In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the confidence that comes from knowing that God has already seen and made provision for every pitfall and snare that Satan and evil men may try to use against us. The speaker encourages believers to trust in God's control over all things, citing Psalm 119:91 which states that all things are God's servants. The story of Joseph is used as an example of how God's sovereign working can turn even the evil actions of others into something good. The sermon concludes with the reminder to believe in the sovereignty of God, who is the blessed controller of all things.

Our life and our service must come out of our knowledge of God. Jesus said, This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. The Apostle Paul, towards the end of his life, says in Philippians 3, I count everything as rubbish compared to the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Now, my own experience has been that in mingling with a lot of Christians and Christian workers, I don't find in many of them, I'm not judging them, I'm just telling you what I have seen, in most of them, I do not find that passion to know the Lord that Paul had. I find in many of them a great passion for the lost, great burden to do something for the Lord, in terms of activity and thinking of better means to spread the gospel, but it reminds me more of the management executives of Coca-Cola company or something like that, who are out to promote a project. You can promote Coca-Cola or Pepsi without knowing the Lord. And when Christian work is done on that basis, it can bring you the honour of believers who have no discernment. But any believer who knows God will not be impressed. God himself is not impressed. Our service for the Lord must flow out of our knowledge of Him. Then a little bit that we do will be more effective than a lot that we can do which impresses people statistically. I'm not saying we shouldn't do a lot. Think of the Apostle Paul. I don't think any of us in our whole life will be able to do what he did in his one life. I think ten people put together today won't be able to do what Paul did in one life. So for Paul, knowing the Lord, was not sitting in a monastery and just meditating. It was a very active life and none of us have the passion for the lost that Paul had. None of us are willing to sacrifice the things he sacrificed to reach the lost. He wasn't attending conferences on evangelism. He was reaching out for the lost all the time. He had no time to attend such conferences. But all his life flowed out of knowledge of God and he longed to know the Lord better. Because he knew that this is eternal life. And he told Timothy, lay hold of eternal life. Get to know God. Because when you know God, you can do God's work in God's way. See, a lot of God's work today is not being done in God's way. It's being done. It's being done in the name of Jesus Christ and a lot of good work. But it's not done in God's way. And very often the reason is, people don't know God. That's why these studies I have sought to begin with God himself. Because that's how the Bible begins. The first four words in the Bible are, in the beginning God. I believe that's how it should be in our life. Every day, in all of our service and ministry, everything must be in the beginning God. What does God think about this? Very often, even when people meet together for discussing about the spread of the Lord's work, they go through a formal prayer, because that is the customary thing to do. Every Christian meeting must begin with prayer. But it's a mere formality. And once they've done that, they feel okay, we've given God his due, now we sit down like Coca-Cola executives and decide how to serve the Lord now. It doesn't work. So I want to encourage you, young people, to get to know God better. And that, I'm not saying you should serve less, I believe you will serve more. And I believe you'll serve more effectively, if underneath it all, more than a passion to know the Scriptures, must be a passion to know God. I wish that Bible schools would teach people to know God, and not just know the Scriptures. Unfortunately, many Bible schools don't even get people to know the Scriptures. They teach them what all the critics say, and what the Hebrew says, and what the Greek says, and they don't know the Bible. But even more than the Bible itself, you must know God. That's the greatest thing, to know Him as one who is perfectly loving, to know Him as one who is absolutely holy, things that never change. Then you will find that there are a lot of things that you won't do, because that's contrary to God's nature. Many, many answers to difficult questions you get. Now, I want to share with you something more about what God is in this session, and that is God's almighty power. It says in 1 Timothy 6, there is a word used concerning God, which, if my memory is right, is perhaps the only place in the New Testament where that word is used about God. 1 Timothy 6.15 It says about God, He is the blessed and only sovereign. And in one of the paraphrases of the New Testament, I think it's the one paraphrased by J.B. Phillips, he paraphrases that statement as God, who is the blessed controller of all things. If you can see God as the blessed controller of all events, and all people, and all of creation, it will give you a solid foundation underneath your feet to serve Him. So, we are to know God not only as a God who is perfectly loving and kind and good, not only one who is perfectly holy, but one who is so almighty and sovereign and powerful that He is the blessed controller of all things. Jesus said, whenever you pray, pray like this, Our Father, that reminds us of His kindness and His love and His goodness. It reminds us of the words of Jesus, If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him? So, begin with Our Father, and then go on and say, Our Father who art in heaven, that means in that high and holy place. I'm praying to a Father who is holy, who can never tolerate any sin. And I'm also praying to a Father who is in heaven, who controls the whole universe by His power. So, we can say that when Jesus taught us to pray, He said, many times He said, the most important thing in prayer is faith. If you don't have faith, you won't get anything. You can pray a long prayer. And this expression, Our Father who art in heaven, at the beginning, is the foundation for our faith. Because it reminds us, every time we come to God, that He is my Father, He is my Daddy. It's a very intimate expression, Abba, which is not adequately translated as Father. The only accurate translation for it is Daddy. It's the intimate expression, Father is formal, Daddy is informal. The Lord used the word Abba. It's an expression of intimacy, not distant, very close. It's a picture of a little child sitting on the lap of his father and looking up and saying, Daddy. That's how I am to pray. That's what brings me security and that's the foundation for my faith when I pray. And then I say, Our Father who art in heaven, I realize He is holy. I can't play the fool with Him. I can't play the fool with sin and come to Him. And I also realize in heaven He controls the whole universe. And so my faith in these three facts, in God's goodness and His holiness and His power, is the foundation for my faith when I pray everything else that follows in that prayer or in any other prayer. So it's very important to know God as one who controls everything, who is sovereign. And just like I said from Genesis to Revelation, we see many, many evidences of God's love and kindness and goodness and God's holiness and purity and hatred of sin. Throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we see God as the blessed controller of everything. Nothing takes Him by surprise. That's been a great comfort for me to know through all these years. Something can happen to me today which takes me by surprise. Oh, I didn't anticipate that. Particularly the evil that other people do to you, you don't anticipate it. And especially when people whom you think are good do evil to you, you are surprised. But what you should say to yourself at such times is, even though this has taken me by surprise, it has not taken God by surprise. He knew long, long ago that this would happen. He knew long, long ago that this person would do this thing to you. Doesn't that bring a comfort to your heart? Because if He knew it long ago, then you can be sure that He has also made some solution for that problem. He has also made a provision for you to handle that problem. That's where our faith is strengthened. To know that He is the controller of all things. He does not make people do things, but He knows ahead of time. If I were to use an illustration, supposing I were to see a videotape of some event in my past life, say I was doing something and somebody videotaped it, and I see it. I can only see a videotape of what I have already done in the past. And if somebody had videotaped my life from birth till now, I could look at my whole life from birth. But the wonderful thing about God is He can see a videotape of my future. He sees the videotape of my life tomorrow. He has already seen it. Next week, next year. He sees already all the various events that are going to happen in my life next week, next year. All the various things people are going to do to me. The schemes of Satan and evil men. What they are planning to do to trip me up, to make me fall. Next year, year after next, all the way till Jesus comes. God has already seen it. And seeing it, He has also made provision for every pitfall, every snare, everything that Satan and evil men seek to do. Can you imagine the confidence that brings into my life as I seek to serve God? If you go to serve God in a difficult place, many places in our country today are difficult places to serve God. The time may come when you may not even know whether you will live. But isn't it good to know that God has already seen the videotape of what evil men are going to come and do to you when you go and preach the gospel in some difficult part of this country? I praise God for that. If I did not have that faith, I would have given up serving the Lord long ago. Jesus said in Matthew 28 and verse 18, many people listen to the command, Go and make disciples of all nations. I want to say, that is a misreading of that verse. Whenever you read scripture, read it carefully. It does not say, Go and make disciples of all the nations. It says, Matthew 28, 19, Therefore, go. And like somebody said, whenever you see a therefore in scripture, see what it is there for. Why is it there? Therefore means, before you go, look back to the previous verse, and then go. Therefore, go. What is the previous verse? All authority in heaven, that includes the heaven where God dwells, it includes the heavenlies where Satan and his hosts are, all those heavens, all authority there, and on earth, the Lord says, has been given to me. Are you sure of that? Therefore, go. You are not sure of that? Don't go. Please don't go. You'll make a mess of your life, you'll make a mess of other people's lives, and you'll come running back home, like a dog with its tail between its legs, scared. Because you went, without having a foundation. Lots of people, have gone out to different, difficult places of the world, for adventure, zeal, sacrifice, excitement. I'm not interested in adventure, zeal, excitement, I leave that to the worldly people. I go, because Jesus told me, go! And if he has not told you to go, you better stay. And why does he tell me to go? He says, all authority in heaven, and in all the nations of the earth, is given to me. And I would emphasize that, if you don't believe that, my brother, sister, stay where you are, you'll be much safer where you are. If you believe it, go! And if you go with some mission organization, it will not matter one bit, whether that mission organization supports you or not. If you have gone, because you have gone on the basis of Jesus' authority, there's nothing wrong in people supporting you, it's perfectly scriptural. But what I'm saying is, if you depend on men, one day you'll be disappointed. The money order may not come on time, there may be a postal strike, what do you do then? It's not because the people who are supporting you are unfaithful, it's because the postman went on strike. But if you think that postal strikes are outside the control of the Lord Jesus, then you're in the soup. You won't know what to do. But once you understand that there is absolutely nothing outside the control of the Lord Jesus, He can feed you through crows. You believe that? And crows will bring you non-vegetarian food. That's the miracle of it. If they bring vegetarian, that's something, but they brought non-vegetarian food for Elijah. There's nothing outside the sovereign power of God. And I believe this is absolutely essential, that if ever we go out, I don't mean just to some difficult part of the country, if you live in the most comfortable place in the world, you still need to believe in the sovereign authority and power of God. You can cross the road and have an accident. You believe that God is sovereign and He's in control of all things? That He gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways? Lest we dash our foot against a stone? I cannot count the number of times angels have protected me as I've driven my scooter on the streets of Bangalore. I believe there are many, many angels I have to go and shake hands with and thank when I get up to heaven for protecting me. They're protecting you. You don't see them. The Bible says in Hebrews 1 that they are ministering spirits, serving us. God has sent them to serve us. His control is sovereign. We can never be alone. Impossible. The Lord is with us, His angels are with us, even if no men are with us. Paul once said, I was taken to trial, he said, and all men deserted me, because they didn't want to be seen standing with me in this hour of shame and ridicule. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me and delivered me from the mouth of the lion. That's what he says in 2 Timothy 4. See, Paul went forth to difficult places, but he went on the basis of this, therefore, goal. Many, many believers do not believe that God is in control of all things. I love that expression in Psalm 119. Psalm 119, it says, a little expression in verse 91. Psalm 119, verse 91, the last part. All things are thy servants. I confess that every day of my life. I believe it. In my spirit, I confess it every day. All things are God's servants. And if they are His servants, they are my servants too, because I am a son of the King. I am a son of this God. And nobody has as many servants as I have, because all things are God's servants. And in His sovereign control, you must also believe what Job said in Job 23, verse 10. Job 23, verse 10, in the Living Bible, a little paraphrase of this verse reads like this. He knows every detail of what is happening to me. Don't ever forget that verse. I have got it written on a little wooden board and I have got it in my sitting room. He knows every detail of what is happening to me. And in the difficult situations of life which you and I will face, it's good to look at something like that and say, it's true Lord. Right now, even though not a soul in the world may know the little details of what I am going through, you know every detail of what is happening to me. And you are in control. And it hasn't taken you by surprise. You not only know it, you planned it. And, that is an Old Testament verse. The New Testament verse in Romans 8, 28 goes one step further. The New Testament is always better than the Old Testament. It's not only that God knows every detail. It says in Romans 8, 28, He plans every detail. He causes all things, because they are all His servants, He causes all things to work together, not individually. Sometimes we look at one individual thing and we wonder, why is it working like that? Well, if you look at one individual thing, it will confuse you. It's like you go to a factory that's making cars and you look at one machine. Well, what that one machine is doing, you may never be able to understand, what is that got to do with making a car? That part it makes doesn't even look like it's any part of a car. But it is one machine in this massive factory and at the other end you see a beautiful car. So God causes all things to work together to produce that finished product in you and me, that is Christlikeness. To work together for good and the good that God has planned for us, is the greatest good. Not some temporary good, which just excites us for a little while. You know, like fathers plan for their children, the long term good. You know, a father plans even when a child is born, which school shall I send him four years from now. And long before that child finishes school, he plans where shall I send him for further education. So many things he plans, and later on he plans for his marriage and so many things, all ahead of time. The greatest good. See, fathers are not planning small things like my child should win this snakes and ladders game. I mean he is not bothered whether you win that snakes and ladders game or not. Or one particular cricket match, his most important thing, my son was in that. He is not bothered about such things. It's a long term good. God also is like that. He is not particularly bothered whether you win a snakes and ladders game or whether you win or lose in that cricket match. And he is not even bothered whether you make money. He is concerned with the greatest good that you can have in your one earthly life. And that is described in the next verse. Verse 29. He predestined you. For what? Not to win snakes and ladders or monopoly or cricket. Not to make money, not to get a house, not even to get married. Which some of you may think is the greatest thing on earth. It isn't. It is not. It may look like that when you are 27, 28, 25. But it isn't. It's one of the things along the way that a lot of people like Paul and others who never got married who lived a very fulfilled life. The greatest thing is He predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son. There is nothing greater that even Almighty God can do for you and me than to make us like Jesus Christ in our character, in our personality. Everything else is rubbish compared to this. And God makes everything work together not to give us a comfortable life. Jesus never had a comfortable life. Paul never had a comfortable life. He says once that he was shipwrecked and he was in the sea for 24 hours swimming, hanging on to a log of wood. It wasn't very comfortable. No, He hasn't designed comfort for us primarily. He has not even designed money or property or these things as the greatest thing or a good job. Primarily that you might be conformed to the likeness of Christ and that even your ministry will flow out of conformity to His likeness. See, that is why God placed Jesus on earth for 33 and a half years. And we can say that for 90% of that time He never did what we would call the Lord's work. 30 years, what sort of Lord's work was He doing? He was making stools and benches and things like that. That was the Lord's work because that was God's will for Him. So, God's ways are not our ways. Make conformity to Christ as the goal of your life because that's the goal God has for you. He predestined you not to heaven or hell like some people say. He predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son. And He makes everything work together for that good. And if that is your goal, that is God's goal. If that is your goal also, you can be absolutely sure if you love God and you are called according to this purpose, it will be fulfilled. And some of those very difficult events that take place which you can't understand why in the world does God permit that? Why doesn't He stop it? It's because He's got a goal. And that goal is not to give you a comfortable life. It's not to give you honor before men. It's not to make men feel that you are a great servant of God. It's not even to make you a great preacher. I don't believe God would find it difficult to make great preachers if He wanted to. But He doesn't want so many. He wants only a few. Some others are called to be mothers. Some others are called to be help. Some others are called to be administrators. There are so many gifts in the body of Christ. But if you can say, Lord, your ultimate goal is to conform me to the likeness of Christ. And to that goal I also set my vision. And I believe that you are the blessed controller of everything that's going to ultimately take me to that goal. See, in the Old Testament that was not the goal towards which God was working with His people. In the Old Testament God's people were an earthly people. They were not blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, in Christ. They were called to be blessed with an earthly blessing, a material blessing in earthly places, in Moses. Very different. And that's why the promises in the Old Testament are, you will be prosperous, you will have many children, your cattle will produce and multiply and you will never, your wives will never have miscarriages and many, many things like this. Your enemies will never rule over you. You will rule over your enemies. The only time the enemies will rule over you is when you are disobedient. That's how the Old Testament was. But in the New Testament it is so different. God's not worried about a lot of money or many children or how the enemies treat you. He's concerned whether all this will make you like Christ. And lot of times our doubts and our confusion as to we think God is not answering prayer is because we've got some other goal than God's goal. But once you make God's goal your goal there's no more conflict. You praise the Lord in every situation. Because everything God is causing it to work towards that goal. To make you like Christ. Will that mean you won't have any ministry? You'll have the most fruitful ministry you can ever have if you make God's goal your goal. All other ministry will only be to impress people. I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters don't ever, ever, ever, ever desire a ministry to impress people. You will destroy your life. You will waste your life. You will never fulfill what God wants you to do. You have to make one decision in your younger days. I want God to be pleased with what I do. The Bible says in Galatians 1.10 If I seek to please men I can never be the servant of Christ. You all want to be servants of Christ? Make one decision in your life that you'll never want to please men you will never try to please men. You will only seek to please God. And that may bring you into conflict with the opinions of many men pleasers. Never mind. Live before God's face and say Lord your goal is my goal to become like Jesus. And everything is working towards that goal. And all the difficult things and the easy things and the financial hardships and even the prosperity. When prosperity comes our way there also God is teaching us how to become like Christ. How would Jesus handle so much money? How would Jesus handle financial hardship? That's what Paul said. You know in the Old Testament there was a prayer written in Proverbs which says Lord don't give me too much and don't give me too little. It sounds like a very spiritual prayer but it is an Old Testament prayer. Because he says there in Proverbs 30 Lord if you give me too much I may forget all about you. If you give me too little I may steal you. But how is it with Jesus? If Jesus got too little would he steal? And if Jesus got too much would he forget about his father? No. So we don't follow that Old Testament prayer. That's a good prayer for babies, spiritual babies. But we need to go beyond that to what Paul said in Philippians 4 he said I know how to have much and little. And when I get little I don't steal. And when I get much I don't forget about God. It doesn't make a difference. I have come to a life where I am independent of money. Whether I get much or little makes no difference. I am independent of circumstances. It doesn't make a difference to me whether I am sick or healthy. I still do God's will. He had a thorn in the flesh which troubled him for years and he still served the Father. Completed his course. But as so many of us are so dependent on circumstances we are too rich we say Lord I am scared I may go astray now. Or if we are too little we are worried. God wants to bring us to a place like Jesus was where we are completely independent of all these earthly circumstances whether people approve of us or don't approve of us whether we get money or don't get money whether people think we are doing the right thing or the wrong thing whether people praise us or criticize us whether they call us a prophet or call us a devil it's just the same. Completely unaffected because we live before God who is the controller of all things. He is the one who allows somebody to call me a devil and He is the one who next day allows somebody to call me a prophet. And both are just the same to me. I have evaluated it like this. In my own heart I must see if there is even a flicker you know like a feather in the wind even a flicker of disturbance when somebody calls me a devil or even a flicker of excitement if somebody calls me a prophet. It shouldn't be. If I live before God there will not even be a flicker inside because I know that this man's opinion he is a good man or he is a bad man but their opinion counts for nothing. Seek to live before God like that. He is the one the only one with whom we have to do. He is the one who controls all things. I think of the statement of Daniel sorry of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4. It's one of the most comprehensive statements of the sovereignty of God that I ever find in the whole Bible. And it's amazing that it came from the mouth of a heathen king. Daniel 4.35 It says here all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And God does according to His will in the host of heaven His presence with the angels and the other heavenlies with the devil and among the inhabitants of the earth God does exactly what He wants in heaven and on earth among all the inhabitants of the earth and all the inhabitants of the earth are zero. And no one can stop his hand or say to him what have you done? Nobody. It's fantastic. What an expression of God's sovereignty. And it says at that time verse 36 my reason returned to me. And that's the time your reason will return to you. You are off your head spiritually speaking if you don't believe this. The only sensible people in the world are the people who believe this. All the others are to a greater or lesser degree off their head. Their reason returned to him when he confessed this God Almighty is there anything on earth you cannot control? Is there any human being on earth whom you cannot control? Is there anyone in heaven angel, demon all your creation what is there which is outside your control? Is there anybody who can say to you what are you doing? This is the God we serve. There are many examples given us in scripture to strengthen us in this let me just mention two or three. We all know the story of Joseph. It's one of the greatest examples in the book of Genesis of the sovereign working of God to make the jealousy of his brothers the evil that people do all work together for Joseph's good. Let me put it in a nutshell. Joseph was seventeen years old and God had a plan for him that by the time this young man is thirty years old he should be the second ruler in Egypt under Pharaoh. But how does he fulfill that plan? Not in the way we would do it. We would give him a comfortable life and then make him ruler at the age of thirty but that was not God's way. We find people who live comfortable lives and come to the throne like King Saul usually have a very bad time on the throne. But people who come to the throne through a difficult pathway like David and Joseph they are able to exercise authority in a better way. Solomon came to the throne in ease and comfort and destroyed his life. It's the same in serving the Lord. There are people who have come to serve the Lord through a very easy path. I feel sorry for them. There are others who have gone through trials, difficulties, struggles like David, like Joseph, like Jesus, like Paul. Those are the most useful, the most effective servants of God on earth today and every servant of God in history who has been effective has gone that pathway. So Joseph, God was determined to make him a first class ruler and the first thing he does is he allows ten of his brothers to be jealous of him, to hate him. His own brothers, the man's enemies will be from his own household Jesus said and it was true in the Old Testament too. It was Joseph's brothers who wanted to get rid of him but God would not allow them to kill him. They could only do what he permitted. They sold him to Egypt as a slave and that was part of his education to go through that difficult time as a slave. And then when he gets to Egypt God allows Joseph, this pure, upright, moral Joseph to be accused of immorality. The thing which he hated. Everybody in Egypt was immoral. They were not locked up in jail. It was the one upright man who was accused of immorality and locked up in jail. God will allow you to face false accusation. It's part of his training. Jesus faced it. Paul faced it. The prophets faced it. Joseph faced it. And he did not get justice. He was thrown into jail. Is God still in control? He certainly is. And there in the jail God blesses him. And he was long period in jail. Maybe ten years. When he is 28 years old he explains a dream to Pharaoh's butler and he says please tell Pharaoh when you escape after three days that I'm here unjustly treated. And the Bible says Pharaoh's butler completely forgot. Is God in control when people forget to do what they promised to do? Yes. Reason? Because Joseph was only 28. He had to have two more years Bible school training in the prison. That was a real Bible school. It wasn't the comfortable one you all have. It was a training. And God allowed Pharaoh's butler to forget Joseph for two years. God's timetable is perfect. His trains all run on time. His plans work perfectly. If something is to happen at a particular time it will happen at that time. In the fullness of time God sent his son. Jesus used to say my hour has not yet come. And when his hour came something happened. And so we see when Joseph was 30 years old and the Bible says in Psalm 105 iron had entered into his soul. That's one translation of that verse. He became strong in his soul spiritually. Then God gives a dream to Pharaoh and reminds Pharaoh's butler about Joseph. Because the right time has come. Don't worry. God will give dreams even to kings. And remind people who have forgotten about you at the right time. Don't complain about them till then. Believe in the sovereignty of God. A God who is the blessed controller of all things. See these things are going to help you in the future. When you find situations where you feel people have forgotten to do what they promised to do. People are ungrateful for what you have done for them. You are falsely accused. People are jealous of your ministry. All types of things. It makes no difference to the blessed controller of all things. And then at the right time he comes forth. Exactly to the date God's purpose is fulfilled. You take another example. In the book of Esther. That's the one book in the Bible you know where the name of God is not even mentioned. God is not mentioned in that book. But all through that book you see God behind the scenes. Particularly in the way he elevates Mordecai. Mordecai was a man who refused to bow down to the prime minister Haman. He said I only bow down to God. And Haman was angry. And one day Haman decides I am going to teach this fellow Mordecai a lesson. And he sits at home and consults his wife. And his wife was an evil person just like him. And they decided to make a gallows for Mordecai. 75 feet high. Now you don't need a gallows 75 feet high to hang a man. You need only 10 feet. Why in the world was he creating one 75 feet? Because he wanted to humiliate Mordecai before the whole town. And I am sure he and his wife were awake all night constructing the gallows. And all this night what was Mordecai doing? Fast asleep. God gives his beloved sleep. The sleep of the righteous is blessed. He had a clear conscience. And there is nothing for a good night's sleep like a clear conscience. So he slept not knowing that somebody is preparing a gallows for me. He didn't need to know. Because the Lord who keeps Israel does not slumber or sleep. It is enough if God is awake. Mordecai can sleep. And you and I can sleep too. And that night after the gallows was prepared Mordecai Haman comes to the king to get Mordecai hanged. But God has been working in the king's house too. The king doesn't sleep that night. And so when the king doesn't sleep he says well let me get something to sleep. Let's get the most boring books that are history books to go to sleep. He says get out the history books and let's read them. And he reads and he still doesn't get sleep because God is constantly needling him saying you can't go to sleep you got to listen to something. And at about six o'clock in the morning they come to the passage in the history book where it says Mordecai saved the king's life. And the king says he saved my life? What did we do for him? Oh they say we didn't do anything. Oh he says we must do something for him and we must honor him. And that's the exact moment when Haman walks in through the gate. You see the timing of God so perfect. And Haman walks in and says king I want to say something. And the king says hang on before you tell me you tell me what should I do to somebody whom I want to honor? And Haman you know conceited man that he is thinks of course that must be me. So he says put him on a horse and drag lead him through the town. And he says that's a good idea. He says put Mordecai on that horse right now. You lead him through the town. Can you imagine how Haman's face looked at that moment? This is the blessed controller of all things. And you see finally how it turned out. Haman hung on that gallows. This is written for our instruction. I want to show you the greatest example of all. Acts of the Apostles chapter 2. Acts of the Apostles chapter 2. It says about Jesus a man whom God attested. This man I want you to see two things in Acts 2 verse 23. Was delivered up by the predetermined plan of God and the foreknowledge of God. You killed by the hands of godless man. Two things. Never forget these two expressions. The predetermined plan of God and the foreknowledge of God. Those are the two things I just showed you. He knows every detail of what is happening to me. That is the foreknowledge of God. He causes all things to work for my good. That is the predetermined plan of God. The foreknowledge of God and the predetermined plan of God. Was fulfilled on Calvary's hill. But in human eyes it looked as if this was the result of Judas betraying him. The Pharisees getting upset with him. And that Jesus was not given a just trial at night. And Pilate was too scared to release him. There are many human factors. And all the disciples ran away. Forget all the human factors. There was a God in heaven who is the blessed controller of all things who had foreknowledge. And according to his predetermined plan every single thing happened. Down to the last detail. Down to the date. Even the date. It was the Passover day. Exact fulfillment of scripture. The time. Everything. God's timetable is perfect. I ask people sometimes this question. What is the most evil thing that ever happened on this earth? And you know the answer. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Then I ask another question. That is the most evil thing that happened on the earth. Okay, now tell me what is the best thing that ever happened on this earth? The crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Isn't that amazing? The most evil thing is also the best thing. This is our God. And Calvary is a demonstration not only of God's love. As I said earlier. Not only a demonstration of God's holiness. As I said in the last session. But also a demonstration of God's sovereignty. On Calvary I learned three things about God. God is love. God is holy. And God is a blessed controller of all things. He can take the worst events and turn it to the very best. And He is the same today. He is your God. And my God. And therefore we go out to serve Him. Let's pray. While our heads are bowed in prayer. Let me invite you again to respond in faith to a God who is sovereign. Who controls everything and every person in this universe. Love Him. Trust Him. And say, Lord, never again will I doubt You. Thank You for everything that You have sent into my life. Heavenly Father, how marvelous, how wonderful that You called us to be Your children. We love You and we trust You. In Jesus' name.