In All and Over All - Sovereignty

It's great to be with you this morning.

When Roger and I were talking several months ago about me fitting

into the series, I got to look at his plans for this series.

And I know that you've been working on 1 Corinthians 13.

He talked about love.

The last time he's going to talk about purpose, I think the next

time that you're together.

And this is sort of the perfect topic to talk about in between

the topic of God's sovereignty, which is just a big

word that means that we believe that the Bible teaches that

God is over everything and he works in everything.

And there are a lot of Bible verses that talk about that.

But maybe one of my favorites comes from Paul's letter to the Ephesians

in Ephesians Chapter one, if you've ever studied that book, most

of the first chapter is a prayer.

And in the first prayer in that chapter, which runs all the

way from verse three down to verse 14.

So it's in the middle of a prayer where Paul is giving praise

to God.

He says this in him.

And the hymn there is Jesus in Jesus Christ.

In him we have obtained an inheritance.

So he's.

He's saying to these Ephesians Christians, even though the world

may not think that you are very important, God has given you

an inheritance through Jesus Christ.

Christ is the eldest son in the family who inherits the family

fortune.

But you are God's children in Christ, and you inherit with Him.

So he says, in him we have obtained an inheritance having been

predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things

according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were first

to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

And you say, okay, it doesn't surprise me that a Presbyterian came

and read a verse about predestination.

Okay, but that's not what I want to talk about.

That's not the part of the verse I want you to see.

Notice the part of the verse I want you to see comes right after

that.

This is what he calls God, him who works all things according to

the counsel of his will.

That's an amazing name for God, him who works all things according

to the counsel of his will.

In other words, Paul calls God the One who works everything, absolutely

everything, according to his will.

That's an amazingly comprehensive statement, and that

is a statement about God's sovereignty.

And the reason that he's saying it to these Ephesians Christians

is he wants them to believe that God has a purpose for their

lives that cannot be messed up by this world.

A lot of stuff goes wrong in this world.

A lot of hard things happen in this.

I'm sure you like me.

You've been watching, whether it's your phone or the television

news about what's going on in western North Carolina.

All sorts of people's lives have been completely turned upside

down in western North Carolina because of this Storm Helene.

And now we've got Hurricane Milton heading for Florida.

And I have a board member who lives in Tampa.

His home got flooded during Hurricane Helene, and now Milton

is headed for his home again.

There's a lot of stuff, a lot of bad stuff happens in life.

But the Apostle Paul wants the Ephesian Christians and he wants

you and me to be confident that God has a good purpose in our

life that cannot fail because he works all things according to

the counsel of his will.

So the reason that Paul is writing this is to encourage Christians.

It's not to have a theological argument.

It's to give Christians a significant encouragement in their

lives.

God is at work.

Everything he is over everything.

He's working in everything.

He's sovereign.

And that is very good news.

Now, you might have the reaction to that.

Yeah, that's all well and good when things are going nice in my

life, but what about in the hardest places in my life?

I find that really hard to believe that God is over all and

in all that God is sovereign over everything all, especially in

the worst parts of my life.

Might be in family relationships.

Some hard stuff can happen in families.

It might be in your vocational dreams.

You may have a dream to pursue some particular vocation or career,

and you may get sidetracked in that.

It may be in personal relationships with friends.

It may be a diagnosis that you've gotten out of the blue.

And you say, you know, it's all well and good to talk about God

being sovereign when things are going well, but how about in

the hard places of life?

And I've got some good news for you.

Interestingly, this truth that I just read from Ephesians 1:11,

Ephesians 1:11

but you can find it all over the Bible.

We're going to look at some passages where you find it is usually

mentioned in the Bible when.

When things are not going well.

This truth normally pops up in passages where things are not going

well, where things are hard.

For instance, many of you know the story of Jonah.

Jonah was a Hebrew prophet and he ministered in Israel.

And God had sent him to go to Nineveh, which was a pagan city,

a Gentile city.

And.

And Jonah didn't want to go.

He wanted to preach the word to Israelites, and he didn't want

to get sent to Ninevites.

And so he pouted about it.

And then he decided, I am out of here.

And he got on a boat and he started trying to go to the furthest

place to go away from Nineveh.

And of course, what happened is he got caught in a hurricane,

and he ends up getting thrown over the side of the boat, and he

winds up in the belly of a great fish.

And in the belly of that great fish, not the best moment of Jonah's

life.

That's where he confesses that God is over all and in all.

And by the way, you can read his prayer from the belly of the

fish in Jonah 2.

And when he's in the belly of the fish, he cries out to God for

help because he realizes God's the only one who can help me because

I'm not in control of this fish.

But God is.

And the last thing that he says in that prayer is salvation

is of the Lord.

The reason that you can call out to God and say, save me is because

he is over all and in all.

And Jonah found that out at a really bad moment in his life when

he's crying out to God for help from the belly of a fish.

And it's so interesting that this idea of God being over all and

in all pops up time and time again in the Bible in places where

things are going bad.

So, for instance, many of you know the story of Joseph.

Joseph was one of the sons of Jacob, and his brothers were jealous

of him, and so they hatched a plan to kill him.

But then they decided instead of killing him, we're going to sell

him into slavery.

And so they sold him into slavery, and he ended up living most

of his life in Egypt.

Just imagine yourself, your siblings hate you so bad they want

to murder you, and then they decide instead to sell you into slavery.

And so he goes to Egypt, and you remember the story.

He eventually becomes a very powerful political leader in Egypt

and ends up helping save the Near Eastern world from famine.

And he's reunited with his family again.

And after his dad dies, his brothers think, oh, boy, we're going

to get it now.

Now that Dad's not around, he's going to take his vengeance

on us.

And there's this wonderful conversation between Joseph and his

brothers in Genesis chapter 50.

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

And in Genesis 50:20, Joseph says this.

Genesis 50:20

You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, that many people

would be saved alive.

Now that is an amazing perspective.

You know, that man's.

That man's family life got robbed from him, his country got

robbed from him.

He had to spend most of his life away from his family, the people

that he knew, and the profession that he was pursuing.

And yet he has this profound sense that in the worst thing that

happened me in my life when I got sold into slavery and taken to

a foreign country, God meant that for good.

And you know, the New Testament version of Genesis 50:20

Genesis 50:20

is Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:28

God causes all things to work together for good for those who love

him and are called according to his purpose.

It's really Paul thinking about that truth of Genesis 50:20.

Genesis 50:20

And by the way, he's saying it to Christians in, in Rome.

And those Christians in Rome are having a hard time.

If you look at Romans chapter 8, things are hard for the Roman

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Christians.

And what is Paul trying to do?

He's trying to encourage them.

And so he says, I want you to understand that in all things, God

is working for your good, even in things that don't look good.

It's very interesting.

Paul doesn't say all things are good.

He says God is working in all things.

So God's working even in really bad things in order to do

you good.

And he's saying that to those Roman Christians so that they are

able to trust God.

We've sung twice beautifully today about the love of God.

And the doctrine of the love of God is one of the most comforting

and doctrines in the whole Bible.

That God has loved us with an everlasting love, that he set his

love on us before the foundation of the world.

A very famous theologian was asked the question, how do I know

that God will not stop loving me?

And the theologian answered, because he never started.

Now what does that mean?

In other words, God's love is not something that's bounded by time.

It's something that started before time.

There was never a time when God did not love you.

But let me tell you something even more special about that love.

It's not just a wonderful, timeless love, a love that started

in eternity.

It's a sovereign love.

It's a sovereign love that has good purposes for your life, even

in hard things.

If our confidence in God changes with our circumstances, we

will lack confidence in God a lot.

I have a lot of wonderful friends who have gone through hard

things in life.

Some of you may be facing hard things right now.

If your confidence in God is based on your circumstances, then

that confidence is going to go up and down, up and down.

But if you believe that God is overall and in all, and he can even

work in.

In hard circumstances, like with Jonah and like with Joseph and

like with the Roman Christians in Romans, chapter eight, then you

can trust God even in really hard places.

And I want to say, in my life, I have been especially helped by

being able to be around and watch Christians who have had to

deal with hard things.

And their trust in God, even in hard things, has encouraged me.

Just a few days ago, I went to visit one of my elders who was in

the hospital just right across the street over at Methodist Rehab.

And he has been battling cancer for a long time now.

And they had to amputate his leg to where the cancer was emanating

from.

They weren't able to get it from.

Finally, they just had to amputate his leg.

And I went to visit him.

And all he wanted to talk about was what a blessing the internship

program was at our church, that it was equipping young people

to go serve the Lord for the rest of their lives in churches and

paraministries and mission field and campuses.

That's what he wanted to talk about.

And I thought to myself, now, if I had just had my leg amputated,

is that what I would have wanted to talk about with a friend

who came to visit?

But it told me something about him.

He trusted God in even a really, really hard.

I'm sure he wouldn't have ever said earlier in life, lord, I hope

one day that I'll have my leg amputated.

But when that happened, he didn't stop trusting the Lord.

Why?

Because he knew that the Lord was over all and in all, and so he

could keep on thinking about other things and trust God even in

that difficult circumstance.

Many years ago, just right across the street in Blair Batson

Children's Hospital, I was with Margaret.

Margaret's little boy had fallen in a pool, and they airlifted

him from Hattiesburg to Jackson.

It's never good when you're on one of those helicopters being airlifted

to the PIC unit at Blair Batson.

Those doctors and nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit,

they.

They see really hard things all the time, and they do amazing

work.

And I was there with Margaret, and I was there with Margaret when

he died.

And we were all gathered around in the room, and Margaret

was holding him in her arms.

And when the machine, you know, the little heartbeat monitor

was going slower and slower.

Boop, boop, boop.

And then the flat line.

And he took his last breath.

And when he did, Margaret looked up at me.

And she said, ligon, can we sing the doxology?

Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise him all creatures

here below Praise him above ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son

and Holy Ghost.

And I really felt like I was on holy ground.

I felt like I do not have any business being in a room with a woman

this godly who can hold her dead little boy in her arms and still

trust God.

And I felt like I was around Job.

You remember when Job gets the word that his children have died

and his houses have been destroyed?

And he says, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And what's the next thing that said?

And he fell down and worshiped God.

I felt like I was around Job.

And so I felt like, lord, I don't have any business being around

a woman this godly.

Who can do this?

But why could Margaret do that?

Because she believed that God was over all and in all.

And even in that horrible.

We had been praying for two days, Lord, save that boy.

Lord, help him, strengthen him.

Bring him back to us.

Let him grow up.

Let him get married.

Let him have a job and a future for you.

We've been praying like crazy.

But when she got that answer no from the Lord, she still trusted

God.

I remember Diane, and I think I have to go back and check on this.

Roger.

I think Diane's husband's a Belhaven graduate.

I'm going to double check on that afterwards.

But many, many years ago, Diane and her husband and the three

children were on the way back from Memphis on a New Year's Day,

and a car hit them head on.

And Mike was killed immediately.

And their youngest child, Nate, was killed, and everybody in

the car was seriously injured.

And Diane, when she woke up, Mike wasn't around and the children

weren't around.

And she started immediately asking, where's Mike?

Where's.

Where's Nate?

Where's Katharine?

Where's Preston?

And finally the doctors said, diane, Mike didn't make it.

And when they said that to Diane, Diane said the first words

out of her mouth.

The Lord is good in all he does.

Now, I've thought many times over the if that had been me, would

I have thought like that?

But I'll tell you this about Diane.

She trusted the Lord.

She trusted that God was over all and in all.

And even in one of the worst moments of her life, she was able

to say, the Lord is good in all that he does.

The doctrine of God's sovereignty is a comforting thing

for believers because all of Us in this life are going to go through

hard things.

I'm not sure whether your president has shared with you some

of the things.

I've known your president for 30 years now, and he's gone through

some stuff.

And I suspect that's one reason why he's such a good president

to you and why he would even talk about a topic like this during

chapel.

Right?

Because he wants you to be able to trust God in the hard things

of your life.

And here's the wonderful thing.

We serve a Savior who did not live an easy life.

You know, your savior, Jesus, the whole of his life was filled

with danger and difficulty.

Even when he was an infant, people were trying to kill him.

And you know, he has that famous saying, foxes have holes and

the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't

have a place to lay his head.

Your Savior never had a mortgage.

He never had a house to call his own.

That was his.

And yet he trusted God.

And even when he was on the cross, he trusted God.

You know, one of the last things he ever said on the cross

was, father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.

Isn't that amazing?

Even at maybe the worst point ever of human history, when God in

the flesh is on a cross being crucified, he could trust his Father

with his life.

I commend my spirit to you.

Isn't it wonderful that you have a Savior who trusted God when

things were not good in his life?

So that when you trust that Savior, he can show you how to trust

God when things are not going well in your life, I don't know what

you're gonna face.

I hope that there are many happy, fulfilling, beautiful, loving

days ahead of you.

But all of us are gonna face stuff in this life.

Jesus himself said in John 16, in the world you have tribulation.

But because you have a God who is over all and in all, even in the

tribulation, even in the hard things, you can trust him.

And isn't it wonderful that you've got a Savior who shows you

how to trust God in difficulty.

Ephesians 1:11.

Ephesians 1:11

Just remember that phrase.

Your God works all things according to the counsel of his will,

and he works all of those things for your good.

I'm gonna pray that you will be able to trust the Lord even in

hard things that he's working for your good.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the truth that you are, overall and

in all.

And thank you that we get to think about that today.

Thank you for the promises in your word that tell us no matter

how bad things may look, no matter how hard things are in our

life, you're in charge of everything and you have good purposes

for us even in the hard things.

Help us to trust you in those hard places and so encourage other

people.

Keep us close to yourself in those hard things.

Give us the continued strength to believe, even in difficulty, so

that we can live.

For the praise of your glory, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Thank you.

It.