Thankful for the Sovereignty and Love of God

Romans 9:19 HCSB

You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?”

Romans 9:20 HCSB

But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

Romans 9:21 HCSB

Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

Romans 9:22 HCSB

And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?

Romans 9:23–24 HCSB

And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory — on us, the ones He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Romans 9:25–26 HCSB

As He also says in Hosea: I will call Not My People, My People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved. And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

Romans 9:27–28 HCSB

But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: Though the number of Israel’s sons is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved; for the Lord will execute His sentence completely and decisively on the earth.

Romans 9:29 HCSB

And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

Question: Which are we more thankful and grateful for - the sovereignty of God or the love of God?

Question #2: Which is most important? What rules your thoughts and actions?

Question #3: Is man responsible for our own actions?

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Sovereignty of God

SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD Biblical teaching that God possesses all power and is the ruler of all things (Ps. 135:6; Dan. 4:34–35). God rules and works according to His eternal purpose, even through events that seem to contradict or oppose His rule.

Scripture emphasis God’s rule in three areas: creation (Gen 1; mk 4:35-41; Rom 8:20-21), human history including every day ordinary events (Judg 14:1-4; Prov 16:9, 33) and the rise and fall of nations (Acts 17:26; Ps. 22:28) and redemption. Redemption is the work of God alone, who has taken the initiative in the provision and application of salvation, and in enabling man’s willing acceptance (Jn 17:2; Rom 8:29-30; Eph. 1:3-14; 2 Thess 2:13-14; 2 Tim 1:9-10).

We sing praise and hallelujah to the LORD our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who is absolute Ruler and Redeemer of all persons and things! We are made in His image! Praise God and hallelujah! But what does that fully mean? We are created with a will …and personal limited sovereignty.