Matthew chapter number 10, verse number 29 to 31. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows. Father, we ask now as we come that You would send Your Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the word of truth, that we might behold Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Sovereign Lord, we pray that You would reign over us and that You would minister in our hearts in this place, because we would be like Jesus and we would honor You with our lives. So help us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we live in a world of worry. Daily lives, media, and entire culture is saturated with concern for future things. There was an interesting report, medical journal in 2019 that published a worry outcome report. Didn't know those things existed. But anyhow. This was the results. 91.4% of worry predictions from those with general anxiety disorder did not come true. The most common percentage of untrue worries per person was 100%. Staggering, isn't it? 91.4% of worry predictions did not come true for those with general anxiety disorder, and the most common percentage of untrue worries per person was 100%. What does the world worry about? We worry about economic and financial concerns, inflation, interest rates rising, the housing market—will it crash, will it not crash? We worry about whether AI will take your your job. We worry whether we're going to have enough money. We worry about crime and violence. How long will Sydney remain a safe city? Houses are being robbed. Will my house be robbed? Will I be attacked on the street randomly as I'm walking with my family? Will I be assaulted? We worry about political corruption. I'm sure you've heard the argument and somewhat debate that everything in the world is really subject to the whims and wishes of the top 5%. And we're really just puppets in their world in which they govern and rule. We worry about our children. Who will they marry? When they get married, will it last? How will their future turn out? What about the friends that they're making? Will it impact their lives? What about their safety? We worry about ourselves. What about our health? What will become of me when I grow old? Will I just be slammed up in a nursing home somewhere without anyone visiting me? What will become of me? You know, we worry about these things. Who will I marry? Will I ever have children? And all these things are worries that are grounded, as I said, in some measure of reality. These are threats to our lives. But we have looked and considered already that God is a fatherly God who is our Father, who providentially cares for us. We've considered that He will care for us. He cares for the sparrows, and He feeds them. Will He not care for us, oh us of little faith? We have learned that our call in life, therefore, is to not to seek the things of this life which we cannot really secure for ourselves, but rather to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, believing and knowing and trusting that all these things that we need will be added to us. But the question that begs us this morning is how can we be certain that God's comforting promises and His benevolence and love toward us as Father will be fulfilled and will not be thwarted? How do we know that God's going to come through? I mean, there's so many things in the world working against us having what we need. There are so many things working in the world against God's love toward us. How do we know that the love of God is going to triumph? Is He strong enough? Is He powerful enough? Is He good enough to come through on His promises? You know, what good is it to an anxious soul to have a God who is a Father who is kind, who makes big promises that he cannot fulfill? Not very comforting, is it? Well, it's comforting to know that there's someone out there that knows what's going on and cares about you. That's always nice. But really, when the rubber meets the road, does God have the authority and power and the sovereignty to come through? And this is what anxious souls need in a worried world. And what we see in this passage of scripture that was read to us by brother Matthew, is that the entire section is about Jesus calling and commissioning His 12 apostles into a very dangerous world. In verses 1 through to verse number 10, He sends them out with authority to go and proclaim the kingdom of God and to demonstrate the power of the kingdom of God. And this they were to do freely, verse number 8. He says, freely you've received, you've received the kingdom of God freely. You receive the gospel of grace freely. You receive the truth of God freely. You've received healing freely and deliverance freely. Well, when you go out and do My work and proclaim My gospel and heal the sick and raise the dead, you do it freely. And more than just doing it freely, Jesus says to them, I don't want you to take too many supplies for your journey. Pack light. Means no 30 kilogram luggages on this flight. Just the carry-ons. This is what He's suggesting. Why? Why just the carry on? Well in verse number 10, Jesus says the laborer deserves his food. Okay, what does Jesus mean by that? Who are the laborers? They're the disciples. The laborers deserve their food. Who do the laborers work for? God. So what Jesus is saying, you pack light because you have a Father who has big pockets, who governs the universe, and He's going to look after you. He's promised to do so. But how is He going to do that? This is really important for us to realize. He says, well, when you go from house to house, there will be worthy people in worthy houses that will understand the worth of your work. There will be people that receive you and your gospel, and they will provide for you. And God would provide for His people through means of ordinary hospitality shown by unbeliever and believer in receiving these disciples into their houses, so they might hear what they have to say about the kingdom of God. Now, the nature of this mission was dangerous, absolutely dangerous. Jesus says you're going to be like sheep among wolves. The chances of sheep surviving among wolves is pretty slim, unless they have a good shepherd. But this would be the case of their situation. In fact, things won't exactly work out well for them as they continue to proclaim the gospel in the world. They will be betrayed. They will be dragged to king's courts. And they won't be dragged to king's court so they can enjoy the buffet that the king has on. It's so that they can testify as those that are accused. They will be as those that are delivered up by those dearest to them. Brother will deliver up brother. Father, his child, children against his parents. You think this stuff, this is, what kind of life would this look like? But even though they would have to stand and testify and suffer, God is there to provide for them. In verse number 19 and verse number 20, it says, when they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. See, God would give them what they need to say. For it is not you who speaks, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you. All this whirlwind of chaos that seems to them to make no sense is falling out to the purposes of God so that God can get His word in king's palaces and God can proclaim His name throughout all the world. And God says, I'm going to supply everything you need. You're going to speak the words that I give you. Now, the exhortation that Jesus gives to His disciples in verse 26 to 33 brings us to where we're heading this morning. And the exhortation is basically, don't fear them, but rather fear God. It says in verse number 26, "So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." And Jesus says, when you are out on this dangerous mission and are confronted by world leaders and powers that are much more powerful than you that can destroy and kill your body, understand that there is a God in heaven much more powerful than the kings of the earth, who is your Father, who not only can destroy body, but also soul in hell. And He is a God who knows all things as the judge of all the earth. And He will avenge all the evil that happens to you in secret. You see, what is done in secret will be one day proclaimed upon the housetops. God sees it all, God knows it all, and though the kings of the earth plot against you, and though the people around you, even your own brother delivers you up or your own father, your own child betrays you, and it leads to your very own death, God knows and sees it all, and He will avenge the wrong in the world. Truth will emerge, truth will triumph, and all the evil done in darkness that is seen by God will be made manifest, and He will punish the wicked for their evil against Him, against Him and against His people. He's all knowing, He's all powerful. But Jesus goes a step further. In verse number 29 to 31, He tells us that the all knowing, all powerful God is sovereign, meaning that God is king. Not just that He has power, not that He just knows, but He governs and He controls the universe. It's a big difference, isn't there? Between a God that can do things, and a God who chooses to do things. And what Jesus wanted his disciples to understand by using the argument that we've seen over the last couple of weeks, the argument from the lesser to the greater, He wants them to understand that God rules over the most insignificant things in the universe. In Matthew chapter 6 verse 26, he uses this argument. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? See, he takes the bird, the lesser, and he argues that God feeds the bird. How much more is he going to take care of you? You're more valuable than the bird. And chapter 6 verse 30, he says, if God clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, oh little faith? So the grass is clothed, the birds of the air are fed, and from the lesser, he argues to the greater. You are more valuable than grass, you are more valuable than birds, so God's going to take care of you. And Jesus does the very same thing in Matthew chapter 10 verse 29. Look what He says here. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Two sparrows sold for a penny. A penny is 1/16th of a denarius and a denarius is one day's wage for a basic laborer. Right? So maybe like 10 bucks. That's because of inflation. It used to be a penny. And that was a day's wage, about 10 bucks. And it's basically cheap as chips. And sparrows were used as poor men's food. And Jesus says two sparrows are sold for one penny, and not one sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your Father, and you as my children are of more value than many sparrows. So you get the point there? Two sparrows, one penny. Not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father. You are more value than many sparrows. Lesser from the greater. You know, we use this often, and it's important to get this, but you know, we say it, if you're careful about the $1, how much more you'll be careful about the $100. That's why parents say to their children, "Watch out for the $1." Because they want them to wisely look after the hundred. Or if you're disciplined in your eating, how much more in your life? The whole point of the argument is to say, if not one bird falls to the ground and dies apart from your Father, then don't you think and know, and you should believe that you would never die and be touched apart from your Father. The question is, what does He mean apart from your Father? And the translations of scripture have struggled to really get this. Some say apart from your Father's knowledge. And that's true, of course. God knows everything, and not one bird falls to the ground without God knowing it. Most definitely true, but it doesn't capture the whole thing, does it? Some say apart from your Father's care, and that's true. God cares for every sparrow that falls to the ground, and that is true. That's one aspect of it. Some say apart from your Father's will, and that is very true. Not one bird falls to the ground unless God has appointed that bird for that death and that time, because He numbers all of our days, and He's in control overall. But each one of these words only capture one aspect of what it means to have be when it says apart from your Father. When apart from your Father means all those things. What it simply means is that not one bird falls to the ground independently of your Father, outside of your Father's watch care and providence, which includes His knowledge, which includes His plan, which includes all those things that the translations have sought to pick up on. Not one of them. Well, what about the hairs of your head? He says in verse number 30, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Now, if this just means God knows the hairs on your head, well, He cares for some people more than others. Because it doesn't take long to count some of your hairs. So it means he doesn't do much thinking about you. Maybe your name's not on the registry. This is not what He's referring to, is He? Just like one, not one bird falls to the ground without your Father, not one hair falls out of your head apart from your Father's providential guidance and care. He is overall. Nothing in the world happens independently from Him. You know, the scripture says that in Him, we live and move and have our being. It says that God upholds all things by the word of His power. The seats that you're sitting on are held by the word of His power. The atoms and the molecules and all the things that make up the universe, it is held together by God. God drops that ball, the whole world goes up in a mess. But He doesn't. He's in control over everything. And so what were the disciples to derive from this encouragement and exhortation that Jesus tells them? What they were to understand is this: your Father who loves you and is good is governing all things in the universe that seem so insignificant like a little sparrow's death. And nothing, absolutely nothing can happen to you unless it is permitted and ordered by the providential power and grace and control and governance of God. Nothing. Not one hair will fall from your head, just like what not one bird falls to the ground apart from your Father's providential care and sovereignty over all. The danger that we face in anxiety is that we think God is only there in the miraculous and in the extraordinary. We start looking for God. Open your eyes. God is working in all things. And we think, oh, God's not there because there's troubled time. Remember, the apostles are going to be out and they may be hungry, but he says, I'll provide for you. How? Through ordinary means, there'll be hospitality. There may not be manna falling from the sky like it was done with the children of Israel. There may or may not be. But God will provide for you. You see, when we're when we're in a state of anxiety or our minds are battling with anxiety, what we do is we think that God is only in the miraculous and in the extraordinary, but is not in the mundane and in the ordinary. Or worse yet, not in the bad or in the evil. But the Bible teaches us that the most chance thing in the world is, there's no chance. The lot, the dice is cast into the lap or rolled and the entire outcome is from the Lord. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and He turns it wheresoever He wills. The Bible teaches us that nothing can thwart God's purposes, nothing can overthrow His plans. The good and sovereign God rules over everything. He is enthroned. Nothing, no one will dethrone Him. And the fact that God is comprehensive in His rule and sovereign overall means that God secures good purposes in all things. See now, if God was only sovereign over some things, He cannot ensure that all things work together for good to them that love Him. If God is only over control of a handful of things, then He can only really, in a handful of things, make sure that it turns out to our good and His glory. But we know the passage, Romans 8:28, that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. All things. That is only possible for a God who works all things after the counsel of His own will. That is only possible to a God who is enthroned in heaven and rules the universe. I want you to think just for a moment about what it takes to make one thing work together for good in your life. Just one thing. Think about it for a moment. You want to cook a meal, ladies, and you want it to work together for good. You take the salt shaker and you go for it and a couple of extra grains of salt destroys the whole thing. Your meal did not work together for good. Now, we could talk about why the salt shaker cap wasn't on properly and all the things that happened in order for that to happen. Yeah, exactly. There's so many things that go into even the fact that that salt shaker did not shake the way you wanted it to. Well, you're running late to a meeting and it could potentially ruin your job. Or one second of one second microsleep on a freeway could end your life. One second, split second. One bad decision could destroy a business deal and ruin your entire company and business. Just consider how much things must go into working one thing out for good in your life. So many things that are outside of your control. Let's just take for a moment this running late to a meeting. Some of you may have a meeting tomorrow at work and do you know how much you need to control your life in order for that to work out? Let's think for a moment. First, you need to wake up on time. To wake up on time, you need to make sure you have a fairly decent sleep. And beyond that, you need to make sure that your alarm's working. You got to make sure that the children don't get sick or there's any health emergencies that could disrupt the whole thing. Well, you also need to make sure that your car starts and that there's no accidents on the road and that there's no roadworks unexpectedly for you to rock up on time. And if you're taking public transport, wow, it's even worse for you. You know, anything could happen to public transport. Sydney Rail. Anyhow, not much guarantees there. There are so many things required that even go into those handful of things that I just mentioned that could affect the outcome of those handful of things that I just mentioned, that could affect the outcome of you getting to work on time, which could affect the outcome of your job. Things outside of your control. You've heard the old poem, for want of a nail or for lack of a nail. You know the horseshoes that have nails? For lack of one nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. All for the want of a horseshoe nail. One nail in a horseshoe that was neglected, ruined the whole thing. Now men, if you got anxiety, that's really hard to live with, right? But God, thank God, rules overall, not us. Right? Thank God, we don't have to secure all things working together for our good, which anxiety compels you to do, which you have no power to do. But God says, I'm doing it. And even in the things that look evil, and even in the things that look bad, and even in the things that are mundane, and even in the things where you see that I'm not there, I'm working all those things together for your good and for my glory. That's why James 4:13-16 says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? It is even but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away, just a mist." He says, "Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." Isn't that amazing? We make our plans, we're going to go here and do that. And He says, "If the Lord wills, you'll even live tomorrow." Let alone doing this or doing that. So you just better say, look, it really is under the fatherly care of our providential God who is sovereign overall whether we can even do anything. But man lives as though he is sovereign and then becomes quite anxious when things don't go his way. But God's sovereignty and control and good purpose has always been the hope of His people, even in the darkest night. Do you remember what Job said when he was facing his sufferings? In a single day, Job lost all his children and all his property. In a single day. In a single day, all his children and all his property were lost. What does Job say? Job says in Job 1:20-22, "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell down on the ground and worshiped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return.' But this is what he says, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. And in another single day, Job lost all his health. And there he is, suffering miserably with poor health. And his wife says to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Why don't you just curse God and die?" And Job said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive good from God? And shall we not receive evil? Or bad? In all this did Job did not sin with his lips." What's amazing about this is that we know from the story that Satan is the one afflicting Job and we know that Satan is the one that that that asked God to do all these things. But Job recognizes, although he doesn't understand what's going on behind the scenes, what Job is certain of is that nothing comes to him if it does not come to him from the hand of God. What Job is certain about is that the God that he worships is sovereign over all and that anything going on in his life must be appointed by God for a good and gracious purpose, even though he doesn't understand why and what. And Satan, even Satan himself with all his evil desires is still subject to the God who is sovereign over all. He must ask permission. And that means God must decide even what Satan does and say, yes, you may. Oh, and here's your limitations. And so it is true with Joseph. Joseph, this man of God, was thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers, sold into slavery, framed falsely as an adulterer by Potiphar's wife, imprisoned. And in prison, he interprets a dream for the cupbearer, and the cupbearer says, "I'm going to get you out of here, no problem." But the cupbearer forgot him. But the Bible says the Lord was with him. And you look at this story and you think to yourself, how on earth is this story of the life of Joseph going to work out for anything good? It's just bad thing after bad thing after bad thing after bad thing. And all of a sudden, there's a famine. Oh, famine. I thought they happened because of the weather patterns and things like this. No, they happened by God's decree. And that very famine turns everything around. He's released from prison. He gets out of prison. His family that betrayed him now forced to come up to Joseph to receive food from Joseph, and his father also. And there Joseph, as he's there with his brothers, and they are freaking out thinking, oh no, this is Joseph, and he's now a ruler in the land of Egypt. And now we need him food. And we were the ones that destroyed his life. He's he's saying surely Joseph is just going to turn around and destroy us. But what does Joseph say? In Genesis chapter 50 verse 19 to 20, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today." And it's amazing how he says, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." The "it" is the same thing. All the evil that befell me by your hands, God purposed in that evil that I will become king over over this land and will be able to save many people from death and from destruction and from famine, because God had a purpose in it all, a good purpose, in the most darkest deeds done to Joseph. Amazing, isn't it? All things working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. And should we not at this point think about Jesus? The very gospel that we proclaim exists because of a sovereign God. You know, the rulers of the kingdoms of this earth gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed one. And what looked like from the outside, a bloodbath, Jesus defeated on a cross. That's what it looked like. Herod getting his way, the Gentiles getting his way, the Jews getting their way, everyone's getting their way against Jesus, everyone's fulfilling their own wishes. Satan is happy, the world is happy. We got Him. And the apostles, you know what they said? For truly in this city they were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus who You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. Wow, come on. How is that possible? We're talking about the king. We're talking about leaders, rulers, enemies. How is it possible? It's impossible for us, but not for a sovereign God who rules over all. Their plans, their plotting, their attempts, everything that happened in the crucifixion of Jesus fell out to the glory of God and to the salvation of our soul. So that Peter when he preaches on the day of Pentecost said, "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by hands of lawless men." Jesus' death, horrific murder, was no accident. It was not random. It was part of God's good plan to see your soul saved by His grace. We serve a God who is enthroned. Therefore, be not anxious. You know, next time you see a bird flying in your front yard or in your backyard, think about this. Oh, by the way, next time you see a hair in the sink, in your or in the bathroom, think about this. Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father. Ladies, when you're vacuuming the house and why's your husband's hair everywhere, think about this. Yes, think about this. Worship the Lord. How amazing is He? He has ordained not only the hair but your vacuuming. Now look, think about this. Really think about this. Why should we be anxious? Not one of these things happen apart from God's plan, by God's ordained will, by God's care and sovereign care and watch care. Why should we worry? Why should we fear? We should seek first God's kingdom. He looks after us. He He will take care of us. And heaven will reveal all the purposes of God which we do not know. All the car accidents He kept you from, all the reasons why you suffered and you never understood why, why you had some loss in your life and you couldn't understand it. What you can be sure of is that your suffering is never wasted in the economy where God rules over all. Never wasted. Nothing that happens to you is wasted when God is enthroned. You see the purpose and the joy and the satisfaction and the contentment, the release from anxiety that it gives us to know that God rules over all. And we would do well as God's people to get off the throne and to stop thinking that this world is governed by us. It is not. God rules. Worship Him. Lean upon Him. Trust in Him. No interest rate will rise unless God allows it. There'll be no nuclear war unless God says so. And one day, the earth and the world will perish because God says it's time to close the curtains. But until that day, not one hair of your head will fall unless God allows it. Nothing will befall you without the permission and will of a sovereign God. Do you believe it? Every molecule that upholds the universe is in the hand of God. And He is working all these things, and He's got you here in His hand, and He's working all these things together for your good and for His glory. Do you trust Him? It's dark outside. The disciples would be killed and persecuted. What were they to depend upon? A God who rules over everything. Believer, trust in this Savior. But if you do not trust in this Savior, you're in a very dangerous place, because He's not working all things together for your good. And in one sense, sparrows are safer than you. As rebels against God, when we violate His law and will not submit to His Lordship and we think that we are king of our own life and king of our own world, God will demonstrate to us that you are not king of your own world and you are not king of the universe. Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his heart in pride, built his, he destroyed Israel, he built his kingdom. The kings of Babylon the same. Look what I have done with my hands. And God said, you can eat grass like an ox for seven years. And he did. So that you can learn that the kingdom of the, that that that the God of this world rules in the affairs of men. Do you understand that? Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful leader in the universe, in in the in the world at that time, seven years eating grass like an ox. Because God said so. Why? Because he was lifted up in pride and thought, I am the king. We're not. We are not. So it is best for us to bow to the sovereign God who by His sovereign grace has sent His son to be a savior for all who will believe on Him. And it's good for us to come to Him and say, Lord, be my Lord and my king. I would submit to Your reign. Lest I become a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction. Let us pray. Father, we come to You with all our anxious worries, with all of our fears, but we confess this morning that You are king over all. Whatever You ordain is right. You are good, You are gracious. Lord, not one bird falls to the ground apart from our Father. Nothing in the universe happens independently of Your will. Lord, we trust in You. Forgive us, Lord God, for thinking that we are in control of our own world. We commit ourselves to you as diligent servants seeking to do Your will. May we seek first the kingdom of God and Your righteousness, knowing that You care for us. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.