Alright I'll tell you if you
want to follow along I'm gonna read in John chapter 5 But I'm
just gonna kind of read there and then wander off in a lot
of other places But I'm gonna read from John chapter 5 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. 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 want to preach
today And I want want you to put this forward in your thinking
if you can and I want to 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 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 going to 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 and to whom I will
be gracious. Oh, and will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. And 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, Mine is 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 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. Because
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 wanna
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-something times 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. One more thing you gotta know.
Ye shall know that I am the Lord. I am the Lord, I am the Lord.
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, when 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've 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. They're saying
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
circumstances. If you're there, he puts 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. That's
why 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 you all, well yes I am, you're all hard-headed
just like me. We're all hard-headed. We're
all. Sometime, 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 and verse three. That 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
one 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 holden 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 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. with that one offering, that
one offering. The redemption he 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. Oh, 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. You. You. What? That were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now, now have 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. Oh my. Philippians 3 says this,
yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, my Lord, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung that I may win Christ. And here it is. be found in him,
in him, in him. Oh, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. His righteousness is our righteousness. I'll say that again. His righteousness
is our righteousness. We don't have any righteousness
other than filthy rags. You understand? But his righteousness, oh, his
righteousness is perfect. You understand? You can read
it in the Old Testament. He gives us the robe of righteousness. Guess whose robe it is. It's
his robe. Guess whose righteousness it
is. It's his. It's his robe and it's his righteousness
and here's the thing. He clothes us. You don't go get the robe of
righteousness and put it on yourself. He'll put it on you. Just like
Adam and Eve in the garden. when God clothed them with coats
of skin. They didn't clothe themselves.
They didn't make the garments. They didn't even find the garments.
He clothed them. That's what this robe of righteousness
is. That story, the parable of the prodigal son, that part about
the prodigal son when he came home and the father said, get
the best robe and put it on. Put it on him. The son didn't
come home, the prodigal didn't come home and say, I like that
robe and put it on. No. The father said, put it on
him. Put it on him. And that's what
happens here. He gives us his robe of righteousness. Oh my, I like that because here's
the thing. He, Christ Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is our righteousness. We have righteousness, his righteousness
imputed, and we have his righteousness imparted, given to us. In him, we are as righteous as
God. Now that sounds boastful, but
it's not. because I had nothing to do with
it. You had nothing to do with it. We're not that good. We're
not even close to that good. But we are in God's sight. We
are in God's sight because here's the thing, God is pleased to
look upon his people in Christ, in Christ. Oh, and Jesus Christ is pleased
to give his robe of righteousness to every one of his people. And
I want to tell you this, Jesus Christ has done what he hath
pleased. He is Lord, he is Lord. You understand, God is sovereign
power. God is sovereign glory. God is
sovereign justice. God is sovereign grace. God is
sovereign mercy. God is sovereign salvation. Jesus Christ is sovereign, what? Over the just and the unjust
alike. He has been given power over
all flesh to give everlasting life to as many as the Father
gave to Him. Oh, I like that stuff. Oh, let
me see. I'm gonna tell you something
here. Just think about this for just a second here. John chapter 10. Verse three, to him the porter
openeth and the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own
sheep by name and leadeth them out. And you know where they
go? They go out. If he leads them
in, they'll go in. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, and goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice, and here's the thing, and a stranger will
they not follow? But will flee from him, for they
know not the voice of strangers. Then, verse 16, and other sheep
I have, which are not of this foal. What? Also, I must bring. And they shall hear my voice.
And there shall be one foal and one shepherd. Understand, Jesus
Christ does what he pleases. And when he speaks to you, you're
gonna hear. and he gives you a heart that
understands, you're gonna know that I am the Lord. The Lord
Jesus Christ. You'll hear his voice and you'll
follow. And the stranger, you won't follow
anymore. You might have been following
the stranger before, more than likely you were. But I'm gonna tell you something,
once his voice gets in your ear and in your head and in your
heart, Things are gonna matter that never mattered before. You'll become a hair splitter.
That's what they told Earl. He's just splitting hair. No,
talking words. Understand, when Christ speaks
to his sheep, they follow him. He calls them, and I love it,
he calls them by name. He knows who you are before you
ever knew who he is. You know why? Because he's sovereign
in salvation. It's his salvation. It's God's
salvation. It's the Lord Jesus Christ's
salvation and he gives it to whom he will. And they follow,
they follow. He's given himself to his people. He is our redemption, our reconciliation,
and our righteousness. He's our Lord. He is the one
that is just and justifier of all them that believe in Jesus.
He's the just God and the Savior. So the key of the scripture,
what I'm saying today, is that God, Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is sovereign. over all things. And I'll tell
you this, father, son, and spirit, these three are one. Guess what? The one is sovereign. The one
is sovereign. None can say unto him, what you
doing? What doest thou? Because he speaks,
and it's done. None can stay his hand or even
slow him down. because he speaks and his word
never comes back to him void. It accomplishes, well here's
the thing, it accomplishes that for which he sent it. Now, you
may not know, I may not know what he sent it for, but he does. Now, we are, as preachers of
the gospel, Those preachers of Jesus Christ. To some, we are
the saver of life unto life. And to others, we're the saver
of death unto death. You know what I mean by that? I love
that verse in Acts where it says, Paul preached and some believed
the things Paul said and some didn't. That's what happens with
every message. Some believe, some don't. The
message is not to change. The message is Jesus Christ is
all. And it's Jesus Christ is all all the time. He's God, you're
not. He's Lord, we're not. What he
says goes, whether you like it or not. That's the way it is. Whether you believe it or not,
trust me, he's gonna have his will and his way in this world. He alone is worthy of worship
and love. He has saved his people from
their sin. That's what the angel said when
he came. Call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sin, and he did. He did. The Lord, our Lord, Jesus
Christ, is sovereign, and here's the thing. Come to it. Come to
it. Understand? Do you know that
you are not worthy? That's a big thing. I mean, are
you sick of sin and sick with sin? I know the physician, his
name's Jesus Christ. The whole don't need a physician,
but those that are sick do, and they want one. He's the one,
he's the one. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign
Lord of glory, and this is a glorious thing, he died for sinners. Yesterday, I was listening to
that message from Walter, I got it from last Sunday. He died
for the ungodly. He died for sinners. He died
for ungodly sinners. A lot of people are willing to
say that they're sinners, but I'm not ungodly. What, are you
crazy? No, you are ungodly, whether you know it or not. That's what
the book says. We're not only ungodly, we're
unrighteous. Unrighteous, that's bad. Ungodly, that's worse. He died for the ungodly. And
if you know it, call upon the name of the Lord. Thou shalt be saved. Call upon
the name of the Lord. Oh my. and his name is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And one day, every knee's gonna
bow and every tongue's gonna confess that he is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. He is the key to the scriptures. The sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. Call upon Him. And if you do believe Him, and
if you do trust Him, continue. Keep believing. Keep believing. Continue in His word. Our Heavenly
Father, we're thankful again for this time. This place, Lord. Help us. to lay hold of just
what we can of your supreme righteousness, godliness, holiness, and power. Help us to realize just as much
as we can how sovereign you really are. Help us to walk in your
way, to trust in your light and your word. Be with those who
could not be with us today. Bless them, Lord, bless their
bodies. Ease their pain, help them. And be with Paul and Walter
as they come to preach your gospel. And everywhere else your gospel
is preached, be with those who hear and those who speak. In
Christ's name we pray, amen.