Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. I tell you, if you wanna follow
along, I'm gonna read in John chapter five, but I'm just gonna
kinda read there and then wander off in a lot of other places.
But I am gonna read from John chapter five, verse 19. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. For what things
soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father
loveth the Son and showeth him all things that he himself doeth,
and he will show him greater works than these that ye may
marvel. For as the Father raises up the
dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he
will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father, which hath sent him. Now, I like that scripture. I do,
I do. Now, my title this morning is
called this, the key to the scripture. The Bible is made up of 66 books,
all with the same message, all with the same message. And the
message is this, Christ is all, Christ is all. Without him, without
Jesus Christ, we have nothing, absolutely nothing. But in Jesus
Christ, we have all things. Because in him is all things. But I believe I can give you
a key to the scriptures and this is what I wanna preach today.
And I want you to put this forward in your thinking if you can.
And I wanna put it forward in my thinking. Because this is
a truth of all scripture, a truth of all life. And if you can read
the scripture with this key in mind, I believe it'll do you
a world of good. And here's the key that I wanna talk to today. God is sovereign in all things. All things. Now to start with,
I'm gonna try and get moving here because there's a lot of
stuff here. To start with, I wanna start in a, what some people
might consider a strange scripture. A strange scripture to talk about
the sovereignty of God. It's a well-known scripture,
but it's not usually used to speak of the sovereign Lord by
most people. But if you think about it, most
people aren't speaking about a sovereign God anyway. But anyhow. But I think it shows a wonderful
part of the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. unknown to the religious
world. It's Exodus 33 and 19, you don't
have to turn there, I'm just gonna read it. And I've read
it before and I'll read it again. And he said, this is God speaking,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. Oh, and will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. Now I'm gonna tell you something,
there's so much in that verse, but right now I just wanna tell
you one little thing. God is sovereign in grace and mercy. In grace and mercy, it's God's
will that matters and not yours, and not yours. It's God's will
that matters. And that comes about very, very
quickly in the scriptures. This is the third time in the
Bible the word gracious is used. And here it is, I'll be gracious. To whom I'll be gracious. I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And these are the words
of the Lord. And guess what? He said what
he meant and he meant what he said. Oh my, I will be gracious
to whom I will. I will show mercy to whom I will.
Moses wrote these words down, but God spoke them. God spoke
them. And here it is, these Israelites
had been brought out of Egypt by his mighty hand. And yet,
think about it folks, and yet, there had been slaves in Egypt
for over 400 years. that weren't delivered. They
weren't delivered. I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And
he brought them out with a mighty hand, but he didn't bring them
out 300 years ago before this. 200 years, no. In the fullness
of his time, God works his will. And that shows his sovereignty,
his truth, You have to think about these things, I believe. God was able to do it. God could
have kept him from going into slavery. But he didn't. He didn't. Oh my. The deliverance
of the Lord is his sovereign power and it comes only by his
holy, powerful will. He'll be gracious to whom he'll
be gracious. He'll be gracious when he will
be gracious. He will show mercy when he will
show mercy, and to whom he will. Now, most of this I want to spend
in the Old Testament, and I got four words for you to show forth
the sovereignty of God. Four words. I am the Lord. You know how many times that
phrase is used in the Old Testament? Well, according to my computer,
it's 163 times. That exact phrase is used. Not anymore just the I am, or
anything, just I am the Lord. It's used 163 times in the Old
Testament. Isaiah 44 and 24 says this, thus
saith the Lord, here's the good part, thy Redeemer. Thy Redeemer. The Lord is the Redeemer. That's
Jesus Christ, folks, I'm sorry. All right, thus saith the Lord,
thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the
Lord. I am the Lord. What? That maketh
all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth
about abroad the earth by itself. Jeremiah 24 verse seven. I'm
just gonna give you some of the highlights, folks. There's a
whole lot more. And I, I love this part, and I will give them
a heart to know me. What? That I am the Lord. Oh my. Oh, and they shall be
my people, and even better, and I will be their God. Four. They shall return unto me with
their whole heart. What heart? The one he just gave
them. The one he just gave them. I'm
gonna tell you something, you'll never turn to the Lord until
he gives you a heart. to know him. Oh, I like that,
I do, that's good stuff. The Lord gives a new heart. What? To whom he will. Oh, I like that too. And they
shall, no doubt there, they shall be my people. You understand,
the Lord is sovereign in giving new hearts. Oh, giving new hearts
to know him and to love him. He's sovereign. Oh, I like that.
Oh my. And I'm gonna tell you something.
If you ever get it, you want to look at something. This phrase,
I am the Lord in the book of Ezekiel is spoken about 68 times. I think I counted right. But
it's 68 times, 60 sometimes anyway. And I'm gonna give you a couple
of them here that are good. Ezekiel 37 verse six, and he said, I
will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you
and cover you with skin and put breath in you. And ye shall live. Ye shall live. And, that's not
enough. There's one more thing you gotta
know. Ye shall know that I am the Lord. I am the Lord, I am
the Lord. In verse 13 of Ezekiel 37 he
says, and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened
your graves. You mean people are in the grave
before the Lord raises them? Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. Oh, the day's coming now is,
the hour's coming now is, They're gonna hear the voice of the Son
of God, and they that hear, only after that, shall live. Oh. And ye shall know that I
am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and
brought you up out of your graves. Now those are a couple of the
nice ones in Ezekiel. Now there's a lot more in Ezekiel
that you might not consider so nice. and I got a few of them
here for you, because I want you to hear this. Understand,
God is sovereign in all things. Ezekiel 12 and 15 says this,
and they shall know that I am the Lord. That part's good. When I shall scatter them among
the nations and disperse them in countries. There comes a time when God will
scatter somebody. Sovereignly, sovereignly. and
disperse them in the countries, verse 16. But I will leave a
few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the
pestilence. Now he sent the sword, the famine,
and the pestilence. But I'll leave a few of them
from it, that they may declare all their abominations among
the heathen, whither they come, and they shall know that I am
the Lord. Ezekiel 39, 28, then shall they
know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them, caused them
to be led into captivity among the heathen, among the heathen. But I have gathered them unto
their own land and have left none of them anymore there. I
sent them out, I bring them back. Who's in charge here? Oh my. You understand, for us, that
may not seem to be a nice thing. Israel being taken away captive.
Happened more than once. And you know what? God always
brought them back. He always brought them back in
His good time. according to his will. I will
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. And I'll show mercy to whom I'll
show mercy, and I'll do it when I want to. Oh my. Hosea 13 and verse four says
this. Yet I am the Lord, thy God, from
the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me, for there
is no savior beside me. The Lord is not only the Redeemer,
He's the Savior. The Lord is the Savior, I am
the Lord. Oh, oh my, what does it say? And one of my favorites, Malachi
3.6, for I am the Lord. For I am the Lord, I change not. Not. Therefore, because I don't
change, You sons of Jacob are not consumed. If God be for you, who can be
against you? And if God be for you, he's always
for you. I change not. We change our minds
all the time. We are malleable. susceptible to influence people. You understand? Excuse me. Our circumstances can make us
a lot grumpier than we'd really like to be. God doesn't change. No matter
the circumstance. You know why? Because it's his
circumstance. If you're there, he put you there. Learn the lesson or repeat it. You understand? I had a poster
up for a while at work. It said, learn from the mistakes
of others. You don't have time to make them all yourself. Well,
we have this book, for example. But God will teach you exactly
what he wants to teach you. Now, your hard-headedness, now
I'm not calling y'all, well yes I am, you're all hard-headed
just like me. We're all hard-headed. We're all. Sometimes, I'm gonna
tell you something, my wife can tell me something in three words
that I couldn't understand in 200. Or something that I just
saw, and I didn't know I saw it until she explained it to
me. That's the way we are. That's
the way we are. But God will teach you what he
wants to teach you. And he'll make sure you learn. Because afterwards, chastisement
yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. There's a purpose
to God's chastisement. There's a purpose to God's circumstances. And we may not see it at the
time, but later on, he'll show it to you. He'll show it to you
and you'll see that's why that happened. Oh, doesn't make it
pleasant. It may be grievous, but it's
still good. It's still good, it's still God's
will. What does it say? The sovereign Lord does all these
things and more and more. My two favorite ones, Psalms
115 verse three. But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Couldn't leave that
out. And the other one, Psalms 135 and verse six. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he. Where? In heaven, in earth, in
the seas, and all deep places. Understand, that's everywhere.
God does what he wants. God does what he's pleased. Even
speaking of the Messiah in Isaiah, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to bruise him. He, the Lord, hath put him to
grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. But before any of that had to happen, the Lord had to
bruise him. The Lord had to bruise him. It
pleased the Lord to bruise him. Oh my. Now that's all in the
Old Testament. Well, everybody knows that Old
Testament God was really mean. There's no difference. God hadn't
changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The message
hasn't changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. In the New Testament, we get
the name of the Lord. I am the Lord. What? Thy Redeemer. I am the Lord. The Savior. A just God and the Savior. Oh my, and we get his name. John
1 tells us Jesus Christ is the Word. And the Word was with God
and the Word was God. And everything that was made
was made by the word. Was made by Jesus Christ. Oh,
that word that was with God and that word was God. He made all
things, and even tells us now in the epistles, by him now,
right now, all things consist. All things consist. Oh, I like
that. Peter preached at Pentecost and
he said these glorious words. Zacks 2.22 and 23 and 24. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God, among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him,
Jesus of Nazareth, approved of God. Him, what? Being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Ye have taken, ye have taken,
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. But it doesn't stop
there. Whom God hath raised up. Oh,
having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that
he should be holding of it. Delivered by the terminate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. What's that all about? It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He was delivered by God's determined counsel and they crucified
him with wicked hands. Oh my. And it is true, here it
is. They meant it for evil and God
meant it for good. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He was delivered. God meant it for good. He was
crucified. God meant it for good. And he
raised him from the dead, and God meant that for good too.
Ah, I like that, I do. I wish I could preach all of
the good that came forth from the sacrifice and offering of
Jesus Christ, but I can't. I wish I could. I'm not capable,
but I do know this. I can give you this right quick.
Part of the sovereignty of God is in the three R's. I wrote
it down so I wouldn't forget it. Redemption, and reconciliation,
and righteousness. I'm gonna tell you something,
those are three glorious R's. Redemption, reconciliation, and
righteousness. Christ redeemed us on the cross. His blood was shed for his people. The good shepherd gave his life
for the sheep, for his sheep. The perfection of Christ's substitutionary
sacrifice on the cross cannot be overstated. He purchased us
with his own precious blood. He perfected us before God with
that same offering. Oh, I like that. By one offering,
he's sanctified, and by that very same offering, he's perfected
forever, forever. Oh, oh, I like that. All that
he sanctified. All that he sanctified, he perfected.
All that he perfected, he sanctified. Oh, with that one offering, that
one offering. The redemption he purchased was
purchased us with was his own precious blood, shed for us. And Christ's redemption is called
both plenteous and eternal. Obtained eternal redemption for
us. Oh, I like that. The second arm, Christ's reconciliation. For if when we were enemies. Not even friends, not acquaintances,
enemies. We were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. Oh my, I'm gonna tell you something. It ain't what you do with his
sacrifice. It's what he sacrificed and done
for you. Understand, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God. We were just too dead to know
it. Oh, but when he gives you that
heart, that you'll know he is the Lord. That you will know
I am the Lord. you're gonna understand you've
been reconciled by what he did, by what Christ did. Oh, God meant
the death and the resurrection of Christ for good, for good. And all things are of God who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given
us, to us, the ministry of reconciliation. Amen. You, you, what? That were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now, now hath he reconciled. Past tense, it's done. I'm not getting reconciled, I
am reconciled. You're not getting reconciled.
You either are or you're not. That's it. And you know why?
Because I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I'll show mercy
to whom I'll show mercy. Understand, it's in God's hands.
It's not in yours. It's not in mine. I can't offer
it to you. I can't give it to you. All I
can do is preach it and I hope you believe it. I want you to
believe it because this is what the book says. He's done it. Colossians, yet now hath he reconciled. Colossians 1 and 22, in the body
of his flesh through death, through death. Why? To present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight, in his sight. Christ Jesus is
our reconciliation. He brings us to God in power
and in holiness, his power and his holiness. And Christ's righteousness, oh,
that's the third R. Christ's righteousness is our
righteousness. Does that sound boastful? It's not. It's his. It's ours,
but it's his. Ah. I can't take any credit for
that. I can't take any credit for redemption,
I can't take any credit for reconciliation, and you can't take any credit
for righteousness. Oh, 1 Corinthians 1 and verse
30, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, I love this, who of God
is made unto us. Christ is made unto us by God,
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.