The Complete Sovereignty of God

You don't know where to turn. You don't know if to turn.

You are helpless. Dr. Tony Evans says there's a plan and a purpose, even in our perceived vulnerability. God will let the devil mess with you so that you can experience more of God. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. The times we need God the most are often the times we trust Him the least. Today, Dr. Evans explores that peculiar truth as he takes a look at the lives of two biblical characters, examining how the issues they dealt with relate to some of the same struggles you and I face today.

Let's join him as he begins. Instead of the great God that you know and love making things better and better, it seems the more you call on Him, He seems to be letting them get worse and worse. Such was Paul's situation in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul says in verse 7 these words, Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Now, Paul doesn't tell us what the thorn is. There are many guesses.

There's many guesses. We know from statements that Paul makes throughout the New Testament, he had eye problems. He says in one place, I've written with large letters so that you could read them, so that he had to be able to see to write.

He talks about eyes in a number of cases, so yeah, they could have had an eye problem, so it could have been a physical thorn. He talks in another place about many of the burdens that he faced—distress and persecutions and all these mad shipwrecking. So it could have been a circumstantial burden in his life.

Any number of burdens or needling. My guess, and it's a guess because he doesn't say, well, maybe he says, it depends on how you interpret it, because he says in this verse, a messenger of Satan. So it could be a person in his life who's driving him crazy. Anybody have a messenger of the devil? The Bible talks about Satan having human messengers, people who are demonically inspired to make our lives miserable.

And you can't get rid of them. You know, maybe you work next to them and nobody's getting transferred. Nobody's getting relocated. Nobody's getting fired. And you can't shake it.

Maybe you live with them. Here's something you need to know about a thorn. Nothing but nothing gets to you, even if it's from the devil that doesn't pass through God's fingers first. The devil is not sovereign, God is.

He's powerful, but he's not sovereign. The devil only got to mess with Job, because God okayed it. God, here it is, will sometimes use the devil to carry out his purposes. Peter told Jesus, everybody's going to forsake you except me. Jesus tells Peter, Satan has requested to sift you his wheat, which means Satan gets to you by permission.

Then Jesus said, but I'm praying for you that your faith fail not. Why would God allow the devil to get to me as one of his children? The positive reason that God will allow the devil to get to you is to increase your anointing.

Now, what do I mean by that? To expand your usefulness for God. God will let the devil mess with you so that you can experience more of God. It would be Paul who would author 13 books in the New Testament, the largest New Testament writer.

It would be Paul who would be the master influencer of Christianity for the ages. God gave him a great revelation for a great purpose. So what I want you to do now in your thorn, if you happen to have one right now that you're dealing with, is I want you to know God has something special going on.

The other reason God gives a thorn is to correct an actual or potential sin in our lives. Here was the sin of pride. See, when you've been to the third heaven and you're the only one that's been there, you are the man.

You are the one. It's easy to get the big head if you're the only one. That tells us that Paul either had the problem or had the propensity for the problem of pride. So God put something in his life to keep him humble. It's not that he didn't pray about it, verse 8. Concerning this, I employed the Lord three times that it might leave me.

Lord, get this off of me. He says, my grace is sufficient because with my grace comes the power in the midst of your weakness. Therefore, it must not be your power because he just told you, you were weak. Well, what am I supposed to do?

Most gladly then, I will boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Okay. Are you sitting down? Well, I know you are, but that's rhetorical. Are you sitting down?

Did you just see what he said? In my weakness, because I'm tormented in this situation and I can't change, when I discovered the principle of grace, of the sufficiency of grace, God's supply is enough for my situation, and this torment is making me weaker. God just said that his power is perfected or matured or developed when I'm weaker.

Follow this now. The needle is making me weaker. The torment is making me weaker. It's breaking me down.

He says, well, in that brokenness, God is actually setting up a power plant. I will therefore most gladly boast about my weakness. Now, that's not what we do. We complain about our weakness. Oh, this thing is killing me.

This thing is driving me crazy. I can't make it. He said, I'm a brag about it. He says, if weak is how I get strong, since I want to be strong, I'm a brag about weak. Your weakness—see, we want to praise because it's all right. He says praise when it's all wrong.

Notice the responsibility. He says power is perfected in weakness. I would rather boast in my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. In other words, I have it.

I want to experience it. And what's going to make what I have my experience? My boasting. My making a big deal in the midst of my deep anguish. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties, for Christ's sake, because I'm maintaining my Christian position. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul, if I take away your thorn, you're going to miss my power.

So Paul, which would you choose? Would you be thornless with no power or have a thorn with great power? And I'm not being mean with the thorn.

It's because I got a greater anointing for you, and I got to keep you humble. So the thorn is not trying to be mean, although it does hurt. My son Anthony was small, and he had his first major asthma attack, and he needed a shot of epinephrine. We took him to the doctor, and this is the first time he saw this long needle. And the doctor simply said to me, Would you hold him down? Because as soon as he saw that needle coming, he went off, because he was getting ready to get hit with a thorn, a needle. And I held him down, and he had one question as he screamed and hollered, Why are you helping him hurt me?

And that's what I was doing. I was helping the doctor hurt him, because the doctor was going to hurt him with the needle. But I understood something he didn't understand. That in the pain of the needle would be the power that he needed to face the issue that he was dealing with. While you're waiting for your change, and it's okay to wait for your change, it's okay to wait for your change, but while you're waiting, don't miss the power or the anointing.

Because when I am weak, then I am strong. Waiting for God to bring about the change we long for requires faith. Dr. Evans will help us discover the kind of faith that can stand up to any test, as he tells us about a man who faced the toughest challenge any parent can imagine when he continues with the second part of today's lesson in just a moment. But first, I'd like to tell you about Tony's latest book that goes hand in hand with today's message. It's called Hope for the Hurting, and in it he offers first-hand spiritual principles that can help you face pain and hurt with grace, allowing you to experience more fully the love and happiness that can be found on the other side of it all.

You'll learn how to get through the pain without succumbing to its crushing weight. We'd like to send you one of the first copies of this book as our gift in return for your donation toward keeping this ministry coming your way. And for a few more days, along with Tony's Hope for the Hurting book, we'll also include all 20 messages, 10 on CD and 10 as digital downloads, from the Coming to the Comforter audio compilation we've been listening to today. Request this special package of resources right away at TonyEvans.org, where you can also get the companion Hope for the Hurting Bible Study DVD and study guide. Just go to TonyEvans.org for all the details, or let one of our resource team members help you by phone day or night at 1-800-800-3222.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans, we'll come back with Part 2 of today's message right after this. I'm standing here in Alaska, one of the most glorious places in God's great creation. And I want to invite you to join me and our Urban Alternative family for the Alaskan Cruise. We're going to have a magnificent time in God's Word and in God's creation. We're going to enjoy great fellowship, great fun, great food, and I'm looking forward to meeting and greeting you on our TUA Alaskan Cruise. Register to be there.

Can't wait to be with you. To find out more about this unforgettable Alaskan Cruise, visit TonyEvans.org today. That's TonyEvans.org. If God is making things worse, He is typically preparing for something better. Nothing brings this out any more than the story in Genesis 22. Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham. He said, Take now your son, your only son, whom you love Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which I will tell you.

Can you imagine as a parent the emotional crisis that that puts you in? Not only is your son going to die, but he's going to die at your hand. Abraham rises early in the morning, saddles his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac and his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose and went to the place where God had told him. On the third day, Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Verse 5, verse 5, not often talked about, but let me talk about verse 5. Abraham said to the young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go up over there, and we will worship and return to you.

Did you see that? Me and the lad, we're going to go worship, and we'll return to you. But wait a minute, he was just told to go to kill his son. Abraham was thinking God made a promise that my descendants would come through Isaac, and God can't lie.

In other words, watch this now. What God has asked me to do makes absolutely no logical sense, but because I know He is able, then He is able to overrule the natural order of things. Isaac speaks to Abraham in verse 7, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

Something missing here. To which Abraham says, verse 8, as he looks at Isaac, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. What he's telling is God has to fix this one. And Abraham built the altar, verse 9, and arranged the wood and bound his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

This is what you call completing your obedience. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, remember the principle, whenever God calls your name twice, it's serious. Abraham, Abraham, he said, Here I am. He said, Do not stretch your hand against the lad and do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. God knows everything actual. God knows everything potential. But God does not know everything experiential. God has not experienced everything that He knows. So He could tell you what sin was. He could tell you what sin will do. But He can't tell you what it feels like to do it, because He's never done it. In other words, that's not in His experience to commit a sin. One of the reasons the Bible says that God became man in Hebrews 4 was so that He might sympathize.

That means feel what we feel. Does He know what hunger is? Yes. Has He ever been hungry before He became a man?

No. Because you have to be human to be hungry, or physical to be hungry. So He became a man to experience, the Bible says. What has that got to do with, Lord, why are you killing me? It has everything to do with it. He says, now I know, verse 12, I know that you fear me, that is, you take me seriously, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Here it is. What God loves to experience is us choosing Him over the most important thing in our lives. Your son, your only son whom you love. That was His most precious gift.

He says, I know how you feel about me, because you were willing to give up Him for me. God let him go through this agonizing process to enter into the historical experience, not knowledge. He knows what Abraham would or would not do.

But the historical, because He says, now I know, experience. God loves it when we choose Him first. But to choose Him first, that means it's got to come before something else. When He is placed in the preeminent position in our lives over and against the thing we love most. We want most.

We're impassioned about most. Now watch this. It's another point I want to make. Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, verse 12, and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear me, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked behold him, a ram caught in the thicket by its horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering in the place of his son. His solution to his problem was right next to it. Okay, watch this now. This is sweet.

This is sweet. His solution—remember what he said? God has got to supply Himself a sacrifice. But He's up there ready to slay His Son, because His Son is the sacrifice.

But watch this. Not until He chooses God first does He find out about the solution God has provided. God had the solution stuck. The solution wasn't going nowhere. It had been stuck. It had been caught.

But wait a minute. If it had been caught, that means it's been there for a second. This is a mighty quiet caught.

Because if a ram gets caught in the thicket, it's trying to wiggle its way out. It's making noise. And we know it was in the vicinity, because Abraham didn't go anywhere. It just says he looked. He looked. That means he either saw something or heard something that caused him to look, and he looked. The answer God had already provided, he just hadn't revealed it.

Do you know some of the stuff you're looking for God has already gotten caught? He just hasn't let it make noise yet. He just hasn't let it make noise yet, because he's still waiting to see what you're gonna do, what you're gonna do, what you're gonna choose. You sing about I'm first. You say I'm first.

You talk I'm first. Let me let you choose something. Let me let you make a choice, a decision. And what is the decision?

To slay the thing you love most. to this station and other outlets around the world. And for a limited time, along with the Coming to the Comforter series, we'll also send you Tony's newest book, Hope for the Hurting. As always, the details are waiting for you online at TonyEvans.org, where you can browse through our huge library of resources and sign up for Tony's free weekly email devotional.

And if you want to explore this topic even further, check out the companion Hope for the Hurting Bible Study DVD and study guide. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Or let one of our friendly resource team members assist with your request at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. There's a saying that kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give. Well, as we've mentioned before, Dr. Evans believes kindness is a gift that our society can't afford not to give. Take the time to show kindness to those you meet today. And in the name of Jesus, look for opportunities to demonstrate kindness to someone who needs a touch from God. You help make your community a better place when you demonstrate the love of God through your acts of kindness. Jesus' resurrection is the centerpiece of history and the pivot point between eternal life and death. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans will explore the validity, value, and victory of the Lord's resurrection and examine how we can experience God's comfort when we acknowledge His complete sovereignty. I hope you'll join us for this powerful lesson. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.