The Sovereignty of God

Another title for the sermon?

I thought about naming this sermon after the questions that God asked Job: “Where were you when I Iaid the foundations of the earth?” (38:4). “Have you ever in your days commanded the morning light?” (38:12). “Where does light live, or where does darkness reside?” (38:19). “Can you lead out a constellation in its season?” (38:32).

I only say this because in my recent studies on missions and revivals I came across several book titles that were common in the 1700’s and I found it to be a bit comical, but maybe a little realistic. Such as a book that William Carey wrote In 1792, it was published: An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to use means for the Conversion of the Heathens in which the Religious State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Practicability of Further Undertakings, are Considered.

William Carey was a missionary and part of the first great awakening in England as it pertained to missions (he is considered the father of missions).

Sovereignty of God abused and misunderstood.

Have you ever gotten angry with God about the outcome or lack of outcome in a situation?

Have you ever questioned God in a non-reverent manner?

Maybe you have asked: “if God is a loving God why does He let bad things happen to good people?”

Treated God like He was your Genie in a lamp. Well if I pray for it or if I claim in the name of Jesus God will provide it to me. A lot of people are part of the prosperity gospel ministry. Actually you don’t even have to be a member of that ministry to do this.

Let’s define:

Sovereignty is defined by the Meriam-Webster Dictionary as:

a: supreme power especially over a body politic

b: freedom from external control : autonomy

c: controlling influence

God’s Sovereignty Biblically defined: Essentially means that He has the power, wisdom, and authority to do anything He chooses within His creation and is a natural consequence of His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.

Whether or not He actually exerts that level of control in any given circumstance is actually a completely different question. I will touch a bit on this a little later.

The term sovereignty is rarely found in recent translations of Scripture, but it represents an important biblical concept. A sovereign is a ruler, a king, a lord, and Scripture often refers to God as the one who rules over all. His most common proper name, Yahweh (see Ex. 3:14) is regularly translated Lord in the English Bible. And Lord, in turn, is found there over 7,000 times as a name of God and specifically as a name of Jesus Christ.

Let’s see what God has to say about this.

Exodus 33:19 NASB95

19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

A little background here (Exodus 32): Just prior this conversation with God the Israelites had made the golden calf and worshipped it, Moses carried out God’s judgement on the idolater worshipers, then Moses went to off to intercede on behalf of the nation. Then in first half of Exodus 33 God tells the Israelites to continue their journey toward the land that he had promised them, but that he will not go with them (because of their obstinance he might destroy them if he were in their midst), then Moses Intercedes again on behalf of the people. Moses asks, to know the ways of God so that he might know God, and since the nation is are the people of God that He might reconsider and go with the people in to the promise land. Moses prays that God will show him His glory and that gets us to verse 19. whew..

Exodus 33:19 NASB95

19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

God states “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you”

Commentary from Enduring Word:

i. God didn’t reveal His justice to Moses, not His power, and not His wrath against sin. All those are truly aspects of God’s nature, but when He showed Himself to Moses He displayed His goodness.

ii. Sometimes people think they must “balance” God, supposing there is something like a Yin and Yang to the universe, in the sense of light and dark, good and evil, law and grace. But God Himself is “unbalanced” in this sense. He is entirely good. Even His justice and power and wrath must be understood as aspects of His goodness.

God further says “I will proclaim the name of the Lord (My name) before you” In ancient days a person name meant something, it was closely tied to the persons character. I wonder if the Lord called out all of these names?

YHWH: I AM

Elohim: Mighty Creator Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord Is Peace Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord Will Provide Jehovah-Mekadeah: The Lord Who Sanctifies Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord Is My Righteousness Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord Who Heals Jehovah-Rohi: The Lord Is My Shepherd Jehovah-Ra'ah: The Lord is My Shepherd Jehovah Nissi: the Lord our Banner Adonai: Lord Alpha and Omega: The first and the Last Abba: Father El: God El Echad: One God El Hanne'eman: The Faithful God El Emet: God of Truth El Roi: The God Who Sees Me El Elyon: God Most High El Chaiyai: God of My Life El Olam: The Everlasting God, The Eternal God El Shaddai: The All Sufficient One, God Almighty

Now to the Sovereignty of God!

The Lord God says “I will be gracious to whom I will gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion”

I other words I will give grace to whom I give grace and I will give mercy to whom I give mercy. There are no outside forces that persuade God to do this, you cannot do anything on your own to receive grace and mercy. Moses had great faith and he interceded on behalf of the nation of Israel and and it was by his faith that he found favor in the sight of God. (Talk about God was not going to go with the nation, he was going to send an angel in His place, because of their obstinance he might destroy them if he were in their midst, but He relented)

There are many good people in this world and they believe just because they are good, they feed the poor, visit the sick, the imprisoned, take care of widows and children and do no evil deed that they are ok, that if there is a God, they will find favor with Him by their works.

But we are not saved by works

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

When the sovereignty of God is mentioned it brings to mind words like “Predestination”, “The Elect”, “The Chosen”, “The Called”, “Free Will”. I am not going to expound on these terms in this message that will be for my next message.

I want to quote David Grabbe from an article that I read:

“The subject of God's sovereignty has sparked endless thoughts, conversations, debates, and commentary. Most professing Christians will at least agree that God is sovereign, but there is a wide range of beliefs with regard to just how involved God is in their lives. Some believe—and act—as if God wound up His Creation, set limits upon it through a set of immutable physical and moral laws, and is now sitting back to watch things progress. On the other end of spectrum, some believe in a predestination and sovereignty that relegates humanity to a collection of pawns with every move on the chessboard already planned out for them in advance.”

And, I would like to add that we at times use God as our genie in a lamp as I mentioned earlier. And this is an abuse of the sovereignty of God! For whatever reason sometimes people think they can influence God’s will to do what they want, that they can strike a bargain with Him, attempt to use His word to get what they want ( well Jesus said if I have faith like a mustard seed, I can move mountains. Paraphrased from Matthew 17:20)

You see, when we (Christ followers) speak of the sovereignty of God, we mean He rules the universe, but then the debate begins over when and where His control is direct and when it is indirect.

There is no doubt that God is the not only the creator of the universe, but He is also the ruler of the universe. I do not doubt this. Do you?

But, I believe and I plan to back this up with scripture, with God’s word, with His truth. I believe God does not act in every detail of our lives, that every cause and effect is a result of God’s will.

Could it happen? YES!, but I would not consider that free will, that would be more in tune with being a robot, or with Greek mythology where the gods used humans as their chess pieces.