We turn to Psalm 97. Psalm 97. This is the word of the Lord. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of the isles be glad. Clouds and darkness surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. A fire goes before him and burns up his enemies round about. His lightnings like the world, the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory. Let all be put to shame who serve carved images, who boast of idols. Worship him, all you gods. Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, Lord, are most high above all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods. You who love the Lord hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name. God's holy word may he write upon our hearts, and let's pray again together. Our Father, we look to you now to grant us grace, to speak to us by the power of your word and in the power of your Holy Spirit. We confess as we come before you our entire dependence upon you, our entire dependence upon the Spirit of God, who alone can bring this word to our hearts, and so change us and sanctify us. We thank you for the privilege of gathering in your presence, gathering at your throne, and waiting upon you now for your work in us. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Dear brothers and sisters, the great doctrine of the sovereignty of God is highlighted, it's signaled in several of the Psalms in the 90s here, with this leading declaration, The Lord reigns. The Lord reigns. So, Psalm 93, for instance, The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed. He has girded himself with strength. Psalm 99. The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He dwells between the cherubim. The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all the peoples. Praise God. What a privilege to worship our great God. As one writer said, we scarcely think upon that stream whereat we drink. But here we are gathered at the throne of God and thinking this morning on his greatness and his majesty. particularly, yes, his sovereignty. And so in our psalm here, the leading word. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. So yes, here we're presented with the great doctrine of the sovereignty of God, and we're called to rejoice in it. Everything expressed in this psalm flows from this great truth. Our God is absolutely sovereign over all things. Aren't you thankful for this? Amen. Presbyterians, you can say amen. Praise God for this. Everything expressed here. Now, as we're enabled by the Spirit of God to see and understand this truth, we do rejoice in it, don't we? And one day we will understand it fully. in glorious fashion, and we will rejoice in a new way at its depth and its wonder. But today, with God's help, let's seek to understand it just a little bit more. God is sovereign over all, and because of this, He will triumph in all things. He will triumph in all things. That's our theme this morning. We'll consider it in two parts. First, the whole earth is to rejoice in this truth. And secondly, and this is really application when we get to it, God's people especially are to rejoice in this truth. So first, the whole earth is to rejoice in this truth that God is sovereign over all. So we have it here at verse one. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of the isles be glad. The whole earth is to rejoice because God reigns. First we need to say that this truth is impossible to fully grasp. It's impossible to fully grasp. It's impossible to fully grasp. Why? Because God is God. That's why. Because God is God. So as we often say, God is not merely a bigger version of us. God is God. He's high above the earth. He's high above all that's earthly and created. He's holy. We sang of it earlier, didn't we? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Holy, entirely set apart from all that's earthly and created. So we say, yes, he's sovereign over all. He's infinitely, unfathomably so. The eye of sinful man, fallen man, certainly cannot see this nor grasp it. And so he's saying again in the hymn, holy, holy, holy. Though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see, And certainly this is a feature of the glory of God that sinful man does not see. His majesty, his sovereignty, they can't see it. Not possible. We've begun to see it. Aren't you thankful for this? We've begun to see it and to grasp something of it, but by no means all of it. We can only begin to understand this great truth as the Spirit of God illumines us, and takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us into a greater understanding of it. And that's what we're about today, to hopefully understand a bit better. And thankfully, we will, because the Spirit of God's at work in us. So we can thank Him for this. Well, most of us know the basic features of this truth. God controls all things. Now, even as we begin to express it, our words can't measure up quite to what it really is. But we know this. God controls all things. God has decreed all things. He has ordained all things whatsoever come to pass, as the catechism says. God's control is such that, it's been well said, there's not one maverick molecule in all of the universe. Psalm 93, which I quoted just a few minutes ago, helps to fill this out. Actually, you could probably turn back one page or so on your Bible and see this. Psalm 93. The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed. He has girded himself with strength. Surely the world is established so that it cannot be moved. So God's sovereignty, we see here, is a feature of his infinite majesty. This is one of the reasons it's impossible to fully grasp. It's a feature of his infinite majesty, we see it there. His sovereignty is a feature of his infinite power. He's girded himself with strength, the scripture says. And because of this, the world is established such that it cannot be moved. So not merely the physical earth is meant here. I mean, that's certainly true. The physical earth can't be moved off its axis. But the whole world, here's the idea, the whole world in its historical order is firmly set according to the decree of God. It cannot be moved because God is God. Worship him for this. It cannot be moved. The whole world is historical order. None of the events of history can in the least be altered. The trajectory of the events, the interrelation of the events or the events themselves can't be in the least altered or redirected. You say, well, Pastor, I can't understand that. That brings all sorts of questions into my head. Yes, it does. But let God be God. And we can't fully grasp his greatness and his majesty. This is true. This is your God. This is our God. What a God to pray to, huh? What a God to pray to. What a God to know. Isn't it amazing? We can know this majestic, this great God. One writer puts it, oh God, thou art far other than men have dreamed and thought. unspoken in all language, unpictured in all thought. And yet we have his word, in which we have clear revelation of who he is. And we can begin to know, we've begun to know by grace, something of his greatness and majesty, his love for us, yes? Praise God for this. So let little man plan what he will, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Let sinful man go on his way sinning, thinking he's getting away with something, and he'll get away with nothing. And everything will come down on his head, and God will be glorified. So we say again, this truth, it's in such large measure, it's beyond us, and it's shrouded in mystery then, is it not? You see this in verse two. The Lord reigns, we're led with that declaration, the Lord reigns, but see it here, clouds and darkness surround him. Clouds and darkness surround him. So the truth of divine sovereignty is mysterious. Why is it mysterious? It's mysterious, we've as much as said it already. It's mysterious because it's so high. And it's high because our God is as high as he is, high above all human wisdom. So you see what folly it is, what folly it is to try to understand the things of God without the word of God or without his help. It's folly. How can I understand sovereignty, or anything about God or his ways, how can I understand sovereignty apart from him helping me to do so? Think of Isaiah 55 where he says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. You love this passage, yes? My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." So, we want to be careful here, don't we? This is all, in a particular respect, it's all quite beyond us. Unbelieving men carp against this doctrine, bringing various arguments. they have no idea what they're talking about, or who it is they are daring to speak about. Well, I've got a problem with your doctrine of sovereignty. It's not our doctrine of sovereignty. It's his doctrine of sovereignty. It's him they have a problem with. And until they're brought to faith, they will always have a problem with any number of things about the truth. Yes, this is true. What a wonder. We give thanks to God that he's opened our eyes. We would never see any of this, any of it, had he not opened our eyes. So may God give us all great humility. God will be completely vindicated. in these matters, not merely because he's all-powerful, but because he's glorious and majestic beyond all that we have imagined. Glorious, majestic, beyond all that we have imagined. Aren't you thankful you can never grasp the greatness of God fully? We're the people who get to have a God. He's the only God. But what a wonder to have a God. To have the true God. To have Him to come to. To have Him to walk with. To have Him at work in us by the power of the Spirit of Christ. What a wonder to know this. Give thanks to God. Thank Him in your heart right now. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for this. What a wonder it is. God is sovereign over all. Ah, but in a fallen world, Does God really reign? Will he really judge all evil, all sin, finally and completely, completely? He says vengeance is mine, doesn't he? There's a reason for that. Vengeance is his. Of course, we know because he's the only righteous one. He's the righteous God. He's the holy God. Vengeance is mine. He's the sovereign God. Only he can bring vengeance and judgment properly. Will he really judge all evil and finally and completely? We know that he will because righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne, verse two. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. This is the foundation of his sovereign rule. This is the foundation of who he is. Will he not finally and completely judge sin? Yes. We know this too because he's already demonstrated his power and his ability to bring perfect judgment, verses three to six. A fire goes before him, burns his enemies round about. His lightnings have lighted up the world. The earth has seen it and trembles. The mountains have melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens have declared his righteousness and all the people shall see his glory. I rendered those verbs from the Hebrew perfect, things have already happened, okay? His lightnings have lighted up the world, the earth has seen it and trembles, the mountains have melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth, the heavens have declared his righteousness. God's people of old witnessed his judgments. These are physical realities that reflect spiritual power, and they are indeed precursors of final judgment. And so God's righteousness, his justice, will be vindicated before the whole world. Thus, verse 6 there, all the peoples shall see his glory. Brothers and sisters, all the nations will see His glory. All the nations. He will bring final judgment. He will judge sin perfectly, exhaustively. So yes, God's righteousness and justice will be vindicated before the whole world. But again, in this fallen world, does God really reign? In the matter of evil and suffering, Does God really reign? So yes, what about the problem of evil? It's called theodicy. How can God be just and allow sin and suffering? How can God be just and decree sin and suffering? Men have wrestled with this problem through history. and we're not gonna solve it this morning, but we'll say a couple things about it. We are assured of the answer to this again from verse two. Righteousness and justice form the very foundation of this holy God, our God's sovereign rule. God is righteous and just in all his ways, and he will be shown to be so. To be sure, there's presently very much hidden from us. We've said that already, haven't we? But the problem of evil, as it's put that way, the problem of evil, it will be answered. It will be answered. Thoroughly, gloriously, it will be answered. How perfect is God's sovereign control over all things, including evil. how thoroughly he will triumph over sin and evil. So not merely putting an end to sin and evil, we know that surely he'll do that. Not merely judging all sin and evil, I mean it's a wonderful thing, we know he'll certainly do that, more than that. He will crush all sin and evil, satisfyingly so. He will expose it for what it is, all of it, satisfyingly so. Haven't you longed for this as a saint? Let injustice be thoroughly exposed. that sin, evil, wickedness be thoroughly exposed. Our God will expose it for all of what it is and he will answer the mystery of sin and suffering. He will answer it satisfyingly so, gloriously so. he will vindicate his righteousness and his justice, he will glorify himself, he'll glorify his great wisdom, and the whole world will rejoice in it. We will all be there, brothers and sisters, we often have said this, we will all be there in a very short time, glorifying our God for the greatness of his majesty, And whereas we once wrestled with the problem of sin and evil, we won't wrestle with it anymore. We'll say, the Lord reigns! Hallelujah! That's what you get in Revelation, right? Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigns! The people rejoicing! Wow! I never saw it like this before! We haven't. And we will. Be sure of it. And by faith we understand this now, don't we? Not to say we've plummeted the depths as we haven't. But by faith we believe this now. God has his answer. God will be vindicated. His righteousness will be vindicated before the whole world. A whole world will rejoice at his greatness. So you see that God is not only omnipotent such that he's sovereign and that his will will be done, he's majestic. We can't penetrate, can we? We can't penetrate fully into his majesty. Of course, he's proven all of this already at the cross, hasn't he? This is exhibit A. Exhibit A concerning his triumph over sin. So think of the cross just now. The greatest evil ever perpetrated by wicked men was the crucifying of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Glory. Greatest evil ever perpetrated in the history of the world. The greatest, talk about atrocities, the greatest atrocity ever committed in the history of the world. Lamb, spotless lamb, crucified by the hands of wicked men, all ordained of God. We sang it earlier, didn't we? Before the world's founding, thou was truly slain. Ordained of God from before the foundation of the world, the sovereign, majestic, merciful, and mighty God. Merciful and mighty, we sang it, didn't we? Merciful and mighty. God in three persons, blessed Trinity. This is the God we worship. This is the God we adore. All ordained of God, what took place at the cross, the death of Christ, this majestic God whom we worship, what did he do there? He flipped the script. He flipped the script. He turned it all over. He overruled in it to bring about the greatest blessing imaginable. So he turned in the immeasurable suffering I mean, the greatest suffering that ever took place was the suffering of our Savior on the cross. I hope we understand that. That's the greatest suffering that ever took place. He turned immeasurable suffering into immeasurable blessing. So we have Exhibit A, don't we? We see it in Christ. We see that in Christ, God didn't merely judge sin, He crushed it. He didn't merely put sin away, He reversed it. He didn't merely defeat Satan and the powers of darkness. He disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2. That's what he did. Now, even as we grow in the Lord, we see that more and more perfectly, don't we? His triumph over sin in the cross, it centers in the cross and the resurrection. The whole earth is to rejoice because God reigns. Rejoice, dear saint. Rejoice, beloved of the Lord. Our God reigns. The whole earth is to rejoice because God reigns, and the whole earth is to rejoice because all unbelief will be put to shame. Verses 7 to 9. Let all be put to shame who serve carved images, who boast of idols, Worship him, all you gods. Zion hears and is glad. And the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, Lord, are most high above all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods. You get that refrain several places in the Psalms, especially. How high is he? He's lifted. He's high. He's exalted. He's lifted up. He's high. High above all gods. High above all the idols. High above all the nations. Higher than we think he is. Praise God. What we see here in these verses, the whole earth is to rejoice because all unbelief will be put to shame. We see here more of the same theme of God's triumph in all things. Here's the inevitable outcome of His sovereign control. Turning things over, entirely flipping the script on sin and evil. All the systems of unbelief and false worship will come to nothing. They will all collapse and melt away in a day. Why? Because God alone reigns in this world. Are you sometimes shaken or awed by unbelief? Don't be awed. Don't ever be awed by unbelief. We're saddened by it, aren't we? But unbelief is pathetic. That's what God is saying here. He says it in a number of places. It's pathetic. It's wicked and pathetic. So the whole of the unbelieving world will be put to shame in that great day. All that unbelieving men trusted in will vanish away. The foolishness of all unbelief will be fully exposed in God's dazzling glory. All the lies of rival religions, all the monuments of unbelief, all the fortresses that men sought refuge in to hide their sin and excuse their sin, all done away. It's the total judgment and humiliation of the unbelieving that's in view, including the powers of darkness, the totality of the triumph of God. Thus, you see the total humiliation here. See how it's put. Worship Him, all you gods. In other words, that great day? Down in the dust. Total reversal and triumph. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess without a whisper of dissent. Every tongue will confess. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Don't you long for that day. Don't you long for that day. Jesus Christ is, in a very short time we're all gonna be, we're gonna experience this. in a very short time. We'll all be looking at each other. Remember when we were sitting there at New Covenant Church, you know, all sort of looking at each other, you know, still fighting against sin, you know, and still rather a mess, you know, remember that? And there we will be. There we will be. Jesus Christ is Lord. We confess it with hearts unstained by sin, all of us together. What a day that will be. So here, total judgment, humiliation of the unbelieving. That's what's in view, including the powers of darkness. How's it come about? Because our God, our sovereign God reigns. He's infinitely high above the earth. He's exalted far above all gods, above all the peoples, above all the raging of unbelief. None of it can touch or affect him. None of it can in the least thwart his will. None of it can or will diminish his glory. All unbelief will be brought to shame and judgment. And we, brothers and sisters, have been spared such shame and judgment. It's all of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ bore the shame and humiliation that is due to us. We should have been groveling in the dust of hell, but God had a different plan, didn't he? Jesus took our place, triumphing over sin and death. God is entirely sovereign. The whole world is to rejoice. And the whole world, as we said, will one day rejoice. Now, verses 10 and following, as we indicated, they're really application when you get to this point. God's people especially, you give a broad heading, God's people especially are to rejoice. As we said earlier, I mean, we're the only ones who can get anything of this. By the grace of God, we're the only ones that understand anything of this. By the way, we should say this, we're all good Calvinists here, I think, or most of us. We're all good Calvinists, but if being a good Calvinist means anything, it means being humbled. So if you meet a Calvinist who's proud, you know he hasn't really gotten it, okay? Or like to show how smart he is or something, all right? This doctrine should humble us in the dust. It should humble us in the dust. But here we have the application of this great doctrine. Look at the leading element. You who love the Lord, hate evil. Leading application. Hate evil. Very clear application. So if we truly believe in the sovereignty of our God, that He is to expose and crush and triumph over all evil, satisfyingly so that He will answer all the seeming contradictions of sin and suffering, satisfyingly so, triumphantly so, gloriously so, that in Christ God has already triumphed over sin in our lives and on our behalf, what's the proper response? You who love the Lord. Hate evil. Hate it. Now, because of the grace of God, in a measure, we already hate it. We understand this, and we grow in this, don't we? Here's a feature of our sanctification. We grow in our hatred for sin, and it fits with...we grow in our love for Christ. We grow in our love for God. So you see how these two things fit together. You see the combination in a number of places in the Scripture. Sometimes some days we feel like, I feel like I hardly love the Lord at all. Dear Saint of God, you do love him. But we grow in our love. Sometimes we say, certainly as we stumble into sin, we say, I don't hate sin. I don't hate sin as I ought. And we don't yet hate sin as we ought. But that's not the same thing as saying we don't hate sin. We came to hate sin for the first time in our lives when God did a work in our hearts. He's been working in us ever since. So here's the great application of the sovereignty of God. Our majestic, holy, exalted God, God exalted above all the earth. The application, you who love the Lord, hate evil. Hate evil. You see, it's not only our proper response to our majestic, sovereign God, it's also the proper response of love for our majestic, sovereign God and the Savior He has given in His Son. Be encouraged in this. and cultivate your love for Christ. The more I love Christ, the more I hate sin. I need to love Christ more. Who can do this in me? You know the answer. It's exactly what the Spirit of God does in us. He deepens our love for Christ. He deepens our hatred for sin and evil. He purifies us progressively. It's a slow process. It's from one degree of glory to another. It's slow, but it's sure. This is what he's doing in our hearts at this moment. Aren't you thankful for that? He's deepening our love for him right now. Spirit of God dwells in all of us here as children of God. He's deepening our love for him right now as he speaks. He's deepening our hatred for sin. Though we're to rejoice, we're to rejoice. or to rejoice because we can rest entirely in God's triumphant love and care. See the scripture here? He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. We're the great beneficiaries of the sovereignty of God. Our sovereign God keeps us in life. He delivers us out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of Satan himself. Because he's sovereign the whole world and all of our life, he so preserves us that without the will of our Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from our head. Indeed, that all things must work together for our salvation. Praise God. We say it's the believer alone who believes and knows the beauty of Romans 8.28. Finally, we're to rejoice because God, by his spirit, constantly sows light and joy in our lives. Maybe as you've read through the Psalms through the years, this is one of the favorite verses, I think, when you're reading Psalm 97. Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. Here's a description of God's faithfulness to do his sanctifying work in our lives. The Spirit of God is always doing this. He's doing it particularly with the preaching of the Word or when we meditate on the Word of God. He's been doing this in these minutes while the Word is being preached. What's he doing? He's sowing light and gladness to the upright in heart. As we've been singing the glories of our Savior, what's he doing? Spirit of God, magnifying Christ, showing him to us, disclosing his glories to us more and more so we see him better and better, see the glories of Christ better and better, and as we've often said, this is the only thing that has ever changed any of us, right? To see more of the glory of Christ. It's the only thing that's ever changed any of us. And here we are doing the same, right? Isn't it beautiful? We get to do this together. Feast on the glories of Christ. Feast on the fountain from above. Isn't it beautiful? There's this fountain gushing in our worship and we get to drink of it. We're drinking of it right now and the Spirit of God is working. We give him thanks. Our sovereign God. He rules over all. and He rules over all. Rejoice, dear saints. He rules over all for our benefit and for His glory working in us. Now perhaps you're saying, Pastor, I can't make sense of the contradictions I've been faced with in my life. Anybody out there experience contradictions in your life? I won't ask for a show of hands. I can't make sense of the contradictions I've been faced with in my life, the pain I've had to work through. Has anybody had to work through pain? I can't make complete sense of this, the suffering and pain I've seen in the lives of others. Here's the answer. Our God reigns. The Lord reigns. and the whole earth will rejoice in the majesty and beauty of his righteousness and justice. He will crush all sin and evil, we say satisfyingly so. He will expose all of it for what it is, we say satisfyingly so. He will entirely flip the script of unbelief and wickedness and Satan and all the powers of darkness, and He will answer the mystery of sin and suffering. He will answer it, brothers and sisters, He will answer it all. We believe that, don't we? We believe it more this morning. He will answer it all. Perfectly so. Triumphantly so. That's the nature of sovereignty of God. That's the nature of God himself, his greatness. Perhaps you're saying, I can't see at all the good in this severe test to which I've been subjected. I can't see a good purpose in it. Why do I have to go through this? How can it possibly work together for good? Or perhaps you're saying, but pastor, I've made such a mess of my life. I can't see how any good can come from it. The answer is the same. God is sovereign over all and does work all things together for good to them that love God. We know this as Christians, but we frequently need to be reminded of it, don't we? And here we're reminded of it this morning. Rejoice in your sovereign God who is merciful and mighty. Even the weakest faith gets the whole Christ." That's Sinclair Ferguson. Even the weakest faith gets the whole Christ. Now, some of this he will show to us this side of glory. The rest he will reveal to us in heaven. Be sure of this. His answer will be deeply satisfying and we will marvel at the greatness of his wisdom and we will rejoice in it. We're gonna sing as we close. God Moves in a Mysterious Way, number 256. Turn there just now. Because William Cooper captured this in his hymn, 256. God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Just look at the words before we sing it. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the seas and rides upon the storm. There's the mystery, much of it is hidden, right? He moves in mysterious ways. Deep and unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. Infinitely wisdom is our God, infinitely wise is our God. Verse three, ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. We see this oftentimes, this side of glory. The clouds we so much dread are big with mercy and they break with blessings on our heads. And this again, verse 4, Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face. Don't you love this hymn? It's beautiful. Verse five, his purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Ultimately, that's fulfilled in heaven. We taste of it some sight of glory. The bud often has a bitter taste, but the flower's sweet. What he brings from it, yes? What God does through it, through the trial, through the testing. But we'll taste it perfectly, we'll smell it perfectly in heaven. Sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is in his own interpreter and he will make it plain. He will triumph over all things. Be sure of it, child of God. Rejoice in it today. Give him thanks for it today. Praise God. Let's pray. Father, help us then to see this more clearly. Even as we sing of it again in a moment, Help us to see it, help us to believe it, increase our faith that Jesus Christ might be glorified in us. We ask it in His name. Amen.