0:02 We serve a God who rules over all. And
0:05 we can rest tonight because God isn't
0:07 going to take the night off. He's in
0:10 charge. We are not trapped in some
0:12 aimless universe, spinning on a doomed
0:14 planet, living in a meaningless life,
0:16 and dying a hopeless death. We are not
0:19 riding on a runaway clattering train.
0:22 Our God is Jehovah, and there is none
0:24 like him. He is absolute. He is eternal
0:27 and all powerful and utterly sovereign.
0:28 What would happen if for a single
0:30 moment, Almighty God would withdraw his
0:32 hand from the universe? It would fly off
0:36 into oblivion and chaos. He is the glue
0:38 that holds it all together. If God can
0:41 hold the world together, I think he can
0:47 together. Sovereign is a word that means
0:49 God does everything on
0:52 purpose. It is a word that inspires a
0:54 lot of headlines these days. You know
0:56 this word perhaps better than you think
0:58 you do. You often spot it in the
1:00 financial pages of the newspapers, say
1:04 about Saudi Arabia's sovereign funds or
1:06 about sovereign investors who gobble up
1:09 prime equities in the stock market.
1:10 Sometimes you'll read about Russia's
1:12 sovereign credit rating or about
1:16 Norway's sovereign wealth fund. With the
1:18 surge in refugees around the world,
1:20 debates are raging about the importance
1:22 of sovereign borders. And of course,
1:24 here in the United States, the matter of
1:27 border security and sovereignty, one of
1:28 our most vexing
1:32 issues. How strange that a biblical word
1:35 should show up in so many
1:38 headlines. According to the Bible, there
1:40 is only one who is truly sovereign, and
1:44 that's Almighty God. But what does that
1:47 mean? The English word sovereign means
1:49 having unlimited power or authority. It
1:52 comes from the prefix savv which means
1:54 over and it's coupled with the word
1:58 reign. So when it comes to sovereign the
2:01 word means to have total control. When
2:03 it comes to finances and politics the
2:06 term has to do with a nation's right of
2:08 self-determination of answering to no
2:11 higher authority than themselves of
2:14 being independent in their power. It's a
2:17 big deal in many cultures today. But to
2:19 say God is sovereign is to simply
2:22 declare that he is God elevated above
2:23 the highest authority in all the
2:25 universe and possessing not only
2:28 infinite power but infinite right,
2:31 infinite rule and infinite
2:33 reign. He is the most
2:36 high doing what he wills with the
2:38 purposes of
2:42 life. He is in charge. He is the head of
2:45 the armies of heaven so that no one can
2:47 stay his hand or say to him why are you
2:50 doing what you are doing. To say God is
2:52 sovereign is to say that he's the
2:54 governor over all the nations and the
2:56 commander of all history. He's the king
2:59 of king. He's the lord of lords. And
3:01 thinking of God as our sovereign king
3:03 and lord answers one of the biggest
3:04 questions in the human heart. And here
3:08 it is. Who's in charge?
3:10 That's what Winston Churchill wanted to
3:11 know. Throughout the turbulence of the
3:14 1930s, Churchill feared no one in the
3:16 British government was taking Adolf
3:19 Hitler and the Nazi threat seriously.
3:22 Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin seemed
3:24 unable to face the challenges of leading
3:26 England. And Churchill went around
3:29 fuming about Baldwin's inadequacy and
3:31 quoting a little poem that said, "Who's
3:34 in charge of the clattering train?"
3:36 That's a question that is frequently
3:39 asked today. Is there anybody in
3:42 charge? That question determines what
3:44 goes on in our homes. It has a great
3:46 deal to do with what goes on in our
3:48 schools and what goes on in our culture.
3:51 Who's in control here? Sometimes you
3:53 hear this question in the marketplace,
3:56 in the workplace, and on a larger scale
3:58 in our cities and in the life of our
4:01 nation. Who's in charge? If we're
4:04 honest, this question haunts us on a
4:06 global level. I mean, not a day passes
4:07 without our wanting to stand up and
4:10 shout, "Who's in control of this clattering
4:11 clattering
4:13 train?" How we answer that question
4:16 determines to a great deal how our lives
4:19 and our future plays
4:22 out. So, when I say God is sovereign, I
4:24 mean he's in charge of everything. He's
4:26 infinitely elevated above the highest
4:29 creature. He's the most high God, the
4:31 Lord of heaven and earth, subject to no
4:34 one, influenced by no one, independent
4:38 and free in his own being. He does as he
4:40 pleases, not only as he pleases, always
4:44 as he pleases, everywhere as he pleases,
4:47 and forever as he
4:49 pleases. No one and nothing can hinder
4:52 him, compel him, thwart him, or stop him.
4:55 him.
4:57 But I must tell you that while this is a
4:59 wonderful truth to ponder and celebrate,
5:01 there is no aspect of the attributes of
5:04 God that causes more anger and stirs
5:06 more debate than the teaching of the
5:10 sovereignty of God. You can take a knife
5:12 and cut it right down through
5:14 evangelicalism and there's a different
5:16 opinion on the sovereignty of God on
5:20 both sides of the mark that you make.
5:22 That's why we need a strong biblical
5:24 understanding of this
5:26 subject. Working on this chapter, I
5:29 jotted down nearly 50 key passages on
5:31 the sovereignty of God. And I didn't
5:34 even scratch the surface. I'll just give
5:36 you four or five of them and you'll see
5:37 what I'm talking
5:41 about. The Lord reigns. Let the people
5:44 tremble. He dwells between the cherubam.
5:46 Let the earth be moved.
5:48 The Lord has established his throne in
5:51 heaven and his kingdom rules over
5:54 all. But our God is in heaven. He does
5:57 whatever he pleases. I like that
6:00 one. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does
6:02 in heaven and in earth, in the seas and
6:06 in all deep places. All of these verses
6:09 and so many others convey the same thing
6:11 that God is in charge. He is on his
6:13 throne and he always will be on his
6:16 throne. He rules and he reigns in the
6:20 affairs of men worldwide. From history
6:23 to prophecy, from sea to sea, from time to
6:24 to
6:28 eternity. In my library, I have a set of
6:31 books that contain every single sermon
6:34 Charles Haden Spurgeon ever
6:36 preached. It is one of the largest
6:38 collections of writings from a single
6:42 person in the history of literature.
6:45 Spurgeon, who didn't live past 60,
6:48 preached in London in the 1800s, and he
6:50 was unbelievably prolific. He was
6:53 sublimely eloquent. One of the volumes
6:55 that I have in my set includes an index
6:57 of all the subjects he covered in the
7:00 message that he preached. I looked under
7:02 the subject of sovereignty, and I shook
7:04 my head in amazement. He must have
7:06 preached on the sovereignty of God every
7:08 other Sunday.
7:11 He was enamored with this truth and he
7:13 constantly proclaimed that Almighty God
7:15 oversees our daily lives and our present
7:17 world and all the tides and trends of
7:19 history. Maybe that's why so many people
7:22 want to hear him because when they went
7:24 to church on Sunday wondering who was in
7:26 charge, they came away with this
7:28 absolute confidence that we serve a God
7:31 who rules over all and we can rest
7:33 tonight because God isn't going to take
7:37 the night off. He's in charge.
7:40 There is no attribute, said
7:42 Spurgeon, more comforting to his
7:45 children than the doctrine of divine
7:48 sovereignty. Under the most adverse
7:49 circumstances, in the most severe
7:52 troubles, they believe that sovereignty
7:54 has ordained their afflictions, that
7:56 sovereignty overrules them, that
7:59 sovereignty will sanctify them. It is
8:01 God upon the throne that we love to
8:04 preach. It is God upon his throne in
8:05 whom we trust. That's just a little
8:08 excerpt from one of his sermons on
8:10 sovereignty. I don't know that there's
8:12 any truth in all the world that should
8:15 comfort us more in this day in which we
8:20 live than this, that God is in control.
8:22 And someone says, "Well, why don't we
8:23 talk about that anymore in our
8:25 churches?" Well, first of all, we don't
8:27 even talk about the Bible anymore in a
8:30 lot of our churches, but this is a
8:32 biblical truth, and it's at odds with
8:34 what's going on in our world today. It's
8:36 because this is the day of humanism.
8:38 This is the era when people want
8:40 autonomy and independence and the
8:41 absolute right to do whatever they want
8:44 to do whenever they want to do it.
8:47 Whatever feels good. We attend seminars
8:49 that tell us whatever we can conceive,
8:50 we can believe, and whatever we can
8:53 believe, we can achieve and receive. If
8:55 we just give humanity a little bit more
8:57 time, we're told all of the ills and
8:59 problems and difficulties of life will
9:02 be resolved because man has become his
9:04 own God.
9:06 But permit me to ask a question this
9:16 man? Is the world thriving with peace
9:18 and prosperity under your so-called
9:21 human sovereignty? Or is it descending
9:24 into disorder and instability and chaos?
9:26 Is the world cleaner or more polluted?
9:28 Is it more peaceful or more threatened?
9:30 Is it more orderly or more violent? Is
9:33 it more prosperous or teetering on the
9:35 verge of bankruptcy? You would think
9:37 after all the pain we have felt as a
9:40 nation, after all the hurt and anguish
9:42 we have felt as a world, after all the
9:44 problems we have experienced, that
9:47 somebody might just ask, "Is it possible
9:50 we're going the wrong way?"
9:53 We started down this path as early as
9:54 the book of
9:57 Genesis when Nimrod got the people
9:58 together and said in effect, "We don't
10:00 need God coming down to talk to us.
10:02 We'll just build our own tower up to
10:04 God. We'll do our own thing." And they
10:06 brought everyone together and launched
10:08 their project and went to work. And
10:10 something odd happened. Suddenly, one
10:12 day they went to work and no one could
10:15 understand anybody else because God
10:17 reached down and confounded their
10:20 language. God was in control.
10:22 If we keep reading in Genesis, we come
10:25 to the story of Joseph. As a teenager,
10:27 he was abused by his brothers who threw
10:29 him in a pit and sold him into slavery.
10:32 They did everything they could to erase his
10:33 his
10:36 memory. Years passed and one day in the
10:38 sovereignty of God, they faced a severe
10:40 famine in their land. They journeyed
10:42 down to Egypt to get their food. And
10:45 guess who was handing out the food?
10:48 It was Joseph who somehow had become
10:50 prime minister of the greatest empire on
10:52 earth in those days. But it wasn't
10:54 somehow. It was
10:57 sovereignty. Those poor boys thought
11:00 they had been had. Here they were coming
11:03 to get food and running into the brother
11:05 that they had betrayed and now thought was
11:07 was
11:09 dead. Joseph looked him in the eye and
11:13 gave this little speech. You meant evil
11:17 against me, but God meant it for good in
11:19 order to bring it about as it is this
11:23 day to save many people alive. Now
11:28 therefore, do not be afraid. Joseph
11:30 said, "You tried to hurt me. You tried
11:33 to destroy me. You tried to kill me. But
11:36 God was in charge. And God oversaw all
11:38 of this. And he brought me to this place
11:41 not only to be the savior of all of you,
11:43 but to be the savior of all of Egypt.
11:44 Because Joseph became the prime minister
11:47 of Egypt and doled out the food during
11:50 the years of famine. Turn over to the
11:53 book of Exodus and listen. While Pharaoh
11:55 commands all the Hebrew male children to
11:57 be drowned in the Nile River to reduce
12:01 the population of the Jews. But the Lord
12:03 said as it were, I'll tell you what I'm
12:06 going to do. I'll use the Nile River to
12:08 preserve a baby who will become the
12:10 liberator of my
12:13 people. And there in a pitched basket on
12:14 the Nile River, while Pharaoh intended
12:17 to kill these precious babies, God hid a
12:21 baby who would be named Moses. Almost as
12:23 if he were playing a joke on
12:25 Pharaoh. Many years later, God said,
12:27 "Let my people go." To which Pharaoh
12:30 arrogantly responded, "Who is the Lord
12:33 that I should obey his voice and let
12:35 Israel go?
12:37 I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel
12:39 Israel
12:41 go. And that earned him 10 plagues and
12:43 the death of the firstborn in every one
12:44 of his
12:46 families. Followed by a route at the Red
12:49 Sea. Somehow the stormy Red Sea, which
12:50 Pharaoh thought had trapped his enemies,
12:52 became the avenue of their deliverance
12:55 and the watery tomb of Pharaoh's army.
12:57 But it wasn't somehow. It was
13:01 sovereignty. God was in charge.
13:03 Isn't it incredible to read the history
13:07 of God's sovereignty in the affairs of
13:10 men? Hmon had it in his heart to destroy
13:12 the Jews and to obliterate the influence
13:14 of God. He built gallows on which he
13:15 intended to hang
13:17 Mordeayi. But somehow the tables were
13:19 turned and Hmon was impelled on the
13:22 gallows he had built for Morayi. But it
13:25 wasn't somehow. It was sovereignty. The
13:29 God of heaven was showing us who's in control.
13:33 Looking at it from the perspective of
13:36 history, not just in biblical days, but
13:39 throughout all the history of the world,
13:41 wherever humankind has tried his best to
13:44 prove he's in control, he has been
13:46 frustrated and thwarted again and again.
13:50 Almighty God has said, "I am the Lord. I
13:52 rule in the heavens and in the earth and
13:54 in the hearts of
13:58 men." He is the sovereign God. And when
13:59 I see what's happening across this
14:01 country, I have to turn off the
14:02 television, lay aside the newspaper,
14:05 open my Bible, bow my head, and say, "I
14:07 know the one who's in
14:10 charge." The biblical teaching of God's
14:12 sovereignty stirs me when I think about
14:13 it and when I look at the fact that
14:15 there aren't any answers anyplace else.
14:17 This is in the lap of the
14:21 Almighty. And I come away with three
14:23 affirmations which I want to leave with
14:26 you to take home in your heart today. If
14:29 this is true, if what I'm saying is
14:32 true, what should my response be to the
14:36 fact that almighty God is in charge?
14:38 That when you look into the heavens, the
14:39 throne is
14:41 occupied, that God doesn't go on
14:44 vacations. He never sleeps. He never
14:47 takes his hand off the control
14:49 level. So, how should I respond to that?
14:52 Well, first of all, I've written down,
14:53 because he is sovereign, I will reverence
14:55 reverence
14:57 him. The first affirmation about God's
14:59 sovereignty is this. Because he is
15:02 sovereign, I will give him reverence.
15:04 I've had the opportunity of sharing the
15:06 word of God in the presence of some
15:07 national leaders over the years that
15:10 I've been in the ministry. That's a very
15:11 scary thing when you're asked to speak
15:14 in front of a national leader.
15:17 But I want you to suppose with me and
15:18 take all of the nuance out of what's
15:20 going on in our world today. This is
15:22 this is kind of not normal what's
15:23 happening right now. But just let's kind
15:25 of get back to the normal and think with
15:26 me through this
15:29 illustration. Suppose I were preaching
15:31 and a colleague came to the platform and
15:33 handed me a note and it said, "The
15:35 president of the United States has just
15:37 arrived unexpectedly and he wants to
15:40 attend your service today." If he said
15:41 that, do you know what I would do? I
15:43 would take a little break from my sermon
15:46 and I would say to the crowd, "Let's all
15:48 welcome the president of the United
15:50 States." And regardless of who the
15:52 president happened to be at that moment,
15:54 and regardless of whether we agreed or
15:57 disagreed with his or her policies, if
15:59 we are the right kind of people, we
16:00 would stand in applaud. Why? Because we
16:03 respect the office of the president of
16:05 our nation. And the Bible tells us to
16:12 So if we can summon the courtesy to
16:14 respect the human position, no matter
16:17 who the leader might be, what should be
16:19 our attitude about confessing Jesus
16:22 Christ as Lord of Lords and King of
16:24 Kings? The Bible says the fear of the
16:27 Lord is the beginning of
16:29 wisdom. And the concept of fearing the
16:31 Lord troubles some people, but we're not
16:34 talking about a debilitating kind of
16:36 fear. We're talking about a
16:38 worshshipable reverence for
16:42 God. Christians were once described as
16:44 godfearing people. Do you remember those
16:47 days? Nobody even knows what that means
16:50 anymore. We seldom hear that phrase. And
16:52 perhaps it's because we've lost the
16:54 concept of the fear of the Lord. God
16:57 wants us to reverence him, to bow before
17:01 him, to fear him with healthy godly awe.
17:06 For God is sovereign and he is worthy of
17:08 our reverence and our
17:12 respect. We have tried in our culture to
17:14 bring God down to where we are because
17:17 we feel so distant from him. But I say
17:19 to you, leave God where he is and get on
17:21 your knees and reverence him. He is
17:28 And because God is
17:32 sovereign, my second affirmation is I
17:34 will respond to him in obedience. A few
17:37 pages back in this little sermon that
17:39 I'm giving you, when the Lord told the
17:41 Israelites to go, this man, this most
17:45 powerful feared man of his day, Pharaoh
17:46 said, "Listen, do you remember this?" He
17:49 said, "No, but do you know why he
17:51 disobeyed?" Here's what it says. "Who is
17:54 the Lord? that I should obey his voice
17:56 to let Israel go. I do not know the
18:00 Lord, nor will I let Israel go. And if I
18:01 were Moses, I would have said, "Son,
18:04 you're about ready to meet
18:07 him." Because Pharaoh didn't understand
18:12 or respect Jehovah, he felt free to
18:15 disobey. When people disregard God's
18:17 sovereignty, they disobey him. But let's
18:20 reverse the equation. If irreverence
18:23 produces disobedience, then surely
18:25 reverence should promote
18:29 obedience. As I open my Bible, this is
18:32 the word of a sovereign God. I can't any
18:35 longer read the Bible just as a
18:38 student. I have to read it now as a
18:40 servant. I'm not just trying to learn
18:42 what the Bible says. I'm trying to find
18:44 out what God, the sovereign of the
18:46 universe, is telling me to do. And I
18:49 have to respond with a yes, Lord.
18:51 It's interesting how you read the Bible.
18:52 If you're just reading the Bible for
18:54 more information, it won't change your
18:56 life at all. But if you read the Bible
18:58 as a servant and you say, "Lord, what do
18:59 you have for me today that you need to
19:02 communicate to my life?" Everything
19:04 changes. It's all about your
19:06 mindset. When we grasp the sovereign
19:09 authority of God in and over everything
19:12 from the broadest galaxy to the smallest
19:14 grain of sand, we gladly submit to his
19:17 will for our lives. He's the captain.
19:19 He's in
19:22 control. His eye scans the maps and he
19:24 knows what's best for us. We may not
19:26 always like the weather or the scenery
19:28 or the route, but those issues pale in
19:31 the brilliance of his sovereign face. In
19:33 the Old Testament, there's a story about
19:36 a man named Eli. He was a
19:40 priest and he had two rebellious
19:42 kids. It's embarrassing to read what
19:44 they did. And I'm not going to embarrass
19:46 all of you by giving you the details in
19:47 the service this morning. You can find
19:49 it out now that I've told you about it.
19:50 I'm sure you'll look it up this
19:54 afternoon. But there in that setting in
19:57 Shiloh where these two rebellious sons
20:01 were disgracing God and their father,
20:02 there was a young boy who was serving
20:05 God in the tabernacle. And one evening
20:08 God spoke to this boy saying,
20:11 "Samuel." And Samuel said, "Speak, Lord,
20:14 for your servant hears." And the Lord
20:17 gave Samuel a message for Eli. And it
20:21 was not a good word. He told this young
20:23 boy, "Go and tell Eli what I'm telling
20:25 you." And this is what the message was.
20:29 1st Samuel 3. Behold, I will do
20:30 something in Israel at which both ears
20:33 of everyone who hear it will tingle. In
20:36 that day, I will perform against Eli all
20:38 that I have spoken concerning his house
20:40 from beginning to end. For I have told
20:43 him that I will judge his house forever.
20:45 for the iniquity which he knows because
20:49 his sons made themselves vile and he did
20:52 not restrain them.
20:54 them.
20:58 Wow. Eli gets this message and you would
21:01 have thought he would push back, maybe
21:02 ask for grace and say, "Wait a minute,
21:05 give me another chance." But according
21:08 to verse 18, Samuel told Eli everything
21:11 God said. Then Eli said
21:13 this, "It is the
21:17 Lord. Let him do what seems good to
21:21 him." In other words,
21:23 whoa, Samuel, if that's what the Lord
21:27 said, let the Lord be the
21:29 Lord. That's a pretty good sentence to
21:31 keep in mind, isn't it? Whatever happens
21:34 to us, whatever God tells us to do, we
21:37 can simply say it is the Lord. let him
21:41 do what seems good to him. Abraham said
21:42 something similar when he learned the
21:44 fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. He said,
21:49 "Shall not the judge of all the earth do
21:51 right." Ladies and gentlemen, the Lord
21:53 will do what seems good to him, and the
21:55 judge of all the earth will do right. We
21:56 get shook up by what's happening,
21:58 whether near us or far away. But the
22:01 problem is our own human perspective.
22:03 That changes when we remember that God
22:05 is in charge. He sees everything from
22:07 beginning to end. And the more we
22:09 comprehend that and the more we gladly
22:11 resign ourselves to his will and obey
22:14 what he says and we come to the place
22:17 where we can say it is the Lord. Let him
22:20 do what seems good to him. He will do
22:25 what is right. He will always do what is
22:28 best because God is sovereign. I will
22:30 reverence him and I will respond to him
22:32 in obedience. And here we are again back
22:34 to this familiar theme in the attributes
22:37 of God. Because God is sovereign, I will worship
22:38 worship
22:40 him. Here's my final
22:42 affirmation. Throughout the Old
22:44 Testament, especially at momentous times
22:47 in Israel's history, are great outbreaks
22:50 of praise. It's truly amazing if you
22:52 study the Old Testament with this in
22:54 mind. For instance, there's this one
22:56 dramatic story where King David was
22:58 trying to build a temple in the
23:00 Jerusalem for the Lord. It was the final
23:03 dream of history's great visionary. And
23:07 his dream was good, but God told him he
23:08 wasn't going to let him do it. Do you
23:10 remember that? And David was so
23:13 frustrated. He said to David, "You shall
23:15 not build me a house to dwell in." Went
23:16 on to say, "Because you have been a
23:19 shedddter of blood, you cannot build my
23:21 temple." You would have thought David
23:23 would gone off and pouted and given up
23:25 on the whole deal. But the Bible says
23:27 that David was brokenhearted. But just
23:30 for a moment, he was a resilient man.
23:33 And what did he do? He undertook the one
23:36 thing he could do, which is always the
23:38 hardest part of any building program. He
23:41 raised all the money for the project. He
23:43 personally gave from his wealth and he
23:46 appealed for funds from others. And then
23:49 they had this worship set in the midst
23:53 of that very unlikely situation. Here it
23:57 is from 1 Chronicles chapter 29. David
23:58 blessed the Lord before all the
24:00 assembly. David who wanted to build the
24:02 temple and couldn't because God wouldn't
24:03 let him do
24:06 it. And David said, "Blessed are you,
24:08 Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever
24:10 and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the
24:13 greatness, the power, and the glory, the
24:15 victory, and the majesty. For all that
24:18 is in heaven and in earth is yours.
24:20 Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you
24:22 are exalted as head over all. Both
24:24 riches and honor come from you, and you
24:27 reign over all. In your hand is power
24:29 and might, and in your hand it is to
24:33 make great and to give strength to
24:35 all. I could never have come up with
24:37 something like that when I was nursing
24:40 the wounds of a broken
24:43 dream. As King David stood that day to
24:45 collect that offering to finance one of
24:46 the great wonders of the world. He led
24:48 his people in a prayer of worship
24:51 directed to the sovereign Lord. And they
24:52 brought their offerings. And David said
24:55 in so many words, "God made you rich."
24:57 And they stood that day in a moment of
24:59 strength and power. And David said, "God
25:01 gives you strength." And they stood that
25:03 day and rejoiced. And David said, "God
25:05 puts joy in your heart. He's the
25:08 sovereign God." He understood what we're
25:10 trying to learn today that our God is
25:12 sovereign. And our response is to praise
25:15 his name and worship him and honor him
25:19 for he alone is worthy. Whatever I have,
25:21 whatever is in my heart, whatever I've
25:23 done, whatever I'm doing, God is behind
25:27 it all. I have no reason for pride. I
25:29 have every reason to bow humbly before
25:32 him in gratitude that he would be so
25:35 willing to let me be a part of what he
25:39 does. We are not trapped in some aimless
25:41 universe, spinning on a doomed planet,
25:43 living in a meaningless life and dying a
25:45 hopeless death. We are not riding on a
25:48 runaway clattering train. Our God is
25:51 Jehovah and there is none like him. He
25:53 is absolute. He is eternal and all
25:56 powerful and utterly sovereign. And when
25:59 he reigns supreme and unrivaled as our
26:02 captain, Adonai Yahwa will be your
26:06 sovereign God. Things work out in our
26:09 lives. Even if you got there because of
26:11 an accident, God has a perfect plan and
26:13 there are no accidents with
26:15 God. The family you were born in was no
26:17 accident. The country you live in, the
26:19 language you speak, the friends you
26:21 have, your weaknesses, your mistakes,
26:22 all the things that you've done, your
26:24 poor decisions, none of them are
26:26 accidents to God. The book of Romans
26:28 tells us that God works all things
26:31 together for his glory. And the word for
26:34 all things together is the word synergo.
26:36 The word from which we get our word
26:38 synergy. And synergy is when you take a
26:39 whole bunch of things and put them
26:42 together and the result is much more
26:44 than all of them could be added up to
26:46 be. There's a synergistic effect. And
26:48 when God gets involved in our lives, he
26:50 takes the good and the bad, the mistakes
26:52 and all of the things we do right, and
26:54 in his sovereign, he mixes it all
26:56 together, and he puts it together in his
26:58 plan. And according to the scripture, he
27:01 makes all things beautiful. He's the
27:03 sovereign God. You may think today, "Oh,
27:06 I have blown it so much God can never
27:08 use me." No. If you've blown it, you ask
27:10 for forgiveness, you get right, and you
27:12 wait for God's next word. And I promise
27:15 you, he's not done with you yet. He has
27:17 a purpose for you. He will take what's
27:19 wrong and somehow he will weave it
27:22 together into his plan and he will make
27:24 it right. Do you regret certain
27:27 decisions you've made? Did things not
27:30 turn out the way you had hoped? Do you
27:32 feel stuck? Do you wish you had done
27:34 things differently? There are no
27:37 accidents with God. God in his
27:40 sovereignty even overrides our sins.
27:42 Maybe you're suffering long-term
27:45 consequences of a bad mistake. Remember,
27:47 there are no accidents with God. God is
27:50 not the author of sin. So, wherever we
27:52 find ourselves and whatever we have to
27:55 deal with, we can know that God in his
27:57 infinite wisdom and in his sovereignty
27:59 has designed it for our good and to make
28:01 us like Christ and to bring him glory.
28:04 Just hang in there. You can trust God.
28:07 He's in control and he's a good God. Amen.
28:08 Amen.
28:10 Don and I are going to board a ship in
28:13 Boston that will take us to Canada and
28:15 New England. I know you feel badly for
28:23 this. This ship is enormous.
28:25 Sometimes when I go there and I stand
28:27 next to the ship and look up at it, it's
28:30 overwhelming to me that this humongous
28:33 piece of steel can
28:37 float up on the bridge of this
28:40 ship. The captain has his maps and his
28:43 charts and his navigational equipment
28:46 and he and his crew have plied these
28:48 waters many times. They know exactly
28:50 where the ship is headed. They know the
28:53 exact moments when the ship will depart.
28:55 one port and reach
28:58 another. Meanwhile, down below the
29:00 bridge, many kinds of people have booked
29:03 passage. They all think they're in
29:06 charge of their lives. Some will come to
29:08 study the Bible with me. But as I walk
29:10 around the ship, I will notice a lot of
29:12 people who in absolute certainty did not
29:15 come to study the Bible with
29:18 me. They're lost in their own pursuits
29:21 and in their own pleasures.
29:23 They're aboard that ship making their
29:27 infinite daily decisions like everybody
29:30 else. But none of that has anything to
29:33 do with the captain. None of that slows
29:35 down the ship. No matter what the
29:37 passengers do or don't do, or how
29:38 frustrated they become, or how
29:41 carelessly they live, the ship keeps
29:44 bearing down on the waves, maintaining
29:46 its pre-planned schedule and arriving at
29:50 its destination at just the right
29:52 moment. That's an inadequate
29:54 illustration of the sovereignty of God.
29:56 But somehow it helps me to remember that
30:00 God has his hand on the wheel. And the
30:02 culture may change and the storms may
30:04 rage and there may be times when I think
30:07 I'm running the show, but it's all it's
30:10 all ridiculous because up in the
30:14 wheelhouse is Almighty God and he's in
30:15 charge and the ship's going where he
30:17 wants it to go and I'm on board. And
30:19 though I might be I might be confused
30:21 sometimes about what's happening, I can
30:25 rest assured I trust the captain. I
30:28 believe he knows what he's doing and
30:31 he's in charge and he's in charge of
30:33 your life whether you like it or not,
30:35 whether you know it or not. And the
30:36 wonderful thing that happens when you
30:39 become a Christian is you come to the
30:41 place where you acknowledge that there
30:44 is a sovereign God and you realize how
30:45 wonderful and powerful that is and you
30:48 say to yourself, "Sovereign
30:53 God, be sovereign of my life. Come and
30:56 sit in the wheelhouse of my heart. Come
30:59 and be my Lord and my Savior. And when
31:04 you do that, he never ever says no. He
31:06 doesn't say, "I'm too busy." He always
31:09 comes when we invite him. But he never
31:12 comes unless we do. The sun is a
31:16 blinding star. It's
31:20 330,000 times as massive as the Earth.
31:24 About a million earths could fit inside
31:27 of the sun. Takes 8 minutes for a beam
31:29 of light and heat to travel from the sun
31:32 to the earth. Almost 93 million miles.
31:35 It arrives here right on schedule in the
31:37 exact proportion needed to sustain life
31:40 on our planet. And for many of us, just
31:43 a little bit of it shows up in May and June.
31:45 June.
31:46 The temperature at the surface of the
31:48 sun is 10,000°
31:50 10,000°
31:52 F. And scientists believe the
31:54 temperature at the core of the sun may
31:58 reach 27 million degrees. It never shuts
32:00 down, though it may occasionally flare
32:03 up. The sun is essentially a gaseous
32:07 ball of continuously occurring nuclear
32:09 explosions radiating its energy
32:11 uniformly in all directions throughout
32:16 the solar system except in May and in
32:19 June. Every second the sun produces the
32:22 same energy as about 1 trillion one
32:26 megaton bombs. To put it in tangible
32:28 terms, in one second, our sun can
32:31 produce enough energy to power human
32:33 civilization for 500,000
32:35 500,000
32:37 years. Imagine if we could collect it
32:40 and use it all. Furthermore, the sun has
32:42 enough nuclear fuel to burn for another
32:45 5 billion years. And yet, the sun is
32:49 only one medium-sized star in a universe
32:52 filled with trillions of others.
32:54 Astronomers estimate there are between
32:59 100 billion and 400 billion stars in our
33:01 galaxy. And based on images from the
33:03 Hubble Space Telescope, there may be an
33:07 additional one trillion galaxies in the
33:10 universe. It's so overwhelmingly
33:12 massive, it's hard to wrap your mind
33:14 around it.
33:17 Think of all the energy radiated from
33:19 those stars and ask
33:23 yourself, where did this energy come
33:27 from? What source of power could so
33:30 animate the universe?
33:33 Who wired the cosmos with enough voltage
33:34 to keep it glowing and burning and
33:37 spinning and functioning to the limits
33:40 of human observation or
33:43 imagination and to a seemingly endless
33:47 duration? Who did it? Where did it come
33:51 from? The Bible says, "Yours, O Lord, is
33:55 the greatness, the power, and the glory,
33:58 the victory, and the majesty. For all
34:02 that is in heaven and in earth is yours.
34:04 Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you
34:09 are exalted as head over all." And Psalm
34:12 147:5 says, "Great is our Lord and
34:16 mighty in power. His understanding is
34:19 infinite." And the choirs of heaven sing
34:22 it this way. Allelujah. Salvation and
34:27 glory and honor and power belong to our
34:32 God. It is the infinite power of God
34:36 that fuels the universe. Only God's
34:38 infinite power can so effortlessly keep
34:41 the universe humming and crackling with
34:44 energy. Awtoer once wrote these words.
34:47 He said, "Since he has at his command
34:50 all the power in the universe, the Lord
34:53 God omnipotent can do anything as easily
34:57 as anything else. All his acts are done
35:00 without effort. He expends no energy
35:03 that must be replenished." Just think of
35:05 all that I've told you about the sun and
35:09 the galaxies and the stars. All of that
35:12 energy is resident in the Lord God
35:16 Almighty. He is the source of all power.
35:18 You will say, "Pastor, I don't
35:21 understand that." And I don't either.
35:23 But I know it's true and the Bible
35:25 describes it. And while we can't
35:28 understand it, we can appreciate it and
35:31 we can apply it to our own lives. So
35:32 today, I want to just take you on this
35:34 little journey. First of all, with a bit
35:37 of an explanation of God's power in
35:40 terms that we can understand.
35:45 First of all, God can do all things.
35:48 Revelation 19:6 says, "And I heard as it
35:52 were the voice of a great multitude, as
35:54 the sound of many waters, as the sound
35:57 of mighty thunderings, saying,
36:00 Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent
36:02 omnipotent
36:06 reigns." The Bible uses a unique word to
36:11 describe God. God is omnipotent. Say
36:13 that with me. God is
36:16 omnipotent. What does that mean?
36:21 Omnipotent means all powerful. Omni O Ni
36:24 is a biblical term which means all. And
36:28 we can figure out potent. Potent means
36:32 power. So omnipotent means all power.
36:34 George Frederick Handel incorporated
36:37 that into his hallelujah chorus of his
36:40 soul stirring ortorio the Messiah and
36:42 the words are so electrifying we cannot
36:44 listen to them sitting down we have to
36:48 stand up when we sing about the Lord God
36:50 omnipotent newer translations of the
36:53 Bible don't use that term they refer to
36:58 this as the almighty God omnipotent God
37:00 the Almighty God if I have a favorite
37:02 term for God I think that's it I like to
37:05 refer to him as almighty God. Sometimes
37:08 you hear that in a swear phrase, but
37:10 it's not a swear phrase. It's a worship
37:13 phrase. He's God
37:17 Almighty. He's God omnipotent. The Old
37:19 Testament refers to him this way. The
37:22 Old Testament calls God El Shadai, which
37:24 means God
37:26 Almighty. There was this guy who wrote
37:29 about the attributes of God back in the
37:31 1600s. His name is Steven
37:35 Charack. And this is what he said. He
37:37 said, "The power of God is that ability
37:40 and strength whereby he can bring to
37:43 pass whatsoever he pleases, whatsoever
37:45 his infinite wisdom can direct, and
37:47 whatsoever the infinite purity of his
37:50 will can resolve." From the first verses
37:52 in Genesis all the way through the last
37:54 page of Revelation, when we read about
37:56 the throne of God in New Jerusalem, our
37:59 attention is directed to God's
38:04 omnipotent, all powerful, almighty,
38:08 sovereign power. He can do all things.
38:09 There isn't anything you can think of
38:13 that God can't do. Number two, nothing
38:17 is too hard for God.
38:22 Luke 137 says, "With God nothing will be
38:25 impossible." Psalm 89:6 says, "For who
38:27 in the heavens can be compared to the
38:30 Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty
38:33 can be alkened to the Lord?" Daniel
38:35 says, "All the inhabitants of the earth
38:38 are reputed as nothing, but God does
38:40 according to his will in the army of
38:42 heaven and among the inhabitants of the
38:45 earth. No one can restrain his hand or
38:48 say to him, "What have you
38:51 done?" In other words, God is so
38:54 powerful that no one can stop him. No
38:56 one and even ask him, "What are you
38:58 doing?" There is nothing outside the
39:01 realm of God's power. And since he has
39:03 all the power in the universe at his
39:05 command, he can do whatever he chooses.
39:08 And he does one thing as easily as he
39:10 does another. toer indicates that
39:12 nothing is harder for God than anything
39:15 else. He does everything with the same
39:18 amount of ease. Now, that's challenging
39:20 to us. Uh that's challenging for our
39:22 finite minds to grasp because we have
39:25 degrees of difficulty in what we
39:29 do. Taking a tissue from a box is easier
39:31 than opening a sealed
39:34 jar. Have you ever had your wife come
39:35 and give you a bottle of pickles or
39:37 something and say, "I can't open this.
39:39 Can you open this for me?
39:41 And hopefully you're still able to do it
39:43 because it's I mean it's a man thing. If
39:44 you can't open that jar, it's a moment
39:47 of discouragement for
39:50 you. But God has no degrees of
39:52 difficulty. He does everything with
39:56 equal ease. He is able. He holds
39:58 omnipotent energy in his hand. The
40:00 patriarch Job said it this way. I know
40:02 that you can do everything and that
40:04 there is no purpose of yours can be
40:07 withheld from you. And Jeremiah prayed,
40:09 "Oh Lord God, behold, you have made the
40:11 heavens and the earth by your great
40:14 power and outstretched arm. There is
40:17 nothing too hard for
40:19 you." Abraham and Sarah learned this
40:21 lesson when the Lord promised them a
40:23 child in their old age. And you remember
40:26 Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
40:28 She was pushing a hundred. And she
40:31 laughed at the news. And the Lord God
40:34 said,"Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? Is
40:37 anything too hard for the
40:40 Lord? The Lord Jesus echoes this truth
40:42 in the New Testament. He's discussing
40:44 the difficulty of getting people into
40:47 heaven. And he says, "It is easier for a
40:49 camel to go through the eye of a needle
40:51 than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
40:53 of God. With men, this is impossible,
40:58 but with God, all things are possible.
41:03 God can do all things and nothing is too
41:07 hard for God. Number three, God never gets
41:09 gets
41:12 tired. Isaiah 40:28 says, "Have you not
41:15 known? Have you not heard? The
41:17 everlasting God, the Lord, the creator
41:19 of the ends of the earth, neither faints
41:23 nor is weary. His understanding is
41:25 unsearchable." God never gets tired.
41:28 That brings me to the fourth thing. God
41:30 can do all things. Nothing is too hard
41:33 for God. Never does God get tired. And
41:35 here's one that's kind of interesting.
41:39 It's a question. Is there anything God
41:41 cannot do? I've already said God can do
41:42 all things. But I'm going to ask the
41:45 question again. This is not double
41:47 speak, nor am I trying to confuse you.
41:49 But I want you to understand something
41:51 that if you don't understand, somebody
41:53 will stick it to you someday in a
41:55 discussion. Whenever you get around
41:57 young people, especially college kids
41:58 who are home from their first semester
42:00 at the university, these are the kind of
42:02 questions that they ask
42:07 you. Questions like this one, can God
42:10 make a rock that is so heavy he can't
42:12 pick it
42:16 up? Everybody go, hm
42:19 h scholars love those kind of questions
42:21 because there isn't really any logical
42:24 way to discuss it. It's a perplexing
42:26 question for some people, but not for
42:29 people who know God. Questions like
42:31 these are flawed. They're logically
42:34 inconsistent. It's like asking if God
42:36 can make a square
42:39 circle. There isn't anything like that.
42:42 And the questions are self-refuting and
42:45 irrational. Whatever God does in the
42:47 exercise of his power is consistent with
42:50 who he is as a person.
42:54 For example, Titus 1:2 says, "Here's
42:59 something God cannot do. God cannot
43:01 lie." Why can't he lie? If he can do all
43:04 things, why can't he lie? Because it's
43:06 against the nature of God. And God never
43:08 does anything against his nature. In
43:10 that passage, the Apostle Paul wrote
43:13 that he was laboring for Christ in hope
43:15 of eternal life, which God, who cannot
43:19 lie, promised before time began. God
43:21 cannot lie because doing so would be
43:23 inconsistent with his
43:25 nature. Here's another one. 2 Timothy
43:29 2:13, Paul said that God cannot deny
43:32 himself. If we are faithless, he remains
43:35 faithful. He cannot deny himself. This
43:38 is a really encouraging truth. What this
43:42 truth says is it's impossible for God
43:44 not to be faithful because faithfulness
43:47 is a part of his nature and God cannot
43:50 be faithless. One more. James tells us
43:53 that God cannot be tempted by evil. Nor
43:56 does he tempt anyone else. Let no one
43:58 say when he is tempted, I am tempted by
44:02 God. For God cannot be tempted by evil,
44:06 nor does he himself tempt
44:09 anyone. God is immune from temptation
44:12 because he's holy. He is beyond
44:14 temptation's lure and he himself will
44:16 never tempt us toward evil. He may test
44:18 us to make us better, but he will never
44:21 tempt us to make us worse.
44:24 The Bible says God is omnipotent, but
44:27 his omnipotence is guided by his nature.
44:30 And it is therefore impossible for God
44:32 to lie, impossible for God to deny
44:35 himself, and impossible for God to be
44:37 tempted by evil or tempt anyone else with
44:38 with
44:41 evil. There are some
44:45 things God cannot do. He can do all
44:47 things, but he cannot do those things
44:51 with violate who he is. the explanation
44:53 of God's power. Let me talk with you for
44:55 just a moment about the evidence of his
44:58 power. How do we know that God is so
45:00 powerful? I mean, if we were going to
45:02 appear before a jury and convince them
45:05 of the power of God, what evidence would
45:06 we bring? Well, let me tell you
45:08 something. The evidence is just as wide
45:11 as the universe and just as limitless as
45:14 the galaxies. There's no way you could
45:15 ever present all the evidence for the
45:19 power of God. So, since we don't have an
45:20 infinite time and I only have a short
45:23 time for this message, I've chosen four
45:26 evidences of the power of God, maybe the
45:30 four most important ones. First of all,
45:33 the evidence of God's power in creation.
45:36 Here's what Romans says. What may be
45:39 known about God is plain.
45:42 For since the creation of the world,
45:45 God's invisible qualities, his eternal
45:47 power and divine nature have been
45:51 clearly seen being understood from what
45:55 has been made. How do we know God is
45:59 powerful? When we study creation, we see
46:03 the power of God. As I look at this and
46:06 remember what the scripture says, I am
46:08 genuinely surprised to see how many
46:11 passages speak of this. According to
46:14 Genesis 1, God said, "Let there be
46:17 light." And there was light. And God
46:19 said, "Let there be a firmament in the
46:22 midst of the waters." And it was so. And
46:24 God said, "Let the dry land appear." And
46:26 it appeared. And God said, "Let the
46:28 earth bring forth grass." And the grass
46:31 appeared. And he said, "Let us make man
46:34 in our image." And he did. In the image
46:37 of God created he him. Male and female
46:39 created he
46:43 them. God spoke and the world came into
46:46 being. I know the evolutionists don't
46:49 like this truth, but it doesn't matter.
46:52 One of these days they'll get it right.
46:55 But the Bible says God created the
46:58 heavens and the earth.
47:01 Argue with it if you want. Believe it or
47:06 not, you cannot mess with the truth. The
47:09 world is the world that God spoke into
47:11 being. Frankly, as hard as it is to
47:13 believe that, that makes a whole lot
47:15 more sense to me than the modern
47:17 explanations that I read about in the
47:21 evolutionary documents. His power was
47:24 conveyed to build this world by the
47:28 simple syllables of his speaking. Psalm
47:30 says it this way. By the word of the
47:33 Lord, the heavens were made and all the
47:35 host of them, by the breath of his
47:39 mouth, he spoke and it was done. He
47:43 commanded and it stood fast.
47:46 I recently came across this picturesque
47:49 perspective from the pen of William Law,
47:52 an 18th century English
47:54 clergyman. He said, "What an immense
47:58 workman is God in miniature as well as
48:01 in the great. With one hand, he is
48:04 making a ring of 100,000 miles in
48:07 diameter to revolve around a planet like
48:10 Saturn. And with the other hand, he's
48:12 forming a tooth in the ray of the
48:15 feather of a hummingbird or a point in
48:18 the claw of the foot of a microscopic
48:21 insect. With one hand, he's doing the
48:22 great and with other he's dealing with
48:26 the miniature. But in all, he's showing
48:30 his power. He is the great almighty God.
48:34 And with his creation, he proves his
48:36 power. And then there is his
48:38 preservation. How many of you know that
48:42 this world is held together by the power of
48:43 of
48:47 God? Isaiah 40:26 says, "Lift up your
48:50 eyes on high. See who has created these
48:52 things, who brings out their host by
48:55 number and calls us all by name. By the
48:57 greatness of his might and the strength
49:00 of his power, not one is missing.
49:04 Almighty God presides over the world and
49:06 through his power the world continues to
49:09 function according to the way in which
49:12 he created it. Jeremiah says when he
49:15 thunders the waters in heaven's roar. He
49:17 makes clouds rise from the ends of the
49:20 earth. He sends lightning and the rain
49:22 and brings out the wind from its storehouse.
49:24 storehouse.
49:25 So ladies and gentlemen, what would
49:27 happen if for a single moment almighty
49:29 God would withdraw his hand from the
49:32 universe? It would fly off into oblivion
49:34 and chaos. It would collapse like a
49:36 building imploding. The God who created
49:39 the universe is the one according to the
49:42 New Testament in whom all things
49:45 consist. Which means he is the glue that
49:48 holds it all together.
49:51 God holds the whole world
49:55 together by his power. And you know what
49:58 that means to you and me? If God can
50:00 hold the world together, I think he can
50:02 probably hold you
50:05 together. Isaiah said, "Even to your old
50:08 age, oh, do I love this. Even to your
50:12 old age and gray hairs, I am he. I am he
50:14 who will sustain you. I have made you
50:17 and I will carry you. I will sustain you
50:19 and I will rescue you. Isaiah said,
50:21 "Even when you're getting old and you
50:23 get gray hair, Almighty God is still
50:24 holding you together." How do you know
50:26 he can do it? He holds the whole world
50:30 together. He can handle you and he can handle
50:31 handle
50:34 me. God's endless energy and his
50:39 omnipotent power is something to behold.
50:41 And then let me talk just a moment about
50:44 the evidence of God's power in the resurrection.
50:45 resurrection.
50:47 In creation, we see it. In God's
50:49 preservation of the world, we see it.
50:52 But mostly in the New Testament, we see
50:55 it in the resurrection of Jesus
50:59 Christ. His incomparably great power for
51:02 us who believe. That power is the same
51:05 as the mighty strength he exerted when
51:07 he raised Christ from the dead and
51:09 seated him at his right hand in the
51:11 heavenly realms. Fire above all rule and
51:14 authority, power and dominion. God by
51:17 his exerted power, reversed the process
51:19 of death, overturned the process of
51:22 decay, caused a silent heart to beat
51:24 again, made our Lord's closed eyes to
51:27 open, his lifeless corpse to walk again,
51:30 and there's so much more. Jesus didn't
51:32 simply return to life. He wasn't merely
51:35 resuscitated. He was resurrected with a
51:38 glorified body, one incapable of aging
51:40 or pain or sickness or death. He was
51:44 resurrected with eternal power. He came
51:46 out of the grave. The resurrection is
51:48 one of the great evidences of the power of
51:49 of
51:51 God. But you know, all of these are great.
51:53 great.
51:56 Creation, preservation, resurrection.
52:00 But you and I live in an age when the
52:03 power of God is demonstrated all the
52:05 time. And it's the greatest power of
52:07 all. I call it the power of transformation.
52:10 transformation.
52:13 Romans 1:16 says,"For I am not ashamed
52:16 of the gospel of Christ." Watch this.
52:19 "For it is the power of
52:21 God to
52:24 salvation." How many of you know it
52:26 takes the power of God to get us
52:29 saved? Some of you know that more than
52:31 others. Maybe you grew up in a Christian
52:32 home and you've always been around the
52:34 faith and one day you just accepted
52:35 Christ because it seemed like the
52:37 natural thing to do. But some of you
52:39 came out of a life that wasn't anything
52:42 close to that and the almighty God
52:45 reached down and he grabbed hold of your
52:49 life and his power was displayed. One of
52:51 my favorite people that I learned to
52:53 love after I came to this church back in
52:55 the 80s was a man by the name of Henry
52:59 Morris. Henry Morris was a creationist.
53:02 He was the founder of the Institute of
53:04 Creation Research. And when I first came
53:06 here, Henry Morris had an office about
53:08 two doors down from where mine was in
53:10 the administration building. And we got
53:12 kind of in routine. We would go to lunch
53:14 about once a month. And Henry's written
53:16 more books than you can imagine on
53:19 creation. He was the ultimate architect
53:22 of the creationist movement and a
53:24 brilliant man. Not a trained theologian,
53:26 but a trained
53:29 scientist. I used to tease him because
53:30 he interpreted the whole Bible through
53:32 creationism. Everything in the Bible was
53:34 about creation. I told him one day, I
53:36 said, "Henry, if all the other doctrines
53:38 in our doctrinal statement had the same
53:39 weight as the doctrine of creation, it
53:41 would take 10 people to carry the
53:44 statement around." Cuz he was totally
53:49 committed to creationism. And he even he
53:52 even one time described getting saved in
53:55 creationist terms. I wrote it down. I
53:56 want to share it with you. Here's what
53:59 he wrote. A person who is a closed
54:02 system spiritually utterly inadequate
54:05 and self-centered suddenly becomes an
54:08 open system integrated and with his life
54:10 centered in the omnipotent creator. He
54:13 who was spiritually deteriorating day
54:15 after day through the power of the Holy
54:18 Spirit. Now the God of hope fills him
54:21 with joy and peace. He abounds in hope
54:23 through the power of the Holy Spirit and
54:25 he becomes quickened together with
54:27 Christ. Here's my favorite line. He who
54:30 was a chaos is now a
54:33 cosmos with order, meaning, and
54:36 goal. He is born again, a miracle of
54:39 grace, a living testimony to the power
54:42 of creation, who was also the God of
54:46 salvation. Henry Morris took this
54:48 experience of being born again and tried
54:51 to describe it in terms that would help
54:54 us appreciate the kind of power it takes
54:56 for just one
54:59 somebody to become a
55:02 Christian. Let me give you one case to
55:05 consider. Some years ago, there was this
55:07 boy named Jimmy. He grew up on an
55:10 Indiana farm and he fell into the sorted
55:13 world of drugs. He moved to Chicago and
55:16 lived in holes beneath the street where
55:18 he feasted on an endless supply of
55:22 heroin, opium, cocaine, and morphine.
55:24 Because he lived under the ground, he
55:25 got a nickname. They called him Jimmy the
55:27 the
55:29 Rat. One day, while lying in a filthy
55:31 bunk below the level of the street,
55:33 Jimmy the Rat heard someone singing
55:36 hymns on the street above. He recalled
55:38 the songs he'd sung in church as a boy,
55:41 and something stirred in his heart. So
55:43 he went to where he heard the music. He
55:46 shortly staggered into the Pacific
55:49 Garden Mission and he heard more singing
55:51 and held up both hands and called out,
55:53 "I want somebody to pray for
55:57 me." Mission workers gathered around him
56:01 and earnestly prayed. And that day he
56:03 gave his life to the
56:06 Lord and his life was changed
56:09 forever. By God's grace, he was able to
56:11 overcome his addictions. He returned to
56:14 Indiana, became a successful farmer with
56:16 a Christian wife and children, often
56:18 sharing his testimony of God's saving
56:20 grace. And his children were heard to
56:23 say in their family prayers, "Thank God
56:25 for Pacific Garden Mission, where daddy
56:30 learned to know Jesus." And his story is
56:33 replicated over and over again every
56:36 single day all across the world wherever
56:40 the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached.
56:42 That to me is the greatest evidence of
56:47 the power of God. We try everything else
56:49 before we come to God. I'm not here to
56:52 criticize any of the attempts to get
56:54 people right. Whether it's eight steps
56:56 or 10 steps or 12 steps. Please don't
56:59 send me letters about what I'm saying
57:00 because every time I mention that
57:02 somebody thinks I'm critical of them.
57:04 I'm not saying that. I'm saying they can
57:06 do their thing, but there's a limit to
57:08 what they can do. And there is no limit
57:12 to what God can do. God can save a
57:16 person from the most awful situation you
57:17 could imagine. If you're here today and
57:19 you think maybe you're beyond God's
57:21 reach, let me tell you, there is no one
57:25 beyond the reach of God. There is no one
57:29 that God cannot save. Every Christian
57:32 has a unique testimony. Yours might not
57:34 seem as dramatic as Jimmy the Rats, but
57:36 it's just as real and just as glorious,
57:38 and the change should be just as
57:41 lasting. Every Jesus follower is a
57:44 exhibit A to the world that God Almighty
57:47 has transforming power. The gospel is
57:51 the gospel of God's power.
57:53 So, we're almost finished, but I don't
57:56 want to leave this message without
57:59 giving you a couple of takeaways for
58:02 your own life. First of all, in the
58:06 experience of God's power, the power of
58:09 God should energize our worship of God.
58:10 One of the things that's amazing to me
58:13 as I study these various attributes of
58:16 God is all of them have a connection to
58:19 worship. The whole issue, men and women,
58:23 is this. The more you know about God,
58:25 the more you love God. And the more you
58:26 love God, the more you want to worship
58:29 God. If you don't know very much of God,
58:30 you won't love God like you should. And
58:32 if you don't love God like you should,
58:34 you won't worship him. But when you know
58:36 who God is, and you know that this God
58:39 who fires the sun is the same God who
58:42 loves you enough to take your sin away
58:45 and give you hope for eternity. Somehow
58:47 you just have to worship. Now I'm going
58:49 to read a verse of scripture to you and
58:50 it won't seem like it fits until I tell
58:53 you what it is. But listen carefully.
58:56 Who is like you, oh Lord, among the
58:59 gods? Who is like you? Glorious in
59:02 holiness, fearful in praises, doing
59:05 wonders. Do you know what that is?
59:08 That's Exodus 15:11. And it's the first
59:12 hymn recorded in all of the Bible.
59:15 The first hymn in all of the Bible. Who
59:17 is like you, oh Lord, among the gods?
59:20 Who is like you? Glorious in your
59:23 holiness, fearful in praises, doing
59:26 wonders. In other words, whenever we try
59:28 to comprehend the power of God, we are
59:30 so overwhelmed we cannot understand it.
59:33 We can only worship God. Even when we
59:35 compare his power to illustrations like
59:37 the sun, as I did at the beginning of
59:40 this message, our imaginations get lost
59:42 in the immensity of the subject. We can
59:45 experience the same exuberance today as
59:47 Moses did when he wrote this first hymn.
59:50 Whenever we sing our songs like all hail
59:52 the power, oh Lord my God, when I
59:55 awesome wonder. When we sing these songs
59:57 of worship, we are reminding ourselves
60:00 of the greatness of almighty God, the omnipotent God of the universe, the
60:02 omnipotent God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth, the
60:04 creator of heaven and earth, the sustainer of heaven and earth, the
60:06 sustainer of heaven and earth, the source of the resurrection, and the
60:08 source of the resurrection, and the reason why you and I are on our way to
60:10 reason why you and I are on our way to heaven.
60:12 heaven. Hallelujah. I've noticed that many of
60:15 Hallelujah. I've noticed that many of our contemporary hymns, you may not like
60:18 our contemporary hymns, you may not like the cadence, but listen to the words.
60:20 the cadence, but listen to the words. Many of our contemporary writers are
60:23 Many of our contemporary writers are focusing on God's astounding power. A
60:26 focusing on God's astounding power. A new generation is rising to praise him
60:29 new generation is rising to praise him because of his power and his grace. When
60:33 because of his power and his grace. When you think about the power of God, it
60:35 you think about the power of God, it ought to make you worship. And if you're
60:38 ought to make you worship. And if you're having a little trouble tonight before
60:40 having a little trouble tonight before you go to bed, just walk out and look up
60:44 you go to bed, just walk out and look up and remember the God who flung those
60:46 and remember the God who flung those stars into space is the God you worship.
60:49 stars into space is the God you worship. He's the God you know. He's the God
60:51 He's the God you know. He's the God you're learning to love and the God who
60:54 you're learning to love and the God who receives your praise when you lift up
60:57 receives your praise when you lift up your voice to him. The power of God
61:00 your voice to him. The power of God should energize our worship. And
61:02 should energize our worship. And secondly, the power of God should
61:04 secondly, the power of God should encourage our
61:05 encourage our walk. Now, may the God of hope fill you
61:08 walk. Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that
61:11 with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of
61:14 you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the
61:17 the Holy Spirit, the third member of the triune God. Notice that word again. It's
61:20 triune God. Notice that word again. It's the word power. God's power. God's power
61:24 the word power. God's power. God's power is conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit.
61:25 is conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit. And listen to me. The same power that
61:28 And listen to me. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same
61:31 raised Jesus from the grave is the same power available to you to live your life
61:33 power available to you to live your life every day in this crooked world where we
61:36 every day in this crooked world where we happen to be. The same power that
61:39 happen to be. The same power that brought him back from the grave is the
61:41 brought him back from the grave is the same power that you have available to
61:44 same power that you have available to you.
61:46 you. And then the power of God not only
61:48 And then the power of God not only should energize our worship and
61:51 should energize our worship and encourage our walk. The power of God
61:54 encourage our walk. The power of God should empower our work. Sometimes we
61:57 should empower our work. Sometimes we feel like we don't have the energy to do
61:58 feel like we don't have the energy to do it. Sometimes we get up and think, "Oh,
62:01 it. Sometimes we get up and think, "Oh, I got to go do this. I'm on the team. I
62:03 I got to go do this. I'm on the team. I I do this." Well, listen to this. God is
62:07 I do this." Well, listen to this. God is the one who we proclaim, admonishing and
62:11 the one who we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so
62:14 teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully
62:15 that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end, I
62:17 mature in Christ. To this end, I strenuously contend, now watch this,
62:19 strenuously contend, now watch this, with all the energy Christ so powerfully
62:22 with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in
62:24 works in me. Here's what I know. It's not what I
62:28 me. Here's what I know. It's not what I always practice. It's what I know. You
62:31 always practice. It's what I know. You cannot do the work of God in your own
62:34 cannot do the work of God in your own power. If you try, you will get only
62:38 power. If you try, you will get only what you can do, but you will never
62:40 what you can do, but you will never discover what God can
62:42 discover what God can do. When we get involved in serving the
62:45 do. When we get involved in serving the Lord if we're not careful, we get into
62:47 Lord if we're not careful, we get into our own persona. We start working hard,
62:49 our own persona. We start working hard, adding more hours, and trying our very
62:51 adding more hours, and trying our very best to make it happen. And all of that
62:53 best to make it happen. And all of that is a part of being in ministry. But men
62:56 is a part of being in ministry. But men and women, God never intended you and I
62:59 and women, God never intended you and I to take on the burden of God's work in
63:02 to take on the burden of God's work in our own power while he allows the power
63:04 our own power while he allows the power of Almighty God we've been talking about
63:06 of Almighty God we've been talking about here today to be unaccessed by us during
63:09 here today to be unaccessed by us during the process. We have to stop sometimes
63:12 the process. We have to stop sometimes and back up and say, "Lord God, this is
63:15 and back up and say, "Lord God, this is too big for me. This is too much for me.
63:18 too big for me. This is too much for me. If you don't fill me with your power,
63:20 If you don't fill me with your power, this can't happen. Not only can it not
63:23 this can't happen. Not only can it not be born, it cannot be sustained. And oh,
63:26 be born, it cannot be sustained. And oh, I wish I could bring before you the
63:29 I wish I could bring before you the illustrations that I know of people who
63:31 illustrations that I know of people who keep trying to do the mighty work of God
63:33 keep trying to do the mighty work of God without any of God's
63:35 without any of God's power. And we see it so often in the
63:38 power. And we see it so often in the secular realm in our churches. Instead
63:40 secular realm in our churches. Instead of teaching people how to access the
63:42 of teaching people how to access the power of God, we send them a positive
63:44 power of God, we send them a positive mental attitude seminars. We start
63:47 mental attitude seminars. We start holding all of the secular business
63:49 holding all of the secular business seminars in our own churches to tell
63:51 seminars in our own churches to tell people how to do the work of God in
63:53 people how to do the work of God in their own strength when it was never
63:55 their own strength when it was never meant to be done that way in the first
63:56 meant to be done that way in the first place. And so we struggle and we fail
63:59 place. And so we struggle and we fail and we fall in our faith. Are those
64:00 and we fall in our faith. Are those principles good? Yes. Can we learn from
64:02 principles good? Yes. Can we learn from them? Yes. But they cannot be the source
64:05 them? Yes. But they cannot be the source of our strength and our power. Only our
64:07 of our strength and our power. Only our strength and power from God can enable
64:10 strength and power from God can enable us and empower us to do the work of God.
64:14 us and empower us to do the work of God. Most Christians operate in the energy of
64:16 Most Christians operate in the energy of the flesh about 80% of the time
64:18 the flesh about 80% of the time according to what people have discussed.
64:21 according to what people have discussed. Sometimes I do that, but I'm always
64:23 Sometimes I do that, but I'm always sorry when I
64:25 sorry when I do. You know, sometimes in the Christian
64:27 do. You know, sometimes in the Christian life, you have a power outage. You know
64:28 life, you have a power outage. You know what that is? Well, it's going to the
64:31 what that is? Well, it's going to the doctor and finding there's something
64:34 doctor and finding there's something wrong. It's going into your office at
64:36 wrong. It's going into your office at work and being laid off. It's getting a
64:38 work and being laid off. It's getting a phone call that your child is in
64:40 phone call that your child is in trouble. It's hearing the news that a
64:41 trouble. It's hearing the news that a loved one is at death's door. It's a
64:43 loved one is at death's door. It's a plunge in the stock market just when
64:45 plunge in the stock market just when you're about ready to retire. These
64:47 you're about ready to retire. These things happen to you. They happen to me
64:49 things happen to you. They happen to me and they have for many years to many
64:52 and they have for many years to many people. That's just when we learn to
64:54 people. That's just when we learn to switch power sources and begin drawing
64:58 switch power sources and begin drawing from the transformer of God's power
65:00 from the transformer of God's power because we find out we don't have the
65:02 because we find out we don't have the strength to make it. Why do you think
65:04 strength to make it. Why do you think people say when they're going through
65:06 people say when they're going through tough times, "Dr. Jeremiah, I felt like
65:08 tough times, "Dr. Jeremiah, I felt like God was closer to me than he's ever been
65:10 God was closer to me than he's ever been my whole life." because you switched off
65:12 my whole life." because you switched off your power and you switched on God's and
65:15 your power and you switched on God's and you found out his power is
65:19 you found out his power is sufficient. Sometimes I give you
65:21 sufficient. Sometimes I give you illustrations from people I've read
65:22 illustrations from people I've read about that you've never heard about and
65:24 about that you've never heard about and I always feel funny when I do that. But
65:27 I always feel funny when I do that. But some of these old preachers and teachers
65:29 some of these old preachers and teachers that I've been reading about my whole
65:31 that I've been reading about my whole life bring so much to the table. There's
65:34 life bring so much to the table. There's a guy associated with the Missionary
65:37 a guy associated with the Missionary Alliance Church, one of their great
65:39 Alliance Church, one of their great heroes. His name is AB
65:42 heroes. His name is AB Simpson. He founded a missionary
65:44 Simpson. He founded a missionary agency. He's written many books and I
65:47 agency. He's written many books and I have read many of them. But until
65:49 have read many of them. But until recently, I didn't know that he had a
65:51 recently, I didn't know that he had a power
65:52 power outage. He said he was 36 years old. He
65:55 outage. He said he was 36 years old. He was so sick he could almost see himself
65:57 was so sick he could almost see himself falling into the grave. His ministry
65:59 falling into the grave. His ministry lost its steam. He endured a period of
66:02 lost its steam. He endured a period of deep discouragement while lingering and
66:03 deep discouragement while lingering and praying in a camp meeting in the woods.
66:05 praying in a camp meeting in the woods. He heard the words of an old
66:08 He heard the words of an old African-American spiritual that went
66:10 African-American spiritual that went like this. Nothing is too hard for
66:12 like this. Nothing is too hard for Jesus. No man can work like
66:16 Jesus. No man can work like him. It was this an arrow from God
66:19 him. It was this an arrow from God pierced his heart and he realized he'd
66:21 pierced his heart and he realized he'd been trying to do God's work in the
66:22 been trying to do God's work in the strength of his own passion. Simpson
66:25 strength of his own passion. Simpson began contemplating the superlative
66:27 began contemplating the superlative power of God. He began thinking about
66:29 power of God. He began thinking about the things we've been talking about
66:31 the things we've been talking about today. He realized he needed to let the
66:33 today. He realized he needed to let the Lord use him as a channel and not be the
66:36 Lord use him as a channel and not be the source. And it changed his life and his
66:40 source. And it changed his life and his ministry. The power of God as evidenced
66:43 ministry. The power of God as evidenced in creation, preservation, the
66:45 in creation, preservation, the resurrection, and the transformation of
66:47 resurrection, and the transformation of believers is hard for us to grasp, but
66:51 believers is hard for us to grasp, but it's wonderful for us when we finally
66:53 it's wonderful for us when we finally get a hold of it. That same power is
66:56 get a hold of it. That same power is available to carry us through our daily
66:59 available to carry us through our daily lives. And God is waiting to exercise
67:02 lives. And God is waiting to exercise his power in your behalf. If you're here
67:05 his power in your behalf. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ
67:08 today and you don't know Jesus Christ and maybe you think your life is out of
67:10 and maybe you think your life is out of control and there's nothing that can
67:11 control and there's nothing that can change it, I'm here to tell you if you
67:14 change it, I'm here to tell you if you haven't tried Jesus, you're
67:16 haven't tried Jesus, you're shortcircuiting your whole life. Until
67:19 shortcircuiting your whole life. Until you try Jesus, you haven't tried the
67:22 you try Jesus, you haven't tried the ultimate answer. Jesus is the ultimate
67:26 ultimate answer. Jesus is the ultimate answer to whatever it is that's
67:28 answer to whatever it is that's happening in your life. If you do not
67:29 happening in your life. If you do not know Jesus Christ, tap into the power
67:32 know Jesus Christ, tap into the power that's waiting for you to change your
67:34 that's waiting for you to change your life and make you a new person. If
67:37 life and make you a new person. If you're a Christian and you're going
67:38 you're a Christian and you're going through a tough time and you wonder, is
67:40 through a tough time and you wonder, is there any hope? Let me tell you, there
67:42 there any hope? Let me tell you, there is hope. Nothing is too hard for our
67:44 is hope. Nothing is too hard for our God. Nothing is too hard. He never
67:47 God. Nothing is too hard. He never sleeps. He's not ever weary.
67:50 sleeps. He's not ever weary. Whatever it is you need, he is able to
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