Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
The subject that I have spoken of several Times Now, the sovereignty of God, 1% sovereignty of God.
Some time ago in this country, there was a rabbi who wrote a book.
And it went over very well with the people. He seems to have solved the problem that troubles a lot of people. Why do Bad Things happen to good people? Was the title of the book.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
And as he wrestled with that.
Question.
He had to consider either God is not all good.
Or he's not all powerful.
Because if he was all good and all powerful, he couldn't seem to come up with an answer to that question.
Why do bad things happen to good people? So he concluded that God was all good.
But not all powerful.
There was a historian of recent years.
You may have heard of MHG Wells.
He was.
He was a famous fiction writer and historian, and he had the same kind of a view that this rabbi had. He said the world is like a great drama.
God is the.
He's the manager.
And everything goes well. Everything begins beautifully. Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve placed in the garden of delights. Everything perfect according to God. No sin, no suffering, no sorrow, no death, no pain.
Everything was perfect.
And so, in this great drama, everything is perfect until the leading man steps on the hem of the garment of the leading lady, who falls over a chair, who knocks down a lamp, who which knocks down a table, which knocks down the side scenery, which brings down the back scenery and the manager.
Is shouting orders and pulling strings and trying to get some kind of order out of this chaos that has resulted, but he can't seem to do it.
And that was this man's idea of God, the the state of things, the the room that has come in, and the sin that has come in, that has produced all the the havoc and the disaster and the disorder and the sin and the sorrow and the suffering and the weeping, and all that the follows mankind befalls the Saints as well as sinners.
God is just not able to stop it.
He doesn't have the control over this scene. That was his conclusion. Well, he had the same kind of a conclusion as this rabbi, and neither one is correct. According to Scripture, the Word of God portrays to us a God who is not only the creator of the universe, but He is the sovereign ruler of all things, and everything is under his control.
And nothing happens by chance. There are no fortuitous events.
All is under his control.
That has to be established before we can even consider the question.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
There is an answer to that question. It's not the one that these men came up with.
God in His sovereignty, which is not exactly an attribute of God, but it's His prerogative in the use of His attributes to rule over all that He has created. He is the absolute sovereign ruler, and as we sometimes say, nothing happens by chance. Nothing is too large for God, nothing is too hard for God, and nothing is too small for God.
Too insignificant so that he won't notice it, or he won't.
Undertake to help us, no matter how small our problem may be.
I am sure that there are some children in the room that might feel that way, and maybe some adults that, well, my little world is so insignificant and trivial compared with all the problems that there are out there and the whole world system, that God doesn't notice me.
Well, God is so huge.
That there's no problem. Everyone in the world could be praying to him at the same time and he'd hear each one.
And He had answered each one according to his own sovereign, perfect, blessed will.
Wonderful God we have, we can't conceive in our limited human way of judging things. Martin Luther said to Erasmus, who was a Roman Catholic theologian, probably the greatest theologian of the day. He said to him he had a view, he had a view. Evidently Erasmus had a view, something like these men, this rabbi and HG Wells, and that God just couldn't control things.
00:05:18
And he said to Erasmus, Martin Luther did. He says, your God is altogether too human.
Altogether too human. And what did he mean by that? Well, too limited. And don't we find as we look into our lives and as we look into the problems that come to us and so on, sometimes we'll, we'll come up, come up to a mountain that is so huge that to us it is absolutely even beyond God to solve.
And so your God is limited. If that's your view of God, you have a limited God, just like these men had.
That he wasn't able to do anything, anything that would please him. That he is. And we will be looking shortly at a number of scriptures that tell us how great this God is that we've come to know.
Let me ask you, how big is your universe?
How big is my universe?
You think it's too big for God to handle, or maybe you think that God is a disinterested God and he's not going to concern himself with us. Like the watchman that wound up his watch, the old, old watches that had the springs in it and wound it up and then let it go and just turned away from it and said it'll run itself now. And that's the view that some have of God about this universe, that God got everything spinning and got all the world's turning, and then he.
Tired and just let it go? Well, that's not the God of the Bible.
The God of the Bible is vitally interested, especially in his children.
In every detail of our lives. And he takes note. And nothing happens by chance, even the bad things as we were singing.
In that hymn, that beautiful hymn, our times are in Thy hands, whatever they may be, pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to Thee. Do you believe that? Do you really want everything, everything, all our times, everything to be in His hands? Or do you resent the idea that there is another? That is an absolute control.
Of everything.
And you're not. You can't control your life. You, you are in his hand.
We sing these hymns and we express these truths, but when we get into dire straits, we seem to forget. So often, Speaking of myself, so often we seem to forget that it is all in His hands.
Is omnipotent all powerful? We can't fathom that really. A being that is all powerful and do anything as far as power is concerned, a mission T knows everything.
All knowing.
His understanding is infinite, 147th Psalm tells us, and he's omnipresent. He's everywhere. You cannot get away from Him. There is no place you can go. Whether it's the darkness or the light makes no difference to him, it says in the 139th Psalm. The darkness and the light are both alike to Him.
So he sees you, thou God seest me, and.
Peter tells us, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. He really does. Each one of his own. And I'm addressing the Saints this afternoon. He cares for each one of us.
There was a sister that lost her husband once.
Brother went to visit her, comfort her and she was saying things that she didn't mean.
He was saying things about God or how could he have done this to me? I needed him so I cannot live without him. Why did he do this to me? And she was saying some very nasty things about God. And he said I rejoiced.
And that arrested my attention immediately when I heard him say that. And he said I rejoiced because I knew that God wasn't listening.
He knew what she was going through.
And she didn't mean what she was saying.
The next day, she called his brother up.
And she said I'm so sorry.
What I said, I didn't mean it.
And he said.
I know you didn't.
I heard a brother say once.
I'm sorry that he said it.
But he said.
When you hear people say bad things, that's really what they really like.
00:10:05
That's not true.
Not true the same.
We can say things as a St. that we that's not really us, that's not the Newman.
That's the flesh. We all have it and we can say pretty nasty things.
When we don't really mean it, we can even say to the one that we love the most. I hate you.
That's been done.
And they don't mean that.
They don't mean that at all.
They might mean I hate myself and I'm taking it out on you.
But God, he knows all about us, and he deals with us according to his infinite wisdom and his infinite love. Our God cares for us. Our God is love.
Wouldn't that be a horrible thing to have? The God of the Muslims who doesn't know what love is, they don't even have it in their Bible.
Their Koran, they don't have it in there. They don't even have the concept of love in their religion. It's a religion of fear.
Religion of ultra legality.
And the false religions are characterized by that.
The truth is that our God is love.
Is every act pure blessing? Is His path unsullied? Light, light and love, perfect holiness and love. And so all that he does and all that he allows for, He never is the author of evil. These evil things that come upon us, He's not the author of it. He allows it sometimes. In fact, he always allows it. Nothing can happen without his permission.
Sometimes we hear Christians talk about Satan's plans and what he's going to do, and by the time you get through listening to them, you feel pretty low.
As though he can carry out his plans. He can't. He may have his plans of evil towards us, but he can't do one thing. He can't take one step beyond what God allows him to.
He is not the sovereign of the universe. God is, our God is, and our God is for us.
And if God be for us, who can be against us? Someone has said, trying to make the all powerful God to be look rather ridiculous. Someone who said, can he? Can he make a stone large enough so that he himself can't move it? Well, obviously if he can make it that large, he can move it.
If it was as big as a mountain, he could move it.
It was as big as the planet Earth. He could move it. If it was big as the solar system, he could move it. It was as big as the Milky Way Galaxy. He couldn't do but if it was as big as the universe.
You can move it with his little finger.
Imagine that atom placed in the palm of the hand of a man. I have an atom sitting there in my palm.
And I am God, and that Adam is the universe. That's an illustration someone has used to illustrate how great God is.
Just an atom compared with this huge being. Well, all that illustration does is to diminish God. He's infinitely greater than that.
He's infinitely greater than that, he just spake.
The universe into existence. He commanded, and it was done. He spake and it stood fast. He said let there be, and there was.
I can't fathom a being that great. That's our God. By faith, we understand that the world's were framed by the word of God.
We understand it by faith, we can't grasp it by our reasoning.
But this is our God, and he is for us. And if God be for us, who can be against us?
Well, there was another man, his name was JB Phillips, and he said, he said of God. He said to another, he said your God is too small, too small.
Well, how big is your God? How big is your universe?
They hear unto God, know everything.
Is he inescapable? Is he everywhere? And does he?
Is eternal.
Our God is.
So God's sovereignty is His.
Controlling everything is prerogative to use all his attributes for his own glory.
Rules all that He created. He is sovereign. Now let's look at Revelation 19. We'll look at a number of Scriptures. We'll have to move on quickly. You'll be turning your Bibles quite a bit now.
To look at these scriptures, these wonderful scriptures, I don't have to say much about them because they speak for themselves.
Revelation 19. 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 Hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent.
00:15:11
Reynith.
There is the statement of God's sovereignty. The Lord God, omnipotent, reigneth. He is the sovereign ruler over all things.
Look at the 29th Psalm. 29th Psalm.
Verse 10 The Lord sitteth.
Upon the flood, yeah. The Lord sitteth king forever. He sitteth as the sovereign ruler forever.
Nothing too hard for him.
He rules over all things that he has made. You remember one came to him once and said, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And he said.
I will.
Be thou clean, that's one of the three I will, the Lord uttered. I said the other night it was once, but it was 3 times.
Three times, that's the one. The other time was in the garden, not my will, but thine be done. And the third time was in John 17. Father, I will let those whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
Is that a precious I will to have us in his presence forever?
And to behold his glory.
Now turn to Daniel 4.
Where we have these beautiful scriptures.
Setting before us.
The sovereignty of God. Daniel.
Chapter 4.
Ezekiel, Daniel.
Verse 30.
5.
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?
This was that mighty monarch Nebuchadnezzar that uttered these words. He learned of the greatness.
Of God.
The greatness of God.
None can stay his hand, or say unto him.
What doest thou?
Job Chapter 9.
And verse 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him?
Who will say unto him?
What do a star?
It will say unto him, what?
Doest thou?
Jeremiah 32.
Verse 17.
Our 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? Nothing.
Too hard.
For thee.
Matthew 28.
Last chapter in Matthew.
This is stated by the Risen Lord Himself.
And he said in verse 18.
Jesus.
Came and spake unto them, saying, all power.
Is given unto me in heaven.
And in Earth?
Do we, Do you, Do I really believe these wonderful statements of God's Word?
It may not seem this way in many cases.
It may seem as though he is unable to change the events, but we will see as we go on in these wonderful scriptures, we're going to be looking at how that is not so.
And here he says, All power is given unto me in heaven.
And on earth. And he's speaking here as the risen man. Ephesians 1.
Ephesians One.
And verse.
00:20:01
22 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. God hath put all things under his feet, gave Him to be the head over all things. Again in verse 11.
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 counsel of his own will. Sometimes you hear Christians talking about Satan's plans and what he's going to do and and he's not going to do anything.
That is contrary to the God who's working all things after the council of his own will.
There is a restraining power in this scene because we're still here, and the Spirit of God inhabits the house, and he's still here as a restraining power. And the enemy may have his plans, but he can do nothing but that God allows it.
Wonderful to know that. Wonderful to know that whatever happens in our life is under His absolute sovereign control, none can stay His hand or say unto Him.
What doest thou?
Now Isaiah 14. Very wonderful passage.
Isaiah 14.
Verse 24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought.
So shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Verse 27.
For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall dis annul it, and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? There is no power in the universe satanic. All his demons, all his hosts, could not change what God has purposed, and what He is bringing about.
He is the absolute sovereign, and what God purposes will indeed take place, and none can change it. Isaiah 46.
Isaiah 46.
Verse 9.
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, a man that executeth 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.
Thy counsel shall stand.
I will do all my pleasure.
Declaring the end from the beginning. How can he do that?
Well, there's a verse in Isaiah 57, I believe.
Isaiah 57 and verse 615 and I'll read it. For thou sayeth the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity.
Whose name is holy. I dwell in the high unholy place.
With him, that is of a contrite and humble spirit.
To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. What a range of thought in that one verse.
The high and Lofty 1.
That inhabiteth eternity.
Doesn't say inhabits heaven. There are other scriptures that say that that speaks of a place. Eternity is sitting in the midst of a shoreless sea. A shoreless sea, No shores, no beginning, no end. That's eternity.
Someone's coming along in the boat. He steps out of eternity into time. That little island is time. He walks through time. That's where we are. We're in time. We're in that little island in the middle of this shoreless ocean. Eternity. And then he steps out of the boat and he steps back into eternity. Well, that's just a little illustration of what eternity is like. We're in time. Just a little speck.
00:25:08
In this huge ocean that is eternity.
He inhabits eternity. He knows the end from the beginning, that which is still future. He declares it because he knows it. There is nothing to there is nothing hidden from him. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen if we step out of our front door or get in the car and get on the road and someone will hit us and we'll be in eternity. We don't know, but he knows. He knows.
The end from the beginning. Such a being.
This is our God. Nothing takes him by surprise.
The treachery of Judas didn't take him by surprise. He knew it was from the beginning. He knew that he was a devil from the beginning when he chose him.
Nothing takes God by surprise.
Wonderful being.
Isaiah.
46 I read it.
I just want to read it again. My Council verse 10.
My counsel shall stand.
And I will do all.
My pleasure. Now let's get to a very practical case. Let's turn to Genesis 18. Something that come brings it right down to things that we might experience down here.
Genesis 18.
And verse 11.
Verse 9 And they said unto him, The angels are speaking.
To Abraham, where 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. This is the Lord speaking.
And lo, Sarah, thy wife shall have a son.
And Sarah heard it in the tent door, 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.
Therefore, Sarah laughed.
Within herself saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure thy Lord, being old also?
She was going to have a son at 90. Abraham would be 100.
Impossible was her reaction. And then the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh?
Saying, Shall I have a surety bear a child which am old? 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 laughed not for she was afraid. And he said nay without its laugh. Now that's the last we hear of Sarah in this incident.
But in Hebrews 11, I just turned to that Hebrews 11. Very precious.
And Speaking of this, in the past I mistakenly referred to Romans 4. Well, that was Abraham who was strengthened in faith about this. But here in Hebrews 11 we have Sarah, and it says in verse 11 of Hebrews 11 Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed.
And was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful. Who had promised. Not at the beginning she didn't, but she received the rebuke from the Lord and she profited by it.
And she believed. And this is a beautiful commentary, not a word mentioned in Hebrews 11 about Sarah's failure.
It's given to us in Genesis, but here we read of her faith. She believed God, and when you lay hold upon God and believe God, you lay holding, you're laying hold upon the greatest power in the universe.
Power of God.
And she did that.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Job 42. Job said a lot of things. He went through tremendous trials, lost his, lost his family, all but his wife, his sons, his daughters, lost his possessions, lost his health. And in the process of dealing with these three friends, he said, oh, if I only had an audience with the Lord, he would listen to me. He would hear my 'cause I would plead my cause.
Now he has that audience.
And in chapter 42 of Job, Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do.
Everything.
And that no thought can be withholden from thee in the new translation it reads, And no, thou canst do everything, And that thou canst be hindered in no thought of mine.
00:30:13
And he had learned that if God wills to do something, it happens.
Because no purpose of his can be restrained.
115th Psalm. We have that statement again.
115th Psalm, and verse 3. But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
135th Psalm.
Psalm 135.
Verse 6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places, because of the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth, He maketh lightnings for the rain, He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.
A lightning strikes, a man is killed, another is hurt but not killed. And we say, well, that was just a chance thing. That's just a fortuitous event and.
Never does man think that God controlled that lightning strike, but He did.
Everything is under his control.
He never relinquishes his control at a moment. For a moment, absolute sovereign God.
Who allows all that happens? He allows it for His ultimate glory and for the blessing of His Saints. For.
Whether we believe it or not, all things do work together for good.
To them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. And what is his purpose?
That you and I might be conformed to the image of his son.
That's His purpose, that's what He's working towards. And these things that happen to us that are so painful as we have some pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to thee, we would only realize that He is for us.
And all these things that we can't explain. And there are so many. We had a neighbor just to the South of us. And one day a car pulled up in front of Nancy's house. She has two children, a husband. She had a husband and two children. And they came in and said your husband was driving the truck.
And a semi was coming the other way and just at the right moment, the tire blew in the semi. The driver lost control. There was a head on and.
Her husband was taken into eternity. In a moment, I believe the family was the Lord's.
But now the mother.
Has to raise her two children without a husband and without a father for them.
I met her at the back of the yard the other day when I was home and I said to her, how are you doing?
And she said it's hard.
I said I know.
And she said, yes, I know, you know.
Because my son lost his whole family in a moment.
And she said, I don't know how you stood it.
I don't know how David stood it.
Well, there are things that we cannot explain.
But he knows what he's doing.
And he is perfect wisdom and perfect love.
And doing all for His ultimate glory and our ultimate.
Blessing. There's a beautiful verse in Isaiah 55. I love it.
And this ought to encourage us to use the Word of God when we deal with souls, not reasoning.
Not our human reasoning, not trying to outwit the opponent, but the word of God.
For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, both of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And so Isaiah 55 says.
My thoughts verse 8 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 and 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.
00:35:10
And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. The power. Never underestimate the power of the word of God.
Power. God's Word.
When we sound that forth.
God will use it for blessing. That's how a soul is born again, being born again, not of corruptible seed, nor of incorruptible by the word of God.
Which liveth and abideth forever.
Romans 9.
Romans 9. Another very precious passage.
God is sovereign, He is the Potter, we are the clay. Verse 19. I will say then unto me, why does he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, old man, who art thou that replies against God, when we think of how many men have the audacity, the impudence, the arrogance to reply against God?
Nay, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing form say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? That's his prerogative to do as he sees fit.
I'm not going to go into the exposition of that passage, but I'm just citing these scriptures to show how God is over everything. He is over the heart of the King. There's two lovely passages. Turn to Ezra.
Chapter 6. Ezra Chapter 6.
Things that we cannot do, he can do.
Ezra chapter 6 and at the end of the chapter.
Verse 22 and 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.
Who? Who did that? God turned the heart of the king of Assyria to be favorable. Some Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21.
Think one of the children this morning said this first verse one.
The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever.
He will.
We ought to pray for our rulers, no matter how wicked we might think they are.
We should pray for them, for the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water. He turneth it with us, whoever he will. If someone had suggested to those early Christians, pray for Saul of Tarsus, pray that he might be saved.
I wonder how many would do it?
How many would do it?
You know you can't. There's no, there's no sense in praying for him.
Is the greatest antagonist to the Christian caused there is?
And in a moment.
He was arrested and changed.
And became the greatest champion of the faith.
A beautiful passage in Ezra 34.
I'm sorry, Exodus 34, Exodus 34.
And 23.
Thrice in the year. Well, let me read 22 and thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks.
And of the first fruits of wheat harvest.
Feast of weeks, I think that's Pentecost.
The first fruits of wheat harvest.
And.
No, that's Pentecost.
And then the Feast of Ingathering, that's the Feast of Tabernacles. But there were three times I may have gotten these mixed, but there were three feasts where the males of Israel had to go down to Jerusalem.
And up here before the Lord, so at verse 23 says thrice in the year shall all your men, children, appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.
Well, that would lay them very vulnerable. There would that all the cities would be devoid of males, and only the women and the children would be left, and the enemy could easily come in and take them over.
00:40:05
Verse 24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders.
Neither shall any man desire thy land.
When thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.
Neither shall any.
Nation, desire thy land.
Wouldn't desire their gold, Wouldn't desire their women, wouldn't desire them at all. Now who could do that? Only God, only the sovereign God of the universe, could keep.
Those cities safe while all the males went down to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.
Now we have a beautiful passage in Exodus Chapter 11.
God moved the hearts of the Egyptians as Israel was about to leave the land of Egypt.
Not only did he move the hearts of the Egyptians, but.
He also is in control of the beasts as well. 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 hands altogether. Speak now in the ears 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 people. The Lord gave the people favor.
In the sight of the Egyptians.
Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt.
Now there had been plague after plague after plague after plague that had come down on the land of Egypt, But God gave the people of Israel favor in the minds of the Egyptians, and they gave to them, says Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants.
And in the sight of the people, and Moses said, thus saith 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 unto the first born of the maiden servant 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, nor shall be like it anymore.
Let's pause there.
Israel is about to leave Egypt. God disposes the hearts of the Egyptians to give them plenty.
Of their riches.
They spoil the Egyptians.
And now they're about to leave 3000 men and women and cattle, animals and mules. Just think of that huge number that we're leaving all the cities of Egypt, leaving the cities, going out.
Following Moses.
I just live in a little small town of Allendale. 306 hundred people, 600 people.
Very small town.
You might think out here in California, is there such a place? Yes, there is. I live in one.
They do have towns that small.
And I like to take a walk at night and.
There's dogs in our town.
And as I start walking, one dog starts barking, and the next one, and the next one, and by the time I get home, they're all barking and the whole town of Allendale is filled with the sound of barking dogs. But look at that.
Seventh Verse. 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.
Thoth put a difference.
Between the Egyptians and Israel, beloved, the Lord puts a difference.
Between the world and us, and don't ever forget it, he puts a difference.
We belong to him.
He loves us, just as you might say that's impossible. No one, No one could prevent a dog from barking. Oh yes, God could.
I was lying in bed this morning and we talked about the perfect humanity of Christ on Friday night and how that Mary, being a Sinner, bore a child that was sinless.
You know, there's a verse in Scripture came before me. Can anyone bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And the answer is no, we can't, but God can't.
The Holy Spirit can. He did. He brought a clean thing out of an unclean vessel.
And only God can do that.
00:45:00
Praise his name.
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
No, no.
Second Chronicles 20 is a beautiful passage.
I'm not hitting all the passages. You could enumerate many others, the Red Sea, the Jordan.
All instances of his mighty power.
His mighty power. But these are very interesting passages.
Second Chronicles.
Chapter 20.
And verse 14.
Then upon.
Jehazio, the son of Zechariah the son of Maniah the son of Gil the son of Mataniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph.
Came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation, and he said, Hearken you all, ye all Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou, King Jehoshaphat, thus sayeth the Lord unto you. Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude.
They were being attacked by an army that was overwhelmingly superior to theirs.
For the battle is not yours, but God's.
Tomorrow go ye down against them, Behold, they come up by the Cliff of Ziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jerul. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you. Well, the the previous time that the Lord said that was when Israel was leaving Egypt, The Egyptians army was coming behind them, walls on either side, the sea in front of them, and Moses said, stand still and see.
Of the Lord and the sea parted and they walked through on dry ground. The Egyptians are saying to do were all destroyed as the waters closed in upon them and they all drowned that's the mighty power of God that's our sovereign God well.
It says in verse 22 and when they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Sierra, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. That's a beautiful chapter to read. They defeated the enemy by singing praises.
They didn't have to fire a shot.
For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Sierra utterly to slay and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of sea air, everyone helped to destroy another.
And when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away. And they were three days in gathering of the spoil. It was so much who did that.
The sovereign, all powerful God. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. It was an insurmountable, overwhelming force that was coming against them. Sure defeat, sure annihilation. So it seemed They didn't even have to fire. One shot and the enemy was vanquished. You can think of other instances.
And I'll give you the one more second Chronicles 18.
Chronicles 18.
And this is the case of Ahab and Jehoshaphat. He and he Jehoshaphat foolishly allies himself with the wicked king Ahab.
And Ahab, he had figured out that they're going to go after him. They're trying to get him. So he.
Disguised himself, and he said to Jehoshaphat, you dress up in your kingly robes. And when they saw the king, they said, this is Ahab, this is the king of Israel, get him. And Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord, And the Lord heard him, and they realized this is not the one we're after.
And in verse chapter 18 and verse 33, verse 32, it came to pass that when the captains of the Chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, it was not Ahab.
It was Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. They turned back again from pursuing him, and a certain man. Now God had said to Ahab through the prophet Micaiah that you're going to die in this battle.
And so he's going to defeat God's purpose. So he disguises himself as an ordinary warrior. He's all protected by his armor. And it says a certain man drew a bow at a venture by chance.
00:50:04
Not intentionally trying to kill the king of Israel. He didn't know who the king of Israel was in that crowd. He just drew a bow and shot into this, into the Israelites.
The host the Army of Israel.
And he smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. Therefore he said to his chariot, man turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. If you follow, if you follow the I've looked up and we don't have time for it. I've looked up lightning. I remember when I was going to Regina last year, I came, I was going north and there was a huge lightning storm and all these lightning strikes were coming down. I said, I'm going to drive right into that. And then I took comfort and in the in the.
Not one of them can can touch me but that God sends it to. And if so, then I'll be in his presence. Well, it's often in scripture that's the strikes of lightning are likened to God's arrows.
And here this enemy draws the boat adventure and shoots an arrow, and it hits Ahab and he dies just as God said.
We cannot frustrate God's will and God's purpose. He is an absolute sovereign control of everything. And I just want to say in closing, aren't you glad?
That he is. Aren't you glad that we're not in control?
That he is.
He who loves us with an everlasting love, He whose every act is blessing for us, even though we cannot always interpret it.
We will see one day, we will see the other side of the tapestry and what He was doing for His glory and for the ultimate blessing of millions of others.
Our little world is so limited. We are so myopic in the way we view things. Everything is how it effects me. But God uses it all with our end in view, absolutely, but also with other end in view.
I couldn't possibly, I couldn't possibly have arranged it so that everyone that's sitting in the chair you're sitting in right now would be here. I couldn't do that. I don't have that power.
But God did. God did. You're here because.
It's his will for you to be here.
And don't think that the little insignificant trifles in your life are not under His control. Some of us make the mistake of saying I can handle the little things, but I'll turn over the big ones to Him.
And that's where we make bad mistakes, is it not?
Because we can't handle the little things he said without me you can do. Let's close by singing. 264 Thou sittest on high, eternal word, as Son of man, as sovereign Lord. And now by faith on thee we rest, till all thy title have confessed.