Charles Stanley - My Assurance, God Is in Control - Part 1
In one of the most painful and difficult seasons of my life, when often times I was a little discouraged and fearful and feeling threatened and feeling all alone, my friend would say to me, "But remember God is in control". Often times he and I would sit by the fire in the evening, and we would talk, and he'd let me pour out my heart and tell him what I was thinking and tell him about my hurts. And over and over and over again when he would sense a little bit of discouragement within me, or something that I was really having a difficult time dealing with, he would say to me, "Remember, God is in control".
That factual statement became an anchor to my life. And no matter how hard the winds began to blow and how much the adversity seemed to intensify, somehow my soul got anchored to that simple truth God is in control. And I discovered by experience that when a person can come to the place in their life that they can say with absolute unwavering conviction my God is in control. There is an awesome sense of strength and power and assurance and confidence and peace and indescribable joy that can fill your heart to the overflow no matter what you have to face in life. And that's what I want to talk about in this message entitled, "My Assurance: God is in Control". And I want you to turn if you will, to Psalm a hundred and three.
In this hundred and third Psalm, David expresses in these few verses something that certainly he had to believe years and years of his life. More than likely, he learned it the way most of us have to learn it. But we learn it with a little better advantage in the fact that we have the Word of God that teaches it. But he learned it by experience and has shared it and all through the Bible you're going to find this.
Listen to what he says beginning in the nineteenth verse of the hundred and third Psalm: "The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules overall. Bless the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the LORD, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul"!
Now notice if you will verse nineteen. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules overall. The throne that he's referring to here is the throne that of course Satan desired above all else and got thrown out of heaven. It is a throne that the prophet Isaiah saw in a vision when he said he "saw the Lord high and mighty and lifted up, sitting upon His throne" when he surrendered himself to the call of God. This is the same throne that is mentioned seventeen times in chapters four and five, the book of the Revelation. In twenty-five verses, seventeen times, the throne of God is referred to. This is the place Almighty God sits to rule and to reign over this universe.
Now if you'll notice he says His Sovereignty rules overall. What do we mean by sovereignty? Now listen carefully and I'm gonna repeat some things over and over and over again because I want you to get 'em in your thinking. The Sovereignty of God is His supreme, listen, His supreme and absolute rule and control and authority over this entire universe including every human being. It is His power, it is His authority, it is His awesome omnipotence that rules and reigns over this universe and every single aspect of it. If I ever see anywhere in the Bible that God's sovereignty is so beautifully expressed, here it is.
For example, let's begin in the first chapter of the Bible verse one, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". Listen, if Almighty God, and certainly He did, if He, and He did, created this world out of nothing, put it into space, created the galaxies out there in the universe and all that's out there. Put the laws in motion, set all these laws in motion. Governs and guides this universe, then certainly if He is in control of it, not only can He create it but He can sustain it and keep it because that's exactly what He says in Colossians chapter one when He told, when, when Paul's talking about what, who Jesus is, that He sustains this universe. Now, so, think about this. Here is the Sovereignty of God in expression. First of all, there's the creation.
Now watch this. Secondly, there's the fall of Adam and Eve. Wait a minute now. If God was in control, it looks like, it looks like God's plan got out of control. No, it didn't. God allowed it. God knew it was gonna happen. God provided for it. The fall was not God out of control. Thirdly, if you'll recall what happened. Man sinned against God until finally God destroyed this earth, except for one family, Noah and his family. And you say, "Well, looks like things got out of control".
Listen, man living in sin does not mean God's out of control. So, what did God do? God didn't wring His hands, He sent a flood, and He wiped out everything coming and going except one family. And the archeologists can tell you that all over this world, in stratas of layers of rock out there, all over the world there's evidence that at one time there was a great flood that covered this earth. God was in control. Then we come, for example, to Abraham, into a pagan society Almighty God reached down and revealed Himself to a man by the name of Abraham. And He didn't say, "If you do this, I'll do that". He says, "Here's what I'm gonna do". He said, "Abraham, I'm the Lord thy God," He says, "I am going to bless all the nations of the earth through you".
And He gave him all of these unconditional promises of things He was going to do. God was in absolute control. He chose this man. And from Abraham, Isaac, Isaac, Jacob, his sons, twelve sons of Jacob, Judah. And out of Judah came the genealogical line of the Lord Jesus Christ who was born some hundreds and thousands of years later. Who is the Messiah, the Son of the living God who will sit upon the throne of heaven for all eternity. He said, "Abraham, out of your loins, out of your family there will be a nation, there will be a Messiah". He didn't give him all that information at one time. There is coming one from you who will bless the nations of the earth.
Now you could stop right there but you and I could go all the way through the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, all the way to the book of the Revelation and you know what? You're gonna end up in the Revelation, here's what you'll find. You'll find that Jesus Christ who is the sovereign Lord of this earth, you, we will see Him in the book of the Revelation. As John, unfolds the Revelation, that He is Lord in the Revelation, Lord during the times of the Great Tribulation, Lord in the in His coming again.
Lord in the Judgment, Lord in the ultimate, Lord in Heaven. God is in absolute control and this Bible is simply a beautiful expression of God demonstrating His sovereignty over mankind and what He is willing to do in the life of those who are willing to submit to Him and what He's willing to do with those who do not submit to Him. He shows also what He's willing to do through evil men, to evil men, because of evil men, turning things for good even though there is evil involved in it. Now, with all that in mind, because you and I know that He is in control, here's what we know.
You see, here's the assurance we have. First of all, I have this assurance. That my heavenly Father who is in absolute control of all things is continually involved in your life and my life every single day. He's continually involved in my life and your life every single day, why? Because He's providing and protecting and watching over us and caring for us. That means He has to be involved every day. Who's involved in your life and my life, protecting and providing and caring for us? He is the sovereign God who has all power and all knowledge of your life and mine. He knows exactly what you need today. He knows exactly what it'll take. He knows exactly how to guide you. He knows how to provide for you, He knows how to protect you.
There are times when God changes our mind about things that we look back and think, "Whew! I'm glad I didn't do that! I'd a been in real trouble. I could have had an accident". Who, who do you think lead, changed your mind? Almighty sovereign God. So, I know that He is involved in every aspect of my life. Second thing I'm grateful for and second thing that I am assured of is this. You know what? He's gonna work out every single circumstance in our life for something good, no matter what. It may be painful, trying, hurtful, difficult. I may holler, scream, yell, shout, tell God I don't like anything about it and I'm mad about the whole deal. You know what? Doesn't bother Him, doesn't faze Him one bit. You know what? He's gonna do His will.
Look at Romans eight, twenty-eight. If God, I want you to turn to that passage. Most all of us can quote it by heart. I want you to turn there for a moment and I want you to look at it real good in the light of what we've been talking about, that God is absolutely sovereign. And you ask yourself this question, if God is not supreme, absolute authority in control over all things, what do you do with this verse of scripture which says, look at this. Verse twenty-eight Romans eight: "And we know," not we hope so, not maybe, we know, "that God," what's that next word, "causes all things to work together for good to those who love," Him, to those who love, "God, to those who are called according to His purpose".
If I'm a believer, according to this He says that, listen, let me ask you a question now. How's God gonna cause everything to turn out for my good? The only way He can do it is He's gotta be supreme. He must have ultimate divine supreme authority to turn the bad things, the painful things, the difficult things for my good. Listen, if He's not God and if he's not supernatural, He can't do it. And let's face it, when lost people say, "Well, you know the Bible says everything's gonna turn out for good". No, it doesn't either. The Bible doesn't say everything's gonna turn out for good. It says that God causes, engineers, He's the one who's in control. He's the pilot of your life and my life. He causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
That is, to those of us who are His children. He's gonna turn out everything for good. The lost person, listen, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you think everything's gonna turn out good for you? No, it's not. There's not a single verse in the Bible. You know what's gonna turn out for you? You're gonna be under God's judgment. You're gonna be under God's discipline until, listen, some good things may come your way. Say, will good things come my way, then everything must be all right. No, He says, "Do you not know that the goodness of God is for the purpose of leading you to repent of your sins and to turn your life over to Christ"?
Romans chapter one, chapter two. God's in control. And you see if He's not in control you can forget Romans eight, twenty-eight because somebody who is in control must... listen, He must know your life so intimately and so perfectly and He must have such absolutely awesome power that no matter what you're going through, God can turn and twist till He can make that turn out for your good. Not only that, I have the assurance and you have the assurance that nothing can touch you apart from the permissive will of God. He says, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about those who fear Him". You know what that means? That means God is our protector.
Now if He chooses for some reason, if He chooses for some reason to open the door to something that's painful are things out of control? No, because you know what? That door couldn't open unless Almighty God allowed it. Now remember this. Romans eight, twenty-eight. If God allowed it, God intends to turn that pain, that hurt, that loss, that difficulty for something good in your life. Now watch this. Because I'm hurting at the moment, I'm not even interested in any good. All I want is to get rid of this. In other words, get me out of this, God, change this circumstance. But here's what happens.
I must be willing to trust Him in the midst of it because I know on the other side I'm going to be able to look back, I don't mean the other side of heaven, I'm talking about now on the other side, I'm gonna look back and say, "Well God, You were in that. Why I can see Your hand in there. This is what You were doing, this is... You made me wait and God, I got so... Lord, forgive me for being so impatient". You know what? He doesn't get upset when you say, "God, what's going on"? God is very silent, just says, "You know, I'm just doing things the way I promised to do them. I'm just pleasing Myself and working out My will in your life".
Nothing can touch you unless God allows it. Not only that, because He's sovereign, you and I can have confidence about the future. Say, "Man, you don't know what my future looks like". That's from your perspective. Suppose you could get on the other side of where you are and look at your future from God's viewpoint. You may say, "Wow! God, how could You ever do this"? What do you think Joseph thought when he got all robed up and ringed up and everything else, they put on him and he went back, listen, not to prison but he went back to his certainly very palatial room that he had or house or whatever Pharaoh sent him to.
Can you imagine what he thought about it when he looked in the mirror and said, "Ha, ha! I gotta be dreaming. I mean, I was dressed in prisoner's clothes this morning. I needed a shave. I was dirty, I was smelly. Huh, this gotta be a dream"! You know what? God has a whole lot of good for us that you and I'll never be able to anticipate, never be able to expect. You see, I do believe this, that the more you and I understand how good God is and the more we understand His position and place in our life.
Listen, the more good God is gonna send into our life. Why should God keep pouring good into your life when first of all you overlook it, don't thank Him for it, and, and take credit for it yourself? Why should good, why should God keep pouring good into your life? Because He wants, listen, He wants you, us to love Him, to be devoted to Him, to see His majesties, to honor Him, to glorify Him. He keeps pouring good and we keep ignoring Him. You know why? Maybe if you don't think God is good enough in your life, maybe you should start thanking Him and praising Him and looking at all the evidence of the good in your life and more than likely, it will increase. He is a good God, in absolute control, desiring the best for you no matter what.
Look at the future with confidence. I've had enough years and enough trials and heartaches and burdens and successes and failures in life, that God, I can look back and see the fingerprint, the handprint, the footprint and the awesome love of God. No matter what I've been through, where I am, everything I see is the hand of God. Now you know what that's helped me to do? Lay down all worry and fear. You say, "Well, don't you worry about some things"? No. Because finally after so long a time I finally concluded, "You know what? If He's in control, what's my worry? If I really believe He's in absolute control and He loves me unconditionally. And always chooses the best for me, and is engineering the circumstances of my life, what am I gonna worry about? But what about the pain, the hurt and the sorrow and the disappointments and all this"?
Well, you know what? I must need it. God has something good. Listen, God has perfect design, perfect reason, listen, perfect purpose, perfect plan for all of our lives. You say, "Well, suppose I made a big mess of my life". Aha! Remind you of something. Mr. Omnipotence can handle your mess. God can handle your mess. Listen, He can put back the most destroyed, broken pieces together. He knows how to do that. See there are no challenges to God. There's no furrow on His brow and no wringing of His hands.
Now let me warn you of this that sometimes Satan can give you what you ask for that's not in the will of God, not in the plan of God, if you insist on deliberately willfully disobeying God. But you know what happens? You and I can get on our face before God with absolute assurance. And there are a lot of other things you and I could talk about, about things that absolutely give us assurance in life. But let me tell you one of the sweetest things to me if I may put it in that way is this. When I come to something in life I don't understand, or I come to something in life I can't handle, I don't know how to handle it, I don't know what to do about it at that moment.
Here's one of the most wonderful things about God being sovereign. I know that at any moment of my life I come to one of those trials, those questions, those mysteries, those heartaches. I know at any moment I can come to a heavenly Father who loves me perfectly, unconditionally, who always has the best in mind for me. Who is absolutely sovereign, therefore He is able. Omniscient, He knows all the details, and I can lay it before Him and whatever He decides, I know will always turn out for my good, no matter what.
Now let me ask you something. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, what assurance do you have? You don't have omnipotence and omniscience and omnipresence to go to. You don't have a loving Father who loves you unconditionally. If you've rejected His Son, you don't have Him. You say, "Well, I pray to my God". If you don't have Jesus, you're just talking in the air. You see, Jesus said, "He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out. No man comes to the Father but by Me". And I want to encourage you because I know you don't have any assurance. You don't have any assurance. You have nothing to anchor your life to.
Now I want to invite you to trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior and tell Him today that you're confessing your sins. You've tried to run your life; control your life and you've made a mess of it. Now in the world's eyes you may be doing fantastic, but you know whether you are or not and God knows. And I want to invite you to ask Him to forgive you of your sins and tell Him that you're trusting in His death at Calvary to atone for your sins and you're receiving Him as your personal Savior.
You're going through some difficulty and heartache, and you've listened to this and here's what you've done. You've said, "My pain, God's in control. My hurt, God's in control. But what about this? God's in control. What about my finances? God's in control. What"? I understand the struggle. I can tell you this. You know what you need to do? You just need to say, "God, I don't understand it all but I'm gonna accept by faith that You're in control and I'm gonna watch You straighten out my life". And if I think about what God would do, He'd say, "Mm, I've been waiting for you to say that for a very long time". Because He is a master at putting the pieces back together.