The Sovereignty of God

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 12, 2014

Today we are going to tackle an immense topic, the sovereignty of God. We are examining this because I am, hopefully, Biblically laying a foundation for the next five messages on the Doctrines of Grace, otherwise known as Calvinism. The reason I say graciously is because this journey into the depths of God’s Word, and the truth of God’s Sovereignty is not an easy road. It is a road that will potentially flip your world on its head, but there is no doubt that it is a road worth traveling, and it is a road where the word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

John Piper, who many of you know I enjoy reading and listening to, said something that resonated with me. He said, “No one is born a Calvinist.” What does he mean by that? He means that knowing God and His sovereign power towards you in your salvation, is not like a great banquet that on day one of your Christian life you feast upon. Instead the Christian walk is more like daily rations. Whereby each day, after God has brought you into his fold, provides you, through his Word, new understandings of His greatness directed towards you. And when you think about your testimony, this makes sense.

We are born sinners. Meaning we are not God centered we are self-centered. Our world revolves around our own control and authority. Then someone preaches the gospel into your life, and for some reason, it splits you wide open and your feel the weight of your sin and your cry out yes to Jesus, “Save me.” In that moment you have no clue what happened. You have no way of explaining why you went from not caring about Jesus, to laying down your life for Him. If someone were to ask you why, what happened, perhaps all you could say is “I was blind, but now I see.” From that point on, you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what happened to you. This is what we are trying to in the months of October and November, to figure out what happened to us to go from enemies of God to willing to die for Him.

In our short time today, we will barely skim the surface to this enormous topic of God’s Sovereignty. However, do to not be frustrated by this, because we will spend an eternity scratching the surface of the Sovereignty of God. This is because our God is an infinite God. He is immeasurable. His ways are above our ways. He is light unapproachable. He is a God who sits on his throne and demands our worship whereby we cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy.” So do not be frustrated today if it isn’t all clear immediately. Today, just let your heart be drawn into it and let God take care of the growth.



Last week I attempted to show you through Ephesians 1, that God desires you to know that the surpassing power in your salvation belongs to God, not man. And the reason that God desires this is so that you are left with only one option, to praise His glorious grace. The goal of God is to get you to praise Him. God delights in our worship of Him. He wants us to be God centered and worship Him and Him alone. This is what he designed you to do, to see His Glory and proclaim His glory.

So my aim today is to lift God up as high as I possibly can, so that your hearts will sing, in truth, Holy, Holy, Holy. There is only one way in which we can do this, and that is by the Word of God. For the Bible is God’s revelation of Him. Today, I am using more scripture than I ever have. I want the Bible to convince you, not Phil Parsons.

So let us start with the question, what does it mean that God is Sovereign? There are not many place that scripture uses the phrase Sovereign when describing God. One place, however, is Acts 4:24. This was a prayer of the earlier Church after they received their first taste of persecution. Listen to how they addressed God.

• Acts 4:24 – “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, “
  
  So one way that God is Sovereign, is that he is the Maker of all things. Nothing exists that God did not speak into existence. God constantly reminds us of this reality throughout scripture, and in fact, this is the first truth he proclaims in the Bible.
  
  
• Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
  
  

Right out of the gates he wants us to know that he is the Maker of all. He owns everything. He continues to remind us of this throughout scripture. Here are a couple more examples.

• Revelation 4:11 - “"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
  
  
• John 1:1 - “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
  
  

So our first premise is that everything that exists because God wills it to exist. He literally created everything from nothing. And because God created everything, he has authority over everything. Therefore, like an author of a play, he has authority over the set, the scene, and the characters. Paul reminds us of this truth in Romans 9:21.

• Romans 9:21 - “Has the potter no right over the clay,”
  
  

Because God is the Potter, he has the right to do with the clay as he pleases. The Potter is sovereign over the clay, and not only does God have this right, but he exercises this right. Listen to how God rebukes Job for his pride in Job 38.

• Job 38:4 – “"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?...8 Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'? 12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,  ... 22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? 24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?...36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? 39 ..."Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?”
  
  

So we can see that God is not only soverign in the authoritative sense, but also in the contorl sense. God is involved in the day to day of creation. The sun, moon, stars, seas, sparrows, livestock, grass, you name it. It is all under his sovereign control. Now let’s turn out attention to man.

• Genesis 2:7 – “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
  
  

Just like all other things, God created man. He created us out of dust. He gave us life. It is not something that we conjured up. Once again, he is the Potter and we are the clay. He is sovereign over our existence. And this is not only true for Adam and Eve, but for everyone of us.

• Psalm 139:13-14 – “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” 
  
  
• Job 10:11 – “You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. “
  
  
• Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”
  
  

Therefore, we are no different than the rest of creation. God has authority over us. He made us, we did not make ourselves. We owe our existence to him. Therefore, God is sovereign over in one sense because he is our Maker. However, just like creation, it goes deeper than even this. For God not only determines our beginning, but he also determines our end.

• Psalm 139:16 – “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.“
  
  
• Job 12:10 – “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”
  
  

God is sovereign over when you are born and when you die. He forms the days for you. Everyone of your days is already written in a book. It is fate, it is destiny. You cannot change it, only participate in it. Jesus spoke of this truth to Peter in John 21.

• John 21:18-19 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)
  
  

The death of Peter was pedetermined. Jesus didn't just know it, he orchestrated it for his glory. It was merely a matter of time when it would occur. God had orchestrated it so that he would die a certain kind of death that would glorify God. God was sovereign over the death of Peter and He is sovereign over your death.

So we see God's sovereignty stretching beyond just creating, but also into dieing. He holds life and death in his hands. Is this where the hand of God's power ends? Is this as far as God reaches into the World? Does God set the beginning and the end and stands back and watches to see what happens? No. God's sovereignty goes deeper.

• Psalm 33:10 – “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples”
  
  
• Daniel 2:21 – “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings;”
  
  
• Proverbs 21:1 – “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”
  
  
• Amos 3:6 – “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? “
  
  

Scripture overwhelmingly tells us that God is in control of world events. At this point, some of you are getting a little uncomfortable. What about Katrina? Did God do that? Absolutely. What about World War 2? It was the providence of God. Likewise, Syria, Iran, Iraq…all are moving in accordance to God’s will. These text are life changing. It changes what you complain about and how you watch the news.

So is there where God's sovereignty stops? Does God just see the World as one giant game of Risk? Does his control end with world events? What about individuals decisions of men, are they under the sovereign hand of God?

• Proverbs 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”
  
  
• Proverbs 16:33 - “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
  
  
• 1 Samuel 2:7-8 – “The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.”
  
  
• Genesis 11:7-8 – “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech. “
  
  
• Philippians 2:13 – “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
  
  
• James 4:15 - “Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
  
  
• Job 2:10 - “But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
  
  

So now we see God establishing steps, making decisions, determining poor and rich, changing languages, working in us, and determining our fate, which involves good and evil. The Bible, once again, tells us that God is intimately involved in the details of our lives. His control is personal. Once again, we start to wonder, is this the end or limit to God's soverignty? What about sinful acts of men? Are these also also orchestrated by God?

• Acts 4:27 – “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
  
  
• Exodus 14:17 – “And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. “
  
  
• Genesis 5:20 - “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive”
  
  

This is where your previous understanding of God may start to fall apart. Up until this point you saw God only as a Savior and not as Lord. God is not just a God who responds to Hell, or responds to sin. He is a God who orchestrates. We have a God who is above all things, nothing is above him, not the sea, not creatures, not nations, not man, not sin. He is the Author of this story that you are all a part of. He is truly Sovereign. The Bible wants us to understand this that as Psalm 115:3 says:


• Psalm 115:3 – “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.“
  
  
• Psalm 135:6 – “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps”
  
  

Why? Why does God sovereignly control all things, because God has a goal in mind. Before he started he had an end in sight, there was something that he was going to achieve. Which makes sense. Do you ever start something without a desired outcome? No, so why would we expect randomness from God? God is not random. He is overwhelmingly intentional. So what is God's goal? Glory.

• Romans 11:36 – “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
  
  

God creates all things and governs all things to receive glory in all things. This is not something he leaves to chance. He ordains the rain, snow, winds, sparrows, your beginning, your end, your heart, your steps, your destiny, so that he can be glorified.

Some of you may really struggle with this today, and this is why I wanted to use so many Biblical text. I don't want you to believe God's sovereignty because I say so, but because God says so. And to be honest, as I said earlier, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If there is one thing that God wants to make abundantly clear to you in the scripture, it is that God is in control. Nothing is outside his reach. He is God. I leave you with one of the greatest verses in all the Bible.

• Isaiah 46:9-10 - “ for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,”
  
  

Isn't this a God that you want to worship? One that is Sovereign? One that is high and lifted up? One that deserves to have all the universe praise his glory now and forever?