The Sovereignty of God

Now, I'm going to read several
passages of Scripture at the beginning of this message. I'm
speaking tonight on the subject, the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty
of God. And I want you to turn with me,
first of all, to 1 Samuel, chapter 3. 1 Samuel, the third chapter. Let's read verses 11 through
verse 18. 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 11
through 18. And the Lord said to Samuel,
Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears
of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will
perform against Eli, Eli was a servant of the Lord, the prophet
of God, all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I'll also make
an end. For I told him that I will judge
his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his
sons made themselves accursed or vile, and he restrained them
not. And therefore I have sworn unto
the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged
with sacrifice nor offering forever.' And Samuel lay until the morning,
opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and Samuel feared
to show Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said,
Samuel, my son, and he answered, Here am I. And he said, What
is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee,
hide it not from me. God do so to thee, and more also
if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said
unto thee. Samuel told him everywhere all
the things that God had spoken, and he had nothing from And he
said, now catch this, underline it in your Bible, make it your
watchword, learn it not in your head but in your heart, and he
said, it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Now if you will, turn to Job
chapter one, and I'm not going to read the first chapter of
Job because I don't think there's anybody here that is not familiar
with how Job suffered, how God permitted Satan to afflict him,
take away everything that he had, his camels, his oxen, his
household, his wealth. It says in Job chapter 1 verse
20, then Job arose and rent his mantle, shaved his head, fell
down upon the ground in worship. And he said, and we need to commit
this to heart, we need to learn what this man is saying, and
he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord had
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
In all this, Job did not sin nor charge God with foolishness
or attribute folly to the Lord. Now turn to Romans 9, the passage
that Brother Don Fitzer read a moment ago, in the ninth chapter
of Romans, verse 20 and 21. While you're turning there, I'll
just quote a scripture from Matthew 20, 15. Is it not lawful for
me to do with my own what I will? And then in Romans chapter 9,
verse 20 and 21, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against
God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel
unto honour, and another unto dishonour." Now there's no attribute
of God more precious and more comforting to the believer than
the absolute sovereignty of God. I hear people talk about rebelling
against God's sovereignty when they hear it for the first time.
I don't know anything about that. I hear people talk about how
they fought. They were saved. They were children
of God. They had the Holy Spirit indwelling
them. But when they heard how that
God reigned and ruled in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of this earth and giveth it to whomsoever he will,
they fought I didn't, and I don't believe a child of God will. I don't believe the Holy Spirit
will fight the Holy Spirit. I don't believe an indwelling
Savior will fight a triumphant Savior. I don't believe the redeeming
Savior will fight the conquering Savior. I think religious people
hate it. I think religious people fight
it, but saved people don't. Our Lord, before He left here,
turned to His disciples, and He said, I've got many things
to say that you're not able yet to bear, albeit when He, the
Holy Spirit, comes, He'll guide you into truth. He's not going
to fight you for it, He's going to guide you into it. And you're
going to follow Him. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. And the most comforting, when
I heard how that God reigned, It was nothing in the world but
a revelation of God to me. Nothing in the world but a revelation
of His true character, His true attributes. God is God or He's
not God. And it's the most comforting
attribute, it's the most precious attribute to a child of God,
is God's power and sovereignty. And I'll give you three reasons
for that. First of all, the only place The only place that a man
will truly worship, I'm not talking about playing church now, I'm
not talking about going through the motions of religion, I'm
not talking about fulfilling moral obligations, I'm not talking
about trying to miss hell and go to heaven, I'm talking about
worship. The only place that a man will
truly worship, and most people never have worship, They never
have like Thomas fallen at the feet of Christ crying, my Lord
and my God. They never have fallen like John
on the Isle of Patmos at the feet of Christ as a dead man.
They never have fallen like Daniel at the feet of his revelation,
the revelation of his God, and cried, my beauty melteth into
corruption. They never have fallen like Isaiah
crying, I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips. Nor like Job who said, The Lord
gave and the Lord taketh away, I worship the Lord, I praise
his name in the deepest, darkest waters. Most people have never
worshipped. They have played church, they've
gone through the motions, they've acted religious, but they've
never worshipped. Because the only place where
a man will fall down in the dust in humility and worship is at
the throne of an almighty God. One who has all power, in whom
they live and move and have their being, upon whom they depend
not only for breath, but for spiritual life. They bow before Him in reverence
and fear. Back in the Old Testament, when
you talked about a man who believed in God, it was one who feared
the Lord. Over here in the Book of Romans,
when it talks about these perverted characters, it says there's no
fear of God before their eyes. You wonder why people carelessly
use the name of God in songs, in jokes? They'll be singing
a song, Oh Lordy, you know why they do that? They don't know
God. They wouldn't dare use His name like that. And that goes for all of these
television country singers that are always using the name of
the Lord flippantly and carelessly. They don't know God. One who
knows the living God worships Him and bows before Him in fear
and trembling lest He, in His wrath, cut us off. Now there's another reason why
this attribute is precious to a child of God. is because the
only place that a man is going to find a real salvation is at the throne of a sovereign
God. They can trust Him who is able
to subdue all things unto Himself. They can trust Him who has a
covenant that cannot be broken. They can trust Him who has a
substitution, an efficacious work that cannot fail. They can
trust Him who has a powerful spirit who cannot be resisted. They can trust Him who is able
to save and to keep and to glorify. Whom He foreknew, He predestinated. Whom He predestinated, He called.
Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified.
What shall we say to these things? Well, if God be for us, who can
be against us? That's what we say to these things.
If God be for us, then what difference does it make who's against us?
He's God, and no one can stay His hand or say unto Him, what
doest thou? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Who is He that condemneth? I'm
persuaded. No power can separate me from
the love of God, because His power is all-powerful. That's the only place you can
find salvation. Folks that get in and get out don't know God.
Not the Living God, not the Sovereign God, not the Almighty God. Their
God is a little valley that stands off in the corner and comes when
they call. He's nothing but a servant of
the people. And I'll tell you this. The reason the attribute
of God's sovereignty is precious and comforting to the believer
is because that's really the only place that a man can find
comfort in every trial and every affliction is at the throne of
God, who in his divine purpose and plan and providence works
out every detail of their lives for their good and for his glory.
That's the reason Job could stand there and survey everything he
had, taken, swept away in one moment, and say, blessed be the
name of the Lord. He gave it and he took it away.
That's the reason Eli could look upon his sons, knowing that God
would smite them, knowing that God would destroy them, and say,
well, it's the Lord, let him do what he will. It'll be for
his glory and it'll be for my good. All things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose, only because he has a control over all things. There isn't a grain of dust,
there isn't a cinder on that railroad track over which our
Lord does not have absolute sovereign control. And when it falls to
the ground, all the demons in hell can't move it one inch further.
There's not a speck of dust in the sun ray that is not guided
and charted in its flight by the hand of our God. The devil
can't bat his eyelash without God's permission. That's what Scripture teaches.
And there's no attribute of God more comforting to the believer than the sovereignty of God,
divine sovereignty. divine power, the divine right
of God to do with his own what he will. However, however, this is a proven
fact from the Scripture, from history, and from personal experience. There is no attribute in the
character of God that is more despised and more hated by false
religionists and unbelievers than the sovereignty of God.
They hate it with a passion. They hate it with a passion.
They'll take almost any error and swallow it without even choking
except the sovereignty of God. And when men hear the sovereignty
of God, men who can agree on nothing else, When they hear
the sovereignty of God, they can agree on this. They hate
it. They hate it. Men want God everywhere but on
the throne. Now you put this down. I know
this is so. Men want God everywhere but on
the throne. It's all right. It's all right
by them for God to be in His workshop building worlds. That's
all right. God, you can sit up there in
your workshop and you can make suns and moons and stars and
planets and worlds, and you can make the little rippling stream.
He got the whole world in His hands. That's all right. God,
you just sit up there in your workshop and make anything you
want to make. You just tend to your little
handcraft and that will be all right. And they're willing for
God to be in his almshouse to give food and clothing and sunshine
and rain and all the good things to men. They're willing for God
to be that granddaddy up yonder in heaven giving out good things
to men. That's all right, God. You stay
in your almshouse and bless us, bless us, bless us, bless us,
bless us. That's all I hear in prayers.
Bless us, bless us, bless us, bless us. Isn't that right? Everybody
wants God to be where He can bless us. Don't afflict me, Lord,
bless me. The best thing He could do for
me is afflict me. I've learned a whole lot more
under the rod than I ever did under the blessings of God, haven't
you? I've seen more of His mercy and His grace through the telescope
of tears than I ever saw through the laughter of success. Old Brother Mews said a young
preacher came to him one time and said, Brother Mews, I want
you to pray that the Lord will give me patience. I'm just an
impatient man. He hired me to pastor the church. I'm so impatient. Brother Mews
said, well, let's pray. And they got down on their knees.
Brother Mews said, oh Lord, send this young man a hard time. Lord
afflict him. Send him tribulation and trial.
He caught Old Brother Mews' arm. He said, Brother Mews, you misunderstood
me. I didn't ask you to pray that God send me a hard time,
I asked you to pray God send me patience. He said that's how
you get patience. Tribulation work is patience,
and there's no shortcut. But we're willing, oh yeah, this
religious world is willing for God to be in His almshouse to
bless us, to give us all the good things and withhold nothing
from us, all the good gifts. And this world is willing for
Him even to be on a cross. That's right. They don't care. They're willing for Him to be
on the cross, to die for their sins, put away their guilt, take
them to heaven when they die. But when God ascends His throne with
the right to do as He will, when He will, with whom He wills,
that's a different story. When Almighty God ascends His
throne to dispose of His creatures as He will, without consulting
any man, without basing His mercy on the merits of the creature,
but on the good pleasure of His own will, when God ascends His
throne, men turn a deaf ear and they
rant and they rave, and they won't have it. I was listening to this fellow,
Jimmy Swaggart, on television about, oh, it's been two or three
months ago, and he is in a big way. And he said, now, I'm going
to tell you something. And I thought, well, I'm going
to listen and see what you say. He said, I'm going to tell you
something. He said, when it snows and when
it storms and when these tornadoes come and when these hurricanes
come and when these floods come, God's got nothing to do with
that. God's got nothing to do with that. He said that's not
God. God's a God of love. God's a God of mercy. And all
these unfortunate things that happen to our world, God's not
in it anywhere. Now that old boy and me got two
different Gods. One of us not preaching the God
of the Bible. Now if you read the book of Job
38, 39, 40, and 41, you'll find that God is in those things.
But men will have, he talked in his program about God on the
cross, about God giving good gifts, good gifts. But when he
thought about God on the throne, doing all things as he will,
when he will, with whom he will, he began to rant and to rave.
But my friends, I tell you this, and Paul said in Galatians 4,
16, am I become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth.
Does that make me your enemy? That's what Paul said to the
church at Galatia. Am I your enemy? Because I tell
you the truth. It's the God upon the throne
that I like to preach. I get the greatest joy and satisfaction
and thrill in my soul to preach to a congregation, God on the
throne. It's God on the throne in whom
we trust. It is God on the throne. that
we worship. It is God on the throne who sends
blessings and afflictions, who kills and makes alive, who raiseth
up and bringeth down. It is God on the throne from
whom we receive all things according to His divine will and purpose
for the glory of His blessed Son and not because of any merit
in us. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Who is the potter? Huh? God's
the potter. Who is the clay? I'm the clay. And hath not God power, hath
not the potter power over the clay to make one vessel of the
same lump, mind you? of the same nation, of the same
community, of the same congregation, of the same daddy. One vessel
under honor, and another under dishonor. He did Rebecca's sons,
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. You know what Scripture
says? Of the same love. I'm going to divide the gifts
of God tonight into five classes. The first one is found in 1 Samuel
2, and this is what I believe. This is what I believe with all
my heart. This is what I believe with all my soul. This is what
I delight to preach. This is what the Word of God
teaches, not just one or two verses. This is the trend of
the whole Scriptures. In 1 Samuel 2, verse 6, earthly
gifts are sovereignly given, earthly gifts. In 1 Samuel 2,
verse 6, says, The Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive. The Lord
bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh
poor, and maketh rich. He bringeth low, he lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, lifteth 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 hath set the world upon it." Men differ, women differ
physically. One man, like Saul, that stands
head and shoulders above everybody. Another one, like Zacchaeus,
is short of stature. God made him. Men differ mentally. You have mental giants, you have
simple farm folks. God made them. Who maketh thee
to differ? That's what Paul asked in 1 Corinthians
4, 7. Who maketh thee to differ? What
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if you received
it, why do you act like you didn't receive it? Why do you boast?
Men differ as to living conditions. Some are born in free countries,
some are born under slave conditions. One man lives to an old, old
age, eighty-five, ninety years. Another one dies young. Some
live in good health, never go to the hospital, never are sick.
They see good, hear good, speak good, walk good. Others are sickly,
frail. What's the answer to this? Our Lord Jesus Christ gave the
answer. He said, Even so, Father, it
seemed good in thy sight. That's the answer. Let us praise God for what we
have. Let us praise God for what we
don't have. It could ruin us. Let us praise
God for what we know. Let us praise God for what we
don't know. He that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow. That's what Scripture says. Let
us praise God for what we are. Turn to John chapter 9. Let me
show you something here. In John chapter 9. And beginning with verse 1, Jesus
passed by. He saw a man that was blind from
his birth, and his disciples asked him, Master, and this is
a question of ignorance, but I hear it all the time, Master,
who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither. Neither hath this man sin, nor
his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest
in him, I am what I am for God's glory
and for my good. My health, my body, my strength,
my weakness, my success, my failure, my riches, my poverty, I'm where
God put me. And the Scripture tells me to
be content with such things as I have and avoid covetousness,
which is idolatry. earthly gifts are of the Lord. He killeth, he maketh alive,
he maketh rich, he maketh poor, he lifteth up, he bringeth down.
It's all in the hands of a sovereign, omnipotent God. All right, secondly,
turn to Romans 9, our text. The second part of these gifts,
saving gifts. Saving gifts, Romans 9, 15. For
he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,
so then it's not of him that will it, not of the will of the
flesh, not of the will of man, it's not of him that run it,
it's of God that showeth mercy. Salvation, my friends, is totally
of the Lord. The redemption of a sinner, the
forgiveness of a sinner, the regeneration of a sinner, the
conversion of a sinner is all the work of God. Salvations of
the Lord in its planning. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Salvations of the Lord in its
execution. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Salvation of the Lord is its application. God who separated
me from my mother's womb called me by His grace because it pleased
Him. Salvations of the Lord in its
sustaining power, and kept by the power of God through faith.
Salvations of the Lord in its ultimate perfection. The song
of heaven is under Him who loved us and washed us from our sin.
It's not under us who believed, it's not under us who trusted,
it's not under us who decided for Christ, it's not under us
who rested in Him, it's under Him who loved us. Be the glory
and the praise. He passed by the fallen angels.
I don't hear anybody arguing about that. I think every man
ought to have a chance. That's what I hear people say.
I have two answers to that. The first answer is this. Salvation
is not by chance. It's by grace. My second answer
to that is this. Why does Adam's fallen race deserve
more than the angels' fallen race. The Bible plainly says,
he took not on him the nature of angels, but took on him the
seed of Abraham. He passed by the fallen angels,
reserving them, Jude 6, in everlasting chains of darkness under the
day of judgment. They have no Savior, they have
no gospel, they have no redemption. He chose Israel and passed by
the Gentiles. Read the whole Old Testament. He said in Deuteronomy 7, look
at that over there, Deuteronomy chapter 7, our Lord said this
about Israel. I hear it all the time, they
are the chosen people. Well, I didn't know you believed
in choosing. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 6, the Lord said, Thou
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all the people
that are upon the face of this earth. The Lord did not set his
love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number
than any people, stronger than any people. You were the fewest
of all. Oh, why'd he choose them? Why'd
he pass by the Philistines and the Amorites and the Amalekites
and the Hittites and all the rest of them and choose Israel?
Because the Lord loved you. Not because you loved Him, not
because He saw something in you He didn't see in them, not because
you did better than them. Israel was a backsliding nation. He chose you because He loved
you. Because he loved you. He left
the Gentiles in darkness. And then I'll tell you this,
now you sit there and look at me, here you are, why do you
come to the house of God Sunday after Sunday while others ignore
his house and find no joy in his gospel, huh? Why is it that
you rejoice in the message of substitution and the message
of salvation while the whole world sees no beauty in it? Why? Are you better than they are,
maybe more intelligent than they are, maybe a little sharper than
they are? Could not God have caused their
darkness to be lifted, like He did yours? Could God have not
blessed their shores with the good news, as He did yours? Could
not He have given them godly parents, as He gave you? They're those in the same congregation
who hear the same minister, who hear the same message, who hear
the same truth, and one rejoices in it and another sits like an
old pine knot and perishes in his indifference. Who makes the
difference? There were two thieves who died,
one on the right hand of our Lord and another on the left,
and they both heard the same thing, saw the same thing, responded
in totally opposite fashion. One believed and one cursed his
way to hell." The sovereign grace of God alone
creates us heirs of grace, born in the image of his Son, a God-created
race. Who maketh thee to differ? And then the third class, family
gifts. There is a sovereign difference
between God's own children. The members of his church are
one body, but they differ. They differ. They differ in spiritual
gifts, they differ in offices, they differ in ability, they
differ in talent. There are offices of pastors,
elders, deacons, teachers, all are not the same. There are gifts
of praying, giving, preaching, teaching. Some lead, some follow,
some give, some are not able to give. God puts some of his
sons through deep, dark waters. He puts them through experiences
of trial to use them in the household of faith when the need arises.
Others just seem to prosper and have no difficulty, no problem.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 12, and I'll show you two verses
that will let you see this. Who makes the difference in 1
Corinthians 12? It says in verse 11, you'll have
to go back and read the rest of it, I don't have time to read
it, difference of gifts, difference of ministration, but the same
Lord, but it says in verse 11, but all these worketh that one
and selfsame Spirit who divides to every man severally as he
will. He gives me the power to preach
and he doesn't give it to you, that's his will. If he gives
you the power to pray publicly, another man doesn't have that
ability. That's what he wills. If he gives
one of you the ability to give a little more than others, that's
his will. If he gives some of you greater faith than others,
that's his will. God makes us all to differ. Look, if you will, at verse 18.
But now, talking about the members of the body, all of them, and
not the feet, and not the hand, and all of them, not the ear,
and all of them, not the eye, but he says in verse 18, but
now hath God sent the members, every one of them in the church,
as it hath pleased Him. Him. You don't vote on who's going
to be the pastor. God calls the pastor. You don't
vote on who's going to be the elder. God makes him the elder. You don't vote on who's going
to lead the church. God raises up leaders. You don't
vote on who's going to be the hand, who's going to be the foot,
who's going to be the eye. God puts them in there as he
will. You say, how are we going to
find out? If we'll be patient and wait on God and pray, he'll
reveal his will. Every time I've ever gotten in
a hurry doing anything, I've made a mess of it. Like Abraham,
God said, I'll send you a son. Well, the time passed and none
came, so he got him on himself, and it's been causing him trouble
ever since he's born. And that's what we do. We get
in a big hurry. We've got to do things our way. Well, God
says, He'll put every member in his body as it pleases him. That's divine sovereignty over
family gifts. Happy is the man, happy is the
man who knows his place in the body, who knows his gifts, who
knows his ability or lack of it, and can glorify Christ in
whatever place with whatever gift God's been pleased to give
him. I tell you what David said, he
said, I'd rather be the doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, and
to be the ruler in the tents of the wicked. Doorkeepers in
God's house are mighty important, because don't you ever despise
a day of small things. God says, he that would be the
greatest, let him be the servant. And then Matthew 9, let me show
you something else. Matthew chapter 9, service gifts. We got missionaries, this church
got missionaries in France, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, three of them
down there. Got preacher brethren we've ordained
in cities everywhere. Listen to Matthew 9, verse 37. Then said the Lord Jesus to the
disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers
are few. Few. Few godly preachers, few
godly missionaries, few God-honoring What are we going to do about
it? Well, let's just get some of our young men to volunteer for the
ministry, and let's get us a seminary and a college, let's teach some
men to preach, and let's go out here in the highways and the
hedges and get folks stationed out here and get them to doing
the job. Hold on there. Our Lord Jesus said, You pray,
therefore, that the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth
laborers into his harvest. How are they going to call on
Him in whom they've not believed? How are they going to believe
in Him in whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? But have you ever noticed that last line? How are they
going to preach if they're not sent? Who sends them? God sends
them. He came to the church down there
and said, Separate me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work whereinto
I have called them. Let me show you a scripture in
the book of Acts, chapter 16. Turn over there and look at this.
Acts 16, this is an eye-opening scripture. It says here in Acts
16, verse 6, Paul, when he had gone throughout Phrygia and the
regions of Galatia, he was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the
Word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia,
their seed, they wanted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit
of God wouldn't let them. In verse 9, a vision appeared
to Paul in the night, and there stood a man of Macedonia, and
he said, Come over here and help us. And after he had seen that vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Who called them? God called them. Now, brethren, you just don't
decide you're going to organize a church. You don't just decide
you're going to go there and preach. You don't just decide
you're going to go here and do that. You'd better be seeing
it. You'd better be seeing it. These service gifts, God raises
up His servants, and God sends them forth to preach, and God
will bless their labor if He sends If he doesn't send them,
we'll have the mess that we've got all over this United States,
and that's all these splits and splinters of churches fussing
and fighting and feuding because God's not there. God's not there. The Apostle Paul, Acts 18, verse
9, Then the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Don't
be afraid, speak, hold out your peace, I'm with you and no man's
going to hurt you, I have much people in this city. You stay
here and pray. I don't know, I don't know why
God sent the gospel to 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky. Our larger
cities do not have even a witness. I can't explain that any more
than I can explain why the Holy Spirit said, Don't go to Asia.
Paul said, I want to go. He said, Don't go. He said, Don't
go to Bithynia. Don't go. Don't go to Troas. Don't go. Go to Macedonia. I've got some people there. And then, last of all, turn to
John 21. Now, here's the fifth class. God is sovereign over earthly
gifts. God is sovereign over spiritual
gifts, saving gifts. God is sovereign over family
gifts, church gifts. God is sovereign over service
gifts, preaching gifts. And God is sovereign over providential
gifts. In John 21, verse 18, verily
I say unto you, talking to Peter here, the Lord is telling Peter
how he is going to die. He said, Peter, when you were
young, you girded yourself and walked whether you would, but
when you get old, they're going to stretch forth your hands,
and another shall gird thee and carry thee whether thou wouldest
not. This spake the Lord, signifying by what death he'd glorify God. By what death he'd what? Glorify
God. By what death he'd glorify God. You reckon I'll ever have enough
grace to pray that God would send me to the death that would
most glorify him? Lord, bless me!" That's all we
know how to say. And when he had spoken this,
he said, you follow me to death. And Peter turned around, seeing
that disciple whom Jesus loved, that was John, the author of
this gospel. which also leaned on his breast
at supper. And Peter said, Lord, what shall this man do? And Jesus said, Peter, if I will
that he live till I come back to this earth, what is that to
you? You follow me in the path I have marked out for you, and
you lead John's path to me. Let's learn that. You walk in
the path I've marked out for you. No matter how thorny, no
matter how rough, no matter how discouraging, I've marked out
a path for you people. What about him? Well, that's
none of your business. None of your business. If I will
that he stay right here on this earth for 2,000 years till I
come back, that's not any of your business. Now you follow
me. My times of sorrow and of joy,
great God, are in thy hand. My choicest comforts come from
thee, and they perish at thy command. Lord, if thou shouldest
take them all away, I would not repent, because before they were
possessed by me they were entirely thine. Nor would I drop a murmuring
word, though the whole world were gone, but lead me to seek
my fullest joy in thee and thee alone." Brethren, I solemnly
say to you, and as Paul said to the church at Galatia, I don't
want to be your enemy for telling you the truth, but I solemnly
say to you, you had better learn, if you haven't learned already,
who God is. and where God is. He's on the
throne. And in every area, in every area,
He totally and completely establishes His glory by fulfilling His divine
purpose. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry, while on others thou art calling, do not
pass me by. Our Father in Heaven, bless the
Word, We pray to Thee because Thou art God. We believe in and
trust Thee because Thou art God.

The Sovereignty of God

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Sovereignty of God

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book