1 Sam 8:19+20, Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
	As I was coming to the end of our consideration of this awful demand by the very people of God, I was struck by something which we all know in our minds, but need to have instituted into the very bedrock of our relationship with God. There is a most imperative reality which must never be forgotten by the people whom God has chosen unto Himself! It is too vital for our walk on this earth as it is the vast certainty and truth of all eternity!
	The history of mankind has been fraught with all manner of futile attempts to remove Our Lord God Almighty from His place as the Sovereign over all the affairs of humanity. The trek of mankind, since the fall in the Garden of Eden, has been to ceaselessly attempt to replace God on that throne of the hearts of His creation. This has been cast forth with all types of ploys and schemes and means of distraction. These efforts have always, and will forever fail to dislodge The Lord God from His established throne of Divine Sovereignty over the full facet of every area of His creation. 
This is His realm which He rules with His Omnipotence, His Omniscience, and His Omnipresence. Every attempt of man to remove Yahweh from that throne, even in the absurd declaration that “God is dead,” lacks any basis of credibility or validity. As much as mankind tries to feebly replace the Lord God Jehovah, such is the failure and the demise, not of God, but of that miserable foolishness! 
The aspect that needs to be the eternal focus of our complete being is that God is the One Who is the Sovereign! Human rulers come and go according to His will as to their empowerment and their demise. The movements of social and political and even religious directives ebb and flow with the whims and the misfortunes of human conceptual fickleness, but the Lord God Almighty remains eternally ensconced upon the throne of His universe, now and always!
Too much and too often do Christians find ourselves bemoaning this or that within the social order of the day. There is that tendency to try to hide away from the cultural forays and attacks against the holiness and the standard of truth which must characterize those who belong to Jesus. The true church is often the object of every attack and arrow of condemnation, or judgment, or inquisition and grievance against the stand of what is right and what is wrong! Such is the aggravated assault that we need to be reminded, need to be eternally settled and confident in the fact that no matter what this world power may try or attempt, there is ultimately only One, Eternal, Perfect, and Supreme King unto Whom we owe our fealty and allegiance! 
That is what this morning’s encouragement is to be to all of us. Our God reigns, now and evermore, despite the hype and the hyperbole and the advertisements of this age. We are to take refuge in Him through every onslaught of this realm’s futile and hopeless attempts to revolt against Him and His Sovereignty!
We return to the Psalmist to read several passages of this truth that must be instilled into us. We will highlight these scriptures with the prayer and the hope that they will be our stay when the lies of this world try to shake our confidence in the Lordship of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! 
Please open first to Ps 47. As we read this veracity, let us join in the praise and the adoration and the proclamation of just how much this is the truth in our lives. We are His people! We belong to Him! He is Our God! He is Our King, forever and forever!
Ps 47, O Clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us, And nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah. God has ascended with a shout, The Lord, with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham; For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted. 
	It is Our God Who is highly exalted! He reigns! He rules and He overrules according to His Divine Omnipotence and Omniscience! The most exhaustive plans of humanity are as nothing in the course of the perfect will of God which will come into fruition. Nothing can thwart His hand in action and no one can stand before Him and declare any supremacy above The Lord’s so highly and established Sovereignty! 
	We continue with the Psalmist in Ps 83:13-18. Please open to it and rejoice in the fact that we are in the Hands of the One in Whom Omnipotence is the truth! All those who would seek to destroy the witness and the testimony of the reality of God evidenced in His people, will be utterly annihilated by His glorious judgment!
	Ps 83:13-18, O my God, make them like the whirling dust; Like chaff before the wind. Like fire that burns the forest, And like a flame that sets the mountains on fire, So pursue them with Thy tempest, And terrify them with Thy storm. Fill their faces with dishonor, That they may seek Thy name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever; And let them be humiliated and perish, That they may know that Thou alone, whose name is the Lord, Art the Most High over all the earth. 
	Next, we want to listen to that which the Lord spoke directly through the Prophet Jeremiah, in Jer 10:1-16. This highlights the full folly of humanity in the every attempt to replace Jehovah, Yahweh, with the works of man’s hands. No matter how ornate an idol may be, it is still just that, the works of man’s hands. It is therefore utterly worthless in the scope of any manner of guidance, or direction, or instruction or help! It is all just a delusion in the mind of men, when set against the reality and the splendor and the majesty of the Only Living God.
	Jer 10:1-16, Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord, "Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by them; For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. "They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter. "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good." There is none like Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might. Who would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? Indeed it is Thy due! For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, There is none like Thee. But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion —  their idol is wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Violet and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of skilled men. But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens." It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The Lord of hosts is His name. 
	The next prophet to consider in this encouragement to always hold to and honor and obey the Lord God Almighty is Daniel. These will be two familiar passages which stir the heart of the listener to the truth of who God is, and how any man, no matter how powerful, or rich, or famous, is just a man in the grand scope of the plan and the purpose of God.
	Please turn to verses 44-48 of Daniel, Chapter 2. Here we have the interpretation of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar that was given by God to Daniel.
	Dan 2:44-48, "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy." Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." 
	There was a recognition by Nebuchadnezzar that the God of Daniel was not just another among all the gods of the nations which this potentate had conquered. The God of the Jews was able to interpret the dreams of men, and therefore able to reveal great truths. But Nebuchadnezzar still did not recognize the magnitude of the majesty due to the Lord God Almighty. It was not until he was humbled in the wilderness that the king of Babylon was privy to the full majesty and honor and reverence that the true King of Heaven and earth deserved. We hear this praise of God voiced by this most powerful of men in verses 34-37 of Chapter 4.
	Dan 4:34-37, "But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. "And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?' "At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride." 
	When He was on this earth, Jesus, the Son of God, the Lord of all creation instructed His disciples and us, in Matt 6:9-13, how to pray to the One Who holds the whole of all that is created in His Hands. We are to remember that our prayers go up to the throne, the Sovereign seat of all creation, as we offer our humble requests and petitions before Our Heavenly Father. We do so, not with some meager hope that He might admit us into His presence. We come before Him in prayer with the bedrock assurance that God desires to hear the prayers of His children. As well, we know that He answers them with the full force of heaven and earth at His disposal. We pray with the recognition that we are in the immediate presence of the Omnipotent King of all, and that He desires for us to come before Him with all that He puts upon our hearts.
	Matt 6:9-13, "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 'Give us this day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]' 
	This then brings us to the Apostle Paul, in 1 Tim 6:13-16, as he was instructing Timothy on the manner in which he was to walk on this earth as a servant of the most high God. Timothy and all the Children of God are to be a living witness to the truth of Who we serve on this earth. Our lives are to reflect our confident knowledge and assurance that God has all things well in His hands. There needs to be that recognition deep in the life-springs of our beings that we serve the Risen Lord, the One Who is Sovereign in the lives of every man, woman, and child on this earth. All are under His dominion and will give Him the glory that He has so eternally earned by His death and resurrection. 
	1 Tim 6:13-16, I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time —  He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. 
	We close with two passages from the Book of the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. In these verses is contained the fact that all will soon see, in the timing of God, the reality of Who Jesus now is! Our prayer, as His church, is that everyone will willing and with all joy, acknowledge that which they will otherwise be forced to proclaim on bended knees of defeat, facing eternal misery. We willingly and joyously give Him the honor and the praise now. Our earnest hope is that every one of our loved ones, our friends, our associates, our neighbors, all will turn to Him and recognize His place of honor and majesty freely and fully before it is too late. Eternity is at hand for all of us! The decision we make for or against Jesus, The Only Begotten Son of God, contains the weight of all the infinite ages upon ages to come. 
	Please consider the picture of Christ that is shown in the following passages. The first is Rev 17:14. 
Rev 17:14, "These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." 
	We see Christ and His Church, those who have received the gift of His salvation and are the called and the chosen and the faithful. This is His Church which stands by His side and refuses to acknowledge anything other than the majesty and the splendor and the glory of the Sovereign over every life that ever was, is, and will be!
	The last passage of this morning is Rev 19:11-16, in which our hearts are so enthralled with the vision of Our Lord and Our Savior. Our eyes long to see this promised and glorious revelation of Christ.
	Rev 19:11-16, And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. There is no other! No one and nothing can stand against Him! He is Sovereign and He is the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, and the Omnipresent Ruler over all that He has created, now and forevermore! So be it and Amen!

This morning’s benediction is Ps 19:9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. Amen.