Let's turn in God's Word to Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1, and we're reading the first 14 verses. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the one He loves. To Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of His glory." Trying to know the future fascinates many people, maybe most people. we would love to be able to know at least a little of what's ahead of us. Isn't it true the greatest fears that we experience in life are generally fears of the unknown, of the hard times that will come upon us suddenly, a sudden crisis or trial and with no warning we couldn't anticipate it. And people often think, well, if only I'd known that that was coming, I could have prepared for it. I would have been ready. It wouldn't have taken me unawares. Maybe perhaps particularly those circumstances that we find a temptation. If you knew the temptation was coming, that there would be that struggle, you'd be ready for it. If only you could see even a little bit ahead. And of course, from the earliest days, there have been those who claimed to know the future. Those who were able, so they said, to tell you what your future was, the fortune tellers, the clairvoyants, and so forth. And even in our supposedly scientific age, still tremendous interest in horoscopes and all kinds of offers to tell you the future, and particularly your future. We haven't outgrown that just because we live in a more technological age. There's often that curiosity in the human heart to know what's ahead. Of course, too, aren't there those times when you're very sure you don't want to know what's ahead? Because then you might discover hard times, trials that you can do nothing to avoid. It's one thing to know about some future difficult time that you could prepare for, but what if it's something you can do nothing about? If it's some sickness, accident, even death, then perhaps you might feel, well, it's better we don't know the future. And we often catch ourselves saying, well, it's good we don't know more than we do know. The Bible has a lot to say about the future. There's much in the Bible that addresses future events, both as far as individuals are concerned and indeed for the whole world, for the entire universe. Now, the Bible doesn't answer all the questions that we have. Some of them will remain unanswered until we arrive at that future day. But there is much in the Bible that deals with events still to come. It answers the most important questions about the future and other things we don't need to know. And in fact, often it's better for us that we don't know. But the Bible addresses the most important issues regarding the future. And so for the next number of weeks, we plan to think about the subject of the Bible and the future. The Bible and the future. We'll be thinking of issues like our own personal future of death, the next life, resurrection. We'll be thinking about the return of Christ, the final judgment, the new creation. The big things that the Bible talks about in relation to the future. And often there's confusion, of course, about what the Bible says and doesn't say, especially when we get into issues like the return of Christ. A lot of confusion. And sometimes Christians tend to throw up their hands in despair and say, we just can't understand these things at all. Well, there is much that, with God's help, we can understand. And so, God willing, we'll be thinking about the Bible and the future for the next number of weeks. As I always say, you've got to begin in the right place. If you begin in the wrong place, you go wrong. We'll begin at the beginning, and we begin today in our first study with the subject, God holds the future. God holds the future. This is where we must begin. We're going to think about things that lie ahead. Who's in control? Is it chance? Is it luck? God holds the future. And we think, first of all, that God is sovereign. God is sovereign. There's nothing that could be more fundamental to our approach to the future than that wonderful fact. God is sovereign. Now, for some Christians, sadly, the doctrine of God's sovereignty seem to be just a kind of a puzzle. It perplexes them. It baffles them. It leaves them feeling confused. Perhaps they find the doctrine of the sovereignty of God off-putting and too difficult, and so they try not, perhaps, to think about it. And yet the reality is that the truth of the sovereignty of God is full of comfort and reassurance for Christians. It shouldn't be baffling. It shouldn't be off-putting. It shouldn't be something we avoid. It's something that should delight us as Christians. It's full of encouragement and comfort and reassurance. When you look out on the world as a Christian and you look at what is going on, whether locally, nationally, internationally, a world where there is so much suffering and chaos, where the biggest problems to be faced in the world are beyond the capacities of even the most capable world leaders, they really can do almost nothing about the biggest problems that the world faces. And you look at that scenario, and if that was all that you could see, you'd despair. And you look around, perhaps, in your own situation, and you see difficult circumstances, people suffering, going through hard times. And if that was all you could see, again, you'd despair. But that isn't all that the Christian sees. In fact, it's not the most important thing that the Christian sees at all. Because we see something far more important. We see someone far more important. When we look at the confusion in the world, the uncertainties, events out of everybody's control. As Christians, we know that someone is in control. It is not a random world. It's not ultimately a chaotic world. Someone is in control. God is. And that's the truth above all that we need to grasp and hold on to in all circumstances. God is in control. However little we understand, however little control we can exercise, God is in control. God holds the future. We read from Ephesians 1, verse 11, Paul refers to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." That is a glorious verse. We'll never plumb its deepest depths, but what we can understand is wonderful. He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. There couldn't be a stronger, clearer statement of the truth that God holds the future. He is absolutely sovereign. We find the same thing in Daniel 4, 35. Words, amazingly, from Nebuchadnezzar. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. Comprehensive sovereignty that leaves nothing outside its scope. There's no area of creation where chance is Lord, or where luck rules. No area. God is sovereign in every part of His creation. The Bible shows us God's sovereignty in what we might call the big picture. The rise and fall of nations, for example, not just Israel. See, the God of the Bible is not just a little local God. If you were a Moabite, you believed in a God whose power stopped at the border. And you go over into Edom, you needed a different God. Or you went down to Egypt, you needed different gods there. The God of the Bible is sovereign over all nations and all peoples. And the Bible drives that lesson home constantly, in Amos 9. God speaks of how he brought Israel up from Egypt. Yes, he did. But he also brought the Philistines from their original homeland. The Philistines had no thought for the true God, but God controlled their destiny. God controlled their migrations. He was sovereign over nations, not just over Israel. And you think of how much of the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah deals with nations outside Israel. and how God will deal with them. He's sovereign over them. They don't acknowledge Him. They're rebels against Him. He's still sovereign over every one of them. No exceptions at all. God is sovereign over nations. He's sovereign, indeed, over the entire universe. And that's something we'll see as we go on to think about the Bible and the future, because God's plan and purpose deal with the entire universe, and it's in His hands. This is the God who says in Isaiah 65, "'Behold, I am making new heavens and a new earth.'" That's the ultimate expression of God's sovereignty. He'll renew the entire universe. You could not imagine sovereignty more extensive than that. It reaches to the farthest corners of the universe. God's sovereign in the big picture, but God's also sovereign in what we might call the small picture, the details of life. We might say, It's all very well, God's in control of nations and rulers, but what about me, little me in my corner with my little life? Does he even notice me? Does he know what I'm doing? Does he care what I'm doing? What about the small things? What about a rough day I've just had? What about the worries for next week? Is God in control? And the Bible's answer, resoundingly, is, yes, He is. We're told in Matthew 10, 29 about sparrows, small birds, insignificant to most people, and yet we're told, not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. Isn't that amazing that the will of God embraces the fall even of a sparrow? you wouldn't notice, but God's sovereign will covers that small picture. Even the most apparently insignificant aspects of life, the tiniest corners of creation, are within God's sovereign control. And if it's true of Sparrows, how much more is it true of us? As Jesus tells us in Matthew 10, 31, you're worth more than many sparrows. The Lord's sovereignty extends to our individual lives, to the details, the trivia, the routines, and the apparently insignificant moments. They're all embraced within our Father's plan. The Bible's full of examples. Examples that run from Nebuchadnezzar on the throne in Daniel 4 to Joseph in prison in Genesis 41, the highest to the lowest, God's sovereign direction applies to each and every one of them. And it applies to each and every one of us. We can say with the psalmist in Psalm 31 15, My times are in your hands." Isn't that a glorious thing to know? Why are we frightened of the sovereignty of God? We should be praising Him. My times are in your hands. Isn't it wonderful to know they're not in our hands or in anybody else's hands? Do you want them there? Of course not. My times are in your hands. God is sovereign. That's a glorious, delightful truth that should move you to praise. God is sovereign. But then secondly, we think of how God's plan is perfect. God's plan is perfect. Because the thought of someone exercising absolute sovereignty could be a frightening thing. Because you remember the saying of Lord Acton, the historian, power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And isn't that true on the human level? We could multiply historical examples, examples of how those who had power, absolute power at least in their own sphere, were corrupt and corrupted. And we can think of the dramatic examples, the Hitlers and the Stalins, and we can think of the leaders today. Those who wield absolute power are a menace It's a fearful thing to think of anybody having absolute power. We wouldn't trust them, rightly so. What then of this God who has absolute power, who wields sovereignty over all things? What kind of God is he? That's the question we need to ask as we think of the God who holds the future, the God who is sovereign. He is the God who has revealed himself in this book, the Bible. And we can be absolutely sure that this God, this sovereign God has a plan that is perfect. We do not need to be fearful. the slightest. We need not be anxious about what this sovereign God will do with His power, because He's the God we know. He's the God who's revealed Himself in Scripture. He's revealed Himself to us. We know what kind of God He is. God's plan is an expression of His nature. What we plan is would tell people a lot about us. If I knew your plans, that would tell me a lot about the sort of person you are. The plans of God reveal the kind of God He is. We see His nature and how He uses that sovereignty. The God who holds the future is a God who is infinitely gracious and loving and holy. The God who is sovereign over all things is a God who's revealed Himself as Saviour, as Lord, as the one that we can trust absolutely. Everything that we know about God that rejoices our hearts is seen in His plan for the future. Whatever we know about God that rejoices our hearts is there in His plan. His love, His grace, His holiness, all His perfections are there in His sovereign plan. Psalm 25 and verse 10. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful. Isn't that wonderful? all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful. For Genesis 18, verse 25, will not the judge of all the earth do right? We can rest on that assurance. The plan of God, the judge of all the earth will do right. Exodus 34, That amazing experience of Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock, God comes past, proclaims his perfections and his glories. In verse 6 and verse 7, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. That is the God who is sovereign. That is the God who holds the future, your future and my future and the future of the universe, compassionate and gracious and loving and forgiving. And that's what His plan looks like when we study it. It looks like Him. His nature is reflected in His perfect plan. In particular, God's plan for the future is carried out in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. To drive home the assurance that the future is in the safest of hands, God's plan is carried out in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't he the one who says in Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me? There's a declaration that he wields the sovereignty of God. The future is in Jesus' hands, nail-pierced hands. That's where it is. That's where your future is, in the hands of the Jesus who loved you. and gave himself for you. Where else would you want it to be? The plan of God is worked out in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The God who holds the future is perfectly revealed in our loving and gracious Savior. If the plan of God reveals God's nature, Then we can say the plan of God reveals Jesus in all his beauty and his grace and his love that is all there. Doesn't that reassure us if we needed reassurance that God's plan is perfect? It is in the hands of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. infinite power and infinite love and infinite grace in the Christ who holds the future. God's plan is perfect. It could not be anything else. It wouldn't be God's plan if it were not perfect. And so we need not have a moment's anxiety. about how God will use his sovereignty when we remember what kind of God is he. Who is this God who holds the future? Our God, who gives himself to us in Christ to be our God forever. God is sovereign. God's plan is perfect and God is glorified in all things. God is glorified in all things. Not some, not many, not most, all. God is glorified in all things. The God who holds the future is working out his eternal plan in Christ. And what is the goal of that plan? What is God aiming towards as he exercises his sovereignty? He might be inclined to say, well, it's a salvation. of His people, that God's plan is the salvation of the church in Christ. Now, that is certainly and wonderfully true. The plan of God does embrace the salvation of His people. A vast multitude, as Revelation 7 tells us, that nobody can count But we haven't reached the final goal yet, because it isn't all about us. We're inclined to think that way, of course, that somehow we are the most important factor in the plan and purpose of God. But actually, we're not. The ultimate goal of the plan of God is the glory of God. That is the ultimate reason why God does what he does. It's for his glory. And the Bible spells out again and again the fact that God is glorified in all things. There are no exceptions. There are no dark corners where God isn't glorified. He's glorified in all things. Isaiah 6 and verse 3, the seraphim in heaven cry out, the whole earth is full of his glory. The whole earth is full of his glory. Psalm 19, one, of course, familiar words we're accustomed to sing. The heavens declare, what? The glory of God. The very heavens, the entire creation, declares the glory of God. And wherever we look in God's world, even though sometimes we can't figure out how it is the case, God is glorified. He's glorified in all things. The entire creative world, the work of God, manifests His glory. Despite the damage that man has done to the creation, It still declares the glory of God. It can't do otherwise. And of course, especially when we think of salvation, we see the glory of God. Again, Ephesians 1, another reason why we read that chapter, verse 6. Paul has a magnificent description of salvation there. Really, the first half of the chapter is one sentence in the original. The translators break it up into sentences and put in full stops, but it's one sentence. When Paul gets going, he can't stop as he talks about salvation. If you read it the way it's written, you'd be out of breath halfway through. But there in Ephesians 1, 6, it is to the praise of His glorious grace. Again, verse 12, that we might be for the praise of his glory." Again and again, Ephesians 1 and wherever you read about salvation, it's for the glory of God. And isn't that the longing of a Christian's heart? That God will be glorified in all things. That's what we want more than anything else. Not our glory. Not that people will be impressed with us or our godliness or our compassion or anything about us, but that God will be glorified. That's a mark of grace. And that's what you want above anything else, the glory of God. The great goal of salvation, of your salvation and mine, is the glory of God, that God is raising up a people who will reflect His glory to the whole universe throughout eternity, that angels will be able to look at us, and what will they see? They'll see the glory of our God and His grace and His love that saved us. the glory of God in the creation, the glory of God in salvation. And the Bible, as we will see in the coming weeks, speaks of a glorious future towards which God is working by his sovereign power, working towards a new creation or a renewed creation. He's not going to scrap this creation and throw it away and make a new one. As He renews us and transforms us, He's going to renew and transform the whole universe as a home for us to be with Him forever. There will be a new creation. That's where our studies are going, the new creation, the home for sinners who are new creations in Christ to be with the Lord forever. And then, finally, Habakkuk 2.14 will be fulfilled. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Because throughout this new creation, there will be people free of sin, people perfected to be as like Christ as we can possibly be, and there will be absolutely nothing that spoils it. God is glorified in all things. And so this is where we must start as we think about the Bible and the future, that reassuring truth God holds the future. It's not the leaders of nations, thankfully. It's not random forces in the universe, thankfully. It's our God. And we know God is sovereign. We know God's plan is perfect. And we know God is glorified in all things. May we draw encouragement and hope and joy from knowing that God holds the future.