The God That Created You Is Sovereign

The God That Created You Is Sovereign

Text: Daniel 4:34-35 (KJV) (Read at the end of into.) 34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 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: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Introduction:

* An Alberta judge has let a woman who strangled her newborn son walk free by arguing that Canada’s absence of a law on abortion signals that Canadians “sympathize” with the mother.

* In Westmorland, Tennessee last week 4 coaches are reprimanded for bowing their heads as students led in a prayer before a ballgame.

* Professor Says Vanderbilt Suppressing Christian Student Groups Amid Shutdown Threats…

Is Vanderbilt University flirting with the suppression of religion? Yes, according to Carol Swain, a professor at Vanderbilt’s Law School.

Specifically, Swain is referring to four Christian student groups being placed on "provisional status" after a university review found them to be in non-compliance with the school’s nondiscrimination policy.

Vanderbilt University says the student organizations cannot require that leaders share the group’s beliefs, goals and values. Carried to its full extent, it means an atheist could lead a Christian group, a man a woman’s group, a Jew a Muslim group or vice versa.

* A Christian attorney says the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case that could force religious institutions to hire LGBT people or face discrimination lawsuits.

* Christian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces potential execution

By Jordan Sekulow

Just days after Iran released two Americans accused of spying, an Iranian court has upheld the apostasy conviction and execution sentence of Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.

The 11th branch of Iran’s Gilan Provincial Court has determined that Nadarkhani has Islamic ancestry and therefore must recant his faith in Jesus Christ. Iran’s supreme court had previously ruled that the trial court must determine if Youcef had been a Muslim before converting to Christianity.

However, the judges, acting like terrorists with a hostage, demanded that he recant his faith in Christ before even taking evidence. The judges stated that even though the judgment they have made is against the current Iranian and international laws, they have to uphold the previous decision of the 27th Branch of the Supreme Court in Qom.

* I ask myself “Has the whole world gone mad?”

* I the day in which we live now, you can’t even walk into the average high school in America without seeing armed policeman patrolling the halls.

* You can’t help but ask yourself ”what has happened to authority in the country!”

* You can’t help but wonder who is in control here!

* That question is going to become more and more important in the days ahead for people who live in our world.

* Increasingly, people who have trusted in man’s structures to bring order and civility to life are losing hope.

* Man’s ability to provide a stable environment seems to be eluding his grasp.

* We as Christians should not surprised at that fact since we know that the very nature of mankind, tends toward decline and chaos.

Job 5:7 (KJV)

7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

* For the Christian, the question of “Who’s in control?” has a very simple answer: God is!

Daniel 4:34-35 (KJV)

34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 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: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

* The theological term we use when we talk about God being in control is “sovereignty.”

- That term means that God is subject to no one, influenced by no one, and absolutely independent and free in His own being.

- God does as He pleases—only, always, wherever, and forever as He pleases.

- No one can hinder God; no one can compel God to stop.

- God is sovereign and in control of the universe He created.

* God’s sovereignty means God is the highest authority in the universe. He does what He wills in heaven and on earth.

* No one can question God and say, “Why are You doing what You are doing?”

Job 40:6-14 (KJV)

6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? 9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? 10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. 11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. 12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. 13 Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. 14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. * God is the governor over all the nations, King over all kings, and true Lord over all would-be lords.

* That is how the Bible presents God as the sovereign of the universe!

* There are over forty passages of Scripture that declare the truth of God’s sovereignty. Here is just a few of them:

• Psalm 22:28 “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations.”

• Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”

• Psalm 50:11–12 “I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.”

• Psalm 99:1 “The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble.”

• Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”

• Psalm 115:3 “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.”

• Psalm 135:6 “Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.” Other passages which teach the sovereignty of God are Deuteronomy 10:17; Proverbs 19:21, 21:30; Isaiah 14:27, 45:9, 46:10; Jeremiah 27:5; Daniel 4:17, 35; Acts 17:24–26.

* There two subjects that you don’t here preacher preach about any more, because people hate these two subjects; Sin and the Sovereignty of God.

* In earlier generations the sovereignty of God was a common subject for preachers.

* If you were to look through the index of the collection of Charles Spurgeon you would think that he to have preached on the subject of the sovereignty of God about every other week!

* He must have seen the sovereignty of God as a central truth to be expounded when preaching the Gospel: God is in charge of this world and it is to Him that all men must one day give an account.

* Listen to a statement Spurgeon made in one of his sermons concerning God’s sovereignty.

“There is no doctrine more hated by the world, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion the worlds and make the stars. They will allow Him to sustain heaven and earth and bear up the pillars thereof. They will even let Him light the lamps of heaven and rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean. But when God ascends to His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And when we proclaim an enthroned God and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of creatures as He thinks well without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are hissed and execrated. And then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God that the men of the world want to love.”

* Preach on the love, grace, and mercy of God, and men will applaud. But preach on His sovereignty, and they will recoil with distain!

* Man does not like to hear that he is not in charge!

* Today, more than at any time in recorded history, is the day of “almighty man.” It is the age of secular humanism.

* Today our women cry out “It’s my body, I am in charge of my body, I will kill this baby if I want to! And you had better not say anything about it either!”

* Today men and women cry out “I am coming out of the closet! I will no longer let the Bible judge me for what I want to do with my body! I’s by body and I will defile it if I want to! And if you say anything about it I, (and the ALCU), will sue you! I am in charge!

* Man, through science and technology, is trying to take his destiny into his own hands.

Psalm 2:1-9 (KJV)

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. * In our day man has set himself up as a “little god,” just like Adam and Eve, and he does not want to hear the message that the true God is sovereign. Men do not want to hear that God is in charge of them!

- Attempts to abolish capital punishment are an example of the little gods trying to usurp authority from the true God.

- The murder of unborn children is another example.

- The attack of marriage and family, is yet another example.

- Removing references to God from the public classrooms is a fourth example.

- The normalization of sodomy and sexual perversion, a fifth example of men fighting with God for control over their lives.

* God’s law says one thing, man’s law says another. God says, “This is how it must be,” and man says, “Sorry, we prefer a different way.

* What we are seeing going on all around us is man saying “We don’t want God to rule over us!”

* The world ought to step back and ask itself the question, “How are we doing solving the world’s problems our own way?

* The conclusion would have to be “Man has not been very successful.”

- We’ve polluted our world so that even our water and food supplies are tainted with poisons and carcinogens.

- Our world is shaken by wars and terrorist attacks on a daily basis.

- Our economy is a source of insecurity. If you have been watching the news lately, the world’s economy is literally in the verge of collapse.

- Doomsday weapons exist in the hands of unstable governments.

- You would think that reasonable people might begin to wonder whether there is not a better way, whether rejecting God is such a good idea after all.

* The world is living like a man who, having lost his road map, increases his speed.

* He only arrives at the wrong place faster.

*People who study the Bible have an advantage. We can look back in the Scriptures and see the many times man rejected God and ended up in trouble.

- Adam and Eve desired to put their will over God’s will and attempted to be “like gods, knowing good and evil.”

- Nimrod who gathered the people together to build a great tower as a manifestation of human sovereignty (Genesis 11).

- Jacob’s sons got rid of their brother Joseph because they didn’t like the idea of him one day ruling over them.

- Haman plotted to destroy the Jews and any record of their God. He built a gallows to hang one of the Jewish leaders, Mordecai, but ended up being hanged on it himself and the Jews were exalted by the king.

- Pharaoh commanded all the newborn Hebrew children to be thrown into the Nile River. And God used that very Nile River to hide the Hebrew child, Moses, who grew up to lead the Hebrew slaves to freedom.

Pharaoh shook his fist in God’s face and refused to let the slaves go, finally he agreed, after his country had been decimated by ten plagues. The great body of water, the Red Sea, that Pharaoh thought would be a trap for the Israelites became a trap for his own army.

* Throughout history, whenever man has tried to assert his influence and control, he has been confounded by the sovereign plan of God.

* In the last days the Anti-Christ will once again exalt himself like Nimrod against the almighty God and according to Daniel “Speak great Swelling word against the Almighty sovereign God.”

Daniel 7:25-26 (KJV)

25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. 26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

* Several thousand people go aboard one of the giant cruise ships for a vacation, or an ocean crossing, they each enter the boat with their own “sovereign” agendas.

* Guess how much control they actually have over the destination of that giant ship? None.

* The captain is in charge.

* They may act like they’re in control in their own little cabin, but their cabin goes where the captain says it should go.

* Just like Adam and Eve thought they would control their own world when the put their will above God’s will in the very beginning, when men attempt to control their lives by forcing God out of their lives, they find that their live becomes out of control.

Conclusion to part one:

* Is your live out of control?

* Are beginning to realize that you life is out of control because you will not let God have His rightful control over you and your creator?

* Come to this alter this morning and give control of you life back to God. Let Him get your life under control. He is the only one who knows how.

I. Because God is Sovereign I will reverence Him.

* What would happen if the president of the United States entered our church tonight?

* Even if your don’t agree with the president’s policies, his politics, or the way he leads the country, the correct response would be to stand in honor of the office of the president.

* The office of the president of the United States of America is the highest office in our land. Not to give honor to this office would be at the very least disrespectful to the office he holds.

* Did you know where the tradition of wearing your “Sunday best” to church came from?

* The Christian churches of Rome so feared that the ruler Constantine would visit their congregation that it became an excepted practice of the churches of that day to wear the very best clothes that they owned lest they offend the emperor by appearing unkept or irreverent in the presence of the emperor of Rome.

* I have been if a few churches in my life time and been ashamed before God of the immodest clothes that people wear to church in the presence of a Holy God.

1 Timothy 2:8-10 (KJV)

8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

* When I was younger I served in several churches as the minister of music. I one such occasion I remember being so concerned with the dress of the teenage girls sitting in the choir. People in the church had begun to talk about it. It was disrespectful to a Holy God! What was wrong with the parents of these teens?

* I wanted to bring the subject up with the pastor but need the right opportunity. One Sunday the preacher began to preach on wemon wearing pants. After church I had a conversation with the pastor about which was worse, a woman in pants, or a choir full of teen age girls showing their legs to the congregation?

* God holds the highest office in the universe, how much reverence would we show the highest sovereign ruler of the universe respect and honor. The office that the Creator of the universe holds deserves reverence from every created being that exists in the universe.

* When worked for Wal-Mart Sam Walton was still alive. I remember how everyone would go crazy if Mr. Walton was in the area because he might walk in the store at any moment. All this preparation and excitement was because the owner of Wal-Mart could walk in the store at any moment.

* God is the owner of all creation. How much more should we be prepared to meet our God should He happen to call on us tonight.

- He may call on us in the form of the Holy Spirit in this service tonight.

- Are we prepared to give Him His proper honor here in this church tonight?

- Before every great notable revival- not just when you put a sign out in front of the church and you announce that you are going to have a series of meetings- there was a great sense of God’s people of God’s awesome sovereignty.

- This moved men and women to cleanse their lives of unconfessed sin and repent with a deep sorrow for their hatred for their sins.

-When the apostle Paul spoke of the Lord’s supper, a supper that is given in honor of the Lord, he said that many were sick and some even had died because they had take the honor of the Lord for granted by not showing reverence in the presence of God at the Lord’s table.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (KJV)

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

* God’s house should be a place or reverence and order.

1 Corinthians 14:26 (KJV)

26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

1 Corinthians 14:21-25 (KJV)

21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. 22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. 23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: 25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

1 Corinthians 14:27-33 (KJV)

27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. 29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. 30 If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. 31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

1 Corinthians 14:40 (KJV)

40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

II. Because God is Sovereign I will respond to Him in Obedience.

* It’s not hard to understand why Pharaoh answered disobediently. He didn’t know who Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel was.

* Think of how Moses appeared to Pharaoh the day he walked into his court and demanded he let the people of God go. A dusty old man with a speech impediment-

* How would you act if someone came to your door and said, “In the name of the god Marduk, I order you to turn over your property to me”?

* Given the fact that Christians confess to know the one true God and acknowledge His sovereignty over all, wouldn’t we expect Christians to respond instantly and obediently to everything God says?

* We as Christians are without excuse this evening because we know exactly who God is. I just told you about Him this morning.

* If God so sorely judged pharaoh, how much more will he judge those who know Him and are disobedient to His will?

Hebrews 10:28-31 (KJV)

28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

James 3:1 (KJV)

1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

* A friend of ours used to shame his wife into going to church by telling her that Jesus probably was tired too and didn’t feel like carrying that cross up that hill to die for her sins.

* We should be obedient to God because of the example of his son:

Philippians 2:5-8 (KJV)

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

III. Because God is Sovereign I will Worship Him.

* Reverence, obedience, and worship are three characteristics of the believer who responds to God as the sovereign He is.

John 9:35-38 (KJV)

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. * Worship is the only fitting response to the knowledge that we gain by studying the attributes of God. * God does not desire the empty and vain outward forms of worship that we offer him in the name of religion. * True worship originates from a heart who truly knows who God is. * Try e worship begins with a thankful heart.

Conclusion:

Outline Summary

Text: Daniel 4:34-35 (KJV) (Read at the end of into.) 34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 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: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Introduction:

I. Because God is Sovereign I will reverence Him.

II. Because God is Sovereign I will respond to Him in Obedience.

III. Because God is Sovereign I will Worship Him.

Conclusion:

Series Introduction: “The God that Created you”

1. The God Who Created You Is a Just God.

2. The God Who Created You Is A Holy God.

3. The God Who Created You Is A Faithful God.

4. The God Who Created You Is An Eternal God.

5. The God Who Created You Is A Changeless God.

6. The God Who Created You Is A Powerful God.

7. The God Who Created You Is A Good God.

8. The God Who Created You Is An All-Knowing God.

9. The God Who Created You Is A Sovereign God.

10. The God Who Created You Is An Ever-Present God.

11. The God Who Created You is a Loving God.

12. The God Who Created You Name.