Naracoorte Presbyterian Church

Let’s for one moment imagine that God is not sovereign, not supreme, not all-powerful, not all-wise or not unchanging. What if God were dependable on what He created. What if He needed something, where would He get it from? What if He could not make up His mind? What if what He changed His word so that we would know His will?

Would you worship such a God? Could you ever trust such a God? Could you pray to such a God? Would you follow such a God?

We worship God because He is sovereign in the affairs of the world including the future. He is sovereign in everything about our salvation.

The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is an enormous anchor for the soul of the believer. It is a resting-place for our heart: God reigns supremely! With David in Psalm 31:15 we declare: “My times are in Your hand“

God exercises His supremacy sovereignly. To worship and trust in Him, we must understand the Bible’s teaching regarding His sovereignty.

Let’s ask a few questions. If I showed you a picture of the king, or the Australian Prime Minister, would you be able to identify them? Who is the most powerful of between them? Why? Did you know that the king cannot make laws as he wishes? He is a very powerful man, but he cannot do whatever he wishes. Is the king free? He might be powerful, but he is not absolutely sovereign.

There is only One who is really Sovereign: God.

God is infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, unconditionally independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can stop 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).

He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)

He alone is God

Divine sovereignty means that God is God because He alone is God. He sits on the throne of His universe, directing all things, working all things “after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians. 1:11).

Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on Matthew 20:15 and said about God:

There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation—the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne. 

On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by the world, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne.

But when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth, and we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and reviled, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love.

Psalm 135 proclaims:

The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. (Psalm 135:6)

God is unrivalled in majesty, unlimited in power, unaffected by anything outside Himself.

These days, some theologians hold that God can be surprised by what happens some days. He does not really know everything because He has not planned everything. He must deal with problems and solve them as they come. Such a God would more approachable to human beings. They argue that if God is too perfect, too knowledgeable, too almighty, man will be afraid of such a God and never worship Him. He must be somewhat human for humans to comprehend Him. What nonsense! What blasphemy!

There is the cry to have other gods besides God. In our age where there is no room for absolutes, and therefore no room for one and only God, the demand is to exercise tolerance over others who might believe differently. So, for instance the multi-faith Association of South Australia, has as its mission statement:

“The Multi-faith Association of South Australia Inc strives to forge, through the activities of the Association, a sensitivity to the spiritual beliefs and cultures of others, so as to establish among them a recognition of a firm purpose to protect their rights with regards to the celebration of their rituals and customs insofar as these do not impinge on the freedom of other faiths and cultures, and to promote harmony and unity…”

The central question is: what is the purpose of any discussion? I talk to you, but if it is my purpose to persuade you, that would imply I consider your perspective incorrect; similarly, you should not seek to persuade me if you are unable to accept the possibility that I may be mistaken. Instead, I wish to respect your beliefs, just as I expect you to respect mine. If both parties maintain these positions, it is possible that neither is fully correct or incorrect. However, adhering to this principle means we avoid asserting our viewpoints over each other in the spirit of mutual tolerance. Consequently, we are limited in the influence we can have on one another’s views. In summary, rather than attempting to convince each other, perhaps it is preferable to respectfully coexist and allow for individual practices and beliefs to continue independently.

This has never been the view of Christians who worship sovereign God. No, we worship and proclaim the only God’s sovereignty over all of the universe. Because He created the universe, He created us all; He does as He pleases; therefore He is worthy of all our praise. To reject Him, His Son, His Spirit and his Word,  means one rejects all standards for life, and indeed,  life itself. This is our message. This is what drives all ministry and missionary work.

God is sovereign over rulers and over time

It took king Nebuchadnezzar some time to work out that he is not God, whose dominion extends over all of the universe. He thought his greatness was above all the skies; his own splendour reached the skies, and his dominion extended to distant parts of the earth. After Daniel explained the dream to the king and implored him to turn from his sins and wickedness, he remained proud, and from the roof of his magnificent palace in Babylon he looked and declared:

“Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30, NIV)

God humbled him for seven years as he lost his mind and lived with the animals of the field. In his mercy, God granted him restoration. Then he proclaimed:

Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to Him: “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34–35, NIV)

God is sovereign in our salvation

Paul writes in Romans 9:15

For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. (Romans 9:15–16, NIV)

He continues:

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21, NIV)

God knows the number of his elect, and He will bring in his harvest. None of them will be missing at the return of our Lord, because nothing and no one will stand in His way to gather them in. This is the greatest and the most comforting doctrine of them all.

God’s sovereignty and our responsibility

Some people are not happy with a sovereign God because they say it robs man of his responsibility. But according to the Bible human responsibility is based upon Divine sovereignty, and is the product of it.

God was not under any obligation to create. He sovereignly conditionally placed Adam in the garden of Eden – he was under God and accountable to Him.

God sovereignly called Israel freely by grace, but Israel was called to obedience. When Israel rebelled and forsook God’s law, the consequence was Divine judgment. They were delivered into the hands of their enemies, cast out of the Promised Land and lived under God’s curse.

There is perfect harmony between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of the creature. Our responsibility is an answer to God’s sovereign will. There is no, and never will be, any “end” to His sovereignty!

Sovereign grace in Jesus Christ

Fallen sinners did not plead with God to send them a Saviour. In his sovereign mercy God saves His elect based upon unconditional love and grace – only in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ was appointed to take the responsibility upon Himself to save God’s elect. He accepted the conditions of the Father to make the elect God’s children. He provided the perfect righteousness for them. His act of mercy is impossible to dissolve because it started in eternity and will end in eternity. Christ executed His mission and fulfilled God’s conditions. He was put “under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,”. Where the others failed, He did not and could not. And who placed Christ upon that conditional obligation? The Triune God. It was God’s sovereign will that appointed Him, sovereign love that sent Him, sovereign authority that assigned Him His work.

Christ had to fulfil the law; He had to bear all the sins of all God’s people in His own body on the cross; He had to make full atonement for them; He had to endure the outpoured wrath of God; He had to die and be buried. When He fulfilled these conditions, He became the Firstborn among many brethren. He prepared a new mankind to share in His glory. Hence the Father committed Himself by a solemn oath, He will eternally protect and bless of all people for whom His Son became mediator. Because He took their place, they now share His. His righteousness is theirs, His standing before God is theirs, His life is theirs. There is not a single condition for them to accomplish their eternal bliss, not a single responsibility for them to discharge, “…because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:14). They only must love their Saviour and follow Him.

Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19)

Closing

This, my dear brother and sister, is the message of grace from the only, true and Sovereign God. Those who do not accept the grace provided in Jesus Christ, do not find salvation; they stumble over the stone that brings salvation.  Don’t argue with God about His sovereign God because you think you have some authority and sovereignty.  Sovereign God will crush you. Don’t question God. Just bow very lowly and accept the grace He provides in Jesus Christ. Without Christ there is no life; in Him we have life.

Thank God for his sovereign grace displayed in his Son.

Amen.