Two weeks ago, I started a message on our sovereign God, and I did not get to finish that, so I wanted to do that this morning. Looked a little bit at Genesis. We're going to look at a little more in the Old Testament. But we are, again this morning, considering the subject of God's sovereignty. Don't know if you've ever thought about this. There are many countries around the world where an understanding of sovereignty is not a difficult concept. For example, in countries, I'll use North Korea as an example, where there's a fascist-led regime in North Korea. Kim Jong-un is a supreme leader who literally has the people's lives in his hands, where he literally decides who lives and who dies. Sovereign rule for the majority of North Korea is not a difficult subject to understand. The North Koreans know that they are not in control over their own lives, rather their national leader is. So when a person in North Korea comes to Christ and they learn of His sovereignty as the Bible teaches, they really understand what God's sovereignty means. Here in the United States, we have a much more difficult time understanding and accepting divine sovereignty because we don't live under a national sovereign rule. Rather turning 180 degrees from that because of our representative form of government, believe me, I'm not knocking our government, I like it. But because of our representative form of government, as well as being under the First Amendment, we can actually vote against and protest what our leaders decide for us in Washington. And because of the self-made spirit of this country and where we came from, America being built by so many self-made individuals such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, the list goes on and on, anyone ruling over our lives is a completely foreign concept. So when people in America come to Christ, they mostly come as Arminians. They may begin believing that God is in control to a certain extent, but they have the final say over their own salvation and then their daily lives, their day-to-day living. But regardless of what country you grew up in and whether you understand or believe in absolute divine sovereignty or not, as we began to see last time, the Bible is astoundingly clear that God is an absolutely sovereign God over all of His creation. And when we looked at this a few weeks ago, I asked you the question, how do we know that God is a sovereign God, that He really does sovereignly ordain everything that comes to pass in human history? And I gave you a few examples from the book of Genesis to answer that question. And this week I want to continue on that same theme. But just to review for a moment, number one, a couple of weeks ago we saw that God is a sovereign God because of His creation of the world. That's pretty simple. In case anyone misses this, this is stated in the very first verse in the Bible. in the beginning God created. That is a sovereign statement. It is a statement of the absolute divine sovereignty. Frankly, we shouldn't have to read any further in the Bible to understand that God is a sovereign God. Who was there in the beginning to counsel or influence or direct God to create anything? Obviously no one. God was all that existed. God sovereignly created all things when He wanted, where He wanted, how He wanted, with no outside help, influence, or direction. Creation was His sovereign act. Secondly, we know that God is a sovereign God because of His creation of man. Genesis 1.26-28 tells us that God created man on the sixth day. Man was the end and is the crown of God's creation. But somehow that's gone to our heads. And many times we think that we're God. But what state did man have in his own creation? He had none. What wish list did he give God when God created him? Was it man who told God to make him with two eyes, two hands, a nose, a heart, and a brain? What say did man have when God formed him out of the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life? Absolutely none. It was purely a sovereign act of God. What say did you have as to where you were born or where you were born or what family you were born into or what physical features you now have? What input did you have into those things? Every one of these decisions, you had absolutely nothing to do with. These were all God's sovereign decisions. Neither you nor anyone else was on the Human Creation Design and Planning Committee. God was and still is completely sovereign over the creation of man and his continued existence. And we're going to see that in a few moments. But we also saw, thirdly, we know that God is a sovereign God because of His destruction of the world in the flood. To demonstrate His sovereignty over all mankind, God destroyed man when his corruption reached an irreversible level that God can no longer tolerate. God told man that He would destroy him in a worldwide deluge, and that's exactly what God did. Man had ample warning. He had 120 years where Noah warned him with his preaching, warning him to repent or perish. Mankind, however, decided to ignore God's warning, but that didn't stop God from destroying him. On the appointed day, God opened the windows of heaven and broke up the foundations of the deep and billions of people perished, just like God said it would happen. God also sovereignly spared Noah, who was really no less a sinner than anyone else when God saved him. So neither Noah nor anyone else had any say over what God did, bringing the flood to cover the whole earth. I'm just trying to figure out why we can't process that and understand that God is a sovereign God. I mean, was He just sovereign when He created the world? Was He just sovereign when He created man? Was He just sovereign when He destroyed man, but now He's not? Fourthly, we know that God is a sovereign God because of the worldwide dispersion of the people at Babel. Genesis 11 tells us that man originally gathered in one place after the flood which was a direct violation of God's specific commands both to Adam when He created him and Noah when he got off the ark. After the flood, instead of obeying God, man chose to stay in one place and continue to rebel against God. Men wanted to build a tower to heaven and boast of their own greatness. And that's what they did. They had abandoned the worship of the true God and were worshiping their own intellect, pride, ingenuity, and accomplishments. I don't think things have changed much today. They knew very well God's command to disperse throughout the world and fill it, but they didn't want to do that. So just like before the flood, they again deliberately and rebelliously disobeyed God's command. But with all their efforts, as one collective people, they weren't powerful enough to stand against God's sovereign will to scatter them. when God came down to look at what man was up to, no one could choose not to have his or her language changed or choose not to be scattered to another part of the earth. These accounts are in the Bible for a reason. To show us God's sovereignty over mankind. Fifthly, We also know that God is a sovereign God because it was called Abraham to be a blessing to the world. Although man was in a state of rebellion against God, even after the flood, which is amazing in itself that man hadn't learned anything, amazingly God sovereignly chose to save him anyway. And he did it in a unique way through Abraham. God chose another sinner through which He would eventually send His Son into the world to save other sinners. Like Noah, Abraham was no different than any other sinner on earth when God chose him. But through God's sovereignty and promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, the nation of Israel was born, the nation through which the Messiah would come. And as you read the Old Testament, the one thing that stands out is God's sovereign purpose in the world being worked out in spite of rebellious and sinful people, particularly His own people, Israel. As I said last week, most people go through their entire lives believing that God has no control over them. That they can give permission to God anytime they want to let God in. but not just from scripture, but even from daily experience, how can anyone say that God is not a sovereign God? It doesn't make any sense. Whether someone believes it or not, God is in control over every human life. How blind are people to the truth that God is in sovereign control of everything and everyone. So this week I want to continue looking at the subject of God's sovereignty. These five points I gave you, that's kind of the macro picture of God's sovereignty in the Old Testament over creation, over creation of the world, over creation of man, destruction of man, scattering of man and the birth of the nation of Israel to save man through a Savior. This week I want to take a More of a micro view of God's sovereignty. You know, as Jesus said, not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from your heavenly Father's will. That's pretty micro. How God is sovereign over certain groups and certain individuals. That's what I want us to look at this week. So, let's look at sixthly. we know that God is a sovereign God because of His rule over individuals. Because of His rule over individuals. If you want to turn to Judges 14, we've got quite a few scriptures to look at today. When Samson lusted after a Philistine woman, in Judges 14. He told his parents to get her for him. I'll just read a couple of verses here starting in verse 1 of Judges 14. Now Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife. Then his father and mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all my people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me well. Look at verse 4. But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. This whole event was sovereignly determined and brought to pass by God. It was of the Lord. Nobody knew it at the time. Samson's parents and him were just like us. We don't think much about the sovereignty of God. But if Samuel wrote Judges, he's giving us a commentary as to who God is. even an event like this, God sovereignly ordains and rules over. We see that God brought about this whole situation so He could use Samson to develop enough of hatred for the Philistines to destroy them, which in spite of his sin, he actually did. God didn't care How he worked or what he worked through, whether it was Samson's sin or Samson's righteousness, he just sovereignly worked to get done what he wanted to get done. His sovereignty accomplished exactly what he had decreed. But God goes beyond being sovereign over ordinary individuals such as Samson. God is sovereign over the most powerful world leaders. I read this a few weeks ago from Proverbs 21. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. I mean, God is up in heaven. It's almost like He's got a joystick. He can do this with kings, the most powerful kings. And He did. And He does. I'm telling you, if you can get a grasp on this and watch the nightly news, your entire outlook on world events will change. Last time I mentioned to you how God was sovereign over Nebuchadnezzar, possibly the world's most powerful king who ever lived. He made him into an animal, made him eat grass for seven years, so clearly God is sovereign over the most powerful men on the earth. But do we need to be reminded of what God did to Pharaoh in Egypt? At that time Pharaoh was the most powerful king in the world. Do you think these events in the Bible are just happenstance? I mean, isn't it interesting that when we see this kind of thing it's the most powerful person in the world God is sovereignly ruling over? We're told in Exodus that Pharaoh hardened his own heart three times. If you go through Exodus, you can count three times he hardened his own heart. And as a result, he did not let God's people go. But even more than that, we're told that God would or did sovereignly harden Pharaoh's heart nine times for a total of 12 times. three times Pharaoh hardened his own heart, nine times God hardened his heart. And I'll give you those passages. In Exodus 4.21, and you can follow with me if you want, God says, I will harden his heart so that he will not let this people go. I mean, do you think that God was up in heaven wringing His hands saying, I hope Pharaoh lets these people go? He didn't want to let them go. He didn't want to let them go so much that He hardened Pharaoh's heart nine times so He wouldn't let them go. And when I'm done with this, I'll tell you why. In Exodus 7-3 God says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Exodus 14-4, I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue the Israelites and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. You're starting to see why God is dragging this out. and deliberately hardening Pharaoh's heart. It's for his glory. Exodus 9.12, it says, The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses. He didn't heed God just like God told him He wouldn't heed Him because God hardened His heart. So He couldn't. Exodus 10. The Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine before him. You're starting to see that God is in 100% complete control of the entire situation in Egypt. Exodus 10. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and He did not let the children of Israel go." Exodus 10.27, "...the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and He would not let them go." Exodus 11.10, "...the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and He did not let the children of Israel go out of His land." Exodus 14.8, "...and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh the king, and He pursued the children of Israel." Why did He do it? Well, first reason, which we learned last time, is God is the potter and Pharaoh is the clay. The potter can do whatever he wants with the clay and that's exactly what God did. He took a sinner who was bad and He hardened his heart. so he could do what he was programmed for, sin. But beyond that, this is what God says. This is why God hardened Pharaoh's heart. And this is from God's own mouth. Exodus 9, 16. For this purpose, I have raised you up, Pharaoh, that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. That's why he did it. So the whole earth would know who God is. He's a sovereign God. And if he can do it with Pharaoh, he can do it with any other king. It was a warning to the whole world. But one passage that strikes me and solidifies in my mind that God is sovereign over individuals, actually kings, is found in Genesis 20. We'll go back a book. And in Genesis 20, we see that God protected Abraham. and he protected Abraham even in his sin because Abraham was his. Abraham was married to Sarah, evidently a very beautiful woman even in her old age. In this passage she's between 80 and 90 years old. And at this time Abraham's faith was still not what it should be like all of us. And for the second time in his life, he didn't trust God to protect him from his would-be enemies that we know of. Abraham was always concerned that if he traveled to an unfamiliar place, the leaders in that place would see the beauty of Sarah and desire to have her and kill him. That was something that Abraham struggled with his entire life, as long as he was married to Sarah. So it was Abraham's habit to have Sarah tell anyone interested in her that she was Abraham's sister rather than his wife. So there would be no reason to kill Abraham. Now what Abraham planned to do if his wife was taken away from him, we're not told. But frankly, God and His sovereignty never let it get that far. And this is one of the occasions where we see it. Let me read to you, starting in verse 1. Genesis 20, And Abraham journeyed from there to the south, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Indeed, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife." So as soon as he takes her, God intervenes. But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also? Did He not say to me, she is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands, I have done this. I didn't know. It's not my fault. God said to him in a dream, yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart, for I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her. Do you have any idea what pagan kings did with foreign women? that's what he was programmed for. God says, not this time. Sovereignly prevented him from sinning. An unsaved man. At the time, the most powerful man in the region, in Canaan. So amazingly, God even keeps unsaved people from being more sinful than they could be if He didn't sovereignly intervene in their lives. We need to understand this is what God does. He just didn't do this one time in human history. This is his sovereignty. Now in Numbers, if you want to turn there with me, Numbers 21, I tell you what, I read through the Old Testament every year. And every time I come across these passages, I just get excited because this is my God. He can do whatever He wants to do. And He does do whatever He wants to do. So what do I have to worry about? I have absolutely nothing to worry about. Just make sure you're on the right side. In Numbers 21 we see God working in the heart of another unsaved king. Look at verse 21. let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards, we will not drink water from wells, but we will go by the king's highway until we have passed through your territory." So children of Israel, after they left Egypt, they wanted to pass through the land of the Amorites, to Canaan. It was a shortcut. It was the straightest line between two points. So they sent a message to the king saying, look, we just want to stay on the road. We're not going to take your water. We're not going to take anything from you. We just want to march through here. Verse 23, but Sion would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sion gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness. And he came to Jaaz and he fought against Israel. Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabok, as far as the people of Ammon. For the border of the people of Ammon was fortified." He musters his troops, he goes after Israel to slaughter them. Israel turns the tables and defeats Sion and they take the entire territory of the Amorites. And this would be on the eastern side of the Jordan. This is part of the land that the two and a half tribes received before they went into Canaan. Now all this is fairly straightforward here in Numbers. And in Numbers, Moses records the incident from his point of view. But I want you to go to Deuteronomy 2 now and get Moses' commentary on this later on, several years after this. In Deuteronomy 2, verse 30. And here Moses is reminding the people, preaching to the people of all of God's great things that He has done. And he says in verse 30, But Sion, king of Heshbon, would not let us pass through. Why? For the Lord your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day. God did this all the time. He determined who's going to win and who's going to lose. He always determines that. You know how you know who's going to win and who's going to lose, even today? I can tell you how you can know. Just wait until it's over, and then you'll know what God did. It's real simple to know what God's decree is. Just look back on it 24 hours. It's been like that every day since creation. We can catalog God's sovereign decree in retrospect. It would be nice if we could do it into the future. We can't do that. Only God can do that. So here Moses gives us the reason why the king would not let Israel pass through his territory. God sovereignly hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate so he would attack, so Sion would attack Israel so Israel would then defeat him and take possession of his land. It's all in God's plan. He told Israel before they did this that they were gonna take the land and God made sure that Sion would attack Israel so God could sovereignly work through Israel to defeat them. So how far does God's sovereignty go? It goes all the way to the lives of pagan kings. Restraining them from their natural course of sinning to accomplish God's will or hardening their hearts so that they will sin according to their natural depravity. All this without their knowledge or detection and all this to accomplish God's will. I mean now I can see why Paul said at the end of Romans 11, you know, oh the riches and the wisdom and the magnitude of God. It's just unbelievable how God works things out. And then God's sovereignty rules over believers like we saw in Abraham's situation. God even using their sin to accomplish His will. Keep in mind, God is not causing anybody to sin. They're sinning on their own. Or He works on behalf of His own children for their good in spite of their sin. So God is not only sovereign over the lives of His people, He's sovereign over every unbeliever. God's not partial. His hands aren't tied with unbelievers. And as I mentioned last time, verse from Proverbs 16, 9, a man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps. I mean from what we've just seen, this does not just refer to God's people but all people. And not just in doing good, but in doing evil. So God is sovereign over both righteousness and sin, both good and evil. He's sovereign over everything. Nothing else left. Proverbs 19.21 says, you may want to jot these down if you don't want to look at them, but These are pretty powerful verses. There are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel, that will stand. Now, if you're not interested in doing what God wants you to do, this is a terrifying verse. You can plan something down to the last detail, but God might overrule it. On the other hand, if you're interested in what God wants you to do, this is great because you know that God has orchestrated that. Even when you plan something and something else happens. Proverbs 20, verse 24 says, a man's steps are of the Lord. Saved or unsaved, doesn't matter. How then can a man understand his own way? Now you really got to think about this verse to figure out what Solomon is saying here. If God overrules a person's decisions, when that person determines to do one thing but God decides he will do another, like happens every day in my life, how can that man understand his own way if he doesn't understand God's way of controlling his life? The answer is He can't. If you don't understand that God is sovereign over everything in your life, how are you going to understand why things happen in your life the way they do? You're not. Understanding that God is sovereign over all things is the only thing that makes sense of our lives and the world around us. I mean why hasn't the world destroyed itself? Why hasn't mankind just pushed every nuclear button it can push and everybody's gone? It's because that's not the plan. You know, I was just talking to Christian yesterday. He was talking about somebody saying that, you know, we're getting closer to the sun and, you know, the world's gonna burn up. No, it's not. That's not God's plan. It's not gonna happen. I mean, I'm all for, you know, keeping the planet nice and, you know, for our kids and grandkids and stuff, but you know what? We're not going to lose it with global warming. It's not going to happen. I don't have a problem at all pulling out of the Paris global warming talks. That's a waste of time and money. Only if you believe what God says. There's one man in scripture who understood this, Jeremiah. He said this in Jeremiah 10, 23. Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. If anybody did not want to do what God wanted them to do, it was Jeremiah. He wanted to run so fast out of Israel, he didn't even want to start being a prophet. Just read chapter one. I'm too young, I'm too this, I'm too that, don't sign me up. And then toward the end of his life he says, I know the way of man is not in himself. Man does not direct his own steps. He knew that from experience and we should too. Doesn't mean we don't plan. Solomon says at the end of Ecclesiastes, make your plans. Cast your bread on many waters. You don't know if God's gonna bless it or not. Don't sit around and do nothing because God's running everything. But when he changes the plan, accept it as that's better for me than what I thought. And thank God he's smarter than we are. Because you don't know if you would have done whatever, how that would have ended up. Well, number seven. We know that God is sovereign because of His rule over nations. Now, we just saw His rule over kings. I want to demonstrate now how He's sovereign over entire nations and groups of nations. And He controls entire nations as easily as He controls one person. There's no more sweat on God's part to do a billion people or one person. There's just not. It's irrelevant to God. As I read the Old Testament, I'm continually amazed at how God sovereignly controls entire nations to do exactly what He wants. It's one thing for God to control an ordinary individual and even kings to us. It's quite another to control entire nations or groups of nations to carry out His will perfectly. with or without their knowledge of being used by Him. That's what amazes me. In the Bible, we are continually told that God sovereignly works in whole nations to do His will. When Joshua and the children of Israel entered the promised land of Canaan, God commanded Joshua and the people to utterly destroy the Canaanites. That was the command. Go to Joshua 11. After the majority of the nations were conquered, Israel never did conquer all of the nations or every one and every nation like they were supposed to. Joshua 11, 16. So Joshua took, this is a commentary on what Joshua had done. So Joshua took all this land, and now there's gonna be a description of the land. The mountain country, all the south, all the land of Goshen, the lowland and the Jordan plain, the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, from Mount Halakh and the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down and killed them. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. And just so you know, it took seven years to go through the conquest in Canaan. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gideon, all the others they took in battle. But a good question to ask here is why didn't the Canaanites welcome Israel in? Especially after what they had seen God do to Egypt, just completely decimated Egypt. Completely decimated Sion, king of Og. Other nations on the eastern side of the Jordan. Israel is just mowing these nations down. Now the Canaanites knew what God had been doing. If you read the story of Rahab, she tells she tells the spies, we've heard about what God's doing and I don't wanna be any part of that. I'm just trying to figure out why all the kings in the other nations didn't say, you know what, we need to take something to Joshua and try and make peace. So why didn't they do that? They did just the opposite. live peaceably with these Israelites. One nation did, the Hivites, but all the rest didn't. Look at the amazing statement in verse 20. All the others they took in battle. Why? For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, says it twice, as the Lord had commanded Moses." We're not just talking about one individual here. We're not talking about one king. We're not talking about even one nation. we're talking about all of the nations in Canaan. And I think there's seven listed. He hardened all of the nations in Canaan so that they would come against Israel so that God could destroy them through Israel. That's mind-boggling. So God sovereignly made sure the Canaanite nations would not welcome the Israelites. How did He ensure that? By hardening all the nations within Canaan so that they would come against Israel in battle and so that God would destroy them. Amazing. 1 Kings 12. I'm being very selective here. I mean this is This would get very boring if I did a series on this. Because I'm just giving you the tip of the iceberg here of what we learned in the Old Testament about who God is. 1 Kings 12, and I'm not gonna read the whole passage, I'll refresh your memory on this. After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam made some bad decisions. Instead of listening to his father's counselors, he listened to his buddies that he went to school with. He says, how should I rule this people? And they said, you got to tax these people worse than your father did to get their attention. He says, okay, I like that. So the people, all the people came before Rehoboam to find out how they were going to be ruled and Rehoboam told them, My thumb is gonna be thicker than my father's waist. 10 tribes bolted. They said, we're outta here. Forget you, House of David. We're not gonna put up with this. So 10 tribes go to the north, and that's how we got the division in Israel, the nation, and the northern tribe was called Israel, the southern tribe was called Judah from this point forward in chapter 12 of Kings, 1 Kings. Now this is natural for a nation to do, right? I mean, we did it with England, didn't we? Taxes got too great, so we're out of here. This kind of puts a different twist on whatever side of the fence you are about the United States and England and whether it was from God or not. With the colonies forming a new nation. Look at verse 15. Look at the real reason why the northern tribes defected in verse 15 here. For the turn of events was from the LORD, that he might fulfill his word which the LORD hath spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. This whole thing happened. The split in the kingdom was from the LORD. because He worked in hearts on both sides. Rehoboam to do what he did and the ten tribes to do what they did. God foretold through Ahijah, you can look in the previous chapter in verse 29 and following, He foretold through Ahijah to Jeroboam that God would tear Solomon's kingdom from him and give ten tribes to Jeroboam. Jeroboam knew that this was going to happen. But to guarantee that this would happen, God sovereignly worked in all the events after Solomon died to bring this exact thing to pass. The turn of events was from the Lord that He might fulfill His Word. This was a prophecy. It had to be fulfilled. And this is how God did it. So not only does God work in individuals, He also works sovereignly without any effort at all in entire nations or even groups of nations. As if they were nothing. Or as Isaiah 40 says, a drop in the bucket. The nations are a drop in the bucket to God. A drop. The whole planet. And we could cite many, many more examples where God turned ordinary individuals, kings, and entire nations to do His will. But I just wanted to give you a few examples out of each category there. Now maybe, if you're not reading the Old Testament, you might want to think about it. It's just absolutely fulfilling to see what God is doing. And if he's the same yesterday, today, forever, he's doing the same thing today. What kind of view would we have of our lives in the world if we had a proper theological understanding of who God is? It would revolutionize our lives. Really? Well, number eight. I got two more. I'll try and move through these quickly. We know that God is a sovereign God because of his control over salvation. I'm sure you were waiting for this one. Several months ago, I did a series on the five points of Calvinism. where we covered God's sovereignty and salvation. So I don't want to spend a lot of time on this. I just want to hit some highlights. But I do want to emphasize that if God is a sovereign God, which He is, I think we've already established that, there is no room at all for man to be sovereign in anything, including his own salvation. I mean, it's not like God gets part and I get part. which most of the church believes today. It wasn't always the case. Back during the Reformation when nations were under sovereign rule, the sovereignty of God was primary in the church. Not here in the United States. And I already gave you the reasons. Most of the church today believes that ultimately, apart from divine sovereign aid, man can choose God at any time he wants, to be saved or not saved, or whatever he wants to do. Most of the church believes that. Sadly, maybe some of the time, or most of the time, we believe that too, or act like that. But regardless of what anyone believes, the Bible is absolutely clear that God, not man, is sovereign over every single individual's salvation. and to say that God's sovereignty is a matter of interpretation, which I hear all the time, that some legitimately see it one way and others legitimately see it another way, as if you can interpret the Bible any way you want or as if God meant whatever you want it to mean, to say that is ridiculous. God only meant one thing and we're only supposed to understand it one way. Now I'm not saying we're not wrong. All I'm saying is there's only one way to understand it. A straightforward reading of any text in Scripture dealing with God's choosing of individuals to salvation unquestionably shows that He is absolutely sovereign in that. We never see anywhere in Scripture where God is in Heaven wringing His hands hoping that so-and-so will make the right decision and choose Christ. That is completely foreign to Scripture. And the reason so many today believe that a man is sovereign in salvation is mainly due to a failure to grasp how bad man really is. This is a dead giveaway. If somebody does not accept the sovereignty of God and salvation, there's only one reason for that. They don't believe man is as bad as man really is. If you believe that man has some good within him, talking about moral good, everybody does good things. I'm talking about morally, spiritually. If you believe that any person has some good within him or her, if he has some spark of love for God and he only needs to show that love by freely and willingly and formally trusting Christ, then man is completely in charge of his own salvation. It's that simple. And God is waiting in the wings for him to decide if he will accept his son's precious gift. that's it. If, on the other hand, you believe that man is not good, that there is not one good moral fiber in him, that he is completely depraved as the Bible says he is, that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked as Jeremiah 17.9 says, that every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually, as Genesis 6.5 says, that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, as Genesis 8.21 says, that no one can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing, as Job 14.4 says, that there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb, with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. This is a description of every single human being. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes, as Romans 3.10-18 says of every individual. Or as Paul says in Romans 7.18, that in me nothing good dwells. Then, if you believe that, it's impossible for man to love God. He can't come to God. That's a human impossibility. He can only do the very opposite of that. He can only hate God. And as Adam did in the garden after he sinned, run as far away from God as possible. That's all man can do. Or as Jesus said in John 3, 19 and 20, that all men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. So no person in and of himself without divine sovereign aid can or will come to Christ for salvation. Ever. impossible. If you believe everything about every person born into this world that I just cited, whether a person is black or white, yellow or red, rich or poor, young or old, intelligent or ignorant, of high societal degree or of the dregs of society, fat or skinny, short or tall, then you have to know that no individual is ever capable of coming to Christ, believing in Christ or trusting in Christ for salvation. It can't happen. God has to save that person. Sovereignly. Has to. Man doesn't have any other choice. You know, it's not like he gets three doors. Door number one, door number two or door number three. only gets one, God. Simply put, because of man's sinful, completely depraved nature, he can't come. It's not that he won't, which he won't, but he can't. His natural rebellion against God won't allow him to do that. So his only hope is for God to sovereignly reach down and save him, even against his rebellious, self-righteous, self-destructive, spiritually insane will. It's the only hope that man has. Believe it or not, that's why we have this, to explain all that to us. So what's going on in most churches on Sunday mornings, I have no idea. and the argument against this is always the same. It's not fair. Really? What's not fair is that God saves anyone because we've all violated His justice and His holiness. The fair thing to do would let us all go to hell. That would be the absolute fair thing for God to do. Everybody knew the rules at the beginning. Everybody broke the rules. Everybody should suffer the same consequences. But then you have this thing called mercy. Something undeserved, right? And God decided to save some, not all. God's sovereign choice. Does the pot argue with the potter that he was made one way or another? That would be crazy. Why are we arguing with God as to who gets saved and who doesn't? We should be, instead of going out with this mantra, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair, we should be praising God that it's not fair. Right? It's not fair that I got saved. It's not that it's not fair that that person got lost. He deserves to go to hell. So do I. I got what I didn't deserve. He got what he did deserve. And neither one of us had anything to do with that. This whole argument, why should I be disenfranchised when it comes to my own salvation? I got news for you. You're disenfranchised on everything in your life. We forget that God is a potter and we're all the clay. Or as Jesus said in Matthew 2016, for many are called but few chosen. I'm not going to argue with him. Or as He said in John 44, no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. Or as He said in John 6, 65, no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father. Or as Paul said in Ephesians 1, verse 4 and following, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of our will. Is that what it says? Of His will. to the praise and glory of His grace by which He has made us acceptable in the Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes us acceptable. Why? Because we're unacceptable. We don't have anything to do with that. To say that God is sovereign in everything but man's salvation is absurd. It's like the infant being sovereign over the parent. Or the aunt being sovereign over the elephant. So we know that God is a sovereign God because of His creation of the world, His creation of man, destruction of man in the flood, His scattering of man at the Tower of Babel, His call of Abraham to eventually bring forth a Savior, His absolute rule over the nations, His choosing of man to salvation, I'll just mention this one, number nine. We know that God is a sovereign God because of his control over life and death. It's really what we should be thinking about. I touched on it last time a little bit, but I went through all the passages where God opens and closes the womb. God determines who comes into this world, when they come in, where they come in, how they come in. Genesis 16.2, Genesis 20.18, Genesis 30 verses 1 and 2, Genesis 29.31, Judges 13.3, 1 Samuel 6. Just a few where we're told that God opens and closes the womb. Even in the New Testament, in Luke chapter 1, Elizabeth was barren. She was past the age of childbearing. She was an old lady. couldn't have kids. But God miraculously gave her a child, John the Baptist. No big deal to God. From the most prized child to the most neglected child, every child is special to God. But He's not only sovereign over every person that comes into this world, He's sovereign over every person that goes out. God said in Deuteronomy 32-39, Now see that I, even I am He, and there is no God beside Me. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. When the king of Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel to heal his servant Naaman the leper, you remember that story in the Old Testament? When the king of Israel received the letter, he said in 2 Kings 5, 7, Am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends a man to me to heal him of leprosy? There's no question in the Old Testament that everyone knew that God was not only sovereign bringing people into the world, He was also sovereign taking them out. Jesus said in Revelation 1.18, I have the keys of Hades and death. Wow. Everyone dies because He determined it. When, where and how. He's got the keys. There's only one person who can bring you into this world and only one person who can take you out. God. And speaking of God, Job 14.5 says, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job 14.5, Job His number of days and months is sovereignly determined by God. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 5.18, Here is what I have seen. It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him." God gave us a certain amount of days. That's it. Have I made my point? Man, we could go to every book in the Bible and talk about this. God's sovereignty should be a great comfort to us who know him, right? This is the greatest comfort in my life, is that God is sovereign. because nothing that happens is out of His control. Nothing. So, if it happens in my life, even though I can't see the good in it at the time, I am promised that everything He brings into my life is for my good. Not just my good, my best good. Right? Thank you, Lord, for this time, for my brothers and sisters being patient and desiring to learn and to grow. And I pray, Lord, that this would be monumental in our lives. I know all of us are struggling with something, some more than others. I pray that this would be a great, great comfort, Lord, to know that if If God is for us, who can be against us? Thank you for Jesus who makes it all possible. We pray in his name, amen.