My Assurance – God is in Control – Part 1 – Dr. Charles Stanley

Do you believe God is in complete control of everything—even the situations you face today? In part one of this four-sermon set, Dr. Charles Stanley reminds us that understanding God’s sovereignty—and acting on its truth—strengthens our faith and calms our fears. Embrace God’s love for us. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to https://intouch.org/watch

male announcer: In Touch,
the teaching ministry of

Dr. Charles Stanley.

Next on “In Touch,” part one
of “My Assurance:

God is in Control.”

Dr. Charles Stanley: In one of
the most painful and difficult

seasons of my life, when often
times I was a little discouraged

and fearful and feeling
threatened and feeling all

alone, my friend
would say to me,

“But remember God
is in control.”

Often times he and I would
sit by the fire in the evening,

and we would talk, and he’d let
me pour out my heart and tell

him what I was thinking
and tell him about my hurts.

And over and over and over again
when he would sense a little bit

of discouragement within me,
or something that I was really

having a difficult
time dealing with,

he would say to me,
“Remember, God is in control.”

That factual statement
became an anchor to my life.

And no matter how hard the winds
began to blow and how much the

adversity seemed to intensify,
somehow my soul got anchored to

that simple truth
God is in control.

And I discovered by experience
that when a person can come to

the place in their life that
they can say with absolute

unwavering conviction
my God is in control.

There is an awesome sense of
strength and power and assurance

and confidence and peace and
indescribable joy that can fill

your heart to the overflow no
matter what you have to

face in life.

And that’s what I want to talk
about in this message entitled,

“My Assurance:
God is in Control.”

And I want you to
turn if you will,

to Psalm a hundred and three.

In this hundred and third Psalm,
David expresses in these few

verses something that certainly
he had to believe years and

years of his life.

More than likely, he learned it
the way most of us have to

learn it.

But we learn it with a little
better advantage in the fact

that we have the Word
of God that teaches it.

But he learned it by experience
and has shared it and all

through the Bible
you’re going to find this.

Listen to what he says beginning
in the nineteenth verse of the

hundred and third Psalm: “The
LORD has established His throne

in the heavens; and His
sovereignty rules overall.

Bless the LORD, you His
angels, mighty in strength,

who perform His word,
obeying the voice of His word!

Bless the LORD,
all you His hosts,

you who serve Him,
doing His will.

Bless the LORD, all
you works of His,

in all places of His
dominion; bless the LORD,

O my soul!”

Now notice if you
will verse nineteen.

The Lord has established
His throne in the heavens,

and His sovereignty
rules overall.

The throne that he’s referring
to here is the throne that of

course Satan desired above
all else and got thrown

out of heaven.

It is a throne that the prophet
Isaiah saw in a vision when he

said he “saw the Lord high
and mighty and lifted up,

sitting upon His throne” when he
surrendered himself to the

call of God.

This is the same throne that
is mentioned seventeen times

in chapters four and five,
the book of the Revelation.

In twenty-five verses,
seventeen times,

the throne of God
is referred to.

This is the place Almighty God
sits to rule and to reign over

this universe.

Now if you’ll notice he says
His Sovereignty rules overall.

What do we mean by sovereignty?

Now listen carefully and I’m
gonna repeat some things over

and over and over again because
I want you to get ’em in

your thinking.

The Sovereignty of
God is His supreme,

listen, His supreme and absolute
rule and control and authority

over this entire universe
including every human being.

It is His power, it
is His authority,

it is His awesome omnipotence
that rules and reigns over this

universe and every
single aspect of it.

If I ever see anywhere in the
Bible that God’s sovereignty is

so beautifully
expressed, here it is.

For example, let’s begin in the
first chapter of the Bible verse

one, “In the beginning God
created the heavens

and the earth.”

Listen, if Almighty God,
and certainly He did,

if He, and He did, created
this world out of nothing,

put it into space, created
the galaxies out there in the

universe and all
that’s out there.

Put the laws in motion, set
all these laws in motion.

Governs and
guides this universe,

then certainly if He
is in control of it,

not only can He create it but
He can sustain it and keep it

because that’s exactly what He
says in Colossians chapter one

when He told, when, when
Paul’s talking about what,

who Jesus is, that He
sustains this universe.

Now, so, think about this.

Here is the Sovereignty
of God in expression.

First of all,
there’s the creation.

Now watch this.

Secondly, there’s the
fall of Adam and Eve.

Wait a minute now.

If God was in
control, it looks like,

it looks like God’s
plan got out of control.

No, it didn’t.

God allowed it.

God knew it was gonna happen.

God provided for it.

The fall was not
God out of control.

Thirdly, if you’ll
recall what happened.

Man sinned against God until
finally God destroyed this

earth, except for one
family, Noah and his family.

And you say, “Well, looks
like things got out of control.”

Listen, man living in sin does
not mean God’s out of control.

So, what did God do?

God didn’t wring His
hands, He sent a flood,

and He wiped out
everything coming and

going except one family.

And the archeologists can tell
you that all over this world,

in stratas of
layers of rock out there,

all over the world there’s
evidence that at one time there

was a great flood
that covered this earth.

God was in control.

Then we come, for
example, to Abraham,

into a pagan society Almighty
God reached down and revealed

Himself to a man by
the name of Abraham.

And He didn’t say,
“If you do this, I’ll do that.”

He says, “Here’s
what I’m gonna do.”

He said, “Abraham, I’m
the Lord thy God,” He says,

“I am going to bless all the
nations of the earth

through you.”

And He gave him all of these
unconditional promises of things

He was going to do.

God was in absolute control.

He chose this man.

And from Abraham,
Isaac, Isaac, Jacob,

his sons, twelve
sons of Jacob, Judah.

And out of Judah came the
genealogical line of the Lord

Jesus Christ who was born some
hundreds and thousands

of years later.

Who is the Messiah, the Son of
the living God who will sit upon

the throne of
heaven for all eternity.

He said, “Abraham,
out of your loins,

out of your family
there will be a nation,

there will be a Messiah.”

He didn’t give him all
that information at one time.

There is coming one from you
who will bless the nations

of the earth.

Now you could stop right there
but you and I could go all the

way through the Bible.

Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers,

Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,
Ruth–all the way to the book of

the Revelation
and you know what?

You’re gonna end up
in the Revelation,

here’s what you’ll find.

You’ll find that Jesus Christ
who is the sovereign Lord of

this earth, you, we will see Him
in the book of the Revelation.

As John, unfolds the Revelation,
that He is Lord in the

Revelation, Lord during the
times of the Great Tribulation,

Lord in the in His coming again.

Lord in the Judgment,
Lord in the ultimate,

Lord in Heaven.

God is in absolute control and
this Bible is simply a beautiful

expression of God demonstrating
His sovereignty over mankind and

what He is willing to do in the
life of those who are willing to

submit to Him and what He’s
willing to do with those who do

not submit to Him.

He shows also what He’s
willing to do through evil men,

to evil men, because of
evil men, turning things

for good even though
there is evil involved in it.

Now, with all that in mind,
because you and I know that

He is in control,
here’s what we know.

You see, here’s the
assurance we have.

First of all, I
have this assurance.

That my heavenly Father who
is in absolute control of all

things is continually involved
in your life and my life

every single day.

He’s continually involved in my
life and your life every single

day, why?

Because He’s providing and
protecting and watching over us

and caring for us.

That means He has to
be involved every day.

Who’s involved in
your life and my life,

protecting and
providing and caring for us?

He is the sovereign God who has
all power and all knowledge of

your life and mine.

He knows exactly
what you need today.

He knows exactly
what it’ll take.

He knows exactly
how to guide you.

He knows how to provide for you,
He knows how to protect you.

There are times when God changes
our mind about things that we

look back and think, “Whew!

I’m glad I didn’t do that!

I’d a been in real trouble.

I could have had an accident.”

Who, who do you think
lead, changed your mind?

Almighty sovereign God.

So, I know that He is involved
in every aspect of my life.

Second thing I’m grateful
for and second thing that

I am assured of is this.

You know what?

He’s gonna work out every single
circumstance in our life for

something good, no matter what.

It may be painful,
trying, hurtful, difficult.

I may holler,
scream, yell, shout,

tell God I don’t like
anything about it and

I’m mad about the whole deal.

You know what?

Doesn’t bother Him,
doesn’t faze Him one bit.

You know what?

He’s gonna do His will.

Look at Romans
eight, twenty-eight.

If God, I want you to
turn to that passage.

Most all of us can
quote it by heart.

I want you to turn there for a
moment and I want you to look at

it real good in the light of
what we’ve been talking about,

that God is
absolutely sovereign.

And you ask
yourself this question,

if God is not supreme, absolute
authority in control over all

things, what do you do with this
verse of scripture which says,

look at this.

Verse twenty-eight Romans eight:
“And we know,” not we hope so,

not maybe, we know, “that
God,” what’s that next word,

“causes all things to work
together for good to those who

love,” Him, to
those who love, “God,

to those who are called
according to His purpose.”

If I’m a believer, according
to this He says that–listen,

let me ask you a question now.

How’s God gonna cause everything
to turn out for my good?

The only way He can do it
is He’s gotta be supreme.

He must have ultimate
divine supreme authority

to turn the bad things,

the painful things, the
difficult things for my good.

Listen, if He’s not God and
if he’s not supernatural,

He can’t do it.

And let’s face it,
when lost people say,

“Well, you know the Bible
says everything’s

gonna turn out for good.”

No, it doesn’t either.

The Bible doesn’t
say everything’s gonna

turn out for good.

It says that God
causes, engineers,

He’s the one who’s in control.

He is–He’s the pilot of
your life and my life.

He causes all things to work
together for good to those who

love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose.

That is, to those of us
who are His children.

He’s gonna turn out
everything for good.

The lost person, listen,
if you’ve never trusted

Jesus Christ as your
Savior, you think

everything’s gonna
turn out good for you?

No, it’s not.

There’s not a single
verse in the Bible.

You know what’s
gonna turn out for you?

You’re gonna be
under God’s judgment.

You’re gonna be under God’s
discipline until–listen,

some good things
may come your way.

Say, will good
things come my way,

then everything
must be all right.

No, He says, “Do you not know
that the goodness of God is for

the purpose of leading you to
repent of your sins and to turn

your life over to Christ?”

Romans chapter one, chapter two.

God’s in control.

And you see if He’s not in
control you can forget Romans

eight, twenty-eight because
somebody who is in control

must–listen, He must know your
life so intimately and so

perfectly and He must have such
absolutely awesome power that

no matter what you’re going
through, God can turn and twist

till He can make that turn
out for your good.

Not only that, I have the
assurance and you have the

assurance that nothing can touch
you apart from the permissive

will of God.

He says, “The angel of the Lord
encampeth round about those

who fear Him.”

You know what that means?

That means God is our protector.

Now if He chooses
for some reason,

if He chooses for some reason
to open the door to something

that’s painful are
things out of control?

No, because you know what?

That door
couldn’t open until–

unless Almighty God allowed it.

Now remember this.

Romans eight, twenty-eight.

If God allowed it, God
intends to turn that pain,

that hurt, that loss,
that difficulty for

something good in your life.

Now watch this.

Because I’m
hurting at the moment,

I’m not even
interested in any good.

All I want is to
get rid of this.

In other words,
get me out of this,

God, change this circumstance.

But here’s what happens.

I must be willing to trust Him
in the midst of it because

I know on the other side I’m
going to be able to look back,

I don’t mean the
other side of heaven,

I’m talking about
now on the other side,

I’m gonna look back
and say, “Well God,

You were in that.

Why I can see
Your hand in there.

This is what You
were doing, this is–

You made me wait
and God, I got so–

Lord, forgive me for
being so impatient.”

You know what?

He doesn’t get
upset when you say,

“God, what’s going on?”

God is very silent,
just says, “You know,

I’m just doing things the
way I promised to do them.

I’m just pleasing Myself
and working out My will

in your life.”

Nothing can touch you
unless God allows it.

Not only that,
because He’s sovereign,

you and I can have
confidence about the future.

Say, “Man, you don’t know
what my future looks like.”

That’s from your perspective.

Suppose you could get on the
other side of where you are and

look at your future
from God’s viewpoint.

You may say, “Wow!

God, how could
You ever do this?”

What do you think Joseph thought
when he got all robed up and

ringed up and everything else,
they put on him and he went

back–listen, not to prison but
he went back to his certainly

very palatial room that he had
or house or whatever Pharaoh

sent him to.

Can you imagine what he thought
about it when he looked in the

mirror and said, “Ha, ha!

I gotta be dreaming.

I mean, I was dressed in
prisoner’s clothes this morning.

I needed a shave.

I was dirty, I was smelly.

Huh, this gotta be a dream!”

You know what?

God has a whole lot of good for
us that you and I’ll never be

able to anticipate,
never be able to expect.

You see, I do believe this, that
the more you and I understand

how good God is and the more
we understand His position and

place in our life.

Listen, the more good God
is gonna send into our life.

Why should God keep pouring good
into your life when first of all

you overlook it,
don’t thank Him for it,

and, and take
credit for it yourself?

Why should good, why
should God keep pouring

good into your life?

Because He wants,
listen–He wants you,

us to love Him, to
be devoted to Him,

to see His
majesties, to honor Him,

to glorify Him.

He keeps pouring good
and we keep ignoring Him.

You know why?

Maybe if you don’t think God
is good enough in your life,

maybe you should start thanking
Him and praising Him and looking

at all the evidence of the
good in your life and more than

likely, it will increase.

He is a good God,
in absolute control,

desiring the best for
you no matter what.

Look at the future
with confidence.

I’ve had enough years and
enough trials and heartaches and

burdens and successes
and failures in life,

that God, I can look back
and see the fingerprint,

the handprint, the footprint
and the awesome love of God.

No matter what
I’ve been through,

where I am, everything I
see is the hand of God.

Now you know what
that’s helped me to do?

Lay down all worry and fear.

You say, “Well, don’t you
worry about some things?”

No.

Because finally after so
long a time I finally concluded,

“You know what?

If He’s in control,
what’s my worry?

If I really believe He’s in
absolute control and He loves me

unconditionally.

And always chooses
the best for me,

and is engineering the
circumstances of my life,

what am I gonna worry about?

But what about the pain, the
hurt and the sorrow and the

disappointments and all this?”

Well, you know what?
I must need it.

God has something good.

Listen, God has perfect
design, perfect reason,

listen, perfect purpose, perfect
plan for all of our lives.

You say, “Well, suppose I
made a big mess of my life.”

Aha!

Remind you of something.

Mr. Omnipotence can
handle your mess.

God can handle your mess.

He–listen, He can put
back the most destroyed,

broken pieces together.

He knows how to do that.

See there are no
challenges to God.

There’s no furrow on His brow
and no wringing of His hands.

Now let me warn you of this that
sometimes Satan can give you

what you ask for that’s
not in the will of God,

not in the plan of God, if you
insist on deliberately willfully

disobeying God.

But you know what happens?

You and I can get on our
face before God with

absolute assurance.

And there are a lot of other
things you and I could talk

about, about things that
absolutely give us

assurance in life.

But let me tell
you one of the most–

the sweetest things to me if I
may put it in that way is this.

When I come to something
in life I don’t understand,

or I come to something
in life I can’t handle,

I don’t know how to handle it,
I don’t know what to do about it

at that moment.

Here’s one of the most
wonderful things about God

being sovereign.

I know that at any moment of
my life I come to one of those

trials, those questions,
those mysteries,

those heartaches.

I know at any moment I can come
to a heavenly Father who loves

me perfectly, unconditionally,
who always has the best in mind

for me.

Who is absolutely sovereign,
therefore He is able.

Omniscient, He knows
all the details,

and I can lay it before
Him and whatever He decides,

I know will always
turn out for my good,

no matter what.

Now let me ask you something.

If you’ve never trusted
Jesus Christ as your Savior,

what assurance do you have?

You don’t have omnipotence and
omniscience and omnipresence

to go to.

You don’t have a loving Father
who loves you unconditionally.

If you’ve rejected His Son,
you don’t have Him.

You say, “Well,
I pray to my God.”

If you don’t have Jesus,
you’re just talking in the air.

You see, Jesus said,
“He that cometh to Me,

I will in no wise cast out.

No man comes to the
Father but by Me.”

And I want to encourage you
because I know you don’t have

any assurance.

You don’t have any assurance.

You have nothing to
anchor your life to.

Now I want to invite you to
trust the Lord Jesus as your

Savior and tell Him today that
you’re confessing your sins.

You’ve tried to run your life;
control your life and you’ve

made a mess of it.

Now in the world’s eyes
you may be doing fantastic,

but you know whether you
are or not and God knows.

And I want to invite you to ask
Him to forgive you of your sins

and tell Him that you’re
trusting in His death at Calvary

to atone for your sins and
you’re receiving Him as your

personal Savior.

You’re going through some
difficulty and heartache,

and you’ve listened to this
and here’s what you’ve done.

You’ve said, “My pain,
God’s in control.

My hurt, God’s in control.

But what about this?
God’s in control.

What about my finances?

God’s in control.
What?”

I understand the struggle.

I can tell you this.

You know what you need to do?

You just need to say, “God, I
don’t understand it all but I’m

gonna accept by faith that
You’re in control and I’m gonna

watch You
straighten out my life.”

And if I think about
what God would do,

He’d say, “Mm, I’ve been
waiting for you to say that

for a very long time.”

Because He is a master
at putting the pieces

back together.

♪♪♪