Address—C. Hendricks
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Do you rejoice in this truth that our times are in his hand, pleasing or painful?
Darker bright.
As best may seem to thee, and then the realization that a father's hand will never cause.
His child a needless tear. This evening I'd like to speak on the sovereignty of God.
It's a wonderful subject. Some time ago in this country, a Jewish rabbi wrote a book. It was very popular. It was received by the world.
With the high honors to the author and the name of the book is Why do bad things happen to good people I don't know some of you may have read it a brother that I.
I know of read it and he was very disappointed at the conclusion that the author arrived at. He was struggling with the the truth that God is good and the other truth that we hold is that God is all powerful. And he couldn't put those two things together as he looked about him and saw all the evils that exist here.
The sorrow, the suffering, the tears, the groans, the pain, death.
Why do?
Bad things happen to good people, and they happen to all. They happen to the Saints as well as to the sinners. If God hedged all the Saints about and put a fence around them, and no ill ever happened to them, everyone would be rushing to join the ranks of Christians and they'd like they'd want to be a Christian.
If God so sheltered them from the ills that beset humanity. But we know that hasn't That isn't the case.
We are who are believers in the Lord Jesus. We go through just the same kinds of trials and sorrows and sufferings and tears and agony of soul that the ungodly do.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Well, this rabbi arrived at the conclusion that God is good.
He wouldn't deny him that, but somehow he's not able to control everything down here, which has become so disordered by the sin that has been brought in and by every man and woman doing their own will, that he's lost control.
There's another man. He was a science fiction writer and a historian.
And he held a similar view. You've probably heard of him. HG Wells.
And he and I'm going to read it so I don't misquote him, he said.
The world is like a great drama, that dramatic production which is being produced and managed by God.
When the curtain opens, all is lovely to behold.
Garden of Eden.
The garden of delights, everything perfect, everything according to God. The characters are beautiful indeed. Adam and Eve created in a state of innocence without sin, and placed in that garden to tend it and to keep it. And they had the run of the garden, except one prohibition, The tree which is in the midst of the garden, thou shalt not eat of it. For the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. That was the only restraint that God placed upon.
Our earthly parents and everything was beautiful.
The scenery is magnificent and all goes well until the leading man steps on the hem of the garment of the leading lady.
Who falls over the chair, which knocks over a lamp, which tips over a table and knocks down the side scenery, which causes the back scenery to fall down and everything is in chaos and disorder and God the manager is running around behind the scenes pulling strings and shouting orders and alas, he can't seem to bring things into any kind of decent order.
And we have a great disaster. Well, that was this rabbi's view of this world system out of the control of God. And so it was with HG Wells.
But that's not the God of the Bible.
That's not the God that we find in this book. Our God.
He is the sovereign of the universe.
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And he controls all things.
The God of the Bible is 1 for whom nothing.
Is impossible.
You see, the God of HG Wells and this rabbi is a limited God, Martin Luther, he said to Erasmus, who was a Roman Catholic theologian, humanist, He said to him, your God is altogether too human.
Too subject to frailty and failure and mistakes such as you and I are.
God is altogether too human. He's not in complete control. And JB Phillips, he echoed something of the same thing when he said.
Your God is too small and I'd like to ask each one here this evening.
How big is your God?
How big is your universe, your life?
Is he, do you own him as being in absolute sovereign control of every detail in your life, the unpleasant things as well as the pleasant, as we were singing? Is he in absolute control of everything?
Someone has said of God who is.
How powerful can he? Can he create a stone which is so large that he himself cannot move it?
Well of course the question is a little bit ridiculous because if he created it that large, he first he could move it. If the stone was as big as a mountain, he could move it. If it was as big as the world, he could move it. If it is as big as the unit as the solar system, he could move it. Or the Milky Way Galaxy he could move it. Or if it was as big as the universe.
He could move it with his little finger.
God is infinitely great.
And his sovereignty draws upon 3 grand attributes of God. He is omnipotent, all powerful.
He is omniscient, all knowing.
And he is omnipresent everywhere. You cannot get away from him.
He inhabits eternity, Isaiah 5715 says inhabits eternity, the infinitely great God.
Or how big is your God? How big is your universe?
Is he limited? Are there things that happen in your life? And you say, well, it's it's an impossible situation. It's impossible. Even God cannot remedy this problem.
Is your God limited like that or do you believe that nothing is too hard for him?
That he can do everything. His sovereignty is not exactly an attribute of God, but it's His prerogative.
To rule all that he has created and made and that he is over his prerogative to rule and he is in absolute sovereign control of all things. You know, man doesn't like that truth. He doesn't like the truth that God is in absolute control and I'm not and you're not. Man likes to think that he controls his life and that.
He's the master of his faith. He's the captain of his soul.
And the Christian knows that it isn't so. It's Christ Who is that?
But how often we act the other way? How often we act as though we have a limited God?
And there are things in our universe that are even too great for him to handle.
And to manage.
How often we fall into that snare in our thinking.
And if we're all honest with ourselves and before him, we'll have to acknowledge, yes, we do that sometimes.
Oh, in theory we acknowledge that he is omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent. But when it comes to our actual lives?
We sometimes feel this is something even he can't handle.
It's like that chaos that came upon that beautiful drama that began so lovely, and it was all spoiled and even the manager couldn't bring it back into order again. And that was the view of this rabbi. And so that's why all this evil is there. That's why evil things happen to good people, because God can't be prevented.
He just can't handle it. He can't manage it. It wasn't that he denied that he was good, but that he was not able to bring everything into control. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is found in Revelation 19. Now we're going to look at a number of scriptures tonight, so be prepared to.
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Turn your Bibles.
Revelation 19.
We find here the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.
Verse 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters.
And as the voice of mighty thundering, saying Alleluia for the Lord God.
Omnipotent reigneth. Here we have the sovereign of the universe with all power reigning. We know this is still a future event, but it's true that he's in control even now when it seems as though he's not even taking notice of what's happening down here. Sometimes it seems that way to us. There's a view, you know, like a watchmaker, the old time type of watches with a spring and you.
Up and you set the watch going and then you retire from it and let it run itself. And that's the view that some have of God that he got everything going and he got all the world spinning and then he retired and he's he's not paying particular attention to the details of this scene.
Now that is not the God of the Bible. He knows you're down sitting and your uprising. He understands your thought far off. He's there's nothing too small for God. You might say, well, my little life is so insignificant. He's not interested in it.
He's got so many other things are far more importance to attend to and to take care of.
That he can't possibly be bothered with my little world.
Well, God is so great that your little world is of immense importance to Him, and He is interested in you and me and each one of us, and there is nothing that is beyond His control.
And He does control every detail of our lives, those things which the natural man speaks of us, fortuitous events. That is there just by chance, the thunders, the clap of Thunder, the rain and the lightning strikes. Well, the word of God says that He commanded the lightning, and it strikes where He commands it to. There is nothing that is out of His control.
Look at the 29th Psalm and verse 10 where we have the same truth.
Brought before us.
We're going to be looking at a number of scriptures now. This verse says the Lord sitteth upon the flood.
Yeah, the Lord sitteth King, forever sovereign, forever the mighty King, the sovereign, the one who exercises his rule over everything.
Now is God limited or does he rule all things? Let's look at the scriptures, Daniel chapter 4, Daniel chapter 4 and verse.
Let me back up here.
I'll go to verse 33, verse 34, and at the end of the days.
I Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I bless the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his Kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
I read that part again. He doeth according to his will.
In the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? These scriptures speak for themselves, and they are so full of instruction. Job, Chapter 9. Job Chapter 9. I do not have to make many comments on the scriptures. Let their force penetrate.
Each of our souls.
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Job Chapter 9.
And verse 12, Behold.
He taketh away.
Who can hinder him?
Who will say unto him?
What doest thou who can hinder him? Who will say unto him?
What doest thou?
Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32.
And verse 17.
Ah, Lord God.
Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power, and stretched out arm.
And there is nothing.
Too hard.
For thee.
Ballast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power, and stretched out arm. There is nothing too hard for thee. Matthew 28 well known verse spoken of the risen Lord. Verse 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power.
Is given unto me.
In heaven.
And in Earth, all power.
Ephesians One.
Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 22.
And God hath put all things under his feet.
And gave him to be the head.
Over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all, gave him to be the head.
Over all things, again, in verse 11 of this chapter, in whom in Christ also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the council, of His own will He works all things after the council.
Of his own will.
None can stay his hand.
None can say to him, what doest thou Isaiah 14 Isaiah 14 a very wonderful verse verse 24 the Lord of hosts have sworn saying.
Surely.
As I have fought.
So shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed?
So shall it stand.
Verse 27.
Lord of Hosts hath purposed, and who shall disallow it?
And his hand is stretched out.
And who?
Shall turn it back as I have thought, he says.
So shall it come to pass as I have purposed, so shall it stand. The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall dismal it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46. This is the God of the Bible that we're reading of.
The one who has all power.
And controls all things.
Verse 9. Isaiah 46 Nine. Remember the former things of old.
For I am God.
And there is none else. I am God and there is none.
Like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
Saying, my counsel shall stand.
And I will do all my pleasure calling a ravenous bird from the east. The man that executed my counsel from afar country. Yeah, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. What a God we have. Is he the limited?
Helpless God pictured by HT Wells and that rabbi? Not at all.
He is the omnipotent, Almighty God that has everything in control and everything does His bidding.
And he is in control of all things now to bring it down to right down to to earth, you might say, Let's look at Genesis 18.
Genesis 18, where we have something that.
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Is seemingly an impossible thing.
Verse 9 And they said unto him, The Angel said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee, according to the time of life, And lo, Sarah, thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent doors which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. This Angel is announcing to Abraham an impossibility, Sarah thinks.
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? The Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I have a surety bear a child?
Which?
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
At the time appointed, I will return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laugh not, for she was afraid. And he said nay.
Without its life, how often we have done just what Sarah did, how often we have laughed at this seeming impossibility of something happening that has been declared to us from God. You know the beauty is this. You read about, you read about Sarah in the 4th of Romans. And it says by strength, by faith, Sarah herself receives strength to conceive seed.
Her failure is all passed over.
And what was evidently she repented of this unbelief. She was rebuked for it.
And we need to be rebuked when we.
Are not believing Christians. And then she believed God, and she was strengthened, and she conceived seed, and she had a son, Isaac.
Job 42. Job 42.
Job went through.
As we would say, he went through the mill.
He was put through the sorest of trials.
And he had said along the way, after his three friends provoked him to anger.
He had he had said if an only author only had an audience with God, he would hear me, he would listen to me, I would plead my cause and he would justify me. And now he's in the presence of that God. And he says in chapter 42 one then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought.
Can be withholding.
From thee in the new translation it reads, I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine. It's a wonderful thing to learn that as Christians, as Job learned it, that God cannot be hindered in anything that he does. If God wills to do something, it happens, and there is no power in the universe that can prevent it from happening.
And I do not recommend that we do this too often. I'm not saying never to do it, because sometimes you'll hear a good message over a Christian station, but be careful what you what you listen to. But sometimes we hear it presented as though Satan is planning to do this and that, and all the evils that are in his master plan are outlined before us and by the time we're through listening to it.
Our our our souls are filled with fear and we've forgotten God's in control of this whole thing.
They can't carry out one single plan of theirs if it isn't God's will to allow it.
God is the one that's in control, not Satan.
Satan is a defeated foe and he is not going to do one thing or take one step farther than God allows him to do. We really believe that.
And that is, that is the truth.
Psalm 115, three Psalm 115 and verse 3. The sorrows of death compassed me.
Sorry, I was reading the wrong song. Verse 3. But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And again in the 135th Psalm.
Psalm 135.
And verse 6, whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
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He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. The one who smoked, the first born of Egypt, both of man and of beast, The one who is in.
Absolute control, the sovereign of the universe. A beautiful verse in the 55th chapter of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 55.
One has said, well, God can't save that soul because his will is set against him and he denies him and and he speaks against him. God can't save him.
Oh.
God can do anything. He saves Saul of Tarsus, didn't he? When he was on the road to Damascus with letters from the chief priests to bind all that called on the name of Jesus? He saved him in a moment in Isaiah 55, verse 9, four, verse 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down in the snow from heaven.
And returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any 2 edged sword, dividing even to departing us under a soul and spirit both of the joints and measure, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. His Word will not return void, it will accomplish His purpose. If we're not faithful to get the Word out, someone else will get it out.
Where we have failed, but he's an absolute sovereign control of all things.
And that's a wonderful thing to remember. Romans Chapter 9.
Romans, Chapter 9, verse 21.
Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor?
And another unto dishonor. And in the previous verse it says, Shall the thing form say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus?
It is only man in his impotence and in his self-confidence and in his arrogance that he can reply against God and challenge God in what he's doing. What doest thou? Who can say to him that? No creature?
No creature has the right to speak to God that way. He is God, and there's none else.
The absolute sovereign.
And he is love.
And he loves you.
And he loves me and he is for us.
And all that he brings into our lives are for our ultimate good and blessing.
But we may not be able to discern it at this present time.
There are so many tears and sorrows, and so much anguish of heart, and so many troubles that sin has brought in, and the enemy is brought in, but God, and only God.
Can turn it into blessing.
He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him and the remainder thereof. He restrains what does not ultimately redound to His glory and to our blessing He restrains it.
They take the story of Joseph, such a beautiful story. He was the favorite of Jacob, gave him a coat of many cutter colors, and he came to Jacob and he told Jacob and the evil report of some of his brothers who were doing evil things.
And they hated him.
Because he was.
A godly man. Joseph was a faithful man, a righteous man. And then he had these dreams, and he reported the dreams to his brothers, and they hated him all the more because their sheaves bowed down to him. His sheath shalt thou indeed reign over us. Who do you think you are? And then his father sent him to his brothers at one time, and they saw him coming, and they said, Here cometh that dreamer.
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Let's take him and throw him into a pit and kill him.
And they did throw him into the pit, but Judah said, what profit is it if we kill him? We're not going to get anything from it. Let's sell him and get some profit from this.
And they did. They sold them to the Ishmaelites, and they took them down to Egypt. And he was bought by Potiphar, and he was faithful and all Potiphar's house, so that Potiphar put everything under his, under his authority. Potiphar went on a trip at one time. And Potiphar's wife set her eyes upon Joseph and she tried to entice him, and he refused, faithfully fled from her presence. Come lie with me, she said. And he would not.
And once she caught him alone in the house and he fled and she grabbed his garment as he fled out and.
She had his garment and then she told the servants that he came in to mock me. And when her husband came home, the master of Joseph, she told him this lie, this wicked lie, and he threw him into prison. And in prison God gave him favor. And he had the rule of the prison. And it it he, he was, he was blessed even in the places that he put that were so unfair, it would seem all his dreams and all that he had thought of and and that it says in one of the sounds.
Entered into his soul because nothing was working out.
According to his dreams, and then the Butler and the Baker dreamed and no one could interpret their dreams and Joseph interpreted their dreams and he said to the the Baker was going to lose his head, but the Butler was going to be reinstated and he was. And he says when you're reinstated, Remember Me.
But the Butler forgot Joseph, and two whole years he remained there in prison. And then Pharaoh dreamed in dream, and none of Pharaoh sages could interpret the dream. And finally the Butler said I remember my sins. Now there was a man in prison that interpreted our dreams and they came to pass.
Who is he? Bring him here and they fetch Joseph out of prison.
And the result of that was that he became Prime Minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. From a dungeon in a prison into the place of authority and power, his dreams were coming true.
Well, he interpreted the dream. He says they're going to be 7 years of plenty and then seven years of great family.
So Pharaoh said, I don't know anyone wise enough to handle this affair but thee. And so he gave it to him. And he stored up all the grain that was produced by the seven years of plenty. And he stored it up and stored it up and stored it up. And when the seven years of famine came, two years into the famine, Jacob sent his sons to go to Egypt. I hear there's corn in Egypt. And he went down to Egypt. And before whom did they stand?
Joseph, they didn't know it was he because he disguised himself and he spoke roughly to them.
And he spoke to them in such a way as to bring their conscience into exercise before God for the evil that they have done to him.
Many years before they thought Joseph was dead, that an evil beast had devoured him.
They took his coat of many colors and mixed it with the blood of an animal, brought it home to their father Jacob, and lied to him and Jacob when he saw it. He says, Alas, my son Joseph is torn to pieces.
What a wicked thing they did.
To Joseph and to their father, pretending to sympathize with him in his grief and mourning.
They knew exactly what had happened.
And so now they have to come, and Joseph speaks to them, and he inquires of them, and he learns about their younger brother Benjamin, that they didn't bring with him. And he said, if you don't bring Benjamin, when you come back, you'll not see my voice, my face.
And Jacob wouldn't let them take Benjamin when they went back home.
Finally, Judas said we can't see the man if we don't take him.
If anything happens to him, take my sons, kill them, I'll be.
Pledge for them.
It was Judah that said what prophet is if we kill him, let's sell him and get some profit from this when they sold Joseph into Egypt.
And they came back again, and Joseph spoke harshly to them again.
And finally turned to Genesis 45. Finally.
Joseph is going to reveal himself to his brothers. A most touching scene.
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, 'cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud. And the Egyptians and the House of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren.
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I am Joseph doth my father yet live, and his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence.
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. Then they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me. Hit her, for God did send me before you to preserve life.
God was not the author of that evil that they did to him, and none of the evil that's done in this world is authored by God, but he uses it and turns it into blessing ultimately, because he's in the One, He's the absolute sovereign in absolute control of everything. He allows man to do his evil.
And what he cannot turn into blessing, he restrains, but he allows man to do it.
And then he turns it into blessing. God sent me before you to preserve life. He said, For these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years more in the which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So now it was not you that sent me hit her, but God, and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. What a beautiful story, we know it so well. I think the most beautiful type of Christ and the restoration of His people, Israel, when they will be brought ultimately into blessing, is man's heart under the control of God.
Absolutely.
Turn to Ezra.
Ezra.
Chapter 6. Ezra Chapter 6.
And verse 22 And they kept the Feast of Unleavened bread 7 days with joy.
For the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart.
Of the king of Assyria unto them.
To strengthen their hands in the work of the House of God, the God of Israel. God moved the heart of the king of Assyria to cause them to go back and to rebuild the temple. And it was God that did that. No, no Israelite could have done it. No man could have done it, only God. Proverbs 21.
Proverbs 21 very well known verse to us. Verse one. The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever.
He will. There's another beautiful passage in Exodus 34. Have to go quickly to get through all these passages. Exodus 34.
And verse.
23 Verse 23 Thrice in the year shall all your men, children, all your males, appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel, down at Jerusalem three times in the year. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders. Now notice this next expression. Neither shall any man desire thy land.
When thou goest up to appear before the Lord.
Thy God thrice in the air.
Could do that.
The sovereign of the universe.
They were totally vulnerable all of their cities, all the males left their cities, the only ones left in the cities during those three times of the year when they went down for the feast of of the Passover and the Pentecost and the in gathering or.
The Tabernacles 3 times they went.
They were all vulnerable. Only the women and children remained in the cities. But God controlled the hearts of all those surrounding nations so that none of them desired the land of Israel or their wealth or their women. They didn't desire them at all during that time. He controls everything. Exodus 11.
Another instance of God in absolute control. Israel is about to leave Egypt here.
And notice what God does. And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring 1 plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt. Afterwards He will let you go. Hence when he shall let you go, He shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the years of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and the Lord.
Gave the the people Israel favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
Wrote over the man. Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh servants, and in the sight of his people.
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And Moses said, Thus sayeth the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first born in the land of Egypt shall die from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even under the first born of the maidservant, that is behind the mill, and all the first born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, neither nor shall be like it anymore. Let's pause there.
He disposes the hearts of the Egyptians to give their wealth to the Israelites, and as they leave Egypt, they're laden with all this wealth. Only God could do that.
When they left Egypt, 3 million people, cattle, mules, animals of all kinds, men, women, children leaving Egypt from all the cities of Egypt.
I like to take a walk. I live in the small town of Allendale, 600 people. And I go out at night sometimes. And there's a lot of dogs in Allendale. And they sit around and they watch for someone to take a walk. And then they start barking and 1 barks and then the next barks and the next. And when I get home, the whole town of Allendale is filled with the sound of barking dogs. But read verse 7. But against any of the children of Israel, shall not a dog move his tongue?
Against man or beast, that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Beloved God puts a difference between the world and us.
And he kept all those dogs quiet. You say impossible, Impossible. God can do it and only God can do it. He's an absolute control, whether it's of the animals or the heart of the king or the heart of the Prince of Persia, it doesn't matter. God is in absolute control. And what he what happens here and all the evil that we see is God's permissive will. He's not the author of the evil. Of course not.
He's only the author of Good Satan is, but he allows it for his ultimate glory.
And the blessing of his people, the numbers 22.
In numbers 22.
We know the account. I'll just read the one verse, verse 28. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ***. And she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
He opened the mouth of yes, Peter says the ******* for bad, the wickedness and the folly of the prophet. God can use even a ******* to rebuke a prophet. There's two more passages that I want to give us Second Chronicles.
And verse chapter 20, Second Chronicles, chapter 20. We have a case here where Jehoshaphat was surrounded by an overwhelming host.
That was too strong for him and God says to him, verse 17 of Second Chronicles 20, ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. The other time that he says stand still and see the salvation of the Lord was at the Red Sea. You remember that stand still and see and I could cite many other instances and you can think of others too, but here he says.
Tomorrow be not, fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord.
Worshipping the Lord and the Levites of the children of the Koethites and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
And they arose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tocoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God. So shall he be established. Believe his prophet, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before this army.
The army and to say praise the Lord for his mercy, endureth forever. And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord, set ambushments against the children of Ismail, children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Sierra. How did he do that? I don't know. That's not the important thing. The important thing is that he did it and that He's in control.
Which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay and to destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Sea Ear, everyone helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked into the multitude, and behold there, there were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
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And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found them among them in abundance, both riches.
And the dead bodies and precious jewels which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away than they were three days in gathering of the spoil. It was so much so, instead of being destroyed by this overwhelming number of enemy armies, they were all smitten, and they fought among themselves. They turned the sword against each other, and they all perished.
And then Israel took the spoil. Great riches.
Great riches.
The other account I want to give us is First Kings 22. It has to do with the death of Ahab. Ahab was the most wicked king, and he allied himself with King Jehoshaphat, A godly king of Judah. And they went against the enemy to battle. And Ahab said to Joshua, you put the you put your kingly garments on, I'm going to put on just common garments so that they won't recognize me. And the enemy was instructed.
Only with the king of Israel, only with Ahab. And it says in verse 31 first Kings 22. And but the king of Syria commanded his 32 captains that had rule over his Chariots, saying fight neither was small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out.
God.
Preserved the life of Jehoshaphat, but he had said by his prophet Micaiah.
That Ahab would die in this battle, and Ahab Ahab is taking every precaution.
So that he would not be recognized as king. And he came to pass, when the captains of the Chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing Josh. Now notice verse 34. And a certain man drew a board of venture.
And smoke the king of Israel, between the joints of the harness. Wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand.
And carry me out of the host, for I am wounded.
He smote the king of he took his bow at adventure just by chance. He just shot into the into the mass of the army of Israel just shot 1 arrow. God directed it right through the armor that he had on right at the joint and he died because God said that that would happen.
And what God says takes place. God is an absolute, perfect, sovereign control of each one of our lives.
If we're driving on the highway, a neighbor just to the South of us, Nancy's her name, Kevin was his name and he was driving a truck and another semi came and blew a tire just as he came near Kevin and he swerved and he came over into his lane. They had a head on and Kevin was killed instantly. 2 little children left. Car came up in front of Nancy's house. Men got out and went in to tell her the terrible, terrible news.
Thank God they were Christians. Now she has to raise her children without a father and without a husband.
Was that just an accident? Was God not in control of that? Of course he was.
Do we understand it? No, we don't.
I know. I talked to Nancy. She was at the back of the yard and I was mowing the lawn and I went over and talked to her a little bit and I said how are you doing?
Well, she says it's hard. I said. I know.
And she knew what had happened to David, my son, and how he had lost in one night his entire family, his wife and three children.
And she said I've just lost my husband. I don't know how he stood it.
I don't know how he stood it.
Was God in control in that? He's not the author of it, He's not the author of evil, He's the author of good, but he uses these things. How many people have been blessed through this trial that David had? How many people will be blessed through Kevins accident as we would say?
But God is in control and don't ever believe the story of the rabbi. Don't ever believe his book that was highly acclaimed because he had solved the mystery why there is so much evil in this world and good people suffer.
No, he was absolutely wrong. Our God is in absolute sovereign control of everything and how good that is. I remember when I was going to Regina last year, I was going up Route 16 in Montana and.
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Ahead of me was this huge lightning storm and I could see the strikes, the strikes. I said I'm going to drive right into that. And I took comfort in the in the wonderful truth of God's sovereignness. And not one of those strikes can touch me if it isn't God's mind.
And if it is, I'll just be in His presence in a moment. The wonderful thing, beloved, is that He is for us, and everything that happens has a purpose of blessing for us and for His own glory.