Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46. I want to look at verses 9 through 11. Isaiah chapter 46, verses 9 through 11. Isaiah chapter 46 in verse 9, the Bible says, remember the former things of old. 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 to 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 executes my counsel from a poor country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening, Lord, asking you to forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings. Lord, I pray that you've heard our petitions that we've raised to you, the many, Lord, that were on our heart that we expressed out loud. Father, we have so many that are dealing with health issues, and Father, others who are just dealing with things that Father, we can't file and we can't wrap our minds around. Father, we just ask you to be with them that you meet those needs. Father, I especially ask you to be with this church in Lexington whose pastor is in the hospital recovering from a gunshot. Father, I pray for the other church members recovering also. Father, I especially ask you to just be with their families. Not only were they dealing with their injuries, but the loss of a mother and a sister and a family member. But I pray, Lord, that you would be with them, be with that church, help it. Father, I pray that you would just Be with us all. Be with those who've experienced the recent flooding in Texas and up in the Northeast and all over. Those in Idaho that were affected by the forest fires. Lord, I just pray that you will be with them. Father, I think there were some others around the Grand Canyon that I have failed to remember. While I don't think anybody was inconvenience with that forest fire, I do want to pray for those men who are fighting it. I ask that you would keep them safe. Father, I do pray your blessings upon this message tonight. I ask that you would use me, Father, to be of comfort to your people this evening. Pray I'd give them something that would encourage them, something that would help them. Father, I don't know what each and every one of your people are going through. There are people here tonight that are going through things that I have no clue about. Father, I pray that this message tonight will be of help to them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I don't believe anyone listening to this message would deny that God is sovereign. However, that's a truth that none of us can adequately explain to an unbeliever or someone struggling to understand the truth of God's sovereignty. We live in a world today that's filled with evil, pain, and suffering. That word sovereign means to have supreme power and authority. When we say that God is sovereign, we say that He is sovereign over all things. He has power and authority over everything that happens in earth, in heaven, and also here on the earth. God is in control of everything that happens, whether it be good or whether it be bad. Everything that happens in this world is ordained of God. It's part of His plan. and it has its purpose. We might not understand it, we might not be able to recognize around it, but everything that happens in this world is a part of God's plan. And so no matter how tragic the event, we should still be able to find rest in the truth that God is sovereign. There is none greater than God, and none can stay his hand. Just recently, we've all heard about the flooding in the hill country of Texas. In fact, it didn't flood once, it flooded twice before they could get everything cleaned up and find everyone that was missing from the first flash flood. The Guadalupe flooded again. We know and have heard about the many that died as a result of that flash flooding. Many of them young children that were at a Christian camp along that river. Sunday afternoon, a man in Kentucky shot a state trooper, carjacked a car, drove to a local Baptist church where he killed his children's grandmother and one of their mother's sisters. They also shot and critically injured their grandfather, the longtime pastor of that church, as well as their own. These are the type of events that cause us to just shake our head and cause many to question the sovereignty of God. I've heard many try to dismiss God's sovereignty in all of this. I don't know what it is about people, why they can't believe that God is in control. But there are many who try to dismiss God's sovereignty in all of this by saying that there's a simple and logical explanation for both of these tragedies. Some say that the flooding in Texas was the result of climate change. Others blame the flooding on cloud seeding that had been done in the area a few days earlier, while some even try to say it was the judgment of God. Any one of those things may be true, but it would have never happened had it not been the plan of God. If it had not been ordained of God, it would have never happened. God is sovereign over all things. Even that church shooting that took place in Lexington, Kentucky. I know it's hard for you to imagine. It's hard for you to wrap your mind around. How can God be for something like that? How can he allow something that tragic to happen to his people? They just finished gathering to worship him in one of his churches. It doesn't change the fact. God is sovereign. I've seen some reporting saying that that shooter was a Hamas sympathizer and Muslim, and this shooting was a terrorist attack upon one of the Lord's churches. In this case, I have a little more insight and information than most people do since I have some connections there. I know some people that are very close to this church. Now, I'm not saying this man wasn't a Hamas sympathizer. He might have even been a Muslim as far as I know. I don't think he was because Leanne is familiar with his family. But I know it wasn't a terrorist attack against one of the Lord's churches. This was simply a case of domestic violence. You can believe what you want to believe, but nothing changes the fact that God is sovereign. Tonight, I want to share a few truths with you from this passage. And I'm going to preach for a little while on the thought, God is sovereign. So let's look here at verse 9, because here in this verse we see the sovereignty of God declared. The Bible says, Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me. God is declaring in this verse that He is sovereign over all things. He is sovereign. All throughout the pages of the Word of God, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, that truth is emphasized time and time again. The psalmist says in Psalm 135, verses 5 and 6, For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. You may not fully understand the sovereignty of God, but His Word declares that God is sovereign. Ephesians 1, verse 11 says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Everything that happens in this world is according to God's plan. God declares His sovereignty in His Word and through His actions. We may never understand why God does what He does, but who are we to argue with God? Turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 9. We're on Mr. Chapterman. I'm going to start with verse 15 and I'm going to read down to verse 21. Listen to this. Paul writes here in the book of Romans, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God, and showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will harden. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the same form say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Had not the potter power over the clay? of the same look to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor? All through that passage here we saw the sovereignty of God declared. And at the end Paul says, who are we to argue with God's sovereignty? Who are we to argue with any of these things that God does? Let's look now at our text in Isaiah chapter 46, verse 10. Here we see the sovereignty of God defined. The Lord is speaking here. He says, declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times to things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. This verse gives us some insight into this matter of God's sovereignty. That phrase, declaring the end from the beginning, and the phrase, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, speak to God's ability to determine the course of events in all of life. Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times to things that are not yet done. Before there was ever a beginning, before God ever created this world, He had already declared the end. He had already determined and planned how it would all end. Before He ever formed this world, God declared the things that are not yet done. Notice it. God didn't say anything there about the future being based on what he knew people would do. He determined the future based on his own decisions, his own desires. In other words, God has ordained in the past everything that is going to take place until the end of this world. and it's all going to happen, just as God planned for it to do. It will all come to pass without any exception whatsoever. God is saying my design will be achieved and my purposes will be accomplished. Notice he says at the end of that verse, and I will do all my pleasure. That's another statement declaring God's sovereignty. That word pleasure means desires or delights. Everything that God desires or whatsoever He delights in will be done. This verse defines the sovereignty of God as His absolute and total control over all things that ever happen, will ever happen, including those things that are happening in both heaven and earth right at this very moment. The sovereignty of God declares and means that God controls and rules over everything that takes place here on this earth and in heaven. There's no accident when it comes to God. There's no such thing as luck or karma. There's only his divine will. which was determined and ordained before the world was ever created. It will all be carried out His way, in His time, according to His pleasure. God is sovereign. Let me share a few verses of scripture with you to help you understand this truth. Psalm 115 verses 2 and 3 says, Wherefore should a heathen say, Where is now their God? For our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. You see tragic events take place in this world like what we've seen in Texas and Lexington, Kentucky, and a heathen will ask, Where is your God? Where is your God in all of this? They do not understand that God is sovereign, that God is in control of all things, and that even these tragic events were the very plan of God. And the truth is, we can't explain it to them either. Because we can't fully wrap our minds around that either. All we can do is rest in the fact that God is sovereign. In Daniel chapter 4 verse 35, the Bible says, 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? You know who said that? The pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar. Even this pagan king realized that God was sovereign. 1 Timothy 6, verses 13-15, Paul writes, I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable. until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. There is none like our God. He is God and no one else. He is sovereign. He is in control of all things. Now let's look at this last verse. We see the sovereignty of God depicted. Verse 11. The Bible says, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. Now this one is not that obvious. You have to do a little study to find this out. God speaks here of a ravenous bird from the east. He's speaking about the future kingdom of a man named Cyrus, king of Persia. God is speaking about this man 150 years before this prophecy came to pass. Cyrus was the ruler of the Persian Empire. And God's declaring here to Isaiah, his prophet, to Judah, that he's calling Cyrus the future ruler of Persia. And he says to this pagan king that he's the man that executes my counsel from a far country. Now Cyrus wasn't a believer. He wasn't one of God's chosen people. Yet God used this man to accomplish his will. Imagine that. Next God says, I have purposed it. I will also do it. The word purpose means to form, fashion, shape, or create. God formed, fashioned, shaped, and created the future, which included Cyrus, the king of Persia. God had already sovereignly determined what was going to happen to Judah, and he called this lost pagan center and used him to accomplish what he had already sovereignly determined. You see, it was Cyrus that passed a decree which allowed the Israelites to return to their homeland. Since God had purposed this future for Israel, he brought it to pass. Nothing or no one could stay his hand. God had determined what would happen in the future. He made sure that everything happened in a certain way, and it did. Cyrus did what he wanted to do. Cyrus was a pagan who didn't believe in God. But isn't it amazing that how in the end, every decision that this king made work towards the fulfilling of God's promise to him, Israel and Judah. I can't explain it, but you see it time and time again in the Word of God. Take Joseph for an example. We all know the story of Joseph. We know how his brothers despised him and were jealous of him. We know how they cast him into a pit and left him to die. We know how one brother went back and got him out and sold him, and how he eventually ended up in Egypt. Some may ask, where's the sovereignty of God in that? But Joseph didn't question the sovereignty of God. He declared to his brothers in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, but as for you, Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring the past as it is this day, to save much people alive." All the bad things that happened in Joseph's life, everything that happened to him, and yet Joseph is able to stand here in front of the brothers that did him so wrong, treated him so bad, and declared it was all part of God's plan. There are so many passages in the Word of God that depict God's sovereignty. And I don't have the time to cover each one. But if you will turn to Acts chapter 17, I want to look at another passage real quick. Acts chapter 17. I want to look at verses 22 through 27. The Bible tells us in Acts 17, verse 22, Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hills and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all the things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temple made with hands, neither is worship with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, this is what I want to look at, have determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he's not far from every one of us. Here we have Paul, who has been preaching the gospel in Athens, declaring the sovereignty of God while disputing with the Greek philosophers there in Athens. You may be wondering why I would turn here. But many of us are more like these Greek philosophers than we ever think we are. Sometimes we seem to think that God is far away, don't we? Sometimes we think that when we need God the most is when he's the furthest away. Sometimes when we look at all the evil happening in this world and see how far the world is getting away from God each and every passing day, we think that God is moving further and further away, but it's not God that's moving, it's us. He's always near, ready to lend a helping hand. We can't wrap our minds around how God can be involved in something that causes His people so much pain and suffering in our world today. In fact, there are many people in our world that believe that God just rules over the big things, while He leaves those little things up to chance and the will of man. I want you to know this evening that God cares about you. Not only does He care about us, He is involved in all the intimate details of our life. In verse 26, Paul says, God hath determined the times before appointed. He's speaking here about the length of our lives. God determined when we would be born, and He has already set in place Just how long we're going to live here on this earth. No one dies before their time. That's something we have a hard time with. And I say that because I've heard people say that someone died too soon. They just died too soon. I've heard Christians say it. Everyone dies right on time according to God's preordained plan. In Job chapter 14 verse 5, Job says, seeing his days are numbered, the number of his months are with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. God has determined exactly how long you're going to live, and you're not going to live one second longer than what he has planned, and you're not going to die one second sooner. You're going to die exactly when God plans for you to die, exactly how he plans for you to die. We cannot wrap our mind around the fact that Here's this woman serving the Lord in one of his churches and a man walks in and shoots her and that's how God planned for her to end her life. But do we believe God is sovereign or not? God is sovereign. His Word declares it time and time and time again. Paul says God has determined the bounds of our habitation. Not only did He determine when we'll be born and when we'll die, but He also has determined where we're going to live. God has planned out our lives all according to His will. When we're going to be born, when we're going to die, where we're going to live. He's not just out there watching things as they take place in this world. He's taking active part in everything that happens in this world. He's working behind the scenes, orchestrating everything according to His divine plan. He's even involved in the smallest things of our lives. So you see, God is sovereign over big things and small things. There's so much more that I can say about the sovereignty of God. But I believe that we've heard enough this evening. Now we just need to let the sovereignty of God comfort our hearts as we make our journey to our eternal home. We may not know what the future holds. We might not know what's just in front of us. But our sovereign God does. No matter what happens, it was God's plan for you. So be like Job. Be like Job, who in the midst of his pain and suffering said in Job 23.10, but he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Don't let the events taking place in our world where you use death. Rest in the sovereignty of God. You're not a victim of your own circumstances. You're the beneficiary of a good and eternal plan through which the sovereign God of the universe will accomplish His eternal purposes in your life for His glory. If you're sitting here this evening or if you're listening to this message and you've been asking, why, Lord, why? Rest in the truth that God is sovereign. that the storm clouds are beginning to gather in your life, take comfort in the fact that God is sovereign. His plan is a good and perfect plan. It might not appear like it right now, but He has everything in His hands, everything under control. So just trust Him to lead you wherever He wants you to be. and rest in the fact that he's in control and he'll see you through whatever he brings you to. Let's stand.