God's Electing Love

I wonder what your attitude toward God is like this morning. Maybe you have a heart that is full of praise and awe. Maybe you are saying within your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your justice is like the highest mountains and your judgments are great deep. Or maybe deep down you're feeling much different than that. If you're honest, you're feeling a bit indifferent, a bit cold toward God. Or maybe you are even questioning God, questioning His love for you, questioning His goodness. Questioning is justice. And what about your worship of God this morning? Is it wholehearted? Are you daily walking in the Spirit, giving God your very best? Or are you presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service? Or if you're honest, is your worship but half-hearted and second-rate. Well, especially if your attitude toward God and your worship of God are something less than they should be. I think that this book, the book of Malachi, is especially relevant to you. It is written to those who are feeling skeptical, to those who are half-hearted in their worship, to those who are complacent. So if you've not already, I'd invite you to turn to the book of Malachi in chapter 1. And before we dive in, I'd like to just spend a little bit of time giving a brief introduction to the book, to give you a sense of the context and the historical situation. So we read in verse one, the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Now this is actually the only time in the entire Bible that Malachi is mentioned. So we know nothing about this prophet personally. All we know is his name, Malachi, which means my messenger. And there are some people who even question, is that really a name or is that just some sort of title that's generic? So we know nothing about him, but we can be quite confident about the time when this was written. We can be pretty sure that it was written that he prophesied sometime around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. There are a number of parallels that draw that out and help us to see that. I want to very briefly just kind of remind you of some of the history of Israel, maybe jog your memory, or if you're not familiar, explain that to you. Judah, southern Israel, was conquered by Babylon and taken off into exile in about 586 BC. So there were some that were taken off like Daniel much earlier, like about 605. And then 586 is when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, they come in, they besiege, they overthrow Jerusalem, they utterly destroy it. The city is just razed to the ground. The king, you know, sees his own children killed before his eyes, King Zedekiah, then his eyes are put out, then they take him and all the people into exile. Well then, in 539, Cyrus, king of Persia, who by this point has conquered Babylon, this pagan king, amazingly, he makes this decree. that the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem is to be rebuilt. And he's like, well, I'm going to fund this thing. We're going to send the Jews back. And so there's this great work of God in stirring the heart of Cyrus to decree this. And then they go back and it's about 516. So it takes, you know, more than 20 years. There's other obstacles that happen. And finally, 516, the temple is rebuilt. But then it's about another 60 years before Ezra comes. So you may know Ezra, the scribe, he comes to Jerusalem to teach the people. And then it's another 13 years after that, so 445, that Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. And I just want to point out a couple things about this that are important for us to know. Before Nehemiah comes and rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem, it's not a nice place to live. You know, they have a rebuilt temple, but they have no walls, they have no defenses. This is a city that had been ransacked, that had been utterly destroyed. And then you have exiles who are returning, you know, they're coming back, they're in desperate poverty, they have nothing, and now they're coming to a city that is defenseless and is a target for marauding raiders. So, you know, if you're living there, I mean, Jerusalem is a dangerous place. There's people coming through just, you know, might is right, stealing your stuff. So a lot of people don't want to be in Jerusalem, so they're actually moving out to the countryside where it's actually safer. The temple is there, but the ministry of the temple is not well-maintained. It's not being protected. You may remember when Nehemiah comes, he finds the Levites who are supposed to be keeping the temple. They're not there. They're out in the fields trying to grow crops so they can eat because no one's paying their tithes. So the Levites aren't supported. Meanwhile, both Ezra and Nehemiah have to deal with people who are intermarrying with pagans. you know, which has always been a snare for God's people and so they're dealing with that problem. Nehemiah has to deal with the issue of some of the wealthier Israelites who loan money to poor Israelites but they're charging interest and usury and they're just pushing their brothers and their brethren further and further into debt. So these are the situations that are taking place. And now with that in mind, let's turn to the book of Malachi, and I just want to briefly go through and just give you a flavor for the attitude of the people, and then some of the specific behaviors and sins of the people. So consider their attitudes. In the passage we'll be looking at today, in chapter 1, verse 2, God says, I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, how have you loved us? They're questioning God's love. You know, this God says He loves us, but look at our life with the poverty, the oppression, the evil. If you flip over to chapter 2, verse 17, we read, you have wearied the Lord with your words, but you say, how have we wearied Him? By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. Or by asking, where is the God of justice? So these people, they're questioning God's justice, saying, you know, where is justice with all this evil we see in the world around us? And then they're also questioning, is it even worth it to serve God? Look at chapter three, verse 13. God says, your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, how have we spoken against you? You have said, it is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evil doers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. So they're looking out and they're saying, look, the people who are doing evil, who care nothing about God at all, they seem to be prospering in relation to us. What good is it to serve God? So that's their attitude. Well then, meanwhile, consider their behavior. Chapter 1 and verse 8. God says, when you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? You know, they're presenting half-hearted sacrifices, the blind, the lame, the sick. Look over at chapter 2, verse 11. God says, Judah has been faithless and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign God. So the people, they're disregarding God's word. They're marrying unbelievers. And then in addition to that, look at verse 13. It says, God says in this second thing you do, you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, why does he not? Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. They're mistreating their wives. And then finally, look over at chapter three and verse eight. And God says, will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me, but you say, how have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions? God's saying, you're not giving me. what I've commanded you. You're not offering the required tithes that the law demands. So consider the situation. The people are largely poor. There are marauding raiders wrecking havoc. They have a rebuilt temple, but it's nothing compared to its former glory under Solomon. And there's a degree to which they're sort of trying to serve God, but it's half-hearted and it's second-rate. And they're asking, where is God? Can he not do something about this? Does he even care? That's the situation. So how will Malachi address it? Well, he does so through six disputations. And hence, God willing, there will be six sermons in this series. We'll just walk through one disputation at a time. And you probably got a feel for some of the back and forth and the disputing language you see in the book. And each disputation is structured in a similar way. So in each one, there's an assertion by God. Then there is questioning by Israel. Then God responds to that questioning. And then there is an implication of that response. So assertion, questioning, response, and implication. So the first disputation we'll look at today, it's chapter 1, verses 2 to 5. And they are skeptical of God's love. And in each disputation, God is correcting something. So he's correcting their skepticism of his love. The second disputation is 1.6 through 2.9. And God is correcting their failure to offer pure sacrifices. The third disputation is 2.10 through 16. and God is correcting their unfaithfulness in marriage. The fourth disputation is 2.17-3.5 and God is correcting their failure to love their neighbor, their mistreatment of others. The fifth disputation is 3.6-12 and God is correcting their failure to offer the required tithes. And then the sixth disputation is 3.13-4.3 where God is correcting their criticism of His justice. So, the first and the sixth have to do with the people's attitude toward God, toward His love and His justice. The second and fifth have to do with the people's attitude toward their personal worship. their religious things, so their, you know, sacrifices and their giving. Then the third and fourth have to do with the people's relationship with others in marriage and their neighbor. But all of it, God takes very personally, all of it has to do with the people's worship of God. It's about their worship through their heart attitude, their worship through their religious actions, and also their worship through their interpersonal actions. So that's a very big picture summary that I hope helps you kind of see the book as a whole. For the remainder of our time today, let's dive in now and consider this first disputation, verses 2 through 5. So it begins with the assertion by God, verse two, I have loved you, says the Lord. Now, it's important to notice that this oracle or that word could be translated this burden of the word of the Lord, and that means this is this is a judgment. This judgment of God, which will contain rebuke and correction, begins with an affirmation of God's love. You see, God's word is weighty. It contains rebuke, but it is always issued in love for his people. So that's God's assertion. Now, Israel's questioning. Questioning by Israel. Israel says, But you say, how have you loved us? God, where is the evidence? In light of all these negative things in our lives, how do we know you love us? Now, the irony is that there is all kinds of evidence. If you were listening to what I just told you about the scenario, the people got sent into exile exactly as God told them would happen because of their sin. And yet, because of God's great love, he has stirred the heart of King Cyrus, this pagan king, to say, I want to give the resources of Persia to rebuild the temple of Yahweh. And then, you know, the temple itself has been rebuilt. You know, God has delivered the Jews through Queen Esther. We know the story of Esther. God has raised up faithful men like Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah. God has spoken words to the people through prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel. There is so much evidence of God's love for his people. But they're not seeing that. You know, they're just seeing their own circumstances. They're not seeing the big picture. And they're saying, God, how have you loved us? And what about you? Do you ever question God's love? And could it be that you too are missing the bigger picture? Let's consider now God's response to this question. God says, Is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. If Edom says we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins. The Lord of hosts says they may build, but I will tear down and they will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. Now this is a striking and surprising answer. You know, if a man's wife wanted to know, he goes to her husband and says, you know, how do you love me? We might expect the husband to respond by starting to tell his wife about all the wonderful things he sees in her. All the attributes about her that he loves so much. Or maybe the man would respond to his wife by pointing to all the loving things he does for her. You know, and showing her the evidence and these, you know, these ways he cares for her. But can you imagine this husband looking at his wife and saying, basically, this is how you can know I love you. Look at your twin sister over there. I hate her. I mean, that is somewhat analogous to what God says to Israel. It is a surprising answer, but a profound one. You see, what God is doing is He's drawing attention to the similarity between Israel and Edom. So Israel are those people who are descended from Jacob. Edom, those are the people descended from Esau. And God's telling Israel, you know, look over at Edom and remember Was not Esau Jacob's brother? You guys are similar. You came from the same place, the same father and mother. In fact, Jacob and Esau were twins. Similarity between them. And yet, on the other hand, God is emphasizing the difference in how he has treated them. Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Yet, Jacob I have loved. And Esau, I have hated. So there's a similarity and yet a difference in how God treats them. And so what does this teach us about God's love? Well, I would suggest to you it teaches us two things, which are really two sides of the same coin. The first is that God's love is undeserved. And the second is that God's love is based on his own sovereign will. God's love is undeserved and God's love is based on his own sovereign will. So I want to consider them both in turn. So first, God's love is undeserved. Now, if you are an Israelite and you start hearing about God's judgments upon Edom, you know that Edom is getting what they deserved. You see, this would be a little bit like me talking to you about God's judgment on someone like Hitler or Stalin. You know what I'm getting, you know I'm saying God is just, God is good, they're evil, that's why God is judging them. You see, if you were to go back through the history of Israel and Edom, you'd see they are at war all the time. And most recently, about 120 years before, when Israel was being besieged by Babylon, and Israel is overrun and ransacked. Edom, meanwhile, they were riding high. They were doing well. And instead of helping Israel or caring about Israel, they rejoiced in Israel's downfall and they took advantage. They jumped in on the spoils. They took plunder. They seized land. They gained as a result of that. And in fact, the book of Obadiah was written as a judgment against Edom, telling them that God would punish them because of what they had done to Israel at that point. And now, 120 years later, verse three tells us, Edom's hill country is laid waste, and his heritage has been left to jackals of the desert. In the passing time, Edom has been overrun. Edom has been destroyed. God has done exactly what he said he was going to do. He has brought about justice against Edom. And verse 4 says that God not only has judged them, but God will never allow them to come back. He says, even if they try to come back and rebuild the ruins, the Lord of hosts says they may build, but I will tear down and they will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. They will forever abide under the curse of God. But what's, what's the point of this? Why? Is God telling the people this through Malachi? Well, remember what he said before. Was not Esau Jacob's brother? You see, the point of it is that Edom's getting what they deserved. And Israel's saying, well, how have you loved us? And God is saying, consider what you deserve, because you don't deserve anything better than them. You see, God's love is undeserved. We. Ought to look at those people that we think are the worst of the worst. And rather than thinking that, oh, I deserve God's love, oh, I am better than them. We ought to see, no, if there's any difference at all, it is by the grace of God. And all that I have received. Is undeserved. You see, you can look at the difference between you and another. Israel can look at the difference between them and Edom. And that span shows them the difference, the greatness of the love of God. And so let's think about our lives as we ask that question, what do we deserve? The Bible is very clear, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. God's told us that the wages of sin is death, that when we choose sin against God, that we earn for ourselves everlasting destruction. We have made ourselves enemies of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And that we all right now deserve to be in hell, we deserve to be under his curse, to be called the wicked country, to be people with whom the Lord is angry forever. And when we're tempted to start thinking, God, how have you loved us? Well, let's consider what we deserve and consider what we have received. The very fact that we are alive and breathing. You see, the more you start looking like that, you know, picture the stars in the sky, right? They don't, it's not that there's no stars there during the daytime. You just don't see them because of the light all around. But when you see the darkness, of what we deserve, the stars of the blessings of God and the love of God start to stand out in our lives. You know, have you ever considered that when scripture talks about hell and it describes hell? It doesn't do so just to frighten unbelievers. You know, it's meant to help believers appreciate God's glorious mercy. Think about Romans 9 verses 22 and 23. Paul writes, What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared before for glory? You know, think about that, staring into that pit of hell and knowing that's really what we deserve for our sin. And yet the difference is the love of God, the undeserved, unmerited love of God who has delivered us from that freely. Now, if you're here this morning and you are not a believer, you're not a Christian, I want you to understand that you deserve God's wrath and it is his undeserved love that has given you life and breath this morning that has brought you here. And there's nothing you can do to earn or deserve his love, but he has sent his son Jesus Christ to come into the world and to suffer and die on the cross to take your place. So that through faith in him you can be forgiven. And given everlasting life freely as his gift. And for those of us who are here who have known that salvation, who trust in Christ, as we consider how undeserved God's love is, it should make us above all things, grateful people. We should be the most grateful people. full of thanksgiving, giving thanks in all circumstances, knowing that all circumstances, no matter how bad they are, are much better than we deserved. And that God is using those circumstances to work for us this great and exceeding weight of everlasting salvation. So let us be marked by gratitude as God's people. Well, let's now consider the flip side of this coin. So we've thought about God's love being undeserved. Let's think about the other side. God's love. So if it's undeserved, if it's unearned, where does it come from? If it doesn't originate with something we do to earn it, where does it come from? And the answer is, well, it comes from God's free and sovereign will. Consider with me how it is that God loved Jacob rather than Esau. And to do that, let's back up to their grandfather, Abraham. Picture the situation. There's all the people on the face of the earth, none of them knowing or worshiping God. And God, just out of all the people, he just comes down and he chooses one man. He chooses Abraham. And the Bible doesn't say it was because of anything special about Abraham. It was just because God chose him and God said, go leave your father's house and go to the land that I will show you. And I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna be with you. I'm gonna make a great nation of you. And I'm gonna bless those who bless you. I'm gonna curse those who curse you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. God just comes down and makes these promises with Abraham. Well, then Abraham has children. And we understand as we saw in the scripture reading earlier today, God chooses Isaac and not Ishmael. It says Isaac is gonna be the one through whom these promises are gonna come. Now you might say, well, yeah, he chose Isaac because Isaac was actually born of Sarah and Ishmael was born of the bond woman. So I understand why God would choose Isaac and not Ishmael. Well, then Isaac and Rebecca conceive and they have twins. And even before they're born, the twins are struggling in the womb, and Rebecca's thinking, what's wrong? Why are the twins struggling? And she prays, and God says to her, it's because there are two nations in your womb. There are two peoples that will be separated from your body, and the older shall serve the younger. You think, well, what does this mean? Well, As we'll see as the story unfolds, it makes very clear God chose Jacob, the younger, rather than the older. And that goes contrary to what the culture would expect, contrary to what Isaac the father wanted. And yet God, sovereignly, before the twins were born, before they'd done anything good or bad, God says, I am going to choose Jacob to be the recipient of my covenant promises. Not Esau. Now, you might say, well, maybe God, you know, He knows the future, so He looked through time to see which one was going to choose Him, and that's why He chose... Well, the problem with that is it really doesn't fit the narrative. Because it doesn't account for the fact that God Himself then intervenes in their lives along the way. You know, Jacob is... going off to Bethel, and he's not looking for God, he's just laying there, and all of a sudden he sees a vision, and God comes down and has the dream with the ladder, and God speaks from the top, saying, Jacob, I will bless you, I will be with you, I'm gonna bring you back to the land, and I'm gonna make a great nation of you. It has nothing to do with Jacob, it's just God's sovereign purpose, choosing to set his free love on Jacob. And then you look at Jacob and Esau's lives. Esau gets rich. Esau apparently has a lot of blessing from God, but there's nothing in Esau that loves the Lord or seeks the Lord. He's just a worldly man. Jacob, meanwhile, is a deceiver. He's not a good guy, but then he meets his match in Laban, and he's the one who starts getting deceived and tricked. You know, Jacob gets the taste of his own medicine. He gets tricked into marrying the wrong woman. He's working. His wages keep getting changed on him. He has a rough time. And then he's got family strife. And then he's trying to escape Laban, and he's got Laban on one side, you know, wanting to kill him. Then he's got Esau coming with 400 men, and he's like, I gotta face this man. Esau's gonna kill me. He's praying to God. He gets attacked by God in the night in a wrestling match. And he's, you know, at first he's trying to wrestle, and then God just touches his hip. His hip comes out of joint. For the rest of his life, he would limp. And he's just holding on for his dear life, saying, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Friends, God sovereignly intervened to bring Jacob to himself, to break him of all of his pride, all of his self-centeredness, all of the ways that he was prone to rely on himself and to mold him into a man of faith. And then God sovereignly said, you're the one who is going to receive my blessing. And here, With the descendants of Jacob, the Israelite people, God is reminding them of their origin. Saying, remember, I loved you. The way I love Jacob, when I chose Jacob rather than Esau, not because of anything good he had done, but only because of my free and sovereign choice. Now consider how this applies to us and our salvation. See, as we study the New Testament, we learn, first of all, that salvation is not by works. It's not by who earns it, who works hard. It's by faith. It is a free gift. That means if Adolf Hitler, as wicked as he was, if on the day before he died, he had truly repented and believed in Christ, he would have been forgiven and saved. That is the power of the gospel. You say, but there are far better people who didn't believe in Christ and died and went to hell. Yes. Because the gospel is about God's free grace, his unmerited love. But then beyond that, because sometimes we hear that and then we start thinking, okay, well, it's by faith, but at least I was smart enough to trust in Christ. Or I had a little bit of good in me that led me to trust Christ. And we make faith like that's the virtue that makes the difference. But the New Testament says very clearly, faith itself is a gift. That the fact that one person believes and another doesn't comes down to the fact that God gives faith. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Philippians 1, 29, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. And then perhaps most clearly, as was read earlier, if you flip with me to Romans chapter 9. Paul deals with this and he quotes the very passage we're studying right now in Romans 9 verses 10 through 16. Paul is dealing with the question, how is it that the Jews are rejecting their own Messiah? How do you explain the Jews not receiving Christ their Messiah? And if God's love is so great, well how is it that they're denying Christ and going to hell. How do I explain that? Well, listen to how Paul explains it. Verse 10, Romans 9, 10. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, although they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I hated. See, what Paul is doing is he's taking the way that God chose Jacob over Esau to be the recipient of his promises and he chose all the Israelite people in a sense. But now Paul is saying, but no, there's also an individual sense in which not all Israel is Israel. Just as God chose Jacob and not Esau, God chooses some individuals and not others. He gives the gift of faith to some and not to all. Now, you hear that, and many people respond, well, that doesn't sound fair. Is that right? Is that just? Look at verse 14. Paul anticipates that very response. And he says, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. You see, mercy by definition is free. It goes back to the first point, God's love is not deserved. When Esau is not chosen and Esau dies and he goes to hell, that was an injustice. That was perfect justice. Esau got what he deserved. Now when Jacob receives God's love and salvation, he got better than he deserved. He received mercy. God has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he has compassion on whom he has compassion. But neither of them received injustice. Nobody got worse than they deserved. God is just. So then, verse 16 says, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. The explanation at the end of the day is not that some people are a little bit better than others. It's that God's love originates in his own free and sovereign will. And he has mercy on whom he wills. And what that means for you is that if you are a believer, God has freely set his love on you. You didn't earn it. There's nothing you did to get it. He simply loves you because He loves you. And that should make us humble. We can't look at anybody else and think, well, I'm saved because of something I did. All we can do is look at anyone who's not saved and glorify God for the mercy that we have freely received and pray that God would show that same mercy to them as well. So, In summary, so far we have seen God's assertion, I have loved you. We've seen Israel's question, how have you loved us? We've seen God's response that he has loved them with a love they did not deserve. He has loved them with a love that comes from his own sovereign will. Let's look now at the implication of this. Verse five. Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel. Your eyes, Israel, will see my judgment on Edom, and you will see how great I am. You will say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel. You see, Israel's basic problem is that they had too low a view of God. Evidently, some people are thinking of Him as a mere tribal deity. They're thinking, okay, you've got Chemosh over there in Moab, you've got Molech over there in Ammon, and then you've got Yahweh here in Israel. And Yahweh is saying, no, when you see my judgment on Edom, Then you will know that I am great beyond the border of Israel, that I am the King of Kings, that I am the Lord of Lords, that I alone am God. And then you will know what a great thing it is that I have set my love on you above all the peoples of the earth. I didn't just get stuck with you because you happen to be in my territory. No, I am the God over all the earth and yet I've set my love freely and sovereignly on you. And then you will know that no matter what enemy you face, because go back time, Edom is encroaching in Israelite territory. Edom is their enemy. Israel is afraid of them. God is saying, then when you see my judgment on them, you will know that no matter what enemy there may be, no one will thwart my good purposes for the ones on whom I freely set my love. Now we might hear that and kind of shake our heads at Israel as if, you know, how foolish can you be to think that God would be, that his sovereignty would be geographically limited? You know, that God is just God over this one territory, but he doesn't really have control outside of that geographic space. But I wonder for you, are there limits that you set on God's sovereignty? You know, maybe you think God is sovereign over the great things of life, but the little details, I don't pray about those things. God doesn't control every molecule, every atom. Maybe you think God is sovereign over the good things, but you explain bad things like hurricanes as well. Some things are just outside God's control. Or maybe you think that God is sovereign everywhere out there. But when it comes into my own heart, there's this little fence called free will. And God's not sovereign in there. Well, I'd like for you to just sit back for a moment and listen to the way that Scripture speaks of God's sovereignty. to sit back and hear these scriptures that speak of Him and how far His sovereignty extends. We find that it extends over the heavens and the earth. Colossians 1, 16 and 17 says, He created all things and in Him all things hold together. Acts 17, 28, in Him we live and move and have our being. Isaiah 40, 26 tells us it extends over the stars in the sky. God says, lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things. He brings out their hosts by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one is missing. Job 38, 11, it extends over the seas. God tells the ocean, this far you may come and no farther. Here, your proud waves must stop. We find that God's sovereignty extends over life and death. Deuteronomy 32, 39, God says, I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. We find that God's sovereignty extends over even the smallest details of life. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10, not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from your father's will. And even the hairs on your head are all numbered. We find that God's sovereignty extends over natural disasters. Amos 3.6 says, if disaster occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it? In Isaiah 45.7, God says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity or disaster. I, the Lord, do all these things. We find that God's sovereignty extends over the future. Isaiah 46 verses 9 through 11 say, 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 that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. In Psalm 139, the psalmist writes, In your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. We find that God's sovereignty extends over kings and nations. Isaiah 40, 15, Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket and are counted as the dust on the scales. Proverbs 21, 1, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. And Romans 9, verses 17 and 18, for the scripture says to the Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore, he has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills, he hardens. God's sovereignty extends over human will. Proverbs 20, 24, a man's steps are of the Lord. How then can he understand his own way? Proverbs 16, 9, the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. God's sovereignty extends even over sinful human choices. Genesis 50, 20, Joseph could tell his brothers, but as for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. And consider the crucifixion. The apostles could pray in Acts 4, why did the nations rage and the people's plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for truly against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. And finally, consider God's sovereignty extends even over salvation itself. Ephesians chapter one, verses four to six says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. And Romans 8, 29, and 30 says, For whom God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. Now, we could go on and on. That is just a small sample of the way Scripture talks about the extent of the sovereignty of God. But friends, suffice it to say, God's sovereignty knows no borders. There are no limits. He works all things according to the counsel of his will. Friends, God is not partly sovereign and man partly responsible. No, scripture says God is absolutely sovereign. And man is fully responsible for his sin. I cannot explain that to you any more than I can explain how Jesus is fully God and fully man at the same time. But I can know it is true because God's word says it. And friends, the point is not that we would sit here and just try to argue and think about how do I fit God into this box that fits into my mind? No, the point. Is to be in awe of God. To know that he is exceedingly abundantly beyond whatever we could conceive or imagine. And knowing this should fill us with two things, number one, it should fill us with all. All that God has every right to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor, all that God has every right to send us all to hell as we justly deserve and yet all. that God has rather, the God who is so high above the heavens, whose glory is above the earth, who has to humble himself just to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth, that this God has set his love and his affection on us to the point that he would send his own son to become like us in every way, to come down to earth, to take our place on the cross. Oh, that we would be in awe that this God who is so infinitely great would set his love on us and send Christ to redeem us. And secondly, knowing this should fill us with the greatest sense of comfort and security. Because just like Israel could look at Edom and God's judgment on them and know that no enemy would ever thwart God's good purposes for them, We can look at God's sovereignty and know that no enemy will ever thwart God's good purposes for us. God's love does not depend on our performance. God's love originates in his sovereign will from before the foundation of the world. He has loved us with an everlasting love. He has sent Christ to redeem us and nothing will ever be able to separate us from his love. I think of Romans chapter eight, if God is for us, who could be against us? He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Right, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Paul says, Oh, brothers and sisters, understanding the greatness of God's love. It should lead ourselves into humble, grateful service, not second rate, not questioning Him, but with all humility and awe and comfort and security, offering ourselves that we might worship Him in a manner worthy of this calling with which we've been called. Let's pray.