This morning's message will be the third in the series on the subject of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the title of the message is The Lordship of Christ and Providence. We have looked at in the first message the Lordship of Christ and its definition, and then in the second, the Lordship of Christ and the scriptures, that Jesus had a very high view of the Bible. And if we have a high view of Christ, we must have a high view of the scriptures. We cannot have a high view of Christ and say that we love and serve him and have a low view of the Bible. And yet that's what masses are trying to do. Now we want to come to the subject this morning of the providence of God, or the providence, the daily workings in our lives. Does the Lord Jesus Christ play any part in that? In the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 11, we use for our subject or reference material this morning, "...in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of our own will." Did we read it correct? Better go back and read it again, huh? who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." One time I fought against that, but now I rejoice in it, as I have come to see where my will gets me, and where the will of men get them. When man is left to the best of his will, we see what happens to it in the garden. of how he destroyed himself. And we see the affairs of what men can do in the lives of others today with their own wills. And I'm thankful to declare to you this morning that God Almighty did not seek out a human committee on how to create the heaven and the earth. You talk about some strange things that would have come into being if it would have been formed by a committee. but God formed it in the way that it pleased him and according to his purpose. And I don't understand all of that, and I don't know anybody that does. I don't know why God saw fit to put flies and gnats and all kinds of stuff in this world, but they're here, and they're playing a purpose in the plan of God Almighty. and he works all things after the counsel of his own will. In the previous messages we have seen that lordship is the authority or the power to rule over others. Secondly, we have seen in John 17, verse 2, that lordship is the right to use one's own power as their own ability sees best. Jesus said that he had been given power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him. So Christ has unlimited power to grant regeneration unto life, but he only exercises that power as the eternal purposes of God direct it. God had infinite power to create a thousand worlds, but he only directed that power in the creation of one. And thus the wisdom of God directs how the power of God is to be used. And because he is wiser than we, then he determines how much of his power he uses and how much he restrains from using. We also saw that lordship is the ability to control all the events of life, so as to fill one's own good pleasure or purpose. We saw this in the encounter of Jesus with Pilate. When Pilate informed Jesus, don't you know that I hold the option to either release you or to let you go? I am the Lord. and I speak a word, and you are crucified, and I speak a word, and you may be set free. Now you answer my questions." And Jesus replied, Pilate, you cannot exercise any option with me until, first of all, one greater than you exercises their option. And so Pilate was acting freely. He was acting according to the information he had at hand and the desire of his own heart, his own self-interest. In fact, if he had not been influenced by the Jews, the narrative gives us the indication he would have released Jesus. But he put him to death because he knew that the Jews would provide him with such problem that if he released him, he said, all right, we'll put him to death. And so out of self-interest, he said, I wipe my hands clean from the blood of this man. He hasn't done anything, but I'll have him put to death. He acted out of self-interest. It was a political decision. But his acting only took place after another had acted, and that was the one who was holding the ultimate option. of the outcome, and that one is God Almighty. And the premise that we want to be setting forth this morning is that God Almighty is the sole being who ultimately holds all the options. If we could speak reverently, He holds all the cards. He can trump at any moment. He can move in this direction and that direction at any moment, and nothing catches Him by surprise. So our premise this morning will be this. All things which come to pass in time are under the control of God's foreordained plan and purpose. And by the Lordship of Christ, we mean that he ruling at the right hand of God is exercising the prerogatives of Deity. So that everything which comes to pass in our lives here in time is under the control of God's foreordained plan. Now some believe, as Christians, that God has a plan. In fact, I've never come across any Christian who doesn't believe that God has a plan. But some believe that God has a plan, but many things happen in the world which were not originally included in his plan. And when asked upon, well, how did these things get in there? Well, the reply that is standard is, well, the devil. He came on the scene. or the wind did this, or man did this. But the ultimate answer is, yes, there is a devil, yes, there is natural law, yes, there are men, but who holds the options? Does the devil, does creation, do men, or does God Almighty in his ultimate wisdom hold the option? And I'm here to declare to you this morning that never would have been permitted a devil had not God exercised His option. And to demonstrate that, He by His grace sealed a great host of the angels and prevented them from ever falling. To demonstrate that He holds the option, and He permitted the rest to fall. And he's going to save a great host of human beings and permit the rest to exercise their own will and go their own way to their own destruction. So some believe that God has a plan, but many things that happen in the world are not included in his plan. Thus compare the premise to this, if that be the case. I suppose that you had possession to an older type of watch, which is known as a seventeen-jewel or a twenty-one-jewel movement, not like the quartz design which I have on my wrist now. If you take the face off of that watch, you would find a host of gears inside that old-time watch, and all of those gears would be of different sizes. And all of them would be moving in different directions if the watch is working properly. You will find one small gear hooked into a larger gear, and the larger gear moving counterclockwise, and the smaller gear moving clockwise. And a dozen or so more connected together. It looks like nothing would ever work because it's all out of harmony. They're all doing different things. And yet, ultimately, every one of those gears is working together for the one purpose, and that's to move the hands on the face of the watch in one direction. Now, that was designed by a watchmaker. That did not take place at random. That wasn't something that occurred by accident. There was wisdom and a design in a watch. And this creation is the effect of a divine watchmaker. And if you look at each minute thing that's going on, it may appear that there are many contradictions going on in the world. But the ultimate plan is that all things are moving together toward the ultimate grand design, and that is the revealing to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. That's what everything working behind the scenes is moving toward. and read the first chapter of Ephesians, you will find that there's a day coming in which that every creature is going to bow down and acknowledge and give Jesus Christ a preeminence. And everything is working toward that, although it appears at the present that there are many things which are working against that. Now, suppose that I came along after the watchmaker had designed all this intricate movement of the watch. And I came along and I took the face off and I said, well, there's a little spot left in there, a little vacancy. Tell you what, I've got a gear out of a watch over here. I'll just drop down in, that thing down in there, and that'll help everything. What would happen? Would that help the movement of the watch? No, it would absolutely destroy the whole thing. one little influence from outside of the watch, of the plan of the watchmaker, and the whole thing is frustrated. You cannot have God planning just a few things and then leaving the rest to circumstance and chance. If God controls anything, he must control all things. The least thing that is put into his plan which was not originally included would work to the ultimate destruction of the whole thing. But because God is infinitely wise, he knows all things, he is infinitely powerful, then nothing could ever come to pass that would disrupt his eternal purpose to have Jesus Christ exalted as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now what are some things that happen under God's control? First of all, God, according to revelation of the Bible, controls the movements of the major animal creatures. Go back to the prophet Jonas, the Old Testament book of Jonah. You recall the story there of Jonah and the whale, or Jonah and the great fish? Jonah chapter 1 and verse 17, after Jonah has run away or trying to run away from God, and isn't that a contradiction? You know, we Christians are not always consistent in our understanding of God, are we? Even in our best moments. Jonah believed that God was everywhere, and yet when God told him to go over and preach to the enemies of Israel, he tried to run away from the presence of God. If you believe God's everywhere, how could you get away from Him? And yet, that's the way we work. We're creatures that are inconsistent. And so there was a great storm began to occur on the sea. The sailors were afraid the ship was going to go down. They found out that Jonah was the cause of the whole problem. Jonah said, just throw me overboard, that'll save your life. So after much reservation, they did so. And you know what happened when Jonah hit that water? Chapter 1, verse 17, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. You say, what an accident. What a stroke of good luck. Right at the moment, God just happened to have a great big fish go and ride that boat, and instead of Jonah drowning, that fish just swallowed him. Now, there's been much discussion about this being a whale or whatever it was, and the scientists say, well, this is all a fable because whales could never swallow a man because a whale's throat's no bigger than a grapefruit. So you can't get that in there, a man in there. But the text says the Lord prepared a what? A great fish. Now, that changes the whole picture. Not because it's a great fish, but because the Lord did the preparing. And if God can prepare heaven and earth, he can prepare a special creature to swallow a human being and house him for three days and three nights. Now, do you believe that, or is that just something that we want to fantasize about and say, well, that's just the way we ought to believe it? If you believe in the beginning God created, you can believe anything else that you find recorded in the Bible. Why? Because God is a miracle-working being. He controls whatever he creates. And so God directed that great fish to the boat. Well, you say, well, maybe that's all there was to it. God just moved him there, and he swallowed him, and that was it. Well, look in chapter 2 in verse 10. After Jonah goes through a great time of soul-searching in the belly of the great fish, we read in verse 10, The Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." Jonah wasn't the first creature that made people sick at their stomach. Here's a creature that got sick of the preacher, carrying that fellow in for three days and three nights, and finally he vomited. When did he do so? After God spoke to him. Now, did God come to the fish in English and say, Hey, Mr. Fish, get rid of Jonas? Is that the way he spoke in our English language? No, that's not what it's talking about. It means that the God who had the power to create the fish also had the ability to control the nature of the fish which he'd created. and thus he touched the nature of that fish, and it vomited out the contents of its intestine. So God was not only creating, preparing the great fish, but he was controlling the movements of the great fish to where he had the fish there, right underneath the boat, and later on he spoke to the great fish and caused it to reurgitate Jonah. So God controls the movements of the major creatures. Now, some people say, yes, I believe that. But God only works in the big things, the major things of life. He doesn't, he isn't involved in the little, minute things of life. Well, the book of Jonah says otherwise there, too. For in chapter 4, in verse 7, after Jonah is pouting to the Lord, and the Lord sends a gourd or a plant to shield him from the sun's rays. Why, we read in verse 6, the Lord prepared a gourd and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. And so Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd, but God prepared a what? A worm. When the morning rose the next day and it smoked the gourd that it withered, God not only created the great sea monster, he also created the little insignificant worm that bit that gourd and killed it. God not only controls the movements of the big creatures, he controls the movements of the most least minute creatures, even the insects of the earth. I'm reminded of that invariably. Every time I get into one of those jet airplanes, it seems like that every time I get on one, my seat is assigned right over the wing, where you can look at that jet motor. And while everybody else may have varying thoughts going on, the only thing I can think about is that motor is warming up, is a little bird getting in that thing. And it happens every so often, doesn't it? While those great jets are flying, with that seemingly uncontrollable power to get the weight of that thing off the ground, all it takes is one bird to go through that motor and that jet comes down. Who controls the flights of the birds? God knows the sparrows in the trees. God not only works in the movements of the large creatures, but also the minor creatures as well. Thirdly, God controls the major events of life. Go to Daniel chapter 2, the second chapter of Daniel. The major things which occur in life are under the control of God. 2 Daniel 20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons, he removeth kings and sets up kings, he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things, he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. It is God which raises up the political empires, and it's God which dismantles them. I saw the newspaper this past week. The wall collapses. Well, I'm glad to see it collapse. Talking about the Berlin Wall. What is going on over there? I don't understand it all, but I know this, there's one in the heavens who is working. He's the one through the political system which raised up that wall. He's the one which is tearing it down. We have in our system of government a democratic process whereby we elect our leaders. We say, who's going to be the next president of the United States? How will that be determined? And we say, well, the American electorate will determine that. Yeah, that's what Pilate thought. That's what Pilate thought. Yes, the American people will go and cast their votes, but there's also one in the heavens who's influencing how those votes are going to be cast. So that it will be God who raises up the political leaders, and God who pulls them down. God reminded us of that about twelve years ago, if my history is correct. When the most powerful man on the face of the earth, our President of the United States, had to leave humiliated from office, God pulls down individuals as well as exalting individuals. And it's God who does it. He puts up the kings and He removes the kings, and all of this behind the scenes. Not that He ignores the various political processes. But it is He, just like preparing the great fish, and moving the great fish, and causing the fish to vomit, and touching the gourd with the worm. All of this is under the control of God, but it's not just limited to plants and animals. It's also involved in the daily events of life, what become human history. Well, an individual will say, yes, God works in the big things, he works in the major political events of life, but he doesn't work in the minor events of life. Oh, is that correct? Go to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12. How intimately involved is God in the affairs of life? Luke, chapter 12, verses 6 and 7. are not five sparrows so for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, for you are of more value than many sparrows. How intimately involved is God in the affairs of his creation, even down to the movements of the little birds and the hairs on our head?" looking out upon some things upon my congregation in which light is reflecting through my eyeglasses at this time, then I can say with all honesty that God doesn't have to be as intricately involved in your life as he used to. I'll let the rest of you wake up and catch on to that here in a moment. You say, you're just jealous. No, I've got the hair. You used to have it. Mine's turning gray, yours is turning loose. God knew how many hairs were on your head. He knows how many's there now. That means he doesn't have to be as involved in your life as he used to be, because there's not as many there as there used to be. You mean to tell me, Pastor, that that great God in heaven and earth, who is so infinitely powerful that he is so actively working in his creation that he's got this thing down to the very hairs on our head? That's what I mean. That's what I mean. And if one hair gets out of place from what God had purposed, then the whole thing is messed up, and the whole plan gets out of shape. You that wear contacts, what does it feel like when one little hair gets behind that lens? Tremendous irritation. Can wreck your eye and the lens as well. God is intimately involved down to the most intricate details of the affairs of our life. Next of all, God is able to control the so-called accidents. which take place in life. Go to Proverbs chapter 16 now. Proverbs chapter 16. We say of something, well, that was just an accident. What do we mean by that? It's an accident from our standpoint. But an accident takes place because of lack of foresight, of foreplanning. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 33. An accident is something that happens when your plan doesn't work out. You don't plan on having an accident. That's a contradiction in and of itself. Now, in Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 33, we read this, "...the lock is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." And I'm told by those who are supposedly in the know of the language here, that the lock is actually dice or die, like you use in a set, or maybe even in gambling in the casinos. You cast out the die, and whatever the numbers come up, they come up predetermined by God himself. Let me read it again. The lot is cast into the lap. What appears to take place at random, behind the scene, God is disposing of the whole thing. do not leave here this morning believing that I said from this text that God places his approval upon gambling and you take off to Las Vegas or New Jersey. I did not say that. But I am saying that nothing runs out by luck or chance. Everything is under the control of God Almighty. Even down, as you've heard your pastor say on numerous occasions, that if a A truck goes down a country road and raises the dust so thick that you can't see. There's not one particle of dust that lands but where the purpose of God has first of all decreed for it to resettle. This is how much that God controls and watches over without at the same time violating the natural laws, the laws of men, the wills of men, the wills of demons. Men will, demons will, but God wills. And however men will and demons will and animals will, the ultimate disposing comes from the One who holds the options, and that's God. I would have willed today to have a clearer voice. Now, what happened? Well, you know those old cold germs. They're pretty powerful, and they just exercise their options. Somebody else exercised his option first. There would be no cold germs here had not God permitted him to be here. And bless God, there's a world coming in which there's not going to be any more germs, any more sin, sickness, or death. I know that world is coming for the Bible tells me about it. Then that tells me there is a time in which God is going to so intervene in this whole world order that he's going to set up an eternal order which shall never be changed. and nothing that defiles shall ever enter into that world. Sin shall be eradicated." If that be the case, he could have established that world in Eden back there, and prevented sin from ever entering into the universe. But he didn't choose to do so. He held the option. So he controls even the so-called accidents of life. Psalm chapter 91. Psalm chapter 91. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence, the disease. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be at night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day. nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." In verse 10, "...there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come near thy dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Here is the One who controls the affairs of heaven and earth. And this includes even the movements of the diseases and things of that nature. Now, many people don't believe this. They believe that anything good that happens in the universe is to be attributed to God. Anything that happens that's to have adversities is to be attributed to the devil. But what they fail to see is that the devil himself must gain permission from God before he can even move and even act. I had a neighbor in Missouri where I formerly pastored, and he died when he was about ninety years old, and we got close and acquainted. He professed Christianity, but he did not agree at all with what we are saying this morning. He said, I want to tell you, Jim, why I don't believe in that. He said, I was in World War I in Germany, and he said my best friend and I were in a foxhole. And the mortar rounds were coming down all around us, and we were so scared that we got so close to each other that we could feel each other's cheeks, face to face. And he said, we were holding one another, and suddenly a mortar hit in our foxhole. And he said, it hit on my friend's right-hand side and took half of his face and half of his head off and killed him instantly. He said, the chaplain came by after the artillery round were over. He came by and tried to console me. And the chaplain, he said, said these words. He said, Gus, you're fortunate. You need to thank God for sparing your life. He said, Jim, I told that chaplain this. He said, God didn't have a thing to do with sparing my life. Because he said, the way I read my Bible is that God is no respecter of persons. And if God spared my life, he was obligated to spare my buddy's life. And he did not spare my buddy's life, and therefore he was killed. God didn't have a thing to do with that whole scene. Now, I don't agree with his theology, but at least he's got some consistency. For there are people who try to work this thing out which will, when a miracle occurs, they will attribute to God the credit for saving a person. But they will not also acknowledge that God was the ultimate one which can determine the destruction of the others. A few years ago, I forget what state it was in, there was a terrible plane crash and there was only one little girl that survived. Do any of you recall that? Do you remember what the newspapers and others attributed that to? It was surely a miracle of God that she survived. Now, if you confess that, which I confess that, Then you must equally confess that if God could spare that one little girl, he could have spared the 250 others on that plane, but he did not do so. Now, you've either got to take what my neighbor's theology was, since he didn't spare my buddy, then it wasn't him which spared me. Or else you've got to say it was God who spared my neighbor, and it was God who also permitted his buddy to be taken in death. That's the only alternative that you've got to face. I preached this message some three weeks ago or two weeks ago in Florida. And after the service was over, there were about five or six came up to me that night of that service and said, Preacher, we don't agree what you said tonight. And I said, well, explain to me why. They said, this thing about the airplane crash, this hits close to our congregation. They said, we had a young girl who grew up in our church. She grew up in the youth department, our most dedicated young person. She dedicated herself to the cause of Christ to go to the mission field. She loved the Lord. She got on a plane in Dallas, Texas, heading for the mission field on her first tour of duty there. And that plane crashed, taking off. And they looked at me and they said, Don't you tell us, preacher, that God took the life of that young woman. She was committed to serve him. She was committed to go to the mission field to serve him. Don't you tell us that he permitted that accident. I said, Well, what would you attribute it to? One lady said, Just fortune. Another lady said, The devil messed up the plane. What's the answer? The one who holds the ultimate destiny and welfare of all of the movements on earth is the one who held the option on whether that young lady was going to reach the mission field where she was. Now, if that be not the truth of God, what will we replace it with, huh? You see, most of us have never been put in a crisis where we have to face that. few of us have been in a foxhole and had our buddy's head blown off. We can talk about theology in our ivory towers, but until we get put in the foxhole, and then it begins to happen, then we'll find out whether we really believe what we say we believe here week in and week out. Now, I know our flesh doesn't believe this because you let the least little cold come up for the James, and we mumble. and grumble against Providence. If I grumble about that, what would happen if a plane crash occurred and took part of my family? How would I reply to that? The only way that we can reply is that with Job. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Let's go there just for a moment. What about all this? Is the devil working? Does the devil control God? Does God not have any options with all of the sin and wickedness that is going on? Job 1, verse 6, "...there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it." Peter describes in the New Testament a little bit more insight when he says, he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And the Lord said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and hateth, or cheweth evil? Now, Job was God's prime specimen of what a Christian ought to be. And Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about him, about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, his substance is increased in the land. Satan says, But now put forth thine hand, that is your power now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." God put your power on Job, and he'll curse you. Now look what God said. Now watch. The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand. All right? What's going on here? God is holding his option and saying to Satan, all right, you can have access unto Job. You can do anything you want to do to Job. Only you cannot take his life. You can't take his health. So you know the account. His wealth left him, the tornado hit his family's dwelling, killed all of his sons. One thing after another. And Job then says, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. But that wasn't the end of it. In chapter 2, verse 3, Satan goes back into the presence of God, talks with Him again. The Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, escheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him, to destroy him without what? Without cause. There was nothing in Job that deserved this. How many times have you cried out and heard others cry out, life is unfair? It's not fair. Who ever said it was to be? Who ever said that life was to be fair? God was moving against Job without any cause. Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face." Use your hand again, God. Hit him where he really hurts, in his health, and you'll see he'll curse you. Now watch. The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thine hand, but save his life. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sewer boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." Do you see what's going on here? God is holding the options. Satan is exercising his power, but only as God permits him to do so, the same way he did with Pilate. Pilate thought he was in control, but he wasn't. God had to first of all give him the right to do so. Every time that Satan moved, it was first with the permissive hand of God. All right, you can go here, you can go there, but no further. And thus we have the famous teaching then that even the so-called accidents of life are not accidents, but they come to pass under the control of God. I'm going to pass quickly over this next one. God even controls the free actions of men, Proverbs 16.9. A man deviseth his way, but the Lord directs his what? His steps. I came here today willingly. I wanted to come. I desired to be in church today. But God directed my steps to get me here. Do you believe that? Do you come to church because you want to do today? If God had not seen fit to allow you, you'd have never made it here. You'd never made it. So you're here under the protection and control of God Almighty. Now think of that. If you're here without Christ, this may be the very day that God's brought you here to hear the gospel and embrace his Son. This may be the day of salvation. That God has spared you. He sent his angels in charge over you. to bring you here to a very place where you may hear his word, and he open your eyes and show you the beauty that's in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you need him as your very Lord and Savior. Think of that. Think of that. That God even controls the free actions of men. You came willingly, but behind your movement there was the actions of God. Almighty. God controls the good acts of men, Ephesians 2.10. For by grace are we safe through faith, and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created unto good works. God even works in that, so that I can't even boast in any good thing I do, because it's God which has worked in me of his will and his good pleasure. the very wicked acts of men. Now here is where we really get down to the essence of the problem that it causes in Christian theology. What about sin? Does God control that? Go to Acts chapter 4, as we begin to summarize the movements and control of God in His Lordship. Acts chapter 4, verse 23. Being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hath made heaven and earth and the sea, and all them is. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against whom? against the Lord. They're not supportive of the Lord, they're against him. The gear is running in the opposite direction. "...and against his Christ." Now look at that scene. Verse 27, "...for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together." You talk about a political group, Brother Howard. Every one of them at odds with each other. And yet here was something they all came together on. We've got to get rid of this person. Now, were they doing what they wanted to do? Yes, they were. But now look who was determining what their wonders were. Look in verse 28. to be done. Was it a wicked, sinful thing that they did to Jesus when they put him on the cross? It absolutely was. And Peter would have said on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, you have taken him and with wicked hands you have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. But I want you to notice something. Was God controlling the wickedness that went on there at Calvary? He certainly was. He certainly was. His hand was not in the sin, but all the sinning, Brother Jim, was in the hand, the control of God. And my people, when Jesus died there on that cross, he was not some type of a helpless victim. He laid down his life willingly, and he said, I have the right to take it all back again. And the Bible tells us that while he hung there on the cross that he could have called twelve legions of angels to come and set him free. But he died there on that cross to provide a sacrifice for sin. That's why he died. Who crucified Jesus? I was so glad to hear about fifteen years ago that the Pope of Rome, I believe it was Pope John, officially forgave the Jews for crucifying Jesus. Isn't that good news? Who crucified Jesus? The Gentiles did, according to the text. The Jews did, according to the text. Do you know who ultimately had the option in seeing that Jesus was crucified? God Almighty. For the prophet Isaiah said, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. God incarnated himself in the person of his own Son and bore my sin on the cross, and he bruised himself there instead of bruising me. And it pleased God to do so, not because he was some type of a sadist, but because he was extracting justice. And he bore my sin justly, that he was made sin for us who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteous of God in him. This is what was going on there. And so God used even the sinful desires and actions of men. He ruled over that. in order that he might bring to pass the death of his son, and three days and three nights later the resurrection of his son. And now he seated him at the right hand of the Father on high, sending forth the ministry of the Holy Spirit into all the world, and calling out men, women, boys, and girls to come and bow down before the one who is on the throne. And ultimately there will be a day coming in which when the last gear is ceased to move, and the clock stops. and the angels shout and the trump sounds, the face of the watch will be complete. Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified in it all. What's the significance of this great truth of God's control of the affairs of heaven and earth? It helps to remove the fear of having to live in a world of turmoil. Timothy was told that God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of a sound mind. My people, if I did not understand this, and if I did not see that behind every mystery, behind every heartache that I go through, that there is a purpose of God working in that, I don't know how I would face the various issues of life, apart from drugs or getting high on something to escape reality. I don't need drugs when I know that there's one in control. Go and ask all the people who have to have these artificial things, and you ask them, why do you have to have these? And they say it enables me to feel like I'm in control. Do you know what gives me the feeling that I'm in control? When I know there's somebody else over me that's in control of the affairs of my life. Let's stand together this morning.