God Over All

Main Idea of the Text

If the LORD’S kingdom rules over all, then He is able to handle every area of my life. I can trust Him.

Introduction

Who is God? He’s the God of heaven and earth. He’s the God of the spirits of all flesh. He’s the God of angels. He’s the God of the whole earth. He’s the God of all flesh. In short, he’s God of all. Imagine looking at the magnitude and the magnificence of the universe through the world’s most powerful telescope. God is bigger than all of it. He’s more powerful. He’s more magnificent. He’s more marvelous. He’s infinite. Now imagine in the very next moment taking a magnifying glass and looking at the tiniest of ants. In this simple picture, God is like the grandeur and the magnitude of the universe.  There is no where that his everlasting nature and power is not felt. There is nothing that God can’t do because He is Lord over all. He’s God of everything. We are like the picture of that tiny ant. So tiny, so small, so seemingly insignificant, and yet our God is personal enough toward us and powerful enough for us that He is able to handle our lives.

Why does it matter that God is God of everything? Because that means He is able.

• Ask Noah if God is able to keep a boat afloat.
• Ask Moses if God is able to handle a real life “between a rock and a hard place.”
• Ask David if God is able to handle the giants of life.
• Ask Elijah if God is able to handle cranky queens and false prophets.
• Ask Hannah if God is able to bring life to a barren womb.
• Ask Daniel if God is able to turn lions into purring house cats.
• Ask Joshua if God is able to knock down walls.
• Ask Joseph if God is able to put food on your table.
• Ask Hagar if God is able to find you in the wilderness.
• Ask Lazarus if God is able to deal with death.
• Ask Peter if God is able to pick you up when you are sinking.
• Ask Bartimaeus if God is able to open the eyes of the blind.
• Ask Jairus if God is able to heal sick children.
• Ask Paul if God is able to stop you in your tracks and change your life.
• Ask Lydia if God is able to meet you at the riverside and open your heart to listen.
• Ask Jairus if God is able to heal sick children.

You see it matters if God is able when…

• Your finances are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
• Your marriage is sinking.
• Your doctor says there is no hope.
• You feel like you’re living in the wilderness.
• Your dreams of being a mom or a dad are just that–dreams.
• Your parenting plan is more like a raging sea rather than a tranquil ocean.
• Your career path is one wall after another.
• Your life feels like you’re walking around in the dark just trying to feel your way.
• Your life is weary and worn by the oppression of sin.

We need a God who is able to handle, able to touch and impact every area of our lives, because the brokenness of sin has touched every area of our lives.

Psa 103:19 (ESV) The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

• The LORD’S throne is firmly fixed. His royalty and sovereign power have established his dominion over all of creation.
• Never forget that the LORD rules and reigns. Walk through this chapter and you will see that 19 times the the possessive pronoun “his” is used to describe the LORD. His holy name. His ways. His acts. His steadfast love. His throne. His kingdom. His angels. His covenant. His will. Why the emphasis? It’s ALL HIS!!!

Psa 103:1-2 (ESV) Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! [2] Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

• Adore, kneel before, “say something good about”
• Command your soul and everything within you to bless his sacred and set apart name!
• Never forget all that given you. Because he is LORD, he is able to do for you what you could not, and he is able to give you what you could not earn.
• Never forget that the Lord is not a distant God but a DOING God.

Psa 103:3-5 (ESV) who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, [4] who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, [5] who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

• He is the God who is able to forgive all our iniquity.
• He is the God who is able to heal all our diseases.
• He is the God who is able to redeem our life from destruction. The One who became like us to bring life from death.
• He is the God who is able to crown us with his own steadfast love and mercy.
• He is the God who is able to satisfy.
• All these benefits come together so that our life is renewed and on the inside we feel like we are soaring!

Psa 103:6-18 (ESV) The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. [7] He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. [8] The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. [9] He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. [10] He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. [11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; [12] as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. [13] As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. [14] For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. [15] As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; [16] for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. [17] But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, [18] to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

• He is the God who is able to work righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
• The greatest oppression does not come from the difficulties of this life. The greatest oppression is the oppression of sin that has destroyed our entire lives. In the myth of King Midas, everything that he touched turned to gold, but in the end it was a curse because he destroyed his own daughter with his touch. The touch of sin that flows out of our very nature has destroyed our lives. The LORD, through Christ is able to work or to produce righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed by sin.
• Because the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…

• Never forget that the LORD is able NOT TO DO. (v. 9-10)
  • He chooses not to strive against us forever.
  • He chooses not to hold onto his anger forever.
  • He chooses not to deal with us according to our sins.
  • He chooses not to repay us according to our iniquities.

• Why would the LORD give and why would the LORD hold back? (v. 11-13)
• Because just as the heavens are so much higher than the earth, so much greater is his steadfast love above our iniquity.
• Because just as far as the east is from the west, that is how far he is able to remove our transgressions (against him) from us.
• Because just as an earthly father shows compassion (mercy) to his children, so the LORD is able to show compassion to us.
• Never forget that the LORD longs to be with us. He is able to touch our lives and to deal with our lives, because he wants us to be with him.
• Notice the progression of closeness. (heavens to earth—immense nature of God’s steadfast love) (sunrise to sunset—the picture moves a little closer—it is contained in this earth) (compassion of a father to his children—the love and mercy of a father as he holds a child)
• Don’t miss the change of heart implied in the passage—we go from rebellion to reverence (those who fear him)
• Out of reverence for the LORD we keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
• Man is temporary. Man is dust and ashes. Man is here for a moment and then withers away—not even noticed again. But his steadfast love is never ending and his righteousness keeps on touching life after life.

Psa 103:20-22 (ESV) Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! [21] Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! [22] Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Mat 8:1-3 (NAS95) When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. [2] And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” [3] Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

The LORD of all came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to touch our lives and to pour out his blessings on us—his forgiveness, his steadfast love, his righteousness. Truly think about this reality—The LORD of everything came to touch your life. He came to heal and to restore you and to make what was broken beautiful. He came to remove our transgressions from us and to make us clean. Is he still willing today? The answer is yes. How do we know? He proved his steadfast love toward us with arms stretched wide open on a cross.

How do we respond to a LORD who is over all and a LORD who is so able? Able to give us so many benefits that flow from his steadfast love and mercy. Able to not give us what we so rightly deserve?

• If you have experienced the incredible riches of his steadfast love…
• If you have experienced the mercy of glorious throne…
• If he has given to you the gift of his righteousness…
• Then command the inner being of your very soul to BLESS THE LORD!

If you would honestly say from your heart, “I want his steadfast love on my life. I want to be crowned with his mercy. I want to be embraced by an everlasting compassionate Father. Then turn to the LORD. Humble yourself before him. Repent of your rebellion. Turn to the King on his throne and find his forgiveness and redemption.