God is in control. It's a statement that you and I, I suppose, hear often, especially when we talk about politics, when we talk especially about geopolitics together. It's the kind of statement that you and I usually close a conversation with after we talk about convulsions in the world and after we talk about big and perhaps perplexing matters. We say God is in control and then we move on. As though the doctrine of divine sovereignty was really just to give us some kind of explanation for what is going on. As though it were only there really to be used for the consolation of the Christian and affliction, for the comfort of the church and distressing providences. Is that all friend that the doctrine of divine sovereignty is to be used for? Is it's practical use only for the consolation of God's people? Our text certainly says it should be a comfort to the people of God that God is sovereign. But the text also reminds us that that is not to be the capstone of the conversation. It's to be the foundation. Not the end, but the beginning of our conversation and our reflection. We begin with the idea that God is in control. And why? Well, our text holds out the reality that this doctrine is not only explanatory, it's not only for us to think about abstractly, it really controls how you and I are to live our lives. I mean, it really actually does determine our ethics, it determines what choices we should make, It is not only there for explanation. It is not only there for comfort. It is to determine how we live in this world. When we say God is in control, friend, behind that, behind that is a way of life. We see Judah had lost that. Judah had lost that. And we've seen that she lost it already in various ways. We saw, for instance, that the citizens of Jerusalem, The non-ruling Judahite, they pursued a confederacy with Syria and Ephraim. They made a confederacy with them. But in the preceding verses, from 9, 8, all the way down to 10, verse 4, you find that the prophet sets before them the reality that that confederacy will do them no good. It will be altogether fusile. The very ones to whom Judah was running for comfort, for security, they will be the very ones who will be the agents of their affliction. And moreover, that alliance, Syria and Ephraim, it too shall pass. It will go to the waste bin of history. But now as we take up our text this evening, starting there at the fifth verse of chapter 10, the prophet, he turns his attention to a different confederacy. This time, not the confederacy that was desired by the citizens of Jerusalem, but by Ahaz. The confederacy with Assyria. And note what he says there. In the first several verses, verses five to 11, he tells Judah that that very empire that Ahaz is seeking an alliance with, they will be the instruments of your harm. Then in verses 12 to 14, the Lord sets forth a picture of the pride of Assyria. And he shows that that pride will be diminished. God will bring judgment. And then in verses 15 to 19, we have something of the picture of that judgment. Here you find the prophet saying that Ahaz's confederacy, like the confederacy desired by the citizens of Jerusalem, that too will be a futile alliance. It will not produce the end that they had hoped for. The church in Judah, she will be upset, notwithstanding all of the confederacies that she had hoped for and had trusted in. And why? The text says it's because God will frustrate them all. These confederacies will fail because what God will cause them to fail. What you find in this text, friend, is it's a solemn address to the church, where the Lord, he says through his prophet, that no matter which world power you pick, whether it's Syria or Euphraim, or it's the burgeoning empire that was Assyria, no matter which power you choose, if you are departing from the living God, it will secure you not one wit. It will do you no good. There is no amity. There's no friendship between the world and the church, not really. There is no power on the earth. No power on the earth, but it is under the dominion of God. This is the message which the Lord gives to his people. What he says here is that the truth that God is in control should make you a different people. You should be making different decisions. What you find in this text, friend, is that as the prophet conveys this truth, we are encountered again and again, almost every line with the idea that Judah is being reminded that God's people are not secured by worldly powers. It's a simple theme, but friend, it's one that we need to return to time and time again. And it's one that the word of God reminds us of really constantly. God's people are not secured by worldly powers. And what I want us to see this evening is that that particular theme is really drawn out for us in various ways. First, we see it as the Lord, He reminds us that these worldly powers are in fact instruments in the hand of God. Then we get a survey of their insolence, their pride, and its emptiness. Finally, we see a picture as well of their impermanence. God's people are not secured by worldly powers. Note, friend, how the text begins this evening. In verse five, he says, O Assyrian, my rod. He addresses the Assyrian, but of course, you and I, we know that it's Judah who is the principal recipient of this prophecy. But what is Judah being told? Judah's being told that the Assyrian is in the hand of God. And what are they to do? They are to come against the people of my wrath, says the Lord. So the Assyrian then is the instrument of God's wrath to come against Judah. That's how this text begins. Friend, why is that staggering? It's staggering because the Assyrian was precisely the one in whom Ahaz trusted. We already saw this, I know. If you remember our comments back when we were looking at the 7th chapter of this prophecy, we remember that Ahaz turned to the Assyrian Empire. He turned to Tiglath-Pileser and he called Tiglath-Pileser his father and his lord. In other words, he said genuinely that he is willing to be a vassal to the Assyrian overlord. And he is content to be under his protection and shadow. And yet in this text, God says to him, he says, the very ones in whom you are trusting, the very ones with whom you've made alliance, they will be the instruments of my wrath against you. Far from being a source of security. Far from being a place of comfort, this worldly power will be the instrument of God's chastening. A friend, we saw already that the prophet tells the citizen of Jerusalem precisely the same thing. Remember, they wanted an alliance with God. with the kingdoms of Syria and Israel because they thought there was some kind of friendship that they could gain, some kind of an alliance built upon mutual respect and interest. And from that, they would be secure. And you remember friend, how the prophet describes to us, lend. Manasseh will turn against Ephraim, Ephraim against Manasseh and they together, shall be against Judah." Here he says, friend, those friends that are in the world, the ungodly, you'll find that they have no friendship truly with the people of God. A friend, at this point, you and I, we could say, well, those pesky Assyrians, those treacherous ungodly people, They are the problem, their treachery is principally to blame. And you can imagine that the Judahite might say that. You might imagine that Ahaz would see himself well mistreated by the Assyrian, his trust abused. But the prophet, he turns all of this on its head, doesn't he? He doesn't give them reason or scope to say all those pesky, those treacherous Assyrians. Because he says the reason ultimately why this confederacy will fail is because the Assyrian is the rod of mine anger. He is the staff of mine indignation. What you find here friend is that the church is reminded that this worldly power in which they trusted It came to power and it came to power against the church in this case because of Judah's sin. It was Judah's apostasy that was the principal crisis. It was Judah's defection that ultimately pointed toward her weakness, grounded her affliction. And so he calls Judah a hypocritical nation. They are but instruments in the hands of God, says the prophet. Friend, the church continues to break against this rock, doesn't she? We begin to think that the world perhaps is not so much an enmity with God or God's people as the scriptures teach. Judah certainly thought that there might be some hope in Syria and Ephraim. Ahaz thought that Assyria offered real friendship And yet God says, there is none there. And when that is, he says, you are to discern my chastening hand. They will become the instruments of your harm. And then he says this, he says, and that harm is my rod. I want you to notice not only does the prophet tell us that these worldly powers that they are instruments in the hand of God. He also shows us something of their insolence. He gives us a picture of how these powers see themselves and of course, how others see them. And so you look at verses 12 and following, we hear there of the stout heart of the King Assyria, who says that all that he has accomplished is by the strength of his own hand. He's the greatest power on earth. In his own estimation, he's omnipotent. And you note, friend, how the text concludes. It's a series of questions there in our reading, starting at verse 15, where the Lord asks, shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith, the saw against him that shaketh it, the rod against him who holds it? What you find in this text is that the Lord is giving us a survey of the Assyrian philosophy. He's giving us a picture of how the world sees itself. Omnipotent, autonomous, it stands by its own strength. And here the Lord shows us that it is all deceit. It's a lie. It's a lie that others believe, and it's a lie that they themselves are deceived by. But friend, what I want you to notice in this text is that again, the principal recipient of this is not supposed to be taken as the Assyrian, but I'm sure Assyrians read it. The principal congregation is Judah. Those who received this are those, friend, who craved an alliance with Assyria. A people who did believe the lies that are recorded for us in this text. What he's showing to the church is that in fact, all of their boasting is vapid. All their pride is groundless. Now, why does the church need to know that? The church then needed to know that, friend, because the world told them that Assyria was omnipotent. There was no greater power on the planet than they. And even those who wanted an alliance with Syria and Ephraim, they wanted an alliance with those kingdoms to counteract the burgeoning empire that was Assyria. Perhaps you remember at this particular time, there were a number of city states really that were raised in rebellion against the empire. There was of course, Damascus in Syria, Samaria in Israel, and a place, small backwater kingdom called Babylon. It was raised against the empire of Assyria at the time. And in that backdrop, Ahaz, he makes something of a calculation. He says, these smaller kingdoms, they will not stand against the might of the Assyrian. Assyria is the greatest power, greatest force on the earth. In other words, friend, what you find is Ahaz, in fact, believed everything that the Assyrian says of himself. That Assyria is the greatest power on the planet. And so Ahaz wants a treaty. He wants an alliance. And again, as we've already seen, the Lord reminds Judah. He reminds Ahaz that in fact, They were not the greatest power. Assyria is not autonomous. They are simply the rod in the hand of God. They are the ax, the saw, the rod wielded by the Lord. Assyria, like all, are powers at God's disposal. Friend, I want, I think, to stop just there for a moment and meditate on that with you. What is the prophet saying to the church? He's saying that all of those great powers on the earth, he's saying that every one of them, they are under the divine dominion. And while they may present themselves as omnipotent, while they may present themselves as the greatest force in your life, they are under divine sovereignty. And if you believe the lie, Friend, you then have denied that they are in the hand of God. There's something else, friend, that you and I should meditate on as we look at this text. It's something that you actually find in verse seven. It's a striking text. In fact, I'd direct your attention back to it. The Lord tells us that the Assyrian is the rod in his hand, but then he says this, it's curious. He says, how be it he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so. I was talking about the Assyrian here. What is he saying? He's saying, they are in my hand. They are accomplishing my purposes, regardless of what is their intentions. Regardless of whatever is their purpose, they are accomplishing mine. I suppose those are words you and I, we could read over really quickly. But they're waiting. Friend, it should lead us to doxology. Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God. He'll take these powerful men who have their own sinful ends and inclinations, but he will put them to fulfill his purposes. The Assyrian thinks he's doing his own thing, accomplishing his own goals and his own ends, and God says, no. you are accomplishing my purposes. What you find in this text, friend, is a clear picture of how foolish it is for the church to try to make peace with the world. It's like trying to placate the sword of a soldier and not trying to seek peace with the soldier himself. The Assyrian was simply the rod. was simply the sword in the hand of God. And instead of making peace with the sword, they ought to have made peace with the Lord who wielded it. Friend, the church is still faced with that same issue. Those powerful peers of yours at school, in the workplace. Friend, you and I, We need to remember that they too are under divine sovereignty. And rather than compromising to try to make peace with them, and your calling in mine is to seek peace with the one who wields them. Judah forgot that and we must not. Their insolence is vapid, their pride is empty. But finally, I want you to notice that the prophet concludes by reminding us of the impermanence of these powers. In verses 16 to 19, he sets before us the picture of Assyria's judgment, that he will send among his fat ones destruction. Those that are most powerful in Assyria, he will undo them. The glory of Assyria will be ruined. God will overturn the Assyrian in all of his pride. 17 and 18. There the prophet, he sets before us a further picture, illustration of what destruction will look like for the Assyrian. He says, he will devour his thorns and his briars. He'll devour this fruitful field. There'll be so few trees that a child may write them. Does that language strike you? It should. It's the very language that God used when he described the destruction of Judah. in Isaiah 7. The same ideas and the same images. So what is the Lord saying? He's saying this great power, this great empire at which you tremble, I will deal with them just as I dealt with Judah. To the Lord God, it doesn't matter how great, how populous, how proud the power is. They are under his dominion. Whether a burgeoning empire or a small nation state alike, the Lord God will overturn all of those who are his enemies. They are impermanent. Though friendly, say they are permanent. They are under his sovereignty, though they say they are autonomous. That's the image and the picture that we get from this text. And friend, what you and I have here then is a clear picture of what divine dominion looks like. It reminds us that no power on the earth is autonomous. None are assay. None are self-existent. They are all instruments wielded by God. Their insolence, their pride is deception. And friend, by divine judgment, they are impermanent. In what ways then friend, does divine dominion affect how you and I are to make choices in the world? It's the question with which we began and it's one that really permeates our text. Friend, the idea that God is sovereign, the idea that he rules over all, again should have induced Judah not to try to make peace, not to try to strike friendship with the sword, but to go back to the God against whom they had sinned and really seek peace with Him. Friend, it was not only to be a comfort to the people of God, that the Lord God was in control. It was to dictate how they lived, how they faced seemingly great powers on the earth. to remember that they are but swords in the hand of God, and that that should have driven them to faithfulness, to seek peace first with Jehovah. But friend, for ourselves, the question, of course, is how does this truth affect how you and I live? To go back to the idea, friend, that this truth is supposed to impact us in the workplace as well as in the school, in our homes and in all of our dealings with the world. Friend, this truth is supposed to remind us that however fearful those ungodly people may be, however strong they might seem, the truth that God is in control should lead you away from ever compromising to placate them. Striking how the psalmist, how he reflects on this, Remember in Psalm 17, the psalmist puts it this way. When he's speaking about the wicked man, the psalmist prays, deliver me from the wicked, which are thy sword, men which are thy hand, O Lord. Striking there because the psalmist takes the truth that you and I have been meditating upon this evening and he individuates it. He says it's not only true of great nations, he says, Men, those great and afflicting men that he faced, even they individually are but swords in the hand of God. What that means for you and for me is again, it's again to remind us that our first, our only calling, friend is to seek reconciliation with Jehovah. They are but swords in his hand. It is foolish then to try to make peace with the rod, rather than he who holds them. But for the Christian, friend, what does this mean? Well, it means, beloved, of course, that we are to take comfort. However strong these folks may seem, they are but at God's disposal. They are but his rod and his sword. And when he is finished with them, he will dispose of them. They will accomplish his purposes, whatever their intentions might be. And so friend, rather than placating the world and rather than seeking an alliance with them, the text urges us first to repose in God and then to rest confident that they will only do, only do that which is in his will, according to his dominion. So the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous. Why? Because it is God who holds them. And so friend, you and I, we may go and we must go to the living God. Seeking only friend, security through him and from him. however fearful the world may seem, however great their power may be. Friend, the text reminds us that the only safe place is in reconciliation with the God who controls, holds all things in his power. It was the lesson Judah forgot and the one that we mustn't. Amen.