God on His Throne Forever

I was reflecting the other day about a comment that I received many years ago, probably some 30 miles north of here. I was a student at Ambassador College in Pasadena.

And I remember the church was going through some tough times when one of my classmates commented to me, Don't worry, God is on His throne, Jesus Christ is at His right-hand side, and nobody can remove them. No matter what happens, God is still in charge with Jesus Christ right there as well. And that immediately comforted me. It reassured me that no matter what happens, no one can dethrone God, nobody can take over, and God is ultimately in charge forever. There is no question, there is no doubt that He is in charge of this universe, and He is love.

He cares for all of us, and whatever happens, He permits for a reason. And so over the years, I've had a lot of people comment different things, but that was one comment that I never forgot, and it has truly comforted and reassured me through the years. I hope that same thought will help all present and those that are listening on the webcast. Do we have that type of perspective? No matter what happens, God is still on His throne, and nothing is going to change that.

It is the ultimate reality. Everything else can turn to dust. This universe, which is made out of matter and energy, will eventually wind down, but God is still on His throne. Jesus Christ is right there at His right-hand side. They will be there for an eternity. And so we really are not masters of our destiny, as so many poems and other philosophers have said.

No, we are not. God is in charge of our destiny. Now, we can decide what we want to do, but God is still going to be on His throne. He's always going to be the God of love. He cannot sin. He cannot tempt people. In that way, there's no evil in God. And so that is the ultimate reality. Satan can't do anything about that, nor anyone else that is evil. Evil will be temporary. There is evil now only because God permits it to carry out His plan, as Mr. McCoy brought out.

What a great privilege to know God is working things out. He has His own chronology. He's working things out in His own plan. So let's break this point down into some practical applications. First of all, God is almighty. The term that many times is used means omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He reigns supreme. Although, since giving free will, the possibility of evil appeared. It's part of His plan. He could have worked it out where that was not necessary. But He knew that was a necessary element. And He took provisions, and He took measures knowing that this free will was going to allow people to sin, to do evil.

But He also had a plan to eventually work things out for the best. Let's look at Psalm 27. We sang some of the Psalms at the beginning of the services. Psalm 27, verse 1. It's a psalm that is very dear to my heart. I'm very happy I learned about this psalm when I was very young. After coming into the church at the tender age of 17 years old, and I really needed this psalm at that time.

Psalm 27, and I hope it will be a comfort to you as well. David says, verse 1, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? When you start following this way of life, you're going to be intimidated. I was the only one that came into the church, and of course my family was hostile to me, my friends were hostile to me. And so whom shall I fear? He answers, The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.

Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion, in the secret place of His tabernacle. He shall hide me, He shall set me high upon a rock. And then He says in verse 10, When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.

So if you're the only one in your family that's in the church, God is going to be there. You have a loving father, you have a loving elder brother, you communicate with them. They will help us to follow their way of life.

So remember, God is ultimately in charge. That should be so comforting. All the powers of this earth, all the weapons, all the armies, and everything else, if they all pointed toward God, that would not mean one thing. God, just with His will, just with His thought, would disintegrate everything. So this is not a true battle.

Evil is just temporary on this earth, but it does have a purpose. Evil is the result of breaking God's laws. The first one who did it was Satan, but man has followed Satan's way, and that's why we find so much of the breaking of God's laws.

And so when we have a choice, which way of life to follow, I think we should consider what is most important before God. Notice in Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah chapter 9.

Is this one of our great goals? Jeremiah 9 verse 23.

It says, Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. You might be a college professor. You might have a lot of knowledge and understanding about a lot of physical things. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. You might be a star athlete. You might be a weightlifter. Look at your body. Think, boy, it's so powerful I can beat virtually anybody at any type of fight or wrestling. He says, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches. So a person might become very wealthy in life, and they're proud. Many boast to others about it, but God is saying all these things really are not that important. He says, But let him who glories.

Glory in this. If you want to boast in something, this is what he says is important, that he understands and knows me. So the knowledge of God is the greatest blessing to know who he is, as revealed in the Bible, and to understand his plan, how he's carrying things out. That brings great peace of mind. He says that I am the Lord, exercising, loving kindness. Yes, that term is a combination of love and kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, says the Lord. So understanding who God is and what he's all about and getting to understand that and put it into practice is the greatest blessing on earth. Because you can't take your riches with you, you can't take your fame with you. I was reading a comment the other day that part of life and the purpose behind it is to eventually dethrone people. And so you have this powerful executive and he's used to giving commands and everybody bowing and doing everything and running around. And what happens one day after his retirement? He goes back to that same office. Nobody pays any attention to him. He has no power. He has no influence. He's just a retiree. And so that happens and sometimes a man can be the wealthiest on earth and have a messy divorce and all kinds of things. And he's one of the most miserable people on earth. And all of that importance just fizzles and deflates the person. So he says one thing that is not going to be deflated that you're never going to regret is keeping and understanding who God is and understanding his ways and putting them into practice. How different people would be if they exercised loving kindness, judgment, which means a sound mind knowing how to judge things, and righteousness, which has to do with the right way of living. That's just following what God does.

Job had a problem with this. He went through one of the toughest trials any human being has ever gone through.

Job, while suffering the loss of his children, his possessions, and his health, began to question God's power and wisdom. We can read in Job 31 verse 35, and I'm sure everybody's had a Job moment in their lives where you say, why did this happen to me?

And how can God allow something like this to happen?

After all, I'm trying to do his will. Job was a very dedicated man to God, and yet he suffered trials and difficulties. Job 31 verse 35. And by the way, this is one of the best philosophy books you'll ever read. So God, in part, allowed this so we could learn from Job not having to go through what Job went through. In Job 31 verse 35, he says, Oh, that I had one to hear me. Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me. That my prosecutor had written a book. I could have all of these down so I could refute it. Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and bind it on me like a crown. I would declare to him the number of my steps. Like a prince, I would approach him.

And so he just said, Look, I think God made a mistake here, and I don't deserve what I have received.

Everybody has probably felt that at some time. Notice in chapter 32 verse 1, it says, So these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. He thought, God, you made a mistake. I'd like for you to own up to that. If I just had a chance with you, I'm sure that I would win the case.

And so he became self-righteous. And so God said, Okay, Job, so you think you have a very strong case? And then from chapter 38 to chapter 42, God reveals himself and goes through how insignificant Job truly is, how little he really understands about things. And then in Job 42 verses 1 through 6, I'm going to read it in the Good News Bible. It says, Then Job answered the Lord, I know, Lord, that you are all powerful, that you can do everything you want. You ask how I dare question your wisdom when I was so very ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know. You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions. In the past, I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes. So again, yes, there are going to be things that only God is going to be able to explain at a certain moment.

Some Christ will explain, and then ultimately God the Father, when the New Jerusalem comes down, He says He will wipe all the tears. There won't be any pain. There won't be any memories of all of those tough times. So God does reign supreme. That is a fact. We are alive because God gave us life. He knows what's going on. If you can have just a bus line, say, go ride the bus here, Greyhound, and leave the driving to us, human beings trust bus drivers. Well, God is so much greater than any bus company or any driver.

And so again, we should remember that no matter what happens, God's still on His throne. Job sort of thought, well, maybe God got dethroned. Maybe that's why it happened to me. Or something happened to God. He's no longer as wise as He should have been. And boy, did Job realize how foolish that had been. And so that's the first lesson that we should learn today.

The second one is that we all have a role to carry out in this life. We have been born in a certain place. We have inherited certain tendencies, talents, and gifts from our parents. But we live in what the Bible calls the present evil age. So many times we come to poverty. Maybe it was our parents because of the present evil age. And we live difficult times. But that's part of this evil age. Remember what it says in Galatians chapter 1 verses 3 through 5.

Paul says to the Galatian church, Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age. According to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So we live in a present evil age. There is going to be a future age which is not going to be that way.

But this is the earth we have lived in. We're going to see all kinds of tragedies and problems because we're still living under the curse of the earth being cursed after man's sin. So there are going to be diseases. There are going to be all kinds of poisonous plants. There's going to be harmful animals and also harmful people.

When you think, just in this past century, probably three of the most evil men on earth ruled a great amount of the nations. It happened during World War II. Adolf Hitler, who actually brought a world war because he just wanted to expand Germany to be able to have all the resources so all the Germans could have the best and the best resources. So he had to expand this way and brought about a catastrophic World War II that killed over 50 million people.

And so it's part of this present evil age that these things can happen. And then to the west of Germany, you had Lenin, who started this communist regime back in 1918, took over and basically ran a dictatorship of total control over the people. And then after he died, Stalin took over. So basically from 1918 to 1953, when Stalin finally died, it was one of the most evil systems. Now that doesn't mean people were all starving to death.

No, but they were slaves. They were captives. And it was one of the systems that damaged more people and created more atheists than just about any other place. But it wasn't just Lenin who got it started in Russia, building the Soviet Union. It was in China that Mao took over in 1949, and he began another reign of terror, which enslaved over a billion people in China. And so you talk about the present evil age. Some of us are refugees because of these evil regimes. I know Victor Kubik has talked about fleeing from Germany's empire and then fleeing from the Russians.

And he made it back. I myself was fleeing from communist Cuba. And so so many people have had to flee because of the evil that was going on. And so we live in a present evil age. This is not God's system, his reign on earth. That's what Christ is going to do when he returns.

So right now we are limited in all we can do. Yet we need to remember, even in this evil age, God is still on his throne and nothing can remove him. It's just temporary. Some of these men thought that they would reign for a thousand years, like Hitler said the Third Reich. It didn't last. It lasted from 1933 when he took over to 1945. So 12 years and that was it. As they say today, he was toast. There's nothing basically there of his famous Reich.

And so we should look at what we can do today. There is a great reward that we will receive if we follow God in our present life with all the difficulties. If we choose that, there is the greatest of rewards now and in the future. What greater gift can a person have than having God's Holy Spirit in them? To have God guiding, giving us wisdom, opening our minds to the truth, helping us as being part of God's family. We can actually begin to be part of God's family after baptism and receiving God's Holy Spirit. So all the millions will not compensate for the lack of God's Spirit. Notice in Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5.

Paul is addressing those members of the church who were slaves. When it says bond servants, the term is slave. Here you were sold as property, and some of them have been called by God and were part of the church. He says, bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he's a slave or free. So here, some of the people that were in the worst conditions in society. They were the lowest class. At that time, basically the Roman and Greek culture considered slaves as two-legged beasts. You had four-legged beasts, and you had two-legged beasts, and you could be sold, and you could be, you know, bought by a certain amount of money, and you became part of the owner's property, just like he had mules and animals. He also had human slaves, and yet God called some in this lowest of status in society into the church. Many of these slaves could not read or write. I think later, as they came into the church, they would learn something, but this idea that, oh yeah, they had free education there. Oh yeah, the slaves went to school, too. You know, we are in a completely different world. The people that were educated were very few and far in between, usually the upper class, and basically reserved to men. Very few women knew how to read and write, and yet God called the slaves. How they had to obey God would not be easy, and yet they did it.

What was it that got their attention? I think one of the main ingredients, one of the main reasons, would be that they were given hope. Here you are, basically, slaving day and night. You didn't have much dignity. You weren't a citizen. You didn't have rights as such, and yet when they heard the message where it says, God is also your father, and that you can have a wonderful reward in that coming kingdom, and that you can be a child of God, the slaves had nothing to lose. There was no vanity. There was nothing of boasting, and so many times they were the ones that were receptive to the message.

How many millionaires do we have in the church? Hardly one. Of all the millions of rich people, hardly anybody really gets called because they're too full of themselves. They're too comfortable in life. It's those that have been humbled, that have gone through difficult times, and God uses that meat tenderizer. Just like with the meat, He has to soften us up before finally we yield to Him, that then God can start using us, because He's not going to use somebody that is going to resist Him, that is going to think that it's not necessary to follow Him. So here we see slaves being called into the church. They had a limited role in this present evil age, but you know what? Many of those were faithful to the end. They're going to be part of those that are going to reign with Christ on the earth.

When you think of the kingdom of God and when they heard that message, how much superior is that to anything that is talked about going to heaven? You say, the person's going to heaven, he's looking down, and he's there just kind of a blissful life. Not much to do, but you're happy. How different it is when you learn in the Bible that this is talking about getting a job, working for Christ, a job with challenges where you are going to work and you're going to help beautify this earth and help convert the nations and be able to use your imagination, your creativity, your personality in a much better environment. Boy, that really turns me on. It really charges me to want to be part of that kingdom instead of this passive type of life that basically the mainstream Christianity portrays. Well, you're going to go up to heaven, but what are you going to do? Well, not much. You've already earned your salvation, so now you just get to rest. It's like the story of this preacher that asked his congregation, he says, how many of you are ready to go up to heaven? And everybody raised their hands except one man. And he was there in the second pew and he again said, how many want to go up to heaven? And that man just sat there and so he interrupted his speech. He says, sir, what's wrong? Don't you want to go up to heaven? And he said, well, yes, but I thought you were getting the first group to go up now.

I'm not ready to go to heaven yet, right? I want to have some fun here on earth. I want to enjoy things because it might be pretty boring up there. So, no, that's not what God has in mind. The kingdom of God is going to be full of challenges, of creativity, of growing as a person, serving, loving, and developing much more of all the talents that we have.

And so this leads me to the third point, which is that there are many that are suffering that are going through difficult trials.

And it's important to remember that it's not just the fact that God is on his throne, that no one can remove him, that he is king, and that he is in charge of everything. But even more encouraging than that is that he wants us to call him Father. We have the Father, our Father, there. And that's a family term. That's a loving term. That's an endearing firm that we all can think about. Remember, we begin praying our Father, not my Father, because it's not just me, but it's our Father. It's God's family. And that's a wonderful endearing term. God wants us not just as a king or as an almighty ruler. No, he wants us to recognize him as our Father.

There's an old Roman story back in the Roman Empire days.

That mentioned about a Roman emperor marching in all his glory in a great victory parade in Rome. The streets were lined with shearing crowds as they rode by where the Empress and her young son were sitting in review. Suddenly, the boy sprang from his seat as he saw his father coming in a chariot. He wormed his way through the crowd, scampering between startled legionnaire soldiers to meet his father's chariot. One soldier finally caught up to him and said, you can't do that, boy! Don't you know that's the emperor in that chariot? That little boy laughed. He may be your emperor, but he's my daddy and was taken by his father. So this is the picture that we should have.

We have access, direct access, to our daddy up there in heaven.

The theologian William Carl said the following. The Jews had different words for God, like Elohim and Adonai, but the name of God was actually unpronounceable for fear. They might be accused of blaspheming. So they got to a point where they didn't use the name of the equivalent to Yahweh or Yehova or whatever that term is pronounced. But they didn't want to use it because they thought, well, if we use that name and somehow it's not worthy, we could be guilty of blasphemy. So they left it out. Yet Jesus starts his prayer with this tender, warm greeting to the supreme being by simply saying, Father.

Greeks and Romans would never have done that.

The Aramaic has it as Abba. In Arabic, it is called Yaba. I think that's one of the ones they use for Star Wars.

And the only possible English translation, again, could be other terms, but he says here, is daddy. Daddy, Jesus says to God, quote, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, saying Abba there, a very endearing term. He also said, Father or Abba, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And that's the way we should feel. He's my daddy, and Christ is my loving elder brother. We can go to them in confidence.

We want to avoid trials and difficulties, but that's not always negative to go through trials and difficulties. I'd like to read from Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 5, and then comment.

Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 5. I'd like to read it in the New Living Translation.

It says, therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us because He has given us His Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. So again, there's a process here being worked out. Many times it's after we go through a very difficult time where we've had to get closer to God that we learn how far away we were, how much we needed Him, and how we need to get closer to Him, and what happens when we distance ourselves from God. I always have the picture here of like two of these polarized electric fields, two balls, and there you have the pole, the magnetic pole, and you have yourself in the middle. And one of those poles is the world, and the other one is God. And if you get too close to the world, you are that farther from God. And you're going to do things that you wouldn't do otherwise if you are closer to God. But in the weakness of the moment, you're too close to the world. But if you move yourselves closer to God, you not only are strengthened, but you're farther from the world. The world's attractions are not going to be that strong as they were before. And so it says here that sometimes through difficulties and trials, it pulls us to God.

There's a phenomenon in nature, which is how a vine can cling sometimes to these oak trees. And a vine is a very tender plant. Sometimes it'll grow on walls and whatever. But it's interesting that when it grows on the trunks of some of these sturdy trees, if it is facing the storm, it will pull the vine closer to the trunk. It will actually bring it. And with that trunk, you are—the vine is better protected. But what happens if it's on the other side, where it's not being hit by it? Well, you're not going to be as close, but you're going to be more protected from it. It's the same way with trials. Sometimes we have to face them head-on. That's when we need to cling more to God. And if we're on the other side, the things that happen, you're going to be protected. The trunk is going to be there in the way.

So there are three things to remember about God when we go through different trials. Number one, He is on His throne, and so is Christ. And both love us all the time and will not abandon us. We can abandon God. He can't abandon us. Sometimes our sins are the barrier there, but He's reaching out to us. We have to knock those barriers down. Notice in Hebrews chapter 13.

Starting in verse five, it says, Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. So again, we have God there, and sometimes we may drift, but those trials maybe will push us, just like the winds will push the vine into the trunk. Get it closer to the protection it needs.

In Isaiah 59, let's go to Isaiah 59.

Notice it's not God that's abandoning us. It is us who is abandoning God. Isaiah 59, in verse 1, it says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. And so again, sometimes we are the ones that put the barrier up. God is not doing it. He's there, just like a loving father. Sometimes the children don't want to listen to their parents. Sometimes they flee from their parents. They put up walls. But the parents are there. They're going to be available. But the person has to remove those walls the same way. We have to go to God. We have to confess, and we have to repent, and then the wall comes down, and God can forgive us.

Number two, these are the points. The second thing to remember about God when we go through trials is God knows about our situation more than we will ever know. Sometimes we think, oh God doesn't care, or He doesn't know. No, He knows. He understands. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 7, Matthew chapter 6 and verse 7, Christ said, And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. Talk about the unconverted. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. In other words, the more you repeat it, somehow that's going to be better. God says, don't do that. He can hear the first time.

You don't do that to your father, do you? Repeat the same request 10 times? No, He can hear the first time.

And then He says, Therefore do not be like them, for your father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. Now just think about that. How can God do that? Well, because He cares. He already knows what we're going through. He says that He has the very hairs on our head counted. I mean, a mother for all the care and love, I don't know one that loves her child enough to count each one of their hairs, right? But God says He knows exactly how much hair we have, and He knows how many hairs we're losing per day, too.

So if He cares for the hairs on our head, how much is He aware of what we're going through in our home, at work, at school, in our relationships?

And thirdly, when we go through trials, remember that God sees where our lives are heading. No matter how deep or far we go, He will be there to help us. So He knows where our lives are heading, and He will be there when we seek Him. Notice 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5, and verse 6, He says, Therefore humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. That's one of the most powerful scriptures in the Bible. I use it when I annoy someone. I say, Father, we're placing this person in Your hands, and we know You care for this person. You're aware of what they're going through because You care for us. He goes on to say, Be sober, be vigilant, because Your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. As you well know, lions are experts in fetching their prey. They know how to hide. They know when a person or in a field, they know which are the weak ones, which they can startle. And so it says here, too, that the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But what is the formula to resist him, to overcome that? It says, resist him. So don't give in. Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Everybody goes through trials. Satan is trying to devour as many because he doesn't want us to be part of that coming kingdom. And so he's there. He's jealous of God's people. He's envious. And he detests that one day he's going to be removed from power and replaced.

But here in verse 10 it tells us also, God is listening. He is aware. He says, but may the God of all grace, which means love, favor, and forgiveness, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you have suffered a while, perfect, established, strengthened, and settled you. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Peter learned that. He went through many trials. According to church history, he lost his life in obedience to God. But he had been tested time and time, and he realized if you're not tested, God really doesn't know what's inside of us. It's when you're really tested that whether that strength and courage and perseverance appears, or the person just folds. And we need to be tested to see what we're really made of. And hopefully we're made of God's Spirit in us.

So let's go back here and rehearse the three main points for a practical application. I thought it was a good comment the other day. I heard from a church member. They said, when you get a message, I like the messages where I can take that home and start applying it right away. So it's not just some concept, but bringing it down to something applicable. Well, here are three things we can take home and apply. Number one, when praying, remember, no matter what is happening in our lives, God is still on His throne, Christ is at His right side, and nothing or no one can ever remove them from being in charge.

Mr. Armstrong years ago put it this way. He said, brethren, I read the end of the book referring to the Bible, and he says, and we win. And so we should always understand we're on the winning side.

The world isn't. The worldliness that we see around us, it's on the losing side. It's only temporary. All of these tantrums that they have and all of these idealistic dreams of being in charge, building huge bureaucracies and tons of money to basically run everybody's lives. That's just temporary. That's going to come and go. God's kingdom is coming, and when Christ returns, all of this foolishness is going to finish. Number two, we all have a role to carry out in this life. Yes, we're born in a certain place. We inherited some traits, but in this present evil age, it's limited. God isn't looking for us to change the entire world, but He's looking to change us. If He can change us, that is a victory.

God is on His throne, and nothing can remove Him. So let's do what we can to please Him, to do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And thirdly, with those going through difficult trials, suffering one way or the other, God is not only Almighty. He is not only the King on a throne that governs everything in the universe, but He is our loving Father, our Daddy, that we can come to Him. And He will have a willing ear, just like if the Father knows how to give their children good things. How much more will God? There's a scripture there in Luke chapter 11.

Luke chapter 11 verse 11. It says, if a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone so he can break his tooth? No.

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish to bite him? No. Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion to sting him? No. If you then, being evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? And of course, God's blessings come through His Holy Spirit.

So let's remember these three points to apply them, to be encouraged, to be reassured that God is on His throne, Jesus Christ is on His right-hand side, and nothing and no one can ever remove them from there.