Well, last week we concluded Matthew 26. We have two chapters left. But I wanted to take a small break and address a subject that I have been wanting to do for a while. But I want to do that this week and possibly next week. But before we get started, I would like to pray, Father, Just want to pray for my friend Ken and Gay and the kids. Lord, that you would give them extra measure of grace in the coming days. Thank you for their testimony. And I just pray that Paula and I can have a good visit with them. We also want to pray for Paula, who's not feeling well. Pray that you would sustain her on this trip and bring us back safely. And pray that she would be in good health in a couple of days. As we come now to your word, I pray, God, that you would open our eyes, that it would be beneficial for us, it would change us, and it would make us more like Christ. We pray in his name, amen. What I want to address this morning, and I've been wanting to do this for a while, the issue of the sovereignty of God. Several years ago, I did a couple of messages on the sovereignty of God that I entitled The God Who Chooses. That was over 10 years ago, so I don't think anybody remembers it, so I'll go ahead and do it again. It's hard to believe anybody remembers what I did last week. I had to think for about 10 minutes as I was out walking this morning what I preached on last week, so I can imagine where you're at. Jonathan Edwards, was asked about how he thought his congregation was receiving what he was preaching. And he preached in the congregation in Massachusetts for I think over 20 years, 22, 23 years. And at the end of that time, his response was, well, Over the long time that I've been married, he says, my wife has always cooked meals for me. And honestly, I can't remember a single meal she's ever cooked, but I know I've been well fed. So hopefully that's, if you don't remember what I say, hopefully you've been well fed. So anyway, I thought it'd be good to preach on this again, to be reminded of who's in control of our lives. especially when things are difficult. Every one of us here is either struggling with severe issues or knows someone who is. So the doctrine of divine sovereignty is not an abstract or theoretical subject. It's at the core of our daily lives. If God isn't sovereign, as many even in the church believe, then life is nothing more than a string of misfortunes where God is standing on the sidelines, cheering us on, hoping that we can get through whatever we're getting through, but who has little control over what happens to us. If, on the other hand, God is sovereign, as the Bible repeats over and over and over again, then we as Christians have nothing to fear, no matter what comes into our lives, as we trust him in every situation, no matter how bad it gets. Now, because of the industrial revolution over the last few hundred years, and now because of the technology revolution, mankind relies less and less on God in daily affairs. Sadly, as with so many other things adapted from the world, this thinking has invaded the church. There are many Christians today, or many who claim to be Christians, who simply don't understand or don't believe that God is a sovereign God. And by sovereign, I mean completely independent from His creation, to design and carry out whatever He desires with that creation whenever He desires. To put it another way, God is in complete control of all His creatures, circumstances, and events at all times and in all places. As Jesus said, you may want to turn there, and hopefully you can follow along with me in the Scripture references I gave you this morning. They're familiar to you, but just so it cements in your mind as we're going through this, you might look at a passage a little bit differently in relation to God's sovereignty as we go through these passages. But Jesus said in Matthew 10, in verse 29, following are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will but the very hairs of your head are numbered do not fear therefore you are of more value than many sparrows The idea here is that if God completely controls the destiny of sparrows, which Jesus clearly says he does, not one falls to the ground apart from his will, and every event toward that end, the sparrows being only worth a copper coin, a penny or two, How much more is he in control of your destiny and every event toward that end who are worth much more than the sparrows? What so many forget is that God is the creator and we are the creature. That he's the potter and we're the clay. And he can do with us and all of his creation as he pleases. Every person that God brings into this world was born to realize this. Or as Isaiah says in Isaiah 64 in verse 8, But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are potter, and all we are the work of Your hands. As God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 18.2-6, He tells Jeremiah, "'Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.' Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was making something at the wheel, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the Lord. Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. But this really goes against our perceived human independence and sovereignty, doesn't it? We don't want somebody in complete control of our lives. That's the way we're wired. And our sinful condition has a lot to do with that. Contrary to what God says and what experience shows us every single day, We all to one degree or another think we are the captains of our own ship and the masters of our own souls. None of us wants to believe that we're not in control of our own lives. It goes against our sinful human natures. And this is understandable for unredeemed people. I can understand unsaved people thinking this way. But there are probably more today than ever before of those who claim to know Christ who would either redefine or deny the biblical doctrine of divine sovereignty. What is not only simply logical, but biblically clear, is decried by many to be a fatalistic doctrine or an unfair or oppressive doctrine. It's argued that if you believe that God sovereignly chooses to do anything, particularly choosing or electing or predestining people to be saved, you then believe in a despotic, dictatorial, absolutely monarchical God who sits in heaven, whimsically moving His puny pawns on the divine chessboard of human history. Many in the church also tell us that if you believe this doctrine, you believe that God created a bunch of robots. that have no say concerning their daily affairs or their eternal destiny. You know what? Frankly, it doesn't matter what anybody believes. It only matters what God says. Even unbelievers see the doctrine of sovereign choice as leading to futility concerning their own salvation. If God's already made up His mind who's going to be saved and who's not going to be saved, what's the point of even trusting in Christ if He didn't choose me? Whatever will be, will be. So why should I seek after God in salvation, only to find out I was never one chosen? Believers say similar things. If God sovereignly chooses people to be saved, why should I evangelize? He can get the job done without me. Well, that's true. He can get it done without you. But it's also disobedience. I've had people tell me that. And this doctrine has turned many away from any desire for salvation through Christ or any desire to evangelize for Christ. But my objective over the next, well today at least, but maybe next week, in teaching the doctrine is not to discourage anyone from seeking Christ or anyone from evangelizing. That's the last thing I want to do. My goal is to explain what the Bible teaches about God's sovereignty in all human affairs and His sovereign choosing of individuals for heaven so we would worship Him humbly and reverently as the One who is infinitely greater than us in wisdom and power. Instead of feeling hopeless or helpless in the knowledge of God's sovereignty, I want us to take great comfort in the doctrine. and comfort in our salvation. But as we approach this subject, I want to take a running start at it by going back to the Old Testament. Really, to the first book of the Bible, if you want to go there, to Genesis, to get the big picture, the macro picture concerning divine sovereignty. I don't know how anyone can read the book of Genesis the first few chapters of Genesis and not conclude that God is completely 100% sovereign. As we read a few passages from Genesis, I don't necessarily want to focus on God's sovereignty and salvation, although we will do that a little bit later. I want to focus on the bigger subject which is His sovereignty is actually part of His nature. God is a sovereign God by nature. If we can see that and see that He is sovereign just because of who he is, we can then see that he can do nothing but divinely elect individuals to salvation, and divinely elect to do whatever he wants, apart from any input, coercion, or merit from any outside source. So this morning, I want to ask you this question. How do we really know that God is by nature a sovereign God, that He really does sovereignly ordain everything that comes to pass? and answer the question. There are innumerable examples in Scripture but I just want to focus on a few in Genesis because that's all the time we're going to have this morning. And then we'll even narrow it down further than that to focus on four or five of the examples in Genesis that show us unquestionably that God is a sovereign God. So I want us to begin with our first example We know that God is a sovereign God because of His creation of the world. We know that He's a sovereign God because of His creation of the world. Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings. It's the beginning of the world, the beginning of man, the beginning of marriage and the family, the beginning of sin, the beginning of death, the beginning of farming, the beginning of shepherding, the beginning of music and metalworking, the beginning of murder, the beginning of polygamy, the beginning of incest, the beginning of rape, the beginning of seasons, the beginning of drunkenness, the beginning of nations, the beginning of the nation of Israel, just to name a few beginnings. So, without question, the book of Genesis is a foundational book. My personal opinion, the first book anybody should study is the book of Genesis. There's a reason it's first in the Bible. Because you really can't understand God or man without a basic understanding of the book of Genesis. And this seems to be much of our problem in the church today. Concerning so much messed up theology on the part of so many Christians. They don't know who God is and they don't know who man is. And you can't know that without knowing the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis teaches us about cosmology, anthropology, ethnology, sociology, archaeology, theology, the list goes on and on and on. And basically Genesis answers the question, where did everything come from? or where did everything start? And the very first verse in the book, in the Bible, answers that question. It begins with God. God creating everything that we know. But as Genesis makes clear, He didn't create by someone suggesting or insisting or commanding Him to create anything. He created everything by His sovereign choice alone. Neither man nor angel nor any other creature had anything to do with God creating anything. And notice in the first verse that it says, it might seem simplistic, in the beginning God created. Nobody else. He created all things apart from any external influence. And for a very good reason. There wasn't anything else there to influence Him to create anything else. The only thing that existed prior to Genesis 1.1 was God. He sovereignly chose to create the universe out of nothing before anything or anyone else existed. There was no one there to instruct Him, to convince Him, or to coerce Him into creating anything. Obviously to support this, the fact that nothing influenced God to create. I want you to go to, we'll go back to Genesis, go to Isaiah chapter 40. And here Isaiah rhetorically asks Israel, Isaiah 40, verse 12, "...who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?" These are obviously rhetorical questions. No one. measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has taught him, with whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?" The answer is obviously no one. God's the only one that measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. He's the only one who measured heaven with a span, the only one who calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales, the hills in a balance. And if no one else told him what to do or influenced him as to what to do, then he sovereignly did it. I mean, Isaiah wants Israel to know who their God is. Who was there when God planned and created all these things? Were you? Who convinced Him to create anything? Did you? No. No rational creature had any input concerning the existence of anything. Go to Job 38. The end of the book of Job where Job finally gets to talk to God. Probably wished he never wanted that conversation. Job 38 is even more explicit than Isaiah 40. God answers all of Job's accusations out of the whirlwind in verse 1. And he says to Job, who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched out the line upon it? to what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning star sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, when I fixed my limit for it and set bars and doors, when I said, This far you may come, but no further, and have your proud waves, and here your proud waves must stop. Nobody, Job or nobody was there to counsel God. God chose to do it by his own sovereign will. And if he created everything, that we know and everything that we don't know, the greatest thing that it created, the universe itself, which even the greatest minds in our world today can't fully understand, then don't you think he will sovereignly manage its individual parts? If God had not determined to create, nothing would exist and you and I wouldn't be here. It all comes down to God's sovereignty. We wouldn't even be a memory because we would never have been born to be a memory. So the very first act that God performed was His sovereign creation of all things. Now this should be enough for anyone to acknowledge that God literally has the whole world in His hands. I mean, why do the 24 elders around the throne in heaven worship God continually? Revelation 4.11 says, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created. By His will. By His sovereign choice and power. That's why creation is supposed to worship the Creator. So we find in the very first verse of the Bible that God is a sovereign God. And of His own free will and pleasure He created the world apart from any outside influence. But, I'll give you example number two. We know that God is a sovereign God because of His creation of man. Back in Genesis 1, God created everything as we know it in five and a half days. And at the end of the sixth day, He created man. Verse 26, then God said, this is a Trinitarian conversation, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image, in the image of God. He created him, male and female, He created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Now, it doesn't take too much intelligence to figure out that Adam had no say in God creating him. He was not around to ask God to create him. God simply chose to create him. And we're back to what Jeremiah said, why does a potter create a pot? Why does a musician create his music? Why does a poet create his poem? Because he wants to. It's his own sovereign choice. Does the pot or the music or the poem ever ask to be created? No. The artist chooses to create his piece of art. God's no different. I'll take it a step further. Why did Adam have two legs instead of three? two hands instead of one, a brain to think, ears to hear, eyes to see and a mouth to speak and so on and so on and so on. Why? Did he make out a grocery list for God before he was created saying this is how I want to be created? Adam was like that because God sovereignly chose for him to have these physical features in the number and order He chose so man could bring him the most glory possible. That's why God did it. Adam had nothing to do with it. I mean, he had nothing to say about his own physical constitution, let alone his own creation. He wasn't on the Human Design Planning Committee recommending to God that he have only one nose, two eyes, one mouth, and so on. God and God alone sovereignly chose to make him the way he did. Based on this, how would anyone ever conclude that they're sovereign over their own life? Taking it down to where we live, none of us had anything to say about what family we were born into, what nationality we are, what color we are, what country we were born in, what physical features we have, or how tall or how short we are. We didn't have anything to do with any of that. Why do we think we have anything to do with anything else? It might be that God made it that way so that we would conclude that we're not the captains of our own ships and the masters of our own souls. God sovereignly chose every one of these things for us without ours or anyone else's input or counsel. Jesus said we have so little actual control over our own lives that we can't even add one minute to our life or one hair to our head. That's about as simple as it gets. If we can't do that, we don't have control over anything else. And that's after we already exist, much less than before we exist. So like it or not, God controls all of these things because he is a sovereign God. I wanna ask a couple more questions. Just to bring it home a little bit further. Number one, why does man procreate? Well, because God says so. He's supposed to, be fruitful and multiply, just read it. But, did Adam decide one day that he would give himself the ability to reproduce himself? No, God sovereignly gave him that ability and then commanded him to reproduce. God could have chosen to not give man the ability to procreate. He could have individually created every single human being without procreation, like the angels, like he did with the angels, but he chose not to do it that way with men. He could have created each one of us out of the dust of the ground, breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, just like he did Adam. But he didn't. It was his choice. And not only that, man can't even reproduce unless God sovereignly opens the womb. That is throughout Scripture. How many times do we read that it was the Lord who sovereignly opened or closed the womb? Genesis 16.2, Sarah said to Abraham, see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Genesis 20.18, the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech. It wasn't one woman in the entire palace that had children for a certain period of time. Genesis 31-2, when Rachel saw that her sister Leah was fruitful and she was barren, she pleaded with her husband Jacob, saying, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel because she didn't know what her theology was. He said, Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? So God not only sovereignly creates every single person through procreation, He then sovereignly controls the reproduction process. Not only can man not give himself the ability to procreate even when God gives him that ability, he still can't reproduce unless God gives him permission. Every child you have, whether you plan him or her or not, is by God's sovereign choice. There is no such thing as an unwanted child from God's point of view. Ever. Number two. Question number two. Why does man rule on the earth instead of animals? God says here in Genesis 1.28, well He says in 26 and 28, let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And then in verse 28 He says, He shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Why does he have dominion over the animals and not animals over him? Although the producers of Planet of the Apes tries to tell us that's the way it should be. Is it because of man's great intellect that he has ability or has the rule over the animal kingdom? What if God sovereignly made animals superior to man? And by the way, in many cases, animals are superior to man, but not in ruling, such as size, or strength, or speed. There's a lot of animals that are bigger than us, stronger than us, and faster than us. But since the fall, God has sovereignly determined that man continues rule over the animal world, even after man fell into sin, Genesis 9-2. God placed within every animal The natural fear of man to know that man rules over the animal kingdom. God did this after the fall. Genesis 9-2, the fear of you, this is what God told Noah, the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, and on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. So, continues after the fall, man continues to be ruler over the animal kingdom. Because God puts in their instinct or whatever animals have, a natural fear of man because of his rule over them. And he did it by his sovereign choice. Noah didn't ask God to do that when he got off the ark. There was nothing in man or animal that God do this. So God is not only seen to be a sovereign God by His creation of the world, we also see a sovereign in His creation of man. But, third example. We know that God is a sovereign God because of His destruction of the world in the Noahic flood. What's amazing to me is that man can easily bring about his own destruction, but he can never prevent it. When God decided that the wickedness of man had reached its limit, He sovereignly chose to destroy man. That's what it says in Genesis 6. Do you realize that there could have been almost as many people on the earth in Genesis 6 as there are today? Many scholars believe that there was anywhere between two and a half and five billion people on the earth at the time of the flood. We're not talking a handful of people here. By this time in man's history, man had existed for over 1,600 years. And the average age of a man was still over 800 years old at the time of the flood. Do you have any idea how many kids you could have if you lived to be 800 years old? You'd be middle-aged at 400. What's even more amazing is that out of all these people that God destroyed, there wasn't one single individual, one single group, one single organization, or even all of mankind collectively who could stop God's judgment. Several billion people couldn't stop God from what he was about to do. So who chose when and how the earth was destroyed at that time? Did man have anything to do with it? I mean, if man had a vote, it would be a no vote, right? No, we don't want to be destroyed. God's the only one who had anything to do with it. Whose people were they that he destroyed? His people. He's the potter, they're the clay. So as Jeremiah said, that's the way it was. He created them and he sovereignly destroyed them because of their rebellion against him. Why do you think we have that account in the book of Genesis? Maybe it's to show us who's in control. Maybe it's to show us That we can't do anything even if we wanted to, once God decides what He's gonna do. He chose a time and method and totality, not one individual had any say in it. But even beyond God's sovereign choice to destroy mankind, He didn't destroy everyone. Out of the billions He did destroy, why did He let no one in His family live? Eight people. Nothing in the account that tells us that Noah said, I don't want to be destroyed, let everybody else go. I mean, if you're going to destroy several billion people, what's eight more? Right? Genesis 6-8 says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Just Noah. What does that mean? It means that God sovereignly allowed Noah to find his saving grace and his deliverance from destruction. That's what it means. Didn't allow anybody else to do it, to find it. How does anyone find God's grace and salvation? There's only one way. God sovereignly ordains for them to find it. If it wasn't for God's sovereign grace in Noah's life, he and his family would have been destroyed with the other billions of people. And again, you and I wouldn't be here to object to God's sovereignty. Grace is God's undeserved sovereign favor toward us. You know what? Noah didn't deserve God's grace any more than anyone else who didn't get it. He wasn't any different from the billions that perished. He wasn't special. Yet God sovereignly chose to destroy the rest of mankind and save Noah and his family. God's sovereign choice. So we see that God is sovereign by His creation of the world, His creation of man, and His sovereign destruction of the world. We're not even out of Genesis 6 yet. You can't help reading the first six chapters of Genesis and God is sovereign. At least He was back then. Maybe he's old, maybe he's tired, and he's not sovereign anymore. Well, you could conclude that. He'd be wrong. God never changes. But example number four. We know that God is a sovereign God because of the worldwide dispersion of the people at Babel. In chapter 11. Genesis 11. Genesis 11 tells us that man originally gathered in one place after the flood, which was in direct violation of God's specific commands to both Adam and Noah. The commands were simple. In Genesis 1.29 and Genesis 9.7, He told Adam before the flood and Noah after the flood to multiply and fill the earth. But instead of obeying God, man chose to stay in one place and continue to rebel against God. Verse 4 says that men wanted to build a tower to heaven and boast of their own greatness. That's what they wanted to do. They'd gather in one place, They're gonna build this tower to heaven to show God how great they are. They had abandoned the worship of the true God and were worshiping their own intellect, pride, ingenuity, and accomplishments. Just like today, nothing's changed. Contrary to what God commanded, they said, let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad over the whole earth. They even knew that God would do this if they disobeyed. So they're going to band together and be stronger than God. They knew 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. They understood the command perfectly. They knew what God told Adam and what God told Noah. So they unite together against him. By the way, they're gonna do that again at the end of the age, right? Where the people will gather together in Armageddon and God will sit in the heavens and laugh again, just like he did in this instance. I mean, how deceitful is sin? To think that you're more powerful than God is. I mean, with all of their efforts as one collective people, were they powerful enough to stand against God's sovereign will to scatter them? No. Should have learned from the flood. Didn't. We should learn from the Tower of Babel and the flood, but we didn't. So God says within the Trinity again, come, let us go down. God's up in heaven. He's so far above the earth in anything that man can do that Moses here, this is Moses' editorial, he sarcastically pictures God coming down from heaven to this puny little planet to see what man is up to in his rebellion. To show the absurdity and impotency of man's rebellion, God is likened to a man stooping down to scatter an anthill. And when God came down, could any person choose not to have his or her language changed? No. Or choose not to be scattered to another part of the earth? No. Why not? God chose differently. And whatever He chooses always comes to pass, regardless of what man wants. Always. Isaiah 46, 9 and 10. I think we're familiar with this. I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. all the time. You think it's any different today? It's no different today. Did you know that you can't go anywhere or do anything without God having predetermined it by His sovereign will? We already read Matthew 10 with the sparrow. Here's one from Proverbs 16.9. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. You can do all the planning you want, but it's going to end up just the way God predetermined it. Every single time. Proverbs 21.1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, He turns it wherever He wishes. I wish we had time to go through the Old Testament passages that show how God directs the hearts of kings and entire nations to do exactly what He wants. Now, if God does that with kings, how easy is it for Him to do it with us? Nebuchadnezzar. In my opinion, Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest king who ever lived. The greatest Gentile king who ever lived. One of the most, the most powerful kings the world, I believe, has ever known. Kingdom of Babylon. And after God turned him into an animal to eat grass for seven years, the most powerful king who's ever lived Gentile king who's ever lived. God turns him into an animal and makes him eat grass for seven years. Trust me, it was against Nebuchadnezzar's will. Daniel 4, this is what Nebuchadnezzar said after God brought him out of that animal state and placed him back on his throne. This is what he said, Daniel 4, 34 and 35. And at the end of the time, and by the way, he wrote this as a decree to all of his people. And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth no one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done?" The most powerful man who ever lived said that about God. Most people go through their entire life believing that God has no control over them. That they can give permission to God anytime they want, if they want, to have control over their lives. Most people believe that. But they will realize one day when they stand before Him that He sovereignly ordained and directed every step they ever took in their life. That day is coming. They'll know it. They will find out that he ordained the exact number of their days, that he predetermined whether they were rich or poor, healthy or sick, intelligent or ignorant, the list goes on and on and on. And when they stand before him, they will know at that time who he is and who they are. It's too bad they have to wait for that face-to-face meeting to figure that out. Turn with me to 1 Samuel. I believe one of the greatest women in the Bible, Hannah, Samuel's mother. Humble, simple woman. Gives one of the greatest testimonies in scripture to the sovereign, omnipotent hand of God. In 1 Samuel chapter 2, After God had given her Samuel, this was her response, her praise to God. And by the way, Mary actually picked up Hannah's theology in her Magnificat in Luke chapter 2. If you compare what Hannah said and what Mary said, both of these women were probably more well-trained than most people coming out of seminary today, as far as understanding who God is and who we are. Hannah prays this in 1 Samuel 2, verse 1, "...my heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you, nor is there any rock like our God." Talk no more so very proudly, let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. For the barren has born seven, and she who has many children has become feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he has set the world upon them. He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. From heaven he will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Boy, I wish all of us had that kind of theology. To know exactly who God is. Psalm 115, said it in one verse. Our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. That's a short and sweet version of what Hannah prayed. How can anyone say that God isn't sovereign? I mean, all of us have heard people say, you know, you need to let go and let God control your life. Really? Really? Where is that in the Bible? Listen. God is already in control of your life whether you know it or not. The question is not whether he's in control or not, but what kind of control is he in? Is he in control as an enemy or as a friend? To say that you can choose to have God in control of your life or not is like saying that you're sovereign and God isn't. You're more powerful than he is. Now all of a sudden, the pot is more powerful than the potter. I mean, none of this makes sense. It's completely illogical, but yet it's highly emotional. And usually, emotion wins over logic all the time. I mean it's as ridiculous as saying you can live without air, see without eyes, or walk without legs to say that God isn't sovereign. How blind are people to the truth that God is in sovereign control of everything and everyone? This would be a different world if everybody knew that. So we see that God is sovereign. by his creation of the world, his creation of man, destruction of the world, and dispersion of the people of Babel. I'll give you one more quickly. Example five. We know that God is a sovereign God because of his call to Abraham to be a blessing to the world in Genesis 12. Although man was in a state of rebellion against God even after the flood, God sovereignly chose to save him. That was a sovereign choice by God. Man had nothing to do with that. God was still on schedule to send a Savior into the world. That's why we have the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12 in verses 1-3. Genesis 12-1, now the Lord had said to Abram, he hadn't changed his name yet, this is previously back in chapter 11 that's why it says the Lord had said this is a a perfect tense, get out of your country from your kindred and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now just reading the story of Abraham and Sarah ought to be enough to tell you that God is sovereign. With all that they went through to finally come down to Isaac, the promised child. I mean, it's so clear that God is sovereign. Abraham actually went out of his way to try and tell God to do it a different way, and God said, no, I've already planned this. I'm not changing anything. God chose Abraham to make him a great nation and choose to give him the land of Canaan to dwell in so his people would multiply into a great nation in order for salvation to come to the world. That's why God did it. But most importantly, God sovereignly chose Abraham to bring the Messiah into the world. Abraham was the first Jew. He was the only true Gentile who became a Jew, the first Jew. But before he was a Jew, he was a Gentile just like everyone else. an unsaved Gentile when he was in the land of Ur of the Chaldees. He lived in Mesopotamia with his father and two brothers who, according to Joshua 24.2, were all idol worshipers. Like the rest of mankind and like Noah before him, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But before that, none of his family knew the living God. They were lost in their sins, but one day God came to Abraham and sovereignly chose him out of all the rest of the Gentiles on the earth. Why? To be the father of a Jewish nation which would one day bring forth a savior. That was ultimately why he did that. New Testament says that Abraham was the father of faith, both of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ. Abraham was the prototype for faith. It's said of Abraham in Genesis 15-6 that he believed God, the promise that God would bring him in his old age and Sarah's old age, he believed God that God would bring him a child through his own loins and through her loins. Abraham believed that and God saved him. He believed everything that God told him. You say, well, what did he believe? Well, go to Romans 4, I'll show you. Commentary on that is in Romans 4. So much in Romans 4 about the faith of Abraham that is prototypical for all true saving faith. In Romans 4, 5, the first thing we learn that he believed was this. Paul says, to him who does not work but believes, so no works for salvation, just faith. Him who does not work but believes on him who, here it is, justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. So what do you need to be justified to be saved? The first thing is you have to believe that God justifies ungodly people. He doesn't justify Righteous people. He justifies unrighteous people. That's what Jesus was trying to tell the Pharisees, remember? That, you know, he who is well doesn't need a physician, only those who are sick. Before you can be saved, you have to understand that you're sick, spiritually sick. You have to understand that you're ungodly, that you are a putrefaction before God. That's where it all starts. And that's what Abraham believed. He believed in God who justifies the ungodly. He justifies people who aren't like Him. But second, verse 17, it says here that Abraham believed in a God who raises the dead. You have to believe that God raises the dead to be saved. Later on in Romans 10, Paul will say the same thing. You remember when Abraham took Isaac, his son, to offer him up as a sacrifice? God commanded him, take your son up to Mount Moriah. Three days journey. When you get there, I want you to put him on the altar and kill him. And just before Abraham plunged the knife into his son's heart, God stopped him from doing that because he wanted to take Abraham to the brink of giving all that he had to God, which was at that time his only son, the seed of the promise, which was really the greatest expression of faith that could possibly be, to kill everything that was going to fulfill the promises of God. Isaac was wrapped up in all of Abraham's dreams, all of his hopes, all of his posterity, but most importantly his Savior. If Isaac doesn't live, the nation doesn't come forth and the Savior doesn't come from the nation. Abraham knew all of this when God gave him the command. and yet he still followed through until the very last moment when the angel stopped him from killing his own son. And of course God said at that time, now I know that you believe me. So when Abraham raised the knife, he had to believe that Isaac was dead and that God would raise him up to fulfill His promises of the coming Savior. That was all going through Abraham's mind while he's executing this. Romans 417, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. He believed in a God who raised the dead. He believed in a God who brought something out of nothing. Hebrews 11 tells us the same thing about the faith of Abraham. But, look at how Paul applies Abraham's faith to true believers. Look at verse 23. Now, it was not written for Abraham's sake alone that it was imputed to him. In other words, righteousness being imputed to Abraham by faith. Genesis 15.6 was not just written to tell us about Abraham. He was the prototype. This is true of everyone. Look at verse 24, but also for us, it shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, was raised because of our justification. We have to believe just like Abraham believed if we want to be saved. Believe that God justifies the ungodly and believe that He raises the dead. Well, so much more to say about the sovereignty of God. I hope this helps a little bit if you're having a difficult time with the sovereignty of God. There's no middle ground here. No such thing as partial sovereignty. That's an oxymoron. It's like saying you're partially dead or partially pregnant. You either are or you aren't. God's either sovereign or He's not. If He's not sovereign, somebody else is. If somebody else is sovereign, we're all in trouble. He's always in absolute control of everything that occurs in His creation, everything. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His will. This should be the most comforting doctrine to a Christian that we have. anything that happens to me is designed and implemented and controlled by God either through him directly through a miracle or indirectly through even sinful people and of course the greatest example of that is his own son right being nailed to a cross if God controls everything in my life And he's full of love and compassion for every one of his children, which is beyond comprehension how much he does love us and exercise compassion toward us who know him. I never have to fear a thing. I just have a hard time getting it from here to here. Because there's a lot of things that come up in my life that I don't like. And as I told you before, my conscience tells me, her name is Paula, what God has. And why he's doing things. Next week we'll look at a little bit more of this. Thank you Lord for this time, for my brothers and sisters. their patience and their desire to learn and grow. Help us, Lord, to be more like Jesus. Help us to trust you completely, even in the most difficult times. And we pray these things in His name, amen.