The Sovereignty of God and the Avoidance of Future Shock - Various Scriptures

I want to begin today by looking at Psalm 31. Let’s turn there and read it together.

Today is January 3^rd, 2010. Just saying that out loud causes me to pause and wonder how I made it to this point in time, 2010. I always thought 2010 was way, way off in the future. But here I am. I expected it to be rather different than this. I thought for sure we’d all have flying cars like the Jetsons. I assumed people would be living on the Moon by now. Surely by 2010, we should have world peace. Fifty years ago, a lot of people had pretty high hopes for what was then the distant future. I know, because I was there!

Now here we are in what was my distant future. And it’s rather disappointing. Jesus hasn’t come back like we were told He would, more than once. Bad televangelists are STILL on TV and more ridiculous than ever. Politics haven’t gotten any better. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Muslims are the fastest growing population group in the world. If we pull out our imaginary time travel binoculars and look ahead 50 years from now into the future, it doesn’t look nearly as good as 2010 looked 50 years ago. I’m having trouble being optimistic. But you probably knew that.

A presidential campaign was won just over a year ago, and our President won that campaign based largely upon one word: Hope. We were encouraged to look into the future for great changes which we could all believe in. But the events of 2009 have dashed a lot of that optimistic, and even naïve hopefulness. We’ve seen what may be the worst fiscal year in American history unfold before our eyes. It tempts me to be pessimistic about the next three years, and makes us fearful for the next generation who will have to pick up the tab.

But as Christians, we have outstanding reasons to be immensely hopeful about the future! The Bible teaches us we are citizens of heaven. We are aliens and strangers here. That is not to say that we should disengage ourselves from society or ignore the problems we see around us. But it is good to know our time here is temporary. Our permanent home is Heaven. Our good Master, the Lord Jesus, has gone to prepare it for us so that we can be with Him where He is. Today, we find ourselves a year closer to seeing Christ. We, you and I, and all who have trusted in Him alone for their salvation, have a home in Heaven, a place that is not subject to the foolishness of sinful men.

As the clock ticks, we move forward in our pilgrimage to the Celestial City. But we’re not there yet, so we wait, and we pray for grace to live well. But our praying for grace in this corrupt world is not a weak-kneed praying. God will supply us with the strength and encouragement we need to live for Him amongst His enemies in this world that has always been intolerant of Christ and hostile toward Christians.

When we pray for God’s enabling grace, the grace we need to be pleasing, obedient, good and faithful slaves, we can pray with confidence that God will always supply that need. One of the reasons why we approach God in prayer with confidence in these dark days is because He tells us to:

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

We are encouraged to unhesitatingly ask our heavenly Father to grant us mercy and grace to help us in our times of struggle SO THAT we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy and grace are there to be had when we need it. And we can be confident that God will supply it.

Not only that, but we also know that whatever may befall us in the year ahead, we can agree wholeheartedly with the apostle Paul who says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18) There is a future for the believer that is gloriously bright!

So if we suffer in the meantime in various ways and to various degrees, God has promised us grace and mercy to endure whatever comes, and regardless of what comes, we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28).

It is for these reasons we’re commanded in the Scriptures not to worry. We have a merciful heavenly Father who promises sufficient grace for living now, and a glorious future that is absolutely guaranteed to us by a sovereign God. Therefore, we do not fear the future. Two little words, quaintly expressed in the King James Version, tell us of our duty regarding the future: “Fret not.”

Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. (Ps 37:1,7-8)

That old English word “fret” doesn’t simply mean “worry”. It also implies anger, especially anger against the ungodly who seem to control our circumstances so often. If we worry and fret, if we become angry and wring our hands in fear of the days to come, if we are constantly frustrated about the lack of justice in the world, we commit sin against our good and sovereign God.

Aside from all the talk these days about the detrimental effects of stress, worrying and fretting is sinful. Worry is faithlessness. The children of Israel were characterized by this kind of fretting when they complained in the desert against God for not caring for them or providing for them as they thought He should. Worry is a denial of the good and sovereign hand of God over our lives. It is the sin of unbelief.

When we worry, we are in effect saying we DON’T know that all things will work together for good for us. We DON’T know that God will keep us. We DON’T believe He will keep His promises to us. We’re NOT certain He will love us to the end or deliver us from our enemies or protect us in the midst of death, or life, or angels, or principalities, or powers or any of those other things out there that could bring us to ruin. We’re just not willing to take up the shield of faith that quenches satan’s fiery darts. We’d rather trust ourselves and our assessment of things, than trust the God who loves us.

To worry about the future is to cast doubt upon the reliability of Scripture. It is to question the character and trustworthiness of God and His faithfulness to care for His own. It is to call God a liar. It is to declare ourselves to be sovereign over our lives instead of God.

When Christians worry and fret and become angry about the future or about the wickedness of evil men toward us, we are for all practical purposes saying Jesus isn’t the Good Shepherd. He’s the Bad Shepherd who doesn’t take care of His flock. He is the hireling who doesn’t care and abandons the sheep when the wolves come to devour them. He’s not really our Friend, He’s just a so-called Friend. Obviously He doesn’t intercede to the Father for us. Or maybe He is, but the Father just isn’t paying Him any attention. Clearly, God is not for us. He is against us. Just look at how terrible things have become! Why did He bring us out into this wilderness just to abandon us and let us die!

In the midst of what were arguably the darkest days in the history of this nation, the Civil War, many Christians on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line were sorely tempted to be very afraid of the future. No doubt, God’s people worried, just like we’re tempted to do today. But listen to this quote from someone who had much more reason to worry than most of us:

"My religious beliefs teach me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself with that, but to be always ready whenever it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and all men would be equally brave." ~ General Stonewall Jackson

We can be brave in the face of the unknown future because it is our God, the sovereign God over all, who has fixed the circumstances of our lives and the time of our deaths. Someone has said that until God says otherwise, we are immortal. Stonewall Jackson understood that regardless of how many bullets and mortars and cannonballs came in his direction, it was God who determined whether he would live or die. We’re indestructible until the moment God calls us home. And in that moment, when that fixed time of our death arrives, we’re called HOME.

As a shepherd, and a general, and a king, David had plenty of occasions to worry and be angry. He was hunted incessantly by jealous King Saul. He was himself a man of war who fought many battles, not the least of which was with Goliath, a giant that everyone else in the Israeli army was afraid to fight! As king of Israel, he was the target of many political enemies, not the least of which was one of his own children. David had many occasions to be worried and fearful and angry over the evils of his day. But it was David who said, "In You, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in Your righteousness deliver me. My times are in your hand. Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!" (Ps. 31:1,15).

How is it that even in the midst of awful circumstances, men like:

• David who was in danger constantly from countless enemies,
• Paul who was beaten repeatedly because of the message of the Gospel,
• Peter who according to tradition was crucified upside down,
• Stonewall Jackson who rode into battle repeatedly with bullets flying all around, and
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who was executed by hanging in Nazi Germany,

and multitudes of others,

How is it that they stand confidently in their hope in God? Listen to this quote from Bonhoeffer:

“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”

How do they see only Christ and NOT fret about the hard road ahead? What is it that keeps godly men from being fearful of the future?

It is because they know God. They are familiar with Christ. They understand His ways and His promises and His steadfast love towards His people. They grasp the immutability of Christ. The Christian can face tomorrow because of his knowledge and understanding and experience of who God is. The thing that brings comfort to the true believer in every circumstance is the assurance that God is good, He is in complete, sovereign control over every minute detail of his life, and that control will not and cannot ever change. It is a good, almighty, unchanging, sovereign God who governs all the events of every individual Christian’s life, from before his conception in his mother’s womb, until his dying breath when he departs this world and is present with the Lord - It is this knowledge of THIS God that protects the Christian from habitual worry.

Now someone is going to say, “Keith, don’t you read the news? Don’t you see what’s happening in the world and in our country? Don’t you understand things are falling apart, evil is everywhere, the wicked prosper, and America is in deep, deep trouble? You need to get your head out of the sand and start preaching about this stuff so we can reclaim America for God!”

Beloved, God never lost America. God owns America as totally today as He did when the Pilgrims stepped off the boat onto Plymouth Rock! He doesn’t need us to go find it for Him by means of legislation or the democratic process. Not only that, He also owns Iraq and Afghanistan and North Korea and New Jersey. He owns it all, He is sovereign over it all.

Here’s what needs to happen in America: God’s people need to trust Him. We need to trust His word, and do what He says. That is what Christians must be about in 2010, 2011, and every year God gives us. God’s people must live for their Master. They must be holy. They must not compromise their faith, they must not listen to the myriad of voices that would have us believe the entire planet is going crazy and no one can stop it.

10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Ps 33:10-11)

Do you believe that? Do you really believe God is sovereign over the nations? Do you believe a good and omnipotent God SHALL bring ALL of His plans to fruition? Do you believe the rulers and the nations of this world are subject to the plans and purposes of the King of Kings? Do you believe that in the midst of all the troubles we see around us, God will keep His promises to bless the people He has chosen as His own heritage?

Or do you prefer to give in to emotion and doubt and fear, and believe God makes His plans and designs His own purposes for naught? Maybe God doesn’t really even have a plan. Maybe He has just given up and can’t do anything about this mess.

Would you prefer to believe in a fictitious God who either makes promises He cannot keep, or just lies about promises He has no intention of keeping? Do you prefer to be self-deceived and believe God is letting people get away with murder, that He has turned a blind eye to this corrupt world, winks at sin, and will never hold the guilty accountable?

Do you want to spend 2010 standing around saying, “What if . . . ?” What if this happens? What if that happens? What if those people get elected? What if I become terminally ill? What if we are attacked again? What if Iran launches a nuclear missile? What if I lose my job? What if my car breaks down? What if I get carjacked by Somali pirates? What if Penn State loses? What if I get Swine Flu? What if Yellowstone erupts and wipes North America off the map? What if we get hit by an asteroid the size of Africa??

What if God is lying? What if God doesn’t answer my prayers? What if God isn’t faithful? What if He doesn’t really love me?

Brethren, what must God do to convince you that He is trustworthy in all things?

When David said, “My times are in His hands” what did he mean by that? Well, I know what he didn’t mean. David’s life was not in the Devil’s hands. His times were not in Saul’s hands. His life was not subject to his enemies. His life did not belong even to himself!

My times, my years, my days, my hours are in the hands of the One who owns me. The One who died for me. My life is not my own or anyone else’s. I belong to God! Nothing can touch me, nothing can harm me, no one can hurt me, no power can rise up successfully against me, no demon from Hell can assault me, APART FROM God’s good plans and purposes for my life. He has proven His love to me by giving His own Son for my sake. Even when I hated Him. My life is not my own, it belongs to the One in whom I can place every ounce of trust and faith. Do not fret. Trust God.

Look with me for a moment at Ephesians 1. Here is the reality of it all. This is the truth about the future of every true believer in Christ:

11 In him we have [already] obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

 Unless the apostle Paul is a liar, and God is a fiction, and Jesus Christ was an impostor, and the Bible is a collection of fairy tales, and we along with hundreds of millions of Christians through the ages are self-deceived, unless the resurrection never really happened . . . Unless everything we read in the Bible is a lie, . . . these are some of the most encouraging words and some of the most hope-inspiring promises a human being could possibly hear!!

As believers in the Lord Jesus, God has predestined an eternal inheritance in Heaven for us, and He can do that because Heaven belongs to Him! He works ALL THINGS according to whatever He wants to do! He decided to save us from our sins and grant us a life in Heaven forever with Himself. He just decided that was what He wanted to do, and He is doing it. In order to guarantee that we actually acquire possession of this eternal inheritance, and to convince us that all this is really true, He Himself has sealed us for that inheritance by granting us His own Holy Spirit to live in us until that day. And He is going to do all of this, not simply for our sakes, but in order to place His own glory on display for eternity!

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21

So, what are you going to worry about in 2010? It is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. And part of His purpose is to take us, sooner or later, in His own time, and by His own power, for the sake of His own name, to be with Him. We can rest in God because of who He is! Trust Him to accomplish every single thing He purposes to do. And get on with your life for Him.

Turn quickly to Isaiah 46. I want you to see who God is.

"To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? 6 Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! 7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.
8 "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

Now, someone might say, “It’s not God that I’m concerned about. I know He is good, that He loves me, that He is in control of all things and all nations, and I know I can trust Him. That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m not sure I can trust myself! What if my faith fails? What if the going gets tough and I’m weak, and I deny the Lord? Even Peter denied the Lord and he was an apostle! What hope do I have that I will have greater faith than that?”

Have you ever had a “friend” that you wished would just leave you alone? One of those friends that insists on being a friend even though you don’t really feel like having them around? One of those obnoxious people that sticks closer than a brother, who is committed to you no matter what? One of those friends who acts like he would never, never, ever, not ever in a million years leave you or forsake you?

Brethren, sooner or later, either in this year to come or in some future year, your faith will be tested to the breaking point. Your faith, and mine, is being tested all the time. James reminds us to look at those occasions with joy because it is God at work in us to refine us and strengthen us in our faith. Not break us and destroy our faith. And even though there may very well be those times when we fail, when doubts and fears assail us, God has promised to remain faithful to us! It is God who causes us to persevere in our faith because He has committed Himself to our tender care.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1Peter 1:3-5)

 Nothing can separate us from His love! He’s the One who guards us! You cannot separate yourself from Him! He is the Good Shepherd who does care for His sheep, whose rod and staff are a comfort to us. He leads and guides us daily. He has committed Himself to our care, and ultimately it doesn’t matter what 2010 holds in store for us. Whatever happens in the year or years or decades or centuries to come, our God will never, never, no not ever, leave us or forsake us.

Are you fearful of the future? Do you worry about what 2010 may hold in store for you? Then repent. Pray and ask the Lord to forgive you for your faithlessness and your doubting. Do we know what will happen in the days to come? No. Do we know who will go there with us? Absolutely! Listen to the word of the Lord through the apostle Paul:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Php. 1:6)

God will finish what He has started, and not even Hell itself can stop it. He will see us through. He is faithful. He has promised and He cannot lie. So we encourage ourselves with the words of Solomon:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

May the Lord grant us the grace we need to trust Him with all our hearts for the coming year, and for every day of our lives, come what may.