Joy in His Sovereignty

How many are grateful for our God given joy today?

As it is written in Psalm 118:24

Psalm 118:24 NIV

24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

And I want us to consider what it means to rejoice. To shout out in exultation or to even spin around in excitement! And why are we rejoicing this evening? Because today is God’s day! A day that HE has made! We have every reason to be joyful!

Tonight we speak of an attribute of God that should absolutely bring joy to our hearts and minds.

The more we get to know the Father and His love for us, the more joyful we will become. He is truly amazing and He has done great things for you and me!

We are going to focus in on one characteristic of the Lord that is unique to God and can be found nowhere else.

This attribute cannot be recreated or reproduced. This attribute cannot be mimicked or passed on, this attribute belongs to God and God alone.

What attribute or characteristic am I speaking of? What source of joy will be the focus of this message? Today we speak of finding joy in God’s sovereignty.

I didn’t begin this message off with Psalm 118:24 on accident. This verse in itself speaks of the sovereign nature of our God, and I sometimes think we overlook it.

Look at the text again. God has MADE this day. A day is very complex when you think of all that can take place within 24 hours, yet God has orchestrated it all into motion. GOD IS IN CONTROL!

What does it mean to be sovereign? How can we find joy in the sovereignty of God?

To be sovereign is to possess supreme or ultimate power. There is no greater power or authority.

We are talking the head honcho. We are talking the man in charge. There is no one greater or above God in authority, power or rule. In fact, there is no one above or greater than our God! No one is like our God. He is the sovereign God of ALL the universe!

Now, let’s talk control for a moment. Who would acknowledge today they enjoy being in control of certain circumstance or situations?

Let’s take a quick survey:

Who likes to call the shots?

Who likes to receive the orders?

No matter where you turn you will find a system of order and control. But no matter how detailed or thought out such a system may be, there is NO WAY we can control everything!

The problem is: we try. We try to control everything. We try to do what we can with what we have to control what may be ahead of us. This includes our health, our jobs, our families, our friends and the list goes on. And when control begins to slip through our fingers we become frustrated, stressed, irritated, angry, hurt, jealous, bitter, and anxious. Now doesn’t that sound joyful today!

People tend to lose their joy at the loss of control! But what I want us to realize today is that YOU were NEVER in control in the first place!

You may have been fighting for it, but in all actuality, there is only ONE person in control of all you see and hear around you and that person is GOD! And we should absolutely rejoice in His control and trust in His sovereignty!

I want to show us three truths in which the sovereignty of God can be realized. And as we briefly dissect each truth I pray we realize the importance of giving God control of everything.

I am going to encourage you to stop allowing the loss of control to rob you of the joy we have in the Lord. While at times we might feel like things are out of control, God has never and will never lose any control. He is the ultimate authority. He is the ultimate power. He is the sovereign God!

The All-Knowing God (Omniscient)

I can’t imagine the thought process and organization that must be in place before writing a book or a movie.

Will it be fact or fiction? Will it be a documentary or a novel? Will it be a series or one installment, and one could continue the considerations.

Books and movies are very common in our culture and serve the purpose of either being informational and educational or entertaining. They come in various sizes and lengths and share with us the author’s perspective on various topics.

From beginning to end, everything must work in sequence to properly convey the idea or message inside.

The writer knows the end before writing the beginning. He knows the plot twists, the angles, the characters, the back stories and so on.

Consider for a moment the phenomenon know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It started in 2008 with one movie, Iron Man. It is now 27 movies deep. Every movie plays of the others meaning the details of each film carry into all the others.

There are 12 more films in the works giving a total of 39 films in all.

Before the script was completed for film number one, the team considered the details that would be shared in the remaining 38 installments that would follow! That’s a LOT of planning!

The writer knows the end… before he or she ever writes the introduction.

Consider that thought as we look at God’s sovereign nature. God knows… everything. God is omniscient… nothing catches Him by surprise.

Omniscient basically means all-knowing. God has the power of knowing all!

God’s ability to know all has a tendency to sometimes confuse us.

Does God’s omniscience make us more like predestined robots that never really had a choice in the first place? Not at all!

Our free will is just that: free will. We are free to think AND free to make choices. His knowledge of our choices does not make them any less our choice.

I view God’s omniscience much how I imagine an author views writing a book. God knew the end before ever writing the beginning. He knew what would take place in the journey to make the end a reality.

He authored it all! From the dawn of creation to the fall of man, to the entire redemptive story and the future return of His Son. He knew how it would all play out. This is His story.

And our level of interaction with His story will have a big impact on how our story goes.

“But Pastor, you don’t know my story! My story has been rough! My Story has been difficult! My story has been full of ups and downs, spills and turns!” If you relate to such a remark I ask you this: how well are you connected with the author of all things? Have you read his story… or have you gone off script?

I realize today rough times come when they will come. But I also know we invite rough times to come when we venture away from the Lord. Why? Because we try to take control instead of allowing Him to be in control.

We should absolutely rejoice that our God KNOWS us.

Psalm 139:1–6 NIV

1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

How well does God know us today? I’d say from the text we just read He knows us VERY well! In fact, according to Matthew 10:30, He has even numbered the hairs on our heads!

And one thing the Lord knows of us very well is our need for a Savior.

He introduced a character to the story that would change history forever! His Name is Jesus and He is God’s response to our need for a Savior!

He did not send His Son to earth by accident or happenstance, it was done on purpose. Why? Because God is in control! He is Sovereign, the authority over all things!

Our joy should overwhelm us in knowing that the God of the universe knows us! Yet no matter how vast and how broad the universe may be, God knows you and cares for you so much that He sent His Son to be the answer to your need today, the need for a Savior. Thank You Father!

The Always Present God (Omnipresent)

What good is authority if it is far removed from the big picture? What good is power if only exercised from a distance? God knows all there is to know, but also chooses to be everywhere He created. His sovereignty is not a distant thought but is an ever present truth. God is with us ALL the time.

God is Omnipresent – able to be everywhere at all times.

This is not to say that He can be here one moment and there the next. He is truly everywhere at all times. Again, an attribute that is solely found in God alone.

He is no stationary statue that cannot move or fill a room.

He is not limited to one altar or one prayer area.

He is not confined to an idol or an image or an idea,

Let’s consider what God is for a quick moment.

He is that healing spirit that fills the hospital room.

He is the comforting presence in times of loss.

He is the ever stable foundation when our world becomes shaken.

Let’s go again to Psalm 139 starting in verse 7

Psalm 139:7–10 NIV

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

What is the author trying to say in this passage? Simple. There is no place you can go where God… isn’t present!

His Spirit is inescapable. His presence is unavoidable. Which should make our joy inexpressible!

Why? Because in our darkest hour, He is there. In our lowest of lows, He is there. In our most tragic moments, He is there. In our times of peace, He is there. In our times of sorrow, He is there. When we hear our babies first cry, He is there. When we say goodbye, He is there. When we give Him praise, He is there. When the Dr. give his report, He is there. When we lift up prayer, He is there. Are you starting to get this? When we wreck our car, He is there. When we get the promotion, He is there! When we take our last breath, He is there. When we approach the gates of heaven, OH YES FRIENDS! HE IS THERE!

God will never leave us or forsake us!

In the Old Testament days, God filled the Holy of Holies within the temple where the high priest could come once a year to offer sacrificial blood for the atonement of the sins of the people.

In the New Testament, He became Immanuel or God with us. Jesus walked the earth, ministered to the lost, and died for the sins of all mankind.

After ascending into heaven, the Holy Spirit came making His the hearts of all believers His dwelling place. His presence now lives within those who believe and give their lives to Him!

Just before ascending to heaven Jesus said these words to His disciples in Matthew 28:20

Matthew 28:20 NIV

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That last sentence should give us amazing reassurance. That last sentence should produce a joy within that is unspeakable!

What gets us in trouble in this area is NOT an absence of His presence... but a distraction from His existence.

Have you ever been so locked in to watching a T.V. show that you don’t even realize that someone else is in the room with you… or that someone in the room is talking to you? The T.V. distracts us from the presence of others.

We can certainly become distracted in the same way when it comes to the presence of God. We can get so consumed with other things that we forget that He is with us.

I would offer that our number one distraction today is… busyness. Our schedules have us running like crazy! It is the number one answer I get when I ask someone how they are doing.

Busyness can become a MAJOR distraction in our walk with God and… it can become a major attack of the enemy on our spiritual self.

I heard a pastor once say, “If the devil can’t make you bad… he’ll make you busy.” We end up spending all of our time and energy trying to follow our day planner that we have nothing left to give to God!

NEVER FORGET THIS TRUTH: Even in times when you may not feel His presence He is there. Sometimes life has a way of throwing off our spiritual receptors if you will, but it does not change this fact that He is always present!

What needs to happen in such times is a removal of the distractions to make way for a new awareness of His presence.

God is always there! What an incredible joy such a presence in our lives should bring! We never face the journey of this life alone. And what better companion could we ask for in life than God?

I pray you find joy this morning in knowing that God is with you.

The Almighty God (Omnipotent)

Last but not least God is the Almighty or all powerful God He is Omnipotent – unlimited in power.

This may be one of the hardest things for us to comprehend for all we know on earth is limited power.

Nothing on earth can compare to this claim. Everything must be recharged, refuel, restored, re-energized, etc.

One of our current struggles is finding an energy source that is renewable. As we spend the energy our resources go down. Run out of resource and we run out of energy.

We know that our physical bodies are also limited in power and energy.

We can only go so far. We can only do so much.

We can condition ourselves to go a little further, but there will always be a stopping point.

Everything that surrounds us in the natural world is limited by nature and will eventually run out of power. And in that limitation, we can find frustration. In that limitation, we become restricted in what we can do.

This is not the case with God!

How many realize today that God is not of this world? He is not natural in composition, but supernatural by definition. He is the all mighty God, unlimited in power!

Evidence of His limitless power is the speaking of the universe into motion. Genesis 1 gives the details of how God spoke and our world was created. Pretty neat demonstration of power.

How about His power to part the red sea in Exodus 14 and destroying the Egyptian army that threatened the Israelites safety? Great stuff right?

Or how about God’s ability to crush a giant with a small stone tossed by the hand of a shepherd boy named David in 1 Samuel 17? Power beyond our imagination?

What about the day God rolled away the stone that had been sealed and placed under Roman Guard so that His Son may come back to life after spending three days in the tomb? What a glorious day indeed! And how about the effects of His resurrection! Sin now stripped of it’s power! Death now stripped of its sting! As stated in 1 Cor 15:54 “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Talk about a righteous display of God’s power!

Nothing and no one is greater in power than our God! And the really awesome part of this story is… that same power that raised Christ from the dead.... now lives IN YOU!

May we never allow the ideas and limited thinking of this world strip us of this truth today.

Talks of evolution and theories strip the world of God’s power.

Talks of the Bible being nothing but fairy tales strip the world of God’s power.

Talks of the church becoming irrelevant to our culture and well being as a nation strip the world of God’s power.

And if we as a society continue to strip the world of His power, the world will continue to find itself powerless, joyless, and out of control.

The great thing about God’s power is He made it available to all who would receive it.

We know His power through our redemption. We know His power through our healing. We know His power through His encouraging. We know His power through His provision. His power has been displayed in countless ways and we should be quick to give unto Him our praise and appreciation. All glory belongs to the all powerful God who is truly sovereign over all the earth!

Closing Application

I’m so glad that the all-knowing, always present, and all-powerful God is in control today! What joy this truth brings to my soul!

We do not have to navigate this world under our own power or our own abilities, our God is always with us, always knowing our needs, and is all powerful and able to get the job done.

He is sovereign. He is ultimate authority as there is no other like Him.

Therefore, it is imperative that we

Recognize the authority of God

Submit to the authority of God.

These actions position ourselves to be under His sovereign authority. We place our lives into His very able hands.

When we fully submit to His authority, we trust in who God is and what He is able to do.

God IS our loving heavenly Father. God’s power and authority knows no limits!

He has a plan for you… He has a plan for all of us. Are you willing to submit yourself to Him?

I am glad tonight that not only can we know God, but we can know His plan.

God has given us His plan. God has spelled it out all right here for us to follow.

His power is seen throughout this plan.

His authority is seen all throughout this plan.

He knew the end of this plan before the words “In the beginning” were ever written down.

GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!

This evening, if you find yourself stressed instead of filled with joy… anxious instead of assured… then I would encourage you to resubmit yourself to God, to His power, to His authority, and to His plan.

Distractions come and try to pull us away from going God’s way. It’s time to get back on track.

Frustrations set in as we try to take the reigns. It’s time to get back on track.

Uncertainty can result as we try to write our own story apart from the Lord. It’s time to get back on track.

And As we pray, I will also pray for God to fill you with His joy as you fully submit to His authority!

Will you pray with me tonight?