The sovereignty of God, I just
want to I want you to think about this and this and this sermon
will be an introduction with a small sermon at the end. That's
basically how it's been going lately. Sovereignty. When we think of
sovereignty, when we come to the table of our minds and we
lay that out and we look at it and we say, OK, I see sovereignty. I get it. I grasp it. I believe
in sovereignty. Well, let me change your. Speech
there, don't believe in sovereignty, believe in God, who is sovereign.
Don't believe in the things of God, believe in God, who is these
things. So as we look at sovereignty,
I've never met a person who has rejected sovereignty, who says
they are in the faith. In other words, if you say, OK,
God is sovereign, they say, oh, yeah, man, that's right. I mean,
you can stand up in front of a group of people at a banquet.
And as a chaplain, I do a lot of prayers at banquets. Crazy. Well, why do they want me to
come pray at this, you know? Like, beat your wife club banquet and
stuff. I mean, the craziest stuff. People will come. And that was
a joke. There's not such a club that I know of. But they will
ask me to come. Pastor Tippins, would you come?
And they call me the high right reverend, whatever. And, you
know, you get up there and you're like, my gosh, who are they talking
about? I'm this wicked man saved by grace, and I'm coming up here
to pray. Do you know what I'm about to say? And so you get up there
and you pray. I don't get asked back to those
venues, but you get up there and you pray. And and I bet if
if some of these even secular organizations. And you get up
in front of people, you say, how many of you believe that
God is sovereign over all things? Hallelujah. Praise and everybody
would raise your hand, even unspiritual people. That's right. God's in
control of it all. And then everybody has an opportunity
afterwards to talk and fellowship. And they're talking about this,
and they're complaining about that, and they're fussing about
this. And they're in a place in life where there's somebody
or something that they wish could change. And they're going, I
just don't know what we're going to do. I just don't know what
we're going to do. I don't know what we're going
to do about the economy. I don't know what I'm going to do about my job. I don't
know what I'm going to do about my kids. I don't know what I'm going to do about
my wife. And the next thing you know, it's just one thing after
another. And we don't know what we're going to do. And we don't
know what we're going to do. And we don't know what we're going to
do. We've all said those words. But yet just prior to saying
those words, we say, hey, we believe in the sovereignty of
God. And so I want you to see going
into this message is that we are all on the same page when
it comes to sinning against the person of God in our flesh with
our doubt and with our lack of faith. So we are all guilty of
that. No one, including myself, stands
in front of each other and comes to the place where we are walking
always by faith in God's sovereignty. It is not happening. Well, we
ought to. We ought to be like the New Testament,
the Old Testament. They didn't either. John the
Baptist doubted when he was about to have his head chopped off.
He was like, man, I think I might have picked the wrong guy. Just
a year before, he said, behold, the Lamb of God with certainty. Look, I'm not worthy to tie this
strength on his sandals. The Lamb of God. He said, oh,
wow, I think I pointed to the wrong guy. Why? But what does
Paul say to Timothy? When God, when we are faithless,
he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. So, friends, we
don't put our faith in our faith. We don't stand justified before
God because of the wonderful amount of faith that we have
and the great way in which we walk before him. That is a moralism
and a self-righteousness that will condemn us forever. We cannot
put our faith in our faith or in our faithfulness, for we will
fail. And when we stand before the
Christ, He will say, I do not know you. So do not put your
faith there. Put your faith in Christ, on
Christ, around Christ, from Christ. Everything must come from Christ.
Solus Christus. And so in this, we know that
God is sovereign with our minds and with the passion of our hearts.
We understand that. But in our prayers and in our
actions and in our words and in the thoughts of our heads
as we try to go to sleep at night, we think about these things.
We fret about these things. We worry about these things.
And then ultimately we find ourselves looking in the mirror of our
soul and saying, wow, I have failed to trust in God. And so sovereignty, we could
do an entire series on sovereignty. This is not a sermon on the explanation
of sovereignty. This is a sermon on helping you
understand that sovereignty is all-encompassing. I'm going to
show you that God is in control of animals and mosquitoes and
weather and money and minds and choices and wills and hearts.
and governments and powers and devils and demons. God is in
control and sovereign over them all. And there is no choice of
man that can thwart the will of God and all that takes place
in this life and in this world and among the cosmos that even
the things that we cannot see, all of those things are under
the hand of the providential decree of the divine. And we
are just a Small speck in the midst of the great chasm of God's
ineffable glory. And he is not worried. He has
no fear and no one has run one over upon him for before time
began, he saw it all. He didn't look to see he saw
he sits beyond time. He does not think God does not
learn. Do you know that? Sovereign. cannot learn. God doesn't look deep into the
hearts of man and discover something he did not know in John, chapter
two, at the very end of that text. Just as many believe in
the name of Christ because of the wonders and signs that He
did, but Christ in Himself did not subject Himself to them,
for He knew what was in man. No one had to tell Him what was
in the heart of man. And those of you who have been in our study
on John on Tuesday nights, you know in the last two weeks we've
gone through and seen that example through Nicodemus and in the
life and the discourse with Jesus, the Nicodemus and Jesus discussion. God does not learn. He knows.
That's omniscience. God is sovereign over the knowledge
of this world where you and I, we learn, we grow into knowledge. He is knowledge. He is truth.
And all things exist equally at the same time in His mind. So in the first century, when
Jesus walked the earth and the disciples became apostles and
the church was blooming, God knew and saw already Today. At the same instance, he was
seeing a million years from now, if he carries at the same sense,
he was seeing the day he created the world. At the same time,
he's not glancing to and from. He is sees it all. It's omniscience. See, you have to understand who
God is. Why? Because that's eternal life.
Jesus says in John 17, this is eternal life that they know the
one true God and know the Son, Jesus, whom you have sent. If
you do not know God, the fullness of who God is, you do not have
eternal life. So if I'm ignorant of some things that I'm lost,
I didn't say that. But I'll tell you that as believers, We are
taught all things in the Holy Spirit. We are. Put in us a hunger
to know who God is, and therefore, when we come to the place of
fear, the reality of who God is then subjects our fear to
his sovereignty and there is no fear. God's sovereignty is something
that most people say they believe, but as I've just said, we act
and pray as though he is powerless. I've heard recently, God is sovereign.
And, you know, the three little word that gets in our way is
but. God is sovereign, but. Why don't we do that? God is
sovereign, but what, but what? Why do we have to finish that
stuff, but nothing? God is sovereign, period. But nothing. But I've heard this
in the last few days, last few weeks, last few months, last
17 months, actually. God is sovereign, but he allows
mankind to do whatever they wish and he will allow us to suffer
the consequences of whatever we choose. Really? Is that really
what the Scripture says about who God is? Where is that, my
friend? Where in the world does that
come from? From what place in the universe
do you find that written down other than a blog? Where is it? I peeled through
the Scriptures this week, and I found hundreds and hundreds
of verses that show exactly the opposite of that thing, but not
one verse that supports that premise. that God allows man
to do whatever he chooses. He desires for this, but he allows
this. And oh well, I wish they would.
Oh, I wish they'd wipe their feet. Oh, dirty carpet. You just
got to live with dirty carpet. And you got to pay for somebody
to clean it. Serves you right. You should have listened to me.
I said take off your shoes. Is that the God? No, that's grandmother.
That's not God. That's granny. Take off your
shoes. The carpet already looks bad. It's 70 years old. She wants
us to take off our shoes. And when we don't, we have to
clean it and we're suffering the consequences. I told you. That's not God. From where does
one get this type of thinking and where in Scripture is such
established? It's not there. I cannot find it. And I would
suggest to you, if you can find it, please show it to me. Because
I want to see. I want to see, because I hear
this more than anything. Some Christians act as if God
is passive, like a pantheist or panentheism, that God is all,
or that from God all things are. And then he sort of sets it in
motion and it whirls around and he sets back and watches it and
goes, oh, I hope the top doesn't spin too close to the sun. Well,
they burned up too bad. The Scripture doesn't teach that
about God. They think sometimes Christians act and speak as though
God is this passive or unable or even worse, unwilling being. And He's unwilling to affect
change in the world as to violate the free will of mankind. This
is nonsense. That's another thing that I was
always taught. I was taught it in school. I
was taught it in church. I was taught it at home. I was taught it in the
community. I was taught it in the world. I learned it from the media.
I learned it from what I read. I learned it from my peers. The freedom
of the will. We all are absolutely free. That's why the Constitution says
we have been endowed with our inalienable rights, the life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that liberty, that's what
we live for. And Americans have a free will mentality above all
people. Friends, we do not have a free
will. Scripture teaches that man is
bound as a slave to death, and slave to sin, and slave to the
flesh, and that we are not free to escape from that, except the
sovereign God of all the universe takes us in our demise and snatches
our little rebellious butts out of the darkness, kicking and
screaming and spitting in its face, and transfers us into the
light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, into His Kingdom, into
His inheritance. He brings us out and puts us
in, and we are not free to jump the chasm of righteousness, for
no man can do that. I don't care how much you want
it, how much you desire it. The rich young ruler wanted it.
He worshipped Jesus. He called Him God. He knelt down
and he says, I am righteous and I love your law and I know you're
God and I know you can give me eternal life. What must I do
to be saved? Jesus says, you must be holy.
And he said, well, I am holy. And he says, test it then. Give
away everything you love. And love me. And the man couldn't. And Jesus says, it is impossible.
It is impossible. for rich man to come to heaven
in this. And the disciples say, then who can be saved? And you
know what Jesus says for man? It isn't for with man. It is
impossible. Answering what who can be saved,
Jesus says, for with man, it is impossible. Who can be saved? Jesus says it is impossible for
anyone to be saved, but with God, all things are possible. And if the gospel that we hold
to as Christians is not that gospel, we hold, according to
Galatians 1, a false gospel, and we will be told in the very
end of days, depart from me, I never knew you. For eternal
life is knowing the true God, not the false God. And the false
God is the true God with a different nature. Or the false God is the
true God in all things except one or two. Or the true God is
every picture that we have of who Jesus is from the Scriptures,
but we add just a little bit of flair to His left toenail
so that it's a little bit more appealing. That's not the true
Jesus. It's not the true God. And when
we do that, Paul says, anathemas be forever cut off. There is no free will of man
to choose and do what he wishes. Man cannot change the heart of
other people. Man cannot change the weather.
Man cannot mold the universe or create or guide the sea. Man
cannot tame the beast at the time of meals. When he's desiring
to eat our flesh, man cannot even change his own mind and
heart toward God. Man's will is eternally and spiritually
marred and dead as a slave to unbelief, to sin and depravity,
and it is only free to be dead. Can a leopard change his spots?
Can the Ethiopian change his skin? No. How can a man be right
with God? He cannot. Except God in His
mercy justify him in Christ. Fate. We get this idea because
we think, oh, everything's about fate. It's our fate, fate, fate,
fate. And I have philosophical thoughts
about fate. And I could probably ramble on
them for hours and hours and hours, and I'd wake you all up
and we could go do something else. But Jonathan Edwards, probably
one of the most brilliant men to ever live, says that fate
is this. He asked the question, what is
fate? Fate is this. Whatever is must be. That's horrible. Whatever is must be, he says,
but there is a difference between that and providence. Providence
says whatever God ordains must be. And then what God ordains
must be, but the wisdom of God, listen to this, never ordains
anything without a purpose. Everything in this world is working
for some great end. Faith does not say that the difference
between faith and providence is like the difference between
a man blind and one who has eyes to see. See, true faith lies at the heart
of God. who is a sovereign Creator, who reigns over all things that
He has made and own, and He establishes all that takes place for His
glory and the greater good of His people, the church, the body
of Jesus Christ. So, in what ways is God sovereign? Let's look at His Word in a topical
way. In what way is God sovereign?
And then the second part of this is what difference does that
make? So two questions that I'm answering today, in what way
is God sovereign and then what difference does that make? So
what does it mean? How is God sovereign and so what?
I hope you get that turned to Jeremiah, chapter 10. Jeremiah,
Jeremiah, chapter 10. If you need to find it, find
Isaiah one book over. Jeremiah, chapter 10, verse 11
through 16. God speaking. Thus shall you
say to them, Jeremiah, the gods who did not make the heavens
and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the
heavens. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established
the world by his wisdom and by his understanding, stretched
out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there
is a turmoil of waters in the heavens, and He makes the mist
rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain,
and He brings forth the wind from its storehouses. Verse 14,
every man is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is
put to shame by his idols, for his images are false and there
is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of
delusion. At the time of their punishment,
they shall perish. Not like these is the portion
of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel
is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name.
Did you see that? There is a lot I could just preach
there, but Jeremiah is too difficult, so we will skim over that and
use it as a proof text. So they don't confuse us more.
But what has God said through Jeremiah? He has made all things
and all things work for His counsel. All things, even the weather
and the wind and man are under His sovereign control. Thus,
everything that happens in this life, though we may think it
is wise choosing, we are stupid to think so. And verse 16, those things that
we do, the idols that we create, which I believe in the Church
of America, we call them Jesus and God. But they are idols of
our own hearts. They are worthless, a work of
delusion at the time of their punishment, they shall perish,
not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob. I was like,
Paul, were you just quoting Jeremiah and Ephesians? That's not the
way you learned Christ, you see this same words, just the harder
to deal with. It's not like that in the futility
of their mind, the darkness of their eyes and the darkness of
their heart, that's not you, you're not them, you church,
oh, Israel. Are the inheritance of the Lord
of hosts. These nations are not the Lord's. They are not His to redeem. But
you, my children, are the Lord's, is what Jeremiah said. Paul says
the same thing. God is the Master over the world. Recognize that God is the owner
of all things, especially the nations. He owns them. He owns the government. And He
surely owns the church who are the redeemed in Christ. The church is his possession.
So God controls animals. God controls animals. We think
about it in the lion's den. When Daniel was thrown in the
den to be devoured by lions who would eat anything that was thrown
down there, God shut their mouths. He shut their mouths. God is
sovereign over furnaces that burn the men who stand at the
gate of the furnace because the heat is so hot, and yet God walks
among the men. Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego. God is sovereign over animals. In 2 Kings chapter 17, the Assyrians
have brought cruddy people into the midst of Israel. So God sends
lions to kill them. In Deuteronomy chapter 21, God
sends serpents to kill the Jews. Sends them. God is sovereign over animals,
over beasts. God is sovereign over the mosquitoes
in certain parts of the world that cause eight out of ten people
to die of malaria. God is sovereign over the pesticides
and the garbage that's sprayed on our food. God is sovereign
over the cancer in our bodies. And when we think that He's not,
we waste the very blessing that He has established for our good
in our lives when this comes to pass. God is sovereign over
the weather. storms and earthquakes and fires,
tornadoes and floods, hail and snow, hurricanes, the winds,
the seas. God is the master of them all.
And the Scripture says He sends rain to the crops as well as
floods to destroy them. And He withholds the rain so
that people would perish and die to show that without His
mighty grace that no one could establish life. That's not the
God I know. It better be. I was looking through a hymnal.
I got that app you talked about, Brother Zeke. I was looking through
some of those songs, and at number 712 today, my neck was crinkled
up. I was like, I've got to stop
this. But I was amazed at some of these old hymns that sing
songs, oh, praise God for the big wrath that you bring, and
oh, judgment is mighty, you are great to destroy us. And I'm
thinking, I don't want to sing that. I don't want to sing that
stuff, but this is what the people of old sang. They knew who God
was. They knew Him. They knew the
nature of His justice and His wrath and His judgments. And
it made His mercy and grace also more beautiful. So God is in control of all these
things, but let's specifically look at how God is sovereign
over mankind. I don't have enough time in the
day to preach all of this text or to show you all the texts
that deal with this. But God is sovereign over man.
He created man. He rules man. Even those who
do not submit to Him, He rules. The Scripture says that Jacob
he loved, but Esau he hated. The Scriptures say that God raised
Pharaoh up so that he might destroy him and show the might of his
power. So, the Scriptures say that the greatest sin that was
ever committed in this world is a sin that was used to destroy
sin. And Judas, beautiful. There are people who
think that Judas should not have done that. Judas must, must do
what you must do, what you were ordained to do. Do it now and
do it quickly. Wow, God is wicked. God is not
wicked. Why is it wicked for the clay
to tell the potter what to do? How is it wicked for the crayon
to slap the artist to write? It's wicked for the crayon to
tell the child what to draw. It's wicked for the clay to tell
the potter what to make. It's not wicked for the master
to do what he pleases with what he owns. Especially when the
master is perfect and righteous and just what do we deserve in
this life? We deserve damnation for all
of eternity. Every human being conceived in
the womb deserves judgment. Because we are a wicked people,
we are wicked, not because of where we stand in geography,
but because of where we sit spiritually from birth, from conception.
God is sovereign over mankind. Even those who will not submit
to Him, they will one day kneel their knees and bow their heads
and say, You are God. You are Lord. Jesus is Lord. God over mankind establishes
birth and death. He has ordained the date of our
death. He has ordained the date of every
child to be born. He ordains every second that
will take place. He has ordained the reprobate
to eternal destruction and the redeemed to eternal life in Christ.
God has stepped upon the plans of men and moved their hearts,
mouths and minds so that His will and divine purpose is established
in heaven and on earth and under the earth in Christ. God created
the world and everything in it, purposing that man would fall
so that His glory would be revealed to all creation as a God of justice
and judgment who punishes wickedness and a God of mercy and love who
takes His own wrath upon His Son Jesus so that He can forgive
those who deserve no forgiveness. God ordains and establishes the
choices of men, and no one is a master of his own way. Turn
now to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16. Back up a few chapters, a few
books. I just want you to pay attention,
there's a lot here, 33 verses, I'm going to read them. And I'm a pull a few things out
of this, but I can't stand even when I preach topically, I try
to pull the text. Proverbs 16, the plans of the
heart belong to man. Listen, but the answer of the
tongue is from the Lord. That says that man can choose
to do what he wants, but how he responds to those plans is
from God. All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes, but
the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord
and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything
for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Everyone
who is arrogant and hard is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured,
he will not go unpunished. By steadfast love and faithfulness,
iniquity is atoned for. And by the fear of the Lord,
one turns away from evil. When a man's ways please the
Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better
is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his
steps. An oracle is on the lips of a
king. His mouth does not sin in judgment. A just balance and
scales are the Lord's. All the weights in the bag are
His work. It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the
throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are a delight
to the king, and he loves them who speaks what is right. A king's
wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it.
In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favor
is like the clouds that bring the spring rain. How much better
to get wisdom than gold? To get understanding is to be
chosen rather than silver. The highway of the upright turns
aside from evil. Whoever guards his way preserves
his life. Pride goes before destruction,
and a holy spirit before a fall. It is better to be of lowly spirit
with the poor than to divide the spoiled with the proud. Whoever
gives thought to the Word will discover good. And blessed is
he who trusts in the Lord. The wise of heart is called discerning
and sweetness of speech increases pervasive persuasiveness. Good
sense is a fountain of life to him who has it. But the instruction
of fools is folly. The heart of the wise makes his
speech judicious and adds. persuasiveness to his lips, gracious
words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and help to the body.
There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way
of death. A worker's appetite works for
him, his mouth urges him on. A worthless man plots evil and
his speech is like a scorching fire. A dishonest man speds strife
and a whisper separates close friends. A man of violence entices
his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good. Whoever
winks his eyes, plans dishonest things, and whoever purses his
lips brings evil to pass. Gray hair is a crown of glory.
It is gained in a righteous life. Whoever is slow to anger is better
than the mighty and he who rules his spirit than he who takes
the city. Look at verse thirty three. The lot is cast into the
lap, but it's very decision, but it's every decision is from
the Lord. And there is so much there, some
of which we will not even discuss today. But what I want you to
see here is God is sovereign over every aspect of life. over the heart and the mouth
and the hands and the feet of man. And those who do not walk in
righteousness, they wait a judgment. And those who walk in righteousness
that think that gets them further toward God await a judgment. The only righteousness that works
is what? The righteousness of the weights
that are in the bag of God. Those are His works. Jesus says
the same thing at the end of John 3. And those who come to
the light do so that it may be clearly seen that their works
have been carried out in God. God is the worker of righteousness,
not man. Man cannot work righteousness.
Even the vision or the symbol of righteousness is not righteous.
It is wickedness. We are not rewarded for doing
what we have been commanded and created to do, which is to walk
holy and perfect before God. And we've already been sealed
for destruction if we are not believing in Jesus Christ. And
every man is due the same thing, because he is of Adam, his father. But in God's mercy, in Christ,
He frees us from that. God is sovereign over all power. God is sovereign over Satan,
over man, over good, over evil, over the governments and the
authorities of the world and of the heavenly places. God is
divinely purposing of all these things for His glory and remember
church for our good. for our good. If there were believers
in Christ in the Holocaust, God used that for their good. How? I don't know. I wasn't there. And when I see stuff like that,
I cry. My whole flesh cries for revenge and vengeance. And then
I realize that just because I haven't done that doesn't make me any
less guilty. God is sovereign over kings and
rulers and powers. He creates them all. There is
not a ruler, a tyrant. A dictator, a president, a governor,
a king, there is not one that God has not established for his
glory. There is no. Well, Israel wanted
a king, God gave him a king to show him, God gave him a king
to show him he was enough. Colossians chapter one, you know,
that chapter one, verse 15 for Jesus is the image is a visible
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for
by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,
all things were created through him and for him. He is before
all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the
head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in everything He may be preeminent. For in
Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through
Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in
heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross." Friends, Christ
subjected Himself as the Creator to the creation. And He subjected
Himself to be the Lamb of God, to the will of the Father, and
it pleased the Father to crush Him. And one day, Christ has already
established, and He will bring it to fruition, He will subject
all these things up under His feet. And the church will rule
beside Him with His enemies under His feet. When we fail to see
and live in this understanding of God, several things happen.
I have six things that happen when we fail to see the sovereignty
of God in our lives. The first thing is this, I'm
just going to list them out. We'll have time to talk about. We become
like God, number one, we become like God, we desire to take rule
over what is not ours to rule, we desire to establish power
that is not ours to establish when we do not believe in the
sovereignty of God, we try to become like God. Number two,
we become an idolater or a worshiper of false idols. And we do this
by concerning the outcome of this world on the choices of
men, by putting faith in government and kings and even the church
instead of God's divine promises. Did you see what I did? Governments and kings, and then
I put the church there. The church is not established
to change the world. Neither is the government. Neither
is the king. The church, according to Ephesians
310, is to display the manifold wisdom of God as a people who
are changed for his own possession in the midst of a wicked and
crooked generation to be light in the darkness, not to not to
make everybody like friends. I'm not saying we should not
stand for morality and righteousness, but I am saying that our mission
is not to make heaven on earth. Three, we fail to see and live
in this understanding of God, when we do that, we build a case
for the cults and the false gospels of the world. We make Islam look
good. We've got to begin a sharia law. We've got to make sure everybody
does the right stuff. We've got to do all this. You
know, it's been like that already in almost every place in the
world. The church went by force and
by sword and took over the world. And everybody had to walk in
a certain way and live righteously or they died. Did it work? No. Because the trueness of the heart
eventually wins over. It wins over. We put a case with
the cults and the Gospels, and they say that man must do A in
order for God to do B. And in that, we deny the solid
foundation of the promises of God that are yes and amen. Even
when we, the church, are faithless, he remains faithful. That's not
an excuse to become faithless, because there's consequences
of that. There's glory that we miss. There's worship that we
miss. We defame the name of God, but God is faithful to forgive
and sustain us. The fourth thing that happens
when we live an affair to understand the sovereignty of God is we
reject the gospel and we live in unbelief because we formulate
what I call a false God, because we concern ourselves with, quote,
changing the world or, quote, making it better when that's
not our mission or our call to change the world or make it better.
Fifth, when we fail to see the sovereignty of God or understand
in our lives, we become activists instead of worshipers. We become
leaders instead of lovers. replace or place emphasis on
temporal pictures of the creed failure rather than the crazy
and outlandish truth of God's victory over all things. We feel
like if it's up, if it's going to be, it's up to me and we must
stand and do something about it in order for God to win. God
has won. And the sixth thing that I think
happens when we fail to see and live in the understanding of
the sovereignty of God is we bring condemnation where there
is none by agreeing that God is punishing us. God doesn't
punish His church. He cannot punish His church.
He will not punish it. If God punishes His church, He
is a liar. Hear that church. Romans 8, Therefore
now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. What does that mean? There's
no condemnation. So condemnation comes with punishment. There
is no damnation for those who are in Christ. There is discipline. There is discipline, and discipline
is always corrective and sanctifying. It makes us more like Him, not
scared of Him. But keep in mind that America
is not God's people. The body of Christ are God's
people. America has, nor will it ever
be, never, ever, ever has it been, nor will it ever be a nation
of Christians. And I've studied American church
history for hundreds of hours, thousands of hours, and I've
yet to find anything, even our original documents by our founding
fathers, that is Christocentric. None of it! None of it! None of it talks about the Savior
Jesus Christ. None of those things exalt Christ
above all things. Everybody in America's founding
go to God the Father through their own means of righteousness
and rebellion against the throne of England, and I am thankful
that it happened. But don't kid yourself in thinking
that America has ever been Christian in its foundations. Roger Williams and others like
those, and they paved the way for religious pluralism, and
we live in it. It has been religious pluralism
from the day of its inception, and that is what it is today.
And you know, the result of that is what we are. But if I had
to choose, I'd choose this over a tyranny. For we can stand here
with windows to our right, and people can drive by and see church
on the sign, and we can proclaim the mercies and the excellencies
of Christ so that without fear, and we have nothing to fear,
but we don't do it. We spend all day Saturday sitting
around the television watching ball games and celebrating these
idols and these people who are nothing but hellbound people. And we get excited. We spend
hours upon hours doing our hobbies and our interests and all of
these things, and yet never are we out proclaiming the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Church, we are guilty of apathy
no matter how foundationally spiritual we are. We are all
guilty of apathy and patriotism and American church failure. We bring condemnation when there
is none by agreeing that God is punishing us. No, God will
punish. Sinners who are just American,
but the people of a nation. Are not God's people, we bring
condemnation on the church when Scripture teaches that there
is now no condemnation, I believe we need to understand that God
will and has promised to condemn all nations. All of them. And there are people who will
argue me into the street with that, that tell me that there
will be governments of men established in the New Jerusalem. I beg to
differ. There will be one nation under
Christ, a kingdom of priests, Israel. And there will be no
priests that everybody else, everybody will be subject to
Christ. And in closing, turn to Romans
13. What difference does it make?
What difference? Here we go. Let every person
be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except
from God. And those that exist have been
instituted by God. Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Nazi regime. All gods. God's men. God put them there. The emperors
of China. The kings of England. God put
them there. God put governors where they
are. He established them. He instituted them. Every tyrant,
every blessed leader, every good leader, bad leader, horrible
leader, fantastic leader, whatever adjective you want to put there,
God has placed them in that role for His purpose. And whoever
they are, the scripture says, let every person be subject to
them. Therefore, verse two, whoever
resists the authorities, resist what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur
judgment for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Now, you might ask yourself, well, what about during this
time when Paul was writing, the Roman government killed Christians
and he says, be subject to them. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's.
Nebuchadnezzar gave the edict that you will not pray to anyone
but his God. And Daniel sat in his house and
he did what he did day after day and he opened his window
and he prayed to God and they were looking to catch him. That's
how they found him. They waited until they saw his
little window open and they peeked into his house and saw him pray
and they went in and took him. and they threw him to the lions,
and had he been eaten limb from limb and bite by bite, it would
have been good. Daniel did not go to the street
and put signs and say, how dare you say that I can't pray to
my God. I'll show you how we'll pray to my God. Let's get a thousand
people and block traffic and block commerce and then violate
the rules of the government because we have a right to do so. We
are entitled to that. We can, so we will. Give me my rights.
Be careful to not ever scream that in the face of God, because
if he gives you what's rightly yours, you will be condemned. Paul did not execute his rights
except once. Where they had beaten him. Not
twice, they told him, he told him once that he was a Roman
citizen and they were freaked out. My gosh, we're about to beat
him. So they let him go. And then when they did beat him,
what did he do? They tried to sneak him out the back and he
says, no, I'm a citizen of Rome and I have the right to go out
front. Why? Because he wanted to proclaim
the gospel. Because what did people expect when you were violated
and your rights were violated, you could have people killed
for that stuff that their lives were over. I will show you vindication.
You let me go. I'm a Roman citizen. I'm walking
out these front gates and you're done, son. No, he walked out
and that's what people expected. And what did he do? He proclaimed
Christ. I am excited that I would look at my back, see my ribs.
You know why this happened to me? You know why I'm so joyful?
Because Christ is enough. And I am so excited that I was
found worthy to suffer in the same way that my Lord suffered.
That's crazy. That's right. It's crazy. The rulers are not a terror to
good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear? Would
you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what
is good and you receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your
good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear
the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God,
an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore,
one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, but
also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also
pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers
of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed.
Taxes to whom are owed. Revenue to whom is owed. Respect
to whom is owed. Honor to whom is honored. To
whom honor is owed. Now see, the point in this is
this. We as Christians, for some reason
in America, have come to the place that we want to see change
in our land. And we have been, and we don't
believe, it's sort of like the sovereign thing. We believe it,
but then we don't. We think that we can affect change through
the government. Brother Randy and I were talking
yesterday about the fact that the government, that the church has allowed the
government to usurp its commands, taking care of people in need.
Now, the government does it. The church is useless in that
area. Change, though, is only effective
and visible in the body of Christ who will fight to make God known
to the world. But the darkness is loved too deeply for our movement
to affect change. So if we go, and we should go,
we should speak as led and commanded by God, correctly, with gentleness
and respect. But that going is not going to
push the darkness back. The gospel is. That change in
our political structure is not going to change people to become
lovers of God. They become haters of God even
more. That's promised to us and they
will hate us. The world will try to swallow
the church as we stand for righteousness and they will not succeed. Though
they may succeed at times, they will not succeed. We will push
back the darkness and the darkness is not sinful people and simple
government, but darkness is truly a simple rejection of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. because they love the world. So in light of
government and politics, the church seems to think that either
God wins or loses an election. That's not the case. The spirit
of the Antichrist, according to the first John chapter four,
is anyone who does not believe or rejects that Jesus Christ
is God in the flesh. And so with our most recent election,
which candidate is more Antichrist? You answer that in your own mind. God did not lose. God never loses. God wins every nanosecond of
every moment of time in history. He is the victor already. He
has won his bride through the blood of the cross and redeemed
us before the world began. The church should stop thinking
that there is a win-loss for Jesus in government or politics.
At best, I believe, and I thought deeply on some things that I
heard and we talked about yesterday with the brothers. And I really
believe the one reason that things like this happen in the hearts
of Christians is because we as Christians are immature in our
understanding of the sovereignty of God. We are immature in our
ability to see the big picture of how God is working. And therefore,
we do not exercise our rights or our political stance by faith.
We do it by fear. Oh, we've got to get this. We've
got to change that. We've got to stop it. It doesn't work that way. Christians are not fearful of
what happens in this life. So by faith, as though it does
not matter, we exercise these things that we've been given
as stewards to do as Americans or as people of the world. We go and we exercise these things,
we engage in these things as though they make no difference,
because they really don't, except that we do them by faith and
God is glorified in our consciousness and in our hearts and in our
lives. And the church grows in unity and we all stand in unity. See, this is why this message
has been prompted anyway, because the church is not in unity here.
The church should stop thinking this way. When unrighteousness
reigns in the eyes of men, this is the will and the plan of God.
Remember that. When unrighteousness and wickedness
and murder and death and sexual misconduct and debauchery is
rampant in the world, it is the will of God that that is where
it is today. Why? But not us. That is not the way you should
be, for you have been redeemed. The church stands in stark opposition
to the world. Do we want them to change? Yes.
How will they change? Through the salvation of Christ
being regenerated and being born again. How does that happen?
Not through the government. Through the church. Doing what
she's been told to do. So in closing, there are Four
things, five things and very quickly. What is our hope? Our hope is not government. It
is not a land. It is not a people. It is not
that our government or the land or the people of our land will
love God. It will never happen. Holistically, people of the early
days of this country loved God as a majority, but it did not
work then and it will not work now. And I believe that's one of the
main reasons that America exists is to show the church that a
government or a land or a nation of people cannot be saved apart
from Christ. So that's our hope. Then what
is our push? Our push is not for a changed world or a better
tomorrow, but for a new world. A different one. Jesus does not
save us by making us different and changing us and making us
better. Nobody who is in Christ has been made better. They've
been made new. So this world, which is dying
and dead, and even the creation is subject to the futility of
sin, will be renewed as a new creation. Behold, the old is
gone, the new has come. We long for that day when the
world in which we live is new. So that's our push, our hope
and our push. What is our message? It's not for a better today,
but a glorious eternity, a glorious tomorrow. And what is our mission? I believe the mission of the
church is never about radical changing of culture, but a death
to that culture through the change of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Die culture, die. Jesus has commanded His bride
to teach others to obey Him, and teach them to teach others
to obey Him, who teach others to teach them to obey them, and
on and on and on. And it's given to the church.
This is not done apart from the redeemed. The world cannot do
it. The government cannot do it. The politicians cannot do
it. And a nation will not do it. The body of Christ will do
it. Make disciples. That is the mission of the church.
Make disciples. Not fakers. True worshipers of
God. Not leaders. Not moral agents.
But I mean true, born-again believers. And the only person that can
do that is God the Father through the mouths of His people on earth.
That we go and proclaim and then God saves. It's a beautiful,
simple, crazy reality. You mean that's all there is?
That's all there is, church. It's not hard. But we make it so hard. Only the church will love the
Lord and love his righteousness and love his holiness, and only
the lost will become the church when they're taught to know him
through the word. Government, I believe, is to show the failure
of all things apart from Christ. God's plan for this world is
to destroy her with all the nations. Government will be destroyed,
the nations will be destroyed, there will be one nation of people.
So what should be our response? How do we deal with this? So
what? Here it is. We should have a response of
thankfulness. We should have a response of joy. We should
have a response of peace in Christ. Fretting over what has happened
in an election, friends, is sinful. Burdened by it? Great. But is
that burden fear? Is that burden fret? It is utterly
uncalled for in the church, and it's a ploy of the enemy to deter
what the church should be doing, which is making disciples. Disciples
of God-lovers, followers, and worshippers, not disciples of
Americans who stand for justice and liberty. So often Christians share what
I call tragedy or philosophy or talking points on social justice
and things of that nature instead of the Word of God. There are
so many prophets today who have awakened out of the church to
proclaim God's judgment when he said that there is no judgment
on his people. Christ has taken all of it. Period. God has established
the vote for the president of the United States. He has placed
Barack Obama as the leader of this nation, and we should thank
him for what he has done, for all that he does is good. And
it will not cost the church judgment. It will be for our good and for
his glory, and we can worship him knowing that full well everything
that is established is coming to pass. The scripture says at the end
of Proverbs 16, the lot is cast in the lap. But the outcome is
in God's hands. So, in other words, in the ancient
days when they used to throw stones or, if you will, throw
dice to see who was coming, they threw them and they threw them
freely and they landed freely on the ground. But God turned
up the numbers. God did what he was going to
do, so the church's response should be thankfulness and joy
and peace in Christ, and secondly, unity and peace among the brethren.
Calling people sinners and pagans In my opinion as a pastor, it's
grounds for discipline out of the fellowship of the local church.
When you attack a brother in Christ because of a political
argument, it's grounds for discipline out of the fellowship of the
church because it's murder. It's the spirit of murder. It
denies the very grace of God. And if a Christian votes for
the better of financial security or public pressure or economic
security, or the Department of Defense, and they actually, in
my opinion, have sinned. No matter who they voted for,
when we vote apart from glory to God, we have failed as Christians.
When we cast a vote that we're trying to say, what's the lesser
of the two evils? The church is not supposed to select that
which is evil or to have nothing to do with what is evil. Have
we prayed? Have we looked? Have we sought
wisdom, as it says in James 1, so that we might do what is best
for the glory of God and in our heart and worship Him, we do
not have to vote for one or the other. We have one obligation
as Christians, and that is to proclaim the excellences of Christ,
who will then change the heart of man as we give glory to Him
for His control over all things, including this election in America.
So what is the church supposed to do? Here we go. I know we've
gone a little long. The church should be continually
discipling and worshiping. Continued discipleship and glorious
worship. And this is an amen and an amen
and an amen. Let it be so it is, truly, truly.
Our hope is in Christ alone, who is being patient as He prepares
to destroy all wickedness and establish all righteousness.
Listen to these two verses, and then I'll pray. In Revelation
chapter 13, verses 7 and 8, it says this. Also, it was allowed
to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority
was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation.
And all who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose
name has not been written before the foundation of the world in
the book of life of the Lamb who was slain." Now, friends,
do you hear that? God has given authority to the beast to destroy
the church and to cause her to suffer. And everyone will worship
it. And it has authority over every
tongue and every tribe and every nation. Now, you don't know where
I stand on eschatology. I am not a dispensationalist.
I am not a pre-mill. I'm not a post-mill. I'm not
a full-on mill. And I'm not a preterist. I believe you ought to read the
Bible as it was written. And you know what I could plug
in here for today? I could say that the beast is the United
States government and everybody who supports it. I'm not going
to. I'm saying, but the shoe does
fit. The shoe fits everywhere in many places in the world.
So that's not talking about specific one item. This is a plurality
of prophetic inference. And so we know that there is
any time someone has authority and they're conquering the church
and they're establishing affection for unrighteousness, it is in
that same vein. Is that what John was speaking
of? We won't know. But I do know what it says in
Revelation 21, 4 through 8. He will wipe away every tear
from their eyes. And death shall be no more, neither shall there
be mourning or crying or pain anymore for the former things
have passed away. And he who was seated on the
throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said,
write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. And
he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from
the spring of the water of life without payment. To the one who
conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he
will be my son. But as for the cowardly, listen
carefully, church, as for the cowardly, the faithless, the
detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers,
the idolaters and all liars, their portion will be in the
lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Church, do not fall prey to the deception of political activism
and the idolatry of patriotism. We exercise our liberties as
unto God for the expansion of the gospel and the worship of
the glory of God, and we are not here to establish what God
has not ordained for us to be. The nations of the world are
part of God's plan to show His all-surpassing greatness and
that nothing but He will prevail and His church. Rejoice, church! Rejoice, church. Rejoice, church,
in the all surpassing sovereign glory of our King Jesus. Let's
pray. God, it is good. It's too much. It is good to be a believer,
to be saved and be redeemed, to be safe from the plans of
men and from the faultiness of government. God, help us to be
at peace with one another. Help us to forgive when there
may be some who are weaker. For, Father, there may be places
in our lives that we might be weaker and just not see it. There
are others who forbear with us. Let us forbear with them. Lord, let us put our hope in
You and in Christ and know that there is no way that there is
anything that's happening in this time that You have not purposed
to happen, no matter how hard or harsh or horrible it may seem. Father, You have it planned for
our good and for Your namesake. If nothing more, Father, than
for Your destruction of those who perpetrate evil, it is good. Lead us not into temptation.
Help us, Father, not to fall prey to unbelief. Bring faith
to the lives and the hearts and the eyes and the souls of those
who are not yours or who have yet not been called. Call them,
Lord, but your will be done, not ours, for we know that you
have a greater purpose than what we want. But Father, what we
truly want, what we truly desire, because you have changed our
will to see you as we want your will to be done in heaven and
on earth and under the earth. Let it be, Father. In Jesus name
we pray, Amen.