Sermon Tone Analysis

*Title: LIVING IN LIGHT OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY*

*Text: 1 CHRONICLES 29:10-20*

Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on March 25, 2007

www.goldcountrybaptist.org

We are going to look at a truth that can change your life: The Sovereignty of God.

It changed my life and it really revolutionized everything when I began to fully apprehend and grasp just /how/ sovereign God is from start to finish, in life, in suffering, in salvation and sanctification, and that He is ruling and governing and actively involved in both big and little details in this world.

R.C.

Sproul says the truth of the sovereignty of God is God’s favorite doctrine.

It would be your favorite doctrine if you were God.

It means that God is large and in charge; He is in control of all things.

He is the King who actually rules over and in all things.

Jonathan Edwards: “Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God … It has often been my delight to approach God, and adore Him as a sovereign God.” (As cited by Steve Lawson, /Psalms 76-150, /Holman OT Commentary, p. 128)

 

King David was one who also loved to ascribe absolute sovereignty to God, and who delighted in approaching and adoring His supreme and Sovereign Lord (we see this in many of his psalms).

In our passage we have one of the greatest prayers of the Old Testament, if not the Bible that does this.

This is a God-centered, God-exalting, soul-thrilling, man-humbling, perspective-altering, worship-inspiring praise by the man after God’s own heart.

 

1 Chronicles 29:10-20: "/So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever.

//“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.

//“Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.

//“Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.

//“But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?

For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.

//“For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.

//“O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours.

//“Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You. //“O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; //and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision.”

//Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.”

And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed low and did homage to the Lord and to the king/."

CONTEXT:

The context is Israel’s building program for the great temple for God.

If you read verses 1-9, you will see that this is perhaps the greatest offering recorded in biblical (if not human) history.

Depending on how the value is translated, there were over 100 tons of gold, hundreds of tons of silver and bronze, thousands of tons of iron, with a value in dollars perhaps in the hundreds of millions, if not a value in the billions.

Notice that David’s response in verse 10 to all the human willing and human giving is to bless God not to thank man. 

 

*I.

**God is Sovereign in Ruling All, v. 10-12*

The contrast is between human rulers and the Real Ruler.

The credit for this tremendous offering is not due to the human king, but is ultimately due to the King of Kings.

This prayer is a prelude to Solomon’s reign, which was one of the most magnificent in Israel’s history, and its grandeur and wealth would carry significant temptations for Solomon.

David’s prayer keeps everything in perspective.

The word-order of v. 11 puts the emphasis on God, i.e., “It is THOU, O Lord, who are great and not I, nor even Solomon.”

This is not just something Israel needed to be reminded of 3,000 years ago – surely this is a message desperately needed by 21st century man who is obsessed with his own great achievement and progress!

VERSE 11

“/Yours O LORD is the greatness/” -> it’s not us or the temple

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

Great is Thy faithfulness.

Only God is truly great, man is not.

The Hebrew word refers to greatness in size, and importance.

Do you have a BIG God?

The bigger your view of God, the smaller all other things become.

“/Yours is the power/” -> it’s not our power, it’s only yours

            God has unlimited strength, matchless omnipotence

            The end of v. 12 says any strength we have is from God

The word for power here means “mighty” and was often used of a warrior-king

“/and the glory/” -> it’s all about you, not about us.

Not the usual word for glory (/kabod/) it’s the word for beautiful, emphasis on the visual splendor of God, a reminder not to be enamored with temple

 

Verse 10 is the first time in the Bible that God is directly addressed as “our Father” and that is how Jesus taught His disciples to begin their prayers with “Our Father” and then recognize His high position, the importance of His name, and His Kingdom, etc. (very similar to David’s prayer).

Verse 11 also sounds very much like the ending of the Lord’s prayer “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.”

 

“/and the victory/” -> God always wins.

God is not a thwarted deity.

This word emphasizes pre-eminence, enduring, lasting

“/and the majesty/” -> this word includes the ideas of honor, majestic authority.

All these are due God and not man.

Someone has said David’s prayer “ransacks the theological dictionary” – he is piling term upon term, praise upon praise, attribute upon attribute, using the full extent of vocabulary to exalt the supreme and sovereign majestic magnificent God.

David’s prayer is among his final words to his people, which ancient people rightly put great importance on.

Matthew Henry wrote: ‘David was now old and looked upon himself as near his end; and it well becomes aged saints, and dying saints, to have their hearts much enlarged in praise and thanksgiving … His is the /greatness;/ his greatness is immense and incomprehensible; and all others are little, are nothing, in comparison of him.

His is the /power,/ and it is almighty and irresistible; power belongs to him, and all the power of all the creatures is derived from him and depends upon him.

His is the /glory;/ for his glory is his own end and the end of the whole creation.

All the glory we can give him with our hearts, lips, and lives, comes infinitely short of what is his due.

His is the /victory;/ he transcends and surpasses all, and is able to conquer and subdue all things to himself; and his victories are incontestable and uncontrollable.

And his is the /majesty,/ real and personal; with him is terrible majesty, inexpressible and inconceivable.’

“/Yours is the dominion O LORD”/ - Dominion or “kingdom” (NKJV) – some translate it “sovereignty.”

It refers to the royal reign of a king over his subjects under him

 

In ancient times, no one was more sovereign than a king.

But David recognized that Yours is the true dominion, O Lord, and so did his son Solomon in Proverbs 21:1, which says even a “/king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes./”

\\ \\

v. 11b-12 /“and You exalt Yourself as head over all.

Both riches and honor come from You and You rule over all”/

 

Note: The word “all” appears all over the place in this chapter (10x in some translations)

 

Unfortunately many churchgoers are not sure whether God really rules over all or not, whether man’s will trumps God’s

 

Steve Lawson writes: ‘In the minds of so many people today, even some in the body of Christ, the user-friendly god has voluntarily limited his control and given free reign to the actions of people in order to give them unconditional liberty.

This restricted ruler [God] is /slightly /sovereign – enthroned, but not empowered; presiding but not prevailing; trying but not triumphing.

In the views of many, God is always pacing back and forth in heaven, wringing His hands over unfolding events on earth, rubbing His furrowed brow, and losing sleep over His plans, which are repeatedly frustrated by men.

They see him as continually going into an emergency session with other members of the Trinity, strategizing His next move, always reacting to the next hand dealt to Him by man, Satan, or circumstances.

Some believe that divine sovereignty is a sort of coregency – a cosmic stalemate between God and Satan in which man has the swing vote.

These well-meaning people spout catchy idioms like, “God votes for you; the devil votes against you; and you cast the deciding vote.”

This implies that God and Satan are somehow equal and man’s will is superior to both, since he is able to cast the tie-breaking vote for heaven or hell.

God is too often perceived as a codependent deity who is always rigging solutions to earthly problems, but who, quite frankly, lacks the clout to pull it off.

This is the user-friendly god.

But is /this /God?

Has He really chosen to limit the free reign of His sovereignty?

Is He limited by the choices of man?

Or is God really the supreme ruler of the universe, exercising total control over the works of His hand?

Rest assured, God is in complete control!’ (/Made in Our Image, /93)

 

What does it mean when our text says that “God rules over all?”

TURN TO DANIEL 4 – Read v. 1-6, v. 24-35

 

Arthur Pink, in his excellent book /The Attributes of God, /writes:

‘The sovereignty of God may be defined as the */exercise/* of His supremacy … Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth.

Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases.

None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him.

So His own Word expressly declares: “My counsel shall stand, and I */will do/* all My pleasure” (Isa.

46:10); [or as Psalm 115:3 says “Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases.”]

Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, working all things “after the counsel of His own will” (Eph.

1:11).’

[p.