Who is regulating affairs on this earth today—God, or the Devil? That God reigns supreme in Heaven is generally conceded; that He does so over this world, is almost universally denied—if not directly, then indirectly. More and more men in their philosophizings and theorizings are relegating God to the background…But who is regulating affairs on this earth today—God or the Devil? Attempt to take a serious and comprehensive view of the world…Sin is rampant; lawlessness abounds; evil men and seducers are waxing “worse and worse” (II Tim 3:13)…After nineteen centuries of Gospel preaching, Christ is still despised and rejected of man. Worse still, He (the Christ of Scripture) is proclaimed and magnified by very few. Despite frantic efforts to attract the crowds, the majority of the churches are being emptied rather than filled…Who is regulating affairs on this earth today—God, or the Devil? What saith the Scriptures? If we believe their plain and positive declarations, no room is left for uncertainty. They affirm again and again that God is on the throne of the universe; that the scepter is in His hands; that He is directing all things “after the counsel of His own will.” A.W. Pink
Psalm 46:8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
The earth is full of crime and evil. The church appears to have virtually disappeared in terms of purity of doctrine, morality, and worship. Can God still be the sovereign of the universe? Pain, even agonizing and unrequited pain (both physical and mental) seem to be there no matter where we glance. So many point at things like that and declare that God cannot be both good and omnipotent and allow things like that. But instead of being an argument that God does not exist, this shows the glory of God in punishing sin. No, it is not a pleasant sort of doctrine to set out and explain, but it does set forth the reality of God instead of a children’s story about Him. The perfections and glory of God shines through in His wrath, holiness, and justice, though it must be admitted that these are the attributes of God that people hate the most. But the hatred of people toward the true God should not surprise anyone who has read the Bible.
The only god that the unregenerate world will tolerate and/or like is a god that is the god of their own making. The unregenerate world is full of the nicest and even most religious people around. The unregenerate world is full of the most popular and the cleanest and even richest people around. They are most likely the most respectable and perhaps the most educated, but they will come up with the most specious arguments and show their hatred of God when He is presented to them in truth. But the Scriptures are plain to those who really want to know God and His ways. The world today is what it is precisely because it has been ordained to be that way according to the eternal plan of God and He has poured out His wrath upon it by hardening hearts turning people over to sin as punishment for their previous sin.
The world is the way it is because of the wrath of God being poured out on it for its rejection of Him and for its enmity toward Him. While that is not a popular view, in reality it is the only view that leaves us with any hope at all. The Gospel is for sinners and for helpless sinners. The Gospel is not for those who think of themselves as having failed at a few things here and there, but it is for those who have been complete failures at earning the righteousness of God. The Gospel is not for all the nice people who think that they are good because they are nice, but the Gospel is for those who know that they have never loved anyone and especially God as they should have in their whole life. The Gospel is not for the religious people who think that they have a righteousness of their own in following their sacraments and rituals, but the Gospel is for those who have no power and no ability to earn a right standing before God.
The Gospel, then, is exactly fitted to a world of people who are in reality sinners and really bad sinners. The Gospel is the only answer to a world where no one has the ability to repent of his or her own power. The Gospel is the only answer to a world that has no way of obtaining righteousness at all much less enough to enter the gates of heaven. The Gospel is for the chief of sinners and for the lame. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the power of an omnipotent God to save sinners for His own sake by grace and grace alone. Only those who come to the knowledge of their extreme sinfulness and inability will see how glorious this Gospel really is, but more importantly they are the only ones who will want it. For the rest, they will remain proud and want to contribute something to their own salvation and righteousness. But the Gospel will not allow this at all and people hate that.
God Loves... Himself 
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