Sermon Tone Analysis

Turn to and read Matthew 20:1-16.

What is “Sovereignty?”

What is “Sovereignty” as it relates to God?

Often we say, “God is in control!”

And, that’s a fairly good way to describe “sovereignty” as it relates to God.

Sovereignty is God’s right to do what He want s with what is His.

Sovereignty is a matter of ownership.

What is the Extent of God’s Sovereignty?

Have you ever felt as though you were out of control?

When have you felt as though you were out of control?

God controls the universe.

We have been told that, because of climate change, we don’t have much time left here on this planet.

Greta Thunberg, the young teenager who had a “meltdown” at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit said...

We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth - how dare you!

In fact...

Professor Stephen Hawking thinks the human species will have to populate a new planet within 100 years if it is to survive.

He said...

“With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious.”

Biblically, though, we must keep in mind that God is in control!

Yes, one day this earth will be destroyed.

2 Peter 3:10 tells us that...

But, it will not be because of climate change.

Why?

Because God is in control!

God controls the plant and animal creation.

God sustains all of physical creation that we see around us.

And, if God cares for the plants and animals that He has created, doesn’t it stand to reason that He cares for you, O ye of little faith?

God controls all nations.

Benjamin Franklin famously said...

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men.

History is His story.

It is not the story of any one nation or people group.

History is a story written by the finger of God.

As we see the mess that the governments of this world have gotten themselves into - ours included, it can produce a lot of anxiety within us.

However, we can take comfort in knowing that God is sovereign; He is in control!

God controls the length of a man’s life.

You might say, “Well, that’s just scary!”

However, think of it in this way.

You have a purpose in this life and God will make sure that you accomplish that purpose!

God controls all things for His glory.

If God controls all things for His glory, shouldn’t we desire to do all thing for His glory?

Is God’s Sovereignty Limited?

Ultimately God is in complete control of all things, though He may choose to let certain events happen according to natural laws that He has ordained.

It is clear from Scriptures that man may limit God if God allows him that privilege.

Also, God may, in His sovereignty, impose upon Himself certain limitations.

God’s sovereign will permits things to happen that God does not desire to happen, or that He even commands not to happen.

- George Bryson, The Dark Side of Calvinism

The limitations that God has placed upon Himself are primarily in three areas: the existence of sin, the free will of man, and the privilege of prayer.

The existence of sin.

God did not determine sin’s existence, but He allowed it in the universe.

Even though God hates sin, for reasons not revealed to us, sin is present by His permission.

God could have made man without the ability to sin (as He will in heaven some day), but that was not His plan for earth.

(He has given man a free will.)

God wanted many to love Him by choice, not force.

The Bible teaches five lessons about God’s relationship to sin:

God permits some sin to fully manifest itself.

God prevents some sin.

God determines the limits to which Satan may go in tempting or trying an individual.

This truth should bring comfort to each of us, especially when we are going through a severe trial or test.

Even though we may question, “Why,” we should remember that God is still in control!

In temptation, God makes a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.

Even in temptation, God has a purpose.

But, I will not try to minimize or trivialize the tribulations and temptations that you may be going through.

In temptation, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ “…was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

For that reason, we can go to Him to “…find grace to help in time of need.”

God can overrule every expression of sin for His glory.

God can restore the wasted years of a sinful life.

This should bring comfort to those who may have been saved later in life.

The Free Will of Man

Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.

- J. Omoregie

What is “free will” as it relates to man?

The free will of man and the sovereignty of God would seem to be at odds with one another.

However, remember that we stated earlier that the free will of man was one area in which God has chosen to limit Himself.

God does not lose any control when a man rebels.

God is just as sovereign over the wicked as He is over the righteous.

- George Bryson, The Dark Side of Calvinism

Sovereignty/freedom forms an antinomy (“a contradiction between two apparently equally valid principles or between inferences correctly drawn from such principles”).

Antinomies in the Bible, however, consist only of apparent contradictions, not ultimate ones.

One can accept the truths of an antinomy and live with them, accepting by faith what cannot be reconciled; or one can try to harmonize the apparent contradictions in an antinomy, which inevitably leads to overemphasizing one truth to the neglect or even denial of the other.

Sovereignty must not obliterate free will, and free will must never dilute sovereignty.

Turn to and read Mark 7:1-13.

If, because of their seeming “contradiction” we begin to overemphasize one versus the other, we can get into some theologically deep waters that we might have a difficult time getting out of.

(I would remind you of what Charles Ryrie said, “Sovereignty must not obliterate free will, and free will must never dilute sovereignty.”)

Such is the case of Reformed Theology or Calvinism.

Calvinism overemphasizes God’s sovereignty to the point where man’s free will is obliterated and thus they believe and would teach that, because of God’s sovereignty, individuals have already been predetermined by God to either heaven or hell and there is nothing that they can do about it.

However, it is a wonderful truth of Scripture that a sovereign God can determine to give man a free choice in the matter of his personal salvation.

God did not have to give man this privilege, but the Bible indicates that He did.

God never forces Himself upon an individual.

…I do not really thing it is all that difficult to accept either the concept that God is absolutely sovereign or that man is responsibly free (and therefore morally responsible for a whole host of important and even eternal matters).

The fact that you may not be able to articulate your convictions in precise theological or philosophical terms makes little or no difference in your day-to-day living.

Most Christians simply do not have trouble reconciling sovereignty and free will because they see no natural conflict between them.

- George Bryson, The Dark Side of Calvinism

The Privilege of Prayer