Take Comfort in His Sovereignty

Well, I get my thoughts together. This week, the big news in the country was the midterm elections.

If you listen to the media, it was probably the most important election in the history of the United States. It didn't go exactly the way some in the media would have had it go. It was an interesting time, and I always look at these elections almost as sporting events. It's fun to just kind of see who's ahead and who's behind and, you know, whatever. And so it's kind of more entertainment for me than anything else. And after the results of the elections, you know, it was announced that Mr. Tomp, the president, would have a news conference the next day, and I thought, I'm going to make a note of this and listen to what he has to say. Well, of course, I forgot about it, you know, and about an hour afterwards, I thought how I was going to listen to what he had to say. Turned the TV on. They were in the middle of a news conference, and he was taking questions from the reporters that were gathered there, which were from all over the world. And as I turned it on, there was a contentious exchange between him and one reporter, and I thought, well, this is interesting. Is this how the whole thing had gone on? But it wasn't, and that got calmed down. But then a couple questions later, someone got up, and they asked the question and made the comment. They said, Mr. President, when I asked you two years ago after the election, how is it that you are president when no one expected you to be elected president? And he said, and you answered me with just one word. You said, God. Now, you know our president, it's unusual for him to have just one word when he answers a question, but that was what he said, God. So the reporter went on, he said, so Mr. President, I ask you, was God involved in what happened yesterday? And Mr. Trump said, and I may be paraphrasing just a little, it's a very short answer, and he said, I believe God is involved in everything that happens. And that was all he said. And I'll have to say, it kind of made my day to hear a elected official bring God into anything and just make a short comment like that. And so it got me to thinking about the order of the world and the world that we live in, and the questions that we can have as we see things unfold, and different things happen among powers and leaders that come and go, and questions we might have as to, I wonder why God let that happen? Or how will God have that happen when we look at prophecy?

Reminded me of verses back in Daniel 2, and I wanted to turn there to start today. In Daniel 2, Daniel 2, and verse 20. Daniel 2 and verse 20. Now Daniel 2 is the chapter where Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of the first world-ruling kingdom, if you will, in accordance with that vision that he had, that he's had this dream, he sees this statue appear, he doesn't know what it means, he goes to his wise men, they don't have the answer, he goes to Daniel, God gives him the interpretation, and in Daniel 2, verse 20, Daniel says this. He says, blessed be the name of God, or blessed be the name of God, for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons, he removes kings, and he raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding. He raises up kings, and he removes kings.

He's the one who is in charge, and he does things according to his will to serve his purpose and the plan that he's established for us. Now let's go forward a couple of chapters to Daniel 4.

In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar was a man who became king, and as time went on, he became quite proud of himself, as sometimes people in positions of power become proud and prideful, and they will tend to be brought down by God. So Nebuchadnezzar has another vision, and he doesn't know what it means, and so he calls on Daniel. But here, let's pick it up in Daniel 4 and verse 17, because three times in this chapter of Daniel 4, God makes a comment. The same comment, if you will, but in chapter 4 verse 17, Nebuchadnezzar, recording this dream and what he has seen, he says, this is the decree of the Watchers and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, giving it to whomever he will, and he sets over it the lowest of men. He rules in the kingdom of men, and he gives it to whoever he wills. Daniel goes through an interpretation. Let's stop down to verse 25, where we read the same things again. This is time as Daniel, who is explaining what the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had, he says, they shall drive you, Nebuchadnezzar, from men.

Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times, or seven years, shall pass over you till you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. That's his will. It's his purpose. He will give it. Strap down to verse 32.

All this, in verse 28, says, all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 32, and they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. They will make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times will pass over you until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar says, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? Everything, the most unlikely thing that you can think of to happen to King Nebuchadnezzar, every single one of those things happened exactly as God said they would.

There's no recorded, no recorded instance of that type of thing happening to any other person, but God's purpose stands. And he lets happen in the kingdom of men, in our lives, among the nations. It's his will that gets done, and he serves his purpose.

You know when God created the earth or recreated the earth and he put man on it, he created a beautiful place and Adam and Eve were there, and we don't know how long God worked with Adam and Eve, taught them his ways, worked with them, and looked after them. But in Genesis 3, we find Satan in the form of a serpent appearing.

You know, it was God who allowed Satan to be there. Satan didn't just kind of outsmart God and one day just appeared and thought, ah, I'll work with these people. I'll be clever. I'll turn them away from you. God permitted it. It wasn't Satan who made the decision to be there. It was God who said, it's my purpose. I give you this opportunity to be with man.

And when mankind, in the form of Adam and Eve, chose Satan, chose that way over God's way, God is the one who told Satan or gave Satan permission to be, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the God of the earth. It wasn't Satan who took it from God. God gave it to him.

And God still controls what Satan does. He isn't allowed to do anything that God doesn't allow him to do. Because God has a purpose in mind for you and me and for all of mankind, that we will learn to do the good, and we will learn to refuse the evil. We will learn to do and have the character to choose right, even when it's not the easiest thing to do. And we will learn to refuse the evil, even when it's the most attractive in our minds, want to go there, and we want to do those things. We will develop that character if we are committed to his purpose for us. So Satan is here by God's permission. Satan can only do what God allows him to do. We know that from Job. When Job, when Satan went up to God's throne, and he pointed out Job and said, you know, here's this man who's got everything on earth. He's wealthy. He's got great kids. He's got a home. And God said, yes, look at Job. He's blameless. He obeys me and everything.

And Satan said, just give him to me for a minute. Give him to me like he gave me Adam and Eve.

See what I can do with him, and we'll see how loyal he is to you.

And God gave him permission to do it. Satan couldn't do it without God's permission.

And he sent some trials on Job, trials that you and I have experienced. Job stood right through it all. He was loyal to God, and Satan went back and said, well, okay, let me try something else. And God said, fine, you can do whatever you want. Just don't kill him. And Job learned some things through that trial. It was difficult. And God revealed something to him in that trial that he didn't know was there before, his self-righteousness. And that had to be weeded out of him when that became evident. And as a result of some severe, severe trials that Job went through, God made him a better person. He became more like the person that God wanted him to be. He was stronger after having endured that until the end and allowing God to work him and perfect him and not turning against him, not giving up, not saying, this can't be the God who loves me and who wants the best for me, because God did indeed what was the best for Job. Let's go back to James, James 5. James 5 and verse 11 says, indeed, James writes, Indeed we count them blessed, who endure. Jesus Christ said, endure to the end. We count them blessed who endure, who endure the trials of life, who remain strong until the end, who don't let upsets or unexpected things or things that we don't understand take us away from God. Indeed, we count them blessed, who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord. Job didn't know what the end of that was going to be, but he says, we see, we see the end that it was intended by the Lord. Job became stronger. Job became more faithful.

Job became even more blameless, if you will, than he did before, as God rooted out something from him that was lying under the surface that wasn't going to be exposed until he went through those trials. You've heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. He wants what's best for people. He wants what is going, what happens for people, to the end result that they will be in his kingdom.

So we live in a world where there are powers that be. There are kingdoms, there are authorities, there are governments, there are leaders. Sometimes we can scratch our heads and say, I wonder why. It isn't that God gets fooled. It isn't that anyone gets power and kind of slips one by God. He knows what's going on. He knows what's going on. And he gets involved in the affairs of men because he has a plan for this earth and he has a plan for you and me that is going to come to pass exactly as he says. You know, in the Old Testament we see God's hands in the governments of this world. Let's go back to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 27. Jeremiah 27.

After Jeremiah had prophesied and was prophesying to the kingdom of Judah and telling them to turn back to God, turned back to him, lest these things befall them that he was prophesying would happen, God set up a kingdom to bring about exactly what he said would happen. Jeremiah 27 in verse 5.

And notice as we look through some of these scriptures how God repeats through his prophets exactly who he is and what his authority is. It is supreme in the earth. Chapter 27, verse 5. I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it to whom it seemed proper to me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. And even the beast of the field I have given him to serve him. So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son. I have put him and I have given him the authority. Everyone will serve him until the time of his land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.

God sets up kings. God removes kings. God has a purpose in mind. He knows what the end result will be and it will be exactly as he said, all for the good of the people that are there.

And it shall be, says in verse 8, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says the eternal, with the sword, with famine, with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. I put him in authority and expect you to obey him.

Obey me first, but obey the law of the land first and put yourself under his authority.

And if you don't, God tells them, I'll punish you. I set up the authorities. I set up the kingdoms. I put in power who I will, and it's my will that will be done. Therefore, he says, don't listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who speak to you saying, don't serve the king of Babylon. Don't listen to them, God says. Listen to me.

Be submissive and be subservient to them as you follow me. So we see here in the land of Judah, God set up Nebuchadnezzar, and Judah was punished because they did not follow God. And God used that kingdom to take away the kingdom from Judah. And he gave it to Nebuchadnezzar, and then eventually they were defeated and found themselves in submission to the next world ruling kingdom. Same thing happened to the nation of Israel 100 some years before. Let's go back to Isaiah 10. Isaiah 10, and pick it up in verse 5. Of course, Israel strayed from God very early on, never had a righteous king that led the people to him. God used Assyria to conquer that nation. Assyria, you remember, was a very cruel and brutal nation. Made what happens in the world today look like child's play, if you will, when you read the encyclopedias of what they had done.

Isaiah 10, verse 5. Woe to Assyria, God says. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of my wrath. I will give him charge to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. They're a tool in my hands. I'm going to give them the authority to do this. They didn't take it. It's not a mistake. I am God, and I will do and give the power to whom I please. Verse 7. Yet he doesn't mean so, nor does his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off for not a few nations.

Let's drop down to verse 12. Therefore it shall come to pass when the Eternal has performed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem that he will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his haughty looks. I set up Assyria. He's going to conquer and punish Israel, but there's coming a time that Assyria is going to be removed because they didn't handle the power correctly, just like Nebuchadnezzar didn't, and they had a lesson to learn, a lesson that all of us need to always keep in front of our minds as well. I will punish them for, verse 13, for he says, by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent, and I have removed the boundaries of the people and have robbed their treasuries, so I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth, and there was no one who moved his wing nor opened his mouth with even a peep.

Look at the arrogance and look at the pride of Assyria, and when God sets up nations and when he sets up kingdoms or when he sets up people, he's always looking at the heart, and it's all too often that nations will become really full of themselves. I've looked at what I've conquered, looked at what I've become. There's no one that's as great as us, and they tend to think like we maybe sometimes can think of ourselves. Look what I've done. Look what I've accomplished. Look who I am. God says it's never by you. It's never by what you've done, king of Assyria. It's never by what you've done, Nebuchadnezzar. It's never about what you've done, people of God. It's what God has done. It's what he has provided. It's what he allows us to have, and so Assyria was indeed conquered by Babylon. He was then later conquered by another empire, but you can go through the Bible and you can see where God sets up kingdoms, and he takes it away. He gives authority, and then he removes it.

He isn't subservient to man's will. He isn't subservient to what Satan's wishes are. It's God who is in control. The plan for the earth and the plan for mankind was established before the earth ever was founded, and it will come about exactly as God said. He will make sure it does because he is God, and there is no one like him and no one who can do what he says. Let's go or do, undo what he says. Proverbs 21.

You know, we can even think back to Israel when they were in the land of Egypt, and there they were helpless. And God intervened, and God took them out of that nation, and they had to endure 10 plagues that they had to kind of have their faith in God. He didn't just immediately just bring them out and say, I'm bringing you out, and out they marched. There was a trial for them during all that period, and they lived through it. But you know, even during that time, it says that Pharaoh, who was beginning to get the message, I don't know that I can defeat this God, and who was realizing their little gods, one by one, were being displaced by the true God.

Even says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God hardened Pharaoh's heart because his purpose would stand. He would deliver his people from Egypt, and he would exact his vengeance on all the gods of Egypt. Proverbs 21, verse 1. The king's heart is at the hand of the Eternal, like the rivers of water.

He turns it wherever he wishes. You know, God can change minds. He can put thoughts in hearts that that we couldn't even imagine someone's mind. Just like it said of Assyria, they didn't think they were going to do that, but God gave them the ability, and they became a cruel and a fierce nation. You know, in my letter yesterday, I talked about the people in Angola and what was going on over there. And you know, just before the feast, and during the feast, we heard, you know, 2,500 people keeping the feast, peacefully. There's this group of people who have been keeping God's way for 20, 30, 40 years, whatever it is. We knew nothing about them. They knew nothing about us until they looked on the internet, and they contacted and they wanted to be affiliated with someone of like minds. And when they read everything, they said, you believe exactly what we believe. And they were peaceful. They had their own buildings over there. They have schools in the community. They're very well respected. Everything is gone, and then out of nowhere, this decree comes from the president or whatever they call them over there that says, you're not even a valid religion anymore unless you can show that you have 100,000 members in it. I've been proud of nowhere.

Just like that, for no reason other than other religions were coming in that had some kind of, I guess, faulty and disruptive type practices and hiding under the religious laws, some of which we may experience in this country down the road. But God can change the minds of kings on a dime.

And during somewhere in the future, you know, as we look at where we are now and where prophecy is, it may be difficult to see why would that group of people ever do that?

Because God will will it. God can put thoughts in anyone's minds. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes.

God's in control. Know Jesus Christ when he was on earth.

Mankind didn't understand that back then. In John 19, we find the time when Jesus Christ has been arrested. He's come before Pilate. Pilate marvels. He marvels at the time that Christ is in front of him. He has all these accusations being flying out at him. You can picture yourself in that situation. Just people throwing things out left and right. Pilate, remember, he said, I marvel. You're not defending yourself. You're not pounding your fist. You're not trying to tell me all these things, that these people are lying, and this. You just are taking it.

And in John 19, verse 11, Christ has quite a revealing answer. He says, when Pilate says, you know I've got the power of life and death over you, don't you, Jesus Christ?

And Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above. Don't think you're doing this, Pilate. It's God's will. This is what I was born for. This is going to happen because it was prescribed from before the foundation of the earth.

You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above.

Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. Of course, he was speaking of the Jews in that case. Jesus Christ understood the will of God, and he was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill God's plan. You remember the incident where Peter was confronted with Christ telling the disciples that, you know, he's going to die, and he's going to be in the ground for three days and then resurrected. And he told the disciples that a number of times during the course of his walking with them, and they didn't want to believe it, of course, just like you and I wouldn't want to believe if someone among us told us we were going to die, you know, they were going to die in three days. And Peter chimed up and said, you know, not so Lord, not so Lord, that can't be.

And you remember what Christ said to him? He said, Get behind me, Satan. Get behind me, Satan. You do, we follow the will of God, not the will of man. It's designed that I will die. That's the plan. It's going to happen. Who are you or who are any of us to say, God, what have you done? Who are you, he was saying, to dictate how the plan of God is? Who are we to ever dictate who the plan of God is?

Who are we to even resist the plan of God in the number of ways that we can do it? And over in Romans 13, bringing it right home into today's age, we have a very clear, very clear admonition from the Apostle Paul, who understood these things and understood that he was under authority, but he also understood that God is the ultimate authority and that he would do what he will, and our job is to submit to him. In Romans 13, verse 1, says, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

So none of us would ever want to be in a position that we resist what God's will is. Only he knows what his will is in regard to the rising up of kings and the removal of kings. And when things happen that we may not like, and if it was our personal preference, we would say, I don't know, that's not who I would pick. Well, you know, it's okay to think that, but it is God's prerogative to do what he will. He knows what he is going to do. He knew the end from the beginning.

Now, which of us would ever want to stand before God and say, Yes, God, I resisted your will? I took it upon mind to talk about everything that I didn't like and thought that I was the one who was supreme to you. I accept your will no matter what it is. In my life, in authority, who I submit to and what I do. Who of us would ever want to resist God's will or ever vote, if you will, against him? Would we want to do that when we understand what God is doing, that he is supreme, that it is his will, it is his plan, and he does what he pleases, as it says in Psalm 115, verse 3, he does whatever he pleases. Our job is to yield to him, to submit to him, and to follow him, and to trust him with our very lives and our eternal lives. He is supreme, and he will do and carry out his plan exactly the way he says, and he intends whether we like it or approve of the way he does it or not. Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46 says this very clearly. Isaiah 46, verse 9.

Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

What I have prophesied, and that you read in the Bible, it's going to come to pass exactly the way I said. You may not see how. You may not see the path of how it will be there, but count on it, stake your life on it. It will happen exactly the way God said, because he is God, and there is none like him. And his word stands, and he has the authority to do everything on this earth, and the rest, Satan and all the powers on earth, are there at his pleasure. Not at our pleasure, at his pleasure.

You know, in a world that's ever-changing, in a world that we can have questions about and wonder what's the end of it should be, and if I wasn't in the church, I would have plenty of questions and wondering what's going to happen five years from now, ten years from now, and what are the avenues that I draw down the road on this thing. I would probably have some sleepless nights when I meditated on those things. I have no qualms about where the world is going, because I know exactly where it's going to end up. Knowing that God is in control, knowing that he has his hands and is involved in the affairs of men, and that his plan will stand no matter what you think, I think, the nations of the world, the conglomerates of the world, the leaders of the world think, knowing that it's going to happen brings me total peace and calm where the world is concerned.

I know there will be tough times ahead. I know there will be things that confront us, but I know that in the end, I know exactly how it's going to end up, because God says it will.

And that should bring us all peace and calm, where world conditions are there. Doesn't mean we shouldn't watch. Doesn't mean we can't discuss it. It does mean that we should let God be God. It does mean we should let him do what his will is and just submit and do what he wants us to do in regards to what the world would have us do.

Well, that's one thing we can look at. Let me bring it home with a quote by Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin was a very wise man with some of the quotes that he puts out. He said this.

He said, God governs in the affairs of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that any empire can rise without his aid?

Does anything happen without God giving his credence to it, giving his blessing to it?

Is America here, and is America great just because we had some great leaders and we had some brave men? No. Is America standing, and do they have the blessings that we have today because we're just such this wonderful people with the best brains in the world and everything? No. It's because God allowed it. Even Benjamin Franklin knew that. There is no empire in the world that's going to exist without God allowing it to happen. Benjamin Franklin knew the Bible, to the extent that God allowed him to know the Bible, and he said something very wise in that. The fact is, God is sovereign. Now, sovereign is a word that you have heard. Let me give you the dictionary of it. You're not going to find the word sovereign in the Bible, but the dictionary says sovereign means this. It means chief or highest, supreme in power, superior in position, independent of, and unlimited by anyone else. Unlimited by anyone else. That can only be one being in the universe. Only God is unlimited by anyone else. Every king, every president, every company, CEO, every company chairman of the board, everyone is limited by someone else. They are under authority. Only God could be called sovereign, and God is sovereign, and it's his sovereignty that we should take comfort in and that we should recognize that it should be at the forefront of our minds. We need to know, and remember that God is sovereign. His will is going to stand. We don't have to fret. We don't have to worry. We don't have to think, what if? If this had just happened, if just 20,000 people more had voted, what could have been different? We don't have to think about any of that. It's God's will if we are here and if we believe he is God. And the same thing goes for us personally. Let's go back to Matthew 10 and look at the verses where Benjamin Franklin takes his comment about sparrows from Matthew 10, and we'll pick it up in verse 28. Christ speaking here, and he has some very stern words, I guess you will, or some hard words, if you will, but we pick it up in verse 28. He says, don't fear those who kill the body but can't kill the soul. Don't fear if someone's got something, a gun up against your head, and they say if you don't denounce God, if you won't turn from his way to our way, says don't worry about it. They may take your life, but don't fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That's where your mind should be. I obey God first. He's preeminent. What he says I will do. That's what I do.

And then in verse 29 says, aren't two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Don't fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Now, it's interesting that God would use sparrows in the analogy here. You've all heard of sparrows. Sparrows are a dime a dozen, as they say. You know, we could have said you are worth more than two eagles. You are more worth more than, I don't know, fine to the mother, two parrots, two birds that we might consider valuable, smart, brave, whatever it is. But he chose sparrows. He chose sparrows that are common. And we can go outside and we can see sparrows. And in the Midwest there were sparrows everywhere. They can create havoc in your landscape and create havoc in here. And there's a lot of people who would just like to see sparrows disappear. Because they're just little birds and they would count them as kind of common and useless and worthless. Now, what do they really add to the environment? Isn't it interesting that God says that about, that compares us to sparrows? Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without him knowing. Not even a sparrow. You think God has control or knows and has control of the earth? If he knows even when a sparrow falls to the ground, you and I don't even know when a sparrow falls in our yard. He knows. Do you think he doesn't know what's going on in our life? If he knows what's going on with us, even the sparrows on the earth and the things that are insignificant? You know, we could look at ourselves and we could compare the word sparrows to what's said in 1 Corinthians 1 where God says, you know, I haven't chosen the mighty and the wise of the earth. People will say your name and think, what, him?

I haven't chosen the best looking. I haven't chosen the most intelligent. I haven't chosen the wealthiest. I haven't chosen the ones who have the name recognition. I haven't chosen the ones who like to, you know, strut around saying how great they are. I've chosen the weak and base things of the earth, the sparrows of the earth. And I'm going to turn them into something that is beautiful, something that has potential, something that the world might say, we can do without them. If two sparrows fall to the earth, what difference does it make? But I'll turn them into something that is very worthwhile, if they will let me. You know, for the last year, it's dawned on me, and I, as I thank God for the many things he does in our life, one of the things that I, that's probably been more than a year, that I thank him for is that he is very attentive to my needs and very attentive to what's going on to me. And as I think's happened, I think, thank you, God, that your attention is on me and thank you that your attention is on the people in your church and that you are aware of everything that's going on with them. Because one of the things we can learn from these sparrows is God is so attentive to the earth that he knows when those sparrows fall, I absolutely know he knows everything that's going on in our lives. Nothing is happening that sort of slipped by him. He didn't blink his eye and this happened to us and this and that or whatever, he knows every single thing that's going on. He's paying close attention to you.

He's paying close attention to me. He knows what's happening and he has an intended end in mind of that, even if we don't know what that intended end is. Just like Job had no idea what the intended end of all that suffering was. But God is sovereign. God is aware. God lets it happen.

God is watching over us and God has an intended end for you and me.

And we know what that intended end is. We know what that intended end is. Let's turn to 2 Peter.

2 Peter 3. 3 Peter 3, verse 9.

Probably a memory verse for many of you. 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some kind of slackness, but he is long suffering toward us. He's patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

What he wants, his intended end for you, for me, for all of his people today, really for all of mankind, is that his will is that none would perish, none would experience the second death, but that all would come to repentance. Because without repentance, there is no eternal life. Without repentance and turning from our way completely to God's way completely, there is no eternal life. And during the course of our life, a sovereign God who has control and who knows everything that's going on is marching us toward his intended end. He's not willing that any would perish.

But he won't do it for us. He won't do it for us. We have to do some things as well. And from time to time, things happen in our lives. We all know that God didn't call us to live a life of luxury and a life that's so easy, and all we have to do is come to Sabbath services and pray and study. And, you know, life's just going to be peachy keen all the way. Let's turn over to Isaiah 45.

We knew that there were going to be trials. Before you were baptized, you were counseled about counting the cost and understanding that you would follow God no matter what, that you believed in him, you trusted in him, and no matter what the occasion that would occur in life, even the very, very unexpected things that you wouldn't turn from him. In Isaiah 45 and verse 7, excuse me, Isaiah 45 verse 7, God says, I formed the light and I create darkness.

I make peace and I create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things.

I create light.

I create darkness. You'll have times of peace, but you'll have times of calamity, as well, because in light, we learn some things about ourselves.

In times of darkness, we learned some things about ourselves, and God learned some things about ourselves. In times of peace, good times, we learn some things about ourselves, We learn some things about ourselves, and God learns some things about us, and in times of calamity. He learns some things about us, and we learn some things about ourselves. He creates those things. He allows those things to happen. For one purpose, His intended end is that we will receive eternal life, that we will turn from our way, and that He will weed out the weaknesses, the hidden things that we don't even know about yet, and that He will lead us to perfection and what His will is.

In Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16, in verse 33, some wording in verse 33 that we may not understand the way they would have understood this in the Old Testament times, says, The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from God. You know the lots in the Old Testament? They would do the lots, and it would be God's will, whatever the lot would show. Let me give you a modern translation of it that has the same meaning. This comes from the New Living Translation.

It says, We may throw the dice, but God determines how they fall. We may the ones, we have that in our control, we'll throw the dice, but God determines how they fall. He's in control. He knows what we need. He knows what He's doing in our lives. And so we may have problems that come up. We may have things that confront us. And I know some have things confront them that you look at it and you say, I just don't understand.

God understands. God knows. God's got a purpose. Nothing gets by Him. Man, governments, nothing gets by God. There's no accidents. He doesn't blink. He doesn't take his attention off of us. He knows what's going on. Even to the extent of sometimes when we are born. He allows some people to be born or to develop disabilities in their lives. You know, back when we lived in another church area, and this you read these things in the prayer requests that come out every week among some children that have some trials in the lives and everything.

But there was a baby that was born to a family that had been in the church a long time. And it was their first daughter, as it will, and she was born with spina bifida. And the question was, why? Why would God allow that? There's such a nice couple of the parents were in the church, solid in the church. Why did God allow that? And the church fasted and the church prayed and asked God to heal. She was never healed.

And to this day, she suffers from spina bifida. You know, God allows those things sometimes to happen as tests for us. Will we continue to rely on God? Even in the times when we don't know the answers or we don't understand why He allowed something to happen. Because through it all, we don't lose faith. Through it all, we don't give up. We don't keep asking.

We don't keep... or we don't stop asking. We don't stop believing. And God learned something about us when those unexpected and difficult trials come up. Now, sadly, that family left the church. Among a number of things that happened to them. But I know part of it is God never healed our daughter.

They lost faith. And they shouldn't have lost faith. They should have kept going. And all of us who are faced with those things, we should keep going. But sometimes when people... and I'll give you a reference here in Exodus 4, verses 11 and 12.

I won't turn there. It's where God is talking to Moses, and Moses is giving God an excuse. I can't go talk to Pharaoh. I have a slowness of speech. And God says, Moses, don't you know I'm the one who created man's mouth? I can fix this for you. I can heal anything. You don't have to worry about that, Moses. So you were born with this. I can heal it if I want to. And God allows those things to happen.

And you know, people with disabilities, they may wonder, why did God allow this to happen to me?

They could get bitter. They could be resentful.

Or they can embrace what God has given them, realize that He's sovereign. He does things for a reason, and learn in life things that you and I could never learn.

If we didn't have. Without having that disability. And sometimes when we have the opportunity to talk to people with those, there are insights we learned that we could never learn from anyone else because they see life differently. And they can help us see things that we would never have seen.

God does everything for a reason.

Embrace what He has done for you.

Or the lot that He has given you, be content with what He has given you, and learn from it. And let Him perfect you and lead you and mold you into who He wants you to be.

Who of us can say, as I said in Daniel 4, verse 35, why have you done this?

We can ask it. But in the end, we will know exactly why. We will glorify God for what He has done because He knew and knows the end from the beginning. And He is, He is sovereign. Let's look at Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32.

And verse 39.

Deuteronomy 32, verse 39. Now see that I even I am He, and there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Nor is there any who can deliver from my hand.

I wound. I heal. And there is no one who can deliver from my hand. There is no one who can deliver from my purpose. My purpose stands. Sometimes you'll be sick, sometimes you'll be well. Sometimes I'll wound you, sometimes... Well, all the time I'll heal you. But that's what His will is and we have faith.

I wound, I heal. I kill, I make alive. You know, as I was doing some research on this, I came across something that a lady wrote who had a diagnosis made to her that, you know, none of us want to hear. And she was diagnosed with cancer. I don't remember what stage it was, but she was in the hospital. She was going through the whole chemotherapy route. She's not in the church or anything like that. She was writing about something that she had learned because she wanted to give hope to other people going through the same things that may wonder, Why me? Why did I get this diagnosis? Why did I end up with cancer? Why did I end up with these heart problems? Why did I end up with anything that could confront us? Health-wise, financial-wise, relationship-wise, any of the things that many trials could... Why me? And she was reading the Bible. She began to just read the Bible. And she pointed out some verses in Psalm 119 that I thought were very interesting and that I know that God led her too. Let's turn back to Psalm 119. And in the face of her trial, severe trial, as she laid in the hospital, she found some things to encourage her.

In Psalm 119, verse 67, it says this. Before I was afflicted, before I had this wound, before I had this trial, before I had this diagnosis, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word.

I looked at what happened to me. I asked God. I sought His will. I seek Him. And I realized I need to get closer to Him. I need to have more faith in Him. I need to trust in Him more and me less. I need to rely on Him more and me less. And the parts of this world that I may rely on more fully than I do, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word. You are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. Teach me your way, O God. Do the things. Teach me how to find you. Verse 71, It's good for me that I have been afflicted. I am a good person. I am a good person. I am a good person. I am a good person.

That I have been afflicted. Can you imagine someone writing that? It's good for me that I have been afflicted. That I may learn your statutes. Sometimes it's in time of pain. Sometimes it's in time of agony. Sometimes it's when times are going on and we don't understand what's going on, but we turn to Him and we turn to God and His Word. Because God's intended end is always for our benefit. It's good for me that I have been afflicted. That I may learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. There's nothing more precious than your way, O God, and looking to you and calling on you. Verse 75, I know, O eternal, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. I know that you did it. In faithfulness you had an intended end. And that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Let I pray your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to your word to your servant. Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live, for your law is my delight. Isn't that a beautiful thing that she was able to read through the Scriptures and get motivated and inspired and ready to move on, to fight what she was facing, armed with the fact that she knew God was involved, that God was there, and that what he had done he had done for a purpose. She wasn't in the church. Don't even remember if it had her name on this little thing I read. What about us? What about us when we're afflicted? What about us when we're wounded? What about us when we face something that we don't know? A hardship, whatever, in the form of whatever it may be, comes our way. Do we thank God and look at it and get closer to him? Do we see how we should be motivated and inspired? You know, Paul said the same thing. Let's turn to Romans 8. Before we turn to Romans 8, let's go back. We're already in the book of Psalms, Psalm 34. David recognized this of God as well. David went through so many trials in his life. He always maintained a good attitude. Yes, he sinned along the way, but he repented. God isn't willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. In Psalm 34, verse 19, he writes this. He says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Not just a few. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But God delivers him out of them all. God delivers them out of them all. Many are the afflictions. He's sovereign. He does what he pleases. His intended end is that we will become who he wants us to become. He's offered it to us. He wants us to have what he's promised. And he will lead us and guide us if we let him, if we don't resist, if we give up more and more of ourselves, if we yield more and more, if we surrender more and more, if we believe more and more, have faith more and more, trust more and more, he will deliver them out of them all, or deliver us out of them all. When we learn what he wants us to learn. Romans 8. Romans 8.

Romans 8. Verse 18. Paul said the same thing in the New Testament. Paul, who went through so many trials in his life, he says, "...fore I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Whatever I go through in this life, it's fine. It's fine because you know God, I believe the promises that you've made us. I believe it, and I'm willing to sacrifice my will, my comfort, my ideas, whatever it is to follow you." Romans 8. Verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. We know all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. And all of us here have been called according to his purpose. I'm not going to take the time. I'm running out of time. But you can read verses 29 through 34 when you go home tonight. God predestined that he would call us. He didn't predestined that we were going to be saved. He did predestined that he would give us the opportunity. The choice is ours. The opportunity is ours. He's not going to withdraw it. We can make excuse after excuse after excuse why we don't want to do or can't do the things that God asks us to do, some of which are very simple, in the light of things. We can make all the excuses in the world for it. Those excuses don't matter to God. He wants us to come to the intended end that we are completely submissive, obedient, loyal, faithful, trusting, and reliant on him. And that we've given up self, and that we've given up our own ideas, and given up reliance on ourselves. That we see ourselves the way that God wants to so he can work with us. So he can work with us. Let's close in 2 Peter. You know, when we understand the sovereignty of God, we can take comfort that in our lives, where they may not be pleasant, may not be pleasant, some of the things that we go through. We can take comfort that God is in control. He knows. And that should give us strength and the motivation to keep going, to keep enduring, for as long as he wants us to endure. It should motivate us to go back to his word, to examine ourselves, to get closer to him, to allow him to work his purpose in our lives. Here in 2 Peter 3, we read one verse out of it. As we go through this, and I'm just going to kind of read through the chapter in closing here, I want you to see the sovereignty of God in this. And notice how many times he says this will happen. When only God knows, will it happen? Will what God's purpose for mankind be completed? Absolutely. Absolutely, you can stake your life on it. And if you don't stake your life on it, you may just find out that you lose that life. 2 Peter 3, verse 1. Behold, or beloved, I now write to you the second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts. They will try to lead you astray. They will say, what is going on? Really, you believe that? Really, you think you have to do that in 2018 in the 21st century? Really? Really? The scoffers will come in the last days and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of time.

And we've all heard that from people who may no longer be sitting with us. We've heard this forever. Maybe some of our children who don't attend anymore say, you know what? We've been hearing that for all our lives. Things still look pretty good to me. They miss a very important part. For this they willfully forget, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. There was a time that God said, now is the time. Now the end of that age is over. The end of that age has come. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire, until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness. But he is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's what he's waiting for. That's his attention to us. That's his will for us, wondering and waiting for us to get it, and to understand it, and to practice it, and to live it. But the day of the Lord will come as the thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. It will happen.

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? What should we be doing when we know these things?

Now, we must believe these things, and we must understand the sovereignty of God, that no matter what we think, no matter what line we may draw from now until the time that Jesus Christ returns, no matter what speculation we may have, it means nothing. It's what God's will is, and it will happen the way He wants. That should motivate us, inspire us, comfort us, and give us peace, and give us every reason to go on and yield more.

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace without spot and blameless, and consider that the long suffering of our Lord, the patience He has with you and me, as He tries and gives us time to get ready, consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. He has given us that time.

Let's stop down to verse 17. You, therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware, lest you fall from your own steadfastness being led away with the error of the wicked.

But as you recognize the sovereignty of God, as you recognize that He will do everything that He said He's going to do, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.