We come tonight to the second in a series of messages on a theme of Bible truth that is filled with holy mystery, and yet a theme which is so clearly taught in the Word of God that no man can be faithful to his charge to declare the whole counsel of God, and no believer can be true to his responsibility to receive all the counsel of God if he remains ignorant of this great theme of biblical truth. That theme we are entitling, The Sovereignty of God. Our approach to this subject, as well as all Bible subjects, must be marked by three specific themes. We considered them last week. We must come with the Bible alone as our guide. Having embraced the Lord Jesus as our prophet to teach us, as well as our priest to forgive us, and our king to rule us, we must prove the reality of our subjection to him as our prophet by being willing to walk down any path that is marked out by divine revelation. The Scripture tells us to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. But David said, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. And so, when we approach a subject like this, as well as any subject in the Scripture, we must come with that deep-seated desire to have the Scriptures alone as our guides. We must approach this subject as well as all other subjects, but in a particular way, this one, with faith as our climate. We cannot come expecting to squeeze the infinite God and his ways into our little teacup minds. It cannot be done. As we mentioned last week, quoting one of the old Puritan writers, faith may swim where reason may only wade. We may trust where we cannot fathom. We may believe where we cannot understand. And I want to emphasize that again, and the further we go in our study, I trust tonight, as we cover new areas of truth, we'll be convinced of this more and more, that we must, if we're to follow any path that the Scripture leads us, we must study the Word in an attitude of faith, willing to believe what we cannot fathom, willing to embrace what we cannot fully comprehend. And then the third aspect of the attitude with which we must study this subject is, We must come with a childlike dependence upon the Holy Spirit as the posture of our hearts. We must come acknowledging that all truth given in the Word can only be understood as the Spirit who wrote it illumines our dark minds. The problem is not that the truth is obscure. The problem is that there is a darkness over our minds, and so we must plead with God that He would illumine our minds. and grant us, as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Christ. Now, this is our background for our study. We have proceeded along these lines in studying this subject of the sovereignty of God. First of all, we sought to define the sovereignty of God. It's a broad subject, but basically it is this. We are considering that aspect of truth which declares the rule and reign of God in the world and the universe which he has made. And then, last week, we sought to demonstrate this truth from the word of God with three general statements from the Old Testament that crystallized the whole teaching of the Bible, trying to use proof texts, not in the wrong way. Remember the illustration of the right and wrong way? But taking these passages as succinct, summarizing statements of what is taught in the entire length and breadth of the Scriptures, we looked at three general assertions of the sovereignty of God in the Old Testament, and two in the New Testament. I will simply quote them for the sake of our visitors, and then move on to our study tonight. In the Old Testament, God declares in Psalm 115 and verse 3, Our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And in its context, it is contrasting Jehovah with the gods of the nations, and brings into sharp focus this primary attribute of God in contrast to all the heathen deities, that He's a God who sits in the heaven working and acting in absolute sovereignty. And then in Daniel 4.35, We read concerning this God who doeth according to his will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand and say unto him, What doest thou? And then the other assertion in Isaiah 46, where God declares, I will do all my pleasure, my counsel shall stand. And in the New Testament, Ephesians 1.11, he worketh all things after the counsel of his will, and Romans 11 and verse 36, for of him, through him, and unto him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever. I was telling someone at the door last Sunday night something that I never saw before until I was preaching. on it, and there's nothing more blessed than when God gives you light on your feet and makes your own soul feed upon a new truth. There are some times I wish I had a little closet over here. I could just step aside and shout for a few minutes, and then come on back and finish what I'm preaching. But it says the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets, and so I must exercise discipline But the truth that bursted upon my soul with a new freshness last night is that after Paul is dealt with the subject of divine sovereignty in Romans 9-11, especially in chapter 9, and he comes to the end to acknowledge that the ways of God are past tracing out, he doesn't do this reluctantly. He doesn't say, oh well, the Bible teaches he's sovereign, and though I hate the doctrine, I'll admit it. No. He stands back glad to acknowledge that this is his God. He says, All the depths of the riches, both the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him? For of him, and through him, and unto him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. I do sincerely trust, pray, that this will be the glad fruition of our study, that it will bring men and women in this assembly to that place where we echo the cry of Paul. Oh, the depth of the wisdom of him through him and unto him. Not as a grudging admission, and say, well, the scripture sort of backs me in the corner, not much I can do, so I'll just have to admit it, God's sovereign. No, but that we'll stand with breathless, adoring wonder. and worship this God of absolute sovereignty. Very well then, having defined His sovereignty very briefly, and having demonstrated it in a general way from the Word of God, tonight we want to study the Scriptures and seek to discover the specific areas in which the sovereignty of God is clearly asserted. Having demonstrated His sovereignty in these general sweeping statements, three in the Old and two in the New Testament, now let's break that down. In what areas does our God do according to His will in heaven and in earth? In what ways does He work all things after the counsel of His will? Well, the sovereignty of God in its specific application can be broken down into three areas. God is sovereign in creation, in providence, and in grace. God is sovereign in creation, what he makes, in providence, how he governs what he makes, and in grace, a people whom he takes out of the fallen race of man to be the objects of his special love and grace, and to be eternal witnesses to the power of that grace. Very well, then, let's begin with the first area, God's sovereignty in creation. Will you turn, please, to the book of the Revelation, chapter 4, and verse 11. Revelation chapter 4, where we have the record of the worship of the 24 elders. I believe many commentators, at least, feel that the 24 elders here are representative of all of the elect of all ages, all of God's redeemed ones. and they are but the mouthpieces of the entire body of God's redeemed. The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat upon the throne and worship Him that liveth forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things And for thy pleasure they are and were created." The translation here is poor. All the new translations, if you were reading a Berkeley translation or the American Standard or Revised Standard, translate it this way. This is the substance of it. Maybe a word or two different. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For thou hast created all things, and by thy will they existed. and were created. By thy will, they existed and were created. As the elders are worshiping God in terms of creation, they worship Him as the God who acted in absolute sovereignty in the realm of creation. By His will, all things existed and were created. The initiation of creation was due entirely to the sovereign purpose of God. I do not like this caricature of God, the picture that God was sort of dwelling in self-contained loneliness, and so because he was lonely he had to somehow make a few worlds as a little toy to play with and put a few people there like a child will play with its dogs. That's a terrible, terrible travesty on the character and nature of God. For there was a perfect fellowship, if I may use the term in this sense, in the tri-personality of the one Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, dwelling in perfect satisfaction and repose from all eternity, no emptiness, no imperfection. The fact that there would ever be a world, and men, and angels, and a devil, and the fact that there would ever be a setup where sin would be allowed to enter, all of this came about because God initiated a purpose to create, and no one was there suggesting to God that he should create. The very initiation we read in Revelation 4 is found in the sovereign will of God. By thy will they existed, not only in the initiation of creation, but in the actual execution of creation. Why is the world as it is? Why were some stars made of greater magnitude than others? Why was this particular sphere chosen to be the place where man would dwell? By thy will they existed. Beyond that you cannot go. For not only was God sovereign in the initiation of creation, but in the actual execution. The stars are where they are and are what they are because he chose to make them so. Why were some animals made to know all the freedom and luxury, roaming the fields at their leisure, and others spend their lives as beasts of burden. By thy will, they existed and were created. We read in Psalm 135 and verse 6, an instructive word along this line, speaking of the fact that the sovereignty of God was the operating force in the process of creation. Psalm 135. And verse 6, Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in the earth, and in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings for the rain. He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. Why are the physical laws what they are? A system where the vapors ascend and form into clouds and distill in rain? Because God chose to make it so. Whatsoever He pleased, that did He in heaven and in earth and in all the deep places. And so the sovereignty of God in creation is asserted. I would say to you students who will sooner or later be tempted to begin to flirt, With the ideas of just a naturalistic philosophy, things just came about by a process of selectivity and all the rest. Listen. Behind all of this, the driving force is rule out a sovereign God from His Word. I was interested in getting our, we buy this lifetime series on nature and the different Some of you are familiar with this—wonderful pictures in there. I was reading the section on mammals, and it was very interesting. The author said, up to a hundred years ago, people believed that the different species of animals are found as they are because God created them that way with a specific view in mind. But he said, we realize now that this is not true. But, and then he goes on to say, they are what they are because of the process of evolution which is simply a natural process of selectivity and survival of the fittest. He didn't even say that this is our theory. And that some people, he just took the whole biblical concept that the created world is what it is because God sovereignly chose to make it that, and with one fell swoop, just whoop, Einstein. Now, it's obvious that there is some process of development within certain species. We've been able to breed a turkey that's as much meat and the least amount of bone as possible, and all the rest, and that's very obvious. A cow is a cow. not an ape, because God made something that was akin to the cow and something that was akin to the ape for a purpose that suited his own sovereign purpose. So God was sovereign in creation. The second area in which God has exerted and does exert his sovereignty is in the realm of providence. Now, what is God's providence? All you who've been here in the past summer in Sunday school, you ought to be able to quote that now. What are the works of providence? works of God's providence are what? His most wise and holy and powerful, governing and preserving all his creatures and all their actions. That's what providence is. God's sovereign not only in creation, what he brings into being, but sovereign in the governing and controlling of that which has been brought forth. God is sovereign in the realm of providence. Now, let's break this down for our thinking, because the Scripture does. Where does God's providence reach? His most holy and wise and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions, where does providence operate? Well, first of all, it operates in all places. There is no realm that is outside the sphere of divine providence. God's governing and preserving all his creatures and all their actions. That key text that we looked at in Daniel 4.35, notice the significance of it. Perhaps you want to turn to it so we can get the contrast of the different spheres where the sovereignty of God is exerted in divine providence. Daniel 4.35. 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. His sovereignty is exerted in his providential care in heaven and in earth." Psalm 103 and verse 19. gives us another instructive word in seeking to answer the question, where does God's providence operate? Psalm 103 and verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. All places are under the providential care of God. had a wonderful view of this when he penned the 139th Psalm. We usually think of Psalm 139 as a psalm dealing with the omnipresence of God. God is present everywhere. But how is he present everywhere? The air is present everywhere, here at least until you get out of our atmosphere, but it's not there as a governing force or power. So, some tend to think, yes, God is omnipresent. Since he's God, he fills heaven and earth, but he's sort of an innocent bystander. That isn't what David has in mind here, but notice what he says. Thinking of the fact that wherever he is, God is there. How is God there? In what relationship does God stand to David? Well, he tells us. Notice verse 9. If I take the wings of the morning, apparently a figure of speech, David's saying, if I could jump on the first rays of the sun, as they just break up over the horizon, and as they shoot out over into the seas, and if I could take the wings of the morning and be carried out into the midst of the sea, away from every person, away from every thing that is common to my ordinary experience, what will happen? Notice what he says, "...even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." You see, it's not some impersonal thing, wherever I am, God is there. But David says, wherever I am, God is there governing, possessing, leading, controlling, exercising His providence. All places. All places. All things come under the sovereignty of God in promise. The things that we call nature, do they simply operate as laws that God has made and sort of taken his hands off and stands back and watches them work and once in a while to prove to people that he owns them, he breaks into the natural order and performs a miracle? No, no. In the whole disposing of the whole natural world, the realm that we call nature, God is actively operating. Wonderful text on this is Nahum chapter 1 and verse 3. Nahum chapter 1 and verse 3. The latter part of the verse declares Jonah, Micah, Nahum. Remember that little Prostate, I gave you. Heaven just ain't over Jordan. Hosea, Joel, Amos, remember? The Minor Prophets. Did I give that to you here? Heaven just ain't over Jordan, M, N. And that way you've got Hosea, Joel, Amos, over. Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum. That's the way if you remember some of those Minor Prophets. Heaven just ain't over Jordan, and then M and N come together in the Alphabet. That's not very scholarly, but it'll help. Alright? Nahum chapter 1 and verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet. There's a raging storm outside. What is it? Oh, you say that's a physical process. There's been an accumulation of clouds. There's been, oh yes, you've explained all of that. You don't have to tell me anything. That storm is a demonstration of God's purpose and products. Frankly, this is what took away my fear of thunderstorms. I used to have a terrible fear of thunderstorms and lightning storms, even after I was a Christian. And I read this verse. He hath his way. in the whirlwind of the storm, and now without tempting the Lord and going out and standing out under a tree or doing something foolish, that would be tempting him. I love to go to a window in a relatively safe place, hear the thunder rolling and see the lightning flashing, and it just thrills me. He's having his way in the whirlwind of the storm, his providence in control. Not only all places, but all things in the whole realm of what we call the natural world. God is working out His providential plan. Even in those things that are called chance happenings. We turn to the book of Proverbs for a moment. It's amazing how in a practical book like Proverbs, we have some of the most profound theological truth to be found anywhere in the Bible. And this is one of those passages. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Here's some people meeting together like they did there in the first chapter of Acts, and they need to make a choice about the successor or to Judas in the apostolate. And so after they found those who were basically qualified, then they drew lots. Maybe they put their names on pieces of paper, and we remember, you know, you do this sometime, put them in a hat, draw out, find out. I remember as kids we used to do this with the schedule for dishes. We had a schedule in our home, and you had to do the dishes a certain night, but sometimes the schedule got interrupted, it was a special holiday, and then we'd draw straws, you see. Some way, just chance thing, and the shortest straw had to do the dishes or something along that line. But here now, get the picture. Here's some men, gathered together. And so they've got a decision to make, and they've not been able to arrive at a decision on the basis of sanctified judgment and sound common sense. And so now they're going to cast the lot. And so they put the names of certain people on a piece of paper, they throw it in the hat, and they reach in and take one out. And you say, well, it's just chance. That isn't what he says. Isn't what the Word of God says. It says the lot is cast into the lap, yes. But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You mean God is sovereign even in a thing like this? That's what it seems to teach. That was the very basis of the prayer. Those people in Acts chapter 1, O Lord, thou that knowest the hearts of all men, you show us the one that you've chosen. And some people have tried to say they acted presumptively and all the rest. I think they have no grounds to make that assertion. It's a beautiful confession of their conviction that God was sovereign even in the casting of the lost. And he would guide them to pick out the one that he wanted. They put their faith to the test. That's the kind of God we have. Worship who sent his son to die for us. God who is absolute sovereign in the realm of providence, all places, all things, thirdly, all persons. One of the most tremendous revelations that ever came to my heart was to realize that God had all his creatures in his hands. All of them, without exception, saved and unsaved, and even the devil and the host of demon powers. You know that spiritual? world is prostituted some, just hit the nail right on the head. He's got the whole world in his hands. He's got that gambling man in his hands. He's got that timely thing right in his hands. He's got the whole world in his hands. Not he's going to have when he comes again the second time. I'm so weary of putting off my Lord's sovereignty as though he were standing with hands tied and brow wrinkled and heart frustrated until the world of men and the devil and demons did their worst and then he'll come again and he'll begin to rule. What a terrible picture. I've quit near once. I'd asked God to take Dung and Ho Chi Minh and Brezhnev and Khrushchev and all the rest were in the hands of my sovereign God. Chapter and verse? All right. Many. Let me give you several key verses. We read in Acts 17 and verse 28. And this is tremendously significant when you remember to whom Paul was speaking. Here he's preaching on Mars Hill. to these who said, let's hear what this babbler has to say. Now, Christian people don't talk that way, at least they shouldn't. And he's talking to these philosophers, heathen philosophers, and oh, you young men preparing for the ministry, get some lessons out of this. I'll have to discipline myself not to take off here. He didn't stand there shivering in his boots afraid that he might offend these people by asserting a few things. He stood up and said, look, you're ignorantly worshipping that thing you call the unknown God. I'm going to tell you something about the true God. He made heaven and earth. And furthermore, he said, you want to know something? Look at verse 28. He said, furthermore, Acts 17, verse 28, I think that's the verse we want. Yes, in him we live, all of us, and move, and have our being. Whether you men know it or not, your very existence is carried on within the sphere of the absolute sovereignty and rule of God. In him we live and move and have our being. You aren't talking to Christians. This is often applied. People will pray and say, Lord, we thank you that in you we live and move and have our being, and there's a sense in which they're applying it in terms of fellowship with God. He's saying this is true of these even, that in Him we live and move and have our being, that there's not a one of us who's out of the circle of His absolute control. Now, notice in Proverbs several key texts that indicate this, and then we're going to look at some specific examples from the Scripture. In Proverbs 21, verse 1, We have the text that should give us great comfort in the midst of apparent terrible dispositions of world rulers. It should give us great faith as we pray. We have a God who can do something to the world rulers. Because this text declares Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and as the rivers of water, or the water courses, he turneth it whithersoever he will. Those of you who've flown will understand what this means perhaps a little bit better. If you're up at 30,000 feet, there's a place, section, where you're flying over Canada, where you see that river. What's the name of it? Don't you remember? You know that one that just winds like a snake all across the prairies there. As you look down on it, it just winds—if you could ever stretch that thing out, I think it'd go all the way around the world—it just winds back and forth and doubles. I hardly can fly over that without thinking of this verse. It always comes to my mind. Why is that river that way? Well, except for places where men, perhaps, with machines and the rest have diverted, have gotten in. It says, in the same way that God spun out the course of that river, so he can spin out the course of the heart. A prominence of God that touches all places, all things, all people. Notice Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 9. A man's heart devises his way. A man sits down and says, now what shall I do? So he cogitates, he thinks, he weighs issues, and he says, ah, this is what I'll do. A man's heart devises his way. The Lord directed his steps. All of his cogitating and all of his determining never gets outside the sphere of the sovereign and absolute control of God. Now, this may shock you, what I'm going to say now, that what in the Bible I wouldn't say. Do you know that even the activities of wicked spirits are under the control of God? Turn to 1 Kings, chapter 22. 1 Kings chapter 22, verses 20 to 23. God is purposed Take the life of Ahab. His time to die has come. Now, how is it going to happen? Well, it was God's purpose to carry out his death by allowing him to be killed in battle. Now, what happens? Verse 20, And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Iliad? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said unto him, Wherewith, or how, by what method? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also. Go forth, and do so. Now, therefore, behold the Lord, not the devil! The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee." As the Bible, dear ones, I didn't put it there. Now, you're shocked at the thought that in any way God would be identified with the evil, and I want to say right here, no. The Scripture says, Can be tempted with evil, neither tempted he any man. But what is this passage teaching us? It's teaching us that even the activity of evil spirits is under the restraint and the directive control of God, so that that evil spirit could not have gone and been a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets unless God had permitted it. Notice, God said in verse 22, and He said, Thou shalt persuade him and prevail. Go forth and do so. And without that permission of God, this evil spirit could not have thus spoken and acted. Isn't this the whole teaching of the book of Job, or one of the main teachings? You remember, God said, that day when the sons of men appeared before God, and the wicked ones stood, the question was asked, have you considered my servant Job? Remember the dialogue between God and the devil? And then God said, all right, you can go on forth, but you can only go this far. You can't do anything else. And the devil couldn't. Then God said, all right, you can take this away, but you can't touch his body. And he couldn't. He said, all right, now you can touch his body, but you can't take his life. What is the whole teaching of that? Well, one of the tremendous teachings is that even the activity of the devil never gets outside the boundary. We see God working in the hearts of unregenerate men to accomplish His sovereign purpose. We read in Ezra 1.1 that when the time was come... Well, let's turn to it. I hate to just quote these things, because sometimes I find out people think you've given your own opinions, even when you quote the Bible to them, unless they actually see it. Let's look at Ezra. It comes before Job, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Ezra 1.1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. God had said through Jeremiah, 70 years captivity, then you'll return to your own land. The 70 years is about to be accomplished. So what does God do? Notice. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he made a proclamation. The proclamation was that the people of God might go back to their land. Isn't that a tremendous thing? God said, now my time has come to get my people back into the land. So does God stand back with his hands behind his back and say, now man has a free will, and I dare not in any way intrude upon man's freedom. I just hope Cyrus will do it, because if he doesn't, my prophecy won't be fulfilled. No. God says, it's time to get my people back. Now how he did it, I don't know, but it says he did it. So he stirs up the heart of Cyrus and says, now you're going to do my will, whether you know it or not. Maybe he just woke up that morning, and his wife was particularly nice, and the kids were well, and not fussing, and everybody in the court was good. And he just said, you know, I feel so nice today, I'd like to do a prime deed. Maybe that was all his motivation. But whatever his motivation was, we know the true motivation. God stirred up his heart. That's what God did. That's the kind of God we have, who has the heathen king's hand. He does this with Pharaoh. He finally stirs up Pharaoh, gets him disgusted enough to let the people of God go. And then we read in Exodus chapter 14, four and five, that the Lord turned the heart of Pharaoh again. And he said, let's go out and get them. God did this to get Pharaoh and his whole crowd and Brown in the Red Sea. And you read that God's changed his heart and changed his disposition that he wanted to go out after the people of God. All persons are under the sovereign control of God. All persons. All places, all things, and in the last aspect of this providence, and this will be the last we'll be able to touch on tonight, all events, all places, all things, all people, all events, are preserved and governed by His most holy, wise, and powerful Remember the instance of Moses? Let me just take a few quickly and then we'll look at a couple in the scripture. God was purposing to bring his people out of Egypt. And his general method is a man. Whenever God would deliver his people, he prepares a delivery. He works in the hearts of the midwives that they're favorably disposed to the Hebrew women. They don't kill their male children as they were supposed to. They risked their lives for that. Then God puts it into the heart of this mother, spare her son, put him there in that ark made of the reeds, covered over with pitch, and she puts him in the bulrushes, and quote, just by chance, placed there long enough for her to go away. So Nomah knows she placed him just by chance. Pharaoh's daughter comes down to take him back. I doubt she did this every hour on the hour. So, just by chance, she happened to want her bath at that time. And, quote, just by chance, she happened to come to the very place where the little iron was. And just by chance, she happens to look, and just as she looks, the baby cries, and it says, she's okay. Just by chance, the little baby cried at the right time. Someone has said, and I believe in this context reverently, God pinched Moses. Try just at the right time. God pinched him. If there was ever a time the devil would like to have kept the baby quiet, it was then. Never in church, but it could have been then. If there was ever a time the devil would like to have kept the baby quiet, it was then. God saw to it that he cried, and there's a direct relationship between his cry and the vows of compassion and pity being stirred in the heart of Pharaoh's daughter. This way God takes young Moses, brings him into the court of Egypt, and then you know the unfolding of the story. What a beautiful story when viewed from this perspective. Our God is in heaven, doing according to His will among the inhabitants. We have the instance of Moses' cry. We have the instance in 1 Kings, chapter 22, concerning the death of Ahab. We just read about this part. He goes out into battle and disguises himself. It says that a certain soldier drew a bow at a venture. Innocently, the Hebrew word has at its root, innocently, he just threw a bow and shot an arrow, and it found its mark in the one weak spot in the armor of this disguised king. He died in a welter of his own blood in the chariot according to the word of the Lord. Almighty God sovereignly moving on the heart of a soldier to pull a bow and just shoot it, he didn't know where, guiding it precisely to its mark. All events, even the flight of an arrow, I shocked, I believe, a few people after the death of our late President Kennedy. When speaking on that Sunday following his death, I said it was not the marksmanship of Lee Oswald or the accuracy of the sights on his gun that sent that bullet crashing into the head of the young President. It was the sovereign purpose and will of all men. than a world that's simply at the mercy of a cruel chance, rather than a world that is being governed by a wise, powerful, loving, just sovereign who, in his providence, is working all things after his counsel and will, all events. And we see this most wonderfully depicted in the passage in Acts 4, with which I want to close tonight. Some of you taking notes, write down Revelation 17, 17, under the third point, all persons, where it says God puts it into the hearts of men to give their power unto the beast, where it speaks of the end time, and how God is working even in the hearts of wicked men. Acts chapter 4, this is one of the most profound passages in all of the Bible concerning the sovereignty of God in providence, in that he governs not only all places, all things, all persons, but all events. And I trust it will help prepare us for our time about the table of the Lord. The Christians here have been persecuted. A few of the apostles for preaching have been thrown in prison. The Lord has released them. They haven't been thrown in prison yet, but they've been threatened. Now they've been released, and they come back to their own company. So they're going to pray. Now we read what they prayed in Acts chapter 4 and verses 27 and 28. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast 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." You say, how in the world do you ever understand that? You don't, you just believe it, rejoice it. Get the picture. All the factors that were fit together to produce the crucifixion of Christ. A spineless puppet called Pilate. Who though in his heart knows that Christ is innocent to please the people, he's willing to give up the Son of God to them. Think of a spineless puppet, this Pilate. Think of those wicked, terribly depraved high priests and religious leaders who stirred up the mobs, who rose up with false accusations. Think of all that. Think of the illegal trial. Someone who's a lawyer has found, what, 57 some-odd illegalities in the trial and death of Jesus Christ. Think of those who shot out the lips saying, he saved others himself. Think of those who rolled the dice for Scarborough. And Peter says here, all that they did was what? What God had determined will not be done. In no way did God ordain the terrible sin, the lying, the accusation, the spineless, unprincipled actions of Pilate. In no way is God responsible for their sin, and yet in no way does it fall outside the circle of God's absolute sovereign control. For He says, they were gathered together to do whatsoever thy counsel determined before to be done. so that if all of those foul deeds perpetrated which resulted in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have a terrible tragedy, you have an unfolding of the sovereign purpose of God as He providentially controls even these wicked designs of wicked men and their wicked deeds in order to accomplish His own eternal purpose. We gather out of every tribe and tongue and nation a people who live forever, blessing and praising for His grace. Surely the subject of divine providence is a deep mystery. It's one in which only faith may swim. Reason can only wade in that ocean, but faith may swim. What does this say to us tonight? As we prepare to come to the table of the Lord, what does the doctrine of divine sovereignty in the area of creation and providence say to us? The God controlling in all places, all things, all persons, and all events. Oh, Beloved, it ought to bring us to bow in worship today. I see my poor wife sometimes when the three children all go at her at once. And I'm hopelessly confused. She gets trying to sort out the requests of this one and the complaints of this one. Think of a God who is controlling every detail down to the disposing of the dust that flies up as a car goes down the road. In all places, at all times, involving all people and things. Oh, the pyramids of the night vision. What a God. What a great God, of infinite mind and wisdom, power, and there's not one piece. When we stand with Him looking back over life's journey, not one piece will fit together. He's working all things after the Council of Israel. So it should bring us to worship. Secondly, it should bring us to trust Him. If this is the God who bids us trust Him, is He not worthy of trust? A God who, to accomplish his purpose in my life, in your life, in his church, can dispose the hearts of kings, heathen men, and rulers and governors according to his own purpose? Isn't this thought worthy of your trust in life? Isn't he worthy of childlike simple confidence to believe that all things are working together for our good, even when we can't see how they are? Isn't it an insult to question the ways of a God-like people? That's why unbelief is such a terrible sin. Not only should it lead us to worship and trust, but it should lead us to a new place of submission. See, you fight providence, and you're fighting a losing battle. When God and His providence has put you in circumstances that you just can't tolerate, You better just learn to tolerate them. Something better. Hug them. Embrace them! Because you're fighting a losing battle when you fight the hand of prophets. Old Jonah found it out. He said, I'm going to get away from God. I can get down there in that ship in Tarshish. God won't bother me there. God says, I've got news for you. So he stirred up the ocean. I'm sure when Jonah got thrown overboard, he said, well, that's the end. Maybe God was there and troubling me down in the bowels of that boat. I'm out there, I've had it. And God says, no, I want to show you, Jonah, my providence is here. And so the fish comes along at the right time and swallows it. See, Jonah found it. He tried to fight with the hand of the Divine Providence. Ooh. Might as well just sink down into that hand and see it. God's got some of you in his providence, in a situation. If you save yourself tonight, if only that situation And God's got you in that situation to clip your wings. Maybe that's just your problem. You've been doing too much for it. And God's got you in that situation to clip your wings. Hmm? You better stop fighting. Because this is the hand that governs and controls all things that God wishes for you. Not with a blind fate of his own, but with a joyful one. That's what Job did. You see, his friends came and said, Job, if God was what he said he was, his own wife, then curse God and die! He can't be good! Look what he's doing! And Job said, I don't know what he's doing. I can't curse him. He's righteous in all his ways. He submitted to the dealings of problems we don't understand. Maybe God's had a few more Jobs since then. He's under no obligation to make me understand, but I'm under obligation to submit to Christ. Our Lord died that He might have a people who worship Him as the God of absolute sovereignty, the God of providence. We'll see the Lord willing the next time we study the subject that He's not only sovereign in the realm of creation and providence, but He's also sovereign in the realm of grace. I trust that you pray much that God will prepare your heart for this next study. This is the area that perhaps more than any other finds God's people balking at the truth of the Word of God. They're willing to have a God who's sovereign in creation, in providence, but they don't want a God who's sovereign in grace. Do you pray that God will be pleased to make you disposed to embrace His truth between now and the time we study again? We read much and pray over two key chapters, John 17 and Romans chapter 9. God put them in His Word for a purpose. I trust you'll pray over them and come to study it again. The Lord might be pleased to assist us to both understand and receive this aspect of His precious Word. Still Waters Revival Books is now located at PuritanDownloads.com. It's your worldwide online Reformation home for the very best in free and discounted classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, mp3s, and videos. 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