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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name's Mike Abendroth, and today we are going to talk about a biblical topic, and it is certainly a thought-provoking topic, and there is no order to that.
It's provoking, it's biblical, it's biblical, it's provoking, and we are going to look at the sovereignty of God. In what areas of life would God be sovereign? Is he sovereign over just when it rains?
Is he sovereign over who goes to heaven? Is he sovereign over evil? Is he sovereign over sin? Did God appoint sin? Did God ordain sin? Is God the author of sin? Many questions like that we'll begin to try to answer in this show, the sovereignty of God.
Now, this is a very important doctrine for many reasons. One, the Bible talks about it not just once, and that would make it important, but it talks about it regularly and often. The Bible is literally peppered with statements, direct statements or indirect statements about the sovereign hand of God, and it is also important because it is very relevant.
It is very practical. It applies to your life, and for those of you that have lived long enough, you realize that this is a fallen world, and if you see a fire and you stoke that fire and the sparks fly upward, there are many sparks that fly upward, and the book of Job talks about our troubles in life are like that, many, and regular, and often are our trials, and so if you believe in the non-sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of man, when you have a trial, I don't know how you get through it.
Maybe it is grit, maybe it is Stoicism, maybe it is Epicureanism, maybe it is Epimenidesism. You can tell I just got back from Greece. We've got the Stoics were there, the Epicureans were there. Epimenides came in in Acts chapter 17.
Paul talks about that plague. He doesn't mention Epimenides, but he had been called in a few centuries before. So anyway, God is sovereign, and it applies because when you have a trial in your life, I remember when my son Luke was born.
He's 14 now and healthy. Henri takes after his dad. Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. When Luke was first born, we, with our second child, was thinking everything would be fine, like the first birth of our daughter Haley, and Luke was immediately rushed into NICU, the NICU unit, and he had breathing problems, and he scored, I don't know, negative 90 on the Apgar test.
That's impossible, but it seemed like it at the time, and was he going to make it? And I remember trying to comfort my wife, Kim. I remember trying to think through these issues myself. I was supposed to teach a Bible study that night, and what I had to throw myself upon was, of course, the Lord God, but the Lord God omnipotent who reigns, and if you're listening today, if you're not going through a trial, you will go through a trial, and if you are going through one now, you need to know that God is sovereign.
He's a personal God, a triune God, and He is a God who loves His people, and He loves them in a sovereign way. We're not talking about some sovereignty like the Islamists would believe. No, we believe in the sovereign God who personally interacts, not just among the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit.
There's a personal relationship there, you could call it, but also, since He is personal, He deals with His people in a very personal way. He actually deals with His enemies in a personal way, but that's another story, and so today, we'd like to look at the sovereignty of God, because I don't want you to have some subtle form of agnosticism or atheism.
You could be a Christian listening today, and you could say to yourself, well, I don't really believe God is as sovereign as the Bible says He is. You don't say that, of course, but in actuality, you could possibly do that, and that would be a subtle form of agnosticism or atheism.
If you run around and you talk about chance all the time, not from your perspective, but like it's really real, that there's chance in something or fortune, those are pagan terms, and I don't want you to use those terms.
Calvin would say, let's not use those terms that pagans use, some kind of fortune, fortunate, luck, lucky, chance, coincidence, serendipity. If you mean Luke chapter 10, by chance this person came walking down the road as Jesus uses it in the parable, from the human perspective, it seems like there could be a coincidence, there could be an accident, there could be a chance, but when it comes to the sovereignty of God and looking at it from God's perspective, we see God with one eternal decree working out His will, working out His purpose, working out His divine plan, and we have to be careful because this is a doctrine, the sovereignty of God, that many people don't like.
When push comes to shove, they don't like it because it actually means then that you, the person, are not sovereign, and that's what we're looking at today is the sovereignty of God. There's only one sovereign in this universe, and He is the Creator, and I want you to know about this sovereign God.
Calvin said, "'Ignorance of sovereignty is the ultimate of all miseries.'". Can you believe that? What's the most miserable thing that could happen to you? What's the most miserable thing that you could believe?
Calvin said, it's not understanding the sovereignty of God, and on the flip side, what does Calvin say? The highest blessedness lies in the knowledge of it. This is a great blessing to understand the sovereignty of God so much so we'll call it the second blessing for my charismatic friends.
Oh, you don't need speaking in tongues as a second blessing. You don't need some kind of rapture to heaven like Paul had in 2 Corinthians. You don't need to have some kind of ecstatic experience, some kind of wonderful spirit-controlled warmth oozing through your body, if you could have any of those things.
You need to understand the sovereignty of God, and it will be like a second blessing to you. You will say, oh, I can rest in that. I can trust in this great God who reigns, sovereignty, that the God of the universe reigns, and the sovereignty of God will help you in respect to Paul as he prayed for the church at Colossae, and of course, would be a good prayer for all of us today.
He says, for this reason, chapter one of Colossians, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Now listen to this verse 10. So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and here's the point, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
That's what we want you to do. We want you to increase in your knowledge of God, and until you realize that God is sovereign over every corner of the universe, sovereign over heaven, sovereign over hell, sovereign over the underworld, sovereign over Satan, sovereign over demons, sovereign over angels, sovereign over your will, you are going to be less than biblical, and so we want to do what Arthur Pink says here at No Compromise Radio.
By the way, you can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. We're getting tons of emails. I have to have a couple guys now writing some of the responses, and we are glad for your responses. Most of the time, they're good responses.
I got one this week, and it said, I forgive you for your show yesterday. I forgive you for your show yesterday. Oh, man. So I guess we have some good, forgiving listeners. The great news is people are listening.
People are listening, even though they might not like me. Again, I'll say this. I think if you met me in person, maybe over at my home by the fireplace, having some espresso, some Doppio Espresso Campana, I think you would say, oh, he seems like a nice guy just when he opens his mouth.
Today, the sovereignty of God, and with Pink, from every pulpit in the land, it needs to be thundered forth that God still lives, that God still observes, that God still reigns. I concur with Pink, a hearty amen, and from every microphone in the land, it needs to be thundered forth that God still reigns.
Now, we've only got two options, ultimately. There are two options. Either God's sovereign and has absolute, 100 complete control of the universe, or he does not, or he does not. And when you find out God is so sovereign, you better brace yourself.
Spurgeon said, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his throne. So, today and next time, we're going to look at the sovereignty of God, and I'm going to give you 11 areas, 11 arenas where God is sovereign.
We could give you more, but at least 11 to get us started, and we'll start putting our toes in the shallow end to start, and then the deep end will be next time. 11 areas that God sovereignly rules over.
Psalm 103 .19 says that he sovereignly rules over all, and we want you to know that there are 11 areas, at least, that God sovereignly, supremely reigns over, that he exercises his supremacy over these things, that he does all his pleasure, as Isaiah chapter 46 says.
He does all things after the counsel of his own will, Ephesians chapter one. Now, before I give you the 11, you may say, what is sovereignty? Give me a definition of the sovereignty of God. Well, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, by the way, you should look that up on Google and just read it sometime.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism says about the sovereignty of God, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
And so, the sovereign God that we want to study today is sovereign over everything, large or small. He controls things, he orders things, and he is so sovereign that you cannot say, yes, I know God is sovereign, but I know God is sovereign over these things, but I want to try to remove that from your vocabulary.
God can't be frustrated by anyone, anything, any person, any created being. God cannot be frustrated by. Isaiah 14, this is the plan devised against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.
For the Lord of hosts has planned, who can frustrate it? And as for his stretched out hand, who can turn it back? So we believe in this sovereign God who cannot be thwarted by any creature. And I keep saying that because when you remember the creator-creature bifurcation, when you remember that there's someone who made you, I think he is going to control you.
After all, as one commentator said, who makes something he can't control? Who makes something he doesn't have sovereign control over? And this commentator said, well, the only person who does that is Dr. Frankenstein.
He made something he couldn't control, but God's no Frankenstein. That might be a good sermon series. God is no Frankenstein. A first area God is sovereign over on nocompromiserradio .com, and I'm going to put them with imperative form.
So I'm going to force you to say, yes, I either believe that or no, I don't. So I'm going to use you instead of we because I'm preaching to you. If you're driving in your car on WVNE Listening, I want you to be forced to believe these things.
If you're Dave Reno and producing this show, sitting there on the Auburn-Worcester border, you, Dave, must believe in these things. Manny, if you're listening in the office, as a director of WVNE, Ed Honcho, El Heffy, Manny, you have to believe these things.
First area of the sovereignty of God. You must believe that God is sovereign over creation. Ask yourself the question, since God's sovereign over creation, I guess it was his plan to have the earth covered at least by two-thirds of water.
I guess it's God's sovereign plan when I look at Antarctica, mineral deposits, where all the oil is, different climates, different seasons, different places where there are rivers and lakes, great lakes.
Why are all these things there? Because it pleased God. Psalm 135, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in the heaven and in the earth and in the seas and in all the deeps. Psalm 119, verse 90 and 91, thou did establish the earth and it stands, they stand this day according to thine ordinances, for all things are thy servants.
We know that the sun, like Calvin says, does not rise and set by blind instinct of nature, but that of God himself. We know that God is sovereign over all the creation. You know, he's so sovereign, he's sovereign over childbirth.
Behold, Psalm 127 says, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the loom, the fruit of the loom. I plead, I've had a headache for five weeks and my ears are ringing. That's my only plea and I stand by it.
The fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127, who said radio couldn't be fun? I'm sitting here at my church study. There's no one else here. The microphone next to me is open and I don't know if anyone's listening or not.
I'm looking outside. It's a clear day. It's a nice day. It's a day that God has made. And here I sit just laughing. How about when it comes to the rain? When it comes to the rain, look up the Bible and see how often it says that the Lord sent the rain.
We like to say it's raining outside. Kind of passive language. Oh, it's raining. No, God is sending the rain. God's sovereign over creation, over the earth, over topography, over geology, over childbirth.
God is sovereign and he is so sovereign, he is sovereign in creating you. Listen to what Lorraine Bettner said. Every thinking person readily sees that some sovereignty rules his life. He was not asked whether or not he would have existence nor when, where, or what he would be born, whether in the 20th century or before the flood, whether white or black, whether in America or China.
It has been recognized by Christians in all ages that the creator and ruler of the universe. It has been recognized that God is sovereign over creation. So that's the first area. God is sovereign over creation.
Do you believe that? Number two, you must believe that God is sovereign over all history. God is sovereign over all history. And if you look at the history of the world, we know that God is there. I hate to be trite, but it does help, especially when you hear it the first time.
History is, let's put up the word, his story. And that exactly is true. Acts 17 26, Paul was preaching and he made from one every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitations.
We know that God is sovereign over all history. How about Daniel chapter four? But at the end of that period, I Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me and I blessed the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever.
Listen to this. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And no one can ward off his hand or say to him, what hast thou done? God is sovereign over history and he's sovereign over which countries win wars, he's sovereign over which presidents are elected, he's sovereign over which governors are elected, he's sovereign over Nero, he's sovereign over President Clinton, President Reagan, President Obama, and the list goes on.
God is sovereign over every area of history. Every year, when the first day was born, as it were, back in Genesis, and even now, God is sovereign over all history. By the way, that's why I like to study history because you see, especially from this perspective, the sovereign hand of God and how he's working all things to the great culmination of the world.
Number three. Number three, you must believe that God is sovereign over the circumstances of life. So we've looked at the big picture, creation, history, and now circumstances of life. Do you remember James chapter four?
If God is sovereign over the circumstances of life, this is the way we should talk, James says. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city, spend a year there, and engage in business, make a profit.
This is gonna be our trip, this is what we're going to do. And he says, in James 4 .14, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. So when it comes to the circumstances of your life, minutely, you need to remember that God is sovereign over those things.
God is sovereign over, like I said before, rain. He's sovereign over wind. He's sovereign over, actually, mildew and hail. How about that? Haggai 2 .17, I smote you and every work of your hand with blasting wind, mildew, and hail, yet you did not come back to me, declares the Lord.
So in this particular case of judgment, he was sovereign even over mildew and hail. He's sovereign over calamities. How about this, Ecclesiastes 7 .14? In the day of prosperity, be happy, but in the day of adversity, consider.
God has made the one as well as the other. He's made the day of prosperity and the day of adversity, so that man may not discover anything that will be after him. How about this, Isaiah 45 .7? The one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity.
I am the Lord who has done all these things. True or false, no compromise, radio listeners. Earthquakes are an act of nature. I would say, primarily, false, because I read Amos chapter three. If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it?
I read Lamentations three. Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? You have to believe that God is sovereign over everything.
Everything that's happened to you, God is sovereign over. Whatever's happened to you in the past, whatever's happening to you now in the present, and what will happen to you in the future, God is sovereign over that.
What are the options? Chance, random, luck, just kind of, it's your own will, it's Satan, Satan's the one. Don't be so naive to think that God and Satan have equal power, one's good, one's bad, kind of a yin-yang.
Michael Chang, although Michael Chang has professed as a Christian, and I respect him in the French Open, especially I honor Jesus Christ. What are we going to do with these things? We are going to have to say that God is sovereign over everything, including the circumstances of life, good and ill.
Don't you want a God who can overturn evil? Don't you want a God who can cause all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose? Of course, he can take evil and turn it into good.
I'm getting ahead of myself, but hey, it's my show. Number four, you must believe that God is sovereign over the duration of your life. How long will you live? Well, I'm 50. I didn't deserve to live this long.
My father lived to be 55 when he died of cancer. My mother lived to be 66 when she died of cancer. My grandfather lived to be 72 before he died of cancer. I think I'll die of a heart attack. My grandfather died of 91.
My grandmother died 95, and my other grandmother died 91. So maybe I just average all those, and I'll know how long I'm going to live. That probably gives me to be about 70 or something like that. Well, we can't do that.
You might ponder those things, but remember, the days that you live are determined. Listen to Job 14 .5. The number of his months is with thee, and his limits thou hast set so that he cannot pass, since his days are determined.
Psalm 31, my times are in your hand. Friends, you will have as many birthdays as God has ordained. Not one more, not one less. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise. It doesn't mean you shouldn't take vitamins.
It doesn't mean you shouldn't, you know, you should go out and just eat bacon every day and just say, I'm not gonna exercise. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying today's study is the sovereignty of God, and God is sovereign over how long you will live.
What's the lady politician's wife? She just died of cancer. I'm taping the show today, obviously. She died yesterday when I was taping the show, but her days were numbered. We remember we have that phrase, your days are numbered?
It's exactly true. The duration of your life, God is sovereign over. Therefore, if you're listening today and you're an unbeliever and you say, you know what? When I get older, then I'll deal with religion, and kind of my last breath will be, you know, God, please forgive me, and everything will be copacetic.
That's wrong kind of thinking in light of the sovereignty of God. What's good, if you're a Christian, when it comes to the sovereignty of God, is thinking this way. God's sovereign over my death. I don't have to worry about it, and if I want to travel to Israel and go with the church, if I'd like to travel to Greece, if I'd like to travel downtown, if I'd like to travel to Los Angeles, God is sovereign and I can trust in Him.
All these lead to one thing. The practical application is the exaltation and praise of God, and then trusting in Him, taking Him for His word, that in fact, He is sovereign, and He is sovereign over creation, history, circumstances of life, and how long you're going to live.
What a God He is.
He's an awesome God. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.