Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 4. Read from verse 34 to 37. Come, let us hear the word of the living God. At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and 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? At the same time my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me, and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways of judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Amen. So let us pray and ask God to help us. Our Father in Heaven, as we come tonight to study again the most holy and precious Word of God, Lord, we consider it a great privilege to come and to have open Bibles before our eyes, that we may behold Thy Word, that we may find wisdom and life and instruction for our soul, that we may behold our God and all the wondrous works on the earth that He has done, to perform His will and to do His good pleasure. We pray, Father, tonight may be tremendously instructive to our souls. And Lord, that we, in hearing the word of God, may be better fitted to live to the glory of our God. May we behold our God and wondrous things in his law. Father, we pray, please take away all distractions tonight, cares and thoughts of the world that perhaps wouldn't be on our hearts. We pray that despite the heat, there will be no distraction, that Satan himself will not steal that precious seed, that Lord, it may fall on good ground tonight. Prepare our hearts We come, Father, to hear the Word of God, not essentially to hear the preacher, but Lord, to come and to hear God speak from His Word to our hearts. Please help me now to be clear, and we pray, Father, for He, the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, to lead us in all truth and to apply this Word to our hearts. Father, we ask in our Savior's name, Amen. So we have our Bibles open before us here in the book of Daniel. I'm sure you're fully aware of the narrative that's behind these verses that we read. It's not my intention tonight to expound these verses, but I will just give a very brief picture of what has happened. This King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to exalt himself above God. He made an image that men should bow to that image. And Daniel, of course, and his three friends, young Hebrew men, did not bow to that image. They did not bow to him, to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar thought that he would exalt himself above the God of all earth. But God reduced this man to a beast. You read the previous verses that he lived as an animal and he grew claws like a bird. God did that to him. God has the power to do that. God has power over all things. He can reduce people to nothingness. and at the end of the days Nebuchadnezzar says he had lifted up his eyes to heaven and his understanding, his reasoning returned to him for God can even take the reasoning of men away and he blessed the Most High. It is amazing to us that God should have mercy on a man such as Nebuchadnezzar and yet God has mercy on him and he ends up being a follower of Jehovah. This is amazing, the amazing grace of God. And then in verse 35, look with me, Nebuchadnezzar gives us a true picture of who we are as creatures upon this earth. 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 and I are specks of dust upon this earth. We are nothing. From dust we came and to dust we shall return. That's all our bodies are. We have a soul but we come into this world with sinful souls. A sinful disposition towards God and towards his law. No thought for him. We exalt ourselves while here on this earth sinfully but God will abase them that exalt themselves and left to ourselves by nature We would never come to God. If Nebuchadnezzar was left to himself, he would have died a man who made an idol of himself and who cared nothing for God. But God had mercy on him. And God does according to his will, according to the armies of heaven. And nobody can slap God's wrist and say, what have you done? nobody can ever charge God wrongly for God is just to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and he will harden as he did Pharaoh whom he will harden. Now as I said it's not my intention this evening to explain and to spend time in this passage. But I did want to begin with a passage of scripture as we continue to look at the attributes of God. And tonight we're going to consider, Lord willing, the attribute of the omnipotence of God. Last time, a few weeks ago, we considered the doctrine of the omniscience of God. And we said what that means. When we think of the word science, we study matter and powers and forces. And so when we think of omniscience, we think of the all knowledge of God. God is all knowledgeable of everything in past and in all eternity to come. God is fully knowledgeable of everything, all eternity past and all eternity to come. God is fully knowledgeable. So tonight we come to consider this other omni of God. He is all powerful, omnipotent, if you like. Now, these two doctrines are somewhat connected to each other. The omniscience of God and the omnipotence of God, the all-knowingness of God and the all-powerfulness of God, there is a connection. Hebrews chapter 4 is where we spent a little bit of our time as we thought about God and I made the observation that there is this connection between the Word of God and Him. The Word of God is quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword and then the writer to the Hebrews goes on to say that not only is that word sharp and is also a discern of the thoughts and the intents of the heart and then he goes on to say that neither is any creature that is not manifest in his sight that is God while his word searches our spirits and tries the reins of a man he himself who is the author of his word Nothing is hidden from God. Hebrews 4.12 For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And then he makes the connection and says, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. So do you see there the connection between, as we said last time, the word of God and God himself, everything is manifest in his sight. All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. All things are known to God. Every act of the past and of the present and of the future are known to God. Job said in Job 42 verse 2, And I know that thou canst do everything that no thought can be withholden from thee. Job acknowledged that about God, that not one thought, not even a passing or a fleeting thought that Job had, or you have, or I have, ever escapes the attention of God. And I sought to apply that and said that that ought to temper the way that we live our lives as Christians. If God is fully aware of every thought that we have, how ought we to guard our thoughts and to especially guard our hearts, for it is out of the heart come the thoughts of a man, and out of that heart come the issues of life. So we need to seek to keep ourselves in the Word of God and by the Word of God. Now, God who is omniscient is not somehow at the mercy of time and fate to know what to do. Because He is all-knowledgeable, He does not act upon contingency. He does not act upon foreknowledge. God does not make plans as He goes along. This has happened, now I'll respond in such a way. No, His omniscience requires His omnipotence and His omnipotence is such that He actually plans and wills all things to come to pass. Now that is a very, very scary thought. He has planned and ordained everything that comes to pass. So he's not somehow at the mercy of time and fate to know what to do. The scriptures simply declare in Acts chapter 15 and verse 18, known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Known unto God are all his works, all of his works in the world, in the earth, in heaven, are known by him from the beginning of the world. We ask the question, how does God know the future? I'll tell you how. There's only one answer, because he determines the future. God predestines the future. He foreordains. He predetermines it. He makes it happen. in Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 10. God is speaking here through the prophet and this is one of the characteristical traits about God. Isaiah 46 and verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure. Are we all clear about what the Bible is saying there, friends? God declares the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. What is God's counsel? God's counsel is His predetermined will. his will that is foreordained, that which he has planned and purposed. God declares, look, the things that are not yet done, nothing's happened, but God has said it will come to pass. Why will it come to pass? Because God makes it come to pass. This verse, along with many other verses, are proof texts with regards to God's predetermined way. God declares it. A lot of people don't like this verse, but God says, the things that are not yet done, I know them, my counsel will stand, I will perform them. I can give you an example. In the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, after he was put to death, the disciples prayed because the Jews were persecuting them. And then they prayed to the Lord and they said this, for of the truth against the holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Do we understand what those words mean? The word simply mean and I'll explain it to you for those of you who English is not your first language and need to because there's some long words here, some difficult words. It's very simple. Everything that Herod, Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jews did to the Lord Jesus was all whatsoever God's hand and counsel determined to be done. God said that will happen and it happened. Now God is not responsible for those men's wicked deeds because they did it out of their wicked heart. The opportunity was there, the motive was there, fully responsible for what they did and it was God's plan. Now I'm stressing these things and these doctrines because there are many churches in this country that do not teach these things. They lie about God. Maybe you come from a country that teaches that God is some kind of God who is helpless and cannot do anything. He's at your mercy. He's at my mercy. He's at everybody else's mercy. There's no greater dishonor you can give to God by claiming that God is such a God God is not at the mercy of man but in fact every ounce of power that you have is from God whatever is happening in the world God is in absolute control of now we will study this one facet of God's omnipotence his omnipotence so far as he wills it to be if he does not will it to be it shall not be so far we have established there is a connection between his omniscience and his omnipotence there's something that we read three times in the bible let me just give it to you genesis 18 you don't have to turn there but let me read to you the story see if you can pick up what these words are. I read from Genesis 18 and it's the account where Abraham is with Sarah and they were very old, stricken in old age and they are told that they will have a child and Sarah just laughed within herself. She thought this was unbelievable. Could God do this? It says in Genesis 18 verse 11, now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of woman. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Well, that's what the Lord said to Abraham. The Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I be of a surety, bear a child, which I am old? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? That's what the Lord said to Abraham. Well, what is the answer to that question? Is there anything too hard for me? Well, the implied answer is no, nothing is too hard for the Lord. And then we turn to Jeremiah chapter 32 and the verse 17, and this has to do with the people of God going to be taken into exile and then they would return back and God will do all this chastening, but yet at the same time punishing the enemy. Jeremiah says, 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. So just as was acknowledged by the Lord to Abraham that nothing's too hard for the Lord, Jeremiah says the same thing before the Lord. There's nothing too hard for thee. And then God himself again in Jeremiah 32 verse 27 says, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Now, this has to do with the all powerfulness. Nothing is too hard. Nothing is too difficult. for God. God is all-powerful and we need to study this. When the angel came and spoke to Mary and told Mary that she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit, the angel said in Luke 1.37, for with God nothing shall be impossible. Nothing shall be impossible. Now, God does not struggle with power. When we think about God's power, it's not like he needs to muster up power to do something. He does everything with complete ease. No strain to do anything. He doesn't need to muster up all of his power to will something to pass and for it to come to pass. It's not a strain. He is all-powerful. His power can never be emptied. His power can never be stretched. Revelation 19 verse 6 the Apostle John is given a vision of heaven and he also hears a voice of the great multitude in heaven Revelation 19 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 is God omnipotent reign there's our word omnipotent almighty we see that word hallelujah comes from two hebrew words halal which is praise and then yahweh it's a shortened version there praise jehovah for the lord the word they're curious the lord god omnipotent all-powerful So praise to God who is all-powerful, the voice of many thunderings, praising the almighty, omnipotent God. That word there, omnipotent, panto kreto, means ruler of all things. He is ruler. He has dominion over earth and heaven and everything. There is nothing that consists or subsists without the will of God. We thought on Sunday morning as we began our studies of Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 to 5 of how God spoke the universe into being out of nothing. There was absolutely nothing, no molecules, nothing. All there was was God. God spoke everything into being. Every particle that now is has come from God's creation. Now maybe it's changed form and so forth as God has fashioned it. And it's only taken place because God has fashioned it and made it take place. But there was nothing before that. Nothing could consist or subsist before that. That is the omnipotent power of God. He willed a universe into being. He created time. He made dimensions. He made space, time, and history. and will be the one that will bring it all to an end at the coming of his son now when we talk about the power of God we understand that nothing exists apart from his will that's the power of God his will that's where it must begin it does begin with the will of God doesn't begin with something existing outside of his will I know it's simple but it is profound it exists because of his will and if we will wrap our minds and get our hearts around that we will understand God better everything continues because of his will right now genesis one one in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth why because it was his will It was His will that it be created. It was His will that He make an earth. It was His will that He would populate it. Colossians 1.16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. That's the reason why they exist. It's His will. Not because God was lonely. not because he needs friends but because it's his good pleasure for his will and ultimately for his glory and he is before all things and by him all things consist the world today would explode if God were not willing it to be here so power belongs to God But all power in the world, whether it's power given to human beings, is still the power of God. Let me show you. Romans chapter 13, verse 1. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Well, there is no power but of God. Stop there for a moment. Everybody, whether you're a mother, a father, an older brother, younger brother, younger sister, whether you're a policeman, a politician, anything is because it's been the will of God. Your power to do anything, to move, to live, is all because of the power of God. We could not pick up a glass of water Were it not for God giving you power to do that, boil it down to that blood reaching the brain, causing your brain to function and your nerves to react and to respond. You could boil it down to anything. to God giving you a heart obedient because He's given you godly parents. You could boil it down even further to that who gave you those parents. Goes back to the influences maybe He's put upon you or the influences He's not put upon you. Sometimes people do not have power because God has not allowed certain graces to be there. It is all contingent upon God's will. Do we understand the power of God? So any power exerted by anything is the evidence of the power of God. Now we could bring it in terms of the New Testament when Jesus said to Pilate, remember He was going to put the Lord Jesus to death, Pilate. And Jesus answered him in John 19 11 and said, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Pilate, there are some truths I want to tell you, Pilate. Pilate, you could not put me to death unless it was my father's will. And Pilate, even more than that, I want you to understand the very man that handed me over to you, Pilate, he is to be charged with a greater sin, it says in that verse. Why? Why is that so? Well, precisely because every man is responsible for his own actions. Who handed the Lord Jesus Christ over? Judas? Judas had a great knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He spent much time. This is why he would be held accountable to even greater sin. Although Pilate is certainly not let off the hook, human responsibility is not divorced from divine omnipotence. Although it was God's will to have his son put to death by the hands of Pilate and wicked men, they're not let off the hook. acting on their own free will. We do believe that man does have free will but he always acts according to his nature. So it's free in one sense but it's not free. What we're saying is man is not coerced into sinning but he acts upon his own heart. So all power is ultimately God's power. All power belongs to the Lord. Any good that I do is because a grace has been influenced upon me. Any good that I do is been because there have been certain activities and influences beyond what I can see and fathom influential upon my life. Psalm 103 verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rule over all. Now what is the Psalmist saying there? The Lord has prepared his throne. The throne is a symbol of power, authority. He's in heaven over the earth wielding and exerting forces of power and influence over all men. God has set up his throne in the heavens. The psalmist is saying God is over all and his kingdom ruleth over all. The psalmist tells us many times the Lord reigneth, let the earth tremble. Do we understand the omnipotence of God? Do we understand the power of God? Secondly, God's power is not limited to do, but it is limited in what it chooses to do. God's power is not limited to do. There's nothing, as we have read three times, first in Genesis and then twice in Jeremiah, God can do anything. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? The answer comes back. No, there's nothing too hard for the Lord, but He is limited in that which He has willed to do. In other words, things will not happen unless God has willed it. He has purposed it. He has foreordained it. He's planned it. God cannot change the plan that He has made from before the foundation of the world. There's no plan changing whatsoever. And I'm thankful for that because He would be a changing God. I am the law, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 tell us about our election. that God has purposed our salvation. He has foreordained our salvation. He has predestined us according to the adoption that is in Christ Jesus that we should be the children of God. Now there is this power that is not limited to do but it's limited in terms of what he has chosen to do. from all eternity past. Now what does this mean? It's not to be taken in the negative at all, but it means that God actually has supreme will in everything. Nothing will change, but the plan will go exactly as he has planned it. In the Bible, there is a connection between the power of God and the will of God. His will is what he chooses to do, but there are many things that he chooses not to do. And I think some Christians need to come to terms with that. For instance, if you have poor health, I'm not saying you should never pray that you'll be well, but that may not be his will. that you have good health. There is a reason for why you don't have good health. The fundamental problem with Job was, you know Job went through a lot of trials. He went through a lot of difficulties. He lost 10 children. He lost all of his livestock. His own wife said, why don't you curse God and die? He lost his friends, his close acquaintances. And then he had three men who thought they were comforters, but they were miserable comforters to Job. Well, the problem with Job, all throughout the discourse of the book of Job, is that Job was really sort of saying, Lord, I really, really don't deserve this. And what I would really like is to get an explanation, God, of why all this is happening to me. That's in essence what he was saying. And then God asked him some very profound questions. Job, where was thou when I laid the foundations of the world? Where were you, Job? You're asking me these questions. Job, I designed you. I made you. I purposed everything that has ever come to pass. You are who you are by my sovereign will. Job, you're a man of God because I made you a man of God. Job, you worshipped and sacrificed to me because that was my grace. I changed your heart. Who made thee to differ, Job? I made thee to differ. Job, I have made you different. The scriptures say there was no man like Job. Well who made Job a man so different to all the men of the world? God did. But God was going to do something even more profound through the life of Job. How can you ever bring God to account? Who makes everything happen? Who can drag God into court and say, if you've made all this happen, how can we ever bring Him to account? The person that we are, the way that we think, the way that we act, is all determined by God. Now that still does not excuse certain people. When He so saves somebody and changes them, it's by His grace, by His influences. What made Pharaoh so different to Moses? God's grace. Pharaoh had a hard heart. We all come into the world with a hard heart like Pharaoh's. But when God saves somebody, and He makes them His, and He brings them to a relationship with Him, God works in that man's heart, as He did in Moses' heart. But He chooses not to work in some people's hearts, and they love to stay in their sin. The reason why men do not come to God is because they love darkness, because their deeds are evil. Those are the words of Jesus. I didn't put them there. God makes people to differ. God made Job different. God made Moses different. And on the opposite spectrum, God made Pharaoh hard. Yes, Pharaoh had a hard heart, but God says, I harden whom I will. God just removed more and more of his grace from Pharaoh. God was using the plagues as well to fuel more pride in Pharaoh, to make him more of a proud man. Pharaoh did not fear God. He said, who is God that I should obey God? Do you know when Job came to his senses, we're coming back to Job, and God asked him all these questions. Where was thou, Job, when I founded the world? Job couldn't answer. He just had his hand over his mouth and kept silent. And then Job, he answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything. Job 42.1. He knew that. He knew that he could change everything. He knew then God was doing. And then he said in verse 3, I uttered that I understood not. And sometimes we don't stop and think, but we must do. It will be a great ballast for our souls if God has begun something in us. He will see it to completion. He will perfect us until the day of Jesus Christ. He will work out in those times of calamity like Job's life a purpose that we cannot see. God knows the beginning from the end and He has planned the beginning from the end and we need to trust that He has willed it because He has called us in love to be holy and to be blameless before Him in love. Ephesians chapter 1 that it will come to completion because He is working His purpose out. Now, when we come back to Job, you think of the story with Job. Satan didn't come into God's presence and say, what about Job? Did Satan say that? What about Job? Satan never thought about Job. It was God that said to Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job? It was God that put it into the mind of Satan. What about Job? There's none like him. Why don't you pick on him? So God purposed Satan to do those things. But God used Satan unwittingly to perform God's mighty plan. That's amazing, isn't it? How God used Satan. The plan was God's plan. So what was done in Job was done to demonstrate the power and the unsurpassing wisdom of Almighty God. Mercy to a wrath-deserving sinner because that's who Job is. and that's who you are and that's who I am. Mercy to a wrath-deserving sinner. Job was given faith as a gift. He was given grace which natural man does not possess. God was willing through the extraordinary. to prove that He is far above all earthly powers and even demonic powers. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? You did receive it, What has made you to differ is all because of God's grace. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. God wills it. Nobody can slap God's hand and say you are an unfair God because all by nature we are rebels against God and we disdain Him from the moment we come into this world and we reject Him. So the sovereignty of God is not just a proposition, friends, but it is a present reality. Read A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, an excellent book. Immerse your souls in the sovereignty of God. It will give you ballast for the soul. It'll lift you out of a shallow, superficial Christianity, which I fear many have. Shallow, superficial. You reduce God. to time and circumstances he's outside of all of those things determining time and people and races and boundaries as Paul said to the Athenians in Acts chapter 17 God has determined those boundaries and places that we live do not reduce God to the things of this earth he rules in the heavens and his throne is set up over all things everything every detail of your life is absolutely fully planned and known by God. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3.14 said, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should fear before him. You cannot change one iota of the will of God. You cannot add to the things that are going to happen tomorrow. You cannot change an event. You might do something unusual just to try to disprove this thesis that I'm presenting to you about the sovereignty of God and the power of God in his omnipotence, but you are just again resisting his will. For Paul says, who can resist his will? Nobody can resist his will. Pharaoh thought he could resist his will, but you can't resist God's will. No matter what you do, you cannot resist His will. The Apostle Paul in Romans 9, 17 said, and this is regarding Pharaoh, for the scripture said unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee. Power, that's what we're talking about tonight. The omnipotence of God. Why did God do this? To show you and to show me how powerful God is. and that despite man's will against God, he doesn't stand a chance. So don't resist his will, but perform his will as the child of God. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Resist his will, you still perform it. Sounds contradictory, doesn't it? When you do his will, when you perform what God requires, there is always reward. But what makes you to do His will? His will. His will. The grace of God. Thank God you can do His will. And so we ought to be thankful when we go to do His will, right? We say, I do His will by His will, by His grace and by His power. We always give glory to God. We ought to. 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, he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed 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 honour, And another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, And to make his power known, Endured with much long-suffering The vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Why are you a Christian? Because you decided to be? No, because God decided you would be a Christian. That's it. God was pleased to take out of the same lump you, out of this world and to fashion for himself a lovely vessel of mercy to show forth his mercy that you might go to heaven and he takes somebody else out of the world and by just leaving them to their own devices fashions them and even hardens them by removing his grace to be a vessel of dishonor and he puts them in hell. We deserve to be there in hell. Paul said, who made thee to differ? God. Do you see his power? His power over creation. He has power over the seas, the land, all of the creation, but over the spirits of men. over the hearts of people. God declares it. I will have mercy on whom? I will have mercy. And how is He doing it? Is He changing a plan every day? No. God says the counsel of the Lord standeth forever. Psalm 33 verse 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. When did He choose you? before the foundations of the world. That's what the Bible says. That's when He chose you. That's when He chose me. Amazing grace, God who wills and ordains all things that will come to pass, ordains the future, showing His power and His wisdom. how unsearchable past finding out. Psalm 115 verse 3, But our God is in the heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased, while men may have their own will. And they say, I do what pleases me. God does what pleases him. He who is in the heavens, the psalmist says, laughs. The nations rage against God, but God who is in the heavens, Psalm 2, laughs. Psalm 135, verse 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and in all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of its treasuries. He feeds the beasts of the field, as our Lord Jesus Christ said. Clothes the lilies of the field as well. He does all these things. There's not one single person, friends, who can ever say in the ultimate sense, whatever I please, I do. Even what that person does is by the power of God. They either become worse, by no grace or he changes that. Nobody does anything apart from God's will for God could stop that heart now and it's all over. Though people try to live like that, they are bound by that one reality, all things consist by Him. Though God's will thirdly is supreme, the omnipotence of God doesn't mean that He is capricious or that He is fickle. and changeable and that he acts on a whim. We've already touched on this. Let me just read to you briefly before we close from the 1689 Confession, Chapter 3, Paragraph 1. God has decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes to pass, yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty of contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established, in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things and power and faithfulness accomplishing His decree. That, in summary, is really what we've been saying. Number four, God has also not decreed anything because he foresees it as future or because it will come to pass by certain conditions. And that's somewhat put forward in the 1689 confession. God has not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future. God said, that's my will. It'll take place. This is not going to be my will because somebody has a will opposed to mine. that would make God contingent upon man's will but known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Acts 15 verse 18 in the example of Jacob and Esau Romans 9 11 for the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to what election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Paul says, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? He said, God forbid, God forbid, 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. Now as we close, friends, what do these things, how are they to affect us? Number one, we ought to stand back in awe at God. We ought to feel our creature dust. We ought to feel our smallness. We ought to stop and take count of who we are and who God is. We thought last time about the omniscience of God. When we live our lives here as if we have any power, we have lost sight of who God is. And when you lose sight of who God is, you can't worship him. You can't worship an unknown God. When you say, I'm going to grow up and I'm going to have this great career, I'm going to make lots of money, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that, and I'm going to be here, and I'm going to be famous, and I'm going to... I'm even going to make a cup of coffee tomorrow. James says, all such speaking is evil. Evil, let us not say, James says, let us go into such and such a city. Here, buy, sell, get gain. James says, for ye know not what is on the morrow. What is your life? It's but a vapor. We're here today, we're gone. If the Lord will, James says, we shall live. Young people, if the Lord will. you might live. If the Lord will, I might be here tomorrow. Number two, water calls us to be thankful for today. Are we thankful for today? Today is a gift from God. Are we thankful for the one who sustained us and this universe that we might have the things that we have to richly enjoy? Thank Him who gives you the power to enjoy those things. because you wouldn't be able to enjoy them. Number three, don't moan about your health because God could take it all away. It's better than having no health, isn't it? Got some health, could be worse. Every power that you have or ounce of strength that you have ought to be used to praise him and to bring him glory. another thing God's omnipotence because it's omnipotent will it is omnipotent will nothing can stay his hand nothing can stop his hand God's omnipotence ensures God's will will never be frustrated and if he has said and if Jesus said this fear not little flock for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom if it's the father's will Shouldn't we rejoice? Shouldn't we be happy? Because it's God's will to give us the kingdom? Can the government, can the nations, can Islam, can anybody, can anything separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Nothing. It's the Father's will. Fear not, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Let's rejoice. Think of the words that God spoke to Satan when our first parents Adam and Eve sinned. What were the words to Satan? I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. God said, I will do it. You know who he was speaking about there? He was speaking about the Lord Jesus. If you don't know that verse in Genesis 3.15, you ought to know it, that God would send his son and that God would put enmity between Satan and the woman. between all of Christ's line and the sons of disobedience. That's God's will. Why are Christians persecuted? And why did Jesus Christ go to the cross? Because it was the Father's will that there would be enmity between those who align themselves with Satan and those who align with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, He that is not with me is against me. He that gathers not scatters. Why? Because it's the Father's will. It's just history unfolding itself. And it's thank God you're on Christ's side. Why are you on Christ's side? Well, it's the Father's will. The Father's will. And then the scriptures say, Galatians 4.4, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them under the law. Why did it happen? God's will. God's will. And Jesus said to his disciples when they came back rejoicing over all the power that they had over demons and everything else, he said this, notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. When did they get written there? The Bible tells me and tells you before the foundation of the world. Friends, the omnipotence of God ought to be such a lovely, wonderful ballast for our souls. But not forsaking this, it ought to temper the way that we think. Think about what I said earlier. If you lose sight of the fact that any bit of strength that you have is because of God, you've lost sight of God and you can't worship Him. All the strength that you have comes from Him. Every bit of strength that you have, a mind, a body, a day to live in, is because God has given it to you. If you live your life as if everything is in your control, you have lost sight of God. And when you lose sight of God, I say to you, you cannot, cannot worship Him. It's evil talk. It's evil speech to think that you exist And you can do this and that tomorrow, whereas tomorrow may never come. But thank God for today, the strength that he gives you, and just thank God you are who you are, as Paul said, by the grace of God. I am who I am. Thank God for who he is and who you are as a Christian. May God help us to worship him and to love him. Amen.