Michael Youssef - God's Sovereignty
How do you get to know anyone? How do you get to know a person? The only way you know anything about any person is what that person says about himself or herself, right? The only way anyone knows something about you is not through what others say about you but what you say about yourself. And this rule really applies more specifically, more particularly, to God. It's not what I say about God, it's not what they say about God, it's not what you say about God, it is not what some big theologian says about God, it's not what the big mega-church pastor says about God. No, what God says about himself. Can I get an "Amen"?
And that is why, in this four-part series, is gonna literally follow the other four-part series which we have just completed. We talked about the discipleship and the qualification for discipleship. Now these are what I call the four required curriculum for a disciple, or Discipleship 101, because these are not electives. These are required curriculum. Hear me right, please. Nobody, and I'm gonna make a big statement, but nobody can be called a disciple of Jesus without fully comprehending those four things that we're gonna be looking at. But don't take my word for it. I already told you that. Examine the Scripture. Go to the Word of God. God tells us a lot of things about himself in the Scripture.
And these are what we call the attributes of God. For example, God tells us about his wisdom. He tells us about his truthfulness. He tells us about his mercy. He tells us about his grace. He tells us about his justice. He tells us about his love. He tells us about his wrath, or wrath as they say in England. He tells us about his goodness. He tells us about his faithfulness, and on and on and on and on. But there is one thing, one thing, that God says about himself that controls all the other attributes of God that I've just told you and more. And that is the sovereignty of God. Can you say that with me? "The sovereignty", God's absolutely sovereignty and rule over his creation is the axle around which all of his other attributes revolve.
That is why if you miss the sovereignty of God you miss the whole thing. Someone will say, "But wait a minute, Michael, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Why is the sovereignty of God is the key that controls all of his other attributes"? Great question, thank you for asking. Everyone here would agree, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but I know that everyone here would agree that God is love, right? Even unbelievers sometimes say, "Yeah, God is love".
Well, if God is not sovereign, if God is not absolutely sovereign, outward circumstances would thwart his love, right? If he is not absolute sovereign, then his love would be conditional, and the Bible from cover to cover says the love of God is unconditional. One verse that impacted my whole life, because I could stand here and quote you 100 verses from the Scripture on the sovereignty of God. One verse that impacted my life is Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11. Again, I said I could quote many verses, but I want us to focus today. The Word of God said that God accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will. What does that mean? It means that God's knowledge, God's authority, God's power, and God's dominion, are all extended to the smallest thing in the whole of the universe.
"The little sparrow," Jesus said. This morning when you brushed your hair, God says, "Number 1,000,555 hair, come on out," and it came out in the brush. That is how absolute in control our God is. That's what the sovereignty of God means. God said it and God affirmed it in his Word. It means that God's power is above, and beyond, and beneath, and around everything. Can I get an "Amen"? Now, beloved, listen to me, please. Listen to me, 'cause I know this is a thorny subject to some people, depending on what church you came from. Denominations fought over this. In all of the confusion that surrounds us right now, God's plan stand supreme. Nobody, nobody, nobody, can thwart the plan of God.
Someone said that God's ways are behind the scenes, but God moves all the scenes that he's behind. Those of you who have been hearing me a long time, or those who might be hearing for the first time, I'm telling you, miss this one, and you missed everything about God. But I am sure, somebody will say, "Michael, Michael, what are you trying to say, that we do not have a free will"? 'Course you have a free will. 'Course you have a free will. But your free will has no power over the sovereignty of God. Those who choose to reject God's offer of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ bring upon themselves dark eternity.
Those who choose to live without God, God lets them have what they want. God respects our choices, and don't miss this, don't miss this, don't miss this. That too is also part of God's plan, because God accomplishes what? According to the counsel of his will. Ah, ha, but there's one thing that you and I must know about our Creator of the universe. He's the sovereign ruler and King of all of Creation. But you know what? Most people come to two erroneous conclusion when they hear about the sovereignty of God, both erroneous conclusions. On the one hand, some people deny the reality that God's supreme rule is over all things. On the other, some deny the perfect goodness of God in governing authority over the universe. Both erroneous. Some wrongly deny that's the reality, others wrongly deny God's nature.
Some would say, "Either God is not in perfect control, or his will is not perfectly good". Books written about that. These are two easy conclusion that the human flesh, that fallen part of us that's not redeemed yet, will come to, listen to me, especially when we see evil, pure evil, and suffering in the world. I want you to know I understand that. I really do. In fact, I have been in both erroneous conclusions at one point in my life. Because we humans, we want to bring God to our level. We cannot stand not being in control. See, both of these conclusions are false according to the Word of God. Why? Because God accomplishes what? God bless you. According to the counsel of his will. Now let me deal with this by asking you to ask yourself two questions, okay? Ask them yourself, answer them yourself. Don't have to tell anybody else.
The first question is this. Now, you can answer them to me loud, that's fine. God is not gonna be upset with you in yelling in the church, especially when answering a question from the pastor, right? is it okay to be baffled when you see God doing things that you don't understand? God bless you. That's why I love this congregation. Yes! Because as creatures, we do not know all the reasons for everything God does. God is not accountable to us. We have no right to demand that God explains everything to us.
Listen to what God said in Isaiah 55:8-9: "My thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts than yours". But do you know what the problem is? I really think and I've seen this with my own eyes in folks. We think that God... and they treat God almost like a government official, you know, the governor or president or somebody, a politician. They really do. That's how they view God. As if God has to explain his policy to us and defend his decisions and, if he doesn't, we're gonna vote him out of office. But because we don't know how to vote God out of office, we turn our backs on him. Because we don't know how to vote God out of office, we cut him out of our lives.
I've seen some Christians, even in disappointment and anger, they kind of have a cold love toward God. Listen to what Moses said in Deuteronomy 29:29. It's easy to remember, too, Deuteronomy 29:29: "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which he reveal to us belong to us". Why? "So that we may obey his law". Now there are several things that the sovereign God reveals to us. Some things he reveals to us, he wants Creation to know him. I'm talking about general revelation. He wants us to know certain things about him. He wants all of his Creation to know certain things about him, but not everything, not everything.
Now, the second question... I told you, two questions to ask yourself. The first one: "Is it okay to be baffled," okay? When you see things that don't make sense and say, "Why is God doing this"? The second question is this: "Does the sovereignty of God mean that we know nothing about God"? No, absolutely not. That's what Christianity is all about. God fully revealed himself in Jesus. God has given us all the information we need in order to be able to make a rational decision. God revealed so much about him in Jesus. Why? So that we would decide whether we receive him as Savior and Lord or reject him and we receive the consequences. Do we love to submit to him or reject him?
Question: "What does God want us to know about him"? I'm talking about humanity in general. I'm gonna come to the disciples in a minute. What does God want humanity to know about him? Listen carefully, please. This is all the Word of God. Now, I'm not intelligent enough to come up with the answer. He wants us to know that God loves to save repentant sinners. God wants us to know that he spent many centuries preparing the world for the coming of his Son, that God wants us to know that right on schedule, his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into the world. God wants humanity to know that those who have received the gift of salvation and eternal life should share it with others.
God wants us to know that his Son, by dying on the cross, carrying our penalty of sin, satisfied the justice of the Father. God wants us to know that his Son was resurrected from the grave on the third day to assure the believers of their own resurrection. God wants us to know that his Son was exalted on the right hand of heaven and he's ruling and reigning on his throne on the rim of the universe. And that is from the throne he invites sinners to come to him to repent of their sins and to come to him, believe in him. He lovingly leads them, after that, throughout their lives. And finally, he brings them home to himself, heaven.
That's what he wants all of humanity to know. Then what, for those of us who have come to him, those of us who responded to his invitation, those of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus, those of us who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, what does he want his disciples to know? What does God want his disciples to know? Again, it's in the same Word of God. What does sovereign God want for those who have responded and accepted his invitation to know? What does God want believers and disciples to know? I keep repeating this so you understand the different and the distinction. He wants them to know that because that he is sovereign and in control, therefore, "all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose".
He wants his disciples to know that he wants all of them to conform to the image of his Son Jesus. God wants Jesus's disciples to know that they should live this life without fear of the future because he controls it. God wants all of Jesus's disciples to know that they should live this life without anxiety and worry over their circumstances because he controls them. God wants all of Jesus's disciples to know that they should live this life trusting in his provision, taking him at his word, believing his promises, obeying his commands. That is every diligent disciple should know that God is at work in his kingdom and that his everlasting arms are underneath them.
God wants Jesus's disciples to know that he is our security and that he, the Creator of the world, never gets tired like we do or grows weary. God wants us to know, the sovereign God wants his disciples to know that he is in absolute control of your job, and of your home, and of your children, and of your health, and of your breath. The sovereign God wants Jesus's disciples to know that no matter how impossible the dream that he's placed in your life, that no matter how difficult the task that he has given you, that no matter how long it takes to accomplish what he wants you to accomplish, that no matter how fierce the opposition in your calling, that no matter how ferocious the enemy is, that no matter how bleak things may look, no matter how helpless they may seem, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings of eagles, and they will run and never get weary.
And to top it all, to top it all, he gave his disciples, the disciples of Jesus, his own Holy Spirit to empower them, to empower them to overcome, to empower them to live for him, to empower them to do all things that he calls you to do. Oh my beloved friends, my beloved friends, listen to me. The sovereignty of God should tell all of Jesus's disciples that his grace is sufficient, regardless of what is happening. The sovereignty of God tells all of Jesus's disciples who are daily walking with him and trusting in him that an almighty fortress is our God.
Finally, the sovereignty of God should tell all of Jesus's disciples that if God be for us, who can be against us? A Youssef translation: If God is for us, I pity anyone who's against us. "Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, swords? No, in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. For I am absolutely certain that neither death nor life, angels or height or depth, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus".
I know this is not probably how they teach the class on the sovereignty of God in seminaries or Bible schools, but this is all you need to know. That's all you need to know about the sovereignty of God. And if you have never accepted his gracious invitation whether you're watching around the world on KINGDOM SAT or online, wherever you might be, or here in this beautiful sanctuary, if you have never received this gracious invitation, if you've never received the gift of eternal life and the joy of knowing that all of your sins are forgiven, you can do that today. You can do that today. You can do that today. How? By repenting of your sins. Not embracing them, not taking pride in them, but the repenting of them. And when you do that, all of God's promises for his disciples can be yours.