lord's will? His choice over the Lord's choice?
Does God want to be faithful, but man won't let Him? Does God
direct the path of everything on this earth, but man gets in
the way? Does the purpose and will of
God come in second place to man's wants? These seem like strong,
crazy rhetorical questions, don't they? That's what Paul's asking
these brethren there. When I read these scriptures,
I read about a God that is almighty. Is that what you read? Is that
what you see when you read these words? Our God is God. That is who and
what a God is. That's His name, His office,
His character. Either He rules and reigns over
everything or He's not God. If He does not do what He wants,
perform all things as He wants, order all things as He sees fit,
start and stop things when He desires, then He's not God. He's just like a man. How thankful
we are that He's not like men. Numbers, it wrote, God is not
a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should
repent. Hath he said and shall not he do it? Or hath he spoken
and shall not make good on it? That's a comfort to me. David
wrote this in the Psalms, Psalm 115, Not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for
thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Some folks are asking that question
in our country right now. Why would God let this happen?
Where is your God? What about these poor people
getting sick and dying? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." Does that sound like
a God that's wanting? One that's defeated? He does
whatever He pleases, doesn't He? David also wrote Psalm 135,
"...Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in
earth, and in the seas, and in all deep places." God rules everything
in the galaxy, in the heavens, in the skies, everything on this
earth, everything under this earth. in the seas and it says
deep places, the places we can't see. Things floating around in
this air that we don't know about. Stuff on door handles. The Lord
controls every bit of it. Does He want to rule or does
He rule? Scripture says the Lord rules.
I want us to see this evening that God's sovereign in all things. We've looked at this briefly
a little over a year ago, It was comforting to me to expound
on it and study it, and as I read to you earlier, to me it's not
grievous, and to you it's safe. I want us to see that God is
sovereign in creation, He's sovereign in providence, and He's sovereign
in salvation. First off, let's turn to Colossians
chapter 1. 1 Who, speaking of Christ, is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature?
For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, that are
in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And if you'll notice there, it's
a period. That's the end of a complete statement. All things visible
and invisible, and that's thrones and dominions. Countries, the
idea of government is on His shoulder. Turn over to Job chapter
37. Everything we see and everything
we don't see is from God and it's for His glory. Job 37 verse
6, For He saith to the snow, Be
thou on the earth, likewise to the small rain and to the great
rain of His strength. He sealeth up the hand of every
man, that all men may know His work. It says all men may know
this. All men do know this, don't they?
Sometimes we have our hands sealed. You ever had big plans to do
something and the weather changed? Wars have been determined by
God's sovereignty and creation. Him controlling the weather.
We was at Costco the other day and everybody went to get some
paper goods. Wasn't there. It rained. There
was some wrecks on the interstate and there was all but fist fights
breaking out and people were upset. The Lord made it rain. Brought the rains. There in verse
9 it says, Out of the south cometh the whirlwind and the cold out
of the north. By the breath of God frost is
given and the breath of the waters is straightened. It means the
waters freeze over. Years ago I had a Good friend
of mine, his dad worked with the railroad for years and years.
I was going to get out of the army and work for the railroad.
He got me an interview. And all I had to do was show
up and not pass out, I guess. And I had a job. But I had to
be in Chicago. And so I got all packed up and
was ready to take off. And that night, there was a big
ice storm came through in a straight line from Louisville, Kentucky
to Chicago. I didn't go to the job interview. The Lord breathed
and He straightened those waters. Verse 13, why does God control
and use nature this way? Why would He do stuff like that?
He causes it to come whether for correction or for His land
or for mercy. The Lord sends pestilence. That
word means epidemic. plague, disease. 46 times it's
mentioned in these scriptures. The Lord sends those things.
Does it on purpose. And He sends snow storms and
ice and heat waves and droughts and heavy rains. He sends those
things for purpose. Either for correction or to take
care of the land, water the trees or for mercy. The Lord shows
mercy on us. We don't see it that way, do
we? Things we consider are horrible,
terrible things. Loss of a child, loss of a loved
one, tsunamis just killing thousands of people from infants to elderly. We don't see those things as
merciful. That's a loving God being merciful
to us. Do we bow to that? Do we act
as Job has instructed? Look here in verse 14. Hearken
unto this, O Job. Stand still and consider the
wondrous works of God. Does God want to be in control
of creation? Does He want to rule creation
or does He have a hand controlling all things? The God of the Bible
uses this creation at His disposal to execute His providence. He's
sovereign in providence. Let's turn over to Genesis 18.
What does that mean, providence? The Lord's predestination is
to be conformed to the image of Christ. That's what we will
become. Providence is our daily lives.
If it's going to rain tomorrow, if it's not going to rain tomorrow.
But He uses creation through His providence. Genesis 18. The God declares what will happen,
how it will happen, when it will happen, and then He makes it
come to pass just as exactly as He said. That's a big difference
between man and God. I make plans. I want to do things.
I have intentions, and it may come to pass, it may not. But
the Lord says, I'm going to do this every time. He does it. He accomplishes it. Genesis 18,
we'll be looking at verse 11. God had already promised Abraham
that he and Sarah would have a son. Genesis 18, 11. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. She wasn't able to have children
anymore. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, inside of her
mind. Abraham didn't hear it, but the
Lord did, didn't he? saying that after I am waxed old shall I
have pleasure, my Lord being old also? And the Lord said unto
Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety
bear a child, which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At the time appointed I will
return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son. Now I ask you, did Sarah have
that son? She did, didn't she? Our Lord's
able to do everything He decrees. Nothing's too hard for Him. He
does all things right. He does all things in wisdom
that is above our understanding. He said, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. My dad told me when I was young,
being holy isn't doing what's right. It's what you do is right.
It took me years to grasp that. The Lord doesn't do what's right.
What He does is right. We don't see it that way. We
don't have the mind of Him, do we? Our Lord's ordered all things
for the glory of Christ and our benefit. All things. No matter
if we think so or not. We can disagree and He's still
acting. Turn over to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 and verse 5. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me. When we didn't
know Him, the Lord clothed us and provided for us until He
gave that light in our hearts. Verse 6, "...that He clothed
us and girded us, that they may know from the rising of the sun
and from the west that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord
and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I the Lord do all these things." He does all things on purpose.
Turn over to Isaiah 46. We are supposed to be reminded
of these things. that our God is sovereign in
everything, in creation, providence, and salvation. We need to be
reminded often. I forget. If you ever see me concerned
slightly, that means I've completely forgotten that my Lord rules
and reigns all things. I need to be reminded. His people
need to be reminded often. Look here in Isaiah 46, verse
8. Remember this and show yourselves, men, bring it again to mind,
O ye transgressors, Remember the former things of old, for
I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure." Does that sound like a God that
can be sidetracked? Do the things happening in this
world right now, the concerns that we have today, Does that
throw a wrench into God's plan? That's foolish talk, the wording
of this. If the Lord preserved these scriptures,
we could see them. You don't have to turn to these,
but I want to read you a couple of texts. Ephesians 1.11 says,
"...him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will." That's not 90%, that's all things. Christ said this in Matthew 10,
"...are not two sparrows sold for a farling? And not one of
them shall fall to the ground without your Father, but the
very hairs of your head are numbered." Gabe brought this out last week.
He said he always thought of that little sparrow falling.
It means it's dead. That's even if it just stumbles.
"...but the very hairs of your head are all numbered." He controls
how many hairs I have. He controls what color they are.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst make
one hair white or black." Does God need us to help Him
in this world? Is He relying on man? Turn over
to Acts 17. I feel absurd asking these rhetorical
questions, but this is commonplace. It's common to my family. I'm
assuming you're all family, people you work with. This is the way
people speak of the Lord. Verse 24, God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelt not in temples made with hands, neither is he worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything. What did he
say in other places? If I was hungry, I wouldn't ask
you. He said, the cattle on a thousand hills are mine. Seeing He giveth
to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one
blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if
happily they may feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not
far from every one of us. For in Him we live and move and
have our being. The God of Providence is why
we are sitting here tonight. He's directed all things in our
lives, from who our parents were, when we were born, every illness
we've ever had, every basketball game we've ever had, anything,
every drop of rain, so we could sit here right now. Does God
want His plan to work out, or does He purpose all things? If we see that and understand
that plainness that's in this book, can we hinder the salvation of
God's elect? We see that through creation
we can do nothing. We have no control over that. I can't get
grass to grow where I want it and I can't keep grass from growing
where I don't want it. Through providence, I may make
it home, tonight I may not. I can't control any of that.
Can I control salvation? Let's turn over to Exodus 33.
Men say salvation is up to you. This book says salvation is of
the Lord. Our God saves sinners the way
He wants, the way that is holy, and the way that is above our
thinking. We wouldn't have come up with this. Exodus 33, verse
18. And he, that's Moses, and Moses
said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And the Lord said,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show
mercy. That's the Lord's glory and His
sovereignty. We're about to see His glory and salvation. Verse
20, and he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall
no man see me and live. It's impossible for a natural
man to approach the Lord or to be in the presence of God. Verse
21, and the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou
shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my
glory passes by that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and
will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. God is just
in not letting sinful men be in His presence. But He's also
the justifier by putting us in Christ the Rock. He puts us in
Him and on Him. It's the pleasure and the counsel
of His will shall stand. That's the way the Lord decreed
He will save people, and that's the way He does it. What's man's
role in this? Are we supposed to make a decision
for him? There in Jeremiah 18, Jeremiah learned some stuff.
The Lord took him down to the potter's house, didn't he? Did
you see that, Jeremiah? See what that potter's doing
with that clay? And he marred one of them with his hand and he
threw it away. Got another lump of clay, made him a fresh one.
And he said, you go tell Israel. He said, you're the clay and
you're my hand. He makes one vessel to honor
and one vessel to dishonor. That's the potter's choice. The
problem isn't us considering the Lord as the potter, that
He controls the clay. The problem is we don't think
we're clay. That's my problem. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. God's wisdom and His prudence
and salvation, His people are blessed abundantly. We have all
blessings. And through that, Christ receives
all the glory. Ephesians 1 verse 3. It says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the pleasure the good pleasure of His will." Why is that? Verse 6, "...to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence." having made known
unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself." The God saved His sheep. That's not something to fight
against. That's a bed you can stretch out on. That's peace. That's comfort. To the one that's
unable, that's comfort. Someone that thinks they can
do something, that's no comfort at all. Does God want to save? Or has He put those sheep and
that lamb slain before the foundation of the world? If He slain the
lamb before the foundation of the world, He had to slay them
for somebody. We should never worry or fret
about the Lord's creation. We shouldn't worry or fret or
be concerned about His providence. And for those that know they
can't do anything for Him, The Lord just gave you a broken and
contrite heart, brought you down, made you see how incapable we
are. We should never worry or fret about our salvation. It's
as sure as anything else, isn't it? He said, I'm the Lord, I
change not. He said, you're my people, I'll
be your God. I think He can bring it to pass. The book says He
can. If the Spirit reveals these things in you, if you're able
to read these texts and praise Christ, the Lord for who He is
and what He's accomplished. Where are we brought? Where does
He bring us in our hearts? Nebuchadnezzar, when he said
his understanding had returned to him, he walked around on all
fours like a beast of the field, didn't he? Eating grass. And
the Lord made him insane. And when He gave his mind back
to him, he praised God. And he shouted this, 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? I can agree to those things.
I rejoice in those things. I'm comforted by those things.
When the Lord gives us grace to understand what we are and
who He is, we can only have one place to look to. And that's
Christ. We look at His holy, perfect
law. We look to Christ. We look to
His creation. You go out and see a hummingbird.
Or as those religious folks like to talk about the duck-billed
platypus. They can go down a rabbit hole on that one, but that's
amazing, isn't it? Look what Christ made in His
providence. We have hurricanes and viruses
and tsunamis and beautiful sunny days. The Lord's done that, and
in salvation. If He's kept me, He's done it.
Back there in Romans 3, we'll wrap this up. Paul writes there in verse 3,
For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? Can a man hinder God? Verse 4,
God forbid. Yea, let God be true, and every
man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified
in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. It says there, as it is written,
it refers to when David wrote, against thee and thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
That's where the Lord brings us to. I may have done something
evil to my brethren, one of my brothers and my sisters, but
who did I really do it to? I did it to the Lord. That becomes
a very independent, particular, singular relationship, doesn't
it? I stop looking around real fast. I look at myself and I
look at Him. Every time I look here, I'm disappointed,
I'm saddened, I'm brought down, full of anxiety and fear and
worrying. And every time I look to Him,
I'm comforted. Because there's an almighty God on the throne.
All-powerful. I pray we can know God. Not know
of Him. Not believe in Him. I pray we
believe Him and know Him. I pray we can fear Him. Honor
Him. Respect Him. I pray we can have
peace knowing He controls everything on this earth. He controls everything
in our lives. And He controls that new heart
He puts in us. That circumcision of the heart,
He performs it. I pray we can understand those
things. And I pray we can remind each other of that. When times
get rough, when everything else is just falling to pieces, it
looks like. Oh, what's going to happen? Oh,
I'm worried. My Lord's in control. Your Lord's
in control. We ain't got nothing to worry
about. He loves us. If He didn't, we'd probably have...
If we didn't know Him or we knew He was bad at us, we'd have trouble.
He said, there is now therefore no condemnation. It's gone. Christ absorbed it all, don't
we? So what do we do? We sit back and worry, no, praise
Him. Things are going good, look to Christ and praise Him. Things
are going rough, look to Christ and praise Him. Be thankful in
all things. I hope that was a blessing to
you. Let's pray together. Father, we've come into this
house gathering in Christ's name to worship Him. We hope we're
able to. Lord, give us the ability, give
us the utterance to our loved ones and our friends and family.
Allow us to tell them who He is. Now our brethren everywhere
that gather, that you've brought to meet together, to look always
to Him, give us a calmness, Lord. Give us a peace that understands
that you reign. Give us a glimpse of your power,
your might. Give us a heart that trusts you,
Lord. Don't leave us to ourselves. When we're alone and looking
inwards, Nothing but sadness, Lord. Keep us looking to Christ.
Look what He's accomplished. Make us eager. Make us look for
His coming. Make us be ready in that day.
What a blessed day it'll be, Lord. Keep us until then as we
promised you will. We know you're able. It's Christ's
name that we ask.