Joel chapter 2, but before I go there and read the first 11
verses, Timothy was given a charge by Paul in verse Timothy 4. This is the reason for this message. If thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto
thou hast attained." And I got to thinking, this may be just
for me, this message that I prepared, but it is good to put us in remembrance
of the topic that I'm going to be speaking of this morning,
I wanted to simply remind us that our God is in complete control
over all things. And there is nothing that is
not under His sovereign rule. Nothing. Nothing. As though I said, maybe this
is just for me, But I think that it would be profitable for us
to look at several verses, but we're going to get our main text
out of Joel chapter 2. Look at that with me, the first
11 verses. The Lord tells the minor prophet
to blow on the trumpet in Zion, in the church, sound an alarm
in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord comes, it is nigh at hand. A day of
darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness,
as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and
strong, that there have not been ever the like, neither shall
be any more after it. even to the years of many generations. A fire devours before them, and
behind them a flame burns. The land is as the Garden of
Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness, yea,
and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as
the appearance of horses, as horsemen, so they run. Like the noise of chariots on
the tops of the mountains, shall they leap, like the noise of
a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people
set in battle array. Before their face, the people
shall be much pained. All faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men.
They shall climb the wall like men of war. They shall march
every one his ways. They shall not break their ranks. Neither shall one thrust another.
They shall walk every one in his path. And when they fall
upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to
and fro in the city. They shall run upon the wall.
They shall climb up upon the horses, the houses. They shall
enter at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before
them, the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be
dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall
utter His voice before His army. For His, the Lord's, camp is
very great. For He is strong that executes
His word, for the day of the Lord is great, and very terrible,
and who can abide it?" The phrase I want to look at is found in
verse 11. He says, for His camp, the Lord's
camp, is very great. The Lord's camp is very great. Our Lord God, everything about
Him is great, is glorious, is wondrous, is all-powerful, He's
omnipotent, He's immutable, He's omniscient. We could go on and
on. This is the Lord our God. His
camp is very great. And those who are in Him are
to be like Him. We are great Christ not in and
of ourselves great in Christ. I just want to look at several
passages turn to Exodus chapter 3 Just to remind us once and again
bring these things in remembrance our God rules and reigns Exodus
chapter 3 and verse 13 and verse 14 and Moses said unto God I
Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall
say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you,
and they are going to say to me, What is his name? What shall
I say unto them? And God said to Moses, I am that
I am." Now, who in this world, born of men, other than the Lord
Jesus Christ, who could say such a thing? I am that I am. And to the believer, that should
be enough for faith to say, that does it. I am in His hands and
nothing can touch me without His decree. He is who He is. That I am. And He said, Thou
shalt say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent you. Well, you know the depraved man.
They're going to keep on inquiring. Why did God do this? Why did
He do that? Why does He send this? Why are wars? Why, why,
why, why? I am. That I am. That by faith, faith
is easily satisfied. True faith is easily satisfied.
God says this, and faith says, so be it. Faith says, who should
I, or God says, who should I send? Faith says, send me. Doesn't
say where, how, give me a load of money, give me a load of clothes,
give me a load of shoes, give me a load of, how to transport,
how to, it just says, here I am, send me. Job chapter 35. Job 35, verse 6, 7, and 8. Job 35. If you sin, if I sin,
what does that do against God? And if our transgressions be
multiplied, What doest thou unto him? How
does that affect God? If we be righteous, what do we
give him? Or what receives he from our
hands? Our wickedness may hurt a man
as we are, and it does, and our righteousness may profit the
sons of man. But God, our puny actions, good
or bad, do not alter who He is or change His purpose of grace. It does matter in our life, but
it cannot change God who is immutable. He does not change. When we pray,
or when we do something that dishonors Him as believers, or
when we grieve the Spirit, He doesn't change. It does not
affect Him. It grieves us. It grieves the
Holy Spirit. We suffer the lack of joy that
we would have... If Thomas would have been there
the first time, he would have rejoiced with the brethren together.
He wasn't there. Our sins surely find us out.
But in all of our wanderings, God's ways of mercy and salvation
never changes. It doesn't depend on the creature.
God is independently holy, independently pure, independently sovereign. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Verse 39, Deuteronomy 4, Know therefore this day, July
25, 2021, or the tomorrow, or the yesteryear,
know therefore this day and consider it in our hearts, that the Lord,
He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath, there
is none else. There is none else. Why, you
know, I was thinking about the children of Israel when they
would put up stone when they were laundering and then they
would cross this and put up a memorial stones. God said, do this for
your children's children. So when we talk to our children,
So why do we talk about Christ so much? Why do we talk about
God so much? Why don't we talk about things that are happening? This or that? Because He is God
alone and there is none else. And in Him is salvation and nowhere
else. That's why we talk about God. Let the schools teach. Let the
recreational programs teach recreation and this and that. This country
has a plethora of many things that if you want to learn about
this, you go to the library, this, that, go to college, go
to school. They're there. When we gather here, We don't
do flea markets. We don't do garage sales. This we gather together, we sing
a few hymns, we keep it simple and speak of Christ because Christ
is our hope. God and Christ are one and the
same. Our puny actions do not alter His purpose. Not at all. None else. He says, none else.
Therefore, we must go to Him for life as He is life, hope,
peace, and He is heaven itself. Christ is the summation of all
things needful for us, to us, and about us. As a matter of
fact, one of the names of Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. And we've seen this in time.
I love this verse. We've looked at it so many times in Acts 4.
Twelve, you know, there is none other name. There is no other
name. Why? Because there is none else. There is no other name
given among men. Christ Jesus the Lord, whereby
we must be saved. Not the Pope, not Joseph Smith,
not Mohammed, not Buddha, not Confucius, not the Dalai Lama,
none of these people. They may be good teachers, but
they're not the Savior. None else. Period. Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32.
Verse 39 and 40. This is God speaking, see now
that I, even I am He, and there is no God with Me, I kill, I
make alive, I wound, I heal, neither is there any that can
deliver out of My hand, for I lift up My hand to heaven, and I say,
I live forever. So who has life? If He lives
forever, He's the one that has life. I would say in this book,
plainly states, God is supreme. Everything bows to Him. Everything bows to Him. Turn
to 1 Samuel chapter 2. This is not being preached today.
This is not being believed today. And we as believers, we need
to be reminded that God is still God and there is none else. 1
Samuel 2 6, 7, and 8. The Lord kills. He makes
alive. He brings down to the grave.
He brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes
rich. He brings low, He lifts up. He
raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the beggar
from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them
inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them." He has
set the world upon them. He says in Job 11, who hath prevented
me that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole
heaven is mine. This is God speaking. This is
Him speaking. He is sovereign. He is over everything. Plants? Well, my plants didn't
do good this year. I didn't have a good crop. Oh,
you didn't put enough Miracle-Gro on. maybe, but you step back
and He's over everything. He's over plants, the animals,
humankind, He's supreme in the legions of angels, He's over,
we know He's over kings and kingdoms, He's over the climate, The climate? Oh, the sky's falling, climate
is changing. He's over that. There's many
passages in the Scriptures that refute what scientists, so-called,
are stating. He's over every little particle
of bacteria, virus, yes, even the COVID, and all its variants. Delta, Alpha, Omega, whatever
variant they're going to come up with next. He is over everything. He's over the planets. He's over
the galaxies. And I'll tell you, He will not
relinquish His dominion to any. We have to be reminded of that.
We have to be reminded of that. Do I believe this? Do we believe
this? Or I should say, do we believe
Him? Do we believe His Word? Therefore, if you say yes, then
let's go on and live in peace and in comfort by faith. By faith. Faith is not fear. And I think we're on the cusp
of a second wave of fear that's coming. He kills. He makes alive. There's just
certain times It's like David said, it's like Abraham said,
it's like Moses said, I go the way of all the earth. Sometimes
it's just our time to die. And our death is appointed by
God. Go to the doctors, go to the
physicians, go to the hospitals, do what you can, but don't think
that they've got some miracle, And this is just me, and I'll
say this and I'll try to get to the next point. When people,
and I've noticed here lately, and of course in my lifetime,
this is because there's no other disease anywhere but COVID, that's
it. I mean, there's nothing, there's
no cancer, there's no diabetes, there's none of this stuff. And
when people say, are you protected, what they're asking, Have I been
vaccinated? And what the believer in me wants
to tell them, I'm protected. Not a single thing is going to
come through to me except for the Lord allows it. That's what
I want to tell them. But they want to say, oh, have I had my
shots? And humanly, I got no problem with that. Who is our
protection? Who is our peace? Who is our
safety? Who is our comfort? And I say
that knowing that the believer is not going to be presumptuous
and, okay, I can go sleep under elephants, as Maurice would say,
I believe God's sovereign, but I'll sleep under elephants. Do
what you gotta do, but don't live like what you
do makes a difference in life or death. No. God is our life. God is our life. Psalm 74. Psalm 74. Now this is where,
okay, God is sovereign, I understand that, but what's that got to
do with me? Well, we're here now. And if you're a believer, even
if you're not a believer, the fact that God is sovereign has everything
to do with us. It does. It really does. Verse
12, For God is my King of old, He is over everything, working
salvation in the midst of the earth. He is sovereign, and His
sovereignty has purpose. It is to save, to quicken, and
to call sinners unto Himself. He has worked salvation, that
is, deliverance from sin, self, and Satan. Has He done so for
you and for me? That's His purpose of grace is
to honor Himself, honor His Son, and to give salvation. This is
why He sent His darling Son. This is why He sent perfection
down to this imperfect world to live a life of perfection,
live a life of grace, live a life of purity, live a life of righteousness,
that we may live in Him. This is why He worked out everything
against us on His cross. This is why we must and should
adore Him, honor Him, and worship Him. Because truly, He is our
all in all. Yes, in Him, the Scripture says
we live and move and have our being. Therefore, let us ascribe
all glory to Him. Not man, not the preacher, Not
to... but to Christ. Let's describe
all glory to Christ. And I know He uses means. He uses the Word. He uses the
preaching of the Gospel. He uses prayer, fellowship. But
if God is not in that, it's vain. It doesn't profit us. If God
does not make us willing in the day of His power, nothing else
will. Nothing else will. He must give repentance. I need
repentance, Pastor. He gives repentance. I don't
understand faith. I need faith. He gives faith.
I want to have a desire to hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Go to Him. I need life. Go to Him. I need my eyes open and my heart
open. I need Him to reveal Himself
to me. Go to Him who has life and death
brings up, brings down, makes rich, makes poor, He does everything. And if He has done this for you
and for me, let us walk in faith, not fear. These are fearful times. But I got in parenthesis, in
this world, it's always fearful times. If you know anything about
history, if you read any of the old saints, the old martyrs,
If you read the Bible, every time is a fearful time for God's
people. We are lambs led to the slaughter. It's no different. It's no different. So, let us live by faith, walk
by faith. Yes, God is our God. He sits
in the heavens and He laughs. And all who try to mock His gospel,
all who try to defeat us, He just laughs. They're just grasshoppers. They're buzzing around, they're
fear-mongering, they're lying, deceiving and being deceived.
Don't listen to them. Don't listen to them. You've
got to work? I understand that. You've got
to put up with that stuff. You've got to be around people.
You do this, you do that. You know, you live in this world,
so you're going to be exposed to it. But, you know, recharge,
however you want to say that. Your breakfast. This is the food. Lunch, morning, afternoon, night. He's always there. He's always
listening. We need to be more impertune.
We need to keep going. Lord, I can't handle this. I
can't handle this. I don't know how to do this. Go to Him who
is all wise. who owns everything. He owns
all these things. And all these things are for
our benefit. Open the book, look and live
and patience possess you, your souls, knowing fully and sufficiently
that God is in total, complete control over every aspect of
life here. And if we're about ready to die,
it's going to get a whole lot better. And as I said, he's done it for
our benefits, for believers' benefits, for peace of heart.
Let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
Jeremiah 18.8 in closing. Jeremiah 18.8. He's speaking to the elect. I'm sorry, 18.6. I think I said
18.8. 18.6. Verse 5, Then the word of the
Lord came to me, saying, The prophet, the preacher, the believer,
O house of Israel, the elect, the remnant, the chosen, cannot
I do with you, as this potter, Sayeth the Lord, Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house
of Israel." Now, there's only two reactions to that. There's
anger, because He's taken over your free will. You don't have
free will. He's taken that over. He's just treating me like an
inanimate object. You can be that way. I'm going
to tell God, I'm going to shake my fist and do this and do that.
You're kicking against the pricks. You can't go anywhere. You can't
do anything. Or, you can look at this as this is written, for
comfort and peace of heart, Behold, as the clay is in the potter's
hand, so are ye in my hands. Now didn't He say in the Gospels
that you're in the hands of God and no man can pluck you out
of My hands? And His hands are strong and
powerful and yet tender and compassionate and loving and caring to His
people. I wouldn't want to be anywhere
else. So instead of looking at this, well that takes everything
away from... it does. The Gospel always strips
man of everything. The gospel of God, the righteousness
of God in Christ, giving us His righteousness and taking our
sin, we had no righteousness, it strips man of everything.
So if you get upset because this is stripping you of everything,
you're right. The gospel always strips the
flesh of everything. But it gives hope and peace and
comfort in a sovereign, the sovereign God's hands. In His hands, where no one can
pluck us out. Yes, have mercy upon me, your
vessel. Have mercy upon me, if I'm just
a clay vessel. Lord God, over all the universe,
supreme, sovereign, majestic, have mercy on me. He delights to show mercy. What a gracious God! Or as Maurice
would say, Hallelujah! What a Savior! Bruce, would you
close us?