The Lord Is Still in Control

And if you take your bibles turn if you would to begin with to Psalm chapter two. Psalm chapter two, this morning. Psalm chapter two. Psalm two verse one. Why do the heathen rage?

And the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, thank you for this day that you have given us. Thank you Lord that you are on the throne. Thank you Lord that no matter what's happening around us, that we have a mighty fortress in Jesus Christ, our savior. Lord, I pray that you would give us hope and Lord that you would increase our faith today.

I pray Lord that we would look to you for wisdom, for discretion, for strength, and grace, as we continue to follow our savior, wherever your path leads us, may we seek to honor you. May we seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness. For you have promised to add all these other things we need to us, Lord. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

You look up on the screen. I have Proverbs 21 up here or you can turn to it if you like. Proverbs 21 verses thirty and thirty one. It says, there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. The horses prepared against the day of battle but safety is of the Lord.

Let me read that again and I'm going to add a few excuse me, synonyms in here. There is no wisdom or skill of man. There is no understanding or intelligence of man nor counsel or plan of man which can succeed against who? Which can succeed against the Lord. No skill, intelligence, or plan that can succeed against the Lord.

The horse is prepared against or for the day of battle but safety, deliverance, victory, salvation is of who? Is of the Lord. We can be assured that there is no skill, intelligence, or plan of man that will ever overthrow the will and plan of who? The will and plan of God. We just read from Psalm chapter two.

As God says in Psalm chapter two, the kings of the earth, the mighty man, the intelligent, the those that are sadly deceived by Satan. They have their own plants and their own plans and their own plots and and Satan certainly has is but in the end all of it will fall before the will and plan and power of almighty God. They plan and plot and scheme in vain. They will not be able to throw off the chains of his authority. For he is on the throne.

And he is still God. And he is still in control. When things of life seem to spiral out of control and it seems God is not on the throne, do not be disillusioned. Do not despair for how things often seem to us is not how they really are. And our perspective is extremely what?

Narrow. Compared to God's. Let's look at a few examples. Turn if you would to Exodus chapter 14. Exodus chapter 14, okay?

The children of Israel were being led out of slavery in Egypt by Moses. The Lord had, brought 10 plagues upon pharaoh and upon Egypt and finally pharaoh said, okay, I give. I give. Get out of here after the death of the firstborn. And so Israel packed up.

The people actually gave them stuff to get them to go. They gave them jewelry and all kinds of stuff. Just get out of here. And so they packed up and Moses led them out. Of Egypt.

And then we have Exodus chapter 14 verse one. They're on their way out. Moses is leading them. Cloud, pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night is leading Moses and you look in verse 14 verse one, the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp by Pi Hahiroth between Migdol and the sea over against Baal Zephon before it shall ye encamp by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land and the wilderness have shut them in.

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his house and the Egyptians that that and the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord and they did so. So God comes to Moses and says, Moses I want you to lead the children of Israel to this spot up against the what? Up against the water. Up against the Red Sea. Now we're not talking about a stream or a creek or even a river.

We're talking about a sea. Okay, this thing is a couple miles at least across where they were. Okay. And they got all this stuff with them. Okay.

It's not like they can just take off and swim across. Alright. Also any place to get across is miles and miles away. Alright? So here Pharaoh gets word.

They have stopped and encamped up against the Red Sea and they're gonna have to go miles this way or miles that way. They're entrapped and Pharaoh thought in his mind, well, I don't like this you know surrendering thing. I'm gonna send my army and wipe them out. Whose plan was that? Well, was Pharaoh's plan to wipe them out but whose plan was this whole entire thing?

It was God's plan. God knew exactly what was going on in Pharaoh's head. And God had a plan that would strengthen the faith of his children and would show Pharaoh that he needed to leave them forever alone, okay? And so, look down if you would in verse 10. When pharaoh drew nigh or drew near his army, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold the Egyptians marched after them and they were sore afraid and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord and they said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?

They're in the desert. Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt. So here comes Pharaoh's army. Here's the children of Israel. They cry out to who?

To Moses. And they said, why did you lead us here? We'd have been better off to stay what? To stay there. We'd been better off to die there.

You brought us out here and we're all gonna be slaughtered in the desert. This isn't a very good plan, Moses. Verse verse 12 I think. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt saying let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians we should die in the wilderness. Didn't we tell you, you know, way back there just to leave us alone and not entangle us in your plans?

We'd have been better off just to stay there in slavery. Now it's that's sad, isn't it? Here God had delivered them and brought 10 plagues on Egypt and here they get in a corner and immediately they start griping and complaining and saying, oh, we'd have been better off in slavery. Now, Christians never do that, right? Christians should never do that, right?

Sometimes, I still think we look at the world around us and we think, oh, boy, I I wish I could do that or boy, I'm missing out on that. No, you're not. No, you're not. We've been delivered from the slavery of sin. We are so, so, so much better off just in this life.

Not to speak of eternity. And they are. We have Jesus. The things that they're dabbling in, they're going to come back to bite them. Praise God, we've been delivered.

Praise God, We have seen a better way. Praise God that we don't deal with this alone. We are far better off. And they will ever be if they don't come to Christ. So, never, never ever look back and say, well, I'd have been better off.

No, you wouldn't be. We're so much better off with Christ. But they complained to Moses said we'd been better to die back there. Verse 13, Moses said unto the people, fear ye not. Stand still.

Quit complaining and griping and scurrying around in fear and panic. Stand still and see the what? See the salvation of the Lord, the deliverance of the Lord which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.

And with that what did Moses do? Verse 16, he lifted up his what? His rod. He stretched forth his hand over the sea and the waters what? The waters departed.

They walked across on dry land. Pharaoh's army followed him in. When Pharaoh's army was all in the middle of the Red Sea Moses held up his staff on the other side and walls of water closed in on them and they all drowned. You know, had God not have done it that way, Pharaoh's army would have still been available to attack them at another time. But because God did it this way, he destroyed Pharaoh's army and they had no more anything to fear from Pharaoh at all.

And in doing so he also strengthened their faith and he showed himself to be powerful. When they were trapped up against the Red Sea they had a what? They had a narrow focus. This is what? Bad.

This is bad. This is terrible. This is bad. We're in trouble. Sometimes we tend to react the same way when the things of life come whether it be injury or illness or circumstances around us, financial issues or family problems or whatever it may be.

And we have a narrow focus. We go, oh this is bad. This is bad. This is terrible. I'm not gonna live through it.

Know, it's just what does God say? Stand what? Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. God has a bigger plan. We just don't see it.

We just need to stand still and trust him and we'll see that things really aren't as bad. And there really isn't a need to what? To panic and to fear. Paul was on a ship. He was, he had been arrested in Jerusalem.

He was put on a ship to Rome to stand trial before Caesar. He is on the ship. The captain of the ship is making some poor decisions. It's a time of the year when there's a lot of bad storms on the Mediterranean. And rather than staying harbored as Paul suggested he did in a safe harbor through the winter, he struck out to go to Italy and got in the midst of a terrible storm.

And everybody was panicked and afraid. The ship was coming apart. They were tossing, you know in the movies they toss all this stuff out. They got you know, get the all the extra weight overboard so the ship will float. They're all panicked.

They're sinking. Paul comes up to the captain and the crew and says, basically, stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. Says, God has spoke to me and nobody on this ship is going to die. Yes, we're going to be shipwrecked but nobody is going to lose their life.

So don't panic. Don't panic. Get ready. The wreck is coming. But don't fear, everybody is going to what?

Everybody is going to make it. And guess what? Everybody did. They were panicked but Paul was not because the Lord was with him. I think of Daniel.

Daniel, a young man, probably a teenager, taken captive by the Babylonians. They came into his city. They probably slew his family. They took him captive. They took him back to Babylon.

A place, a language he did not speak. In a culture he was not familiar with. A religious culture that had no place for Jehovah God and was trying to conform him quickly to its religious opinions and ideas. And David in Daniel one:eight says, And Daniel purposed in his heart that he would what? Not defile himself with the king's meat.

Daniel in the midst of this trial which must have seemed overwhelming to a teenage boy but he decided I'm gonna trust too. I'm gonna trust God. You know Daniel understood God knows what he is doing. And I am not going to abandon God in the middle. I am going to stick with him because God knows what he is doing and I am not going to defile myself.

And so he asked God for wisdom and God gave him wisdom. And he was able to stand and not partake and eat of the king's meat. And the Lord blessed him. And you know this young man that was taken captive, that was made a slave become one became one of the highest officials in the Babylonian Empire. And then the Persians swept in under Cyrus and they conquered the Babylonians.

They they conquered Nebuchadnezzar's son and grandson and they took over the city of Babylon. They slew almost all the officials but who? Who do you think? Daniel. And guess what?

It wasn't long before Daniel became a high official again in the city of Babylon under Cyrus and Darius. And then the enemies came. They were jealous. Jealous of this this Jew who was part of the previous kingdom who now has made a confidant to the king in Persia that we're gonna get him. King Darius make a law that nobody can pray to you, any God but you for thirty days.

And of course Daniel being Daniel not having a what? A narrow focus but trusting in the Lord. He went to his house. He got down on his knee. He prayed.

What happened? He was thrown in the lion's den. Bad? Of course, bad. But really not bad.

Because who was waiting in the lion's den for him? Not just the lions but angels and God. And when he was pulled up out of that lion's den, God was glorified once again and so was he. We look at the trials of life, things that happened. I had this car wreck or this accident or I came down with this illness or I had this injury.

I remember when I was in college. When I was in high school I didn't date at all but when I got in college I said I can date now. I'm gonna date now. Dating at Bob Jones by the way means this. You go, to eat a meal, together and you sit across the table from each other and if you get within about six inches of each other somebody says hey you're too close.

That's dating at Bob Jones University just so you know. And I'm not being exaggerating either. At least not when I was there. But I decided I was going to date. And so I'd asked this girl and asked that girl out.

Half the time I got turned down. Half the time I didn't. And there was a couple girls that I started dating for a while and it didn't last. Few months and well she somebody else caught her eye. No surprise there.

And off they went and I was destroyed. All life was going to end. You know, I'd found the one and she'd left me. You know, I had known her for three months, you know. And so then I started dating again and then guess what?

Another girl and we dated for a while and guess what? Same thing happened. Oh, sky is falling, the sky is falling. And then I made a phone call to talk to a girl who I had a date with and she wasn't in the room. And her roommate was a girl by the name of Katie Wilhelm.

And she picked up the phone and said, the girl I was trying to reach wasn't there. She had stepped out for a minute. So I said, Okay, well that's fine. Can I talk to you while we wait for her to come back? And I was much more brazen over the phone than I was in person.

Always been that way. So she said, Yeah, okay. Well her roommate never came back. We talked for about forty five minutes and I thought, I've got to ask her out. So but I had to wait for this date that I had with this other girl to pass.

It was a big concert artist series thing. And so right after a couple weeks later then I asked Kate out and then the rest is history, you know. Those first two girls were blips on the radar now and I'm so glad those didn't last because God had something what? Better. You know that wasn't bad that they broke it off.

That was good. But see at the time that was what? That was bad. But God had something better. And we we run into these bumps in life.

We think, this is bad but you know, hold on, God has something what? God has something better. Something better. Safety, salvation, deliverance. It's in the Lord.

And no matter what comes down the pike or what plans man throws in God's path, he is still on the throne. He has a plan and the plans for his children are good. The plans for his children are good. Perfect. Righteous.

There are few things in life in which we can really trust. The one we can always trust in is God. His love, his wisdom, his grace, his will are indeed perfect and his mercies are new every morning. Romans eight twenty eight, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. Doesn't say all things are good but means all things do what?

They work together for good to those who belong to him. Those who are the called according to his purpose. And we can be safe in the Lord He is our fortress. So, don't be afraid. God knows what he's doing.

But the second verse in Proverbs 21, verse 31 says, the horse is what? Prepared against the day of battle but safety is of the Lord. God is in control and in Christ, we're safe. God is on the throne. Nonetheless, is it still advisable to prepare the horses?

Yes, it is. The verse doesn't say don't prepare the horses. It says the horses are prepared but the deliverance, the victory is in the hands of who? God. But it doesn't say not to prepare the horses.

It basically is saying you we prepare the horses and God gives the what? Victory. We prepare for battle and God gives the victory. It doesn't say don't prepare for battle. Okay?

It is still advisable to prepare the horses. Sometimes God says, march around the city 13 times and when you blow the horn, the walls will what? The walls will come down and you can march in and take it. Sometimes God says, hold out the staff, say stand still and see the what? The salvation of the Lord and Pharaoh's army is destroyed.

Sometimes God says, okay, send the what? Send the horses. Sometimes, God says, send the horses. You know, on a few occasions, God delivered Israel without a fight. But in most of the battles, he delivered them through the fight.

He delivered them through the fight, through the battle. He sent Deborah and Barak with an army to defeat Cicera. And sometimes God says, send the horses. Well, if God says send the horses, then you better have the horses what? You better have the horses ready.

It's not wrong to be prepared. No, it's wise to be prepared as long as we remember who is what, who is in control. First Peter three fifteen says this, but sanctify the Lord in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. But sanctify the Lord in your hearts and be what? Be ready.

Be ready. Watch that word ready. It means be prepared. Always be prepared to give an answer. To give an an answer to every man that asks you to the reason of of your for your hope.

Be prepared to be a witness. Be prepared to share with others why you believe what you believe. Be prepared to go to battle with Satan. Be prepared to go to battle with temptation. Hide God's word in your heart that you might not sin against too.

Then, you might not sin against God. Hide his word in your heart. What that mean? That's being prepared. There's nothing wrong with being prepared.

A matter of fact, God tells us here, we should and we need to prepare ourselves for the battle, for the trials that we will face. He will be with us. He will give us victory. But we should be prepared. We shouldn't say, okay, God.

Well, I'm just going to sit back and do nothing. I guess you're going to, you know, say, say, God, you know, I didn't study for this test. I didn't listen in class but but you're going to get me an A, right? No. No.

We do have a responsibility to prepare ourselves. The two wise servants prepared for the return of their master and they earned more to give him at his coming. The foolish servant didn't want. He didn't prepare. He wasn't diligent.

He just hit it in the ground and he did nothing. It's always better to be prepared. You know, the Lord may come tomorrow but I still think my sons David and Joshua should go to school and prepare for life's potentialities. I think that's wise. Why do you think King David, well he wasn't King David yet, he was Shepherd David but why do you think shepherd David when he came before Goliath first went to the brook and he picked up what?

He picked up five stones. Why did he just pick up one? Why did he need stones at all? He was prepared. You see, he trusted that God would defeat Goliath but he didn't God didn't tell him it was going to be on the first stone.

It might have been on the second or the third, you see. And he was prepared. Later, when he was king David and he went into battle, he didn't go into battle with a sling and stones. He went to battle with an army of well trained soldiers. He was what?

He was prepared. He was prepared. You know, I'm I'm driving to Greenville here in just a little bit to pick up David's stuff from school and I think I know where I'm going but you and and and I trust that the Lord is going to direct me and help me as I go but I'm still going to take something called a map and I might even look at it before I leave. I want to be prepared. I trust the Lord is going to get me there safely but I'm still going to put gas in my car, check the oil which I did last night and try to go round about the speed limit, okay?

That's called being prepared. I had a sermon to preach this morning. I didn't just walk in here today and go, oh, I think I'll preach on this. Now, I started a little few days ago. Jesus even prepared himself for the cross in the Garden Of Gethsemane.

Yes, God is in control. We can trust in him but it is wise for us to be prepared. Prepared to do his bidding. Prepared for what may come. And trust in him to bring it to pass.

It is wise to be prepared. It's not wrong to take precautions. If you live in the North where it snows, when it comes to winter, you might put these things on your tie, on your car called snow tires. Well, don't you trust in the Lord to keep you from sliding around? Why would you put snow tires on?

No. To be what? Prepared. Who provided you with the snow tires essentially? Ultimately, God did.

Put them on your car. Take precautions. If you have a medical condition like high blood pressure, which I have, and God provides you with medication to help keep it in check, it seems to make sense to me to take the medication, to take precautions. I don't need my blood pressure going up to two fifty. Not a good thing.

Take the medication. If you have a vehicle and you're going to go somewhere, you might reach over your shoulder here and pull something around and connect it over here. What's it called? A seat belt. Well, are you planning to crash?

Probably not. Do you not trust God to protect you if you crash? Yes? Then why are you putting your seat belt on? Well, some of you are saying because it's the law.

Okay. Yeah, I understand that. But some of you would put it on even if it what? Wasn't the law. Why do you do that?

We're taking wise precautions. When Paul went into cities to preach the gospel, He sometimes had a way of escape Out of in Damascus, it was out of a window in the wall. In other occasions, he just had to flee the city. He wasn't a glutton for punishment. He took precautions.

He didn't mind suffering for the Lord but he didn't want to unnecessarily die until God was ready for it. He took precautions. Trusting in the Lord does not mean that you're not prepared or you're not take precautions. It's okay to take precautions. That's why we have sand hand hand sanitizer.

That's why we said don't huddle up in a little bunch and hug each other today. It's wise to take precautions. Just don't forget who's in charge. Don't forget to give him first place. Don't forget to pray.

Don't despair in panic. And give him the glory. For he's still on the throne. He's still in control. And our ultimate safety is not found in the hand of man or the plans of man or our own power but in the Lord.

So, when times get rough, when times get dark, when things catch us a little off guard, remember, safety is in the Lord. He is our fortress. We are okay. There's no need to panic. Just trust in him.

Be prepared. Take precautions. And get on your knees. And talk to him about it. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For Jesus Christ, our savior, thank you Lord for your mercy and grace. Thank you Lord that you are in control. You are our sovereign God. Lord, that you care about us.

You've made promises in your word that all things will work together for good, that you'll never leave us nor forsake us and Lord, I pray that you'd help us to trust you more. Help us Lord to keep our eyes fixed on you. The author and finisher of our faith. Lord, I pray that you would help us to remember the verses that say, do not be afraid because I am with you. I will not leave thee nor forsake thee.

Lord, I pray that you will help us to find opportunities when others are afraid to share with them why we are not so afraid. To share with them the love of Jesus Christ. What you did for us on the cross when you gave your life for us. Lord, I pray that we would show you all the gratitude and thanksgiving every day and that we would grow in our faith in you and trust. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

Lean not unto thine own understanding. All thy ways acknowledge him. He shall direct. Our paths. Lord, direct our paths today.

Help us to trust you more and Lord, we pray if there's someone here today that's never trusted you as Lord and savior. That no matter how bad any virus can be, the disease of sin is more heinous and more deadly. And Lord, I pray that they would come to Christ today. That they would come as we give this hymn of invitation. We might be able to show them.

How that your death on Calvary's cross and resurrection from the dead. Has made the way for them to be saved for all eternity. And that they can be saved today and know it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.