Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Ill health, financial crisis, some emotional trauma, some personal conflict, some family situation. and we are thrown into the middle of our own Personal mega hurricane. For many people, Your personal life Is a mess. The question is: if God is in control.
Why is the world? It's such a mess. Welcome to the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Each day, it seems that we're confronted with conflict, disaster, division, and reasons to fear. You may be asking, why is the world in such a mess?
And why does our sovereign God allow such chaos to unfold?
Well, today on the verdict, we're considering this question as we continue our series, What Would You Ask God?
Now, with today's lesson, here's Pastor John Monroe. What do you see when you look out into the world? What do you see when you consider your own life and relationships? Most of us like order and some degree of predictability in our lives, but often things simply seem out of control. And given current world events, it seems to be getting worse all the time.
Last time we began to consider the question If there is a God, why is the world in such a mess? We saw that the scriptures clearly teach that God is the absolute ruler over everything. The supreme power over the whole universe.
So how does this help when we feel that things are discouraging and chaotic? When we don't know what's going to happen next. Let's continue to think of this truth that God is in control. In the series, we're learning about the true God. Another God that we would like, but the true God.
The God of the Bible And as we're going through this series, we're asking some basic questions about God. The question this morning is, if God is in control, why is the world in such a mess? I think you'd agree that the world is in a mess. Think of our world. Suffering, devastation, messy situations, intractable problems are all around us.
The first thing I want us to learn. that God and God alone is sovereign. Isaiah chapter forty five There's five I am the Lord. and there is no other Besides me there is no God. There's only one God.
No other God. No one in comparison. No one comes even close to being like God. is the point. I will gird you though you have not known me.
Verse six, that men may know From the rising to the setting of the sun. That there is no one beside me, I am the Lord, and there is no Other. Did you get that? I am the Lord and there is no other. No equals, no peers, no one on the same level.
God is in a unique category. He is God and is God alone. Chapter forty six. Isaiah forty six Verses nine and ten. Remember the former things long past, for I am God and there is no other.
I am God and there is no one like me. I think we're getting the point, right? And when things go wrong in life, And we hit a brick wall. And when someone betrays us and someone lets us down, and hardship and problems come into our life. An understanding that God is in control is to me the greatest comfort that we can have.
As the old hymn says, when darkness veils his lovely Face. You ever felt that? You ever felt that there was a darkness between you and God? Of course you felt that. Have you been a Christian for any length of time?
You've cried out to God, and it seems as if God doesn't hear you. But the hymn writer says, When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil on Christ. The solid rock, I said. That's it.
That's it. Would you have any other rock? Is there any other God that you would stand on? Is there any other hope? Is there any other way?
Is there any other person that could. guide you through life Through death and into eternity? Of course not. We stand on His unchanging grace. The storm is around us.
We're in the dark. We feel alone. We wonder what's going to happen, but we know this, that we're on Christ, and He is the solid rock, and He will never desert us, and He will never let us go. And He is with us, He is the sovereign Christ. And nothing.
Brother, sister, nothing will ever enter your life that God doesn't either desire or allow. All for your good. And you are part of the kingdom of God. We claim that brilliant promise of Romans 8:28 that we know. that all things are working together for good to those who love God.
working together. For good. Why? By the sovereign God who is supreme. He is a good God.
He always asks in the best interests of his people. He never ever has made one mistake. He is always in control. Trust that God. That's our sovereign God.
But think of our troubled world. I don't need to spend much time on this. You know that our world is troubled. It's a mess. It's not going the way it should.
We have too many disasters and tragedies and wars and violence and diseases. Things seem to be getting worse and worse. We live in a very, very troubled world. And we ask, well, if God is sovereign and if He is in control, why is the world in such a mess? What's gone wrong?
Well, Adam and Eve sinned, didn't they? our first parents, and through sin, through them, sin came into the world. And while it's a cliche to say that no one is perfect, it's a true cliché. None of us. Not one of us is perfect.
All of us mess up. We call that sin. And you've messed up, and I've messed up. And the problem is that when we mess up, it tends to impact the lives of others around us. Have you noticed that?
Her husband messes up and That mass impacts his wife. His children.
Something happens at work. What's going wrong? and our mass kind of grows. And grows. And not one of us here has never messed up.
We don't mess up the same way.
Sometimes people do that very dramatically and everyone knows about it. But other times it may be secret, but we know we mess up. And Because of sin, death has come into the world. Throughout our world, over 6,000 people die every hour. 100 people die every minute.
The physical world is out of whack. We have earthquakes. I was in Hawaii the other day. We have mudslides, we have tsunamis. We have drought, we have famine.
Paul says in Romans 8, verses 22 and 23, that sin has impacted the very creation. It's groaning. Yes, we live in a beautiful world, but it's not the world as originally designed by our God. No, sin has come into the world.
So there are disasters, there's disorder, there's decay, there's disease, there's death.
Something is very far wrong. And as we reflect on God's sovereignty, we say, well, and if God is sovereignly in control of all things, where does this leave me? Am I just a kind of a puppet? God pulling the strings, as it were. Am I kind of just a robot?
If God does whatever He pleases, how can we have any freedom?
Well, the relationship between divine sovereignty and human freedom is one of the mysteries of the Bible, and I can't explain it fully to you. But I do know. that God Has not revealed everything to us. He has revealed many things to us. That's why we are to study the word of God.
He has spoken to us in his word. He has spoken to us in Jesus Christ. But God is infinite, and we are finite. Deuteronomy 29, verse 29: The secret things belong to the Lord our God. There are things that God has chosen not to reveal to us.
Just as if you're a parent, you don't reveal everything to your five year old or your ten year old or even your fifteen year old. There are things that you keep to yourself.
So it is with the Lord, who is infinite in His wisdom and knowledge. The Bible says the secret things belong to the Lord. Paul, after his wonderful exposition of the gospel, As he comes with that amazing benediction and doxology in Romans chapter 11, it says, Oh, the depth. Of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments.
and unfathomable. His ways. Do you get that? God's ways are unfathomable. His judgments are unsearchable.
That tells me that there is much about God I do not understand. A few years ago I was invited to speak at a Bible conference in Los Alamos. New Mexico. And as I was going there, I was told that in Los Alamos. I don't know if it's true today, it was then in the eighties, that there are more PhDs.
per capita there than anywhere else in the world. The home where I was staying Uh the man was a laser physicist. He was working on Star Wars there in Los Alamos.
Some of you have been there. And over the dinner table, I was curious about what People do. I said to him. You're a laser physicist. I mean, tell me about laser physics.
I mean, I Fucked this at school, you know, physics? He started. Not realize the first sentence I was in trouble. By the time you got to the second sentence, I was totally lost. After about 10 or 15 minutes of this, you know, he said to me, Are you following this?
I said, well, a little bit. Mm-hmm. I was lost. Don't ask me about laser physics. Don't know anything about it.
Even though I stayed over a long weekend with a laser physicist who was obviously very highly qualified in his field and doing amazing research. I think of it this way. If I can't understand laser physics, which I can't, Do I really think? But I can understand. The purposes.
And the plans of an infinite God. If I can't understand another human being who's trying to explain something to me, If I'm lost after a sentence or two, as indeed I was. How could I think, isn't that rather arrogant? Of course it's arrogant. To think That everything who God is and everything that God does must be understood by me.
No. We shouldn't be surprised if we can't fully understand God. In fact, aren't you glad? That we have a God who's so great, who's so brilliant, who's so wise that we can't figure out all that He is and everything that He does.
Some make a distinction between God's permissive will, that is what He permits, and His decretive or His sovereign will, by which He sovereignly brings to pass whatever He decrees. Other theologians refer to the two truths of God's sovereignty and human freedom as an antinomy. An antinomy is a pair of truths which seem to be irreconcilable but which are both taught in Scripture and are therefore reconcilable in the mind of God. If we take divine sovereignty by itself, we can understand that. to some extent anyhow.
We think of human freedom. We can understand that. God gives us the capacity to choose. But when we take God's sovereignty and human freedom and we have these two principles which seem to be parallel but which are not reconcilable, Often the illustration of the railroad is these two tracks parallel. and they never meet But we do know That because God is just and because God is all-wise, these truths are reconcilable in the mind and the purposes of God, even though.
we may have difficulty in reconciling them. What we do know is that God is sovereign. The Scripture teaches that. We're not to deny it. We do also know that we are morally responsible beings accountable to God.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, did exactly what you've done. They chose Evil. They disobeyed God, and so sin came into the world. Did God hold them accountable? Yes, He did.
And God holds you accountable. And God holds me accountable for the choices which we make. The Bible says each one of us shall give an account of ourselves to God. One day, you're going to stand before God and give an account of yourself. That wouldn't have any meaning if we were robots.
That wouldn't have any meaning if we were just puppets and God was kind of playing with us. No. There is responsibility for our actions. We're not animals. We don't just go by instincts.
We're not machines. We are human beings, and being a person means we have the capacity to choose either good or evil. We are not fatalistic like so much of Islam. Fatalism is that, irrespective of what we are and what we do, the outcome is inevitable. No, within God's sovereign purposes, He has ordained that we have freedom.
Not unlimited freedom. I can't fly. I can't understand laser physics. I have limitations as you have limitations. But I do have true freedom.
We are free to the extent that God allows us to be free. And within that freedom, God allows us. To either accept him, to bow to his sovereignty, to bow to his kingship. or to say no. I'm going to make myself king of my life.
Not going to allow anyone, not even this God, if there is a God to tell me what to do, God gives you that freedom. The illustration is sometimes used. of a cruise ship. Goody and I have gone on a cruise. And supposing we were to go on a cruise from New York City.
to Southampton, England and the Queen Mary the two. Uh great ship, I'm told, never been on it. As we go on that ship, as we've been out of the New York Harbor. and say after two or three hours I happen to speak to the captain. And I say to the captain, Where are we heading?
He says, We're heading. To England, to Southampton. And I said, Well, I'm a Scotsman. I don't want to go to England. I don't like English people.
I want to go to Scotland. HA Sir. On this ship, I roll. I'm the captain. And I throw a little fit.
This is purely hypothetical. Of course, I don't do these things. But if I threw a little fit He could say, you know, you can hit your head on that cabin door all you like, sir, but we're still going on this course because I'm the captain and I decide where we go.
However, sir, on this ship, Queen Mary II, you've got many choices. You can lie by the pool, you can go for a swim, you can go to a spa, you can go after a workout, you can sit and read in the library, you can go to a buffet. If you don't like the buffet, you can go over pizza. If you don't want that, you can go to your cabin and lie down. In other words, on that ship, I have a lot of freedom.
But I do not have the freedom to take over the ship. I'm a passenger. I'm not. The captain. And in life.
We'd all like to be the captain, wouldn't we? of our own lives. We're not the captain. What another ruler? God Does whatever he pleases.
He sets the course for our life. If I'm wise, if I'm humble, I submit to his purposes and say, Here is a God who knows more than I do, a God who loves me incredibly does he love me, and he has a plan, and he has purposes for my life. And sometimes they go through the storm, and sometimes it's very dark, and sometimes I would love to jump off the ship. And sometimes I may bang my head in frustration on the cabin door, but he is chartering. The course.
So, God does give us meaningful choices. Joshua says, Choose you this day whom you will serve. That's the choice. He says, Ask for me and my house. We're going to serve the Lord, but the choice is yours.
Paul writes in Romans 10: whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. There's a promise. You're going to call upon the name of the Lord? You can say, No, I'm not going to call upon the name of the Lord. If you don't call upon the name of the Lord, you will not be saved.
But if you call upon the name of the Lord, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. And God holds you accountable whether you accept or reject him. These promises, these commands then are not meaningless statements because God not only ordains the ends, he ordains the means to the end. And his means include human freedom. And while we don't fully understand that, Miss Ray, at least I don't, I do know that God's perfect plans and perfect purposes are always fulfilled.
And we do know that God always works in such a way that He is never the author or the direct cause of evil. Or thin? How do you respond to the subject of the sovereignty of God? It may be a rather difficult doctrine, but I want to tell you it's a very reassuring one. I find it very reassuring, as I've said, that God is in charge of my life, that God is in control.
I don't know about tomorrow, I don't know about tonight. Life is frail, life is unpredictable. But I do know that God is in control. And I do know that God is working out His perfect purposes for my life. And I do know that nothing or no one can stand in the way of His purposes.
No one can thwart Him. Bishop Moole says there is no situation so chaotic that God cannot from that situation create something that is surprisingly good. He did it at the creation. He did it at the cross, he is doing it today. That's it.
So brother, sister, will you submit to God's rule rather than trying to fight him? Trying to be king of your own life? Will you surrender to the king of kings? I realize there's much in this world, much in your personal life, which may be very, very messy, much in your family life. Yet our great God, seeing our sin, seeing our suffering, seeing our mess, has entered into our world in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
He came to remedy the mess. And through the death for our sins, through His glorious resurrection, He overcomes evil, He gets rid of the mess, and He offers us a new beginning. as we submit to him. As we humble ourselves and receive Christ, turning from our own selfishness and sin and embracing Christ as Savior and Lord, and to realize that our sovereign God has his own timetable different from ours, true. But he is his timetable.
And one day, one great day, the mass will come to an end. One day, the kingdom of God in all of his glory, beauty, and majesty will come. Then Christ will visibly rule over everyone and everything as king of kings and lord of lords, and every one of us who is part of that kingdom will rule and reign. with him. If you are a follower of Christ, Will you renew your trust in this God who is sovereign?
Who has promised that he's working all things together for your good? Will you trust him? From your perspective, I know your world, your marriage, your family, your relationships, your business, your future, your whole life may seem a bit of a mess. But if God is sovereign and He is, doesn't it make sense to trust Him? Will you trust them?
Oswald Chambers says absolutely refuse to Yeah. You say, John, I'm a warrior. Absolutely refuse to worry. You say, ridiculous. You know my situation.
If God is sovereign, If God is in control, If God is in charge, Doesn't it make sense not to worry? What are you worrying about? You don't trust God? Cast your cares upon him, for he cares for you.
Someone said, I cannot grasp God's plans and purposes, but with my whole heart I trust his love. You've got a difficult future ahead of you? You say, John, I can't grasp. God's plans and purpose is in this. I understand that.
But will you with your whole heart trust His love. And make sure that God and not you is at the center of your life. in the midst of your messy life. Will you hold these two? Truths, these two unshakable anchors of your soul.
Number one, God is in control. He's always in control. And number two. He loves you. with an everlasting Love.
And he's in control. This one who loves me more than any human being, more than my mother, my wife, my brothers and sisters in Christ, God loves me. And everything that Happens in my life, he uses it for my good and for your good because God. As always. in control.
This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Do you agree that although the world is troubled and seems in a mess, God is in control? But God also made us with a capacity of choice. What about your own life? Don't you agree that some of the problems in your own life are of your own doing?
So God wants us to trust him. to live by faith. And this life of faith begins by trusting Jesus Christ as our Savior. Thanks again for listening today. Join me next time as we think of the importance of trusting God.
Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. M
