The Greatness Of God's Sovereignty

Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to Isaiah, Prophet Isaiah, chapter 46. You follow as I read God's Word. bell bows down nebo stoops their idols on beasts and livestock these things you carry are born as burdens on weary beasts they stoop they bow down together they cannot save the burden but themselves go into captivity listen to me oh house of jacob all the remnant of the house of israel who have been born by me from before your birth, carried from the womb, even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear, I will carry and will save.

To whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be alike? 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. 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. Remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is no other.

I am God, and there is none like me. 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 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 purpose and I will do it listen to me you stubborn of heart you who are far from righteousness I bring near my righteousness It is not far off and my salvation will not delay I will put salvation in Zion for Israel my glory Let pray Father open your word to us now Lord keep this from being merely historical study merely learning about the Bible Lord, we pray that these truths would change our hearts, change our attitudes, change our speech, change our behavior. God, help us to translate truth into life as true disciples of Jesus, as we hear your very voice in the words of Scripture. Give us now ears to hear, hearts willing to change, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. How do you measure the greatness of a king? history usually accords the title of great to those rulers whose sovereignty goes unchallenged they're called great because they have a plan and they have the ability to accomplish it alexander the great if i can go back to your high school history class alexander the great lived 300 years before jesus was born he was born as the king of macedonia a small nation north of Greece. But within a few years, he had conquered all of Greece.

He had conquered the hated arch rivals, the Persian Empire. He had included in his empire Palestine and Egypt. In fact, he extended the reach of his rule all the way, if you can imagine it, all the way through Central Asia and actually into India. he essentially extended his authority over the known world it was said that he wept at 33 when there were no more kingdoms to conquer he was called alexander the great because of his ability to conquer he had a plan and he accomplished it now how do you measure the greatness of god many people today even christians do not stand in awe of god's greatness they have conformed to the age around them that puts god at the margins of life j.i packer in his book knowing god a book that if you have not read i would suggest you get it and read it it it was published nearly 50 years ago It a wonderful book And Packer in Knowing God says this, Christian minds have been conformed to the modern spirit.

The spirit that is that spawns great thoughts of man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God. And that's to be expected because he writes those who look at God so to speak through the wrong end of the telescope so reducing him to pygmy proportions cannot hope to end up as more than pygmy Christians we don't see the greatness of God we have small thoughts of God well then if we are to see God's greatness what must we see I would suggest to you this morning that a good beginning place for apprehending the greatness of God is to understand his sovereignty, is to understand his sovereignty. Now, what exactly comprises sovereignty?

I think that's a question we always need to ask. When we talk about sovereignty, gods or any others, what do we mean by that? What makes someone sovereign? I would suggest to you two things. The first is the authority. he has authority someone who is sovereign has the authority to rule occupies a position of authority has the right to rule so sovereignty involves authority and sovereignty involves the possession of power that is the king or the ruler has the power or the ability to enforce or carry out his decrees or plans He has the authority to make those plans.

He has the power to accomplish those plans. His authority is useless without the power to back it up. But if he doesn't have the authority, then he's not sovereign. He has no right to tell you what to do or to do what he wants to do. And so sovereignty is composed of two things, authority and power. The God we worship is great because he is sovereign He occupies the place of authority in all the universe He is the one who has the right the authority to rule in all of the universe in all of reality God has the right to rule And he has the ability to accomplish all that he plans or decrees God possesses both authority and power.

Alexander may be called great because he had the power to accomplish his plan of conquest here on earth. But our God is great because he sits on the throne of the universe and has all the power to accomplish everything he purposes and desires. So hear the challenge from this great God in verse 5 of this chapter. To whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be alike?

If that is true of God, if what we're asserting is true of God, then who will you compare him to? What can compare to this God? Now, I'm always thinking, and I haven't done it for a long time, but there's always a part of me that says we need to spend some time in the attributes of God. Because if we don't have great thoughts of God, we're going to be pygmy Christians.

So I'm going to take a stab at just one of them today, and that is God's sovereignty, as it's revealed to us in Isaiah 46. And by the way, we'll continue our discussion this afternoon. If your appetite is whetted at all, then stay for dinner. All right? But let's talk about this challenge from God because of his sovereignty. I just want to take a little bit of time to talk about the sovereignty of God as it's revealed here just in this chapter.

Now, Isaiah the prophet looks more than 200 years into the future to the destruction of Babylon. Now remember, Isaiah is living approximately around 700 B.C. He serves King Hezekiah. He is, in fact, Hezekiah's court prophet. That is to say, the kings of that day had prophets as part of their court. Isaiah is a true prophet of God, and he is part of Hezekiah's court.

He is one of Hezekiah's closest advisors. He is living in a time in which the kingdom of Judah is heavily pressured by the superpower of its day, Assyria. Now, in about 150 years, Assyria is going to fall. Isaiah and Hezekiah are gone. And Babylon, at this point, Babylon is just appearing on the horizon. It's a nation that's starting to appear as a threat.

It eventually conquers Assyria and establishes its own empire under Nebuchadnezzar. now Isaiah 200 years before accurately predicts the destruction of Judah by Babylon as God's judgment as you read in the book of Isaiah he looks ahead and he says this power that's barely appearing on the horizon will someday enslave our peoples but here he's looking even beyond that and he's looking to the actual destruction of Babylon. So, in this book, he talks about Judah being wiped out by a future power in Babylon. But now, as we begin, he is talking about the destruction of the destroyer.

All right? Now, he predicts the future. As you know, here's a good example. Isaiah predicts the future not to satisfy some curiosity, not just so everybody knows what's going to happen. He does it to call the people of God back to their worship of God. The reason why he's even talking about the future is so that now, the people looking at what God says will worship God.

Okay, footnote here. This is a freebie. It's not in my notes. okay you're getting this for nothing okay bonus all right most of prophecy is aimed that way it's aimed to cause us to see god in a particular light and to respond to him in the right way you remember a few years ago we went through the book of revelation which we found out actually talks about the present day and what's going on now as well as the future but you remember that in Revelation it's all intended to help us what?

It's to help us stand for God. It's to help us be faithful in our faith. And so whenever you read prophecy note almost always it aimed at the present And so right here is Isaiah talking about the destruction of the destroyer in order to call the people back now to worship God. To whom will you compare the living God? The gods of a conquering nation, that's what he's talking about in verses 1 and 2.

Bel bows down, Nebo stoops. Those are Babylonian gods. Their idols are on beasts and livestock. These things you carry are born as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop. They bow down together.

They cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. What is he saying here? The great gods of the Babylonian conquerors will be conquered. They'll be conquered. They will bow to their conquerors. In fact, these powerful and great gods. footnote in the worldview of people in that day if my nation defeats your nation it's not aha I've gained a political advantage it's your God has been defeated by my gods all right so remember you read in the book of Daniel and you've got the articles from the temple of God in Jerusalem in the temple of the gods of Nebuchadnezzar?

Why is that? It's a display saying, your god has been defeated. You see? Your god has been defeated. And so what's happening here is Nebo and Bel bow down. In fact, these gods will be carried away on beasts of burden.

These gods who supposedly have been conquerors will someday be carried away on beasts of burden, unable to free themselves even from the donkeys that carry them away. Do you see the point? How great are these gods? How great are these super-powered gods? They can't even free themselves from the donkeys of their conquerors as their conquerors load up the idols and carry them away.

To whom will you compare me? To these gods? Do you count these equal with the true and the living God? Then he goes on. Look at verses 6 and 7. Those who lavish gold from the person weigh out silver in the scales hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god And they fall down in worship 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. Compare me to these other gods and what do you find? They are created and they are powerless. They are created and powerless. You gather the gold and silver to make these gods. You build them, you worship them, but they never answer you.

In fact, you worship them, then put them up on your shoulder and carry them to the place of honor where you're going to honor them. By the way, at this point, you're supposed to be laughing. This is irony in a major way. You're worshiping these gods. You made it, and then you carry it to its place of honor and worship it. do you not see the silliness of that to whom will you compare me you're going to compare me to that they can't answer you you're going to compare me to that verses three and four right in the middle he says but i am the god who carried you from conception to old age again catch the irony of what God is saying.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been born by me from before your birth, carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear, I will carry and will save. These gods you want to worship are carried away on beasts of burden. These gods you want to worship are carried by you to their place of honor.

But I am the God who made you. I am the God who carries you. I am the God who sustains you. To whom will you compare me? Right? You see that?

But you might say, but Pastor Tim, we don't have a problem with idolatry. Only our Catholic and Orthodox neighbors do But we don We don By the way just humorous okay this is totally a freebie Down in Memphis in some of the meetings that I had to go to were across the street from this humongous church and it's Mid-American Baptist Theological Seminary, a Southern Baptist school, and what I've noticed, because we've been in a lot of Southern Baptist places, what I've noticed is whether it's a church or take note of this now, or a seminary. They always have these huge portraits of former presidents and pastors in their hallways.

It's big, giant portraits. Dr. So-and-so and Dr. This and Dr. That, right? Take note of that now.

So you're not getting it. Anyway, one of the guys I was talking to said that Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary, came out and really hammered the Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, the Orthodox Church, for all their icons and everything. And an Orthodox friend said to this fellow I was talking to, you think we have a problem with icons? I just have to walk into your churches and schools and see them all over the place.

But anyway, that's neither here nor there. You might say, I don't have a problem with idolatry. That's not my problem. I don't bow down to things. Really, look at Ezekiel 14 for a moment. This is an incredible passage.

And you've heard me talk about this passage. We've been here before. But to me, again, this is one of those really important passages. You know, Isaiah here is challenging these people about their idolatry. Fast forward now to after Babylon has eliminated Judah from the scene. And now we're in captivity in Babylon.

So Ezekiel, as we look at it now, is fast forwarding over 200 years now to the time of Ezekiel. As Ezekiel writes this, he's writing this from Babylon. They are in the captivity. And history will tell you, as you read the Old Testament, Israel was constantly fighting idolatry, or giving into idolatry, weren't they? Giving into idolatry. But history tells us that after the Babylonian captivity, Israel never struggled again.

Jewish people became committed monotheists. And Every Jew who's Orthodox or holds to the Judaism will only worship one God. They say that happened at the Babylonian captivity. But as we read Ezekiel, we're going to find they still had a problem with idolatry, as you do and I do. Let's look at Ezekiel 14. One.

Then certainly the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me, and the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Any one of the house of Israel takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and yet comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are all estranged from me through their idols.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, repent and turn away from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations. What is he telling them? He says, you still have a problem with idolatry. You have an idolatry of the heart. You have an idolatry of the heart. You have idols in your heart.

No, you're not worshipping them, but you're setting this iniquity before your face in your heart. Guess what? John Calvin once said it well, the human heart is an idol factory. We all struggle against idolatry. How do you find out if you have an idol in your heart? You know how you find out?

You ask a very simple question. If only I had fill in the blank, then I would be happy. Then I would be satisfied. Then I would be fulfilled. If only I had that, there's your idol. It could be anything like this.

If only my husband understood me, if only my husband understood me, then my life would be so good. If only my boss at work would see the good work that I do, then I would be happy. There would be nothing standing between me and joy. If only if only my teachers respected me and treated me with respect then I would flower There your idols There an idol of the heart You see And you give your allegiance to that idol and you serve that idol And what happens?

It disappoints you every time. It disappoints you every time. Just like Isaiah I said. Who are you going to compare me to? Can they sustain you? Can they carry you?

I'm the only one who can carry you and sustain you. There may be some external idols. We give our loyalty and allegiances not just to those things in our heart. And listen, you spend this afternoon asking yourself that question, and my guess is you're going to find idols from which you need to repent and stop worshiping. But there are also external idols that can draw our allegiance away from God.

You can identify those by asking, if only something succeeds, then I will find deliverance. Then everything will be alright. If only the Democrats would stop this foolish impeachment inquiry, then we would all be a lot better off. Or you might say, if only those Democrats would really get and wish they would hurry up and pass those articles of impeachment, then we will be able to make progress.

Or maybe you might say, you know what, if only I had more money and a successful business, I'd be fulfilled. So you put your trust in the latest economic plan or philosophy. Or you might say, boy, if only I had personal liberty. Boy, if we have personal liberty, then we will succeed. I will be able to flourish. And so you give your allegiance to the ideology of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

We have lots of idols vying for our allegiance. And frankly, we're horrible idolaters. We are horrible idolaters. And so we waver in our allegiances. Listen, an idol is anything in which you put your hope, in which you bank your hopes. It's that to which you entrust yourself, that you believe in, that which you pursue.

There is your idol. How do they compare to the living God How do they compare to the living God I won deny that if some things happen politically, it may get difficult. It may get difficult. But is God thwarted? Is there any difficulty that can stand in your way that will keep you from flourishing in godliness? No.

In fact, you're going to find that a lot of times when your idols are destroyed, that's when you flourish. And the destruction of our idols is often a painful process. But this is the God who can compare to the living, can understanding and respect, can a better job, can freedom, can financial stability, can any of those things compare to God in terms of carrying you and sustaining you?

You know it doesn't. You know there's nothing that can compare to God. All are powerless when compared to the living God. So God challenges you to take to heart his sovereignty. What does he do? Verse 8.

Verse 8. Now therefore, hear this, you lover of pleasures. I'm sorry, that's 47. That didn't sound familiar. Remember this. They sound the same.

Remember this and stand firm. Recall to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old for I am God and there is no other I am God and there is none like me 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 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 purpose and I will do it. So how does God challenge us?

He tells us this first. Remember, first of all, remember this. When your heart is prone to wonder, you transgressor, rebel, remember the former things. Remember the former things. Remember how God humbled the Egyptians with the plagues. Remember how he delivered you through the Red Sea and destroyed a great army.

Remember how the walls of Jericho came down without lifting a finger Remember how a shepherd boy slew a giant Remember how he killed the whole Assyrian army as it was encamped around the city of Jerusalem Remember those things Remember the God who delivered you from your former way of life and has changed you dramatically Remember the God who's delivered you. Look back at what God has done. Look at what God has done.

Listen, we have a whole history of God here. you think that way we have a whole history of god did when he crushed the egyptians in the red sea did that really happen did that really happen you really believe that stand there on the side of the red sea and watch it happen in your imagination did that really happen sure it is is that the same god that you worship today Do you think he can change things as he wills? Sure he can. Look at what he's done in the past.

And by the way, you have a whole history of God's sovereignty in your own life. Can you look at the past and see what's happened? Can you see the turn you could have taken but you didn't? His sovereign, God and his sovereignty and wise counsel organized the events of your life so you turned right instead of left. And look where you are now. I can, man I'm telling you I can look over the whole history of my 64 years and I can see the sovereignty of God every step of the way when you're tempted to doubt the sovereignty of God look at his history he says I am God and there is no other I am God and there is none like me what other gods have that kind of power what idols have ever accomplished any kind of deliverance You know what a great passage is?

It just comes to my mind. I hope I can find it right. Turn back to Deuteronomy 4. Here it is. Verse 32 Ask now the days that are past. Now this is early on in their history.

Right? This is they've been out of Egypt now for 40 years. So we're talking short history here. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? or has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and by great deeds of terror all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes to you it was shown that you might know that the Lord is God there is no other besides Him now think about those words has there ever been in the history of mankind anything like this no to whom will you compare this god when your heart is tempted to stray you need to rehearse the works of god from the bible from your own life yet god's not merely sovereign in the past verses 10 and 11 says he is still sovereign and will remain sovereign right my counsel will stand and I will accomplish all my purpose here is the pinnacle of his sovereignty and don't think in your mind well God will do anything he wants unless I say no no who are you Daniel says it In Daniel chapter 4, when Nebuchadnezzar is humbled by God, right?

And at the end of chapter 4, the cry goes out, Who can hold back the hand of God? What's the answer? Now what? God will do what he has purposed to do. nothing, nothing will ever thwart him from accomplishing his purposes. And in verse 11, now verse 11, he's looking again now beyond Babylon. Who is this bird of prey from the east That Cyrus It Cyrus the king of the Persians and the Medes who will one day conquer Babylon And God says I the one who called him I the one who brought him I the one who put him in the place to conquer your enemies.

I have spoken and will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it. Alright? I'll do it. I'm going to call this man from the east and he's going to bring deliverance. So you see, God has the authority to command that certain things happen and He has the power to execute those commands.

No one can thwart His purposes. No one can hold back His hand. All other gods, all other idols, past or present, no other idol in which you put your hope will ever accomplish its purposes. You remember that. When you start saying, if only I had this, then I would flourish. Remember this.

Take it to mind. That idol will not deliver. only God can anything in which you put your hope can and most certainly will be thwarted and frustrated but not God he will do as he pleases no man can stand in his way no nation can frustrate his purposes for the earth no political power will ever end the power of the gospel to convert people no political party will advance the kingdom of God no power in heaven and earth will succeed against the purposes of God and that's the difference that the Bible makes of God than what people think of God today God says what he says he will accomplish he has the authority and the power to do it now lastly and shortly here when you compare god and his sovereignty to all others you must respond you must respond how well let me suggest a few things just a few you can respond with confidence respond with confidence verses 12 and 13 listen to me you stubborn of heart you who are far from righteousness I will bring near my righteousness it is not far off and my salvation will not delay I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory. I will deliver you.

I will accomplish that. My salvation is not far off. By the way, I believe he's making a reference to what he just said in verse 11. Cyrus is going to come along you remember defeat the Babylonians and then send them back to their land and the temple would be rebuilt in Jerusalem again but overarching looking through it all God says my salvation will not be thwarted it will not be thwarted it's a picture of his greater deliverance what does it look like when Jesus is hanging on a cross what does that look like utter defeat but you know and I know what is it it's the victory of God over the powers of evil it's the victory over all that is wrong what looks like absolute defeat is really victory Why?

Because God is sovereign. He accomplishes His purposes. No one can thwart Him. Listen. Let's turn to John 3 very quickly. John 3.

Let's just take a real quick look at this very familiar passage. John 3. verses 16 through 18 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God question do you believe that? do you believe that's true? do you believe that those who just lay down everything and just trust in Jesus will have eternal life? That they pass from judgment to life and those who don are going to be condemned Do you believe that On what basis What basis Because God is sovereign He has the authority to make the promise.

He has the power to fulfill it. If you don't believe in the sovereignty of God, you have no hope. You have none. I look and I see the Scriptures filled with promises. Why do I believe them? Why?

Because God is sovereign. He has the right to make the promise. He has the authority to make the promise. He has the power to fulfill it. If he didn't have the authority, then I'm believing someone I should not. If he doesn't have the power, my hope is entirely misplaced.

The only reason you can camp on John 3.16, the only reason that you can believe that is because you believe that God has the authority to make that promise and he sure enough has the power to fulfill it you know what this ought to cause you then to praise and to worship God and let's conclude with this look at Romans 11 here in Romans 11 after the apostle Paul has gone to great pains to show the sovereignty of God and the things that he is doing to accomplish his purpose of salvation finally says this oh verse 33 oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. That's where you end up. If you truly believe in the sovereignty of God. No matter what's happening in your life now, Your wife, your husband, your job, your circumstances, the political situation.

No matter what you put into that equation. You remember this. Your only hope. sovereign God. That is your only hope. And that ought to lead you to confidence in Him and awe in worship. Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for the fact so clearly revealed in your word that you are sovereign and nothing and no one will ever be able to be compared to you. nothing and no one has the authority or the power that you have oh god help this not to be just an article of our faith tucked into our confession tucked into our system of beliefs make this i pray a bedrock of our life of our faith of our confidence of our worship grant it we pray so that others will praise you and see you as great as we trust in your greatness. In Jesus' name, Amen.