Are You Content With Your Lot In Life? - [1 Corinthians 7:17-24]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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May 29, 2011

00:00: This morning I think you're going to be really encouraged, because no matter what has happened in your past,
00:06: God is King, and God knows what is best for His glory, and what is best for your good.
00:12: We'll all see this weave together. I have a question, though, to start, and that is, are you a content person?
00:20: Are you a content person, described by others as one having lots of contentment?
00:26: Are you content with what you have? Are you content with what you don't have?
00:37: Are you content with where you are? Your situation in life?
00:43: Your ethnic background? Social background? Let's get very personal.
00:49: Are you content, are you joyfully content, even though you have an unsaved spouse?
00:57: Are you content even though you have unsaved children? Are you joyfully content even though your job is less than fulfilling?
01:08: Are you content if your health isn't optimal? Are you content to be single, even though you'd like to be married?
01:21: Yeah, I would only be happy if I'd have a spouse. I'd only be happy,
01:28: I could be happy if my husband or wife would get saved. I want you to know that if you live in Nazi Germany, communist
01:37: Cuba, if you're free or if you're a slave, you can have joy and you can have contentment.
01:43: Let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, and see with our very own eyes a doctrine about God that is a wonderful balm for the ailments of the soul.
01:54: The sovereignty of God. Maybe my favorite topic short of the cross of Christ.
02:00: The sovereignty of God. If I had two messages to preach in my life, the first one would be on substitutionary atonement, the second one would be on the sovereignty of God, and it would be in that order.
02:09: My favorite things to talk about, and it happens to be our passage today, as we simply go verse by verse by verse through 1
02:16: Corinthians. And we're up to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 17 through 24.
02:22: And we'll learn this morning about a God who personally cares for His people, and who is sovereign over all.
02:29: He makes no mistakes. He is all wise. The universe is going on track. No circumstance, listen to me, no circumstance can inhibit you as a
02:40: Christian from having joy and contentment. Your joy and your contentment, or your lack of joy and your lack of contentment, it has nothing to do with to whom you're married.
02:51: If you're married at all, if your kids are saved, how much money you have, what your health is like, it does not matter.
02:57: You know, you can get a new job, a new wife, new kids, and you still have the old you. You can say, you know what, if I'm single,
03:05: I can get a wife, I can have some kids, I can have a husband, but we still have to live with the old us.
03:12: So we're going to learn this morning that it has nothing to do with circumstances, it has nothing to do with marital status, about our joy and contentment.
03:19: We can be content where God has called us. And I like that. I like that.
03:25: As I was studying this passage the last two weeks, since Phil was here, I got two weeks to study, and you know what that means for you.
03:31: It's like three sermons in two weeks. First of all, I've prepared for two weeks. Second of all, I haven't preached for two weeks, and so then it's just pretty much excitement.
03:40: I was studying, and I thought, you know, I normally wouldn't like this passage that much. And I could probably prove it by asking you the question.
03:48: In 1 Corinthians 7, verses 17 through 40, how many underline, if you've got an older Bible, did you underline one of those verses?
03:57: Did you underline one word? Maybe you underlined verse 23, or bought with a price. But these verses from 17 to 40 aren't typically the underlineable verses.
04:10: How many people here have anything underlined between 17 and 40? Some have. How many people here underline every verse in the
04:16: Bible? When my kids were little and we were teaching them, you know, you underline some things, you know, that are really convicting or something, kind of this is how you're a little mini
04:25: Carl Barth, neo -Orthodox person. You underline the things that mean something to you. They become Scripture.
04:31: No, just kidding. But you underline things. And I remember Haley and then Luke, then they were getting, you know, catching on, and yellow and pencil and all that, and they were just underlining every single thing.
04:42: And I thought, that's good theology. Everything is underlineable. But my point is verses 17 through 40 don't really hit us in a way that I think they should.
04:57: The richness of the Word, the amazing discoveries, when you dig into verses 17 through 24 for today,
05:04: I think you're going to say, oh, I love these verses. And there's a gold mine of God's goodness and wisdom and knowledge in every single verse.
05:13: You don't want to miss one verse, do you? I saved my love letters from Kim, and I have them in a secret file, a secret attaché.
05:25: Sometimes I pull them out and re -read them. I don't really read only the underlined things.
05:31: I don't think I really underline things on those, but I just wanted to re -read the whole thing.
05:36: And this passage, 17 to 24, you're going to see three spiritual vitamins, let's call them, designed to help boost your spiritual stamina in a very, very tough world, regardless of your status.
05:50: I could say it this way. Three kind of protein boosters to help you stay content and joyful no matter what your lot is in life.
06:04: We're only going to get to the first one today, so... That first spiritual vitamin is grip
06:12: God's sovereign call. If you'd like to be content, if you'd like to increase your contentment, if you'd like to be joyful, even though your circumstances are bad and sin -tainted, you need to grip
06:21: God's sovereign call. Now, let's take a look at verses 17 through 24, and I'm going to read these verses, and I want you to see if you can hear and then see with your own eyes what is the word that's repeated.
06:35: If you'd like to study the Bible, one of the best things you could do is to say, are there repeated words?
06:41: Are there repeated phrases? Is there an idea that's repeated? Even though the vocabulary isn't exactly alike, but it's a repeated idea, and you're going to see this word just come out very, very clear.
06:52: There's one word that unlocks this whole paragraph, and if you don't get it, you don't understand the passage.
06:58: So let me read 17 to 24 as we're learning how to accept our lot in life with joy under the sovereign hand of God.
07:07: Verse 17, Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which
07:13: God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised?
07:22: Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised?
07:28: Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
07:37: Each one should remain in the condition into which he was called. Were you a slave when called?
07:43: Do not be concerned about it, but if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. For he who was called in the
07:51: Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
07:59: You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
08:11: Any idea what the key word is? The call of God.
08:17: When God calls you, where He calls you, when He calls you, what should be our response?
08:23: If you want to know what this passage is about, it's about the call of God. And Paul has a very strategic digression here.
08:31: He wants to help people who are married, who have been divorced, who are single, but then he has this digression to bring out another point about the call of God.
08:43: People at Corinth wanting to change their marital status. People at Corinth wanting to have a spouse that was saved.
08:52: One writer said, The unity of the church at Corinth was seriously fractured. Not only were there numerous parties and factions, but some groups were encouraging those with the gift of celibacy to get married, while others were encouraging those who were married to become celibate.
09:08: Slaves were chafing under their bondage and were trying to find spiritual justification for demanding freedom.
09:14: But the issue here is you can be content and happy and joyful right where you are.
09:25: The sovereign call of God. Turn a few words to chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians as I remind you how many times this word call is used.
09:36: And how popular it is for Paul. I think it's probably, if you ask me in the middle of the night, up at the camp out or where we're going for the beach party, and you knock on my room in the middle of the night, and you said,
09:48: Mike, what's the key word of all of 1 Corinthians? Summarizing 1 Corinthians with one word, it's going to be what?
09:55: Call, or called, or calling. It has everything to do with that. These carnal people at Corinth, of course they needed to be told, stop this, do that.
10:02: But it all stems from who they are in Christ as they were called by God's sovereign call.
10:08: I just want to just quickly review. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1. Paul, called by the will of God.
10:14: 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2. To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those in every place who call upon the name of the
10:25: Lord. Same chapter, verse 9. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his
10:32: Son. Verse 24. But to those who are called, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 24, both
10:38: Jews and Greeks. And then lastly, before we define what the call is, verse 26, to show you that call is found everywhere.
10:48: 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. For consider your calling, brothers, not many of you who were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many of noble birth, etc.
10:58: Alright, let's summarize it. If you understand the divine call, it will help you with contentment and with joy.
11:07: Say to yourself, I'm struggling with contentment, I'm struggling with joy, I'm acting like a practical atheist.
11:13: How many people here are atheists? Well, I don't know if anybody's got enough courage to raise their hand.
11:19: Karen Ulo just fanned her face, but I don't think she means I'm an atheist. This and this are different.
11:26: Practical atheism says, I'm going to act like there's no sovereign God, and I just complain, I murmur,
11:32: I'm not content with my lot in life. That's practical atheism, and you are going to be helped this morning if you can get your mind wrapped around what is the call.
11:42: What is the call? And lots of times we think, oh, the call is, my God called the ministry. No, what's your call?
11:48: If you're a Christian, you've been called, and Paul says, I want you to remember your call, so it helps you with your lot in life.
11:55: It helps you want to be everything you can be by the grace of God, not saying, I wish
12:00: I was so -and -so, I wish I was so -and -so, I wish I was married to so -and -so, if I had to marry so -and -so.
12:07: What is the call? It's called the effectual call. Let me tell you what the call, how the call is described by the
12:17: Westminster Confession. A good definition. Don't write it down, just listen. All those whom
12:24: God has predestined unto life, and those only, He is pleased, listen now, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call.
12:39: He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.
12:51: Enlightening their minds, spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh.
13:01: Renewing their wills, and by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Christ Jesus.
13:11: Yet, so as they come freely, being made willing by His grace. This is what we have, the word call is, if you think theologically, the effectual call.
13:23: Irresistible grace. Invincible grace. Now, there's two kinds of calling in Scripture.
13:28: The first calling is, everybody repent and believe that Jesus Christ is
13:33: God. That's called the general call. If you meet somebody down at Worcester, and you say, you must believe that the
13:38: Lord Jesus Christ, was a sin bearer, was raised from the dead. You must believe you're a sinner, and Jesus was,
13:43: He's the only way of salvation. Begin to preach the gospel to them. That is the general call. But the problem is, men are depraved.
13:52: Men are unable to respond to that. Adam, before he fell, he could hear the words of God, and respond.
13:58: But after Adam fell, the general call wasn't enough, because sin, and depravity, and inability, and corruption, makes the human unable to answer the call.
14:13: Everybody believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, they're dead in trespasses and sins. They're not able to hear.
14:19: They're spiritually dead, spiritually blind. They can't hear. They're spiritually deaf. They're unwilling to be saved.
14:29: So, if you say, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're not willing, they're not able, they don't want to, something has to be done to them, to make their willer want to.
14:42: To make them willing to believe. Something has to be done to their nature, to their person.
14:48: How can you take a dog, sometimes I'll try to do tricks for the dog. Tricks to the dog, rather.
14:54: Sometimes I'll make her do tricks. And I try to give her food, that I know she's not built to eat.
15:02: And so, if it's meat, it's very easy, because the dog's right over there. I grilled some burgers outside yesterday, and I took a little bit about that raw, as we say in New England, hamburger, that raw hamburger, and I gave it to her, and she was following me around.
15:15: She was following me around. I wanted to take some of that hamburger, and just push it up on the top of the roof of her mouth, and just kind of like peanut butter, just have it stick there.
15:22: Just to kind of make her not eat it as fast. This is going nowhere. Let's go back to the passage. I can tell when the congregation's like, okay.
15:30: But sometimes I'll try to give her food, that I know she doesn't want to eat. But I'll pretend like it's a treat. And then I'll give it to her.
15:35: I gave her a nut the other day, a piece of walnut that was in my oatmeal. And I'm to the age now, where every morning
15:41: I have the same breakfast. It's oatmeal. Put some walnuts in there, and some blueberries, and so she was over there. I'm like, this is really good.
15:48: You know, good for you. Here's a special treat. You say the special word treat, and she puts that walnut in her mouth, and she's like, and then just spits it out.
15:55: I'm like, I'm trying to trick her. It's not in her nature to like fruits and nuts.
16:02: She's not from California. So how do you have a person who must repent and believe?
16:11: God doesn't repent and believe for you. How does that person who must repent and believe, but has no nature for God, who hates
16:17: God, who's an enemy of God, who can't do anything, Ephesians chapter 2 and many other passages, they can't change their own spots.
16:24: They can't change their own stripes. They can't do anything. A dog can't say to himself, I'm going to force myself to have a different nature.
16:31: So something has to be done to that person. That person can't do it to himself.
16:37: The world's certainly not going to do it. Satan's not going to do it. So it has to be God who affectionately calls the people, who affectionately, by the
16:46: Spirit's work, works in the life of the person. It's God alone doing that work.
16:51: And you think about the triune God, we sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, God in three persons, blessed Trinity, the Father, the architect of salvation, the
16:59: Son, the one who accomplished salvation at the cross, and then the one who applies what the
17:05: Father's Son has done, is the Holy Spirit, as He affectionately uses prayer and the preached gospel to change people so now they become willing.
17:20: One man described the call as that efficacious operation of the Spirit by which men are brought into the kingdom of God.
17:27: B .B. Warfield said, Sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or assistance to save himself, but precisely of saving.
17:37: And Jesus Christ has not come to advise, or urge, or woo, or to help him save himself, but to save him.
17:44: That's the effectual call. Shorthand in your text today, the call of God. If you are saved, it's because God has called you.
17:52: Through the preaching, and then through the effectual call, and then God made you a Christian, 1
17:58: Peter chapter 1. He made you alive, Ephesians chapter 2. He made you alive,
18:03: Colossians chapter 2. The canons of Dort said in 1618, it's priceless, it's timeless.
18:14: But when God accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect, or works in them through conversion, He not only causes the gospel to be preached to them, and powerfully illumines their minds by His Holy Spirit, that they might rightly understand and discern the things of the
18:29: Spirit. But by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, He pervades the most inner recesses of that man.
18:39: Everybody be saved. External call. People can say, Nah, forget it. The Spirit of God working on the inside of people, and changing them into a new person, cannot be resisted.
18:50: That's why we call it irresistible grace, or invincible grace. Now, think about that for just a second.
18:59: If God alone saves you, did He not know exactly when to save you? You say, what do you mean by that?
19:05: I'm getting lost. If you could contribute to your salvation, friends, let me just look some of you in the eyes right now.
19:12: You should have saved yourself a lot earlier. You would have had a lot fewer regrets.
19:21: You wouldn't have married that person. You wouldn't have married that other person. You wouldn't have committed all those sins left, that though forgiven, haunt you forever.
19:31: You would have saved yourself a lot earlier. And Paul is trying to say this. Some people say, you know what?
19:38: I'm circumcised, I don't want to be. I'm a slave, I don't want to be. I'm free, I'm glad I am.
19:44: I'm married, I'm celibate, I'm this, I'm that. And Paul says, when God saved you as a slave, did
19:50: He know what He was doing? When God saved you when you had already married an unbeliever.
19:56: As an unbeliever, you're both unbelievers. And what do unbelievers do? They act like unbelievers and they both marry unbelievers. And then
20:02: God saved you. If you get it that He affectionately called you then, then you can, as Elizabeth Elliot says, bloom where you're planted versus try to undo all this.
20:12: We believe in the sovereignty of God that He saves you exactly when He wants to save you, not a minute before.
20:18: And that's what Paul is trying to say. These people are trying to get out of their situation. If only my circumstances were different and I would have got saved earlier, or saved later,
20:29: I'd be better. And Paul says God saved you at the exact right time. So, think about your marriage.
20:37: Or how about this? Think about it if you're not married. God knows exactly what
20:42: He's doing. When He calls people, He calls them. We don't believe like the
20:49: Pelagians do. I hear preaching and I'll call myself. Me and my own bootstraps,
20:55: I'll pick myself up out of the mire and I'll make myself a Christian. We don't believe that.
21:00: And by the way, if we do believe that, if you believe that, you should have saved yourselves a lot earlier.
21:07: We also don't believe what Pelagian's half -brother taught. Semi -Pelagian.
21:15: Semi -Pelagianism means this, that I cooperate with God. It's God and I, holding hands.
21:22: He kind of makes a first movement, I kind of help him a little bit. We together, you know, I finally get to heaven, as my brother says,
21:28: I high -five God and say, God, we did it. We did it together. Jesus is this gentleman, He would never do anything to you that you wouldn't allow.
21:36: That's a semi -Pelagian. And if that's the case, and you are where you are right now, especially if you have an unbelieving spouse, or you have unbelieving kids, or you're at a job you don't like, you should have cooperated with God a lot sooner.
21:53: Who wants to live like that? If you think you're responsible for your own conversion, that is, your own regeneration, you think you have to regenerate yourself, that just makes you defeated.
22:05: But if you think, I get Christ Jesus, I get forgiveness, I get
22:13: Christ's righteousness, Christ gets my sin, imputed to His account, I get the
22:18: Spirit who seals me to the day of redemption, and God saved me not a minute before, and not a minute after,
22:24: He had designed to do in eternity past. I'm to live in light of who I am now, with the spouse
22:31: I'm with, if I have a spouse, to the glory of God. And Paul says, why would you freak out about your marital status, when
22:38: God called you perfectly at His right time? Pillar Commentary said, in Paul's view, my station in life is under the sovereign and gracious direction of God.
22:53: He assigned it to me and called me to it. Paul tells the Corinthians, no matter what circumstances they find themselves in, whether married or not, circumcised or not, free or not, to conduct their lives, to live according to thus walk.
23:09: There's no need to change to improve yourself in relation to God. God does not reckon one condition better than another in terms of serving
23:16: Him. In fact, God has placed the Corinthians in these circumstances. So do you have an unbelieving spouse?
23:23: God placed you in that circumstance. Do you have a believing spouse? God placed you in that circumstance.
23:29: So if you spend all your time on trying to extract yourself out of your circumstances, you're going to lose joy.
23:41: God is just as sovereign over you as He was over the Corinthians. I don't like to do it all the time, just most of the time.
23:54: If somebody says to me, oh, you're so lucky. I just lie in wait for that question, that statement, that comment.
24:06: If my life was orchestrated by chance, accident, luck, fate, serendipity, karma, coincidence, or kismet, then
24:17: I should be a person with no contentment and with no joy.
24:23: Because what's going to happen in the future? A lot more of random accidents. I don't think it holds very true, but it's the people who believe in the sovereignty of God, and another guy who doesn't believe in the sovereignty of God, and the guy that believes in the sovereignty of God falls down the steps, and he looks over to this friend.
24:39: The friend says, you know what, I'm sorry you had that accident, but he looks back at the friend, and he says,
24:44: I'm glad I got that over with. It's like, okay, that can be pushed too far. I'm not trying to say that.
24:54: But either God is sovereign over every molecule, and every atom, and every proton, and every neutron, or He's not.
25:00: And He sovereignly placed you where you are. Paul Pinnock says the opposite.
25:09: Tell me how much comfort this gives you. We detect in the Genesis story with Joseph, not some dark, predestinarian decree operating behind the scenes, making sure everything works out right.
25:21: What we do encounter is the freedom of God to respond positively and negatively to man's freedom. God weaves into His plan for history the significant choices that we make.
25:31: History is not a computer printout of programmed decisions set long before by an all -determining deity.
25:36: It is much more like a dialogue between the Father and His human respondents. End quote. That doesn't give me joy.
25:45: It gives me sadness and sorrow. If you say to yourself,
25:54: I would like more contentment, I would like more joy, I would like more comfort than friends, if you're a
26:00: Christian, the doctrine for you is the utter and absolute sovereignty of God over everything.
26:09: So much so that you think when God thinks of the world, He thinks in singular decrees. Ephesians 3, the purpose of God.
26:17: Spurgeon, there is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances and the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, that sovereignty will sanctify them all.
26:35: We're not Muslims who believe in a God who controls everything fatalistically. We're a God who believes that God is personal.
26:42: He's triune, and He personally is walking through this world, walking the world through His sovereign hand, doing everything perfectly, and if He makes you a
26:53: Christian, He made you a Christian at the right time. What would be the other result? Well, God, thanks for making me a
26:58: Christian, but you made me a Christian. It could have been about three years earlier. Maybe I kind of would have liked to sin a few more years, and if you're going to make me a
27:05: Christian, I'm going to have eternal security. I wish you just would have made me a Christian five years later, and I could have just sinned a lot more.
27:13: I'm telling you, this is my second blessing right here, the sovereignty of God, the primary truth about Christ's substitutionary atonement, and then secondly, this is my second blessing, the sovereignty of God.
27:30: If I die today, if I die in a week, if I die in five years, I want everyone here to know that God is sovereign over everything, every molecule.
27:43: I want you to be like Samuel Rutherford, who when persecuted, thrown into prison, said,
27:49: I adore and kiss the providence of my Lord, who knoweth well what is most expedient for me and for you and your children.
27:59: So back here in 1 Corinthians 7, verses 17 through 24, whether it's your marital status, your social status, your ethnic status, whether you're a slave or free,
28:10: God calls you, and your response should be, it is well with my soul.
28:16: How can I serve you now? So for the rest of the time this morning, instead of expositing words and sentences of 17 through 24, which we'll do more next week, let me give you six realms of God's sovereignty that will help you increase your joy and your contentment.
28:36: If you get these six realms down, and since God is a king, he has these realms of his sovereignty,
28:41: I could give you many more, but these six will do for the day. These six are in the new book that should be out in a few months that I wrote, and so these six should help you.
28:51: Six realms of God's sovereignty, which stress that God is a sovereign king so that your joy may increase.
28:57: We're gonna cover everything. You need to know that God's sovereign. That's what this passage is all about in 1
29:03: Corinthians 7, 17 through 24, the call of God. The first realm of God's sovereignty, by the way, this is going to be good for us because the world and the evangelical world aren't quite sure how sovereign
29:18: God is. The first one is God is a sovereign king over all his creation.
29:25: For your contentment to be there, your joy, you need to know that God is a sovereign king over all of his creation.
29:32: God is this God who is hands -on. He's a micromanager. His throne is established in the heaven as the sovereignty rules over all.
29:41: And as I think of some of the words about God as sovereign, listen to how great these are.
29:47: Lord, Lord of hosts, Most High, King, Sovereign, Almighty, Throne.
29:53: Listen to the language of sovereignty. Appointed, established, reign, dominion, rule, decree, ordination, command, predestined, foreordained, authority, control.
30:07: Don't you like that? God is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases. And I want to try to force you today to never say,
30:15: I know God is sovereign, but... I don't want to give you any wiggle room.
30:23: I know God is sovereign, but... I want to be able to get some flashcards up, two -sided flashcards like kids have.
30:31: And this one says, Lord, and on the backside it says, Sovereign. This one says, decree, and on the backside it says,
30:37: Sovereign. This one says, the will of man. On the backside, God is sovereign over every one of those things.
30:43: God is sovereign over all His creation. Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 119. My typical strategy is this.
30:50: When we go through a passage, I don't like to have you turn to a lot of other verses because I want you to park in the passage.
30:57: Today is going to be a little bit different. We've been parking in 17 -24, and now we're going to go outside to see some other verses to make sure you get this sovereign, distinguishing call where God calls people sovereignly to Himself.
31:16: Psalm 119 .90 God is sovereign over all creation. How about this?
31:23: Your faithfulness in verses 90 and 91. Psalm 119 .90 and 91. Your faithfulness endures to all generations.
31:31: You have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment, they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
31:42: Can you imagine? The earth, the moon, the stars, the galaxies are the servants of God.
31:52: Serving God. Now let's go back to that whole dog illustration again.
31:59: I like to train the dog. I don't have that much time to train dogs because once you have some kids in the house, you need to train the kids instead of the dogs.
32:05: But I like to have the dog trained just enough so it can do a handful of tricks. And when I say to the dog, Sit. The dog better sit.
32:13: Stay. Lay down. 360. It means spinning in a circle. Bang.
32:18: You're dead. The dog acts like it's dead. And then she doesn't like to roll all the way over.
32:24: She half rolls over like it's some kind of tracer, or something. No, you're really dead. Bang. Okay. That dog is my servant.
32:34: And when I say, Sit. Stay. Come. Lay down. That dog does it. And to think that God talks about the earth and the moon and the stars as his servants.
32:42: Go there. Stop there. Sit. Stay. Come. Around you go. With fascinating obedience, the galaxies instantly respond to the precise commands of God.
32:58: That's why Psalm 135 says, Whatever the Lord pleases, he does. In heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.
33:08: When it comes to creation, did you know the weather is under the sovereign hand of God? Why don't you turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 11.
33:19: Deuteronomy chapter 11. I don't like 30 % chance of rain, theologically.
33:29: God is sovereign. And when we talk about rain, here's what we say.
33:35: It's raining outside. Like God's not driving the rain down. You're going to see the kind of language in scripture.
33:42: It's not, well, it is raining passively. You're going to see things like, God is sending the rain. It's not a chance of rain.
33:51: Not some abstract quality, unexpected, random, unpredictable event.
33:56: Like it's a chance occurrence. No. When God sends rain, he sends rain.
34:02: And Deuteronomy chapter 11 and Deuteronomy 28, we'll just look at two sets of verses that are very interesting.
34:08: So you can think that the hydrological cycle, theologically speaking, is governed by God. Deuteronomy 11.
34:14: He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
34:22: And you say, oh, that's just, he will give the rain. Okay. Then let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 28.
34:30: Deuteronomy 28. One more passage. I could give you
34:35: Leviticus 26, about I give you your rains. I could give you Genesis chapter two. God had caused it not to rain, but here we have
34:43: Deuteronomy chapter 28. My point is, God is sovereign over creation. The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and bless all the work of your hands.
34:58: Shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. John Calvin.
35:06: It is certain that not one drop of rain falls without God's sure command. How about that?
35:15: It is certain that not one drop of rain falls without God's sure command. How about wind?
35:23: Can you control wind? Can you control the sea? Can you put a tether rope on the sun?
35:31: Listen to Psalm 107. For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which he lifted up with the waves of the sea.
35:38: He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Joshua 10. And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped.
35:48: Rabbi Kushner said in his horrible book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Tornadoes, earthquakes are not an act of God.
35:56: Because that would be a case of using God's name in vain. Sovereignty of God is,
36:04: God presides over the sun, moon, star, sleet, hail, snow, cloud, storm, thunder, lightning, earthquakes, fire, ice, floods, famines, tsunamis, forests, and seas.
36:18: Did you know God decides who is going to be born? To whom they will be born? Who is going to be able to bear children?
36:25: Who will not? I think if God is sovereign over creation,
36:32: He must be sovereign over when He calls us, married or single. Number two, God is sovereign over all history.
36:39: The second thing you should do if you'd like to increase your contentment and joy, is recognize that God is sovereign over all history.
36:47: All the election of world leaders, every speck of dust, everything is irrevocably fixed.
36:54: How about Daniel chapter 2? Let's go to Daniel chapter 2. I want you to have a confidence in the sovereignty of God, so you can trust
37:01: Him more. The more you trust Him, the more content you'll be, the more joy you'll have. You say, yeah, but God loves me so much,
37:09: His love is infinite, but you can't trust Him. As my father would say, farther than you can throw Him, then there's a problem.
37:15: But He's sovereignly powerful, and He's powerfully sovereign. Daniel 2 .20
37:20: To show you He's king of all history, that's, by the way, one of the reasons why I like to read history. Daniel answered and said,
37:27: Daniel 2 .20 Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons.
37:34: He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding.
37:44: God is sovereign over political parties, over the government, and in God's universe, what ifs and if onlys are really never a doubt.
37:54: Number three, God is sovereign over the specific details of life. You want joy?
38:00: God is sovereign over the little things in life. The little things in life.
38:05: By the way, this is why I never gamble. I don't gamble for lots of reasons. But God is sovereign over the odds at Vegas, because there aren't really odds in God's eyes.
38:16: It's a sovereign plan of God. And I don't really want to gamble away God's money, because A, it's bad stewardship.
38:22: C, it reveals that I would be greedy, and I'm not supposed to want that kind of money. Proverbs says.
38:27: But number three, God would never let me win anyway. And if He would let me win, it would be probably to judge me, because then you would all go, yeah, pastor got all that money.
38:38: Gambling. But I'm digressing. No, I'm not. The lot is cast in the lap, but it's every decision is from the
38:46: Lord. Proverbs 16, 33. I mean, just listen. It almost, it just sounds funnily sovereign.
38:53: And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.
39:00: So they cast lots, and the lots fell on, it's pretty lucky.
39:09: I'm born lucky. You find me the most minute, insignificant, minuscule, microscopic, infinitesimal, or small event in the universe, and I'll show you
39:21: God made it happen. Listen to what Jesus said. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father?
39:30: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Let me just read these verses, and if you're not used to them, they're like a sponge, a sponge.
39:44: They're like a stomach punch. They're like a gut punch for a boxer. And knock your wind out of you if you're not careful.
39:50: These are from the Bible. Ecclesiastes 7. In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider.
39:56: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
40:02: Lamentations 3. Who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the
40:08: Most High that good and bad come? Isaiah 45. I form light and create darkness.
40:14: I make well -being and I create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things.
40:21: Number 4. God is sovereign over your birthday and over your funeral. He's sovereign over your birthday and your funeral.
40:28: He chose your parents. He chose your DNA. He chose the day of your birth. He knows the day of your death.
40:34: He knows the color of your eyes, your skin, your sex, everything about you. Psalm 139.
40:40: If you'd like to look at that with me. Psalm 139. I could take you to Job 14. Days are numbered. Psalm 31.
40:47: My times are in your hand. But can you imagine God is sovereign over your birthday and on your funeral?
40:53: I had to be born May 12, 1960. By the way,
41:01: I want you to exercise. I want you to take vitamins. But none of that will prevent you from dying one day earlier, one day later than you're supposed to.
41:12: How about Psalm 139? Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them.
41:18: The days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. Some people commit suicide because they know they can't control anything in their life, but they must control things so they think they can control the day and the way they die.
41:39: Sad. Two more. We're almost done. Fifth, God is sovereign king over every act committed by man.
41:47: God is sovereign king over every act committed by man. Can you imagine?
41:53: Cyrus is called my shepherd. Cyrus is called His anointed. Why don't you turn to Genesis 45.
42:02: You know the passage well. I want you to realize that evil sin and evil people are not outside the sovereign umbrella of Jesus the
42:12: King. Sinful and unrighteous deeds of humans are under the auspices of God's sovereign control.
42:22: Genesis 45, verse 8, you know the story with Joseph and his brothers? His sinful brothers? His wicked brothers?
42:29: So it was not you who sent me, Genesis 45, verse 8, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all the house and ruler over the land of Egypt.
42:42: It was not you who sent me here, but God. God is sovereign over the evil. Make no mistake, those people were responsible.
42:52: They're responsible human agents, but God's sovereign rule. Turn to 2
43:00: Samuel 16. I want to try to push you up into a corner and get you to say uncle, and I think
43:07: I can with these verses. If you already believe in the sovereignty of God, you've already said uncle. But here, if you're not careful, as S.
43:14: Lewis Johnson would say, this might give you a charley horse between the ears. I thought that was an interesting way to put it a generation ago.
43:23: 2 Samuel 16. Here's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to show you that God is so sovereign over every little detail that isn't
43:30: He sovereign over your marital state, to whom you were married, what happened, when it happened.
43:36: So then you can go, I'm just going to be content and live for the glory of God and try to be undoing it and be a rebel against all this.
43:45: 2 Samuel 16 .22. Absalom's heinous sin. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof.
43:55: And Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all
44:00: Israel. That's a horrible, preposterous sin.
44:06: Now I have a question for you. A sin that would make Jerry Springer's guests blush. Is that sin under the sovereign hand of God?
44:19: Turn to 2 Samuel 12 .11. Just go back four chapters. 2 Samuel 12 .11. God's Word says, shockingly, that was the plan of God.
44:31: That was the plan of God, this horrible, preposterous sin. I could think of a worse sin,
44:38: Jesus Christ getting crucified even though He was innocent. But make no mistake, look at 2
44:44: Samuel 12 .11 and I want you to see that God is sovereign over the sinful, wicked hearts of people.
44:51: Thus says the Lord, 2 Samuel 12 .11, Behold, I will raise up evil against you in your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor.
45:02: I will take your wives, God says, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this
45:11: Son. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all
45:16: Israel and the Son. God is sovereign over evil.
45:25: God reigns over evil. And then one last one. God is sovereign over the eternal destiny of every person.
45:33: Number six. God is the sovereign king over the eternal destiny of every person. My purpose this morning is to show you that in 1
45:40: Corinthians 7 .17 -24 you've got to live in light of your circumstances knowing that God's sovereign.
45:47: So then I just wanted to show you six areas in which God is sovereign. God is sovereign over the eternal destiny of every person.
45:54: Do you like that doctrine, by the way, when you first hear it? Most of you have heard it here. When you first hear the doctrine,
46:00: God is in charge of who goes to heaven and who doesn't go to heaven. If you're like everybody, you're like most people, you're going to say,
46:08: I don't like that doctrine. I don't like that doctrine. Jonathan Edwards was no different.
46:16: He said, from childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against this doctrine of God's sovereignty in choosing whom he would do eternal life and rejecting whom he pleased, leaving them eternally to perish and being everlastingly tormented in hell.
46:29: It used to be, to me, a horrible doctrine. But I remember the very time well when
46:36: I seemed to be convinced and fully satisfied as to this sovereignty of God. True or false, everybody deserves to go to hell.
46:49: Everyone's born a rebel deserving death and eternal judgment. So the real question is not, how could
46:54: God damn people? The real question is what? How could God save anybody?
47:00: How could God save anyone? And think about it. God has to be sovereign over who goes to heaven because he's the one that has to do something in their hearts so that they can go to heaven.
47:11: Who else regenerates people? It does not depend on the human will or on the human exertion, but on God who has mercy.
47:18: Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 1. It is as clear as day. It's God's work that saves us.
47:23: We don't cooperate. We don't assist. We don't do anything. We receive grace. That's all we do.
47:29: And the response to grace is repentance, faith, belief, and everything else. God doesn't have to choose all the angels.
47:35: He didn't. God didn't have to choose every country. He didn't. Jesus didn't have to heal every person.
47:41: He didn't. God doesn't have to pick every person either.
47:47: And we know God's sovereign in who goes to heaven because only God sovereignly works in people. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30.
47:54: How do you know who makes people go to heaven? Verse 30 of 1
48:01: Corinthians says, And because of him you are in Christ Jesus. Not because of you and your pastor.
48:07: Not because of you and your mom. Not because of you and the altar call. Not because of you and anything else.
48:13: Because of him you are in Christ Jesus. And it has to be all of God sovereign working because verse 31 says,
48:22: So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. When the
48:30: Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life, what?
48:36: Belief. The Lord has made everything for his purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble.
48:45: Okay. The wrap up is this. God made you a Christian at the exact right time.
48:53: Especially if you're married to an unbeliever. Your response to God should be thank you for saving me and instead of me trying to rebel underneath your hand
49:04: I'm just going to submit to your hand know that you do everything rightly and I might be this person the one person who is used by you
49:13: God to preach the gospel to my unsaved spouse and if that is my lot in life thank you.
49:24: And if you have that kind of attitude I know two things about you. You'll be a content person and you'll be a joyful person.
49:31: If you're single and you say yes but I will only be happy if I'm married.
49:37: I need to get married. I need to have kids. I need to have a spouse. Is it wrong to ask for that?
49:45: No. But it's wrong to pine away when you're not serving the sovereign king. Let's pray and then let's see.
49:59: Lord we are thankful today. You are sovereign. Every little detail.
50:05: Health, marital status, salvation status of our children. You're sovereign and the great thing about it is it's just not sovereignty, raw sovereignty.
50:17: It's a sovereign love and you want what's best for us. You know what's best for us and you have the great timing that just unfolds in history.
50:25: So teach us to be content. Teach us to have joy. I pray for some today who really struggle with this.
50:32: I pray that you'd grant them the eyes of faith to see you as a king. High and lifted up.
50:39: Thank you for being the best king. The wise king. The sovereign king. And if we can trust you with our salvation we can trust you with everything else.
50:50: Thank you for helping us to walk by faith in this sin -cursed world. But it's a sin -cursed world that's ruled by a good king who does all his good pleasure.