God's Good Good Sovereignty

00:00 - Speaker 1 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 00:09 - Speaker 2 Here you go. There's one God. One God, and he's sovereign. He's the Creator, he's the Savior, he's the Redeemer, he's God Almighty, he's the one who was, who is, who is to come. He's the Eternal God, he's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. There's no other. 00:29 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbscom slash podcast Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five-star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 00:58 - Speaker 2 The Bible teaches there's God the Father, god the Son and God the Holy Spirit One God who manifests himself in three persons. How do you understand that? I don't understand that. Somebody will say it's like an egg. There's the shell and the yolk and the white. No, he's not like an egg. It's like water, ice and vapor. No, he's not. 01:20 We can do our best. The best I can figure out is this Imagine one house You've heard me say this before A house with an address. That address is 123 Heavenly Lane, and at that one address, inside live three distinct individual persons. Yet they all have the same last name, right? So we would say Papa Bear, mama Bear and Baby Bear, so to speak. But in my mind that's as close as I can get. 01:51 God is beyond our capacity to grasp. In fact, it's going to take all eternity. How fun is this going to be To learn about his nature? But we learned these three things in our study last time together that he is himself righteous, he doesn't have to try to be he is righteous, and that he's merciful. Isn't it amazing? Listen, he's righteous, he's merciful, he's compassionate. And we're all talking. Listen, we're all talking about the sovereignty of God. We're not talking about a God that is cynical. We're not talking about a God that's capricious and whimsical. We're not talking about a God that is cynical. We're not talking about a God that's capricious and whimsical. We're talking about God's sovereignty. But his nature is one whereby he is compassionate, he's merciful and he's righteous. We should all be very thankful that this is the nature of our God. What if there was a God who ruled the universe and he was maniacal, in fact, what if he was Lucifer himself? What a horrible thing that would be. 02:47 We so much take it for granted that God is good. God's good, good sovereignty is also anchored to his justice In verses 16 to 18, that God is just in his plans, all of God's plans, according to the Bible. We could also say the will of God is just. God is just In the sovereignty of God's plans. According to the Bible, we could also say the will of God is just. God is just In the sovereignty of God. He's a just God. Now, we are a lot, in fact. Can I put it this way? None of us are just. Well, I'm the president of the American Justice Committee. I don't care. Justice is an attribute of God. Man is unjust by fallen nature. We are unjust. Did you know that he's just? He's the only one who is just. 03:34 And it's interesting that God gave us the rule of law. That's not just an American thing, that's just not a founding father thing. The rule of law comes from a Judeo-Christian worldview, but ultimately the rule of law comes from the Ten Commandments, god's law. It just so happens that even if you've never heard the Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments are written in your soul. The Bible says he's written upon your heart. Why? Because you and I must function by the rule of law, god's law. 04:09 Now, is it possible for you to refute or to stand against a bad law? Are there bad laws anybody? Wow, that was loud. Yes, you must all be from California who just said that. Yes, there's bad laws. There are laws on the books that offend the almighty God because he's just. He's just in all of his plans. 04:31 He says in verse 16,. So then it is not of him who wills Notice, it's lowercase h, humans. So then it's not to a human or for, or of a human to will their own destiny. They don't will their own destiny. They don't will their own beginning, they don't will their own ending. 04:47 I know that offends some people. You just came from Psychobabble course 101. And they told you in that course that you are the captain of your ship, you're the creator of your destiny. You know all of these self-help programs and people don't like to mix self-help programs in with the Bible. You want to know why the Bible has zero tolerance for self-help programs? Because self-help programs keep you and I from coming to the cross. They keep insinuating to us that we can reform ourselves when we cannot. We cannot will anything. We're not sovereign. 05:30 Now, god, in his infinite creation and his powers, has built within the creature us sovereignty to choose, sovereignty to love. Did you know that? Sovereignty to act, sovereignty to be, sovereignty to do? He has built that into you, but that doesn't make you equal to him or greater than him. It's impossible. He who is sovereign has built into you, the one who has been created in his image, a bit of sovereignty, and this is very important, because with this we see that it is not the will of man, nor is it to him who runs. No matter what effort you put forward in that reformation process of trying to be somebody, without Christ there is no hope. 06:21 Look at the end of that verse is great, great comfort, but of God who shows mercy. This is so fun. Why do I revel in the sovereignty of God? Because he shows mercy. It says it right here. Do you need mercy? I want mercy, I love mercy. The remarkable thing about mercy is that you don't value mercy unless you realize you need mercy. I want mercy, I love mercy. The remarkable thing about mercy is you don't value mercy unless you realize you need mercy. A lot of people today, even right now, I'll mention the word mercy and it's like oh yeah, well, whatever, isn't that one of those old words, mercy? Listen, you can hold that view of yours for a little bit, but when you're in trouble, you're going to cry out for mercy, mercy. God is merciful. 07:04 The Bible says in Romans 5, verses 8 and 9,. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Don't answer. But when it says Christ died for us, who was Paul talking about? Christ died for us, don't answer. Just think. Who is he talking to? Christ died for us, verse't answer. Just think. Who is he talking to? Christ died for us, verse 9,. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. That's a promise in the Bible church, god's just plans we're anchored to. And then, secondly, we saw that God is just in his actions. What God does is always right. 07:46 By the way, I should drop this in at this point when you see things going on in this world that are wicked and horrible and terrible and murderous and violent and ugly and you don't like it, first of all, if you do like it, you're in the book of Proverbs. By the way it talks about you. In the book of Proverbs You're a bloodthirsty, lawless murderer. Most people don't like that stuff. Most people look around this world and say it's very, very off the rails, it's very messed up and if you're not careful you begin to blame God about this world. Don't do that. God could turn right around and blame you and blame me, because this world is doing what is in the heart of man. 08:29 The Bible says without God. James says where do wars and divisions and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your own desire to lust and to have power and to control? That didn't come from God. But yet God has given his great message of mercy and forgiveness in sending Christ to the cross. When I say sending, I should say gifting, for God so loved the world that he gifted his only glorified son, his actions, and we touched on this. We'll move on from here, though. 09:02 But verse 17,. Some of you wrote me notes and I really appreciate this. Some of you it's kind of cool. I got some notes on verse 17, where people said my eyes were opened. And then I got notes from people saying of a certain denominational background you're crazy, my denomination teaches this. And then the opposing denomination guy wrote me. So these two guys don't get along. They're both arguing for their human founders, and I got in trouble from both ends. You know what that means, don't you? That means I'm right in the sweet spot If I'm being attacked by both ends of the opposite ends of the spectrum, sticking just with the Bible. The light turned on some eyes when I read verse 17. 09:53 For the scripture that is, the Bible says to the Pharaoh for this very purpose, I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and I said that that's all the scripture said in Exodus 9 is that God said I've raised you up, pharaoh, to show my greatness through you. And Pharaoh had a choice. In fact, the Bible is going to confirm the fact that there's the decision that is presented before us, that we have been given the ability to choose, and the sovereignty of God. What sovereignty of God works if God brings people to heaven automatically and they're just whatever. I'm elect, I'm chosen, I'm here? 10:41 On the flip side, you might say why doesn't God just bring everybody into heaven? Wouldn't that be great? By the way, that is his desire is that all men would be saved. But all men don't want to be saved. And so if he saved everybody in his sovereignty, in his sovereignty, he could just flex and say you're going, you're going to come to paradise, if you like it or not. You're going to come to paradise, if you like it or not. We're going to sing up there, you're going to see some amazing stuff and you're going to like it. Listen, they don't want to be there, they don't want to go. God's sovereignty is intact and unrivaled, yet he will not violate someone who says I don't want to be there. Church, when did God know that they didn't want to be there? For all eternity past, for knowledge, god knew Important that you hang on to that. 11:36 God is just in his response. Just in his response, he says that my name may be declared in all the earth. That was God's plan for Moses, that was God's plan for Pharaoh, that was God's plan for Miriam. That was God's plan for Noah. It's God's plan for everybody. But does it work out that way? Does everybody give God glory in their life? No, they do not. But will God be glorified Always? The Bible even tells us. This is amazing. The Bible tells us at the end of time, at the judgment, that the wrath of God, in that wrath he will be glorified, that he'll take the unrighteousness of man and glorify himself in it. I don't know how that's going to play out, but it's absolutely remarkable. God's response Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 12 to this says Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. 12:41 Now, the author, I believe, is Paul the Apostle, but that doesn't matter. The book of Hebrews doesn't announce who wrote it, but it's so Paul, characteristic-like this book of Hebrews that we're studying on Wednesday night. The letter is written to Jews who came out of Judaism that is the traditions of men and they found Christ as Messiah. But the author is saying you better follow through now, now that you know that Jesus is Messiah. Keep going, keep pressing on, keep going after him. Isn't it amazing? 13:14 The sovereignty of God says to you and I today keep coming to me, keep coming. That should bring you encouragement. God wants you with him. And the sovereign God doesn't say look, I'm sovereign, you stay over there. He doesn't have a limousine. Think about it If we were bringing our only begotten son into the world, do you think he'd be born in the stable? He'd be born at the Jerusalem Hilton or Ritz CarlCarlton. Now they got a Waldorf Astoria. That's where Christ would have been born if we were writing the story. 13:48 No, he came humbly and lowly to associate with us. His response to us is that he loves us and we need to be careful to guard our hearts about it. Having an unbelieving heart, he says beware, brethren. Unbelieving really dovetails into what we're talking about, because an unbelieving heart is something that starts out. Now here's the thing. You and I do not technically know the conclusion of anyone else in this room exactly. Now, look, I say that and you say what do you mean by that? Well, every true believer knows that they're a true believer, but we can't exactly know that about somebody else. But then we can. So you're talking to both sides of your mouth. I am. 14:36 It's like this. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, the children of God. So if that's true in your life and it's true in my life, then we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Right, and we are going to go through this journey called church together. That means we're a family. It means we work it out, warts and all. 15:01 Listen, a lot of people sample churches, like they sample restaurants or something, or like Goldilocks. This bed's too hard, this seat's too hard. Remind me, we can't come back here next week. This chair is really hard. Or it's too big, or it's too big, or it's too small. It's too warm, it's too cold, but the parking's just perfect. There's no perfect place. There's not going to be a perfect place, in fact. 15:39 Listen, did something go wrong? Look, with a group this size, it's highly possible. Just this one service. Did something go wrong this morning? Did somebody not say hi to you? Did you run over a cat in the parking lot? Did something go wrong? If something went wrong, do you know what that's called? That's called life. It's how you deal with it and as Christians. 16:00 Listen, that person didn't say hi to me, who? And they called themselves Christians. Oh, you've talked to them? No, I've never talked to them, but I'm Right, that's how it is right, isn't that how it is? Well, you should go say hi to them. Who me? Well, you're bothered by it? Go say hi to them. Well, I can't do that. Oh, so you don't have to do it. But they do. No, you go say hi to them. No one said hi to me today. Pastor, you tell me that after service and I'm going to take you. Listen, you want to have friendship brought back to you in a response. Then you need to show yourself friendly. 16:41 God is sovereign, and what does he do with his sovereignty? He invites you and I into his heaven. That's awesome sovereignty. God's good, good sovereignty. Yes, lord, I'll accept that offer. I'll accept that offer any day. 16:56 1 John 4, verse 14. 1 John 4, 14 says and we have seen and testified, this is beautiful. This is John, the author of the book of Revelation. He's old now. You know he's the only apostle that died of natural causes, died a natural death. All of the other ones died as martyrs. John's the only one that died, an old man and he's old, that died an old man and he's old. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world Number one. 17:29 If you're Middle Eastern in this room right now you're saying, wow, why? Because any announcement of Son of God you know automatically, because you know the scripture is easier, quicker than we do. That's Jesus being declared God. To be the son of God is to be God. Don't think in the Western culture that to be the son of God is less than God, like the father's six foot five and the son is six foot and the Holy Spirit is three foot nine. No, no, no. That's a Western way of thinking and it's wrong. To proclaim that Jesus is the son of God is to announce it accurately, that he's God, the son. And look what the Bible says here. 18:12 John is speaking and he says that he has sent the son as savior of the. What, I'm sorry, what did you say? World? How come he didn't say and he sent him as Savior of the elect, or the Savior of the chosen, or the Savior of the predestined, or the Savior of the. Are you hearing me In the death of Jesus at the cross, if you believe it or not, it's irrelevant. Well, I mean it's relevant to you, but his death on the cross makes opportunity for all of mankind. He died for the world. Tragically, the whole world's not going to have it. In his sovereignty, he's allowed you to exercise your choosing. 19:10 - Speaker 1 This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbscom to learn more and stay connected.