The Sovereignty of God
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Introduction: The Sovereignty of God
Why a message on God’s Sovereignty at this time?
This is a subject very personal to me.
This is a subject that has been neglected and even distorted in the modern church.
What is often taught in many churches is not the sovereignty of God but rather the sovereignty of man.
If we do not affirm the sovereignty of God we will affirm the sovereignty of someone or something else.
A lack of understanding the sovereignty of God and emphasis on the sovereignty of man leads inevitably to fear, anxiety, and worry.
3. The testimony of Holy Scripture on this subject is overwhelming and conclusive.
4. Understanding God’s sovereignty matters for how we think and live.
Approaching the subject with humility and submission.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
9 “For as heaven is higher than earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Can we all agree to approach this subject with humility, willing to submit to God’s Word regardless of what I think or how I feel?
As Christians, we must say about God, that which He says about Himself. In this case that He is Sovereign.
What do we mean when we say that God is sovereign?
We mean that He is in complete and total control of all things, at all times, and in all places.
This is essentially what it means for God to be sovereign.
Very few christians would disagree that God is sovereign, but the primary disagreement comes in to what extent is He sovereign?
What does God’s Word have to say about this?
1 Not to us, Lord, not to us,
but to your name give glory
because of your faithful love, because of your truth.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven
and does whatever he pleases.
5 For I know that the Lord is great;
our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 The Lord does whatever he pleases
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths.
7 He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from his storehouses.
Westminster Confession of Faith 1647
I. God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass:(a) yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin,(b) nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.(c)
A. W. Pink
Nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed. Here is a foundation of faith. Here is a resting place for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate, unbridled evil, man or devil, but the Lord Almighty who is ruling the world, ruling it according to His own good pleasure and for His own eternal glory.
God’s Sovereignty over the nature.
Job 37:4-13 “4 Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when his rumbling voice is heard. 5 God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. 6 For he says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,” and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains, 7 serve as his sign to all mankind, so that all men may know his work. 8 The wild animals enter their lairs and stay in their dens. 9 The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds. 10 Ice is formed by the breath of God, and watery expanses are frozen. 11 He saturates clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. 12 They swirl about, turning round and round at his direction, accomplishing everything he commands them over the surface of the inhabited world. 13 He causes this to happen for punishment, for his land, or for his faithful love.”
Psalm 104:1-24
God’s Sovereignty over man.
Job 12:13-25 “13 Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are his. 14 Whatever he tears down cannot be rebuilt; whoever he imprisons cannot be released. 15 When he withholds water, everything dries up, and when he releases it, it destroys the land. 16 True wisdom and power belong to him. The deceived and the deceiver are his. 17 He leads counselors away barefoot and makes judges go mad. 18 He releases the bonds put on by kings and fastens a belt around their waists. 19 He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders. 20 He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away the elders’ good judgment. 21 He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong. 22 He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light. 23 He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away. 24 He deprives the world’s leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland. 25 They grope around in darkness without light; He makes them stagger like a drunkard”
23 I know, Lord,
that a person’s way of life is not his own;
no one who walks determines his own steps.
Acts 17:24-31 “24 The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ 29 Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. 30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man He has appointed.”
Romans 9:14-21 “14 What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 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?”
God’s Sovereignty over all things.
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.
11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory.
Next week we will deal with some of the difficulties and objections to God’s sovereignty.
The Conclusion: To what extent is God sovereign?
He is sovereign to the uttermost. He is infinitely sovereign. There is no end or limit to God’s sovereignty.
Why is this so important for us today?
There is the very real possibility that the true church is preparing to enter into a period of suffering and/or persecution.
A faith that is not grounded in the sovereignty of God and His control over both good and evil, will not survive such a period.
Personal Example
There is a great and unchanging comfort and peace that flows from a confident assurance of God’s sovereignty that will enable us to persevere through any trial.