Nothing Happens Outside the Rule of God

Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kasti Hinn, and I just want to thank you for subscribing. If you're watching this here on YouTube and watching our regular videos we put out every week on YouTube as well, with our teaching series and interviews and all of those great formats, and also say hi to you that are listening on Apple or Spotify, reminding you of a little fun fact that our Spotify podcast now features the video version.

So you can enjoy for the gospel in all formats on the go. Before we jump in today, I want to just highlight a few resources that my wife and I have created for families and for children in particular. It's become a thing where we have talked to people and they say, Oh, we didn't know that you guys have kids' books, or we didn't know you had a Bible study for kids.

And so it's kind of my fault. I'm a bad book promoter. And so I want to do a better job just highlighting some of these other resources that we have for you. And you can get those through our website at For the Gospel, or you order these on Amazon. But the first is Earth's Epic Start. This is a Bible study that we wrote for elementary-aged students.

And my wife and I worked on this together. She has such a vision for kids and homeschool and Christian school and churches and making sure that children are getting a strong foundation in the gospel, but also creation. And so that's a great thing if you want to study the Bible with your elementary-aged kids.

Also, the Fruit of the Spirit series, we have the king who found his self-control. And this book has been a real hit for families. And there's a parent resource in there as well, because parents need to have self-control too. And then the farmer who chose to plant kindness. This is another one in the Fruit of the Spirit series, and just a great way to teach your children about not only the kindness of God, but the kindness that should extend from our lives to others in light of the gospel.

And then our most popular children's book since we wrote it is this one, In Jesus' Name I Pray. TJ the Squirrel learns the true heart of prayer. And the reason I think it's so popular is because it'll teach your kids how to pray and how to expect things from God, but also what it means to pray in Jesus' name, and that we should be expecting the right things from God.

It's not just a blanket statement or a magic phrase like, in Jesus' name I pray, we'll ensure that God gives me whatever I want. And with Thanksgiving around the corner, we see an uptick in parents getting this and talking about what it means to be thankful, what it really means to pray. And yeah, there is power in praying in Jesus' name, but it doesn't always mean what people think that it means.

It's a soft, gentle takedown, by the way, of prosperity gospel thinking. And I think that's why it's helpful because this creeps into our thinking as parents. And sometimes, even with the best of intentions, we will paint God like a genie in the sky who's gonna give our kids what they ask for. And he does bless them with many good gifts and answers their prayers.

But we want to have the right perspective. And so I hope those are a blessing to you. If you already have them, that's great. Maybe buy one for a friend, or as you get into the holiday season, pick a few copies up and bless some folks or your own home. Now, today we're continuing our series on the attributes of God with the sovereignty of God.

And I want to walk you through some truths that are gonna change the way that you work, the way that you lead, the way that you suffer, and the way that you sleep. Because when you have a good understanding of the sovereignty of God, let me tell you, you are gonna rest in Christ like never before. Now, if you're like me, most of us have a plan.

We want the bills covered, we have family planning, we like to be healthy, we are trying our best to organize the calendar and have a grip on things. And I don't know about you, but this is me. I really like when tomorrow is reasonably predictable. And I don't think there's sin in that. I want to know what's coming.

It lowers anxiety, it helps me plan. I want to execute, I want to do a good job. Maybe it's the athlete thing, maybe for you it's just a mentality you have, but I want to get after it, I want to accomplish my goals and live with purpose for the Lord. Then something happens that you can't fix or that, you know, I can't control.

It could be a marriage problem, could be health-related, could be financial, could be parenting, something to do with your kids, whatever that is. But something will catch us by surprise, and suddenly our faith is gonna get tested along with our view of God. And underneath all of our questions, there's this fundamental question I think that arises within our hearts and we have to ask it, and it's kind of uncomfortable.

But it's like, you know, who's really in charge here? Who's actually in charge? Am I? Because I would really like to be. Are you? I'm sure you would really like to be. But the reality is we're not. And one of his devotionals, I was reading not long ago, Chuck Swindahl, faithful preacher, said, we may be a lot of things, but sovereign is not one of them.

And I think that's a needed reminder. A lot of us will affirm the sovereignty of God in a Bible study. We we read the Bible, we say, of course, God is sovereign, and then we spend the rest of our week trying to carry out all of God's sovereign responsibilities. We say that he rules everything, but then we'll lie awake at night acting like everything depends on us.

And I know we have a part to play, but we got to be careful that we don't overstep and have an underdeveloped view of the sovereignty of God. Psalm chapter 115, verse 3, is where I want to settle in here and give us an anchor. The psalmist declares in Psalm 115, 3, but our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.

It is my favorite verse on the sovereignty of God, and basically is saying that God rules over everything with perfect wisdom, perfect goodness. He does whatever he pleases. It's always good, it's always right because he's holy, what we studied before. And so we can obey him, we can trust him, and he's gonna control the outcomes, and so we don't try to have to.

Here's the deal uh this is hard to do. It's really hard. We could read that all day, and you still go, well, I okay, Kosti, but I I've got to do this and I've got to do this. And so I want to unpack some truths here, and then we'll apply this attribute of God to our own lives. The first is number one, God's rule extends over everything.

God's rule extends over everything. In Psalm 115, I'll just put the text in its context here. The nations are mocking Israel. That's what's happening around verse three. And when the psalmist makes this declaration, it's bookended by these statements about the world. And I'll read this to you. And if you're following along on YouTube or using the new Spotify video version, this will be up on the screen.

But verse one says, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your loving kindness, because of your truth. Then verse two, and you start to kind of see what's happening here. Why should the nations say, Where now is their God? There's a mockery happening. Then, in response to that, verse three, my favorite verse on the sovereignty of God.

But our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases. And then there's this uh rebuttal towards the gods of this world, the outsiders. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, they can't speak, they have eyes, they can't see, ears they can't hear, noses they can't smell, hands they can't feel, they have feet, they can't even walk, they can't make a sound with their throat.

Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them. And so there's this indictment by the psalmist on those in the world around them and then their false gods. You know, the mockery was, you know, where's your God? Where's your God, Israel? Where's your God, O chosen ones, O people of God?

Where is he? Can't see him. We can see our gods. And this mockery is, you know, assuming that because our God is invisible, he must also then be absent. And the psalmist answers by pointing to heaven. Our God reigns. You can't see him, he's spirit, he's in the heavens, he's doing whatever he pleases.

Your idols, oh, you can see them. Good for you. They've got mouths, they can't even talk. They have eyes, they can't see, they have hands, they can't act, they have feet, oh, they can't run anywhere, they can't do anything. They're dead, and if you follow them, you're gonna be dead. Our God is alive and he accomplishes his purposes.

He is sovereign, and he's in the heavens doing all that he pleases. Really powerful statement when you understand the context of it. And I want to give you a key definition here, because the living God is accomplishing whatever he purposes. And so you kind of get a glimpse now. Oh, that's what sovereignty is.

It's this God's sovereignty is his supreme authority and his key word here, active rule over all creation. Not passive, active, meaning nothing exists or occurs outside of his government. Nothing is allowed to happen unless God allows it. Nothing happens unless God decrees it or allows it. It has to pass through his hands.

He has both the right to rule and the power to accomplish his purposes. Nobody can overrule him, nobody can outmaneuver him, nobody can force him into damage control, nobody's catching him off guard. God is sovereign. And you'll see this across the whole of Scripture, Old Testament to New Testament. You know, Daniel 4.35, one of my favorite passages I'll often bring up, you know, declaring nobody can restrain the hand of God.

And then, of course, Ephesians 1, and I'm going to talk about Ephesians 1 a little later in this episode, but we see that God is working all things according to the counsel of his own will. And Jesus, through the gospel of Matthew, I'm preaching through the gospel of Matthew at our church right now. And you see, earlier in Matthew 10, I'm now in uh chapter 13, getting close into the parables and all of that, but Jesus is talking about the truth of, you know, uh a sparrow doesn't even fall without God seeing it.

You know, the hairs on your head are numbered. That's in Matthew 10. His rule is in the great and grand things and also in the details. We often say this, his rule extends from kingdoms to kitchen tables, you know, rulers of the world, but also your life, you. And the details that you think that God would never pay attention to.

You know, they're too small, they're under his care. The circumstances you think, oh, that's too big. I mean, I don't, God, what are we gonna do? They're already under his authority. I love what Charles Spurgeon once said. There's no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of divine sovereignty.

It's a comfort. Spurgeon was also the one who said, when you go through a trial, God's sovereignty is the pillow upon which you lay your head. And so think about why you can have that kind of peace and confidence, because you serve a God who loves you and he can govern what happens to you. And his comfort has no ceiling.

If you had a God that couldn't govern what's happening to you and couldn't control it, your comfort has a limit. You can be comforted and at peace so long as God can do something. Everything beyond what God can do, uh-oh, you better figure it out. Oh, you wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Your anxiety would be through the roof.

Your father possesses perfect love, unlimited power. He is holy, righteous, and totally in control. So you can bring him the concern that you can't carry because it doesn't exceed his ability to deal with it or to govern it. His rule extends over everything. So that's the first and most important point you need to understand.

Number two, God's rule never compromises his holiness. Now, I might have said something earlier that made you go, I wonder about that. When I said that God allows, he decrees, nothing happens without his permission. And immediately, as it should, in your mind, you start going, well, hold on. Does that mean God is the author of evil and God does this and God does that?

Well, let's understand this together. His rule, his sovereignty, and allowing things and accomplishing things, it never compromises his holiness. He's holy. So what he allows is proper or right and good according to his ways. He can't be indicted for sin. He's perfect. And this is where the questions get kind of difficult.

If God rules everything, then what about evil? What about that betrayal? What about that injustice? What about that suffering? I want to turn over to Genesis chapter 50, verse 20. If you have your Bible, turn over there. If you need to hit pause, do it. If you're on the fly, I'm going to read this to you.

It's the story of Joseph, it's the culmination of it. Genesis 50, verse 20. It's a passage that I would, if you're part of the for the gospel family, I want you to memorize this. I want you to have it as a go-to. Basically, the story of Joseph sees him go into a pit, sold into slavery by his brothers, and then end up in the palace.

And his brothers are jealous. He's got the coat of many colors. All of these things are happening, and he goes through a tough time. Well, he ends up in prison eventually, and then he ends up in a palace, and then he's second in command only to Pharaoh. He's put in charge of all of Egypt's food stock system during a time of famine because he interprets a dream that Pharaoh had: seven years of plenty, seven years of lean, and he's got this great plan.

Pharaoh says, That makes sense. That's what my dream meant. Good, you're in charge of it. Here's a ring, you're the boss, only I'm gonna be the boss who's beyond you. And guess who shows up looking for food during the seven years of famine? It's Joseph's brothers. And Joseph tells the brothers this this is this is verse uh 20 of Genesis 50.

As for you, after he he says in verse 19, do not be afraid. Well, you think, yeah, they're probably afraid. They're going, he's gonna get vengeance. He says, For am I in God's place? Such a good attitude. Like, hey, listen, don't worry about it. What you intended, what you meant and tried to do for evil, don't worry.

I'm right where God wants me to be. Don't you worry about it. I forgive you, it's all good, no problem. I'm just I'm where God wants me. As for you, verse 20, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. In order to do what? In order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive.

I want to just kind of meditate on this for a second. What does it not say? It doesn't say that God turned it out for good. That's what we often say. Well, what you meant for evil, God turned it out for good. No, he didn't. He didn't turn it out for good. He didn't like, oh man, I got stuck with lemonades, I, I, or lemons, I gotta make lemonade.

Like, oh, oops, oh, here's the ingredients. Okay, well, we better make this into something. Oh, no, no, no. It says that God meant it for good. Some of your Bible translations are gonna say God intended. That means that all along God's intentions were good, even if the situation was not. It means God not only allowed it, but he intended to use it for good.

God knew that Joseph needed to be in that palace, needed to be second in command in order to preserve many people and save many lives and accomplish a divine purpose, which means he had to get sold into slavery, he had to be in the pit, he had to have in Potiphar's house, he had to end up in prison again because he was falsely accused of rape when Potiphar's wife tried to, you know, make an advance at him and all of these things.

He says, Oh, all of this, it had to happen. And now you think, how does that even reconcile with evil and all of like so God is doing all the evil things? No, the same event that involved their sinful choices, key phrase here as for you, you meant evil against me. Okay, so people are gonna do evil things.

You meant it for evil, the same event that involved their sinful choices, also his holy purposes, but God meant it, he intended it, he's gonna use it for good. Joseph's brothers were absolutely responsible for their betrayal, their betrayal. God's sovereignty preserved and governed that betrayal to preserve lives.

His good purpose did not ever make their wicked act innocent. And that helps us wrestle through how God could allow evil and yet he's holy, how God could take bad things and make them produce something good while never condoning evil. And you say, okay, that kind of makes sense, but this is really hard for my mind.

Are you sure? That's one example. Yeah, and I want to give you the best example of all. You know where this is so clear. It's the cross of Christ in Acts 2, verses 22 to 24. Peter says, Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.

This man, verse 23, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death, predetermined. But God raised him up again, putting to end the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. Jesus was delivered over, the Bible says, according to God's predetermined plan.

Then God holds his killers responsible for their wicked actions. And so you see the greatest injustice in all of history, the cross of Christ, accomplishes the greatest rescue in all of history. And so, yeah, the cross is really a picture of something so evil, so ugly, so horrific, being used by God and actually predetermined by God to accomplish a glorious divine purpose.

And so, with that, we can confidently say that God's sovereign plan includes, can include events that violate his moral commands, meaning people disobeying God doesn't mean God is not sovereign in that situation. Yet he can govern the evil without becoming evil himself. I remember Martin Luther once saying, I was reading, and it says, even the devil is God's devil, meaning, you know, God is not the author of evil, he's not the author of sin, meaning the devil answers to God.

God owns everyone and everything. The devil cannot just have his free reign. He is owned, he's bound, he's governed, he needs permission to attack Job. He needs permission to sift Peter. And so, no, the devil doesn't have free reign. Now that boggles the mind, and it reminds us that we can't fully explain how every dimension of God's sovereignty and our responsibility fits together.

But scripture teaches both, and so we need to affirm both. You know, you can't blame God for your temper or your dishonesty or your secret sin. Like, I can't blame God for my sin. Repentance is still required. God's sovereignty never gives you or me permission to disobey God. And when suffering comes, you can still remember the God we've been studying all along.

He's holy, he's perfect, he's good, he's loving, and his purposes always agree with his character. And so you can grieve, you can ask questions, you can go through trials, you can plead for relief, you can hate your sin and ask God to help you in it. The Psalms teach us to bring our anguish to God, but our limited understanding cannot become the courtroom where we put God on trial.

All of a sudden, he's on the witness stand and you say, Okay, this is happening. You know, why are you doing this to me? Ultimately, the cross is what gives us solid ground to stand on and say, okay, what I can't fully understand, I don't see every outcome, but God is governing the situation. He's accomplishing good.

Even though right now I can't even imagine what that good could be. Which leads us to the third and final point here. The truth I want to put before you is God's rule secures his glory and his people's good. God's rule secures his glory and his people's good. I want to touch on how God's sovereignty reaches into salvation here.

And in order to do that, I want to turn over in my Bible to Ephesians chapter one. And if you're kind of newer to studying the Bible, it's great to do this with me and to kind of go along and turn to different passages because it'll teach you how to get to places uh more and more and faster and faster.

Just go to the New Testament and Galatians, Ephesians. If you go Philippians, you've gone too far. So Ephesians and in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 6, Paul opening up this beautiful letter with some glorious gospel truth, said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Verse 4, just as he, and then some key words here, chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be, there's a purpose in this, holy and blameless before him. In love, he, this is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, back in verse 3, that he predestined us to adoption as sons through who?

Through Jesus Christ, to himself, to the Father. So he's one, he adopts us as children, according to what? The kind intention of his will. He has this kind intention of his will. He desires it to the praise of the glory of his grace. And so he's just, you're just gonna glorify him and praise him. Oh, God, thank you for being so gracious and kind to me.

And this grace is what he has freely bestowed on us in the beloved, through through Jesus. He just lavished us with grace. And so this is to say that nothing happens, not salvation, not anything by chance or accident, but all by God, who planned for our salvation through Jesus Christ. And that all of this was according to the kind intention of his will.

He intended to save us, he intended to love us, he intended to adopt us so that we would go from being orphans enslaved to sin to sons and daughters of righteousness. And no doubt, people who believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation can sometimes, you know, take. This doctrine and be a little uh arrogant or judgmental or cocky, and they get all into the sovereignty of God and like, you know, I know this and I know that.

You're like, good for you. But the the majority of people who embrace the fact that God is sovereign and saving us, oh, it gives us reason to worship and show gratitude and be full of humility and it emboldens our evangelism to realize, wow, if he could save me, he could save you. I was dead, I was lost, I was damned, I was trapped, I was so blind in my sin, and then he came and rescued me.

And you think, oh, what grace has saved my soul. And it's a wonderful reality because he is sovereign, because he has called you and chose you and knew you and loves you. What a powerful truth. Today, maybe you feel like people overlook you. Maybe you feel like nobody really notices you. Maybe you didn't have a good father growing up, and you have identity issues because of that.

I got good news for you from the book of Ephesians. You have an identity. It's in Christ. You have a father. He's the father of the entire universe, if you will. Meaning he presides over all of it. And in that, he sees you and says, mine, my child, my son, my daughter. And you are a sinner and you couldn't have a relationship with him.

And so he said, Well, I want them, I love them, I choose them, I call them, I see them, and they can't come to me because of sin. And so I'm gonna send my son Jesus to be the payment for their sin, and he's gonna bridge the gap, and now they're gonna come to me. And no longer will you be a slave to fear and a slave to sin and an orphan dead in your trespasses and sins, like Ephesians 2 says.

No, no, you're going to be adopted, you're in the family, a full heir of grace, and you're gonna have a relationship with your Father in heaven. That's the sovereignty of God through salvation. And in that grace, we go forth and not only trust him for our salvation, the start, if you want to call it, we also trust him with our sanctification and all of our suffering and all of our challenges on the journey of faith to finish what he first began.

You can trust him from the beginning to the end because he is the Alpha and the Omega. And so maybe now all of these phrases about God and names about God and descriptions about God in the scriptures, they start to just click as your synapses fire, and you think, yes, he's totally in control. This is a game changer for my life.

And Romans 8.28, one of those passages that people throw out there, you know, God causes all things to work together for good. You know, you you you experience a death in your family, and they're like, God's Romans 8.28, God's gonna work it out for good. And you're like, okay, this feels terrible. You lose a baby, you miscarry, you you you lose a child, you lose a mother, you lose your job.

Like you go through all these things, and people are like, hey, don't worry, God's gonna work it out for good. Yes, but hold on. And let's just think in light of who God is, that's not just like a bumper sticker platitude or something to throw out there. I've done episodes before on what not to say to grieving people.

And like the first thing I say to families when they've lost a child or a loved one, and I go visit them in the hospital or sit with them in the office or see them at church is not, hey, don't you forget Romans 8.28, God causes all things to work together. He's gonna make this death something good. Like it's not good.

Death is our enemy. We hate death. But what we can understand in Romans 8.28 is that God promises to work all things together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purposes. And verse 29 goes on to say that the good to come is our conformity to Christ. And then verse 30, eventually we see glorification.

And it's it's a good reminder for us who often see good as relief and success and getting our way and material blessings. And that's not always what's gonna happen. You're gonna suffer. And in that, God is committed to making us holy like Him, yes, through suffering, but He's also committed to bringing us home.

And Romans 8.28 is not a promise that, you know, every painful circumstance is just gonna be okay and it's gonna become pleasant. Like I we have wonderful people in our church who have lost children. They say it's like losing a limb. Like you never get it back, and you don't really ever get over it. You just kind of learn to live one more day without it.

Like that's all you can do. It never becomes pleasant. Like, oh, I'm so glad my child died. You know, now God turned it out for good. Like, there's no good in that. And yet, when you minister to somebody who's been through that, there can be some good that comes from that. Or maybe you're in the hospital with cancer, like some of my friends are, and as they battle cancer, they they witness to the nurses, and and let's say one of those nurses gets saved and becomes a Christian that cancer is evil, it's bad, it's ugly, it's sin.

We hate it, it's from sin. And yet somebody gets saved, and you can see that's good, but then you don't say, well, I hope I get cancer so I can lead nurses to Christ. It's just something that God uses and will do. But ultimately, what we're longing for is reunification with Christ in heaven. What we're longing for is for him to bring an end to wickedness and sin and the brokenness of this world.

What we're longing for is when we see the promise in the book of Revelation that there'll be no more sickness, no more tears, no more death. Like Jesus come quickly. And in the midst of that, we usually look back and in light of Romans 8.28, say, you know what? I can see a lot of good in the pain we've been through.

God does cause all things to work together for the good of those he loves and have called according to his purpose. But in the moment, you're not like, hey, chin up and cheer up. It's it's gonna really turn out. I wonder what God's gonna do with this. Cool. You're not excited. You're in the dark night of the soul, but you can trust him because no painful circumstance, no cancer, no death of a child, no financial hardship, no betrayal, no mistreatment can derail his saving purposes and his love for you.

JC Ryle wrote, There's no luck or chance in anything that happens to us. Meaning, you may never understand or discover why a particular sorrow entered your life, but God's revealed purpose, both through the good he'll bring from it now, but also one day in heaven, will be the solid ground you stand on now with hope, knowing God knows.

And even though I don't, he does, and I can trust him. My Father is wise, he's loving, he's fully in control, he's commanding the armies of heaven, he's ordaining all things according to the counsel of his will. And I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow. You can trust him. And if you belong to Christ, the Lord who secured you eternal future, can be trusted with the uncertainties of today.

And so, what do you do? Well, you obey him faithfully, you trust him with absolute certainty, and tonight you can close your eyes, knowing that the God of heaven and earth who watches over you never closes his. You know, he doesn't sleep or slumber. He is always there, always watching, always controlling, always caring.

He's there as your sovereign father and Lord. Thanks for listening to this episode. I hope it encouraged you. And if it did, maybe share it with somebody else who needs this reminder. Maybe they're in a tough season. I'm thinking of a number of my friends who, uh, as we've studied these truths, entered into seasons of suffering and it just we didn't plan for it, but God secured their heart and mind with the bedrock of his sovereignty before the storms came.

And I hope that this is a timely word for you as you seek to live for his glory. If you are looking for more resources, you can go to forthegospel.org or follow us on social media. There's videos and articles and encouragement every day for you there. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.

Nothing Happens Outside the Rule of God

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