The Sovereignty of God

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I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn to the book of Isaiah.
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We are stepping away from Hebrews this morning to talk about the subject of the sovereignty of God.
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So if you want to turn to Isaiah 45, verses 5 through 7, we'll be reading that in just a moment.
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At the turn of the century, Forest Christian Church made a very important and very needed directional change.
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We made a change to separate ourselves from a denomination that we had been a part of for 40 years at that point.
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The denomination was entitled the Christian Church Disciples of Christ.
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And we did so because that denomination had become extremely liberal in its teachings.
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In fact, the Disciples of Christ go as far as to deny whole portions of scripture and even supporting sinful lifestyles.
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And we saw this happening.
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We saw the church moving in that direction, the denomination moving in that direction.
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And we decided to pull away and to become autonomous.
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However, even though we left, we did not change our name.
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And at the time, we didn't really see the need.
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However, over the years, it has obviously been something that we needed to do.
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Our separation needs to be known.
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There are still many in our community who see our name and associate us with the Disciples of Christ and with the restoration movement and with it, theological liberalism.
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Last year, we made it clear by the adoption of a new constitution that we seek to be a biblically functioning church in all that we say and do.
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As a result, the elders came to the conclusion that we needed to propose a fresh start to the congregation, a fresh beginning, a new time, a new age in our church, a new day.
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As a result, in a short while, the congregation is going to have an opportunity to affirm a new name for the church, a name that will be a large stride forward in our attempt to minister the true gospel in this community.
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So this morning, during our hour of study, I decided that I want to talk about the words that we're using, particularly the word sovereign.
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I want us to look at what the Bible says about the sovereignty of God.
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I want us to look at the relevant texts regarding the sovereignty of God, because I believe firmly that it is his sovereignty that gives us rest.
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It gives us peace.
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It gives us an ability to look to the future with expectant hope, knowing that he is going to ensure that all things work together for the good of those who love him.
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That being said, let us now open with our text of Scripture, Isaiah 45, standing as we read Isaiah 45, starting in verse five, the Lord is speaking through the prophet and he says these words, I am the Lord.
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And there is no other.
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Besides me, there is no God.
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I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the West that there is none besides me.
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I am the Lord.
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And there is no other.
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I form light.
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And I create darkness.
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I make well-being and create calamity.
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I am the Lord who does all these things.
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God, as we seek to understand you better, as we seek for our congregation to recognize the truths of Scripture, as we seek to draw close to you by the study of your word.
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I pray, O Lord, first, that you would keep me from error as I am a fallible man and capable of teaching error.
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I pray that you would guard your people and undergird us with the truth.
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Open the hearts of your people, O God, so that we might understand you better.
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This is our prayer, O Lord, for your glory in Jesus name.
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Recently, they did a survey in a seminary class and they asked the seminary students, many of whom were preparing for the gospel ministry.
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And they asked those men who were preparing for the gospel ministry this question.
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They said, which of the attributes of God brings you the most comfort? Which of the attributes of God brings you the most comfort? Now, amazingly, with almost uniformed agreement, the men answered and said it was the sovereignty of God that gave them the most comfort.
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And that may shock some because it seems like they would have chosen God's love or God's grace.
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However, these pastors chose the sovereignty of God because though the world may tip and tumble and though the world may seem to be out of control from our vantage point, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God allows them and should allow us to rest assured that God is working all things together for the good of those who love him.
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He is working them towards his glorious ends.
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And that should give us peace.
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The biblical doctrine of the sovereignty of God is one that has caused great confusion in the history of the church.
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As I said, for some it is a place of rest and peace.
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It provides security in midst of life's chaos.
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And in the end, it provides for them the feeling that no matter what happens, God is in control.
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But there are others.
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Who look to the sovereignty of God with fear and with contention, because this is what they often say, and I've heard it before.
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How can God be sovereign and the world be so out of control? There are even those who deny that God even is sovereign.
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I remember years ago I had people in this very church.
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I would preach a sermon and I would say something about the sovereignty of God, or I would speak to God's divine purpose and election, or I would speak to something in particular to God's sovereign purpose.
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And I would have them stop me by the door and they would say, you know what? I don't like all that stuff.
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I don't believe all that stuff about God's sovereignty.
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And they're not alone.
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Their entire movements that deny the sovereignty of God, in fact, one that's very prevalent right now.
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And if you've never heard of this before, you might want to go home and Google it if you Google.
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But it is the open theism movement.
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Open theism.
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Open theism basically teaches, and this is a this is very simplistic view, but I'm going to give you the simple answer of what they believe.
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They basically believe that God has a good idea of the future and what's going to happen.
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He's got a good idea about how things are going to work out, but that he is in no way managing anything.
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God is simply, to the open theist, a spectator of history.
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God stands outside of history and simply watches as it unfolds.
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And because he's a very good seer of the future and because he's pretty smart, he can figure out what's going to happen.
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And that's how prophecy works.
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But he's in no way its divine manager.
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Beloved, I would present to you the case that that is blasphemy, not just that that's bad theology.
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That is blasphemy to say that God is simply the seer of the future or some kind of a some kind of a divine medium who can tell you what's going to happen, maybe possibly if these things happen.
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The problem with open theism is that the God of open theism is too small.
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He's a God that people have created in their own minds, and because they are not sovereign, they don't want a God who is sovereign because the person is not the ultimate authority.
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They don't want God to be the ultimate authority over them.
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And as such, they create in their mind a God of their choosing.
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However, the Bible is clear about the nature of God.
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The Bible is clear that we do not serve a God who simply sees into the future.
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We serve a God who has ordained the future by divine decree and nothing happens apart from his ordination.
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Nothing is outside of God's control.
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One of the best works on this subject outside of Scripture itself, obviously, Scripture is the best work on this subject, but one of the best works outside of Scripture is a little book by a man called by a man named Arthur Pink usually goes by A.W.
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A.W.
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Pink.
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And this is what A.W.
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Pink said about the sovereignty of God in his book.
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One of the opening quotes, he said this.
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He said, the sovereignty of God, what do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the Godhood of God.
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To say God is sovereign is to say that God is God.
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Now, that really should that should get our attention, because when you say that God is sovereign, all you're saying is that God is God.
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The very definition of the word God is one who is overall one who is the authority overall.
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He's the one who is in control.
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He is the sovereign.
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So to say sovereign God is really an exercise in redundancy.
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You're saying he's a God, God or a Lord, Lord, he's a sovereign Lord.
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Sovereignty means that there is nothing in this universe that is outside of God's control.
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First Chronicles, twenty nine, eleven, we've already read for our opening statement, but I'll read it again.
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It says yours.
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Oh, Lord, it's the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
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Yours is the kingdom, oh Lord, and you are exalted as head above all the word head means authority.
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God is the authority above all.
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Think about this in your minds and in your heart, from the rain that falls to the earth that rotates, even to your beating hearts, God undergirds and controls them all.
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God is the commander of the universe.
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God answers to no one.
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That's one of the things that I really, I really get excited about when I hear somebody say something like God is somehow at our beck and call.
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I say, wait a minute, God doesn't answer to anyone.
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And God is not God does not have to in any way appeal to your sense abilities.
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Some people read something in the Bible.
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I don't like that.
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So what if you don't like it and it's the way it is? Who's wrong, you or God? I mean, that's a simple question.
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If there is something in scripture, well, God, I don't know if I agree with God doing that.
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Really? Paul asked this.
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Who are you, old man, to answer back to God? Well, the thing formed, say to him who formed it.
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Why did you do this? Why did you make me this way? Really, is that you're going to go to God and you're going to say, God, I realize you're sovereign.
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I realize you're God, but I didn't like what you did.
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I didn't like the way you chose to do that because I don't think you were right, really.
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Is that the approach we're going to take with God? It really is an important question, because honestly, in America, we we like to do that.
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Because in America, we have never lived under sovereign rule.
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There have been some who tried and they've tried to bring that kingship to America or they've tried to rule as if they were kings.
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But we most of us, unless you've lived in a foreign nation, I don't think anybody here has, but if you have, God bless you, I didn't know.
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But most of us here have have were born in America and we've lived in America our entire lives, so we are incurably democratic.
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We believe one man, one vote, and that's how we do things.
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As such, we tend to bring our inherent democracies into our religion and we think God somehow is going to work by way of the vote.
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But sovereign lords don't work by way of polls.
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God doesn't send down, you know, Gallup down here to find out what we think is best.
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He doesn't need our approval and doesn't really seek it.
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He commands us to follow him.
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And he says, if you choose not to follow him, then the result is obviously an eternity in hell.
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We have trouble understanding sovereignty because we live in an incurably democratic society.
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We have trouble seeing God the way he truly is.
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But if you look at scripture, it's not unclear.
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In fact, in the book of Daniel, it shows us that God answers to know in the book of Daniel, verse chapter four, verse thirty five says this.
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Daniel four thirty five says all the inhabitants of the earth.
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All the inhabitants of the earth.
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And remember, this is this is number one.
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This is comparing us to God.
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And number two, Joel Osteen could never preach this.
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And the only reason I said it, listen to what he says, all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing.
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Let me tell you something, that doesn't sit well with the health and wealth, name it and claim it.
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Get your own parking spot if you believe in Jesus gospel, you know, get you know that Jesus is all about making your healthy, wealthy, happy and wise.
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Because it's right here, it says in comparison to God, all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing.
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And God does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
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And none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? That passage is so powerful because basically what it's saying is that nobody can look up to God, nobody can look out to God and can say, why did you do that? God, you shouldn't have done that because he looks back and he says, compared to me, you are nothing.
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Now, that doesn't beef up your self-esteem, but this isn't a self-esteem class.
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You know, I'm not Tony Robbins, not tall enough.
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People ask sometimes and I get this question a lot, the sovereignty of God is a big deal.
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And so many people don't preach on it.
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And so few that do preach on it really get a lot of negative response to it.
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So I get the question, you know, pastor, do you believe God is sovereign? Do you believe that he's sovereign over all things? I say, yes.
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So do you also believe that God has ordained everything that's come in the past? Yes.
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Do you believe that everyone who will be saved has been chosen for the foundation of the world? I say, yes.
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These are things that are taught in scripture.
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And they'll say, I don't know about that.
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Why do you believe those things? And I want to tell you this, this is so important.
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And if you take a note, this is a little thing you might want to write down.
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I believe in the sovereignty of God, not because of some philosophical system.
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Or because it fits my personal beliefs, but I believe in the sovereignty of God because it is taught in the Bible.
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Here's the thing.
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People say, oh, well, that's just a philosophical system.
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No, it's not.
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Because man would not produce a philosophical system like this.
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Man does not produce a system that makes him the absolute creature in God, the absolute creator.
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Our systems make us in cooperation.
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We produce synergistic views of God where we are working together with God.
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Only the Bible presents a monergistic view that God is the one in control of all things.
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Man would not produce such a philosophy.
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Such a philosophy can only be drawn from the pages of Scripture.
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The Bible teaches that God is absolutely sovereign.
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We looked at Isaiah 45 earlier in your Bible, so probably still open to there.
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So I just want to show you one other thing, the same book, just one chapter later.
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I want you to hear because he says almost the exact same thing, but he says it a little bit different way.
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Isaiah 46 and verse 11.
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I'm sorry, verse 8, going to verse 11.
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Verse 8, remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors.
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Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.
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I am God and there is none like me.
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Stop right there real quick.
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Do you think that's an important thing? The reason why I ask is because this is the second time he said that same thing.
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If you look back to Isaiah 45, he basically said in Isaiah 45, where we started, he basically said, I'm God.
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There is no other.
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I'm God.
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There's none like me.
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He says it again here in chapter 46.
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He says, for I am God and there is no other.
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I am God and there is none like me.
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Honestly, I don't understand how anybody, and this is way off subject, and I'll come right back, I promise.
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But I don't understand how anybody can be a Mormon because the Mormons believe in many gods.
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The Mormons believe that Yahweh, or it was actually Yahweh is Jesus, Elohim is the father.
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Elohim was a man born on another planet that surrounded a star called Kolob.
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And he grew up and he became a god because of his because of his fidelity to Mormon teachings.
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And now he's the god of this universe, having been having grown into a god, having been a man on another planet just like us.
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And we through.
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Obedience to Mormon teachings can to become gods.
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In fact, what most people don't even realize is that Mormonism is the most polytheistic religion in the world.
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Hinduism has nothing on Mormonism because they don't only believe that there are many gods.
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They believe you all can, by virtue of obedience to Mormon teachings, become gods.
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So really, there is an infinite amount of gods.
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It's just going and it's like the Energizer Bunny.
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Young guys haven't seen that commercial.
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That's a long time ago.
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But the point is, this passage is so emphatic.
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I am God and there is no other.
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I am God and there is none like me.
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How much clearer could God be about his person? How much clearer could God be about his nature than to simply say there is none other than me? But then he goes on to say in verse 10, what makes him God? What makes him different than all the others? What makes him separate? He says, I'm God.
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There is no other.
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I'm God.
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There is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done.
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Beloved, if you want to know.
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What? Proclaims God's sovereignty.
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What is God's sovereignty to us, it's the prophetic announcement, because God says before something happens, this is going to happen in this way and that's the way it's going to be, God says, this is absolutely how this is going to come about and beloved, only a sovereign God, you say, well, wait a minute, maybe he's just seeing into the future.
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If that's the case, then he can't make a certain statement of how things are going to be.
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Because that means at some point somebody could simply thwart his program, if God said that Cyrus was going to be the one who was raised up to bring the people of Israel out of their bondage and God proclaimed him by name 40 years before he was ever even born, Cyrus is going to be the one who rises up and takes the people out of bondage.
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What would happen then if somebody said if they read that passage and then 40 years later, they see this guy Cyrus and they went and they just killed him.
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Because they said, we're going to thwart God's plan.
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Listen, if you're an open theist, you've got to you've got to leave yourself open to that consideration.
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Because God's just looking at the future, he hasn't ordained anything, but the Bible declares, God says, I declare the end from the beginning.
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I say this is the way it's going to be, only a sovereign God can do that.
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He says, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose, I will accomplish all my purpose.
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That should be honestly, that short little statement, that should be the verse that we print on everything, because that should give us comfort.
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God has declared he is going to accomplish his purpose.
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He's going to accomplish his purpose for us, he's going to accomplish his purpose for the world, he's going to accomplish his purpose for the unbelievers, he's going to accomplish his purpose in all things.
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God will accomplish his purpose.
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The Psalmist declares Psalm 135.
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It's also referenced at 115 and in Daniel chapter four.
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But the psalmist writes this, whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deeps.
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Whatever the Lord pleases, He does.
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He is sovereign.
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Proverbs 19.21 says, Many are the plans of a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.
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I love that verse because all of us have plans.
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All of us have things that we want to do and we plan months in advance.
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We plan years in advance of things that we want to do.
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But what does James tell us? James says, don't say that next year we're going to go to this city and that city and we're going to do this or do that.
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But instead say, if the Lord wills, we will go here and there and we will do this and that.
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I'm always reminded of that when I talk to certain ones of you, because there are certain ones of you who have adopted that into your vocabulary.
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I like that.
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Because what you'll say is, if the Lord wills, I'll see you Sunday.
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Now, is that absolutely necessary to say every time? No, but what it's stating in that is a passive agreeance with that verse.
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It's simply saying, yes, I believe that God is so sovereign that He's even going to bring me and leave me here.
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And if God wills that I don't come and all the semi-tractor trucks in Jacksonville ain't going to be able to make me get here.
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Proverbs 21.
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One, the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord, and he turns it wherever he wishes.
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Beloved, if that doesn't chime your heart about the sovereignty of God, I don't know what will.
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If that doesn't knock and just encourage your heart to the truth.
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Second Kings 19.25.
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Have you not heard long ago? This is God speaking.
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He says, have you not heard long ago? I ordained it in the days of old.
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I planned it.
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And now I am bringing it to pass.
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God speaking.
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I think that I agree with William or Bingham Hunter.
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W.
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Bingham Hunter said that that verse should be at the beginning of every history book.
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Every one of our history books should start.
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Have you not heard long ago? I ordained it in the days of old.
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I planned it.
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And now I have brought it to pass.
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That's how we should understand history.
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As God ordained it, planned it, and He's bringing it to pass.
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We see the sovereign hand of God all throughout the Bible.
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We even see it in the parts of the Bible that make us cringe.
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Nothing should make us cringe more.
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And I know so many of you have heard me say this, but it's my favorite story.
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What are you going to do? Nothing should make us cringe more than when you read the story of Joseph and how he was treated by his brothers.
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It was horrible.
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Beaten, thrown into a hole, brought back out.
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They were going to murder him.
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They say, hey, we'll sell him.
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We'll make a little money.
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Dad will never know.
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That's the KSV, the Keith Standard Version.
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That's how it happened.
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So he goes to Egypt.
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We know the story.
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He ends up becoming second to Pharaoh by God's divine ordination, bringing it all to pass.
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But then Genesis 45.
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Listen to this.
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His brothers are brought to him.
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They think he's going to kill them.
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Because he's obviously upset.
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It's what he said.
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So Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please.
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And they came near.
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And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
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And now, listen to this closely.
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Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.
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For God sent me before you to preserve life.
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For the famine has been in this land for two years.
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And there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
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And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth and to keep alive for you many survivors.
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Verse 8, so it was not you who sent me here, but God.
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And you're going to question the sovereignty of God? Reading that, it wasn't you.
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And you say, well, it was them.
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Their horrible act of doing what they did was bad.
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And was it what they did bad? Obviously.
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Was their motivation sinful? Yes.
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But did God have purpose in it? Yes.
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Did God ordain it for his ultimate glory? Yes.
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And when Joseph looks back at his life, he looks back at his life and he says, you know what? Don't even be angry with yourselves at this point.
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Know that you were God's instrument to bring me here.
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It certainly is a different view of God than most people have today.
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It certainly is a different view of worship than most people have today.
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To most people today, God is sort of like a celestial Santa Claus.
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He's sort of like a divine people watcher.
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He just sort of sits apart from us and does his own thing and lets us do our own thing and promises somehow to bring it together in the end.
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But that's not the way the Bible describes God.
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The teaching of Scripture over and over is that God is working out his purpose in this world by his sovereign will.
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Now, I want to ask the question, and this is important, because I've had this question before given to me.
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And I think it is important any time the sovereignty of God is discussed and we talk about God's absolute authority over all things, that this one question be addressed.
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And beloved, please listen closely to this because it is very important.
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The question that I get sometimes is, does God being sovereign mean that I can blame him when life's difficulties come to bear in my life? I mean, he's in control of history.
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He could choose for me to avoid a trial.
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Does that mean that I am to get angry with him when I am forced to undergo a trial? I simply answer with Scripture.
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James 1, verses 2 and 3 says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
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You might say, well, hey, that's easy for you to say because you aren't going through a trial, pastor.
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But what about when you're smack dab in the middle of one? What then? Beloved, I am the first to tell you and I am honest to say this.
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Trials are rarely fun.
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I would go as far as to say they are never fun.
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That's why we call them trials.
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And sometimes finding joy in a trial seems almost impossible.
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However, consider this.
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If God is sovereign, that means that He is still in control even in your most difficult hour.
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That means He is there to see you through even in the moments that seem most unbearable.
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Again, this is why the sovereignty of God gives me so much peace.
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It reminds me of the fact that nothing that I face and nothing that you face in life as a believer is ever without purpose.
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And while during the trial I may see no good at all, I can be confident that Romans 8 teaches me that my present sufferings are not to be compared to the glory that will be revealed to me.
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Wouldn't it be sad, beloved? Wouldn't it be a sad life if God wasn't sovereign? Oh, now I've got your attention.
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Because I want you to think about this.
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I've heard people say that God is not sovereign.
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He's just a divine spectator.
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He's just a celestial people watcher.
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Beloved, if that is true, I want to propose to you two thoughts.
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If God is not sovereign, that means that our trials and tribulations are one, outside of His control, and number two, without purpose.
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That means things just happen.
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They don't have purpose.
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They don't have meaning.
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They just happen.
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And God is in no place to do anything about it, because He's just watching it happen.
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Beloved, if that's the God you serve, your God is too small.
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Because there is one passage that I believe convinces me, and I hope would convince you, that that cannot be the case.
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It's that passage I quote all the time.
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It's that passage that I'll probably ask to be etched into my stone when I finally leave this world, if I don't end up going before that in the rapture.
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You know, if Jesus doesn't come before I die, then when I'm finally in the ground, that one passage that I will probably have preached more than any other passage in the Bible, is that passage that says, And God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
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Beloved, if God isn't sovereign, He can't say that.
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If God isn't sovereign, He's not causing anything to work together for our good.
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But because He is sovereign, He is causing all things to work together for our good.
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And we may not be able to even understand the trial when we're going through it, but He is causing it somehow and in some way to bring about His glory and our good.
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And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
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For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those whom He predestined, He called.
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And those whom He called, He justified.
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And those whom He justified, He glorified.
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What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
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Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died.
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More than that, who was raised.
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Who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.
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We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
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No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
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For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Only a sovereign God can make those promises.
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And that's the God we worship.
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This is why I'm convinced that Sovereign Grace Family Church is the right choice for a name.
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We hold to an important truth about God, a truth that is not universally accepted, but is clearly taught in Scripture.
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God is a sovereign Lord.
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His grace is sovereignly given.
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And by that sovereign grace, we are made members of His family.
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To Him be glory forever and ever.
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Amen.
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Father, as we conclude our time of study, and we move now toward our time of affirmation, we pray, O Lord, that you would minister to us.
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If anyone is here who doesn't know the Lord, Lord, I pray that this message has confronted them with your power and your majesty.
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And Lord God, that you would use it to minister to their soul.
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And Lord God, if there is one here who has need for prayer, I pray that you would encourage their heart to seek it.
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And Lord, make our elders available to them.
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And all these things, Lord, we just pray that we would never forget your majesty, that we would never forget your sovereignty, and that we would trust in these things as we go about our daily task.
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In Jesus' precious name we pray.
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Amen.