{"id":366,"date":"2015-05-05T22:09:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=366"},"modified":"2015-05-05T22:09:59","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:09:59","slug":"god-is-sovereign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=366","title":{"rendered":"God is Sovereign"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his classic book The Sovereignty of God, A.W.Pink explains the Sovereignty of God like this.
\n“What do we mean by [the sovereignty of God]? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the god-hood of God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou?.
\nDaniel 4 34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
\nHis dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
\n35 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: \u201cWhat have you done?\u201d
\nPink goes on, \u201cTo say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will.
\nPsalm 115 3\tOur God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
\nTo say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is “The Governor among the nations”, setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him best.
\nPsalm 22 27\tAll the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
\n28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.
\nTo say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the “Only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.”
\n1 Timothy 6 15 God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
\nGod is ruler of all things \u2013 God is Sovereign. But I fear that too often Christians today have lost sight of the Sovereignty of God. We have lost confidence in the fact that God is on the throne, God is ruler of all things, God is in control, God is the boss! There may be different reasons for this. I talked about this last year in the first of our sermons from the Book of Ezra, so let me remind you of the important issues.<\/p>\n

1 The problem of innocent suffering.
\nSuffering like the natural disaster in Haiti. Suffering at the hands of evil men like that of children in Auschwitz and Belsen \u2013 the horrors of the Holocaust. How can we believe God is in control, people will ask, when such terrible things happen and there is such awful suffering in the world?
\nClassically the problem of suffering is expressed like this. If God is all-loving he would not allow suffering. If God is all-powerful he would not allow suffering. But suffering happens \u2013 so either God is not all loving or he is not all powerful.
\nAs Christians we major on the God of love. We will defend at all costs the truth that God is love and that everything He does is an act of love. But the result is that especially since the wars of the last century many Christians have a much more vague concept of the Sovereignty of God. To preserve our understanding of the love of God when we see innocent suffering we water down our ideas about God as ruler of all things. Perhaps God isn\u2019t in control quite as much as we thought.
\nOf course the problem is actually in the formulation of the logical proposal. Its first assumption is that if God was perfectly loving he would stop suffering \u2013 and that assumption is wrong. In fact God IS all loving BUT he allows some human suffering for purposes which for much of the time we just can\u2019t understand. The presence of suffering in the world is NOT proof that God is not all powerful. Suffering does NOT negate the Sovereignty of God. In fact, If God was not sovereign in all of His ways this world would be in much worse shape than it is now. If God\u2019s protection and restraining hand was not “sovereignly operating” on this earth – we would all be living in a hell on earth.
\nBut God is Sovereign \u2013 ultimately nothing happens on earth unless He has allowed it!
\nLamentations 3:37-38, NAS
\n37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the LORD has commanded it?
\n38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?
\nAnd even as people are suffering, the Sovereign God is at work bringing good out of evil. Romans 8:28 assures us,
\n\u2026 we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. <\/p>\n

2. The question of predestination
\nThe Sovereignty of God is unpopular with some Christians because of the answer it gives to a vital question. Who chooses who is saved and who is lost? Is it the Christian who chooses God? Or is it God who chooses us? Are we predestined to be saved \u2013 or do we get to decide for ourselves?
\nThe problem is that some people are so keen to defend the idea of human free will that they diminish the Sovereignty of God. Who chose who? Time and time again the Bible makes clear that God is Sovereign. His grace leads some to believe. In other cases the Bible is specific that God hardens some people\u2019s hearts so that they will not believe and be saved. I don\u2019t want to start any arguments about Pre-destination and free will. Nobody has properly unravelled that dilemma. But I do want to say that so many times the Bible teaches us that God is God \u2013 creator and ruler of all things \u2013 God is Sovereign!
\nGod is Sovereign even though there is suffering in the world. God is Sovereign even though that gets our heads into a spin about who chooses who is saved – whether we chose God or he chose us. And God is Sovereign whether people choose to submit to that sovereignty or not! God is sovereign. Jesus is not just Lord because we invite him or allow Him to be Lord. Jesus is not Lord only of the people who recognise and submit to His Lordship. Jesus is Lord! Exclamation Mark! God is Sovereign. Exclamation Mark. God is Ruler of all things. God is in control. God is the boss!
\nGod is in control of the big things and God is in control of the little things as well. God rules over men and nations, and God rules over the smallest details of all of our lives. The reality is that it is not the abstract philosophical problem of innocent suffering which causes most Christians to question the Sovereignty of God, but rather suffering in our own lives or in the lives of people we love. It is the illnesses and the accidents and the bereavements which more often cause us to doubt whether God is really in control of our lives. And in truth not many Christians are really distressed by the theological question of predestination or free will. It is events and experiences in our own lives which cause us to wonder whether God really intended that terrible thing to happen to me, or to that person I love. It is when people hurt us or disappoint us that we start to care about whether God is Sovereign or not.
\nAnd that is the point where we need to remember that God never promises that our lives will be comfortable or easy. What He does promise is that, however hard life gets, and however much it may appear otherwise, God will never fail us or forsake us. The Sovereign God is completely enough to keep His many promises and God is faithful and He will do so!!!
\nThe Bible declares God\u2019s Sovereignty in so many places!
\nProverbs 21: 30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.
\n31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.
\nIt is God who is in control! Time and again Isaiah reminded the Israelites in Exile in Babylon of the Sovereignty of God.
\nIsaiah 14:26 This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
\n27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
\nSo let us be comforted as we listen to two glorious passages which reassure us that God is on the Throne, God is in control. First from the Old Testament.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 40:10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
\n11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms
\nand carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
\n12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
\nWho has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
\n13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?
\n14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way?
\nWho was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?
\n15\tSurely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales;
\nhe weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
\n21\tDo you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?
\nHave you not understood since the earth was founded?
\n22\tHe sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
\nHe stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
\n23\tHe brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
\n24\tNo sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
\n25\t\u201cTo whom will you compare me?Or who is my equal?\u201d says the Holy One.
\n26\tLift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?
\nHe who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.
\nBecause of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
\n27\tWhy do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel,
\n\u201cMy way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God\u201d?
\n28\tDo you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
\n29\tHe gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
\n30\tEven youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
\n31\tbut those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
\nThey will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. <\/p>\n

And now from the New Testament. Remember how the Early Church reacted when the apostles were arrested for healing the lame man and preaching the gospel. They put their trust in the Sovereign God, Ruler of All<\/p>\n

Acts 4 23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. \u201cSovereign Lord,\u201d they said, \u201cyou made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
\n\u201c \u2018Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
\n26\tThe kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together
\nagainst the Lord and against his Anointed One.\u2019
\n27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.\u201d
\n31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. <\/p>\n

1 Timothy 6 15 God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen !!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his classic book The Sovereignty of God, A.W.Pink explains the Sovereignty of God like this. “What do we mean by [the sovereignty of…<\/span><\/p>\n

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