God's Sovereignty in the Psalms

So I have a wireless because I'm like a jitterbug and if I start moving too far to the left or right So they've wired me up.

You might want to turn that volume down just a little bit Okay, well So thankful to be here with you this morning Certainly enjoyed brother Mike's message Tough text But The truth as it is.

So as we continue on in the sovereignty of God, I hope that we will be blessed All right for my time and my subject is the sovereignty God in the Psalms gonna ask you if you would turn to Psalm 148 Psalm 148 we will read the entire Psalm and for the most part we will stay here I will not ask you to turn to too many other passages But I do want to read the Psalm Psalm 148 and right now I'm reading The King James Version and let me just say this.

I do struggle a little bit with my eye lately.

So if I Stumble, please don't throw rocks at me.

That's good.

Thank you.

So let us read the Word of God together Psalm 148 Praise you the Lord praise you the Lord from the heavens Praise them in the heights Praise ye him all the angels praise ye him all he all his hosts Praise ye him sun and moon praise them all the stars of light Praise them you heavens of heavens and you waters that are above the heavens Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He has also established them forever He has made a decree which shall not pass praise the Lord from the earth you dragons and all deep all deeps Fire and hail snow and vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars Beasts and all cattle creeping things and flying fowl kings of the earth and all people Princes and all judges of the earth both young men and maidens old men and children Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent.

His glory is above the earth and heaven He has exalted the horn of his people the praise of all his saints Even the children of Israel a people near to him Praise ye the Lord and may God bless his word To our hearts and to our lives so as I said my subject is to consider the sovereignty of God from the Psalms and that is why I chose this psalm, but I sometimes in in messages you you would think that as the message begins to unwind that you will find out what the overall Point of the message is well, let me say to you this today That the very first few things that I say are really the heart of what I wanted to present to you so if you if you would listen in the beginning as please listen towards the end also, but Again, my point will be right out of the chute and let me say this as we begin The truth and the proclamation of the sovereignty of the living God Is not to be set forth merely for our intellectual consumption the sovereignty of God is it is not something that we should just consider just to to Defend or enhance our doctrinal stance It's not just to establish a good subject for a conference The truth of God's sovereign rule Is to be proclaimed for his glory For his praise and for his honor Anything less than that is an affront to the subject of the sovereignty of God If you read that psalm with me, it is striking that the psalm opens up not with Argumentation Not with an opinion But it opens up with praise the Lord if you read it with me You will see that in the first five verses alone Praise the Lord is is shouted out nine times Look at the seventh verse Praise the Lord Look at the 13th verse Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent.

Look at the 14th verse Praise ye Lord God's sovereign rule God's sovereignty is to be front and center and it is to elicit and cause us to praise them and The entire book of Psalms if you read through the book of Psalms You will find most interesting that how often God's sovereign rule is Spoken of and how often there is to be worship in that understanding matter of fact, let me just Have you consider this if you were to read the closing hymns of the closing Psalms? Here's what you will find If you read Psalm 145, it begins with I will extol you If you read Psalm 146 and it will say praise you the Lord praise the Lord.

Oh my soul in Psalm 147 and opens up with praise the Lord in Psalm 149 it Opens up with praise the Lord in Psalm 150.

It opens up with praise the Lord I Trust that that's why we're here today.

I Trust that we did not come here today just to become a better Calvinist although I hope we do I Trust we came here today to to sit and humbly worship this sovereign God He alone is worthy God's sovereignty friends Let me let me say this and yeah, I get excited.

If you know me, I will get excited That's why they got me hooked up so I can move.

Let me say this God's sovereignty and and God's rule never needs to be defended It needs to be proclaimed it needs to be declared it needs to be as Charles Spurgeon once said about the gospel Charles Spurgeon once said that the gospel is like a lion and He said you don't have to tell a lion what to do.

You just have to open the cage and I say to you that the sovereignty of God Does not need to be defended.

It needs to be declared And I trust that's why we're here today to declare that the God who we worship The God who we sing to is not some impotent God But he is the ruler overall Even as brother Mike brought out in his teaching That God does indeed do whatsoever He pleases to do in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth And there are none that could stay his hand and there are none that can say to him.

What are you doing? And that order caused us as his people to praise him to worship him Isaiah says that the Lord has Purposed and who shall know it? His hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back my intent this morning is to look at Psalm 148 and to break it down or to Examine it on the three headings as I see it in the psalm in verses 1 through 6 I want us to consider the sovereignty of God in the heavens above and And then in verses 7 through 13, I would ask us that we will consider the sovereign rule of God among the the affairs of the earth and then finally To look at verse 14 and consider the sovereignty of God concerning the calling of his own people through the Lord Jesus Christ and that just as a way of introduction as we get there, I Cannot I will not separate God's sovereign rule in the predestinating work and calling of his people From the sovereign work of the son of God on the got this cross You cannot separate those two.

So as we consider this I Hope this will be something that causes us to praise the Lord.

I don't mean just jump up and and Put on some some words or some some outward Demonstration I mean cause us in our hearts to worship This God who is worthy of our praise the first section then in verses 1 through 6 And let me read it to you again since we're not really gonna move from this psalm the sovereignty of God in the heavens above or in the things above Praise ye the Lord praise the Lord from the heavens praise them in the heights praise them all his angels Praise him all his host praise him sun and moon Praise them all the stars of light praise them you heavens of heavens and you waters that be above the heavens Let them praise the name of the Lord that he commanded and they were created He has established them forever Mm-hmm forever and ever he has made a decree which shall not pass God's sovereign rule is to be seen in the in the creation Sustaining of the things that are above in the heavens themselves It is to be found in the rule over the principalities And the powers and the hosts and the things above God's sovereign rule is to be acknowledged in the in the placement in the movement of the stars in the moon Principles of the causes of these things The reality that God has established them Who else but a sovereign God could proclaim that he hung the world? Upon nothing who else but a sovereign God could separate the waters that are above from the waters That are below and then say you can come this far But no further look at it in verse 5 and verse 6 exactly what it says Speaking of the heavens and the waters above the heavens let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He established them forever and ever he has made a decree which shall not Who else but a sovereign God? Can maintain and command myriads of angels You know about you when I read about angels in the Bible great powerful beings Principalities and armies in heaven and and guess what they all do God's bidding Because God is sovereign he speaks and They obey now when I also say this at this point up to now I would think that many Regardless of their theological premise would say amen to that Well, I believe that I believe that God is sovereign Yep God made everything the angels every one of them are from the hand of God he alone is the creator and I agree that God is sovereign in the movement of the stars and the and the causes of life and I believe gravity is in place because God is sovereign over gravity I Would think that many people up to this point would say amen but if you dig a little further down in today, I'm thinking you might Find that when it comes to the sovereignty of God as it pertains to the salvation of men That all of a sudden they would begin to recoil They begin to say now wait a minute now I believe that God is sovereign over the moon and the stars and the and even the angels and I believe God is is sovereign in all the things of heaven But now when it comes to the salvation of man and his own free will and choice and all those other things Well, I'm not so sure Many, you know me.

I'm not that bashful about the scriptures So I want to say something to you Is your purse if that's your belief if you believe that God is sovereign in the heavens above and the causes of the moon and the stars and the angels and principalities and among the armies of heaven and yet you do not believe that God is sovereign in the in the Salvation of a man's soul and it do you really feel that comfortable to take God's sovereign rule and start putting it in Little-boxes and say God could be sovereign over this and God could be sovereign over that but he's not sovereign over this if your theology Begins to limit God's sovereignty Throw your theology out It's not worth it.

It's not worth anything Either God is sovereign or he ain't sovereign The heavens above the angel the moons the stars the heavens of heavens all are under the decree of the one true God who takes counsel from No one I'm gonna quote from brother Job a couple times.

You don't need to turn there Listen to how brother Job puts this He stretches out the north over empty space He hangs the earth on nothing He binds up the water in his thick clouds yet.

The clouds are not broken under it He covers the face of his throne and spreads his cloud over it He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke He stirs up the sea with his power and by his understanding he breaks up the storm by his spirit He adorns the heaven his hand pierces the fleeing serpent now listen to what he says Indeed, these are the mere fringes of His way and how small whisper we hear of him, but the thunder of his power Who can understand I hope you're willing to say praise the Lord That God is sovereign over the heavens in the heavens of heavens.

I Hope that we came here today to to bow down before his sovereignty Not to resist it not to use it as a tool to to again try to prove a theological stance praise the Lord that The stars keep their cost because God keeps the stop that's my first Point to us this morning The God is sovereign in the things above The things unseen the things beyond us the heavens of heavens God is in the second place I would ask us to then consider the sovereignty of God as it concerns the earth and All that's in it, and I see it here and again in the psalm, and I'll read it to you again, and this is from Psalm verse 7 through verse 13 Praise the Lord from the earth you dragons and all the deeps fire and hail snow and vapor snow and vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word Mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars beasts and all cattle Creeping things in flying fowl kings of the earth and all people Princes and all judges of the earth both young men and maidens Old men and children let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent And his glory is above the earth Not only is God sovereign Over the heavens that are above us and all that therein lies But God is the sovereign one over all the affairs of this earth and Look at it.

I'm not making it up verse 7 Look what it says all that dwell in the waters Look at verse 10 the beast the cattle all that walks on the earth Look again all that creeps and crawls all that fly Who but the sovereign God? Could declare That the sparrow does not fall to the ground now.

I must tell you what happened here as I thought of that Very thought that the sparrow doesn't fall to the ground without his decree.

I began to think I Wonder how many sparrows there really are And so I began to do a little bit of research And so I went to good old, mr.

Google and I started to look up birds And I don't know how these people come up with the numbers they come up with but I'm gonna give them some leadway latitude but Apparently there's somebody in this world that counts birds.

And so as I looked it up, here's what they said They said that there are 10,000 species of birds and that there's 400 million birds in the world today 400 million Well, I thought that's pretty amazing.

That's pretty astounding.

God is sovereign over every single one of those birds and Remember and I'll say it again and again either God is or he isn't Either he's absolute or he's not Either he is God or he isn't God And so I thought about some other things because he talks about the things that crawl and creep So I said, okay, mr.

Google Let's talk.

Let's look at bugs and this one just blew my mind Again I don't know who counts all of this But as I looked up bugs and things that crawl they say that there are 91,000 species of bugs 91,000 species of bugs and this will really get you they say in their estimates that the you ready There's 10 quadrillion Bugs on the earth at any one time 10 quadrillion Okay They might be off the quad too, but and so I kept on going and I said, okay Talks about the everything that's in the deep.

And so I said, I'm gonna look up fish I like fish anyway, because you know, I love the fish and they say according to them.

There's 34,000 known species of fish.

So I said I'm gonna just keep on running the list and I looked up animals And they say that there are at least eight million species of animals they say That there are at least Ten Trillion ants on the ground at any one time ten Trillion ants on the ground at any one time Now I didn't do that just as so that you would get a chuckle.

I wanted to see I wanted to try to unfold I Wanted to try to to work on my praise in my worship of my God when I read in this psalm that God Has established all things the dragons in the deeps the fire and the hail the snow and the vapor the stormy wind The mountains and the hills the fruitful trees and all cedars and by the way, I looked up trees According to the same people who count bugs.

There's I guess the Department of tree counting And they say that there are three Trillion trees at any one time.

So just just imagine it.

They're close.

Okay, and We are told that not a sparrow falls to the ground without God's Sovereign rule and play and if they're even close, can you consider how that order elicit and Draw from us praise that there are some 400 million birds in the world.

There are three Trillion trees at any one time and here's what I believe And here's what the elders here believe We believe that not one leaf of those three Trillion trees falls to the ground without God's decree You see this Reality of the serenity of God or to humble us we begin to see how puny we really are And even as we sang how great is our God? How exalted is this King of Kings and Lord of Lords? The one even whom brother Mike spoke of that could would use the evil of evil men to fulfill his purpose for his ultimate glory and Ultimately for the good of his people and I wanted to ask you do you believe that this morning? Oh, it's easy to say we don't believe that there's a single molecule outside of the of the sovereign decree of God And I know we do and I believe that I hope we believe that but do we really believe it? I Found myself a drive-in here this morning My wife was gonna come a little bit later and I'm driving here and I'm thinking of the this Thinking about this whole covert thing And I found myself as I'm driving and here I am coming to preach on the sovereignty of God And I'm gonna mention that God rules in every single aspect of life And what do I find myself thinking of as I'm driving down 17? Wow, I wonder if a lot of people show up because it's COVID thing I Almost had a pull off to the side of the road and say man.

Are you that stupid? Do we really believe God is sovereign? Do we really believe that our God is? Ruler of all things and check this out Not one of those ten trillion ants that are on the ground at any one time will ever bite your feet a Part from the decree of God Now if I step in a pile of fire ants, the first thing that I'm gonna say is not praise the Lord But the reality is praise the Lord Because they're his ants Because they're his sparrows this is our God Listen friends this ought to lift us off the ground God rules God reigns in the glorious Sometimes I wonder as My background is more from a Baptist Church, but but but I wonder sometimes What are we? Are we really the worshipers of God? we talk about the sovereign rule of God and his majesty and his glory and that and that everything is by his decree and and and sometimes we sit there saying Yep Praise the Lord.

That's why the psalmist says it this way.

Praise the Lord.

He can't get away from it He cannot get away from praise of the Lord God's rule Not only is in the creatures That he commands but God's rule is in the Things that pertain to the people who live on the earth.

Also look at it in verse 11 through verse 13 Kings of the earth all people Princes all the judges of the earth But the young men and maidens old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name is Excellent.

His glory is above the earth and the heaven, you know that scripture that we all seem to know at least most of this Most of us and to most part the one that says that the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand and like a river Of water he turns it Wherever he wills or cause us to praise the Lord Not just a memory scripture God rules God reigns So, let me go back to my question that I asked before do you still believe that God is sovereign in this but not in that Do you still believe that man? Excuse me that man can frustrate the sovereign God of the universe Isn't that really the issue with man? I Will be my own Sovereign, I will bow to none.

I will praise none if I decide to believe in Jesus And that's why I say to you if that's your theology Throw it away That's not gonna help.

It's gonna hurt you I'm gonna go on a far far legend.

I'm gonna say there isn't a single Arminian in heaven.

How's that? Every child of God is a Calvinist in heaven.

I'll even say this.

There's no such thing as an Arminian when he prays when that Person who believes that he can control his own destiny gets down on his knees and begins to cry out to God To do a great work in the in the in the lost souls of their own children or grandchildren or friends or neighbors They're not asking God to do something that they can do.

They're asking God to do something that only he could do Sovereign one What God says he says you really think that I must I'm like you God is not only sovereign over the ten trillion ants that walk on the ground.

He's also sovereign over every single soul All are empowered according to his purpose Look at it.

It doesn't miss much, right? Kings all people princes judges Young people old maidens old men children.

Listen, I don't care if you're a doctor a lawyer an Indian chief.

I Don't care if you're black blue yellow or polka-dotted God is sovereign over you God does whatever he pleases to do with you and me And I don't know about you but praise the Lord Could you imagine If this was not true, could you imagine the condition we'd be in if God was not? the sovereign ruler over all God is the sovereign ruler over every single person of every single background Of every single time every single culture He's the sovereign over the healthy and the sick and our brother read it who who makes the halt and who makes the lame Who created the ear and I love to do when we pray? I love to say that so shall not he that made the I see shall not he who created the ear here friends It's all by decree And that does not destroy our responsibility Matter of fact, it gives greater weight to it Again even as our brother and I'm sure brother Keith will highlight that The God's sovereign rule in no way frustrates inhibits or or Causes sinful man to act but every man acts of his own will and yet God is behind there and God is Decreeing that all things will come to pass in the affairs of every single life Let me read again from brother Joe You know, I thought it was interesting a couple of sections to read from Joe But I thought about that a little bit and I said, well, you know something if anyone learned about the sovereignty of God it was Joe I mean if you want to talk about someone that God dragged through the mud It was Joe.

You know anything about the book of Job.

It's not till you get to the end of the book Because you remember his friends They were they was helpful enough to hurt him You remember the end of the book of Job and God says to Joe You get up.

I'm gonna ask you some questions And God begins to take him down that path he's where were you when I created the heavens And God walks him through the creatures.

He says, where are you when when the deer? Gives birth up on the hills.

Can you tell? Job's initial responses basically says, uh-huh.

I Don't want a part of this And then he even says I'm vile.

Don't ask me Lord, you know, God comes back a second time And God says no no, I'm not done with you stand up again I'm gonna ask you more questions and it's not till it gets to the very end Where Joe begins to real so Job is a very good example of one who learned the sovereignty of God by experience Let me read again from Brother Job concerning how all things are decreed and that friends even even the personality The character if you're short it's by decree If you're tall, it's by decree If you're heavy stay away from Dunkin Donuts.

I don't know what else If you're bald, it's by decree unless you shave It's all by decree.

This is what he said and it's God who who is behind it and not me and I hate to say Behindings it makes it sound like God is is somewhere in the distance.

No, no friends.

It's God Listen what it says it says the wing of the ostrich waves proudly But her are her wings and pinions like the kindly stalk For she leaves her eggs on the ground and she warms them in the dust and she forgets that a foot may crush them Or that a wild beast may break them and she treats her young harshly as though they were not hers Her labor is in vain without concern Here it is because God Deprived her of wisdom and did not endow her with understanding But when she lifts herself on high she scorns the horse and the rider now, I want to be careful But I want to say this Some of what we are experiencing today as a country Where we have all these groups basically vying against one another and and and the things that we're talking about this life matters and this one has Privilege and this one is this and this one is that let me tell you what I think in part.

I Think it's an attack against the sovereignty of God You know why because God made me a man a white man Doesn't mean I'm any better or any worse, but that's what God made me Am I supposed to be sorry for it? God is sovereign, isn't he? God made you a different color Will you speak a different language? You come from a different background praise the Lord Let me read again from brother joke with him our wisdom and strength He has counsel and understanding Listen, if he breaks a thing down It cannot be rebuilt If he imprisons a man There could be no release if he withholds the waters they dry up if he sends them out They overwhelm the earth with him or strength and prudence.

Listen the deceived and the deceiver above his This is our God the deceived and the deceiver above his He leads counselors away Plundered he makes fools of the judges He loosens the bonds of Kings and binds their waist with a belt.

He leads princes away plundered He Overthrows the mighty he deprives the trusted ones of speech and he takes away the discernment of the elders He pours contempt on princes and disarms the mighty He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light he makes nations great and Destroys them he enlarges nations and guides them He takes the way the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness My friends, this is our God.

I was talking with brother Mike Mark during the break.

We're just talking And we were talking about the sovereignty of God and I said it to him and he said it back to me.

I Don't know where I'd be if I didn't understand The God is sovereign I Don't know how I could get up anymore in the morning.

I don't know how I could look out in the world I don't know how I could look at my own soul and Not believe that God is the ruler over all and that he's a good God and he rules Sovereignly and he's blessed forever.

I could not believe that And have any sort of sanity God rules in the heavens above God rules in the things of this earth and then In the last point that I wish to make it's found in verse 14 He has established the horn of his people The praise of all the Saints even the children of Israel a people near to him Praise you the Lord God's sovereign rule concerning his people through the work of the Son of God Not struggled a little bit with this verse trying to understand exactly who was in view And so I read some commentaries and and here's what I found that some of them Will say that this directly is speaking about God's elect people I Don't have any problem with that Others will say well it it speaks and and points more to Christ as a savior of his people So here's what I'm Going to do at this point.

I'm gonna take the middle road But it's not really the middle road you see because I said to you this morning Earlier when it comes to God's sovereign rule.

I do not believe you can Biblically or in any sort of reality Separate the work of the Son of God on God got this cross from the people for whom he came to go got this cross And that God is sovereign in the affairs of his people Because as again my brother mentioned the cross Was not a second the cross was not a reaction by the way isn't that great a Sovereign God never reacts a Sovereign God acts a sovereign God decrees And so I will say this I believe it's speaking in this verse That he's exalted the horn of his people the praise of all the Saints even the children of Israel people near to him Praise you the Lord and that it is to be understood in light of God's sovereign work Not only in the sending of his Son and of the cross But in the salvation of his people and I will offer this text and just as a point Listen to what it says in the New Testament It says blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly Places in Christ 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 the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise and listen to the praise of his glory and His grace by which he has made us accepted in the beloved, you know, what convinced me I can't get over how God took my dead soul and breathed life into it I Can't get over those words.

It is Finished can you I can't get over the words my sheep hear my voice And they give unto them eternal life The Good Shepherd gives his life to the sheep.

No man plucks them out of my father's hands Friends, this is our God Never be ashamed of the sovereignty of God and even brother Keith said it Wednesday Don't be ashamed to be to call yourself a Calvinist.

Just make sure you you make the other person understand what a Calvinist is Okay Because the Calvinist is none other than someone who believes that God is the sovereign God over all Then you might have some messed-up doctrines along the way There isn't any perfect Calvinist either by the way.

I don't care if you're a six-point Calvinist Oh, wait a minute.

There isn't six points, right? The best you could be is a five-pointer But that's what convinced me They got a sovereign friends Is that he took my dead soul? No one else but a sovereign God Says that I was found of those who sought me night sought me not Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins He made us alive together in Christ by grace.

You haven't saved And that a lot of yourselves is the gift of God what not of works the city is supposed Why is it not of works because God is sovereign? That's not gonna share his glory What some puny little worm like me? You see my whole point as I close Is this my friends the sovereignty of God order we order draw worship from us? As we grow deeper in the grace and now is the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us We ought to become in in humility in and with more Humbleness of mind praise you the Lord Praise you Lord for the fire ants Praise you for the for the the dust ball Praise you for the flame-thrown squirrels for that matter You see friends God's sovereignty is not just a doctrinal stance Praise God.

It is something that we can hold on to.

Thank thank God praise God that the sovereignty of God is the anchor for our theology But never let your theology Never praise your theology praise the God of your theology Praise the sovereign God let everything and that's the way the book of Psalms closes by the way and years ago.

I've made business cards For when we were pastor in churches and and my business card still today reads the last verse in Psalm 150 Want to know what the last verse in Psalm 150 says it says let everything that has breath Praise the Lord, I'm not going to disappoint my brother Mike So I'm gonna close this way Do you know God I'm not asking you if you know about God Do you know if not Then I bid you to come Come to the Savior Come to the cross Come to the to the sovereign Son of God who so loved us that he gave himself for us If you don't have peace in your soul today, then before you leave may God grant it to you.