The God of Unrivaled Sovereignty

Review of the Series and Where We Left Off

0:00 After a lapse of some six weeks due to my absence from the pulpit, we now return this morning to the series of messages which I began several weeks prior to my having to be hospitalized. And what I shall do in the first, I hope, five to seven minutes is to give a brief overview and review of where we were going up until that lapse, and then pick up precisely where we left off and proceed into the new areas of concern. The title of this series is Here We Stand, taking our clue from the famous words of Martin

0:45 Luther when giving a defense of the things he had written in the presence of prelates and earthly potentate, you remember having confessed that the writings were his, and having refused to recant because he was convinced they were the teaching of the word of God, he said, here I stand. I can do no other. My conscience is held captive to the word of God. So help me God. And so the title then of this series of studies takes its clue from those famous words of Martin Luther, and the substance of the studies is meant to be a brief overview of what we believe and confess as a congregation of God's people. Hence the change

1:32 from here I stand to here we stand. So much for the title and the substance, what is my goal in bringing this series of studies? Well, there are some general goals which I trust will be realized in all of us, and those general goals are to compel us to praise and worship, to immunize us against error, and in the language of Scripture to provoke us unto love and to good works. But I have some more definitive or specific goals related to specific categories of people who are among us, and I have broken up the categories into three simple divisions, old-timers, newcomers, and onlookers. And it is my goal to confirm the old-timers, to initiate the newcomers, and to

2:19 inform the onlookers. And now what form or method have I adopted in an effort to attain this goal? Well, it's a series of topical studies. Unlike the normal procedure here, Sunday mornings, which is a careful verse-by-verse study of a given portion of the Word of God working through consecutively, the form or method taken here is that of a topical series culling many portions of the Word of God from many parts of God's revelation in terms of major categories of thought. And I have collated the study under four or five major divisions, the book we believe and obey, the God whom we worship and confess, the salvation we receive and proclaim, the life we

3:10 seek to live and share, and the ministry we seek to discharge and multiply. And if you want a little mental crutch, just take the first words, Book God's Salvation Life Ministry. Book God's Salvation Life Ministry, and you'll have the five major categories under which the materials will be arranged. We consider together the book we believe and obey. And here we stand as a congregation daring to confess in our generation that we believe this book to be the book that is breathed out by God Himself.

3:48 We believe in the full inspiration of the Word of God, so that what we have is in every sense the Word of man, and in every sense the Word of God. And the fact that the Bible is the Word of God does not cancel the reality of it being the Word of man. And the fact that it is the word of man does not negate the reality of its being the word of God. For in the language of Peter, holy men spake as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

4:20 It was men who spake, and they spake as men. In the thought patterns and language devices of men, it is the language of men. Holy men spake, not angels in the tongues of angels, but men in the languages and grammar. of men, but they spake as they were born along, carried along under the influence of the Spirit.

4:44 Therefore, we believe in the absolute authority of the Scriptures, their infallibility and their inerrancy, and the fact that they must regulate every facet of the individual life of the believer and of the corporate life of the people of God. And then we began to consider the second major division of this study, the God whom we worship and confess. For the moment we open the Scriptures, we are confronted first of all not with man, but with God. In the beginning, God.

5:21 And from those opening words of Genesis through to the end of the book of the Revelation, the great theme of this book is not man but God. The central actor in the great drama of creation, fall and redemption is what God is, God Himself. And the great concern is the activity of God in creation, the activity of God in judgment and mercy and restoration of a disordered universe. And I suggested that if we are to bring together the major lines of truth concerning God as found in the scriptures, perhaps the best way to do so is to make one fundamental basic assertion and then say several things that range under that major assertion.

6:12 And so the fundamental assertion we made in our last study was that there is but one true and living God. Question five in the shorter catechism asks, Are there more gods than one? And the answer is, there is but one only, the living and the true God. And the assertion of both the Old and the New Testaments is an assertion of monotheism.

6:38 That is one God. Not two gods, three or twenty. There is but one true and living God. And the first assertion we have made about him or secondary affirmation is that he is the God of absolute perfection.

6:57 Perfect in himself, in his attributes, and in his ways and works. And of course all of these assertions that I have made now in seven minutes were supported by and opened up and illustrated by the teaching of the word of God. So much for that brief overview and review. Now we come this morning to the second of these statements about this one true and living God, and it is this.

The Fundamental Assertion: God of Unrivaled Sovereignty

7:24 We stand this morning as a people of God, not only asserting concerning our God that He is the God of absolute perfection, but we dare to assert that the Scriptures teach that He is the God of unrivaled sovereignty. Not only is the true and living God the God of absolute perfection, perfect in Himself, in His attributes, in His ways, and in His works, but He is the God of unrivaled sovereignty. Now the word sovereignty has to do with authority and with rule. A king is called a sovereign because he rules.

8:11 And when we turn to the Word of God asking the question, What is the God of the Bible like? We will find from Genesis to Revelation the picture of an enthroned God, and a God who sits upon a throne which is shared with no one else. Hence we not only find a God of sovereignty, but a God of unrivaled and exclusive sovereignty. In other words, to put it in contemporary language, God has no oval room into which he goes to consult with his cabinet before he makes decisions.

8:52 God has no congress with which to compromise before he can get through his legislative or his executive designs and desires. In our system of government here in our own country, conceived in the main by men who had an appreciation of how dangerous centralized power is among sinful men, we have the three branches of government. They don't teach this in the schools anymore, so I've got to get a little bit of political history here for the sake of our kids. And when an educational system no longer teaches history, that's the beginning of the end.

9:28 But we have the executive, we have the judicial and the legislative, each one meant to be a check upon the other. So that when the president would make decisions, he can't make them like a king who gets up one morning and doesn't like the color of the palace and he tells somebody, go on out and spray it pink. And the next day he may not like it and he tells him to spray it purple. And there's no one to stand in his way.

9:52 He can unilaterally exercise that power, but not so in our system of government. And so when the president would make decisions, he calls in his cabinet members, and he discusses with them the various options, and then he has to discuss how can I strike a compromise with Congress so that I can get at least some of my wishes through, and then is it indeed constitutional? At least there was a time when there was some concern for that, though very little in our day, but at least on paper. This is the way it's supposed to work.

10:22 There is no unilateral exercise of power, But not so with God. God has no Oval Room. God has no Cabinet. God has no Congress.

10:33 The Scripture set before us the living God as the God of unrivaled sovereignty. That in the glorious interaction of all of His attributes of holiness, love, wisdom, power, justice, and mercy, He wills what He performs, and He performs what He wills. He wills constrained and coerced by none, and He performs restrained or hindered by none. Now that's unrivaled sovereignty.

11:07 It's set forth in such pregnant statements as that which the prophet Isaiah gives to us in Isaiah 43 and in verse 13. Isaiah 43 and in verse 13. Yea, since the day was, I am he And there is none that can deliver out of my hand I will work, and who can hinder it? You see, the president cannot say that He might say, I will wish that such and such will be so But who can hinder?

11:41 Well, Congress, if they don't pass the legislation Congress may say, well, we could wish But they cannot unless the president puts his signature to it He has the power of veto. But when God says, I will work, He can send forth the challenge. Who can hinder it? Who's going to come and veto what God wills to do?

12:02 Who can change the mind of God? Who can hinder God from accomplishing the designs of His mind? God Himself throws out the challenge. And the answer is obvious.

12:16 The whole climate of the Scripture from beginning to end reflects this, speaking, or more accurately, writing concerning the fact that the God of the Bible is an enthroned God, the God of unrivaled sovereignty. B.B. Warfield says, and I quote, It is not too much to say that this concept is fundamental to the whole religious consciousness of the biblical writers, and is so involved in all their religious conceptions that to eradicate it, that is the concept of a God of unrivaled sovereignty, would transform the entire scriptural representation.

13:03 And having made that assertion in a masterful essay, B.B. Warfield goes on to demonstrate that from Genesis to Revelation, through the whole emerging consciousness of the God who revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the nation of Israel, on to those final hymns of praise in the book of the Revelation, that the whole religious consciousness of the Bible is permeated. It literally oozes with the concept of a God of unrivaled sovereignty.

13:38 And to eradicate that concept would transform the entire biblical representation. In other words, you cannot dispense of a God of unrivaled sovereignty by cleverly dodging a few isolated texts in the Bible which seem to assert such a fact. You must deal with the whole religious consciousness of the Bible. Everything that asserts it explicitly, everything that presses it upon us implicitly, it is there covertly in statements of apostles and prophets and our Lord.

14:21 It is there in a more subtle way in the historical narratives. Any man or woman who sets himself or herself to eradicate from the Bible the concept of a God of unrivaled sovereignty will have to rewrite the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

14:40 That's a pretty bold statement, Pastor. Yes, it is. but it is supported by any even careless reading of the word of God. Will you consider with me now some of the pivotal statements of this fact in the Old Testament and in the New.

Old Testament Witnesses: Psalm 115, Isaiah 14, Daniel 4

14:57 We are going to look at several texts in the Old, several in the New. Turn if you will please to the 115th Psalm. Psalm 115. Now remember what we are doing.

15:10 I am not bringing forward the only clear witnesses. The whole religious consciousness points to this I am simply taking some clear specimens which assert in simple and in pointed language what is the undergirding thought structure of the entire Bible Psalm 115. Now, what is the psalm? Well, the opening words are an answer to that question.

15:37 Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Here the psalmist is concerned to have his heart run out in praise and honor to God, and not to the creature, and particularly to God because of His loving kindness and His truth. For thy loving kindness and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the nation say, Where is now their God?

16:07 But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. Now kids, aren't those simple words? He, God, has done that is accomplished whatsoever.

16:25 That's anything that He has pleased. In other words, anything upon which He has set His pleasure. Anything that has been the desire and the thought of His heart, He has been able to accomplish in the exercise of His sovereign power and His sovereign might. Turn again to the prophet Isaiah chapter 14.

16:47 The context here is not one of worship to God as we have in the psalm But it's the context of God's declaration that he's going to destroy a mighty nation Which at the time of the prophecy seemed ridiculous

17:05 But what does God say concerning his purpose to destroy the nation of Babylon? Verse 24 of Isaiah 14 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Do you notice the parallel? As I have thought, so shall it come to pass.

17:33 What does God need to do to bring something to pass? He merely needs think of it, conceive of it as His design, and what He conceives in His thought comes to pass in history.

17:47 He performs what He desires and decrees. Reading on, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountain tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth.

18:09 This is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall veto it?

18:23 The President of the universe has made a decision. Who shall veto his purpose? the Lord of hosts hath purposed who shall annul it his hand is stretched out who shall turn it back now you kids know what that picture is some of you can remember maybe if you can't remember for yourself you remember when your brother or sister was just beginning to toddle around and they started to reach up to take something they shouldn't it was a no-no and you remember mommy or daddy took their hand and pulled it back and what did mommy and daddy do in pulling back their hand and frustrated the purpose of your little brother or sister. Brother or sister purposed to grab that apple that was sitting on the counter.

19:05 Mom and dad grabbed a hand and pulled it back, and frustrated the purpose of your brother or sister. Now God says, My hand is stretched out to Judge Babylon. Who's going to grab me by the wrist and say, No, no, God, that's a no-no. You can't do it.

19:21 Who? There's the challenge. Who will take the wrist of God and put it back? the answer is obvious none will do it and I love the eloquence of Isaiah when he starts speaking of the enthronement of God he asks questions the answer to which are so obvious that they come through with burning eloquence this is the God with whom we have to do look at the assertion of the prophet Daniel Daniel this man who moved in the realms of the great political and world leaders of his day.

20:00 And God deals with one of those leaders to teach him a little bit of what we would call the biblical philosophy of history. Who causes nations to rise and to fall? And God takes this great king Nebuchadnezzar and makes him like a beast for a period of seven years and gives his mind back to him that he might recognize a simple fundamental truth. And he articulates it in verses 34 and 35 of Daniel chapter 4.

20:26 And at the end of the days, these days of his being demented and insane, at the end of these days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom from generation to generation. He had no concept that the kingship of God awaited some future manifestation centered in Israel. God brought him to his senses.

21:02 When he came to his senses, he says, The kingdom of God determines all that transpires among the kingdoms of men. Verse 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will. in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? None can restrain him.

21:33 None can rightly stand in judgment upon him. More than once I've said to my kids when they start to do something, Hey, what are you doing? And when I ask that question as a father, I'm asserting my rights to know what they're doing and why and to negate it midstream if necessary. Now here's the picture. When God begins to work, who can justly say over God's shoulder, hey God, what are you doing? None can. And Nebuchadnezzar came to understand that the God with whom he had to do was the God of unrivaled sovereignty. Now turn to the New Testament for several equally clear witnesses to the same truth. In the book of Acts chapter 17,

New Testament Witnesses: Acts 17 and Romans 11

22:20 may I say as we turn to this passage, this passage above all others clearly teaches that this is not a truth to be veiled even before the unconverted. Heard some say, well, I believe in the concept of an enthroned God, but I just don't preach it, certainly not to unconverted people. That will give them a view of God that will scare them away from the gospel and from the Christian church. Well, Paul is speaking to pagan philosophers, and he says in his sermon to them, Acts 17 and verse 24,

22:54 The God whom you ignorantly worship, I declare him unto you, the God that made the world and all things therein. There's the assertion of God is Creator. And following hard on the heels of that assertion of God is Creator, He, being Lord of heaven and earth, He says, the God who made His world runs it. And if you kids want a simple little definition of what we mean when we talk about the sovereignty of God, we're simply saying, the God who made His world runs it.

23:28 And some of you fellows who remember, I shared the illustration a couple of weeks ago, but I think it's worth sharing with the whole congregation. A pastor friend of mine, who for years had veiled eyes to the truth that God is an enthroned God, had recently come by the illumination of the Spirit through the Word to see that God was indeed a God of unrivaled sovereignty. Well, having seen it, he began to preach it. And beginning to preach it, there was a violent reaction, so violent that eventually he was forced out of his church.

23:59 Well, it was a small town, relatively small. Everybody knew everyone. This man had a weekly television broadcast, so he was known throughout the town, quite a responsible member of the community. And one day he happened to be in the local bank where the banker knew him and knew of some of the trouble.

24:16 And he said to him, Brother so-and-so, he said, what's all this fuss about? Are you getting kicked out of your church and all the rest? Well, my friend lifted up his heart to God and said, now, Lord, how do I explain to an unsaved man what it is that even causes certain Christians? to turn on one another over this truth.

24:33 And he said, well, let me put it to you this way, my banker friend, and I believe the Spirit of God gave him Solomon-like wisdom. He said, let's call the banker Mr. Jones for the sake of the story. And it's a true story.

24:45 He said, now, Mr. Jones, let me put it to you this way. If you were God and had made the world, would you run it or let somebody else do it? And the banker looked at him and he said, well, preacher, if I made the world, nobody else would run it but me.

25:01 He said, well, that's what all the fuss is about. I've just begun to tell people that the God who made the world is the God who's running it and they don't like it. Isn't that it?

25:12 The God who made heaven and earth, He being Lord of the same heavens and the same earth. And there is no little part of His universe that He's blocked out and insulated from His Lordship. He doeth his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And even the devil is God's devil at the end of God's chain, and he doesn't blink his eyes without the permission of the Almighty.

25:46 That's the teaching of the Bible. Now you may fight it, you may curse it, you may damn it, you may trample it underfoot, but that's the teaching of the Word of God. The second New Testament witness, Romans chapter 11 The text that is on the bottom of our church letterhead And not without purpose The Apostle Paul has been speaking of such profound issues As God's movement in salvation and judgment through history The history of the nation of Israel In the context of the darkness of the nations of the earth The Gentile nations and now the impending judgment of God upon the nation of Israel and the gospel going out to the nations of the Gentiles

26:33 and all of this interaction of judgment and mercy and unbelief and faith and opportunity given and opportunity squandered and after dealing with these sweeping profound concepts the apostle comes in the end of this treatment to these tremendous words verse 33 of Romans 11 And oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past tracing out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Who hath been His counselor?

27:11 You see, who has been in God's oval room giving Him advice, what and how to perform His purposes? And the answer is obvious. God has never once had to call up anyone and say, I'd like to come for counsel.

27:28 Who's been his counsel? Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? In other words, to whom is God indebted?

27:39 Whoever came to God and said, God, I think you need something I've got. And so having given it to him, God is now indebted to that creature. Listen, every creature owes its very existence to the will and power of God. We have received, we have never given.

27:56 And after thinking of such concepts as these, the apostle can do no more than to say this, verse 36, For of Him, in design and purpose and volition, and through Him, by the exercise of sovereign control and power, and unto Him in praise and ultimate honor and glory are all things to whom be the glory forever. Amen. That's the God of the Bible. The God concerning whom Paul can say, of Him, through Him, and unto Him, are how many things?

28:37 The things that are pleasant and sweet? No, no. Remember what he's been dealing with. He's been dealing with the unbelief of a nation that comes under the judicial hardening and judgment of God.

28:50 He's been dealing with the mystery of the Gentile nations held in heathen darkness for centuries.

28:59 And in the context of those mysteries, those dark sides of God's dealings, He nonetheless says, without any reservation of Him, through Him, unto Him are all things. And He says, I wouldn't want it any other way, to whom be glory forever. And he says, to let you know, I still don't have an ounce of reservation. Amen! So be it.

29:30 So unlike some musical compositions that sort of, you know, peter out, this one comes to the crescendo where all the stops are out and the timpani are pounding away and everyone's playing with five F's in front of every note. You get something of the feel of this thing. Christian, can you feel when you read the Bible? Or do you read it like some kind of a computer with eyes?

29:56 Can you feel this? Of Him, through Him, unto Him are all things. To whom be glory. Oh Lord, I add my witness to that.

30:06 Amen.

30:08 Hallelujah. And amen again. And hallelujah again. That's the God of the Bible.

30:16 That's the witness of the Old and the New Testament. And these are only specimen examples. Now, the people of God have found it helpful in trying to have a more concrete concept of this sweeping statement that God is an enthroned God. it's been helpful to God's people to think of God as being sovereign in creation, what he brings into being providence what he does with what he brought into being and in grace what he does with sinful mankind which has revolted against him And I found that helpful so that the sweeping concept of him through him unto him all things That's so big, my little pea brain just, I just feel like I'm trying to carry 20 bags of flour all at once,

31:07 and I keep dropping all of them. But I find it a little more helpful to think of him as the God who is sovereign, the enthroned God of unrivaled sovereignty, who exercises that sovereignty, divine prerogative and right and power in the realms of creation, of providence, and of grace. And let me just give you a couple of texts under each of those headings. Because again, my purpose is to do what?

31:35 To confirm the old timers. Bring these things to your remembrance. To initiate the newcomers. So you'll be familiar with these texts.

31:43 And to inform those of you who are onlookers. You say, what do you believe? We believe God is sovereign. Well, what's that mean?

Sovereign in Creation

31:49 Well, He does what He wills. In creation, in providence, and grace. Alright. The opening verse of the Bible.

31:57 So, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What a wonderful assertion of the sovereignty of God. When God willed to make a world, He simply made it. Well, you say, what do you have to work with?

32:10 He doesn't need it. That's peculiar to creatures. We need something to work with. God just says, I think I'll make a world.

32:16 And He makes it. Big deal. And He spoke. And it was so.

32:21 Do you catch something of the beauty of that? When God would make a world, He just says, all right, let there be some light. Light comes on the sea. Let the earth do this.

32:29 Let the world do this. Again, do you feel this when you're in your strong faith and being God-grade? Do you get excited about that? Do you get excited when you read your Bible?

32:38 Do you think that's just for Pentecostalists? Huh? That's why a lot of people go into Pentecostalism, because other brands of Christianity have been emotionally neutered.

32:49 God doesn't neuter your emotions. He saves the whole man. He wants you to get excited when you read your Bible. At least inwardly.

32:56 Some of you are too phlegmatic to ever show it out with me. But at least in really you ought to dance. You ought to have some feet in your heart. That it's once in a while, in the beginning God created.

33:09 There's the sheer sovereign will and power of God with reference to creation stamped on the opening verses of the Bible. And then when you come toward the end of the Bible, you find that if you read Genesis 1-1 that way, you're reading it right. because we read in Revelation 4 and verse 11 this tremendous statement. The four living four, and when the living creature shall give glory and honor to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth forever and ever.

33:38 Revelation 4.10 The four and twenty elders shall fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne and shall worship Him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. Now why should He receive glory and honor and power? What specifically is in the minds of these worshiping elders?

34:03 For Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were and were created.

34:12 They recognize that creation is a manifestation of the exercise of the sovereign will of the living God. In Psalm 33 we find this same note sounded so clearly. Psalm 33, verses 8 through 11.

34:37 Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Why should you stand in awe of God? Why should you and I fear God?

34:49 That is with holy, reverential awe and admiration this morning. Well, the psalmist is going to tell us. For He spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast.

35:04 That's a reference to creation. He spoke, and it was done. What kind of a God is it? Who, when He wills to make galaxies, simply speaks.

35:14 and galaxies come into being out of a womb of nothingness. Oh, what a privilege to stand in awe before such a God. Furthermore, He says, Jehovah bringeth the counsel of the nations to naught. The presidents go into their oval rooms with their cabinets and make decisions, and the Lord brings that counsel to naught.

35:42 He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. Why? Because the counsel of the Lord standeth fast forever. The thoughts of his heart.

35:53 Isn't that amazing? The thoughts of his heart have more power to determine history than all of the great summit meetings of all of the great leaders of the earth. Think of it. The thoughts of his heart.

36:10 Once God has framed the thought, if we may speak reverently, once He's framed the thought, anything that all the leaders of the earth conceive and plan and plot to perform, if it doesn't dovetail with the thought of God.

36:30 My friend, that's the God we worship. That's the God we confess.

Sovereign in Providence

36:36 Is that your God?

36:40 He's sovereign in creation. But He's sovereign in providence. And this is why you want to learn your shorter catechism, children and adults. What are God's works of providence?

36:52 The answer, God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving, taking care of, and governing, ruling, all His creatures, angels, men, devils, and all their actions. Now you try to improve on that uninspired definition of providence, will you? What are God's works of providence? Not His most capricious.

37:27 No, no, His most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions. And when we say that we confess as our confession that we worship not only a God of absolute perfection, but a God of unrivaled sovereignty, we are saying we worship the God of providence. That is the God who in wisdom and power preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions. Hence our Lord can say in Matthew 10 and verse 29, these profound words.

38:06 Matthew 10 and verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father. Is a bird a creature of God? Yes or no?

38:25 Is it? Is a bird one of God's creatures? Jesus said, not one bird shall fall to the ground without your Father. Now, does he mean they're without your father's knowledge?

38:38 That would simply be a statement of what every theist believes. Everyone who believes in God believes he knows all things. That doesn't bring much comfort. I know lots of people that know about my troubles, but that doesn't give me much comfort.

38:51 They're not moved with pity towards me. Isn't that your concern? Is someone moved to do something? What he's saying is not one of them falls to the ground without your father.

39:02 That is, without the sovereign control and concern and care of your Father. Yesterday, after coming back from taking the kids for ice cream cones, we noticed a little bird on the side of our driveway.

39:17 And when I went over to pick it up, it looked like it was dead. It was still warm. It died probably only minutes before. I don't know why.

39:24 I couldn't see a BB shot or anything else in it. I don't know why it died. that bird did not fall without the sovereign providential control of my father oh you say pastor that's ridiculous what in the world would the God of heaven and earth do with being concerned I mean look people are starving in Africa and the population is running rampant in India and people in Guatemala you talk about God being concerned about a bird on the driveway of 25 men come off it my friends Jesus Christ whose truth incarnate said it. Because if God doesn't control the flight and the fall of that bird,

40:07 there's one part of His universe that He's relinquished to some other power.

40:15 And the Bible says, no, not one shall fall without your Father. and then the verse from which every believer sucks sweetness again and again Romans 8, 28 the apostle says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to those who are the cold according to his purpose how do you know all things are working together for good unless you know that God is controlling all things for your good now what are the all things well there's viruses floating around there's cold germs like one of the members of my family passed on to me so that my throat's been like razor blades for the past 12 hours it's a world in which there are

41:04 quote traffic accidents and the horror and the tragedy of that mysterious disease called cancer it's a world in which our lives are touched by things that are mysterious that we cannot explain things that we cannot, by the exercise of all of our faculties, fathom as to their cause, their origin, the reason for them. What does the text say? And we know that all things work together for good, not because we can see the good in the all things, but because we know the God who controls all things and who wills nothing but good for His children. Right?

41:51 That's why we confess that the God whom we worship is the God of absolute sovereignty. We will not be robbed of the comfort in the midst of those perplexing circumstances that seem to make no sense. Whatever!

42:05 Look up into the face of our Father and say, One thing I know, you're my Father, and the reins of this world and everything in it are in your hands, and you have enslackened one hair's breadth of your control upon all things. O my Father, I embrace what you have sent because you are an enthroned God. Whatever my God ordains is right. Not because I can see the rightness of it nor even justify the ways of God to others, but because I know that He controls all things and His providence is His most holy, wise and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures

42:50 and all their actions. You see, if you don't believe that, you can't make sense out of a lot of the Bible. You read through the Old Testament and there are things in there that will embarrass you if you don't believe that. God prophesied the death of a certain king and how does God describe the accomplishment of His prophecy?

43:09 Not a certain man was visited by a prophet who said, Thou art ordained of God to be the instrument of my judgment upon this king, and thou shalt see him in a chariot disguised as another, and thou shalt... No, no.

43:21 The Bible says, a certain man took his bow and shot at a venture.

43:28 What is the Bible telling us? It's saying this guy didn't have a clue what he was doing. He just saw somebody going by and said he looked like one of the enemy, pulled his bow out and...

43:37 And he fulfilled the word of God. You see, God controlled even what we would call the irrational chance impulses of a soldier in the heat of battle. Furthermore, God says, the lot is cast into the lap, and the whole disposing thereof is of Jehovah.

44:01 You mean God was guiding which potsherd should turn up? That's what the Bible says. You say, I can't, my friend, you're controversial with God, not with me.

44:12 My Bible says in the book of Proverbs, the heart of kings is in the hand of the Lord. He turneth it as the water courses.

44:23 Oh, you say then man is just a puppet. Does the Bible say that? No. Well, then don't you say it.

44:28 Yes, but logically. Take your logic and bury it.

44:33 If it leads to that kind of conclusion, logic is a great gift from God. But it's never a gift from God to make you come with unbelief to the clear statements of the Bible.

Sovereign in Grace

44:47 God is sovereign in creation. When He would create, He wills and performs. What He creates, He controls. And most evangelical believers, for the most part, will buy that.

44:59 But it's when you assert, here we stand, confessing that God is sovereign not only in creation and in providence, But he is sovereign in grace. He is sovereign in the exercise of his grace. And again, for you children, the simplest way to state this and to think of it is simply this. When God would be not only a creating God and a governing God, see, that's creation and providence, but when God would be a saving God, he doesn't say, I'm sorry I created sitting on my throne.

45:34 I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry. I'm glad to acknowledge I created sitting on my throne.

45:41 I'm glad I now control the world while sitting upon the throne of sovereignty. But, now that I would rescue sinners, I will abdicate my throne and no longer be sovereign.

45:53 No, no. God sits upon a throne of sovereignty when he creates, when he preserves and governs, and when he would stretch out his arm to save, he stretches it out from a throne. It's just that simple. And that's all the Bible means when it talks of election, predestination effectual calling preservation It simply stating that when God would save He saves from the posture of an enthroned God.

46:29 And I don't have time to open up the text. I would simply remind you of the Romans chapter 9, verses 11 and 12. that is not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. Our Lord Himself in Matthew 11, 27, No man knoweth the Father save the Son.

46:48 No man knoweth the Son save the Father. And He to whomsoever He willeth to reveal Him, there can be no saving knowledge of the Godhead unless there is the exercise of the prerogatives of the Godhead.

47:07 And when Luke would just write an evangelistic report, this fills his mind so much. What language does he use? He's talking about a woman named Lydia in Acts 16, and he says, "...whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul." He's writing up the success of the gospel among the Gentiles in Acts 13, 48, and he says, "...and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." He didn't state that to start a big fuss.

47:37 He's just trying to write history from the perspective of a man who believes God saves from the posture of his throne. That's all. Its people get all uptight. Luke wasn't uptight when he wrote those statements.

47:49 That's what you see Warfield had in mind when he said the whole religious consciousness of the Bible is permeated with this. Whether you have precise theological reasoning in Romans 9, Nay, O man, who art thou to replyest against God, or whether you have simple historical narrative in Acts 13 and Acts 16, whose heart the Lord opened,

48:12 or whether you have the apostle reasoning in a very practical way, who maketh thee to differ? You see, you can't extract this from the Bible without rewriting the Bible. And we stand today gladly confessing our faith in the fact that God is the God of unrivaled sovereignty. Now, it is just such a concept of an enthroned God whose kingdom rules over all that sinful man hates.

48:38 Unregenerate sinful man openly opposes and fights it, and imperfectly sanctified sinful men find themselves reluctant to embrace it. Psalm 2 says that the attitude of the unregenerate is this, let us get together and let us plot to overthrow and enthrone God. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. The language of the unregenerate is the language of Luke 19.

49:07 We will not have this man to reign over us. We'll take his gifts, we'll take his bounty, his goodness, but not his throne. And in the heart of the regenerate, remaining corruption rises up in the language of Romans 9. It's not fair.

49:25 Paul was writing to Christians when he puts in the mouths of Christians, But Naaman thou wilt say. and then he answers him and how does he answer not by saying you misunderstood me I didn't mean to say God was sovereign in grace that isn't how Paul answers he answers you keep your hand on your mouth and remember who you are but may oh man who art thou to reply against God shall the thing formed say to the thing that formed it why hast thou made me thus and then his second answer is hath not God the right to make of one lump a vessel unto honor and one to dishonor. He says, just remember who you are. You're a creature.

50:06 And remember who God is. He's God. And some of you that are still wrestling with the concept of the sovereignty of God and grace, mark my words, you're never going to come to delightful spiritual rest in this biblical truth until you cut away all of your efforts to reason through and to rationalize and justify and say, Lord, I'm content that you should be God. in every realm that you desire to be God.

Practical Fruit of the Doctrine

50:35 Well, as I seek to bring this to a practical conclusion, what do we say? What do we say? Well, in spite of what the ignorant may say of such a God, we confess He is not the blind, heartless, indifferent God of fate taught by pagan religion. This is the personal living God of the Bible who exercises sovereign prerogatives in perfect harmony with His wisdom, love, justice, and truth.

51:04 And child of God, it is this truth, inwardly digested and assimilated into your spiritual bloodstream, that will bring many holy fruits through all your days. It will give us peace in the midst of international upheaval. Psalm 46. When we see the nations tottering and sliding, as it were, into the sea of oblivion and disorder, we can say we will not fear.

51:31 We will not fear. Why? Because we know the God who rules over the nations. We can look in at our own personal trials and we can have what?

51:40 Resignation and hearty acceptation of all of them, knowing that an enthroned God has all the strands that make up the fabric of our own personal existence. and we then can even be submissive when God by a strange stroke of judgment snatches from us loved ones who are still in a state of impenitence listen to me friend it will be a comfort to you the same Paul of Romans 9.1 and 10.1 who speaks of his great burden for his fellow Jews when he speaks of their judgment from God because of their impenitence in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 He does so without any complaining with God.

52:23 He says, for wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

52:28 And some of us have had to live long enough to see God reach into the ranks of our own relatives who, as far as we know, died in a state of impenitence. And though our hearts are grieved that we were not all we should have been before them in life and in witness, and though there is pain in the knowledge that they must face the judgment of God you know what it is that keeps us from questioning either the rightness or the goodness of God's act in taking them in a state of impenitence it's the confidence that God from his posture of enthronement has the right to take impenitent unbelieving sinners and damn them even if they are our own flesh and blood any creature that will

53:14 set himself against the Almighty deserves the wrath of God.

Warning to the Impenitent: God Whetting His Sword

53:21 And I say to you who are impenitent and unconverted, what a frightening position you're in. When God sits upon His throne and says, I now purpose the destruction of every impenitent sinner. He's not yet done that. The fact that you're sitting here alive, you're under the canopy of the goodness of God that has as its end to lead you to repentance.

53:47 God has not yet taken His throne for judgment in your case, but the hour is coming. You read such psalms as Psalm 5 and Psalm 7, and the imagery there is such as to cause trembling to my own spirit. Speaking of the wicked, the psalmist says, Thou will destroy them that speak lies. Psalm 5. In Psalm 11, verse 12, If a man turn not, he, God, will wet his sword.

54:20 Think of the picture. God is standing by His own wetting stone, and He's wetting His sword like the hunter who wets his knife before he goes out for his prey. He hath wet his sword. He hath bent His bow.

54:35 He hath made it ready. His arrows are sharp. He's prepared the instruments of death. He maketh His arrows, fiery shafts.

54:44 What a picture. Almighty God is wetting His sword, my friend, and every day you live in impenitence, the edge becomes sharper. And there will come a moment when God will sit upon the throne and say, what I have thought, I now shall accomplish the destruction of every impenitent sinner. And my friend, when God comes forth to judge, Who?

55:10 Take the hand that holds the glittering, wetted sword of God and cause it to be withdrawn. Will you dare to contend with God?

55:21 Oh, you're very bold to do so now. You can sit there and swagger and almost be proud of your impenetence. But my friend, it is not because you've taken the hand of God and withdrawn it. It's because God, as it were, restrains His own hand by the inherent mercy of His heart.

55:42 But a moment is coming when judgment that is purposed will be rightless upon you. And God have mercy upon you. If the sword of God comes forth to arrest you. That's why the Bible says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

56:06 No wonder there's so little conviction of sin. No wonder so little trembling. All of this tickling people to Jesus, enticing people to Jesus with psychological gimmicks. Why?

56:17 Because there is no setting forth of an enthroned God who sits upon that throne to magnify His mercy, but to magnify His judgment. Oh, impenitent boy, girl, man, woman, visitor, friend. These are not preacher's rhetorical devices. These are the clear statements of the Word of God.

56:45 Psalm 50, and with these words I close this morning. Psalm 50, God speaking again to the wicked.

56:54 Listen to the language. I almost tremble to read it, but it's the Word of God. Psalm 50, 22, Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver.

57:10 My friend, God is not the being you thought He was.

57:17 You thought His silence was indifference, but He's not indifferent. and in righteous, pure, and holy wrath He'll tear you in pieces.

57:30 You say, that's brutal language. My friend, I have simply read the Word of God. Well, I don't like a God like that, my friend. That makes no difference.

57:40 That's the God He is. In wonder of wonders, that's the same God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He tore Him in pieces upon Calvary.

57:59 The Son of God said in the language of Psalm 22, My soul is poured out within me. The wetted sword of God plunged into the bosom of His Son. Justice broke upon the head of the Son of God And my friend it held no light stroke It was only Christ supported by the omnipotence of His Father That sustained Him through the agonies of Golgotha My beloved, whom I uphold And so heavy was the weight of the Father upon the Son in judgment that had the Father not upheld him to bear it

Dealings With the Sovereign God in the Shadow of Calvary

58:45 he would have been crushed beneath it oh dear friend dealings with this sovereign God of justice you must have but thank God you can have your dealings with his justice in the shadow of Calvary bless God for the gospel oh have dealings with God's justice at Calvary not at the white throne but dealings with this sovereign God in justice you must have. Oh, that you may flee to Christ this day. And child of God, may you rejoice in such a God and confess to this generation that He reigns. He reigns sovereign in creation, in providence and grace.

59:34 Here we stand. I hope the confirmation of the truth to the old timers fills your heart with praise. I hope the articulation to the newcomers has been an edifying initiation. And to those who are onlookers, if you cast in your lot with us, you're going to cast your lot in with the people who gladly confess that the one true and living God is not only the God of absolute perfection, but He is the God of unrivaled sovereignty.

Closing Prayer

60:06 Let us pray.

60:11 O our God, who are we even to take your sacred name upon our lips? Little worms of the dust, who have no existence apart from your sovereign will and desire and design to create us, who can only be sustained as you give us life and breath and all things, Many of us are deeply ashamed of our years of impenitence. Lord, we're deeply ashamed of the unbelief and the sins that have marked us even as your children. But, O, our hearts yearn this morning for those that defy you.

60:59 O God, O God, be merciful to bring them broken to the feet of Jesus. children, teenagers, young adults and sinners that are but a few years from living out their threescore and ten O God be merciful may they find that sovereign throne to be a throne of grace hear our prayer receive our thanks for at least giving us a little sight of the glory of your own person and the wonder of your works May the benediction of your own presence rest with us and abide upon us.

61:41 Amen.